bots and silly glitches

I noticed someone on twitter being reassured that their numbers of followers were not going down because people deleted themselves but because Twitter itself was clearing away bots. I almost bought that.

But twitter seems the more transitory internet distraction. Once I know someone is a spammer, I remove them. That's if I have the time. And how many updates do you need from people you a) have never heard of who b) are not famous ?

It's interesting to see posts from a familiar name as long as it isn't a fraud.

But for me the only real use is to post links to any short I might happen to make, or a piece of video that everybody has to see - from youtube more often than not.

I have a few beefs with youtube which I plan to snail mail them because I can't figure out how to e-mail them, likely by design.

If you post an HD video, it may look great when you first check it. Perfectly clear and full. But then either a) there may be choppiness or freezing or b) it may default to non-HD, which is WORSE than regular DV because it is soft focus. People have to go to the trouble of clicking the HD tab, which they may not automatically do, especially not until they have grown frustrated by a blurry picture. So the HD tends to lose a bit of its luster. The question is whether this is a temporary glitch and Youtube will soon be able to support HD uploads more efficiently, or whether we are all doomed - DOOMED!

I'm almost finished reading The Kill Bill Diary, by David Carradine, which is quite good and can easily be picked up and put down between subway rides. At the moment it's the sanity book I'm carrying, something to read and focus on if I can keep my eyes open. The subway has a natural sleep-inducing current or something. I think it messes with neurons or something. But my study is far from scientific, since most of my use has been going to and from a night shift and once you get into the subway and have no duty or crisis to look at there is a tendency to shut down.

That must be the microcosm of people retiring early and then dying because they are not occupied. Even if I'm in dire straights over the next month I plan to occupy myself somehow. I may even shoot some video when I'm in North Bay at the beginning of August. Before I go away I'd better see what can be set up for the rest of August and what plans are ahead for something I'm helping shoot on the 7,8,9th.

Knowing to plan ahead isn't enough sometimes. I should have had a blood test for a doctor's appointment next week. Haven't had it yet. If you see a doctor every three months and usually get a form filled out for a blood test you have three months to misplace it. It's like an archeological breakthrough when I find something in my apartment. I found a rotten banana in my backpack the other day. I had been wondering what the weird smell was. This is the result of grocery stores charging 5 cents for plastic bags. We become more environmentally conscious and use whatever bag is at hand. There is room in a bag of gym clothes for some food, and also maybe some room for it to become lost under something. The banana would not have gone bad if I was doing more filming as I had planned this summer, because I would have to put my camera in there.

Happy Easter

Well, I made it. I was thinking I didn't give up much for Lent, didn't get ashes on my head on Ash Wednesday, didn't kiss the feet of the Cross with a hundred other people (wiped by an alter server with a nice clean cloth after each) on Good Friday. . . but at least I gave up my blogs during Lent. And I stuck with it. Sure I posted this or that on other sites and sent e-mails and ranted verbally into the wind. But I didn't log much. I sat myself down to actually watch The Passion of the Christ on DVD - definitive edition - for the first time without commentary since it was in theaters five years ago. I gave it my full attention. I only took one break, part way through the scourging. That at least offers plenty of opportunity to pick fights on the internet.

I made a few short films - four exactly - during Lent, and a few small things I won't count. There is even a Porno the Clown Easter greeting. I wouldn't want my mom to see that one. I went for a pretty bad play on words. The down side of shooting any form of HD is that I can't paste the code and see the frame properly on one of these blogs.

So even though I did give up this blog, some code was experimentally pasted into the Porno the Clown blog. Which is not the same as blogging about my own life and the issues of the day.

St. Patrick's Day came and went during Lent, a long 24 hours for people who gave up alcohol for Lent.

And on a day that my knee started acting up and I didn't want to go anywhere I saw that an event on Facebook I wanted to support would actually mean dragging my ass downtown into a neighborhood to cast a vote. Then I heard they were out of ballots and I had to hang around for most of the presentations even though it went against the grain to be there at all. Only after voting and supporting my friend's organization did I realize that technically I probably had no right to be there let alone vote in a community to which I didn't belong.

I'm leaving the details out of it for now. Because this is about Easter, not about my psychological piccadillos.

Right now I'm editing a live show that someone else - Jay (Porno the Clown) -videotaped with my camera on two separate performances that don't match in terms of who is on stage and how they are on stage. Very challenging. It's The Shameless Dames Versus the Volcano, their last show. I think Jay did a good job keeping track of what is on stage, even though there will be uncontrollable issues of lighting and sound between the two nights and the idea that dances set to songs are only very loosely in synch.

Hoping it all cuts together in a way that isn't too jarring. Meanwhile Happy Easter. . .

Vote Funny if you follow this link:

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/f024f7f052/happy-easter-greeting-from-porno-the-clown