Murder and Mayhem in Portland

One of my oldest and best friends, JD Chandler, has just published his latest book, Murder & Mayhem in Portland, Oregon (History Press 2013), a true crime history book chronicling 100 years of local murders. His theory is that one can learn about a region's social, political, and cultural history by making a study of its murders, and after reading the book, I believe he's right.

You can read my full review over on GoodReads, but on this blog I just wanted to put in a more personal plug. I've known JD since about 1974 or '75, and we were creative partners back in our Super-8 movie-making days.

Someday I'll get around to converting some of those to digital, but for now you'll have to settle for our most recent collaboration, a video I shot with JD in the summer of 2011 when he took Leslie and I around some of the sites of Portland's more grizzly murders (though not the same ones detailed in the new book):



Anyway, if you're interested in old west history, murder, political corruption, perversion, or Portland, you may want to check out Murder & Mayhem in Portland, Oregon.

• My review on GoodReads
• Murder & Mayhem in Portland, OR (History Press)
• Murder & Mayhem in Portland, OR (Amazon)
• JD's blogs: Slabtown Chronicle --- Weird Portland

July Fourth Parody Video

Here we are, on the Fourth of July. For those who've followed this blog a while, you know that I love this day, and what it stands for, and yet in recent years it has also made me sad to see where we appear to be heading.

This year on the Fourth, I've prepared a little video for you in which I get to have a little fun with one of my heroes, Thomas Jefferson, as he puts the finishing touches on the Declaration of Independence...



Enjoy the holiday, and remember the true meaning of the day as we enter the final phases of this upcoming presidential election.

Universal Health Care

Here's my second political collaboration video with my conservative friend, PappyStu. The topic today is Universal Health Care, and whether or not the U.S. needs some form of reform to provide health care for all.

As with my previous collaboration with PappyStu, the point of these videos isn't to reach consensus; it's just to begin a civil conversation on issues that are important in our national life.

I'm the guy on the left, politically speaking.

Is Civil Discussion Possible Anymore?

Political debate in this country has been turned into nothing more than a verbal slugfest. We turn on those with views that are different than our own, and attempt to isolate ourselves from dissent. And, with many of my posts on this blog, I'm as guilty as anybody else in this regard.

So here's my stupid, vain attempt to apologize for my part in all of this, and try to begin a respectful discussion between political opposites. The idea is not to reach agreement, but to more fully understand other points of view. This is not a debate; there's no winner or loser - just two friends who see things from different angles sharing their opinions.

And, since YouTube is as polarizing a place as any, I'm doing this over there. Helping me out on this project is my conservative friend, PappyStu. (Oh, and intro music by audionautix.)

The role of experience in the Democratic primary

Today's blog is a bit of a tongue-in-cheek video, explaining the differences in experience between Senator Obama and Senator Clinton:

Introducing the Angelcheeks Foundation

A friend of mine lost his infant son a year ago to SIDS. While the family had insurance that covered the expenses of putting his son to rest, what they learned through the process was how many families are completely unprepared for such a tragedy.

In living memory of their son, he and his wife have now founded the Angelcheeks Foundation, to make grants to families in need, and to education on issues surrounding Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Below, you will see a video by the family and their friends (yes, I'm in there somewhere) that was released today to promote the foundation. Please watch it, and if you are half as moved by it as I was, please consider donating.

Psycho Killer Pumpkin Pie

Here's my little Halloween video for this year. Enjoy!



This is actually the second time that I've done the Psycho shower scene with a pumpkin. The first time I shot it was probably 29 years ago, in super-8 film. Our film teacher gave us an assignment in October of "making a jack-o-lantern."

I, of course, was not content to do a straight carving film, so I made "The Pumpkin Who Knew Too Much." (Yes, I've been a Hitchcock fanatic forever.)

In the opening scene the pumpkin witnesses one of my friends (John) murdering another (Tom). John then stalks the pumpkin and finally gets his revenge while the pumpkin is in the shower - the shower scene then fulfilled the assignment of "making a jack-o-lantern."

The storyline (if you can call it that) in this version is different (and more true to the original Psycho in spirit and character), but the payoff is the same.

A question I've gotten from a few who've already seen this on YouTube: "How did you get the shot of shower coming on and spraying directly on the camera?" Answer: I put the camera in a ziploc freezer bag!

The YouTube-CNN Debates

Here's a great way to use Web 2.0 to encourage democracy:

This summer and fall, YouTube, CNN and a few engaged and engaging citizens will make political history by having the presidential candidates answer questions submitted via YouTube videos.

Anderson Cooper will host the debates, by choosing the questions from among the videos submitted. The videos will be played for the candidates to answer. The first debate, with the Democratic hopefuls, will be held on July 23. The Republican YouTube-CNN debate is scheduled for September.

Here's the question I've submitted for the July 23 debate:Some background San Jose Statistics:

• population 900,000; 10th largest city in U.S.
• "Capitol of Silicon Valley"
• "Safest large city in America"
• CA minimum wage = $7.50/hour; about $1,100/month after taxes
• median apartment rental = $1,125/month
• median home value = $400,000
• incidence of overcrowding in greater than 18% of households
• # of households with 7 or more persons grew 150% in 20 years

You can view more of the submitted questions at youtube.com/contest/DemocraticDebate.

Stats from Census 2000, City of San Jose

Viral video infection

Part of the innovation of viral video websites like YouTube and LiveVideo - indeed, the feature that makes them viral - is the ability to embed the videos into other websites with a simple bit of html or java code. That's how I've included my YouTube videos here, and elsewhere on my web.

Using that same bit of code, other bloggers have been able to include my videos when they want to. When that happens I'm always pleased and honored. That's also how I've occasionally included other people's videos on this and my other blogs.

But when does embedding go too far and become an invasion or a copyright violation?

I was recently alerted (thanks to the Frozen Ghost!) to two websites that have turned embedding into a business model: flixya.com and sumo.tv (I'm not linking them, because I'm not sure I want to give them any more business). Users at these video sites don't create content, they simply link to it. And, they make money off of the linking.

YouTube and LiveVideo don't share their revenue with the content creators. I make nothing off the videos I create. It's a hobby, and that's fine with me. These other sites, with no much lower overhead (they're not actually hosting the videos, so it's a much cheaper site to run) split the ad revenue with their members. But do those members (or even the sites) deserve to make money off of my content?

Yes, my content. Even though I'd never heard of these sites (and others like them) until a couple of days ago, many of my videos are there - through the magic of embedding - on other users' accounts. Now, they're not making much money off it. I doubt it's more than a couple of bucks. But still, is it right?

I wrote to each company and asked that my content be removed. Sumo.tv responded that I was free to turn off embedding in my YouTube account settings, but that they would not remove the links from their site. Flixya.com responded that they would be happy to remove my videos if I supply them with a list of the URLs (in the works).

Obviously, I like the response from Flixya.com better - so much so that once the fraudulent copies of my videos are removed, I may set up an account their and post them under my own name and see just how much (or little) money is to be made there.

But, what to do about Sumo.tv? In a way, I do see their point about my being in control of embedding at the source host site. But I don't want to turn that feature off because I use it.

I also, as I pointed out, use the embed to post other people's videos here and at my Highway 17 Music guitar blog. But, when I do it, I always try to credit the video author. What I do (in my mind) is put the video into the editorial context of the blog. I don't believe I'm doing anything fraudulent or trying to rip off other people's creativity.

Am I a hypocrite, or is there really a difference between what I do and what these new embedded video sites do? In my mind there is a difference, but I'd really like to hear some more opinions on this.

What is the sound of $1.65 billion going down the drain?

By now you know that I've been hooked on YouTube for a number of months now (watch my videos here). If you are also among the 'Tubers, you know that for some weeks now the site has been plagued by technical issues, mostly revolving around the messaging systems.

You'd think by now a basic email application would be easy to build into a site and keep up, but apparently not so. Worse than the constant error messages has been the complete lack of communication from YouTube staff on what's happening, or if there's any hope of a fix.

Enter LiveVideo.com. It looks an awful lot like YouTube, but the video quality is a bit better and the audio blows you away with full, true, stereo sound. Oh, and the messaging systems work.

This week it seemed like a mass exodus occured once certain notable 'Tubers began to promote their LiveVideo vlogs on the 'Tube. I, too, have claimed my username (kenrg) and started to cross-post my videos. A few people have made Farewell to YouTube videos and shifted over entirely.

(There have even been a few conspiracy-minded 'Tubers asking if LiveVideo could be a project of YouTube itself to test out new features before rolling them into the original.)

Now, today, YouTube has finally mentioned the technical issues on their blog, "Our engineers looked into it and discovered an over-enthusiastic spam filter." We'll see if that cures anything. It may be too little too late.

YouTube is still far and away the market leader when it comes to online video. But the ease and speed with which a small competitor can snag a large group of their users should be a wake up call to them. In the Internet age there are no customer loyalty guarantees. In the time it takes to shut down a site for overnight maintenance another site can cast its spell on your users.

Yes, I said I opened an account at LiveVideo. I like a lot of the features that they've introduced (and that wild stereo sound), but I'm not leaving YouTube yet. I'm still rooting for them to get their act together. I'm also betting on their new masters from Google giving them a swift kick in the pants.