PLN at KIS

I somehow find comfort in writing blogs. I have no idea why. Maybe. Maybe its because I find comfort in sitting alone typing away whatever comes to my mind. Maybe its because I live in a society obsessed living a certain way I find it fun to see blogging as an outlet. Maybe its because I just plain like it. Blogs have caught the world by the storm. It has obsessed people, indulged them, and sometimes completely changed their lives. There are “pro-bloggers”, books written about blogs, heck some people blog more than they sleep. Blogging has evolved into a revolution, a revolution I am slowly taking part in.

No one comes to my blog, that’s okay which means I can write whatever crap I want to write without anyone saying anything. But, I don’t want that to continue for much longer. You see, I love writing it’s like breathing for me - it comes naturally. I said that this project I wanted to be famous for being funny and a smartass, I think I limited myself into thinking that making videos was the only way to do that, I discovered it isn’t. I can make blog (posts) and express my sophomore year all alone in a far far magical land called America.

Kids nowadays are completely engrossed in video games or obsessed with sleeping, it’s a sad reality and the world has to accept a unfortunate fact: kids are all the same. In a sense, we kids choose to pick a conventional path in life, a life with a future destined of a $25,000 salary, a run down car, and a single room apartment. I choose not to walk that road, instead I want to be different - special. I don’t want to live like crap, I don’t want to waste my time playing games and sleeping, and I don’t want to waste the one life I am given. But, I want to write - and a blog allows me to write whatever the hell I want to. I may not be famous, I may not be funny, but I will be writing.

This blog is meant to be hopefully a better understanding of what I want to do in the imminent future. My seventh grade teacher said that we are never thinking about the present, we are always thinking about the past and the future - I rarely think about the past but I always find myself thinking about the future, a prospect that excites me. I have something called potential - although everyone has it whether a little or a lot, I have potential that would amount to every singe mountain in the Himalayas. I think different. I am different. I define different. While my friends are obsessing over video games, I pop in front of my computer screen reading the New York Times, CNN Politics (OBAMA 08′ btw), ESPN, and anything else that catches my attention - never do I play video games. My favorite channel is CNN, I don’t have a PSP, and I don’t find myself not knowing what the capital of France is (one idiot in my class thought it was Berlin, when we said it wasn’t he adamantly defended his position until he saw the world map). I have potential, that’s undeniable, but if you don’t let it out, there is absolutely no point of having it. I’m in that position. I have the potential to do anything I want yet I limit myself in every single way possible. This project is an example, but I’m in high school - I have to grow up, open my eyes, splash water on my face, slap myself, and ultimately wake up. It excites me I can do anything but it also disappoints me that I’m not doing anything. Although I think a lot has been expected of me in this project, I believe it to be true to say that I failed miserably. I was given a big project and failed to deliver. But that’s okay. It’s okay because I learned something. I learned that I’m a smartass. I learned I have potential waiting in the wings. And most importantly I learned it is okay to fail, as long as you learn from them.

Sincerely,

Won Chung

Photo Credit: joelogon, Wesley Danes, stelari

Okay so I just threw some Shakespherian crap at you there. Deal with it. I’m not perfect, your not perfect, none of us are perfect. But, sometimes we try to be. Perfection is a goal out of our reach, they say ‘Practice makes PERFECT!!!’, I say that’s a load of cruddy breadcrumbs scattered across the kitchen floor. Everybody practices to some extent, some more than others, yet we are nowhere near what we would consider as perfect. So, congratulations your mediocre! And there are other people who are perfectionists, people so absolutely aesthetic about how they live their lives they are more consumed with every tiny winy detail they fail to the see the big picture - Mr. B tends to think I’m one of them.

You see when I approach these videos and filming for that matter, I try to engage the audience - by being funny and making my video visually appealing. The reason I’ve taken so much time on these videos is because I am not simply not happy with them. They are just not funny. Another minor reason is because I look so fat in front of the camera, they say the camera adds ten pounds when it actually adds 20. Back to reasons. I need to have at least one funny moment, because examining how YouTube videos work, that’s what they’re really centered around. So I like what I did in the IT room the other day, so with that clip I want to edit it by the end of the week (no guarantees it’ll be up on YouTube, I always get in trouble when I guarantee something).

Okay before I get to far I have to tell Mr. B something. GET READY TO DO A INTERVIEW NEXT WEEK (with me that is). I want to get this video done before the end of the school year. This video is going to be almost spontaneous, playing around a little bit, with the exception of my questions. Mr. B, dress semi - formally (by which I mean dress in what you always wear) and be prepared for anything, and I mean anything because you never know what I might cook up. And when the interview is done your hair is going to turn white, just an advance warning. So that’s basically it…………

Being in this class really taught me about interacting through electronic means. I entered this class thinking that I was to be handed the textbook and taught to write conventional essays, it turns out that we were to enter the class with a goal and exit achieving it. I haven’t done that yet. In retrospect, I haven’t even come close but I tried. I have never gotten an ‘F’ in my life, to me it stands for ‘Forbidden’, Failed’, and another word I’m not aloud to say, but I’m not crying (not yet anyway). This is because I learned something. I think if school was like this way I would actually be smarter. A testament to this are two great geniuses: Abraham Lincoln and Albert Einstein. Lincoln never had a formal education yet is today considered the greatest orator that ever lived (with regards to Dr. King). Einstein never finished standard education (school for those of you airheads out there), failed math, and obviously failed with his hair. Yet, he came up with a single formula (I could of thought of it too) that baffled all the book smart nerds. And one more example that popped into my dead: Will Hunting (from a movie, but what the heck). Will Hunting (played by Matt Damon, who according to Wikipedia went to Harvard) was a janitor at MIT, whose mathematical genius blew everyone away, including his dumbass professor and mentor. What I’m saying is that this class teaches us street smarts (not as bad as it sounds), something we will never obtain from textbooks, books, audiobooks, or e-books - book smart. I’ll trade my textbook for my MacBook any day.

Photo Credi: Santa Claus by Sephiroty Fiesta, albert einstein by joao~grando, I’m Sorry I Can’t be Perfect by éoo™

Okay so my title is a little weird and vague, confusing and stupid, and may even deserve some scratches in the head, but it does mean something. When people look at me they see something extraordinary, specie, and a short, handsome, funny, kid - and they would be idiots not to notice that. Right now, beyond the hype I am a walking disaster. Lately, being consumed in so many different things has detered me from devoting more time to making videos, which has made me do more thinking than actually doing.

So what I’ve been thinking about lately is where I want this video project to be headed. I definitely want to continue want to continue making videos even when the class is over in addition to maintaining my blog - I’ve gone somewhat accustomed to having it be a part of my everyday life (kind of). Something I’m thinking of doing is a couple of spontaneous videos - sometimes the most random piece of junk may be gold. The good thing about spontaneous videos is that it can be really funny, if not I could just delete the damn thing.

Another idea I’ve been thinking of doing is an interview with Mr. Burell. Like my role models Stephan Colbert, David Letterman, and Craig Ferguson (some role models eh?) I want to be really really really really rud but at the same time be somewhat respectful to my guest (impossible is nothing). I want to do this behind the green screen, so by the time I do this interview I have to find how to do the mysterious chroma key while also finding a suitable background. For Mr. Burell I want this to be unscripted, while I hold in my hands the mind - blowingly ridiculous questions. This has to be funny so I plan on adding some more sophisticated twists later, hehehehehehe.

I’ve also been thinking about what to do if I have international correspondents invading my show. I was thinking that since the presidential elections is so huge in the U.S at the moment I was thinking of having a CNN type of news cast with the correspondents somehow messing up. If that somehow does not go as planned I could always green screen as a replacement background.

So because I will continue to make more videos even when the class is over, these are some ideas I plan flirting with. Although not everything is set in stone, I want to do at least one of the two fore-mentioned wacky ideas before the last day of school. How? I have no friggin’ idea, but I will figure it out - I always do. Anyway, one thing I realized while embarking on this god forsaken project is that being funny is not as easy as it sounds. One reason my production has been so slow is because - yes, I am somewhat of a perfectionist but I also don’t want to upload some random crud on my youtube channel, because in the long run I value quality over quantity.

Given the topic of my project is probably very ambitious (maybe the most in the class, I don’t know you be the judge) I think in a way I am put too much burden on my shoulders. I’ve been trying too hard to be funny when I needed to do is sit back and talk my genius brain off (I think I’m a borderline genius by the way, I’ve come to that conclusion a loooooooooong time ago :). I want to make people happy because in the end, that’s what this project is all about. Not the grades, not the stress, but the people. I try not to forget that.

When was the first time you heard something funny? Don’t remember? I thought so. You failed the first test. Do you know what ajummas mean? You do?! You failed again. Am I failure? Yes, no? If you said yes, you passed and if you said no, you think too highly of me. I failed, which is shocking for me because I’m the type of kid who cries at a B, but I learned something which will somewhat compensate my failures. So basically I’m not panicking as I would normally do or pressing the self-destruct button (not yet anyway).

Well, I think that while uploading my video I ran into my first major obstacle. Copyright. I used an excerpt from a song in my video, and while its only a small portion of it Mr. Burell is giving me a hard time about it nonetheless :). I’ve been researching frantically trying to find some sort of loophole and I’ve noticed how messed up the whole process is. Anyway, I found that there is a clause called fair use, which allows the user to use the owner’s material without their consent. One can determine if their use of copyrighted material goes under fair use by applying five factors. Even though I could argue that my use of my song could fall into the fair use, I could be faced with additional scrutiny because I’m not American (the irony of it all). So my options are slim.

I could make my own music, which in my opinion had its goods and bads. The good would be that I would be original and unique compared to other videos. But the bads are plenty. One I would be consumed in making music which would deprive me of the time I devote to making my videos. Another is that it might just be dreadful and the audience will quickly navigate away from the page. But I’m going to give GarageBand a shot, because the Apple nerds have a thing for making quality programs. My second alternative is finding a website which allows use of uncopyrighted music, much like Creative Commons. This would be the logical way but the quality could be second tier. My third option would be not using any music at all, which is a horrible option because it makes my video look horrible.

While I admit my production is not what I had expected at this point in time, I do have visions of a greater future. Okay, I just sounded like some kind of wacko fortune teller but I think I want to pursue a new sense of direction. One thing I want to do before the semester is over is have international correspondents do some cameos in my video. Although this was an idea Mr. B is suggesting for a while I need to get a flow of what I want to do before I start doing anything unique. Another, video I have been wanting to do for some time is doing an interview with Mr. B. The purpose of this interview is basically twofold - one is to show how rude and funny I can be as an interviewer, and the other is to raise awareness of Mr. B’s plan to networktizilate the entire world. Because I actually have goals in this video, I want to make this video after I actually get a little fame.

While my big mouth really speaks louder than my actions, I put a lot of burden on my shoulders. I have run into some unexpected obstacles, things that made me think. This isn’t easy. Expect the unexpected. Learn from your failures. Famous people are famous for a reason (except Paris Hilton). I try not to rush myself because, quite frankly, I prefer quality over quantity something that may make me look like a perfectionist. While my production value is not as high as I had hoped it would be, time has really not been on my side. I know that sounds horrible, selfish, and absolutely dreadful but it is the truth. While I certainly can’t take back all the time I devoted to something else, this month (I swear to God) is going to be different. So sit back and relax while watching the Won train do his magic.

Right now I am trying to figure out how to use a non - copyrighted music downloading site, obtained via Creative Commons, OWL Music Search. What this site basically does is, it lets me find the type of music I want by uploading similar music and selecting a portion of the song I want to find and then clicking search. It’s as confusing as it is painful. Although this site may save me from long hours of making music through GarageBand, it may also be the death of me.

Okay so this blog post, may seem in a my last desperate last ditch attempt to kinda boost up my grade up even a slightly teeny weeny bit. Well, you kind of guessed right. Although my production is not eye - poppingly amazing, it’s not like I slacked off. I want an ‘A’ and quite frankly I think I deserve it. Up to this month I have penned two (and a half) scripts, recorded two (and a half) videos, set up a YouTube account (one subscriber, my friend but yeah!!!) written two blog posts, and done a mountain of research (copyright, subscription info, how to get famous, green screen (which by the way I haven’t found except Ebay…..), and other bits of information that may prove to be crucial on my road to Hollywood). Looking over my progress report I actually did more this month then all the other months. Considering I had a play, a total of four tests, getting off the wait list, and juggling all of my other classes, I really haven’t devoted as much time to Advanced Multimedia and Writing (I guessed that’s what they call it now) as I would have liked. This is not the best news because, in part, I enjoy this class, I really, really do (this is not one of my feeble attempts to get an ‘A’). Although it’s been a rough ride, this class lets me express myself in ways I want to, to be quote honest - it’s a sanctuary from the horrors of high school. Mr. Burell is a school teacher who taught me more than school. He taught me the internet is not just games and social networking, but if you look hard enough it can be a community of individuals who come together under a shared interest. He criticized me (sometimes harshly….) nut only wanted me to succeed. And he taught me that school is not only a place for textbooks and boring essays but is actually a place for you to learn. Just the other day, Mr. Burell called me a smartass after reading my two lines of my blog post. I’ll take that as a compliment because dumbasses get nowhere.

Goals For the Month of May -

-Upload some videos (giving an exact number is not an effective goal, end up only limiting myself)

-Get back on Twitter and start engaging

-Pen some funny scripts

-Have at least one product a week (blog post or video)

-Campaign for subscribers (found out a bunch of ideas on how to do that)

-Use the green screen and international correspondents (if we ever get there)

-Fulfill my goals

Lastly, I plan on maintaining my blog with periodic updates, and making videos. I plan on doing this over the summer so this isn’t the end!

Photo Credit - jonwatson , Norma Desmond, ex.libris

I failed, which ironically in English Seminar class is a good thing. I haven’t made the videos yet ( I fixed iMovie, turns out my audio input was too low), yet I think I made up for that by doing research, networking, and organizing my new blog. I found out how to get featured on YouTube. I also found some videos that is somewhat of a tutorial of how to get famous. My goal from now is to be consistent, making a script and a video every week (which is easier said than done).

While I am frustrated by lack of progress, I have nowhere to go now but up. As I mentioned before, I fixed iMovie so I’m filming today and hopefully get some editing done. I set up a comedian YouTube account (username: ajummas) and my number one goal is to get some subscribers. By simply doing I will have a fan base, which I ultimately hope will grow. For those of you who don’t know, by subscribing to a channel one is able to be notified when their channel is updated with new videos. If you took the liberty of checking how videos get featured above, it would say if emails were sent to the YouTube admin. That information is crucial and that’s where twitter comes into my plan. I don’t expect myself to get famous overnight, it’s going to be a long, hard, grueling process, but through time, effort, and a dash of luck Impossible is Nothing. According to the YouTube website, it states that if there are incoming email/demands/threats that a video is good, it gets thrown into the pool of consideration. I was planning on enlisting help from Twitter to do that.

I filmed all of the first script and I plan on posting it up today. I also subscribed to YouTube under the name “Ajummas” and as a comedians (I think that one of the advantages of that are like more disk space, exposure, better quality etc.). One of the issues I have though is my second script, which I feel in a sense is somewhat a big pile of jokes and makes little sense. Really. I think that the jokes are funny, no doubt about that, yet I think a little revising would do no harm.

Lastly, I have a confession/dilemma to shout out to the WWW. I’m applying to boarding school. I don’t mean to be a drama king (not queen people ;-), but I’ve been placed on the waiting list for a Harvard-like school I would very much like to go. I’m sending a video to the admission officials for them to get a taste of my medicine. I think with a little international help, that opening spot is mine.

I’m funny. Really. Believe it baby. Well, maybe in your eyes I’m just a short good looking freshman, but to the world I want to be known as something greater - a funny kid. Yet, the world has not discovered my talents, and so I decided to reach out to them through a single, but powerful outlet - YouTube.

I’m a kid among millions, in such a large group there are bound to be a couple thousand better than me at something - sports, academics, picking up girls etc. Yet, something that they lack and I don’t is the will and determination to become famous. Well to be quite honest, a bunch of them probably want to achieve fortune and fame, but I want only the latter (REALLY!!! yeah) and I want it on YouTube.

Getting famous is not as easy as it sound - it can be life-changing (check that - it is life-changing!). My improbable journey is an uphill climb, and I intend on making it to the top. Lately, I’ve been doing some “researching” around YouTube and discovered that some of the funniest people out there are Asians, kind of hard to believe in such a racist country such as the US (no offense). Kevjumba is by far my favorite although nigahiga, and Happyslip are also funny (and Asian). However, one YouTuber(?) I could probably relate the most to is the guy who hosts What The Buck show, (he’s gay, I’m not) which is basically a satirical take on all things gossip. Most of them got famous by getting featured on the YouTube homepage (how I don’t know), and some of them are even getting paid by YouTube ($-$ - but seriously I won’t do it for the money). I found that by replying to a popular video could get you some popularity, although because so many people do it, my video will get buried. I also found out that my user names usually exhibit creativity, and there are accounts devoted to comedians (God’s calling :). I was thinking of doing Ajummas, because no one in the US knows what it means and it sounds alright (I was thinking of like challenging my audience to google it - they’ll never see it coming - I’m laughing already).

I’m a rather impatient kid, and as a result I want, will, and must upload two videos. My first script needs some editing because it seems a little outdated, and my second script seems pretty funny. I also want to get more engaged in Twitter because if I go online every like month it seems like I’m soliciting their help without giving anything in return. I plan to be more aggressive, and I am desperately trying to get in touch wih some of the YouTube comedian (KevJumba has live chats on UStream and his email is on YouTube, so I’m getting there). Mr. Burell also suggested I get international correspondents - I think its a good idea, but one I’m not comfortable with the idea until I get a general idea of what I want to do. I do a really good Obama and McCain impression, but I can’t do Hilary for obvious reasons.

I feel I have a sense of direction of what ‘m doing and I feel really good about this. A thought that occurred to me the other day was an interesting yet scary one - I could be famous, my life could change, all because of one class. Just goes to show you how much a PLN class could achieve.

*I know its dull now. I’ll edit later.

Good job on writing your first script! Now you’re on the road to getting better with each new try. Learning, in other words.

Answer these questions in a comment below:

1. How long is your script when you time yourself reading it naturally?

2. Who is the second MC going to be? (You could film yourself as both characters, wearing different costumes, and edit them together. Think about that.)

3. Where are you going to film it?

4. When are you going to film it?

5. Have you considered comic costume? Comic voice and make-up? Stuff like that?

Here’s Gilda Radner, a great comedian from Saturday Night Live, doing all sorts of funny characters. Feel free to steal!

And here is Lily Tomlin, another great comedian.  WATCH THIS VIDEO!! She plays EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER IN IT, and they are ALL drop-dead funny.  It’s an idea for you to play with over the coming months.

Last advice: Michaelle, I love the way you’ve jumped in! I want you to realize that you are absolutely free to try different ideas you have about political comedy as you write further video ideas. Look at all the different characters Gilda Radner created: Roseanne Rosannadanna, Baba Wawa, and more. I’d love to see you create your own characters over the coming months!