RonVitale

The More Things Change...

So an old friend asked in Facebook for me to sign a petition asking President-elect Obama to change his mind about Pastor Warren. If you're not keeping up, Obama's team announced that Pastor Warren will be giving the invocation at the Inauguration. I had been meaning to complain to President-elect Obama about this but I did not make time to call Obama's office or send an e-mail.

I signed the petition and then went to change.gov to send a letter of complaint to the transition team. If you're wondering why I'm ticked off aobut Pastor Warren, I came across this interesting quote from Rep. Barney Frank (a Massachusetts Democrat): "Mr. Warren compared same-sex couples to incest. I found that deeply offensive and unfair." If you want to read the entire article, check it out here.

From what I've read in the news, Obama's team wants to show that they're trying to welcome those of differing opinion and to create a new America. So why does this bother me as I'm not gay? I believe that all Americans deserve to be treated as equals.

While listening to the most recent episode of the Savage Love podcast earlier today, Dan Savage said that having Pastor Warren give the invocation would be like having a white supremist there, comparing the hateful things Pastor Warren has said to how Black Americans would feel if a white supremist had been chosen.

I have to admit that I'm a bit mystified by Obama's choice. Having open arms for all Americans is a good thing, but does that include someone who thinks that the sex gays have is similar to incest. Isn't that a bit extreme?

Yes, we live in a land in which we have freedom of speech so I'm using mine now. Pastor Warren should not give the invocation at Obama's inauguration. How many other pastors have suffered and worked hard to help their flock and Obama's team takes the opportunity to give an olive branch to the conservative right? That doesn't sit well with me and I'm happy to hear that others are speaking out too.

Let me get one thing straight: Obama works for us. It's not the other way around. He's a public servant and our tax dollars pay for his salary. I believe it is our duty as Americans to speak our mind and so I have. I do not want to see Obama pander to those who didn't vote for him. There's a fine line between being all inclusive and fawning.

If you've read this far, I ask for you to have your voice heard too: Speak out. Ask Obama to change his mind and see how his decision to have Pastor Warren give the invocation is hurtful to many Americans.

Santa Claus Visited My House

A quick note to wish everyone happy holidays! The big man in the red suit came to visit today on a fire truck and there was a lot of fun to be had. It's hard to make out but the song that was playing was a spoof of Tom Petty's "Free Fallen." I believe it was "Tree Fallin'"

Macy's Christmas Light Show

Earlier today I took my son in the city of Philadelphia to do some Christmas shopping and to show him the Macy's Christmas light show. The video above is 23 seconds of the show as it's finishing up. I took the video with my Canon camera so the video quality isn't great, but I did want to put the video up to share with everyone. Enjoy and happy holidays!

Watching TV in the 21st Century

Back in 1980, when I was a wee little boy of 9 years old, I remember taking a tape recorder and placing it next to my family's TV to "tape" SP FX Special Effects: Empire Strikes Back. After the show aired, over the days that passed I would replay the tape, listening to the sounds from the show (including all the inteurptions from my family as they moved and walked around or coughed during the show). This was an era before the VCR and I had no other way of recording the show. I only had my memory and I wanted something more permanent. Watching that show helped inspire me to create my own movie with my friends. Even at the tender age of 9, I knew that I wanted to be in control of media and how I used it.

Then came the VCR and I would tape Doctor Who on PBS and other favorite TV shows. I was lucky enough to own a camcorder in my late teens and was able to take video of my first trip to Paris. I over a dozen hours of video that I put together as a two hour tape and adding titles to the video using a genlock on my Amiga. Again, this was 1990 and I experiment with stop animation with the camcorder, taking the video a second at a time and then using dubbing with another VCR to fast forward the video to make it look faster. I had a stereo Sony VCR that enabled you to play tapes a double speed. I'd take the video, record it at a faster speed and then put music on top of it. Not bad for not a lot of money and just for messing around.

But in today's world, camcorders are extremely cheap and with YouTube anyone can broadcast themselves to the world. There are major changes to how I "consume" TV and use video media. Last night while eating a late dinner, my wife and I fired up the laptop and watched several episodes of The Office on Hulu. I don't even waste time taping shows with my DVR. Half the time I forget and then just fire up the computer and go online to watch. I currently divide my watching into two areas: Movies and series on DVD/Blu-ray and sitcoms/current shows that I record using the DVR or watch on Hulu.

In a world in which anyone can use Vuze and Mininova.org to find a show and then download it within a hour, advertisers need to adapt as they're quickly losing (if they haven't lost most already) the audience's attention. If you want to watch a TV show from another country, you can if you know where to look. If you want to see an episode of The Office from three weeks ago, you can online.

But there's limits. I wanted to see an episode of The Office (episode 4 of season 5) and it was no longer online. Sure, I could probably buy it on iTunes or rent it via Comcast's On Demand and I could probably find it on Mininova.org using Bittorrent or Vuze, but with limited time I just passed.

As my children are growing up, I wonder how they will be able to use the internet to watch TV, generate their own content and broadcast their own work out to the world. I only hope they don't take a bath in a Burger King sink and broadcast that!