iReports critique

First one I looked at was simply a picture of carved pumpkins that lead into the shortest story I think I've ever seen. Basically this guy wants better results from Occupy Wallstreet. Wasn't very informative and didn't do him justice.

The second was a video about a voodoo ritual in Haiti. It had a viewers discretion block on it but I'm not sure I understand why. It was interesting trying to figure out what was happening because no one is narrating. A 14 year-old girl is leading the reporter through the ritual but its hard to tell what its about.

The third I watched was a music video apparently created to raise awareness to African people that they are not receiving good medication. It didn't describe which medications or what they are being used for but it the message was to make sure you are getting good medicine and not bad.

Menu Ideas

Cranberry Spinach Salad with homemade cider vinaigrette

Baby spinach, cranberries, sliced almonds and goat cheese.

looking for a vinaigrette recipe

Maple Sweet potato Bisque

Looking for a recipe

Autumn Pork Loin Roast with apples, sweet potatoes and cubed butternut squash

adding carrots, onions and maybe celery.

Rub for pork

coarse salt and pepper, cayenne, cumin, garlic maybe some ginger possibly maple. mixed with olive oil.

Pumpkin Roll with maple cream cheese filling

Slideshow project preview

I'm thinking that I would do best with a cooking lesson. I love to cook and my friends and I were already looking forward to spending a day in my kitchen, so my thought is to do a full meal (haven't decided courses yet) and perhaps even a paired cocktail. We'd start with pics of grocery shopping for the day and then of all of us getting to work with specific pictures for certain instructions. I'm thinking of doing voice over for instructions and having music and/or us talking in the background. We'll probably have music playing anyway cuz we like to jam out like dorks when we're together. I have to get my friends' ok but that shouldn't be hard just difficult to get us all together with a full day to cook. But that's my plan for now, need to go make a menu.

Photo Gallery

http://www.photographysites.com/galleries/g514-travel.html

On this site there were many excellent photos but the problem was that the theme of the gallery didn't stay with each artist. You would have photos within the theme that all were cohesive but you didn't have them from one artist so you could not tell a story with them. Photo galleries can make a story but not always which is why I think slideshows are better for the average storytelling unless you are doing a photo editorial which is planned out to tell a story. There are plenty of photo coffee table books but the majority of the photos are accompanied by some text. With a slideshow you can automatically add the text into the slide making it more effective.

Slideshow with sound

http://animoto.com/sample-videos

It's Sample Video "Fun on the Go"

I love this one because it mixes all of the photos with some video as well so you capture the whole day. It also has catchy music in the background that gets you in a good mood and makes the experience of the photos that much better. I also like the text inserts that further the story of that day so you aren't guessing about whats happening.

More Slideshowing

http://mypicpals.com/view-slideshow.php?sid=214834

I realize I already have one without sound but I really liked this slideshow. I felt like it was more of a photo gallery in motion but it is a really neat idea. I've seen some of this artwork before but the people were new and entertaining.

Update 10/17/11

After reading the text I realize that it isn't a photo gallery by definition. A photo gallery is usually set up in thumbnail format therefore this is just another slide show.

Slideshow critique 1

http://www.slideshow.com/users/shine02396/ninja-trio--1196738850

I looked at this slideshow because I was once an anime geek and watch a few episodes of this particular anime.

I felt that the slides moved a bit too fast considering the amount of text that you need to read. Plus the images in the background sometimes made it difficult to read the text. I do like that pictures, especially the beginning one and the way the beginning pictures and the ending picture are similar so it provides a connection. I'm not sure having fall leaves as the background theme is appropriate for the anime but it doesn't look all that bad.

Some audio for podcast project

https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=c752c7aba1&view=att&th=132f5d220d5cf1de&attid=0.1&disp=safe&realattid=1382425869198980598-1&zw

editing podcast exercise

Podcast Viewing

The first podcast I looked at was actually a video podcast called Scam School and from what I watched they followed this one guy who scammed people or made them do impossible brainteasers. It was interesting at first but gets old after a while.

The second I found was only audio, called CD Baby, it puts together a collection of new music this group has discovered. They do it from all over and have a lot of variety and even started a sister podcast for the new metal music they have come across. This one was really neat because I love finding new music and this one is free.

The third one that I found, I thought it was going to be funny because its a comedy skit by Mark Maron called WTF? I didn't really find any of it to be funny, it was mostly him rambling and that got boring.

Interactive Map Project

View Health Scores-Saint Johnsbury, VT in a larger map

This is an interactive map or eight restaurants in St. Johnsbury Vermont. They range from Fast Food to High End dining experiences. All of the restaurant icons are accompanied by a picture, the health score they were given by the Health Department, their hours, and a brief paragraph of our experiences of eating at them. All of our restaurants scored above 80 points so they are clean and suitable places to eat. None of them scored a perfection 100 but I would imagine it would be difficult to reach a score of 100 in the food service industry.

This map was a collaborative effort among four students in Intro to Multi-Media Storytelling.