BlogDogIt

Summertime from Michel De Meester on Vimeo.

Not long ago the BlogDogIt article "Bitchkoemer and Friends Go to Fano" was inducted into the K+Club (a place of honor for posts that receive over 1000 hits.) This is a story featuring a travelogue wherein three "amigos" take a motorhome on an excursion to Fano for a week of Beach Buggy hijinks in conjunction with the 2009 Fano Kite Festival in Denmark.

As I was moving that article to the K+Plus hall of distinction I was devastated to learn that the original website I discovered - that commemorated their trip - had been taken off the air (yes, that is a pun.) I was however, relieved to find the embedded video (hosted on Vimeo) was still available. In the process of investigating this business I found that Michel "Bitchkomer" De Meester had recently added a couple of videos of himself playing saxophone in what appeared to be a dimly lit jazz club. One of these videos (featured above) is of a very respectable jam session among several talented artist coming together to cover the George Gershwin classic - "Summertime"

The video lacked a description and gave no indication of the location or purpose of this performance; if not for the presence of that quarky little leather overnight case, emblazoned with the hand-painted word(s) "HerbieBlues" - situated mid-stage - I might never have learned the identity of the harmonica virtuoso, who was conspicuously absent from his signiture sachel. It was a search on "HerbieBlues" that revealed the hidden world of this most unique performer.

Lucky for you that the hard part is over, all you need do now is click the play buttons on the clips that follow. So prepare to be entertained. If this selection serves to "whet your whistle" click on the HerbieBlues logo below and visit Harbert Grezel's website and get to know this mouth-organ master.

Enjoy! 

Custom Logo By masodo

My bookshelf has long been home to one of my all-time favorite non-fiction books: "Pirating Plants: The Gardener's Guide to Getting Something for Nothing" (1975 - Tobey Publishing Co.) This is a book I refer to often for both the information it contains as well as the swashbuckling entertainment it provides. In a purely innocent "where are they now" internet search for its author, Peter Tobey, I found myself emerged in some of the most enjoyable internet I have encountered in quite some time.

Thanks to his LinkedIn profile, I discover that not only is Peter Toby alive and well (a genuine concern often expressed toward those of my contemporaries who tend to exist mainly in my memory) but find him to be the CEO of an East Coast boutique marketing agency by the name of Fuse & Company. Among the impressive display of clients listed in this companies portfolio section of their website is one aptly (if not redundantly) named "EncoreAgain."

After exploring the highly effective e-commerce solution developed by Fuse & Company for EncoreAgain, I immediately sought and secured permission to share elements of his self-described "Tobey-esque" website with the readers of BlogDogIt and encourage each and every one of you to visit this most unique creation and by all means take full advantage of the "Once in This Lifetime Offer" presented therein (and only hinted at below...)  

Everyone understands, intuitively, that death is bad. So are misery, grief and hopelessness. Yucky conditions, each, that doom some lives, gone wrong and headed nowhere. Until now. Suddenly, for a limited time only, change your universe, putting a move on destiny, free.

We offer a remedy for every woe. Not just a better life, not merely 'improved.' We're talking a whole new ball of wax: Reincarnation.

Normally, our double-your-money-back offer guarantees the future of your choice for a measly $2.95. But, for a limited time only, you can request a 60-Day Free Trial Reincarnation. If you aren't happy with our service, pay nothing. And, for simply trying us out, keep the glorious Certificate of Guarantee with our complements.

The Re-do Guru

P.S. Finding a better life is just the start. You can also give a really nightmarish existence to some deserving louse. (Can you think of anyone?) Check out our "Send a Scum Some Doom" gift program. This too is free for a little while, certificate and all. Better hurry.

Neophytes to the reincarnation process should review our How It Works section.

Step by Step - In easy to understand terms, we review the requirements for pondering, selecting and securing a rich and rewarding future life.

Gifts - Giving a new existence is different from shopping for yourself. We offer some cautions.

Scum - If you know someone whose ethical DNA is directly descended from the stuff growing on the surfaces of ponds, we have a plan for you.

Start now. All you have to do is click How It Works.

This dynamic duo wails from South Cali and continually deliver to the interwebs an infectious vibe and unique freshness to the delight of every ear to turn their way. To that end, I present this pair for the purpose of promotion with a public proclamation that these particular people posess a potent power in their performances that positively personifies perfection. That being said... please join Paul and Tarah as they pull up a curb and cover Al Green's legendary "Let's Stay Together." I am sure you will agree this is a magical set.

Enjoy!

But don't stop there... The Fair Wells have beaucoup selections to offer all their fans. So if - like me - you really dig these sultry, southern singer-songwriters then you should - by all means - spend some time exploring their YouTube, SoundCloud and all their linkity-links presented below:

After taking a little time off from blogging to recover from a debilitating, unannounced GoDaddy server swap^† I am happy to report BlogDogIt has (finally) been upgraded to the latest version of GeekLog CMS (GL_2.1.2 up from GL_1.8.1.) I had been putting off the upgrade because so much of the new system was not directly compatible with the older system, but when I could not get BlogDogIt to run on the new server I decided to "take the plunge" and do the update.

Although I had backups of the website complete with database I was still concerned since the tables used to store the articles were not the same as the backed-up version and required modification of the existing data structure to make it readable, so as to restore all articles to the BlogDogIt archives.

It was a learning experience that - in all likelihood - served to up my geek score a few points. It highlighted the fact that I do indeed know enough to be dangerous but also restored my confidence in my ability to learn what I needed to know to get the job done. There are still a few features around here that have yet to be restored (if you noticed any of them missing then bless your heart.)

After working so hard behind the scenes - up to my belt-loops in code - I have been itching to get back to the entertaining task of posting to this blog (in an effort to get that whole episode behind me.) It is only natural to wish to record for posterity the events of the last couple of weeks but I was torn as to whether I should share this tale or just opt for the usual sharing with y'all of something interesting that I've happened upon while perusing the interwebs.

Since I had not really taken the time to enjoy the internet at large lately, I instead choose to rely on my email inbox that today shared with me a suggestion from Ello.co that featured Lucya Koroleva; the creator of the goofy little gifs that now adorn this article. Those who regularly follow BlogDogIt will know I have an underutilized fascination with stop-motion animation (clay and otherwise - see The Great Race - among others) so you will have little trouble understanding why I chose to use these active little images as apt illustrations for this piece.

After following Lucya (nothingisfunny) on ello.co I was anxious to discover which (if any) other vehicles she has chosen to utilize to highlight her craft - I was rewarded with quite a number of sites and would like to share the following introduction made by the artist in a BoredPanda article:

I Make Short Claymations For Fun
Hi! Just wanted to share silly short claytoons, that I make. Shot on an iPhone attached to a tripod that is wrapped around a wine bottle, which is taped to the table - the usual setup in my "studio". Thanks for taking a look!

 Explore the fascinating world of Lucya Koroleva
with the following links:

https://ello.co/nothingisfunny
https://nothingisfunny.tumblr.com/
https://www.instagram.com/ohmannothingisfunny/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/nothingisfunny
https://www.depop.com/nothingisfunny
http://www.boredpanda.com/author/if_the_kids_r_united/
https://medium.com/@nothingisfunny
https://www.facebook.com/nothingisfunnystore/

Old dog, new tricks -
A robot that looks like K9 that actually works...

The BlogDogIt claim of "sharing interesting stuff when I find it"™ would be of no effect if I did not share with you the internet offerings of Richard Hopkins...

In November of 2012 Richard opened his Blog with the following words:

I'm a forty-something IT professional and this blog is about what I learned by building my first robot. Most people would probably start with something simple, but that's not my style. Sink or swim. So my first robot will be as near a facsimile of Doctor Who's dog K9 as I am capable.

And there can be little doubt in those capabilities. In the past few years Richard has made a great deal of progress in the creation of his man/doctor's-best-friend replica and has shared the process on his blog, "http://k9-build.blogspot.com"

The Video presented here was actually my first encounter with the robotic pursuits of Mr. Hopkins. I hope you take the time to watch this (admittedly dated) video clip. If you are anything like me, you will want to delve deeper into this digital doggie development.  
Enjoy!

Gorillas, also known under the source code's file name Gorilla.Bas, is a video game first distributed with MS-DOS 5 and published in 1991 by IBM corporation. It is a turn-based artillery game. The game consists of two gorillas throwing explosive bananas at each other above a city skyline. The players can adjust the angle and velocity of each throw, as well as the gravitational pull of the planet. Written in QBasic, it is one of the programs included as a demonstration of that programming language.
[Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorillas_(video_game)]

Here is an attempt at a near pixel perfect remake of Qbasic Gorillas in ActionScript 3.0 Source code available at https://github.com/moly/Flash-Gorillas

QBasic Gorillas - Deluxe Edition 2.2 open source: http://telcontar.net/Misc/Gorillas/

We’ve launched a new open source initiative to document the health of the Internet.

Check out the prognosis: https://t.co/qQkLIX0JLU pic.twitter.com/Et9daoJZ5t

— Mozilla (@mozilla) January 19, 2017

Fast Becoming A Christmas Classic...

The Video: https://youtu.be/PjdJMgBnJx0

Copyright Held By: Поросенок - сериал студии "Пилот"

For More Piglet Series Videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/pigletseries/videos

Killer Klown - by Kristof Hermans

Found at TheDig

Four Artificial Intelligence (AI) Chatbots sitcom experiment -Winterblessed

Winterblessed

We setup four Cleverbot chatbots in a way so that they would be able to converse with each other in attempt to create an ad-hoc sitcom.

Each line of dialogue is chosen by the first Cleverbot response to each sentence spoken. In some instances, where two responses were recorded at the same time, both lines were included.

See the original experiment here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vphmJEpLXU0

Written and Directed by Ariel Martin

Enjoy!

The iMom from Ariel Martin on Vimeo.

The iMom is an award winning short film by Ariel Martin
See more at arielmartin.com.au

CAST:
iMom     MATILDA BROWN
Mother     MARTA DUSSELDORP
Sam     KARL BEATTIE
Grace     INDIA ROSEAREE NAMPETCH
iMom Presenter     CURT BONNEM
iMom Testimonials
    TOM KIESCHE
    ERIN MATTHEWS
    AVI ROTHMAN
    LARA EVERLY
    VALENTINE MIELE
    MICHELLE GUNN with GRACE GUNN
IMom  Model EMMACAM

Koester de kleine dingen
Cherish the little things

Sometimes it's the little things that have the greatest impact (especially when you least expect that they even could.)

The featured video was found as a result of The Dig. [See:Cyberspace-Archeology - "The Dig"] It was not an obvious discovery but one I had to work at...

---

The thumbnail image here shows the "Homepage" of Joris Dergez; you can click it to visit it but trust me, this is all there is to it. By all appearances this is a non-functioning website - but is it? The simple design is actually telling us quite a bit: Joris Dergez has a home on the internet, his navigation menu suggests studying, acting and directing and invites us to contact him. The inclusion of a black and white head-shot further suggests a working entertainer with an eye toward self promotion. His labeling of the footer of his page as "Footer" at first glance might give the impression of an unfinished template (I have seen scads of those on telenet.be) and the word "Socialmedia" might also appear to be a placeholder for all those social media badges that seem to be the rage these days. But this is what it tells me: "Hi I am Joris Dergez. I am a student of acting and directing. You know how this works. Look me up!" So that is exactly what I did. Based on what I am finding it is safe to say, this will require a little more digging.

I sincerely hope you too will enjoy the following bit of "Pay-Dirt"...

The Video: https://youtu.be/WaY1UyovtFE

The more time spent surfing the internet the more difficult it becomes to actually follow anyone at all. Sometimes it's like trying to spot a familiar face in a crowded train station or catch a glimpse of a shooting star. With all the various social media outlets available to meet and ostensibly "follow" the activities of folks it is so easy to miss an important event. The inevitable outcome of this is those who you were really interested in at a certain point in time will find themselves cast aside in favor of newer (perhaps more interesting) discoveries. But as that song taught to so many Girl Scouts goes: "Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold."

Today while "making the rounds" I spied a nugget worthy of sharing...

It was 8 months ago when I was afforded a special screening of Cindy Maples' Directorial Debut Film titled "Random" and posted a review here on BlogDogIt. [see: Director: Cindy Maples  ] Today I discovered that this film has been released via Cindy's YouTube channel for all to see. I invite you to put yourself in "film festival" mode and thoroughly immerse yourself in approximately seven minutes of raw creativity.

Enjoy!

The Video: https://youtu.be/uOURyE2UwQc

You Should Truly Follow @cindymaples [smiley:thumbup]

You know me... always on the lookout for good stuff on the internet. The good kind of stuff that - in all likelihood - you would never discover without the dedication of yours, truly searching and exploring areas of the World Wide Web that otherwise elude the masses.

Once again I was called back to continue the work I had begun in sifting through all those many links at "The Dig"  As you may (or may not) be aware, "The Dig" is an alphabetical listing of user websites from the Belgian ISP "telenet." Working my way through this seemingly endless list I found myself in the "H" section. It was through a link on /hellzapoppin/ that I discovered the amazing work of John Erbuer in the form of three film clips that - when viewed consecutively - offered a 20 minute excerpt from his 52 minute "musicomentary" titled "THE SOUND OF THE MARACATU - The making of Chuva em pô"

In this video we accompany John as he joins the Belgain world music group Think Of One in Recife, Brazil  as they immerse themselves in the North-East Brazilian culture and Maracutu -, Frevo -, Ciranda and Coco music. This excursion ultimately lead to the creation of their seventh album Chuva Em Pô  (which has been described as a "World Record.")

Infectious music combined with masterful camera work really serve to make this a must-see video...

Enjoy!

The Video: https://youtu.be/NEyJByOpyfE?list=PLYU4MB6l0CvUONvQI4MVkGJPqljgbBEIo

"'Think of One' ... would like you to think of one world with all its musical threads coming together in a multicultural celebration of rhythm and song. Formed by Flemish guitarist/vocalist David Bovée, Think of One pose the question "Why can't we all just get along?" in musical terms, and they are willing to travel the globe to prove that, in fact, we can." Dave Lynch, Rovi - for MTV_Artists_BETA 
 

John Erbuer | Film Maker

john(at)erbuer.com
BLOG    YOUTUBE