Killing time

   Up until not too long ago, like I'm talking the last approximately ten years, I used to watch more television, you know, the Simpsons, and Sienfeld. And of course the news on occasion, that is, until kids came along, both figuratively and literally, wanting to watch the frenetic and mind numbing pre-teen animations that tend to rattle my brain far too quickly, relegating me to a laptop, PC, or tablet looking for anything not dripping with transformer-esque graphics and childish innocence.

 

 In comes youtube. Finally something worth watching (lets not kid one another, real life beats the trappings of Facebook any day). The real stories with and without motorcycles. Travel, "how-to" videos -  an awesome resource - and endless reviews. Mostly though I stick to the motorcycle related channels, car or "gearhead" focused stuff and those related to travel.  

 So there's a lot of "look at me", and the onslaught of requests to subscribe to all the channels. And yes, it's narcissistic in nature but aren't we all?? I've even thought about doing my own channel but couldn't see myself constantly seeing myself in the camera, admittedly out of fear and a lack of confidence. Do you have to constantly be talking into the damn action camera? Actually, no. I was surprised to stumble on a lowkey vlogger located, at the time, in Bali, a place I can't get enough of. This vlogger had an ambient style music as a garnish to his amazing scenery, and footage of himself going about his day. I could actually see myself in his daily activity on Bali; capturing each moment whether traveling on a motorbike - a crazy experience any day on Bali - or simply eating, walking to the beach, etc. I was fascinated and not distracted by a constant describing or narrating. Each video was somewhat short, not more than 10 minutes typically. I'm actually ok with 20, 30 or even an hour video but the latter is rare. 

 I'm also surprised with how talented people are with editing and using different formats like overdubbing dialogue as a narration, as apposed to talking while filming. Maybe adding voice after, sitting alone in a room and choosing the words more carefully, is easier to accomplish instead of having to talk into the camera. Personally I feel I look awkward when filming myself but it may just be me. Strangely I think it would be cathartic to practice talking into a camera. Next bike trip I'll make a more concerted effort to sharing my thoughts and perspective on what I'm filming, and get out of my comfort zone. And maybe it'll suck. But maybe not.