Thursday, July 7, 2011

Stuff That Happened - 7.8.2011

Season 2 commences. (Note to self: It confuses people when I 'release' a new episode ahead of its scheduled/cited date. Mmmkay.)

Saturday, June 25, 2011

R.I.P. MJ, on this second anniversary.

So, as today is the second anniversary of the sad, sudden death of the biggest star EVER (I said it), Michael Jackson, I thought I'd take this opportunity to dust off my piece from March 2005 on the man -- it's been a little while. (Update: I've also added this in podcast form at http://soundcloud.com/micahwhite/ripmj.)

This was actually a speech for a public speaking class, and I got an A on it, natch. While it is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, like I do, rest assured I stand by everything in it. For better or for worse!

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“The Love You Save”. “ABC”. “I Want You Back” … and that’s just the Jackson 5 material! Say what you will, but Michael Jackson has given us hours of great music. I could go on to “Thriller”, “Beat It”, and “Billie Jean”, but I’ve made my point. Michael Jackson is an influential part of American and worldwide pop culture. And that is why this litigation needs to stop.

Frankly, I don’t care if he did all of those … things. When you consider that wealth of musical quality that he has given to the universe, don’t you think we owe him something? Now, don’t get me wrong; the allegations are quite serious. I just don’t think he did it. Hell, if he did, shame on the parents! They all agreed to let their children crawl into bed with “Daddy Michael”. Sure, it’s easy to say, “OK,” when the man is worth millions of dollars, and lives in his own zip code. Ch-ching! C’mon! “Ease On Down the Road”! “Heal the World”! “We Are The World”! Each one, magic. But again, I digress.

And on top of the time, money, blood, sweat, and tears he’s contributed to the entertainment industry, he’s still going strong, even with all the court dates, back pains, and the flu. Just last week I watched the most riveting hour of television since the OJ Bronco chase in June ‘94. Last Thursday morning, Michael failed to show up to court, citing back problems. The judge wasn’t buying it. In fact, he issued a bench warrant, threatening that if Michael did not show up within the hour, he would revoke his $3 million bail, and take him into custody. I was glued for a good hour. Jacko’s lawyer pacing on his cell phone … CNN correspondents saying the same nothingness over and over again … that annoying scroll. Great stuff! And the hour went by with no Michael, opening a whole new chapter; would the judge take him into custody upon his arrival. And when Michael finally did show up, mere minutes past the deadline, he still did not disappoint. The frail guy shows up with unkempt, uncombed hair, and – God help him – blue pajamas! You literally cannot write this stuff.

So thank you, Michael; thank you. I, too, say: Not guilty! And once these awful charges are dropped, I wish you many more decades of entertaining. Now, go have a spin on the Neverland merry-go-round; it’s on me.

Stuff That Happened - 6.17.2011

Episode #0004, the season finale, in which a cliff is hung.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Stuff That Happened - 6.10.2011

Well, Episode #0003 was an on-location show, and somehow managed NOT the jump the shark! ... I think! I think we're now officially ready for a clip show. Okay, maybe after a few more shows.

Enjoy!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Stuff That Happened - 6.3.2011

Well, I acquired some new software, which basically created a monster. Here's Episode #0002 of "Stuff That Happened. (Electric Boogaloo.) Production quality is obviously a million times improved, but I definitely went off the deep end, as far as audiovisual complements... to the tune of approximately 68 pictures, 14 videos, 5 music bed clips, and 8 sound effects or theme songs. Yowsah! Future episodes will be somewhere the first two episodes; let's put it that way.

Anyway, enjoy!

Friday, May 27, 2011

Stuff That Happened - 5.27.2011


Whoa, this thing's still here! Well, might as well use it to post my new thing that may or may not take off/become a regular habit. I culled some of the week's news, as well as my witticisms from Twitter, and voila!

As/if this progresses, I'll work out the kinks. As it was, the digital world was against me on this endeavor. My audio came out a good second ahead of the video (which drives me crazy). Then, I didn't realize that I couldn't embed the photos into the original file, so I had to finish editing and producing everything else, THEN I ran it through a program that would let me overlay photos live ("We'll do it LIVE!", a la '90s Bill O'Reilly). Then, I discovered that the picture-in-picture feature in said program was non-negotiable, and as such, I should've been further into one corner of the frame or the other. Lessons learned! Anyhow, here you go. [UPDATE: A little birdy assisted me in acquiring kick-ass software to closer produce the vision in my mental l'il head. HQ version is now embedded below.]