Monday, 01 November 2010
6K Update:
Okay, so I ran the course again during my lunch break today, marking the ninth time I have done so in less than a month.
I am happy to report that I bested my personal record by approximately 24 seconds. This is good news. What’s even better is that, when I was within site of the finish line, I saw that I was still some two minutes under my best time, so I stopped running and took it easy. I walked for about a minute, then began running again. So, that’s good because, if I can do the same thing on Friday, then I will definitely beat my time.
My plan now, especially in view of having lost a day last week, is to run on Wednesday of this week. However, I don’t want to completely wear myself out, so on Wednesday I will only run to the 1K marker, then turn around and come back. This means I’ll only be running for about a third the normal distance.
If I can do that, I should be in good shape for Friday. Or rather, I’ll be in the best shape I can be in.
Tuesday, 02 November 2010
Today I completed three more in my endless queue of filmlets.
Here they are:
As a personal request, if you do watch them, please subscribe to my page (if you haven’t done so already). Also, feel free to “like” or “dislike” them using the icons shown below each video.
Now let me answer some questions about them:
Q. Why did I make them?
A. Well, I wasn’t going to. I thought the Watchtower Society’s other new brochure from this year, The Origin of Life, much more fascinating from a cult-indoctrination perspective. That’s why I hurriedly created this filmlet. However, as you can see from some of the comments there, a few people asked if I’d be making a similar documentary regarding the other brochure. Additionally, a friend of mine said that he’d been in contact with one of his Witness relatives, and that relative said the brochure Was Life Created bolstered his faith in creationism. Needless to say, I felt I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to point out some of the brochure’s flaws.
Q. Fine, but then what took you so long? These brochures came out last summer, and you finished your other video back in July.
A. As noted here before, two major events (wedding ceremony + subsequent wedding video, and the birth of my daughter) both ensured I wouldn’t finish any personal projects for quite some time. Nevertheless, though the brochures were released at conventions in the United States during May-September of this year, they are still being released worldwide. Most Asian and south-of-the-Equator nations, for example, still won’t see the brochures for months. So the videos are still very timely.
Q. Okay, but why did you make only one video of the Origin of Life brochure, but three videos discussing Was Life Created?
A. That’s a great question, and I’m glad you asked. you might notice that the Origin of Life video is 9 minutes and 35 seconds long. The three Was Life Created videos, on the other hand, are each around three minutes long. So, the total content is still (nearly) the same.
Q. That doesn’t answer my question.
A. Oh – right, I wasn’t finished. See, here’s something else I realized: the average YouTube user has a very short attention span. Go figure, right? Take a look at my YouTube home page, and you’ll see that the video that has received the most views is this one: Inside the Watchtower Society’s World Headquarters. It’s received thousands of more views than any other videos on my page. It was the most hastily made video on there; it has the lowest production quality; and, in my opinion, it’s the most boring one. So why so many views? It’s gotta be the length. Every other video I’ve uploaded there is between 9 and 10 minutes. So, methinks people get bored. So, I’m trying something new here: brevity! I’m gonna make the prediction that these three videos will, in time, become the three most viewed videos on my page.
Q. Any more Watchtower-related videos coming down the pipeline?
A. I do have another one in the works; but I’ve been struggling with it for several months now. I may just scrap it. Time will tell.