Glenn Beck, South Park, & Satire

This post is dedicated to all of my family members who watch Glenn Beck and take him seriously. In all fairness to South Park, I think that Glenn Beck really needs to be on Comedy Central (although, that might be insulting to Jon Stewart…) whereas South Park would probably do well on Fox News…

Here is the inspiration for the South Park parody of Glenn Beck. It’s not very difficult to parody ridiculousness.

Flashmob: Oregon State University Valley Library

Hundreds of Oregon State University students took over the Valley Library on Thursday, October 1st. (via the Oregon State University Admissions Blog)

It was a successful flashmob, although I really think that OSU (Oklahoma State University) and UNC (University of North Carolina) have set the bar for successful university flashmobs:

Continue reading Flashmob: Oregon State University Valley Library

OSU football video fail

[flv:http://ericstoller.com/blog/audio/orange.flv http://ericstoller.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/knock-out-orange.png 455 255]

    “I am the last thing they see before the lights go out.

    I am the enforcer.

    I am a giant killer.

    I am Orange.”

I am not orange if this is the way that OSU Athletics is going to promote our football team.

We should not be using the act of making our opponents unconscious as a way to elicit a response from our fan base.

The theme of the video is basically all about gratuitous violence: We are giant killing enforcers who are going to knock you out.

This isn’t the “Beaver Nation” that I want to be a part of and/or associated with.

Update: There is another “I am Orange” video for OSU Football.

In this video, the athleticism of OSU’s football players is celebrated. It’s not about glorified violence, it’s about speed and skill…completely different from the “we’re going to knock you out” video.

Beautiful sand painting

Kseniya Simonova is a Ukrainian artist who just won Ukraine’s version of “America’s Got Talent.” She uses a giant light box, dramatic music, imagination and “sand painting” skills to interpret Germany’s invasion and occupation of Ukraine during WWII. via Huff Post

Orientation video for incoming students

I shot about thirty minutes of video during commencement morning at OSU. It was a cloudy day (so unexpected here in Oregon!) so I amped up the color in iMovie. I asked our graduates if they had any advice for incoming students…”things they wish they had known as first-year students” ;-)

I had a lot of fun interviewing our students…I may make it an annual activity. We show the video at the completion of our college’s orientation session on day 1:

The hi-res version looks great on an auditorium screen.

Made with a Canon HF10, AZDEN Wireless Mics, and iMovie.

Snow in the Quad at OSU

OSU Snow in the Quad
The annual “Snow in the Quad” event occurred last week at OSU. It’s always interesting to see a giant pile of snow in the middle of the Memorial Union Quad in May.


Time lapse video courtesy of the web cam on the roof of Milam Hall.
Music is Tamacun by Rodrigo y Gabriela.

OSU Snow in the Quad