The American Expat

Do you need an expensive camera to vlog? Today I'm setting out to try the iPhone 13 Pro Max in the real world to see if I can get a good enough or better result from a phone that is now a couple generations old. The truth is that you don't need a heavy interchangeable lens camera to make a vlog. In fact, it will only make your life more difficult when you are out walking around. A phone or action camera is perfect in size, weight, and being inconspicuous when recording yourself in the real world.

An announcement was made by the Chief of Police for the city of Pittsburgh, no police for you Pittsburgh. Well, kind of. Due to cutbacks, the force is stretched quite thin, so in an attempt to allocate resources, and to alert criminals of the optimal time period in which they are free to commit crime, the chief of police announced that during the hours between 3AM and 7AM there will only be 27 officers for the entire city of more than 300 thousand people. I want to be fair to the chief of police and assume that he made the announcement not to alert criminals, but to alert residents so that they can take precautions. During that time period, if you experience a problem, there may be no police for you if you live in Pittsburgh. This situation sort of makes me think of Haiti and the trouble they are having. How long before the gangs have more power on the street than the underfunded, understaffed police department?

Today Tik Tok was banned! Well, sort of. The house has passed a bill that has been labeled the Tik Tok ban bill. Assuming it makes it through the Senate, and then gets signed by the President, Tik Tok will be banned, kind of. At that point Tik Tok will have 165 days to divest itself from foreign ownership. Considering the value of the app, I am sure there will be some eager potential buyers. Word has it that there are already some offers out there. We have been told that the app has nothing at all to do with the Chinese government, and so I am sure they have nothing to hide that could be revealed when handed over to a new owner, so I am sure it will go smoothly. Now, if the app really is being used by the Chinese government for some nefarious purpose, it probably will go under rather than be sold. I have never understood Tik Tok myself. I have some experience with its Chinese counterpart Douyin, and have always wondered why we didn't get that version, but either way it will be interesting to see where it all goes over the next several months.

After a disastrous attempt at S-Log footage in a previous video I'm trying out some of the other Sony Creative Looks that come built into the camera. Is it possible to get a great image right out of the box using my Sony a7IV? It may take forever, but eventually we will figure this thing out.

Elon Musk has pointed out that the US government flying 320 thousand unvetted migrants into the country, thats right, they are actively smuggling illegal immigrants into the country, is setting the stage for something far worse than 9/11. I have been watching this unfold in complete confusion as to why the government would open the border as they have. What is their plan for all of these people flooding the country? Some have suggested that they plan to bolster the military with recruits taken from the ever expanding migrant population, but what if they have something else in mind? At the same time the stage is being set for something "far worse than 9/11" there is a lot of talk about World War 3, and NATO troops possibly being sent into Ukraine. With that in mind, the US government cannot legally draft non citizens. Yet, with a massive war shaping up around the world they may need to draft people in order to fill the ranks. If they start drafting large numbers of young able bodied people into service, then it also leaves no one to do all the work necessary back home to supply the nation and the military. What if they are planning to use migrants as cheap labor once they have drafted YOU to go fight in the war?

Today I am starting on the path of my first real film effort. I don't expect much from this venture, and I know it will take quite a bit of time since I am doing it all myself, but I have decided to take the advice from all of you and get started on what I want to do here. Today we are heading out on a very short journey to get a shot needed for the project. Armed with cameras and an ND filter, let's see what we can do here.

Is Youtube success possible? I begin to wonder how one goes about turning a channel, especially one that seems to be handicapped, into a success. Let's face it, the algorithm for most of us is something of a mystery. I have seen countless videos claiming to know the secrets to algorithmic success, but in the end they don't seem to really understand it themselves. I am determined that I am going to figure it all out though, and turn this ship around, somehow.

Does Youtube lead to divorce? In my consumption of Youtube content, I have noticed a pattern with many of my favorite content creators. They will reach a certain level of success, and then all of a sudden they are "moving to a new studio" or are "at their new place" only the new studio or place looks like a dump compared to where they were. Some have come out and simply said they got divorced, others refer to vague "personal issues" and some just never address the blaring obvious situation. What is causing this to happen? Is it just the typical societal statistics playing out in the Youtube world? Or does Youtube lead to divorce? Do they become like rockstars with groupies hanging around? I imagine the wife saying to these stars of Youtube, "thats it! I've had enough of the girls! Get out!". Do these creators let the success go to their heads until their spouse cant stand them anymore? "You aren't the guy in the videos anymore! I want to be married to that guy, but you need to go." What measures can be taken by would be content creators to avoid this eventual pit fall of viral fame? Hep Cats by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Today I provide poignant answers to the questions asked of me from deep within your souls... well, I appreciated the questions anyway.

Is AI coming for Hollywood? Glitchy videos of people eating spaghetti make that sound absurd, but the latest videos look real, and its time to start paying attention. If you work with a camera, chances are AI can replace you for a fraction of the cost. It won't be long before anyone with an internet connection can type their ideas into an AI interface, and get a piece of work on par with a Hollywood blockbuster, but without any of the costs involved. It's bad for anyone working for a major studio, but it could mean that we are on the threshold of a new era of creative freedom.

A Democrat mayor blames Trump for the murder of Laken Riley by an illegal migrant. He also suggests that its your fault for the rhetoric being used against migrants. Apparently we are supposed to just cower with our heads down rather than comment on the possibility that at least some of the people coming across the open border may not be good people, and may even do us harm. Yes, calling this out may result in those bad characters being themselves. While I am sure most of the Illegal immigrants this Democrat mayor is defending are perfectly upright people (outside of the felony crime of entering the country illegally), it would be insane to believe that no bad apples made it through when the current administration turned the other way, and in some cases facilitated all of this illegal immigration. At this point an entire army, or even multiple armies could have come across that border and we wouldn't know about it.

Warm weather means warm weather chores around the house, but today I am out in the woods exploring

A week ago (thereabouts) I began intermittent fasting. Seems we have run into a fasting failure, sort of. Fasting didn't seem to have any impact other than feeling hungry in the morning. No added energy (are you surprised?) no noticeable benefits, seems like a fasting failure to me. As a result I have decided to discontinue the intermittent fast. Well, despite the fasting failure, and the decision to abandon it, I seem to have gotten into the habit of not eating in the morning. Wether it's a matter of laziness in not wanting to cook breakfast, or just a healthy habit I don't know for sure. We do have Captain Crunch in the house, so it cant be laziness since I never decided to eat that. I guess its just habit now. So now I find myself in the position of continuing the fast while having decided to abandon it. A reverse psychology trick perhaps? Who knows, but now we move on from the fast and the fasting failure forever, for now. I can't keep fasting. My intermittent fast failed. What happens when you stop fasting? What are the benefits of intermittent fasting? Should I keep fasting?

Big changes are coming to Youtube. Word on the street is that Youtube sees the weakness of the world of television, and they're taking advantage of the moment. Thats right, they're moving in on the living room to compete for your eyes and ears. What does that mean exactly? What are the big changes coming to Youtube? I expect that some have noticed it already. The successful creator, among other things that I do not possess, will need to upload frequently and on a tight schedule, just like television. When you go to watch your favorite television show, you know it will come on at a certain time, on a certain day. This might become very important to success with the big changes coming to youtube. Big Changes are coming to Youtube, lots of big changes are coming to Youtube. What are the changes coming to Youtube? Youtube has some big changes coming along. What has changed at Youtube?

Do you make videos? Then you probably need a lav mic in your life. I bought one for a project I was working on, found out it didnt work for the project, and forgot about it. Today I'm getting it back out for another try. The key here is that the closer to you the mic is, the better you will sound, or at least thats the theory. Does it work well enough? Will this allow me to turn my head and still be heard just as well? Was it worth the $50 I spent on it in the end? Why does my face look like that?

There is word from the border about some very unusual activity. Are we in danger of a Pearl Harbor type attack?

Have you noticed all the videos in camera Youtube talking about the film look? Or the cinematic look? The other day I even came across one talking about how to get the disposable look. Just what is the film look exactly? I guess people have become tired of modern movies, you know the ones where you can see into the depths of every shadow, leaving no bad guys a place to hide. It's as if everything has been filmed at mid day. Someone, after watching one of these 2 dimensional films must have turned on the 80s classic Blade Runner and been blown away. I can almost hear them saying it, "what is this place where shadows are dark, and everything is grimy? It must be because of the film!" I don't believe it is because Blade Runner was recorded on 35mm film, it's probably because the people who made the movie understood how light works, and how things look in the real world, and the use of smoke. The reason modern films look so terrible may also be linked to the incredible dynamic range of modern cameras. Cinematographers and photographers alike must be thinking that because the cameras have such dynamic range, they must use it in every single shot.

Did you think the Donald Trump ruling was targeted at Trump? I've got news for you, and a bit of a warning, it's targeted at every person who owns property in the United States. Donald Trump, like many of you, approached the bank seeking a loan in order to purchase property. The bank assessed the value of the property in question, and the assets Trump was using to get the loan, and decided it was good. Thats not all, Trump paid back the loan, the bank got their money, everything went well. The government in New York, out of nowhere, decided on their own that Trump had obtained loans fraudulently. Despite testimony by the bank to the contrary, the judge in the case ruled without trial that Trump was guilty. They then fined him an unplayable amount, and are planning to take his properties. Who gets the property? Its not the bank, its the government. Let me say that again, the bank that was supposedly defrauded does not get the properties, the government does. I have seen this story before, in China, under Mao. Take notice, because they will use this same mechanism to take your property from you.

Should you upgrade to full frame? Any content creator spending time online has probably come across people talking about the latest and greatest full frame cameras, but is it really worth the cost of upgrading from your smart phone or crop sensor camera? If you saw footage from the two side by side would you be able to tell the difference? Today we are going to find out just that by filming very similar clips with an APSC (crop sensor) Sony a6500, a full frame Sony a7iv, and finally an iPhone 7. Will you be able to tell the difference? Will I be able to tell the difference? Hopefully seeing them like this helps with the decision. #cameratest

I'm trying out intermittent fasting. Why? I have been feeling tired here and there, maybe not having the clarity of thought I would like to have, and not wanting to rely on coffee, I thought it might be time to start improving my health. It seems that you don't eat during certain parts of the day, in my case I chose morning and night for that. Coffee is allowed, but what coffee to choose? The experience is not easy, though not as difficult as you might imagine. Let's see if this turns out to be the solution for my current health status.

Why does everything suck now? Oh hey! Welcome to the underground you rebel scum, this is the American Expat. This question has me struggling to get out of bed and face the world. Why does everything suck now? Don’t worry, I’ve actually been up for hours, that’s why my hair’s all fixed. Finally out of bed and ready to work, we can tackle the genesis of my question about why everything sucks now. My son was sick the other day, and finding myself without necessary supplies to deal with it, namely a thermometer, I went to Wal-Mart in search of said supplies. Unfortunately they were closed, and so was everyone else that might have what I needed. When I left the country everything was 24/7, it was so convenient. What happened? How did we go backward? Another thing that sucks now is the supermarket. Anything good or healthy costs a fortune. I brought up this fact with someone, and to my surprise they had a fit. They started foaming at the mouth telling me about how the economy was better than ever, and to look at the stock market. What has the stock market got to do with the supermarket? Besides that, isn’t it the same thing? Both markets keep getting more and more expensive. A regular poor like me can’t even think of getting into the stock market, its hard enough to buy bread. Another example of everything sucking these days is fast food. I went to McDonalds and was charged about 10 dollars for a Big Mac the other day. What’s the federal minimum wage now? $7.25 per hour? Can you imagine anyone agreeing to do a job for an hour and a half if they were told all they would be getting is a Big Mac at the end? No wonder young people aren’t interested in work, everything sucks now. Somehow we have to fix things so that it doesn’t suck anymore.

What should you expect when going to China as a foreigner? What about going to rural China as a foreigner? This video explores Fengyang country, a small city in China’s Anhui province. The place is small, but once it was to be the capital of an empire. Back then it was called Ming Zhongdu. Before the site could be completed, the first Ming emperor was prevailed upon by his advisers to move the location to modern day Nanjing. This was his hometown though, at least it was nearby. It’s a fascinating place, and I hope you join us for a look around.

What's the best camera for viral videos? According to many social media gurus out there, a new camera is the solution to all that ails your efforts. Is that true though? Im not going to beat around the bush here, you probably don't need a new camera. The one you have is the best one for you, to get started anyway.

Today the big journey begins. My son and I are on the big journey to France where we will meet up with my wife. The big journey is, well, quite big, starting in West Virginia, then going through Atlanta Georgia, to Paris, and then all the way to Dijon. I hope you will join us for The Big Journey, and everything else to come.