The Neatorama Show

Please don’t be too harsh; this is my very first video project. I have some ideas for improving the next attempt, but I’ll be glad to take any advice.

Yes, I know I have a hillbilly accent. And yes, I know that’s a chimpanzee and not a monkey, but the site calls it MonkEmail.

It's pretty cool to see someone like you, Miss Celiania, who I have only previously read about in live, talking, accented video.

My idea: why not just stick to some sort of video aggregation for the neatorama video offering? Take snippets of the best videos that you can find on the web and give us some samples. Ectomo's Saturday Morning Cartoon series is a good version of this (although, of course, they traffic in pirated cartoons and I suppose you guys would give us entirely legal internet goodness.) I also think a this of links to direct us places would be useful too. Pretty much anything that could be expressed in a normal blog post I think is inappropriate for web video.

An aside, related to this, I subscribe to a Buddhist podcast and one week they were experimenting with video podcast, and it was a guided meditation, which means that the majority of the umpteen-K video was a guy sitting with his eyes closed.

Anyway, keep up with the good work! I hope your helper liked that mint-chocolate chip milkshake (and that you forced him to clean up the remains of the raisin milkshake.)

great job, miss c! very funny!! i liked the impromptu raisin milk shake-- can't find it, i'll do it myself!! that's the way to do it.

yunno, you could really do a sort-of spoof of mythbusters, only, instead of solving life's dangerous mysteries, you can solve peoples' crazy online riddles from the safety of your home.

or maybe have some short collaborations of local news around the country that leaves you with a sort-of "huh?!" like the "woo woo" video (http://youtube.com/watch?v=n79jSzKA0L8) or the leprachaun video from mobile, alabama (http://youtube.com/watch?v=nda_OSWeyn8&feature=related)

Very nice! The podcast should be called "Neatcast" ! :-)

You know, to make that milkshake you should have put those raisins in hot water for half an hour, so they can rehydrate and become soft, then they will blend.

Thanks, Marcelo!

Kaz, have you done that? Do they still taste like raisins, or do they go back to tasting like grapes?

Are you southern? It's funny that you don't think about those kinds of things until you can see and hear a person.

I live in Kentucky. Whether that's The South is a hotly debated issue.

Please get that cat off the kitchen counter! It is getting kitty litter dust all over your cooking surfaces! Gross!

It's a good thing I don't cook! If I did, it probably wouldn't be on the sink. But I do occasionally clean the kitchen.

Nothing personal was meant by that. I'm just an over-reactive germ-o-phobe! It drives my wife crazy.

I am also going to suggest soaking the raisens in hot water. I do it all the time when I make raisen bread. It does not change the flavor and the raisen do not dry out further while the bread is baking. I am sure they would blend better. I am also suggest vanilla extract with the milk.

Great job on the video. What accent???

Cellina, I adore you and all that you produce for us everyday. I have read your blog everyday now for a few years and this adds a new dimension that brings your being alive for a few minutes. You look beautiful and so happy, thanks for doing all you do for us, peace,Thomasina in San Francisco

Rehydrating the raisins is step one, but if you plan on drinking it, don't forget to let them dry out for a bit afterward. Personally, I'm not a big fan of websites doing videos. I would much rather read the stories than see them. It's probably why I don't own a tv, but do subscribe to three different online newspapers.

If you rehydrate raisins, won't you have grapes?

I think she should use a blendtec blender.... they are suppose to be able to blend almost anything.

Well, here in Brazil we have a flavor of ice-cream made of raisins. In fact it's a vanilla ice-cream with raisins hydrated on RUM. It's quite good, actually. I couldn't find it in English, so I guess it's not common to you folks, but I believe that would be the best suggestion for the milkshake.
Maybe you could try again and check it out.

Its nice to be able to put a voice to Miss Cellania's face. Please make more of these videos. It would be great to see the place where one of my favourite blogs is created, and the computer that has caused you grief over the years!

I was going to suggest soaking the raisins in rum. Please sue some of the suggestions and try the milkshake again.

We all want to see you juggle. Can't juggle? Come to the IJA Annual Festival in Lexington in July and you might be able to learn. I'll teach you myself. (IJA = International Juggling Association)

that wassss....

GREAT!

ok - little overboard perhaps, but you looked and sounded pretty much like what I thought you would - by just looking at your entries

I have no suggestions on raisin re-hydrating, but I make a mean dish of red beans and rice

I like fact Neatorama is largely unpolitical (sorry Alex) and wish it would stay that way. In the upcoming political season, it will be refreshing to go somewhere the thick of battle is far away. I say this as a seasoned political operative - please have an oasis available...

Thank you.

PS - I loved the recent opera posting. My kids liked most of them as well...

That was pretty cool. Keep them coming. :)

I wish the RSS feed on dayrobber was a podcast feed so I could subscribe to this in itunes and watch future episodes on my appletv...

but I liked the episode and hope you keep doing it!

it was so nice to see you! the raisin milkshake attempts made me laugh. & the cat on the bench is hilarious. my cat back home has one of the kitchen benches as his own designated zone (he's pushy and gets his own way(&own bench!)

My God, you have an accent! You don't have one in the emails. No ideas, just enjoy your blogs (all of them)

Sam

I was thinking you could use rum raisin ice cream for the milkshake, and it looks like some others had a similar idea. I hadn't thought of you doing the soaking yourself though, just buying some rum raisin ice cream. I thought it was a very common flavor but maybe I was wrong. Great post by the way!

Miss C, you ROCK!!!

Keep feedin' that blender, and just soak those raisins awhile in RUM. Chocolate rum-raisin smoothies with bananas! They're not just for breakfast anymore-- and they're not just for monkeys either!

Yeah baby!!!

Wow! Neatorama reaches a whole new dimension! This is a great idea, I loved the little featurette thingys you did. Pure genius!

Hey, maybe you and Alex could do a collaboration one with both of you in it... hee hee :D

Something I'd like you to find out for the next episode: How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Thanks. :D

Hey- nice idea with the videos. I know this one was a test, but it would be nice to see the production value upped a bit. Also, perhaps you could get out and interview some interesting people. BoingBoing does some great stuff with video- if I were making a video segment, I would model mine after theirs. Keep it up!

PS loved the milk-shake bit. That was the most interesting portion.

Great job, Miss C! Super Neat!

@GCoastian: I like fact Neatorama is largely unpolitical (sorry Alex) and wish it would stay that way. In the upcoming political season, it will be refreshing to go somewhere the thick of battle is far away. I say this as a seasoned political operative - please have an oasis available…

Yup - I hear you. I try to keep it mostly apolitical, but every now and then it's fun to read people's comments on political posts. Now, if only I can get a conservative to write for Neatorama to balance out Stanhope ...

I think that the rasin shake needs to be made with fruit rather than dairy products. Try watermelon or rockmelon, or fruit with fruit juice.

Thanks, everyone, for the kind words. We are a bit constrained in that 1) Alex is too shy to appear on camera, 2) I live in the middle of nowhere, 3) my equipment is not quite professional grade, and 4) I'll have to drive an hour each way to get rum. But I'll see what I can do!

I want to see Xeni from Boing Boing tv ;)

I've been reading your blog and other posts for a long time and even though I was aware you were from Kentucky I didn't imagine such a thick accent! Well done though.

heh, I'd take on the task of conservative commentator if my plate weren't so full...

but I do love y'alls work -- kudos

I LOVED IT!!!

Since I myself have an accent I actually can't sense yours :P But then English is not my first language.

The thing is with all your pictures from your blog I was expecting to see you wearing glassess, don't you wear them???

:)

alice

Thanks, alice! I wear glasses for everything but computer work, since that distance is where I still see OK (for now). And I wanted to avoid glare from the lighting.

Loved it - I'd like to see a follow up on the raisin milkshake - I too was thinking soaking them would probably do the trick - best.

miss.c,
i sure liked your video! sincere, funny and entertaining. it is so refreshing to see a real (albeit lovely) person in a relaxed setting talking about something interesting and fun. imagine the concept! (and your assistant was adorable.) i'm not going to start in with your accent, who cares, it's charming!

i look to neatorama for fun, quirky and fascinating news--if i wanted the slick, hip treatment i'd go visit style.com (which i do regularly)!
you be you and please keep on keeping on.

Nice to meet you "in person". Your accent is not that thick, and a house is not a home without a kitty on the counter.

Love your accent Miss C but you wouldn't want to hear mine LOL!

And congrats on your project. I think it's a great idea...

I have a suggestion. I'm trying to process yellowcake uranium at home but can't seem to get it right. Is there a way to use raisins and a blender to separate the uranium?

I'd say how hot the hostess is, but that would be an indecent reception >B^D>

It looks like most of the comments about how to get the raisins to blend have been about soaking them first. What about freezing them? If you can get them into really hard little crystalline structures, the blender blades should have an easier time breaking them apart. I think there's a little too much "give" in a regular raisin (and not enough weight) for them to get chopped up, especially if your blender blades are on the thick or dull side. Just my two cents - I might have to go try this now and report back! :)

I agree that freezing might be a smart move. Also, I think more volume so they can't bounce as far from the blades. I'm not sure about the alcohol and milk mixture, but chocolate and raisins are a good bet.

Looking forward to your next video. And maybe at some point you can revisit this subject with some of the above suggestions.

Very cute, I love the southern accent! I was going to suggest marinating the raisins also, I wonder if you could soak them in the chocolate sauce, or kahlua, but I guess that wouldn't be very raisin-ey, would it. Please keep making your mini-movies.

Hey Miss C!

It's been a while and I just stumbled upon Neatorama and here you are looking great on a video! I will bookmark so I can see what I've been missing (I remember telling you years ago you'd be a famous blogger someday, I'd like to go on the record with that and say, I was right!)

Wonderful to finally "meet" you, Miss C! The accent rocks and my cat was asleep on the dinner table last night, so there.

I like the idea of the show (the Neatcast, of course, good name there, Marcelo) being a best of for the previous week's Neatorama postings and suggestions, or however often you want to do the shows. Maybe choose some of the links people send in and highlight them on air instead of posting them on the regular site. And more weird-ass recipes, for sure. Why on earth would people want to drink raisins?

Finally, if you ever find yourself in need of "Sesame Street" or general Muppet advice, then I'm your gal :-) Looking forward to the next show!

Now, how the heck did I miss this :) Nice job!