Cory Forsyth » video

Scotland on Rails videos are up

cory — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:43:50 +0000

Here's mine, from my talk "Who Needs Photoshop? Creative Image Manipulation in Ruby." This was my first time speaking at a conference. Do I look as nervous as I felt?

Who Needs Photoshop? at Scotland on Rails from bantic on Vimeo.

Engineyard is hosting the rest of the Scotland on Rails videos.

My talk at Scotland On Rails

cory — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:58:44 +0000

I had the opportunity to speak at Scotland on Rails last weekend. My talk was called "Who Needs Photoshop? Creative Image Manipulation using Ruby." It was my first time giving a talk at a serious conference and I really enjoyed myself although I was pretty nervous leading up to it. The conference was one of the best I've been to. Great talks and really great, friendly people. I have a very high opinion of Scottish people. They're a really amiable bunch. I hope to get back there next year. Here are the slides. When the video becomes available I'll put up a link to it. Update: The videos are now available. Here's me talking. Cory Forsyth Image Manipulation

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Presentations & Slid ruby edgedetection

the czech beast

cory — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:12:30 +0000

In August I went hiking for 5 days in the hinterlands of the Czech Republic and Poland, and we made this video afterwards:
the czech beast from bantic on Vimeo.

Playing with Fire

cory — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:11:15 +0000

I'm now 2 for 3 with viral youtube science experiments. Previously I fail to make Mountain Dew glow green and successfully created a spouting diet coke geyser. Yesterday's experiment, and my Thing for ThingADay, was to try to recreate the handheld fireball* on this youtube video. The result? Success! Well, mostly. The fireball heats up and eventually gets hot enough to be very uncomfortable in your hands, but for the first 30 seconds or so you can definitely hold it in your hands. Or toss it between your hands like a hot potato. See my pictures tagged fireball or watch this roughly-edited video:
HandHeld Fireball Take 2 from bantic on Vimeo. I also put up an outtakes reel -- the first time I did this I set the camera too high and you never actually see the fireball, just my goofball reactions to burning my hands. If you're my friend and want to see it, I'll send you the password. * So now I've 1) gotten a tattoo and 2) made a hand-held fireball for ThingADay. Jenny's comment: "that site is dangerous for you."

Thing a Day overview

cory — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 01:17:57 +0000

I haven't been posting every day, but I've been doing things every day. On Wednesday the "thing" I made was a tattoo. On Saturday I took a picture of my sweet electric guitar. Today I made a hand-held fireball (following along with this youtube video). Friday I "made" Manu Ginobili of the Spurs sign a Knicks t-shirt. Photo of Ginobili forthcoming, and separate posts for the tattoo and fireball are also on their way. Yes I realize I'm pushing the envelope of Thing A Day pretty heavily right now.

Melbourne, Distilled

cory — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:05:05 +0000

When I was studying abroad in Melb'n I remember walking down Lonsdale street once when a passing, slightly drunk-looking Melburnian greeted with me an effusive, "G'day mate." I wanly said, "Hi," and he confidently replied, "Yeah, not bad," as he strode past me. That experience has always seemed uniquely Australian to me, and this video captures pretty much the same spirit. (passed to me by the danimal)

Bearduary: A True Gentleman Grows a Beard

cory — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 22:45:16 +0000

It's not too late to start your Bearduary beard. In March of 2006 I assisted Sai in the making of this documentary: Here is a clip of John Hodgman, from his book The Areas of My Expertise, to get you in the mood on March 1st when it comes time to shear your cheeks.

peep show on chime.tv

cory — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 01:16:23 +0000

I was skeptical of Chime.Tv until I spent 45 minutes last night watching peep show. Nice.

The wisdom of attaching 4MB video files to chain emails

cory — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:34:48 +0000

There's a generational gap right around age 45 that divides those who send mass emails out with a link to a video and those who send the video as an attachment. I've always considered attaching the video as antiquated practice. Today my dad forwarded me a WMV file that showed a baseball getting hidden in the pocket of an umpire. I wanted to send him back a link to a video of a baseball bat balancing on its end after the batter drops it to run that I had seen on kottke, but YouTube claims that the video has been pulled "due to a copyright claim by MLB Advanced Media." If that video had been a forwarded attachment, I'd still be able to see it right now! Of course, the larger question is when will the MLB realize that it shouldn't be pulling those videos in the first place? A 30-second interesting video like that doesn't hurt its marketplace position at all; it probably would win over some new viewers who think that baseball is boring.

YouFamous; Not Original or Quick Enough

cory — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 17:21:46 +0000

I just came up with the term YouFamous to describe people that become famous via, and whose fame is primarily limited to, the YouTube viewing audience. Turns out there are already a few matches on Google for the term, although I only count three in their first page of results, and a search on Technorati shows one blogpost that uses the phrase. Urban Dictionary didn't have a definition for it yet, so I added it. Update: The definition was accepted. Here's YouFamous in the Urban Dictionary. Update: The blogpost I link to above is from November of 2006. Not only am I not quick enough, I'm very late to re-coin a term that never caught on the first time. Maybe now, with me as its champion, its time has finally come. Then again, I might not be internet famous enough to effectively spread the word.