This is the personal webhub of Michael F.Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool, since 1999 032328

Let there be "AllThingsMike"

As of late March I've written eight poems so far this year. .As the years pass, I sometimes write a lot, as in 2004, or a scant few, like the only 14. pieces I wrote in 2007. So far, in 2008, even though the output is not great quantity wise, at least it's been consistent. When I post an "ElectricPoetry" post on my blog, WhenWordsCollide, I have attempted to include at least one new piece, and it's been working so far.

Beginning in mid 2007 I posted "10 Best Of" collections of poems on my blog from the decades of the Seventies, the Eighties, and the Nineties. I still have to collect the 10 Best of the Aughts, and before we know it, the Teens will be upon us. It's interesting for me to note that now my last decade's worth of poetry are all "internet poems" written in a computer Notepad program, and posted for the most part online instead of actually existing on a piece of paper, as most of the poems till 1999 were presented at first.

The ElectricPoetry site is constantly being upgraded, and even though I'm a little late getting the 2007 section completed and a 2008 section online, by year's end I do hope to have even better navigation, and some redesign of the older pages and sections to make navigating the site even easier.

The sporadic California rainy season always provides the opportunity to get out and get some cloudscapes. One Friday evening after work, and right before a rainstorm,I was able to capture quite a selection of cloudscapes with the latest 7.2 megapixel camera, and they are online in my Webshots Gallery entitled "Cloudscaping"

Along with the Webshots Gallery, which contains over 100 photos taken that afternoon, right before sundown, I also completed an internet movie called "Cloudscaping"which is essentially a photo slideshow comprised of not only the photos in the latest Cloudscaping folder, but dozens of other cloudscaping photos taken over a four year period, and edited to the strains of traditional guitar music by fellow Xanga blogger Randy Van Otterloo (flatpick46 on Xanga) The video is 6 min. and 21 seconds long. Read the Director's Commentary on WhenWordsCollide.

On Wednesday, the 5th of December, 2007, the biggest swells in over two years were predicted along the shoreline of California. I took a day off work to travel up the coast of California, taking photos and video of the monstrous waves and the collections of surfing aficianados who similarly took the day off work to ride the waves.

Although the conditions were less magnificent than predicted, I was able to cobble together a 12 minute video showing the swells at a number of beaches, and showcasing some interesting surfing footage.The video is located in my Xanga Video Section HERE. You can also read the Director's Commentary on my blog.

October 2007 brought the addition of the Morpheus software to my digital bag of tricks, and the first project, which can be seen to the left and in full size HERE, is the "MikeMorph", a series of photographs of me from the age of 5 to the present, at age 54. I have planned to have some sort of morph like this on "AllThingsMike"since I created this website, but haven't found the software I needed till now. The program outputs Flash files, animated gifs, and avi movie files that I can use in my video editing software for more varied effects. The second moviemorph is "Skyline", which clocks in at 3 minutes and 40 seconds, and presents a series of city skylines morphing from one to the other in front of a background of time lapse cloud photography culled from the internet. . Plans for more upcoming "MovieMorphs" include "DinoMorph", morphing a series of dinosaurs. I have also begun an internet movie incorporating the "MikeMorph" footage.

As I find new programs and can incorporate their use into my "electronic experiment in art", the only thing holding back my creativitiy is the time it takes to learn the programs and to execute the creations themselves. 2007 has seen a burst of moviemaking creativity, and the morphing program will ultimately be used to enhance my internet movies as well as come up with some interesting art projects on it's own.

The latest folders to be added to my Webshots Gallery are "Santa Monica Part One and Part Two , joining recent additions "The Tall Ships" and "Long Beach's Ocean Blvd" Part One and Part Two . The photographic expedition to Santa Monica was taken on Dec. 1, 2007, and made because Southern California had a rare rainstorm on Nov. 30th. The next morning brought beautiful blue skies, lots of fluffy cumulus clouds, and seemed to be a great day for a photo expedition. The galleries containing photos for The Tall Ships and the trip along Ocean Blvd. in Long Beach, are companion selections of photos to the internet movies, which are featured below. These galleries contain the complete output of photography taken during the expeditions.

Santa Monica includes photos of the pedestrian walkway above Ocean Blvd and the famous Santa Monica Pier. The Tall Ships gallery contains onboard photos of the vessels. Ocean Blvd. details the architecture and ambience of Long Beach's Ocean Blvd. There are hundreds of high quality photos included in the three folders.

My Webshots Gallery, featuring nearly 4000 photos, has recently had it's rating upgraded to #7 of over 13,350 member albums in the Travel: California section. That's not bad considering I only have a 1.2 Megapixel camera. I've been wanting to get a better camera, but while money is tight, I'll only be dreaming about it. I need an SLR with removable lenses. One great thing about the videocamera I'm using is the ability to attach a wide angle lens, and most of my "signature shots' are composed with the wide angle. I take mostly photos of landscapes, and architecture, and my PhotoPosts on my Xanga blog, WhenWordsCollide, like the post from Griffith Park, include "commentary" as if my readers are right with me as I travel around and take pictures. It thrills me to be featured as the #7 California photos user. I've seen this position rise from #11 to #9, before I added new folders, and now that I'm at least adding new folders every other month of so, possbily expect the rating to go higher.

Faced with monetary problems which prohibit me from taking "photo expeditions" too far from home, I spent a couple of weekends on Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach this past summer, walking along photographing and videotaping my progress along the boulevard. The resulting "art projects" are the internet movie "Greetings From Ocean Blvd." and the Webshots Gallery photo folders of the same name. (Linked in the "Webshots Gallery Additions" entry below.) I've always attempted to see how steady I can hold the camera by hand without uisng a tripod, and then moving with balletic grace in order to achieve almost "steadicam" like shots in my "travelblogues" and internet movies. I think I achieved some excellent results with "Greetings From Ocean Boulevard". Plans are in the works for more "street specific" travelblogues centered on major Southern California thoroufares like Hollywood Boulevard.

Read the Director's Commentary on my blog.

Betty has had a makeover. Fresh new content has been added to "The Betty Boop Pages", Besides new composites and images on the Home Page, the "Composites" and the "Cartoons" pages, there is also a new "MikeVideo Internet Movie" on the Home Page, , the second MikeVideo of mine featuring the risque cartoon character, called, simply "Betty Boop".

"Betty Boop" (10:00 min.) is an 36.1 megabyte windows media file with a resolution of 320 by 240pixels. It is a MikeVideo Internet Movie created Sunday, June 10, 2007. It is a compliation video showcasing selections from the original Betty Boop cartoons from the decade of the thirties. Consisting of differing scenes from roughly twenty Betty Boop catoons made from 1932 to 1934, I have included scenes which showcase the virtuosity of the Fleischer Brothers Studio product of the time, with stunning surrealistic animation, and "special effects" including the rotoscoping of dancing figures, Betty's risque sense of humor, the tendency for her to get herself in trouble, and lose her clothes, and her evocative singing voice, supplied by Mae Questel.
This marks the first major addition to "The Betty Boop Pages" website in two years, since the last internet movie, "Betty Boop Dreams", was added in 2006.

I'M TELLING MY STORY ONLINE: NOW PLAYING: JUNIOR HIGHJINKS

My ongoing autobiographical story has been updated through the eighth grade. The "Half Century" tab at the top of this page links to my "Personal History"which was begun when I turned my first half century on Earth. There are lots of assessments in life when one reaches the age of 50, and my prime assessment in 1999, at only 46, when I created this website, was to chronicle not only my various ongoing pursuits and projects, but to place my life in a historical and cultural chronology, and to chart the course of my life with my words. As I add chapters to this story, the "Half Centruy" tab will eventually link to my full autobiography. Other sections of the website deal with my "spiritual lifestory" and my "sexual lifestory". and there is some overlapping in themes and events, but "The Personal History" is the ultimate story of my long and eventful life. The first page has been updated and redesigned , and the second page, containing the years spent in junior high, has just been added.