You have to hear it

Add comment May 6th, 2009

As a journalist, I love a good story.

The story of blind accordian player Bernadette Zabawa for Thursday’s People section came in to me from her neighbor; Matt Williams wrote the piece. It’s pretty interesting to read, but it’s even more interesting to hear — which is why I’m glad we have the tool of video. Not only did I enjoy her music; I also think she has a wonderful voice (maybe it’s the accent).

Check the video by Eloisa Oceguera here.

Sex sells

Add comment March 30th, 2009

What will save newspapers? This is one songwriter’s take, in a 36C.

What young voters really think

Add comment October 15th, 2008

Last Wednesday and Thursday, we sent two newsroom twentysomethings, Kevin Haas (back of his head is above) and Billy Kulpa, to Rockford, DeKalb and Normal to talk to young voters, who are expected to turn out in record numbers for the presidential election.

They offered mere highlights last week while they were on the road last week. Today in print and online, you can see what they found.

Their four videos sum up the story: Young voters don’t pledge allegiance to any political party. They tend to support Barack Obama, but you can’t forget that there are conservatives among them. They use the Web to read, watch videos and network politically. They know there’s apathy and a lack of information out there among their peers.

Find the special report here.

My favorite observation? It shouldn’t be a surprise, but they really cared about gas prices.

‘being’ human

Add comment September 4th, 2008

sometimes with video, it’s about the person, not the setting. i was reminded this today when someone told me about the washington post’s “on being” series.

the newspaper says it’s a project “based on the notion that we should get to know one another.” so you’ll see a person on video, talking about themselves in their own words, against a white background. nothing more.

the examples i watched showed me how amazing and diverse people are, something i’m reminded of in my own job.

you can see a woman who playfully and lovingly interacts with her son “with an extra chromosome;” a teen who cuts herself; a man who lost almost a decade of memories when he got into an accident; and just someone annoyed by the simple things in life. the first one i watched, katheryn phillips, was so powerful, i don’t even want to describe it here.

and then, of course, there’s one nonhuman example: the turkey pardoned by the white house in 2007.

the thrill of victory, in and out of the water

Add comment August 11th, 2008

this morning, two different people have talked to me about the excitement of two different competitions.

first, i got a call from an acquaintance of mine and former co-worker, connie carlson. she’s the projects and event coordinator for the rockford phantom regiment.

she told me i gotta go check out videos from saturday night’s dci victory on youtube, like the one below. she said it was “pandemonium,” and you’d have to agree.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/eIoqgleZuBk" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

connie marched in the regiment when it did “spartacus” back in 1981 and ‘82, so she still has her car marked up with “hail, spartacus” and other champ chants. besides, she’s too busy taking merchandise orders.

an hour later, i got a visit from former reporter geri nikolai. we were talking about the olympics.

i said maybe it’s harder to get kids excited about it these days now that we don’t have the cold war to spark the spirit (i was big on hockey in 1980!). she said, no, last night, the american 4×100 men’s freestyle swimming relay was an amazing comeback to watch. the french had said they were going to smash us. michael phelps opened up with a lead, but we lost it and didn’t win until 32-year-old jason lezak inched back into the game and showed the french we could do it.

the video’s at msn.com.

beyond the victory, the best part is when the announcers are basically writing lezak off and giving him the silver, saying there’s no way he can pull off an upset. oops. now that’s what makes it exciting.

exercising our editorial ‘voice’

Add comment July 18th, 2008

[flashvideo filename=”http://www.rrstar.com/multimedia/x544088083/nCENTER-debuts/@@download.flv” /]

you may be familiar with mary kaull from her blogging at “a seat at the table,” but you don’t often “hear” this longtime editorial board member.

she’s the voice in this tour of the ncenter, a place for youth in rockford. UPDATE: our “text” editorial is here.

thanks, mary, for serving as the editorial “we.”

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video: from artistic to functional

Add comment June 16th, 2008

two videos from friday night deserve a mention.

one was pretty complicated, or at least to me: a time-lapse of the zhou brothers art performance with rick nielsen and donald fraser. tv stations often use tv lapse to show how weather changesĀ  or to show action in a summary or comic manner. this was artistic, just like the show.

the other was quick and simple: the first triplet in the kuhl family to come home from the hospital. look how little gavin is! can’t wait to see them all home together soon.

thanks to billy kulpa, kelley simms and the delivery desk for allowing our readers to see these moments in a timely manner. both were important.

girl ‘fight’: nothing wrong with a little healthy competition

1 comment June 13th, 2008

while wrex-13 and the register star have worked together for four years, we’re still technically “competitors” in the media market. or at least when it comes to auto racing.

don’t miss georgette braun (right, above) and dani maxwell talking trash before the june 20 media race at the rockford speedway’s night of racing thrills: loves park police versus businessmen grudge races. geo will write about this in her column june 19.

p.s. wrex has revamped its web site.

AirFest first-timer finds excitement in the skies

Add comment June 11th, 2008

Multimedia artist and designer Margo Morgan wanted to share the following story on B&C, so here you go:”Last Saturday, I shot some video of AirFest. I’d never been before, so I didn’t really think it was going to be very sexy, I expected just a bunch of nerdy guys oogling military planes and talking about thrust and jets.

But it was amazing to watch the aircraft swirl, swoop and barrel through the sky. I guess it’s something you don’t really understand until you see it.

And it was really challenging to capture it on video. I managed to get some halfway decent shots of the airplanes as they performed. Here’s some “B-roll” footage that didn’t make it into our videos that I thought you might enjoy.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/tpC9J3IJRNo" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Check out our other video from the weekend for rrstar, too.

from mario kart one night to opera the next

2 comments May 16th, 2008

who says rockford doesn’t have culture? or that you can’t enjoy very different things?

on wednesday night, i played the new wii mario kart racing game with my husband. poorly, of course.

last night, we went to the full dress rehearsal of “tosca” at the coronado. the rockford symphony orchestra and the rockford chamber of commerce allowed young professionals to mingle in the manager’s apartment and meet a few actors beforehand, watch the show from the balcony and see how things work backstage during intermission. it was a very powerful show, with great voices and great music.

we learned a few interesting facts. for one, the singers/actors are brought in specially for this performance, and they’ve performed in such revered places as the met and the lyric opera. secondly, the actress who plays tosca (amy johnson) and the actor who plays scarpia (vernon harman), the villian, are married in real life. if that’s not enough, harman is actually the director filling in because the man originally cast as scarpia has a throat ailment.

the show is saturday: see our video here by bob schaper.