Exciting!

My blog is now mobile ready, courtesy of Blogger/Google creating a mobile template for blogs. Want to know why this is exciting? It means I can keep my Blog as well as my Facebook page as my main forms of communication in regards to my YouTube channel...as well as my Twitter!

So definitely keep checking this page out to see what's going on. :)

Green Lantern

The Green Lantern movie comes out next week. I'm really, really excited. In preparation, here's a video of the Green Lantern coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure!

The music is called Chase and the artist is Kevin McLeod - royalty free music!

The Crazy Tea Cups!

There's a specific car at Six Flags Great Adventure that you can't help but spin way faster than everyone else in...this is a documentation of said joy one gets from being in this specific car. :)

Sites I Am On

If anyone is curious or interested to see the only two websites I have been on since the contest started, here they are! It seems ridiculous to be excited about two websites, but it's two websites that I have never been on before and without me knowing until I made a quick search!

My video is in the screen-shot -

http://www.reelseo.com/exercise-online-video-rights-vote-big-youtube-star/

My personal favorite site, is a site that shows the statistics on YouTube users! Because of this contest, I have now been added officially to the YouTube Creator Institute Top List database! It shows real-time stats on my channel and videos for anyone who is interested in seeing them-

http://SocialBlade.com/youtube/top/yci

Also, here's a recent video from Six Flags Great Adventure showing an aerial view of the Green Lantern coaster, set to open May 25th for the general public!

Be sure to visit my channel for other videos and remember to like, comment, and subscribe! :)

Oh, Well

As it turns out, I truly did not win the contest and I apparently didn't merit enough votes to even be close to being an alternate.

This is aggravating as more than half of those users had well over 600 plus subscribers. One person even took to the radio, television, and newspapers and online blogs to solicit votes. Another aggravating fact about this person, is he's already famous in LA. Really, YouTube?

This whole contest was a mess at each step of the way, and I'm proud of my one new friend I made from the contest who will be attending the school in Columbia. She deserves to go, but I am definitely jealous. Who wouldn't be, though? Especially when you placed all your hopes and dreams on your one shot to make it.

Guess I need to just keep making videos and hope people subscribe. I just wish I had a large support network to help me gain the subscribers that I'm looking for.

Whoops

I'm sorry, I seem to have forgotten about you....just a tiny little bit. So much has been going on since the last time I wrote on here and time has gone by so fast. I know I've been told repeatedly time is going to keep on going by faster and faster, but at the rate it's going it's just going way too fast. 

Anyway, I definitely have a lot of things on my mind at the moment; the top two things being 1. the end of my first year of college next week and 2. the fact that is sucks being rejected!

Allow me to elaborate on the second part - around this time last month I found out about a contest that YouTube was running. This contest was the answer to everything for me...at least I thought. YouTube ran a contest to choose people for their brand new Creator Institute and NextUp, which was a contest for people who already had a YouTube partnership. Since I'm a newer YouTuber the Creator Institute was perfect for me! Twenty total winners would receive the chance of a lifetime - they could choose between two colleges (University of Southern California located in Los Angeles or Columbia College in Chicago), and you would be able to attend a 4 - 8 week program and learn from top professionals and find out how to perfect their film-making...all expenses paid. By all expenses paid, that means flight, meals, tuition, room and board, and to top it all off, they would also be given an extra $1,000 in order to purchase new camera equipment. This opportunity literally had "me" written all over it, but as of this moment, it appears that it isn't happening. Talking to others who applied for the Institute, the group I've met didn't qualify for the top 50 for either school and that really sucks, especially since there was only 185 videos.

The iPad 2...

...is taking over the world. Including myself, there is at least three other people in this room that have one. I don't know whether to laugh or...laugh even more because I got mine fresh off a truck, at 1 PM on a Saturday the week after it debuted.

I mean, I don't mean to say it to be sarcastic, but these people probably were waiting outside the Apple Store at 2 and 3 in the morning, while I just strolled to the electronics section of Target and purchased one for myself. Hmm...to each their own. I'll admit I tried the Apple Store as well, but at a much more reasonable hour (9 AM.)

In Depth

I've owned my iPad 2 for two weeks on Saturday. I have yet to do an in depth review!

The iPad 2 has definitely exceeded my expectations, especially for my first tablet. It's small enough to take around, but big enough to provide a decent amount of screen. It's also extremely light and it's a joy to carry on much like a very thin book. I already wrote about PhotoBooth, which is definitely my favorite application on the iPad, but now I should probably talk about the other apps!

The YouTube application is very clean and is almost like being on the actual website. Nearly all features can be accessed from the iPad and is perfect for the daily video watcher. For the person who uploads videos, like myself, I'm still contemplating how I feel about it, but it's a step up from the iPhone/iPod Touch application.

The iPhone/iPod Touch bring up another point - if you have any popular game for your iPhone/iPod Touch, you will most likely have to repurchase it for the iPad if you're running off of a 3GS and lower and the iPod Touch. While many applications for the iPhone/iPod Touch can be used on the iPad, the quality is definitely not the same. The applications you purchase for the iPad are specifically designed for the screen, unless you purchase the HD versions of certain applications which will work on the iPhone 4 as well.

The only things I'm disappointed in now are the camera and the lack of a calculator. The image is grainy unless you're in a well-lit area and the calculator is perfect for a college student or anyone for that matter. I say college student, primarily due to the fact that I try and use my iPad more than my MacBook because it's lighter to carry and it's less of a load.

iPad 2 Test Shots

Being the Apple fan that I am, I couldn't resist stopping by the demo iPad at Best Buy yesterday. Apple did a fantastic job of hiding the release date of the new iPad 2 up until two weeks before it was set to come out. Never owning an iPad, I was always content just playing with the demos in store, but this new iPad has me wanting to buy one and I'm certainly glad I waited!

The most significant feature and the best addition, in my opinion, is the addition of the front and rear facing cameras. Being very into taking photos, the cameras as well as the ability to use Photo Booth and Facetime are absolutely fantastic. I enjoy using the Photo Booth application on my MacBook and I enjoyed it even more on the iPad. It's so nice to see you can bring the face stretching and now kaleidoscope distortions to a more portable item.

I'm certainly looking forward to see what direction Apple goes in with the next iPhone model, whether it be an iPhone 5 or an upgraded iPhone 4 model, it'll be absolutely fantastic!

Read more to see test shots from the iPad 2.

Island Adventures

I Hate Coming Up With Titles

Soaring

It was perfect kite flying weather today. So that's exactly what I did.

Inspired

For whatever reason, I had a crazy desire to write a review. While trying to come up with an idea, I remembered a picture that I had taken for someone - a picture of a bag of pretzels.

A few new creations from Rold Gold come in the form of "Everything Bagel" pretzels as well as "Cheesy Garlic" flavored pretzels.

Rold Gold truly did not skimp out on the "Everything Bagel"; Shaped in a circular form to resemble the true bagel shape, you get the taste of garlic, onion, and the salt and poppy seeds are built in. The only seasoning missing from this pretzel that you often find on traditional everything bagels are the sesame seeds. Even without this minor addition, these pretzels pack a powerful kick of flavoring and taste. In fact, you can even forget that you're eating a pretzel and instead believe you're eating miniature versions of the bagels. I give these pretzels an 8/10 on the flavor scale.

The cheesy garlic flavored pretzels do not match up to the caliber of their "Everything Bagel" pretzels. While it's  not exactly new, it's new to the area. The cheddar flavor is barely noticeable, despite the obvious orange color that covers the pretzel nuggets. The bag states that the flavoring is baked in, but there is a definite color difference and obvious powdering as it comes off on your fingers in light dustings. There isn't much to write about these pretzels as they're extremely basic, but they are a quick snack if you are in a hurry. I give these pretzels a 4/10 on the flavor scale.

Just thought I would throw out a few random thoughts on these pretzels that I tried over the weekend. I hope this review will be the first of many.

Striking

It's been a while since I've last posted, but since I really don't have much to say, I figured I would share a few old images that I had taken last year.

I remember the first day I met her. There's a bit of a story behind it - for about a year it would have been around this point, my mom and I made it a point to feed some local stray cats, primarily at our 7-11 because there was literally dozens of them and we had fallen in love with one of the kittens. Eventually our conquest more or less expanded to include some more cats.

These cats were of a "different" variety. Not as friendly, but there was one in particular that was always more than happy to just follow us around. (I have video if no one believes me.) One day, when I was going to feed the one cat, much to my surprise, a similar looking, but considerably smaller cat ran out from it's hiding spot and followed me around, begging for the food that I had. Since it was relentless, I gave it some food. I wasn't going to see her go hungry, but she wasn't the one I was looking for. When I later returned to the spot a few days later, the little one was no where in site, but the initial cat I was going to feed was there.

Soon afterwards, this little cat became a part of the daily feedings, and with her wild and untamed behavior (at the time) she was lovingly given the name Luna, short for Lunatic. Such a beautiful little cat and I miss hearing her little meows.

This picture is definitely one of my personal favorites. This image was initially part of my portfolio to be admitted into the art program of my school. While I never wound up submitting a portfolio, I still treasure this image and the fact I was able to achieve it within 5 shots. 5 different groups of people, but this one is the one that managed to be the most centered, as well as convey the most emotion. I can almost hear what he's saying in his head in this picture - "Oh, crap."

This is another personal favorite of mine. It was another unplanned shot. I thought the ride itself (without the cars) and the trees looked amazing with the sun behind it. In the single shot I took, without knowing it until I had gotten home, the cars from the roller coaster were also in the shot. I think it definitely adds character to the summer night when it was taken.

Happy Poodle

This is my poodle, just hopping around, being a nut. She thought my mom was home and she just started flipping out.