Super Spies circa 2001.

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Since I'm in the middle of packing for Winnipeg, I'm coming across all these old memories burned onto CD. I have always enjoyed playing with the camera, even as a kid, and my siblings and I would often get together to make funny skits on video. Eventually I grew out of it and decided to pursue a serious career in the media industry in Los Angeles. Now it's welcoming me back.

Starring are my kid brother and sister Paul and Leah, and Leah's friend.

Pay special attention to the calculator, and the A: Drive. Oh, and the special sound the computer makes is a cameo guest star voice appearance.

This video was filmed around 2001.

Easter Chill

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I really wanted to explore my favorite hike in the world during the winter, however the opportunity to visit in the last 6 months didn't come up, and all the snow melted away.

Thanks to a freak Easter Chill I got to experience the forest with a dusting of snow across the oranges, browns, and greys! It was a great day.

Happy Birthday Mom!

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Somehow or another, we all had the evening off and spent it with my Mom on her birthday.

Music provided through Podsafe Music Network.

Bangoutproductions, Blazej Lindner

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov), Flash Video (.flv), archive (.mov)

Christmas at Dad's

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'Twas our first split family Christmas, and Paul is no where to be found.

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Christmas at Mom's

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Christmas for me is all about family, and so is this video. I love you sibs, and can't help but broadcast your special talents to the world!

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Brokeback Hamlet

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One of my favorite things about shooting scripted stories with friends is the bloopers afterwards!? West Country may have been a 30 second commercial, but we really put our heart and soul, and a whole lot of laughing into this student production!

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

West Country

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Based on a fictional soap opera styled after Shakespeare's play Hamlet, my sister was given a grade 12 English assignment; create a commercial advertising next week's episode. You can read the play using Google Books, if you like

I was glad to help with the technical side of things, but the creative side came entirely from her. We shot and edited this together in less than 1.5 days.

Leah's oddly exuberant face confuses some viewers at first, so I must explain that in the play, Ophelia goes crazy after Hamlet kills her father in a bid of mistaken identity and then drowns herself. West Country is a region in England, but not the setting of Hamlet, which took place almost entirely in Denmark. She chose it because it evoked thoughts of the wild west, while still European.

Any accents you hear are Australian.

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

My second wvlodding (wedding vlog)

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Play Quicktime version

Melissa and Brendan tie the knot. This video took place over the Vloggercon2006 Weekend. My hair was also a victim of the wind.

Tags: michael tyas, brendan, oshawa, wedding, melissa, tyas

Camera Shy

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I set out on a mission to buy a new camera. It turned out to be mission impossible.

If you've been wondering why I haven't posted in a week, I will admit that my creativity has been soaked up by a huge sponge of troubleshooting. I'm only now recovering.

This video is huge, because I wanted to show in a higher resolution the difference between the cameras I tried out. 620x480 and 30 fps

Contestants:

Canon Powershot A610
Xacti C6
Panasonic PV SG150

Link Love:

Dead End Days
Valerie Description
Cerealized
Jim Dupree, Enthusiast
Cooking Kitty Corner

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Vlog week Day 3/5

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This is the vlog I tried to upload for 2 days in a row. Dial up is cursed. With a capital CURSE ED.

Tags: tyas, palendromicrhumathism, michael tyas, videobloggingweek2006

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Painting over the past

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This video was shot back in December, but it has been difficult for me to go back to the footage and try to edit. The footage itself was fine, and the story was intact. Rather, it was difficult for me to face this chapter in my life all over again.

I think that given time and hindsight, and also getting out of my bubble to meet new kinds of people, has empowered me to look objectively at the past and paint a beautiful video to remember it by.

Human Rights also came up on more than one occasion.

The Peel

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I'll try anything once. Like the time I waxed my eyebrows. Or the time I allowed Noosh to give me a makeover.

Canadian Culture: Bagged Milk

Many people all around the world drink milk, but for some reason the way milk is distributed differs. It's quite odd why that is. If you've never seen bagged milk before, check this out!

This post seems to receive a large amount of traffic, and most people tell me it's too long. One day I'll make Bagged Milk 2: Condensed Milk. (har har har)

Update: Since I moved to Manitoba in April, 2007, I have been forced to live without my beloved bagged milk. It's not in this province! Carton taste!

Ode To Jump

Ode To Jump

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Have you ever heard a piece of music that inspired you to jump up from where you're sitting and act? Did it ever look like this? I bet it didn't.

Great Lengths To Not

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It's been a while since I had to study alone. I was studying video production in 2003 and there was of course studying to be had, but it was different because I was living with a group of students who were all taking the same course with the same assignments and the same tests, so we always made it a social occasion. Studying alone is quite different.

I can't help but procrastinate!

That's a lie, becuase I'm flat out denying that I'll go to great lengths to do anything to delay studying. ANYTHING!

At least my room get's cleaned.

Christmas Hair

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Just when you thought Christmas was over, you're thrown to the floor and slobbered all over by a big hairy vlog.

There's a tradition among the siblings in my family, that at Christmas time we open up the stockings in what is now my bedroom. When we were younger, we used to sleep in that room all together and play '20 questions' while we were too excited to sleep, but now I demand my privacy. And my sleep.

For all you vloggers out there wondering what conclusion I've come to thus far in my hunt for the best compression, observe the stats below. If you have any suggestions for a better compression with minimal quality loss, let me know!

Quicktime Movie

H.264
Frame Rate = 15 fps
Keyframes = Automatic
Datarate = Automatic
Frame Reordering = On
Compressor = Medium (50)
320x240

Audio
ACC
44.100 kHz
Variable Bit Rate/Better

Banana Dance

Banana Dance

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It was shot in November, and it was also my sister Leah's suprise birthday party. Wow, a theme! Nicole shows me the Banana Dance and we make a vlog about the experience. I hope it makes you laugh! Merry Christmas!

P.S. You will realize why it took me a month to post this once you watch it. And if you don't realize why...well you're the sweetest person in the world.