Earth Day 2017 Uploads

GuuzakaTube 04.28.17

Earth Day 2017 Uploads

Alright, so as you can quite obviously tell from the title, this blog post will discuss the three outdoor videos that were filmed on Earth Day. That said, the commentary video that I literally just uploaded 30 minutes ago at the time of this writing, will also be discussed here. “April 22-28 2017 Uploads” probably would have been a more accurate title, but let's tell the truth: nobody's going to care or notice. For once, I just decided to go with a nicer sounding title as opposed to the usual date and numbers style. Alright! Let's get chatting!

Monsignor John Pereyma Catholic Secondary School

I don't like how the video turned out in terms of sharpness. I know you can tell from the text I put on the slide, but goodness! It looked fine while the camera was rolling, so I honestly don't know why it had to turn out a little blurry. I mean, nobody's complained about it so far, but if you're a details or high-defintion junkie, you'll hate it too. Anyways, resolution business aside, it was a fairly nice day to shoot videos. Still not the warmest yet, but the bright sunshine made things pleasant. The school itself was quite interesting to walk around, and had more to see than I thought. Not a “super exciting” building, but it was reasonable picturesque and had a nice, large, green field. Oh, and it's close to some train tracks. I wasn't able to catch the train during the video shoot, but I did get a few pictures. I will likely post one of these on Instagram soon.

Dr. F.J. Donevan Collegiate Institute

Doctor Frederick James Donevan Collegiate Institute. Yes, I did it again. I went and I dug through Google just to discover what those cryptic initials stood for. Considering that this man was not a super famous, fabulous celebrity, the results didn't just jump out on the first try, but I got it soon enough. So yes, if for whatever reason you've been curious about his full name (highly doubt anyone was!) then now you know! Anyways, nerdiness aside, if you've seen the video before coming here, you'll know that this school is a closed building that had a very creepy feel to it... all the broken glass, litter, graffiti and what not, made it feel as if I've wondered off into some rustic ghost town. Interestingly, while I was researching his name, I also discovered that this school opened its doors in 1958, and ended up closing in 2010 due to declining enrolment. Wow! So it's managed to enjoy 52 academic years, and this also means that the building itself is 59 years old. Interesting. That could explain the old feel to it. Well, whether I was supposed to be there or not, I thankfully managed to capture this old site before they demolish it, refurbished it, or do only God knows what at this point. Do you know what they're going to do it? Leave a comment below and let me know what you think.

Clara Hughes Public School

The final place I visited on Earth Day. I know. These videos have nothing to with Earth Day. Filming a trail through a conservation area would have been much more fitting, but nah! Didn't feel like doing that, but I should consider visiting the woods at some point, because it's been a while since I shot a video in the forest. I quite miss it! Anyway, so let's talk about Clara Hughes. In the video poll, I asked you who Clara Hughes was, so now I'll spoil it by telling you that she was an Olympian! Yes, yes she was! Do I know her well? No, not really. To tell the truth, I actually looked that up before shooting the video, just so I could at least know one thing about this woman I previously knew squat about. Because this was a new building, it had a “fresh” feel to it as I was walking around it. I liked that. Adding to the fresh, bright appearance, there were even kids playing basketball on the other side of the school to make the school even more lively, despite it being closed (it was the weekend). And since it was closed, I did a lot of window peering like the creep I am. LOL? You'll see what I'm talking about when you watch the video or see the photos on Instagram. So, judging from the naming of the school, the basketball players and a review I saw, the school looks like it has an athletic, sporty nature to it. Good for them, if so! Too many people are sitting around screens these days, and not enough are getting outdoor exercise. For that same reason, this is what also makes the outdoor videos so fun: the exercise and fresh air! Sure, I often sound breathy in my outdoors shoots, but don't be fooled – I enjoy them!

Why Your YouTube Channel Might Be Losing So Much Money (April 2017)

Well, everything I wanted to say has already been said in the video, so no point in repeating it here. Instead, I'll focus on the things not mentioned in the video. If you've been reading the past couple of entries, I've been talking about how I've been wanting to get an automotive commentary video done, but never got around to it. This week, I guess I had the chance to get it done, but when I saw the serious headlines all over the place surrounding the “Great YouTube Boycott” and the partner changes that took place, I felt that I just had to urgently speak out on this, so I did. The video was created sort of hastily, but all in all, I think it still turned out great. I love how creepy and depressing my pieces turned out, and I felt that I was able to fully state my piece and thoroughly educate people on the sad, unmotivating moves YouTube's been making lately. I understand that some people are thieves, or that some videos are disgusting, vulgar, racist, dangerous or immoral, but all creators should not have to get stung just because of the notorious bad apples. I hope that things will change for the better.

Other Ramblings & What's Next

So yes, a lot of Ad drama and revenue loss going on with YouTube, but despite that, I still plan to make videos and hope that my channel will exceed 10,000 views soon. I wonder if I can make that happen within a month? Probably not unless I do one of three things: 1) focus heavily on YouTube 2) Capture something potentially viral, like say a seagull stealing someone's bag of chips and then poos on the victim's head 3) Make more convincing call-to-actions and more posts on my social media accounts?

There are likely many other options and ideas, but that's all I can think of for now. To be honest, I won't be choosing #1 because it doesn't make sense to make more videos than what I'm making now. It just doesn't feel like it's worth it, so I'll just hope that I can capture something really awesome or funny someday, and probably try to be more active on my social media accounts. For next week, you'll likely see some outdoors shoots, a commentary and maybe a gaming video, but don't get your hopes up high for the last part.

April 19-20, 2017 Uploads

GuuzakaTube 04/20/17

April 19-20, 2017 Uploads

A wet day it is, today. So as you will know from the video descriptions (for those that even read such things!) this entry deals with the videos that were filmed over the Good Friday – Easter long weekend. Whew! Getting out there and filming 6 videos between Oshawa and Whitby in various locations was fun-oh-plenty, but when it came to editing time, it was work-oh-plenty! Especially for the dealership videos, which were full of plenty of crazy edits! Now let's discuss these videos in greater detail, shall we?

Oshawa South SmartCentre

Were you ever expecting to see such a random video like this? Then again, when dealing with the outdoors and the nature my channel, it shouldn't be too surprising after all. Also, I guess it isn't fair to call this place “random” since it does happen to be a shopping centre that many Oshawans would normally shop at. Despite it being Good Friday that day, many of the food places were still open of course, and it looked like Sail and Lowe's were also open, hence why I didn't film that part of the area. For that reason I anticipated that the video would probably top out around 32 minutes, but the raw, unedited video ended up being 13 minutes. Despite that, it was still fun to go around the largely closed parts of the centre, and you know what I saw behind Walmart? Geese! They were hissing loudly too. And it was all caught on camera! Ah, quite an adventure that was! This place was one of the factors that inspired me to film the Whitby Mall over something else. Keep reading below to learn more about that.

Mills Motors Buick GMC Limited [Immaturity]

This would officially be the 3^rd video of a dealership showcasing the vehicles of Generals Motors Company. Missed the other two? Michael Boyer GM Dealership Walk Around and Oshawan Chevrolet and Cadillac Dealership [Immaturity]. Unlike the 1^st one which took place in Pickering, this one also happens to take place in a GM oriented city – Oshawa! Like my Oshawa South SmartCentre video, this one was also filmed on Good Friday. In fact, after shooting the SmartCentre, I went here next to get it done. Mills Motors is a large dealership, so there was plenty to see and photograph. The weather also wasn't terribly cold, so that made things more enjoyable. Of course, there were tons of pickup trucks, GMC Sierras, on the lot because Canadians and Americans alike just can't seem to get enough of these utilitarian vehicles, so they got your back! Crossovers and Buick sedans were also plentiful, as well as many used Chevrolets in the used vehicle area. Alright, so I guess I should probably discuss the “Immaturity” part of not only this video, but all the others as well, in greater detail this time. So! What inspired me to throw these crazy, stupid, silly, immature, crass, annoying, insert word, edits to these dealership videos? Why do I go so overboard with it these days? Well, it started with my 1^st dealership video done at Michael Boyer's GM dealership. I believe it was a blue Camaro that triggered the idea randomly. It brought so much self-amusement, giggles and joy, that I decided to do apply this immaturity to all my dealership videos to “spice it up” and make them different from most dealership videos that focus on one thing: showcasing a products features and seducing customers to buy the vehicle! Of course, that's because it's salespeople doing this, but when you see dealership videos come under GuuzakaTube, you can expect two things: A tour of the entire dealership (outside) and random, whacky edits applied to the front fascia of the vehicles! You may like it, or hate it, but either way, I just do what I like!!! So there, I hope this finally explains the phenomenon behind these wild, annoying edits.

G.L. Roberts Collegiate and Vocational Institute

“G.L. Roberts Collegiate and Vocational Institute is named after George Lake Roberts, the first Director of the Ontario County Board of Education, precursor of the Durham District School Board” I know, I know. Nobody probably gives a damn about this type of stuff, but when I see initials in a school's name, I just can't help but to be so curious as to what it stands for. Turns out that I was right about the “G” being George, but couldn't quite touch the L. Well, now we know! This high school is one of the most interesting high schools to film for a good reason: its surroundings! While the appearance of GL Roberts solely is a little stale, the fact that it's attached to a community centre, surrounded by large fields, and the fact that its close to both a marsh and a lake, makes it incredible for photography and videos! Seriously, you guys are going to love the photos when I get them posted to Instagram on Friday, hopefully. Oh, and then there was also a greenhouse filled with lots of flowers. Yeah, truly lots to photograph down there. So judging from the presence of all the fields, bodies of water, and exercise facilities, it's safe to assume that this school probably puts a lot of focus into health & fitness and the environment. I could be dead wrong because I also no nothing about it, aside from the man's initials. LOL! For the 2^nd segment in the video, I walked along the coast to film a part of Lake Ontario. Blue, cold, rocky and beautiful!

Lakewoods Public School & Pumphouse Marsh Wildlife Reserve

Not sure if it was intentional or not, but “Lakewoods” is a pretty fitting name for a school so close to a lake and a lot of trees. So like your typical elementary school, its got a lot of fencing around the front, to you know, help keep the baddies out and protect the innocent, little children. Well, before walking around it, I actually briefly walked the maintenance building of the Durham Catholic District Board. Sounds familiar? That's because I already filmed a DCDB building along Rossland not too long ago. Not really much to see for the building itself. For me, the main highlight of the video would be the trip at the scenic Pumphouse Marsh Wildlife Reserve. Unfortunately, I could see some garbage in the marsh, but thankfully not a ton. Would be better not to see any at all, but oh well. Didn't take away from the beauty of the marsh, and as you can hear from the video, there were plenty of marsh birds and animals vocalizing. Ah, a nice sound of the wilderness. So nice, that I kept the video running for a little longer than intended, just to capture a little more sounds on camera.

Crappy Whitby Mall Video

Fun fact #1 This video was originally just titled “Whitby Mall” but because I felt that it was rather substandard, I decided to just riskily give it a title that reflects how I honestly felt about the video.

Fun Fact #2 For some reason, the video processed itself upside down! I didn't know about this until when I played it back on my phone later. Thank goodness for video editing software!

Fun Fact #3 You can buy a passport here. BlackBerry Passport? Not sure about that one, but I'm sure you can inquire!

Fun Fact #4 This video (as well as Midway Nissan) were both somewhat late decisions. I was thinking about shooting a video in either Courtice or Whitby for Easter, but ultimately ended up choosing Whitby, so I could film the mall while it was closed, as well as the Nissan dealership that borders Saint Theresa Catholic School. As a result of the late decisions, on the day I was composing intros and outros for the Good Friday – Easter long weekend videos, I composed 3 extra sets for pieces to be used for unknown sites in either Courtice or Whitby. Well, as it stands today, 2 of the sets got put to good use for the Whitby Mall and Midway Nissan dealership. What will happen to the remaining pieces? I'll scrap it! Kidding. The intro has a very eerie, cryptic feel to it, while the outro is quite the opposite. That's all I can tell you for now!

Fun Fact #5 Ok, this is going to be highly subjective, but in my honest opinion, this is one of the most boring malls you can visit in the Durham Region! If you plan to visit the malls of the Durham Region, choose Pickering Town Centre or the Oshawa Centre. Admittedly, I haven't visited this mall in years, so I don't know if it's changed much, but judging from the outside, it doesn't look too promising.

Midway Nissan Whitby [Immaturity]

Alright, so I already went over the “Immaturity” attributes to these types of videos above, and I already went over the choice of Whitby over Courtice as the location to film some videos, but one thing I didn't mention is WHY? Why did I choose Whitby over Courtice that day? Do I just not like Courtice or something? No, I've filmed a video there back in 2016, so what could be the reason? I felt that there was more in Whitby to take advantage of that day. That's the reason. You see, the plan in Courtice was to film ***** but then I decided that I'd just film something completely new, which led me to the decision of filming Whitby Mall and their Nissan dealership. Oh, another interesting fact: I was originally going to do *******, but because I was under the impression that it was oddly open, I decided to axe the idea and chose Midway Nissan instead. Wow, so you can see that there was a lot of quick decisions and alternate planning that took place before and during Easter. “Did you spend time with family and friends at all that day or what?!” Don't worry, I did. The videos were filmed in the early afternoon and it did not take long to get them done. So! What did I think of this particular dealership? Large and variable. Which in other words is a good thing! Lots of new and used vehicles spread out over a large lot of variable elevations. “Elevations?! What do you mean by that?!” Simply that: some parts of the lot had a higher elevation than others, while others were lower. It's nothing “dramatic” but its worth mentioning just because I'm weird and couldn't help, but to point out such a random attribute like that. Oh yes, and because this video itself was long and had many edits, it took some hours to edit. I'm personally satisfied with the end results!

What's Next & Other Ramblings

It was a great, successful, fairly warm, Good Friday – Easter long weekend! Got to visit lots of places and managed to get a lot done. Of course, I did also take the time to enjoy myself in other ways, but I remain glad about getting 6 outdoor videos done. Now because editing them was lots of work, this did not allow me to get that commentary done, but who cares? Well, I do, so I can always try and tackle it next week! Earth Day is coming very soon, so it'll be interesting to see what cities, people and the internet will do. What will you do? Are you huge environmentalist? Moderately concerned? Or don't care at all? Let me know in the comments below!

April 12, 2017 Uploads

GuuzakaTube 2017-04-13

April 12, 2017 Uploads

You know? I think that calling this entry the Stevenson-Thornton Rossland Catholic Buildings Trip, probably would have been a much cooler sounder title, but alas! I went for the usual upload date theme. I was glad it was sunny that day, as it allowed for some beautiful photography and videos! Let's discuss them.

Monsignor Paul Dwyer Catholic High School

The first building I filmed that day. Now, as you'll know from the entry and video and did for the schools south of Stevenson and Rossland, is that I did contemplate on getting Paul Dwyer that day, but decided it against for various reasons related to battery life and weather. This time around, it worked well in my favour, as it was much sunnier and a little warmer. And because I didn't waste time or energy from filming earlier things, it allowed me to explore other buildings along the Stevenson-Thornton Rossland strip. How was Paul Dwyer particularly? Quite interesting. I enjoyed the front area and some of the paintings at the sides. The fields happened to be occupied for some event I have no idea about, so I wasn't able to freely wander about and capture them. Well, there was actually no hard rule in place, but I'm sure y'all know my stance on this by now so I ain't gonna bore ya. All in all, it felt like a fairly large place to walk around, but nothing super large or exciting. Definitely wasn't boring either, so don't be under that impression when I say that it wasn't terribly exciting. Hilariously (or sadly?) when I Googled this school, there were some people or sites saying that this school was pretty bad. The current Google reviews and what not, now paint a more positive impression, but you want to know what's my verdict? No idea! Why? Because I know nothing about this place! Ke ke ke ke ke ke! Now let's discuss the building I found further west of this place.

Durham Catholic District School Board Building

Even though I planned it before I going there, I actually almost forgot about its existence, until I passed it and remembered that I was supposed to film this place! Wow! That's how “random” it is! Well, random to many, but the staff that actually work there. Because of the fact that it's a building that most won't bat an eye on, that's what made it interesting to film. It's fairly small, so walking around it did not take very long. And because it's small, there wasn't very much to see and do, thus rendering me without having much to say about it, aside from some of the pretty marques I saw on it. Unlike the video of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where I put a slide advising people not to listen to the ending composition, I did not do this for this video, but because it suffered from the same problem, I'll discuss the issue and some possible solutions here. You see, both the outro and intro for this particular synth creates a buzzy, rattling sound when recorded too loudly. In fact, a lot of the synths on the old keyboard suffer from that problem, so you might be wondering: why record it so loudly in the first place? Because the music will sound weak and muffled if I don't. At the same time, recording too loudly also causes problems, so what's the solution? Refrain from using certain electronic voices? No. A possible, untested solution for this problem is to record the music with my Blue Snowball. “What?! No wonder your audio sounds so bad, you dummy! What were you recording your music with for your past several videos?!” you must be wondering. An application from my smartphone. I know. It's just that it's so much quicker and easier to just mount the phone on the keyboard and record, and also makes it more flexible to move it around to various rooms, which is why I recorded it like this in the first place. Problem is, it's proven to sacrifice audio quality for most voices. Oh, and not only that, but the application sometimes records a random static or pop sound, that you don't know is there until you listen to it. Joy..... So you know what? As much as I like the flexibility, ease and speed of putting everything away after, I don't think it's worth the tradeoff for quality. As I've mentioned back in November 2016 I believe, during the brand change, quality was something that I wanted to strive to continually improve. I ought to live up to my word and take the compositions as serious as the videos themselves. I know most of this entry under the Durham Catholic District School Board Building hasn't been about the building itself, but I had to come clean about the outro music, and make my intentions clear, that I've acknowledged this issue myself, first, without having another commenter, troll or what not, tell me about how distorted or weird the loud synth music sounds. I've also highlighted a possible solution and how I plan to execute it for potentially better music quality.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The 3^rd building I filmed that day. Upon reaching the grounds, I decided to walk around the building to check for “things” before filming it. I did have intentions to start filming from the front again, but couldn't bother and didn't want to potentially look silly, even though no one was probably watching. Or were they? Were you watching me? I hope not... then again, considering that this church is directly north of a neighbouring area called Thornton Place, which I believe may be a retirement community or maybe a condo or something, it's possible that there may have been curious onlookers watching from their windows.... how creepy... Anyways! It was a tall, pretty building to walk around, and the particular shot of the steeple and sunshine was simply stunning! The outward church organ song I made at the end of the video? Not stunning, but since I've already explained everything under the DCDSB's entry, I get to spare the details here.

The Salvation Army Oshawa Church

The 4^th and final building I filmed that day. The building was a little larger than I anticipated it to be, and so were the surrounding fields, which allowed for extra wandering and chatting that many would find to be oh-so-cleverly-boring! Thankfully, I put a warning slide at the 3:21 mark to make it easier for people to decide if they want to continue watching the “joyful” tour around the fields. I find it hilarious that both The Salvation Army Oshawa Church and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were both clearly closed that day, but both also happened to have a lonely minivan parked somewhere on the property? Coincidence? What could be the purpose of those lonely minivans that day? Were they abandoned? Does somebody secretly sleep in those churches to watch over them? Were they additional spying tools?! Who knows! Lot's of crazy things can be assumed about those minivans, but in all likeliness, it's probably just – I don't know actually... I was going to say that it was probably just a temporary visitor visiting another site in the area, but why would they choose to park at a church, as opposed to directly parking on the premise that they're visiting? Again, who knows for sure, so let's just conclude this entry by saying that the Salvation Army crown was a cool subject for photography, though it's main purpose is to represent King Jesus, and not just sit there as a fabulous work of art.

What's Next & Other Ramblings

So it's that time of the year again: Good Friday and Easter weekend! I don't have anything special planned for Easter itself, but depending on how it goes with the weather, I did plan to get a number of outdoor videos done, since I'll be able to take “advantage”. How many? We'll have to see. I'd rather underpromise and overdeliver, than to overpromise and underdeliver. That commentary though... haven't done anywhere as much as I'd like to for it this week. I had intentions to get it done by Thursday and type this entry up on Friday instead, but when I clearly saw how far it was from completion, I knew that it would've been a great idea to just upload the videos I filmed from last weekend, and post them and this blog on social media, before the newer videos come. I know, I know. As I told myself from an admonishment that I'd anticipate from you guys in last week's April 06, 2017 Uploads, “If you really wanted to get late commentaries done in a timely manner, you'd halt production of your outdoor videos till your commentary is done, and get your schedule together!” Yet, I refuse to do just that. My excuse reason? “True, but an efficient schedule would allow both to happen, so let's aim for that!” Alright, so let's be honest and real here: have I actually been doing that? No. Why? Because I've been slack as hell. There, I said it, and now need to proceed with the proper corrective course of actions to ensure that this does not happen next or week – better yet, ever again! Ok, that's a bit of a stretch, but seriously, this tardiness needs to be burned with FIRE!!!! Wait, did I write an explanation to an anticipated question about what's so special or important about these commentary videos, and why I keep talking and beating myself up over them? No, I don't think I have, but let's just keep it simple and say that they're good for the channel, and keep up with the theme of gaming, commentaries, and the outdoors. At the very moment I typed this sentence, I decided to take a look at my page without hitting the load more bar, to see the categories of videos: 21 outdoor videos, 8 games and just 1 commentary out of the 30 most recent displayed. WOW! That's clearly quite imbalanced, wouldn't you say? The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 & Note 8: Commentary and Discussion dating back to 4 weeks ago, was the last time I've done a good, proper, complete commentary video. For the games, I've already mentioned many times that they're not a huge priority, but that doesn’t mean that I'm going to drastically halt production of them either. What do I want? I want to get one commentary done a week, alongside the numerous outdoor videos that I do, and if possible, a game or two tossed in. It may sound like a pressurizing, burdening task I'm putting on myself, but rest assured, it isn't. Efficiency and consistency is key. Not just saying that in regards to YouTube, but also for things pertained to life in general.