Video Guide to Whistler

by Erik Olsen on

Whistler is easily my favorite place in North America to ski. The few times I’ve hauled myself up Blackcomb Glacier and skied the deep freshie remain some of the best runs I’ve ever had in my life. Just thinking about it now makes my spine tingle. If you’ve never been to Whistler, then I’ve got a treat for you.

Take a look at this video guide to Whistler from Drift and Creekstone Productions…which appears to be some kind of promotional video company. Actually the video is hosted by Travelistic, whose site we’ve been a fan of since it recently launched. Anyway, set aside that part, the video is actually quite good and gives a flavor of both what the fine skiing is like at Whistler, and also the surrounding culture and life. It fairly well produced…though not great…but it is a sign of the future, I think, where we will see a lot more video about the places we love.

Travelistic’s The Map Show

by Erik Olsen on

A little ways back we did a podcast with Nicholas Butterworth, the CEO of a new travel video company called Travelistic. I’ve been checking in every so often with the site and am so far quite impressed with the quantity and quality of material they’ve got online.

It’s a bit of a no-brainer to say that people will increasingly turn to video as they make travel plans, but it bears keeping in mind. I can easily imagine putting together a trip to, say, the British Virgin Islands and then finding real use in this new show from Travelistic called The Map.

The composition (sound/editing) is a bit amateurish, but that’s the point, I suppose. It gives the show a more personal quality, like you’re getting the real scuttlebutt, as opposed to a more stale corporate feel, a la some of the stuff on the Travel Channel. Overall, it’s pretty cool and a sign of things to come.

Happy New Year’s From Lithuania

by Neil Woodburn on

Don’t let this happen to you.

You go out drinking in Lithuania to celebrate New Year’s Eve and pick a bar that is on the other side of the street. This is very bad planning if you intend to get so knackered that crossing the street to return home becomes an insurmountable challenge.

Check out the above video of an unfortunate soul in Lithuania performing the crawl of shame after a night of too much drinking. It’s a rather pathetic sight, but I’ve got to admit, I sure am impressed with his resolve.

Friday Funny: Fifty Best Cartoons

by Erik Olsen on

Sometimes I feel sorry for today’s children. They have a gazillion times more television programming available to them, but so much of it is crap, it’s often impossible to find anything worth watching ,let alone something that might be considered educational or enriching. I’m talking mostly about cartoons, and thinking that, with the exception of the Simpsons, Pixar and a few scattered standouts, most cartoons today pretty much suck.

Hey, I apologize if you’re a big fan of shows like Sponge Bob Square Pants or whatever, but I’ve watched these shows, and as far as I’m concerned they pale in comparison to the old Bugs Bunny cartoons. These lovingly hand-drawn cartoons remain great works of art and the people behind them, like Chuck Jones, are heroes in my book. I doubt anyone will be able to match them for true artistry and creative narrative.

Sure, I might be a bit of a romantic. I’ll accept that to an extent. But for today’s Friday Funny, I offer you a list of the Top 50 Cartoons of All Time, most of which can be viewed online. At the top of the list (no surprise) are several Bugs cartoons…in fact, the list features a bunch of them…and sprinkled throughout are some other wonderful indies like The Big Snit. There’s nary a Sponge Pants to be found. If you’re like me, you’ll spend the next hour or so watching some of these gems, and I can think of no more perfect way to kick off the holiday season than a healthy dose of Bugs.

PlumTV Coming

by Erik Olsen on

I’m always VERY interested to sew what’s coming online in the video travel space. As someone who works in video journalism, I’ve known for ages that we would see a lovely long tail emerge in the video space online and on cable. It was just a matter of time. Which means that we’d see lots of different channels emerge covering travel with online programming ranging from budget-minded stuff to higher end. So, yes, the long tail is alive and well, and where the latter is concerned, let me introduce yo to a new channel called Plum TV. The Plum TV network is focused on upscale travel destinations like Vail, Aspen, Tujunga (just kidding), and they have a distribution deal on AOL Video that will roll out programming on the AOL network. While I’m probably more budget minded than this, I will tune in occasionally to see what they’ve got on offer.