From Words To Video Bringing Writing And Speaking Closer But Not To The Finish Line

Hope the Mother’s Day Weekend was all you wanted.  I miss my parents everyday of the year.

Have you ever come across a product that you hoped would live up to the hype, the technology would be advanced enough to give you the level of satisfaction you seek?

Recently I thought I found something that would be a tremendous way to promote the new speaking/writing course Painting My Room In A Colorful Way.  It’s a software that converts text from an article to a video.

There is some work involved and it isn’t as user friendly as it should be but if it had made the grade of at least a B+ I could overlook the imperfections.  The short story on the inner workings is you take an article and paste the title and the text into the appropriate boxes.  You can upload a photo if you would like or use one of their stock images.  You have the opportunity to upload audio or use one of their files.  They offer different type of backgrounds and fonts but not font sizes (that is one of the many facets that needs improving).

Once you have pasted the text in the box you are forced to make the words separate paragraphs regardless of how you feel about this.  Each paragraph gives you the opportunity to use 1 of 8 voices (4 female and 4 male).  An imperfection that came up right away was sometimes only one voice would work.  Other times all eight could be selected but a few sounded overly robotic.

The text must all be in English and the software doesn’t understand ” or ‘ so you have to make sure to remove those before getting into the final phases.  Another surprising failure is at times a basic word is not understood.  If you could imagine my surprise when “Dog” freaked out the system.  None of the voices understood the word but could read circumvent or superlative.

There were times I had to close out of the software because the voices picked up completely unrelated gibberish.  Instead of reading the text a series of numbers that had nothing to do with the article were being articulated.

The overall start to finish time is about 3 minutes per article but it would be far better to be 10 and have the error rate go down considerably.

My first inclination and using the product only enhanced my view is that it was released too soon.  There are so many issues that could use tweaking.  At the very end of the video the author’s information is shown in such small font Superman couldn’t read it with X-Ray vision.  The eight voices are not recorded at the same level so there is not a consistent tone throughout the presentation.

I have a link to a video I uploaded and the result isn’t bad but it is only because as a former disc-jockey and somebody that has been around audio/video forever I was able to use some tricks of the trade.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geUgs-pDTjM

Thanks for your time and enjoy the day.

Craig Fenton is the creator of Painting My Room In A Colorful Way (the ultimate speaking and writing course with written, audio, and phone coaching).  He is the author of the Jefferson Airplane book Take Me To A Circus Tent and the Jefferson Starship Have You Seen The Stars Tonite.  Craig lectures with a one time member of the Grateful Dead and a legendary American Rock & Roll Photographer.

http://www.learnpublicspeakingskills.com

 

A Centrist Point Of View On The Price & Profit Of A Gallon Of Gasoline

http://www.learnpublicspeakingskills.com

By a quick show of hands how many would agree to pay 1.00 American money for a gallon of gas from this day forward and forever? I proved my point already. Since I constructed the article I do hope I can ask you to indulge me with two minutes of your time to read the rest.

I often find it difficult to comprehend why on a plethora of topics people gravitate to the left or right and never consider the middle of the road? Since we are talking about the Oil Companies and billions in profits why not continue with the theme. On one side you have people yelling that the profit made in four months time for some of the oil corporations in 2008 were the largest in history. On the flip-side of the coin individuals yelled back that the amount of total taxes paid by the oil industry is probably the highest in North America and they directly or indirectly employee millions of people of all wage levels. Both sides have valid points but are leaving something out of the equation.

Why should the profit a corporation makes at the end of a fiscal year raise your eye? Shouldn’t the bottom line be the price and the value of the service. In 1976 wasn’t a gallon of gasoline roughly fifty-five cents in the United States? Oil executives still were driving the luxury cars and taking their families on trips around the glob. Resentment was minuscule because common sense dictated that if you can get a gallon of gas for under one dollar you have received total value for your hard earned money.

You can use an infinite amount of industries to further solidify the central point of view. Sports would be a perfect one for the next example. In 1973 George Steinbrenner purchased the New York Yankees baseball team for ten million dollars. Last week it was revealed that even with an economic recession the club is worth 1.5 billion dollars. The Yankees are a cash cow for the sales sold per game, the revenue generated from their own television network called YES, merchandising, and several other marketing gems. If you can’t afford to see the team play in person every game can watched on television and listened to on the radio. They show twenty games a season on free TV and a basic cable package on many systems grants you access to the YES Network. From 1995-2007 the team made the playoffs every year.

You can see that in a capitalistic society if a product is legal and ethical we shouldn’t begrudge the Steinbrenner family for being able to own a billion dollar enterprise. As long as the product is competitive and a fan can follow the team via the media outlets mentioned above, the amount of revenue they receive should not be an issue.

Why don’t we all put our heads together on finding ways to keep gas prices stable and in a legitimate price range. If turns out we accomplish the goal let the executives have the house in Maui and Beverly Hills because we can fill-up without mortgaging our own property.

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Craig Fenton is the creator of Painting My Room In A Colorful Way (the ultimate speaking and writing course with written, audio, email, and phone coaching). He is the author of the Jefferson Airplane book Take Me To A Circus Tent and the Jefferson Starship Have You Seen The Stars Tonite. Craig lectures with a one time member of the Grateful Dead and a legendary American Rock & Roll Photographer. http://www.learnpublicspeakingskills.com

 

Next To Your Dog This Powerful Tool For Writing And Speaking Can Be Priceless!

http://www.learnpublicspeakingskills.com

Next to your dog are you looking for a new best friend? Don’t worry your pet will never be jealous. Here are three hints, the word is nine letters long, starts with T and ends with S. Are you on the right track? That was a great guess, but not what I had in mind.

It’s the often overlooked marvel called a thesaurus. If you want to improve your writing and speaking ability for business, scholastic, and or personal use this is a tool that can only benefit and never result in negativity.

A thesaurus will enable you to take ordinary words and exchange them for those that have power, passion, and makes the listener or reader focus on your content? Why? Most people are using the simplest word or terminology for their written work or oral presentations and there isn’t anything that differentiates John Doe from Jane Doe or Joe Person from Jill Person.

To give you an indication of what a thesaurus can do why don’t we experiment. A typical sentence will be articulated as follows “It was an important speech.” Let’s use the handy thesaurus and try again. “The speech was incomparable.” “The speaker clearly distinguished himself from all others.”

How often do you hear the word awesome overused? It is at the point that the meaning has lost luster because some people say awesome every other sentence. Why don’t we try to substitute something more powerful? The normal sentence reads “The rainbow that followed the storm was awesome.” The colors of the rainbow following the storm were majestic.”

Why be run of the mill when you have the ability to excel. There is no reason a person of any age can’t build a strong vocabulary and be more confident and comfortable in their expression. The thesaurus is remarkable for the results you can achieve regardless if you are a professional writer or speaker. Each time you use it not only will your results be more superlative but you have increased vocabulary skills for future reference.

If you decide to put a thesaurus under observation on your computer or purchase the actual product, the end will more than justify the means. It’s never too late to be the best you can, especially when the cost is not humongous. Pet the dog and let him know he’s always number one and gets the gold metal, you can save the silver for the thesaurus.

http://www.learnpublicspeakingskills.com

Thank you for the kindness of Chris for making this part of his Blog Carnival!

http://www.purposepowercoaching.com/site/?p=362

 

A New Use For Twitter, it can be a great writing exercise (Say more in less time)

Painting My Room In A Colorful Way is the ultimate guide to better speaking, writing, and self-confidence with a book, audio files, email support, and phone coaching. With a price that won’t leave you speechless. Includes a money back guarantee.

http://www.learnpublicspeakingskills.com

One of the latest social networking phenomenons is Twitter.  It seems to be on the mind of every celebrity, politician, student, business owner, and social maven.

If you aren’t aware of what Twitter is, here is a brief description.  Twitter lets you post (the catch is 140 characters total or less) what you are doing, thoughts on a subject, a plug for a product, or a hello to your friends.  You follow Twitter users and they can follow you as well.

Here is where I have found a new use of the site.  One of the exercises I am currently teaching is how to say what you need to in articulate sentences while still staying in the 140 character restriction.

Yes, there are ways to circumvent the limitations such as using u for you or 4 and not 4 but when you can get a full impact to the reader without having to abbreviate your thoughts, you have learned a valuable tool.

When you speak or write the key is to keep the attention of those that you are communicating with.  We often find ourselves endlessly explaining something that could be stated in more concise patterns.

The exercise is can be advantageous for the sports commentator that has to get his point across between each pitch of a baseball game or in between downs of a National Football League broadcast.  It can help somebody on a job interview think faster and better their choice of words.  Maybe you are a business owner and need to get the attention of a future client in a couple of sentences, or you are writing a headline for a blog post.

Whatever the reason why not try this.  Think of a message you want to get across to friends, family, co-workers, and so on.  Start to write the contents in Microsoft Word.  When you have finished check the character count and if it is over 140 try to condense it without using abbreviations and losing the meaning of your thoughts.  The next thing you can do is to take something that you have already posted or written that is over 140 characters and see if you can truncate this as well.  It is not always feasible to be effective with a word or character limitation but for practice it can only benefit your speaking and writing capabilities today, tomorrow, and further down the road.  What have you got to loose but a few words.   Good luck!

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Craig Fenton is the creator of Painting My Room In A Colorful Way (the ultimate speaking and writing course with written, audio, and phone coaching).  He is the author of the Jefferson Airplane book Take Me To A Circus Tent and the Jefferson Starship Have You Seen The Stars Tonite.  Craig lectures with a one time member of the Grateful Dead and a legendary American Rock & Roll Photographer.
http://www.learnpublicspeakingskills.com

 

Not speaking and writing your best isn’t as funny as this video. Enjoy it.

http://www.learnpublicspeakingskills.com

Not speaking and writing your best isn’t as funny as this video.  Enjoy it.

Thanks!

Video is here:

http://odurl.com/nC

 

An incredible Hollywood act of kindness to our soldiers and only original Jefferson Airplane drummer Jerry Peloquin is talking about it!

Hi there:

Hope all is well today.  Please share this with full credit to Jerry.

I got an email from original Jefferson Airplane drummer Jerry Peloquin and wanted to share this great story with you:

Denzel  Washington  and  his family visited the  troops at   Brook   Army Medical Centre ,  in   San  Antonio ,
Texas (BAMC) the other day. This is where soldiers who have been  evacuated
from Germany  come to be hospitalized in the United States, especially burn
victims There are some buildings there called Fisher Houses. The Fisher House
is a Hotel where soldiers’ families can stay, for little or no charge, while their soldier
is staying on base, but as you can imagine, they are almost filled most of the time.

While Denzel Washington was visiting BAMC, they gave him a tour of one of the
Fisher Houses. He asked how much one of them would cost to build.  He took his
checkbook out and wrote a check for the full amount right there on the spot. The soldiers  overseas were amazed to hear this story and want to get the word
out to the American public, because it warmed their hearts  to hear it

What really upsets us is the question – why do: Britney   Spears

Madonna
Tom Cruise and
other Hollywood fluff
make front page news with their ridiculous
antics and Denzel Washington ‘s charity
doesn’t even make page 3 in the Metro section of
any newspaper except the local newspaper in San Antonio .

Thanks for your time,

Craig The Airplane Man Fenton

 

Jefferson Airplane/Starship Interview, New Speaking and Writing Course, and we lost 2 musicians

http://www.learnpublicspeakingskills.com

The ultimate speaking, writing, and self-confidence course is here “Painting My Room In A Colorful Way.”

By public-speaker and author Craig Fenton of the Jefferson Airplane book Take Me To A Circus Tent and the Jefferson Starship Have You Seen The Stars Tonite.

At a price that won’t leave you speechless!

http://www.learnpublicspeakingskills.com

Welcome to Jefferson World (Almost April):

How is the week going thus far?  Thanks

as always for stopping by the Circus Tent

Blog.

I forgot to mention (sorry) about a

couple of musicians we lost lately.

Former bass-player for the Electric

Light Orchestra Kelly Groucutt

and one of the most well known

drummers ever Louie Bellson.  Thanks

for the sounds you gave us.

Joe Viglione long time author, writer,

manager, and promoter was kind

enough to interview me regarding the

Jefferson Airplane Take Me

To A Circus Tent/and Jefferson

Starship Have You Seen The Stars

Tonite.

Jefferson airplane Jefferson Starship Books

Please board this way for the

interview:
Gemm Jefferson Interview With Craig

Thank you for all the

airmails

regarding my soon to be

released

speaking,writing,and

self-confidence course

“Painting My Room In A

Colorful Way.”

There will

be nothing that can compare

to the quality, price, and

learning

tools.  This includes not only

an E-Book, audio, email,

but phone coaching too!

More details coming! They

always will be found here

and at

http://www.takemetoacircustent.net

All the best,
CF

 

Jefferson Airplane- Jefferson Family presents something old and something new. When the earth moves again the cowboy is on the run!

Please spread the word the new Jefferson Starship book:

“HAVE YOU SEEN THE STARS TONITE” has landed and

the 2 CD Special set Have You Seen The Circus Tent Tonite

with over 900 rock and roll photos and the Cathy Richardson 70 minute interview, has landed too!

http://www.takemetoacircustent.net

http://www.amazon.com (The books are proudly featured here)

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE– JEFFERSON STARSHIP–

Great Society– Take Me To A Circus Tent

Have You Seen The Stars Tonite

Have You Seen The Circus Tent Tonite

Quality Rock & Roll Airplane

style.

Hello from the Jefferson Ranch:

How are you feeling today?  Is the week going as planned?  I got a request from a Jefferson Family Fan in New Mexico for something old and new as a theme for the flight.

The destination is B.B. King’s New York City on the 5th of April 2008 (4/5/08).

The Jefferson Starship proudly on stage:

When The Earth Moves Again (A great tune Paul Kantner has carried over from the Jefferson Airplane days)

Cowboy On The Run (A song David Freiberg enjoys as the band does some folk-rock material).

Cool sounds for the ears as we fly toward the weekend.

Enjoy and hear the show!

Please spread the

word:

The 2 new Jefferson projects have arrived!

Thanks as always!

Relax and have fun!

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE–

JEFFERSON STARSHIP– Great Society-

Take Me To A Circus Tent

HAVE YOU SEEN THE STARS TONITE

I look forward to hearing you later!

The book is Take Me To A Circus Tent (The Jefferson Airplane Flight Manual) W/93 photos, 32 interviews, 543 pages, and a myriad of 5 star reviews!

Please remember at any moment on an Aircast it can be a rare memory from the Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, KBC, Wooden Ships, Marty Balin, Paul Kantner to name several.  Maybe another picture previously unseen from the Rock Tent Vault sees daylight from Herb Greene or Don Aters.

Please board the flight here for Jefferson Rock & Roll sounds:

http://www.takemetoacircustent.net/media/JeffersonAirplaneTakeMeToACircusTentAircast64whentheearthmovesthecowboyisontherun.mp3

Wishing you a great day,

craig

 

Jefferson Airplane- Want rare Great Society 1966 audio? How rare? Funny you ask. An original member had me send them a copy!

Please spread the word the new Jefferson Starship book:

“HAVE YOU SEEN THE STARS TONITE” has landed and

the 2 CD Special set Have You Seen The Circus Tent Tonite

with over 900 rock and roll photos and the Cathy Richardson 70 minute interview, has landed too!

http://www.takemetoacircustent.net

http://www.amazon.com (The books are proudly featured here)

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE– JEFFERSON STARSHIP– Great Society– Take Me To A Circus Tent

Have You Seen The Stars Tonite

Have You Seen The Circus Tent Tonite

Quality Rock & Roll Airplane

style.

Welcome to the Great Rock Society:

How are things going? I hope all is great. Tuesday was a typical fantastic day in Airplane Land but I must point out that it would be nice if a company with a zillion dollar budget would have customer service available via phone and not email only. I have had an issue with a specific outfit for 15 days and it isn’t that hard to resolve. How about the Yankees giving up on the season? Monday was one of the worst performances from the team in decades.

Rock and Roll is why we are on the flight and it is GREAT! We go to the Matrix, San Francisco, California. The city by the bay has given us the rare 1966 Great Society live track:

Down Home Girl

Cool things from the Rock Tent Vault.

A large thank you to an executive of the Artists First Radio Network for giving me an hour of their time last night to talk about the books on the Jefferson Airplane- Take Me To A Curus Tent and the Jefferson Starship- Have You Seen The Stars Tonite, as well as the lectures with one time Grateful Dead member Tom Constanten and America’s Rock & Roll Photographer Don Aters. We even discussed Don’s rare rock and roll pictures for sale from the last 40 years. Thank you to those that listened. For Tony, my your mom feel better!

Got to go, rock and roll!

Please spread the

word:

The 2 new Jefferson projects have arrived!

Thanks as always!

Relax and have fun!

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE–

JEFFERSON STARSHIP– Great Society-

Take Me To A Circus Tent Have You Seen The Stars Tonite

I look forward to hearing you later!

The book is Take Me To A Circus Tent (The Jefferson Airplane Flight Manual) W/93 photos, 32 interviews, 543 pages, and a myriad of 5 star reviews!

Please remember at any moment on an Aircast it can be a rare memory from the Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, KBC, Wooden Ships, Marty Balin, Paul Kantner to name several. Maybe another picture previously unseen from the Rock Tent Vault sees daylight from Herb Greene or Don Aters.

Please board the way back rock plane here for Great Society 66:

http://www.takemetoacircustent.net/media/JeffersonAirplaneTakeMeToACircusTentAircast64downatanyhomeitisraregreatsociety.mp3

Wishing you a great day,

craig

 

Jefferson Airplane- History Awaits! A Jefferson Airplane, Great Society, and Jefferson Starship member perform on stage for the first time ever. You are right there for the flight! Volunteers anybody?

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE– JEFFERSON STARSHIP– Great Society– Take Me To A Circus Tent

Have You Seen The Stars Tonite

Quality Rock & Roll Airplane

style.

Welcome to Rock History:

How are you feeling? I hope you are

having a great weekend thus far!. We

have history to share on our flight and

I’m honored you are part of it.

I tried to call Signe Anderson yesterday

the 6th of March 2009 but didn’t get any

answer.  She had a visit to the doctor

this week and wanted to give you an

update.

What if you could be the 9th ^person to hear a Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and Great Society member play on stage for the first time together?

It didn’t happen in the 60’s, no not in the 70’s, good guess but not in the 80’s or 90’s. It took place in August of 2008.

Here are Marty Balin, Slick Aguilar, and from the Great Society- Darby Slick doing an Airplane classic.

It’s rock and roll from the Rock Tent Vaults and only can be heard here.

Volunteers (August 24, 2008)

Astoria , Oregon

8/24/08

Please spread the

word:

The 2 new Jefferson projects have arrived!

Thanks as always!

Relax and have fun!

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE–

JEFFERSON STARSHIP– Great Society-

Take Me To A Circus Tent

I look forward to hearing you later!

The book is Take Me To A Circus Tent (The Jefferson Airplane Flight Manual) W/93 photos, 32 interviews, 543 pages, and a myriad of 5 star reviews!

Please remember at any moment on an Aircast it can be a rare memory from the Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, KBC, Wooden Ships, Marty Balin, Paul Kantner to name several. Maybe another picture previously unseen from the Rock Tent Vault sees daylight from Herb Greene or Don Aters.

Please fly here and enjoy the ride:

http://www.takemetoacircustent.net/media/JeffersonAirplaneTakeMeToACircusTentAircast64Jefisgreatinastarship.mp3

Have a great day as always,

CF