And now back to Arts Coverage...

2012 was neither a great year nor a terrible year for the work I'm trying to do. Just sort of unexpected. When I last wrote a blog entry, "Culture Wire" was rolling steady: Shoot, Edit, Complete, Repeat. This Godwaffle Noise Pancakes video was shot in April, with every intention of turning it around that same month. But I was taught something in Basic Training that I had to voluntarily recall and enforce within myself.

Everybody is a unique Special Snowflake until things go all wrong. Then you are an Infantry Soldier, son. Time to fight.

In our very small shop, we lost two people to illness, three people to transfer, one to a multi-month project, and then two people were asked not to come back. Fifty per cent of the workforce was disrupted for the better part of 2012. The people left standing, such as myself, had to drop all the Special Snowflake projects, find some grit, and deal with all the everyday ugly stuff for months. And months.

At the end of this unexpected year, I was able to turn back to "Culture Wire," right where I left it. And I think the battles might have helped. This isn't the same "PBS magazine package" that I would usually crank out. It's the kind of video that plays in a museum for a self-selected audience. The editing is strangely both more affected and less manipulated. When it was finished, I had to take it home and loop it for six hours to figure out if I was truly settled with it.

But if you're not settled with it, you are welcome to remix your own version. I've made some alternate clips and released them as Creative Commons. Have fun.

Interview only - http://youtu.be/ldj0Lg0bSXs 
Black and White - http://youtu.be/pjd2Xs4kuzA
Unaltered Color - http://youtu.be/CyEpCeV0qdQ 
Extra B-roll shots - http://youtu.be/lHNEto_1ZyM
Original Aired Version - http://youtu.be/GOwp79mhw-4