Bitten By The Bug

The special rating of Gravatar

Look ma' I'm rated X!
How to spend more time to update an avatar than to update your status?

A couple of days ago, I received an invitation to test 12seconds.tv, which is a video status updates. In twelve seconds. Which is short for talkative people as me. But a nice way to familiarize yourself with video, if you are not well acquainted with. As me ;-)

Anyway, before testing the service, I wanted to remind me how was seesmic.com, the "twitter of video" without a limit time.

Login on seesmic, I once again saw that my avatar was still that horrible white on blue G from Gravatar. I already have spoken about that with Thomas from seesmic one month ago. From GetSatisfaction and via email. But both of us did not find a solution, despite of Thomas' efforts and disponibility.

So, reading that other people had the same issue, I once again decided to explore Gravatar to try to find out how and why sometimes it displays my pic and sometimes not. No need to be a geek, in fact. This time, bingo!

The issue is really simple. I don't know why, neither how, but my picture had been rated X by Gravatar. And it sounds, which is a good news, that by default Seesmic does not allow picture rated X from Gravatar.

Easy as a pie, you just have to know it... which is written nowhere on Seesmic. Nor that Gravatar rates pictures. Or I'm blind, which is also a correct hypothesis ;-) If so, please put it somewhere more viewable!

Anyway, if your Gravatar is not displayed on some websites just run checking if you're rated X. If so, just change your rating or upload a new avatar then chose the new one after rating it G !

Note: I am not really offended to have been rated X but... quand même!

Better, isn't it?

The other sense. The one of humour.

Sense of humour. I'm often wondering about its nature, its natures. Its cultures.

What makes a person has a sense of humour I share, or not. Why or what for some people handle with ease and others are totally impervious to any form of humor.

That little extra something that makes the same joke told by two different people can be funny, or not.
In humour too the issuer would be at least as important as the message?

The point is subject to change at any time without prior notification, but seems to follow a few rules:

• Humour is a magnifying mirror, often a timeless caricature/reflect of societies, identities and human natures. A liar who told the truth. In all languages, though sometimes untranslatable.


• Humour is a demanding master: he teaches to listen to, reversal and open perspectives.
  Double-entendre, disambiguation, homophony, destabilization are disguises puns of the reality. He also teaches to enunciate disguised criticism more easily acceptable. An exit door to remain respectful while being firm in the message to give.
  I have often thought, without risking regards from the seriousness and pontifiants specialists, that Lacan was undoubtedly the most misunderstood showman.
  And I sometimes "re-understand" long after finesses which until then were "invisible" to me by lack of culture. It is a doll pullout or an onion we peel, until tears of laughter.


• Humour is more spice than food. Nothing more indigestible as the bitter pun, overdosed laughters or perpetual sad clowns. Since my childhood I was raised with "Rire, c'est gai-rire" -- untranslatable pun, but still at homeopathic doses. Because there is a time for every thing.
  A time to laugh and a time to be serious. Without taking seriously. The border is probably somewhere between these two extremes.

For all these reasons, I find the video made by Crunchgear's Nicholas & Gabriel Deleon quite talented, despite of a more than tendentious context. Without doubt it has been done with an intention: to laugh with, and not laugh at. As for the rest, that indefinable element of mystery that escapes the dissection and that we call talent. Finding the right tone, which will push the limits of bad taste to give a good laugh instead. It's not that often, and when that happens, c'est si bon.

Warning : This video is based upon a part of a movie rated R, The Downfall. You may find it offending. Real dialogues in German aren't funny at all. To me the parody is. Because the parody is about twitter. Not about Hitler. Here is the blurred and personal border which defines the nature of the felt emotional burden. Funny or disgusting.

Seesmic embed me!

How seesmic caught me properly!

Once upon a time, we were used to say that spoken words fly away, written words remain.
That's not true anymore. Well, I must confess that is one of the reasons why I'm not really a big fan of video.

Anyway, 7 months ago, which is approximately seesmic's age, I tested the service. (remember?)
At this stage, it was buggy, my webcam was not that great, and I was unable to record anything with both image and sound. So, I let it go, just leaving a funny wish-comment.
Following time to time some rewarding conversations. I will not give you examples, you just have to go exploring on seesmic. Content is also made to be watched. That was my first step.

Since a couple of weeks -- from the Cannes festival I guess-- the pace has dangerously accelerated!
Many great conversations. For the first time, I was almost frustrated not to respond. Almost ;-)

That's why tonight when I saw on Otir's blog there was a new feature allowing to directly answer from her blog, just by clicking the red button, I tried it.

Easy, as a pie. Too easy! That's how they caught me!
In French, that's good for your cultural background ;-) You can reply in english, spanish or whatever the language you speak. You even can hear me in white version. That's so Beatles! ;-)

Just click on reply. It appears when you launch the video. If you don't have an account yet, it creates one as fast as Roberto Benigni talks.

By the way, seesmic has got something Italian, you even can talk with your hands. Give it a try.

At this time there's no way to send private video or set to whom you would give access.
I don't know if this kind of feature is in the pipe. I guess the list of priorities is as long as a Scobble speech but it could be great to get this kind of feature.

I do not swear that I will be an hyper active user, but right now, I know this is accessible, quickly and easily. Really easily. 
Probably as much as the first time one was just speaking to someone else being heard thousands of miles away.

One must live with its time and it would appear that the one of video arrives.

See you on seesmic ;-)