Shifting my Hot-Take Videos on the Second Season of "The Mandalorian" to Provide Background

After the very first episode of the second season of The Mandalorian, I realized I should create an initial reaction video - a hot take of sorts - and I did that, in a way that was like a preview piece, since I really wanted to avoid spoilers, because I was putting it out so soon after the episode's release (the same morning). 

However, when the second episode came out, I realized I didn't need to avoid spoilers, since most people watching the video probably already watched the episode (as they probably wanted to remain far away from spoilers), so I could just give my reactions and hot takes on the episode(s). And that's what I did for the next few episodes. 

When I got to the fifth episode, I realized I should probably mention something about Ahsoka Tano and Grand Admiral Thrawn so I mentioned them and where they had appeared previously. But, as I've been seeing online and talking to more casual Star Wars fans, they want to know what these references are - who are these characters? 

That is what has caused me to change my approach to these videos, and I am adjusting for the 6th episode that just came out this morning, and perhaps the 7th and 8th episodes, as well, in this second season. 

So, now, my series, due to what I'm hearing from friends and fellow fans, is now shifting into a little bit of a guide, a helpful resource to people who may be less familiar with the Star Wars universe, and to provide background on characters and other things that have happened.

So here is what I've published today as the sixth video: 

(And here is the playlist for my videos on the second season) 

(Related: this series is a result of publishing more Star Wars videos in 2020)

Beginning to Take My Star Wars YouTube Channel Seriously

Years ago when I created my Star Wars website, I also set up my Star Wars YouTube channel, and, sure, I put up a few videos here and there, but no particular concerted effort. However, helped in part by the global pandemic, I recently realized that I had doubled my YouTube output, from 11 videos published on my Star Wars YouTube channel from when I published my first video in late November 2014 through early December 2019, with another 29 having been published since - so I've nearly tripled the output in the past 8 months versus the first 5 years(!).

While a big driver of the new content were my quick book reviews, there has been a huge renewal in interest from fellow Star Wars fans, largely due to The Mandalorian, so I've been focussing more on that, with not only quick reaction videos after each episode of the second season, but also some further helpful videos related to the episodes (e.g. "Cobb Vanth in Boba Fett's Mandalorian Armor in the Aftermath Trilogy", "Mandalorians DO Remove Their Helmets", and "M-Count = Midi-chlorians?").

I realize people are loving the Mandalorian content on my YouTube channel, as well as the Darksaber, so I've been working on developing more of it, content-wise, but I also have begun thinking about visually working on my YouTube channel, including getting a new banner.

I would love to see where I can take this - both the YouTube channel, as well as developing my Star Wars content. I've also recently begun thinking about defining my niche(s) - it seems that I've had a lot of Mandalorian, Darksaber, and book content. I may also bring to YouTube some of the focus I have had with my Boba Fett and Darth Maul series....

In any event, I am curious to see how this continues to develop and we'll see where it goes.

Growth in My Video Content Output Contributing to the Boost in Video Content for My Star Wars YouTube Channel

Having had a realization recently that I produced more video content in the past year or so than I had in the previous decade, and feeling a little bit bummed that I had missed out on so many opportunities over that decade, yet also realizing how much more opportunity there is in both the present and the future, I have felt the need to produce more video content to take advantage of the opportunities out there. 

A big part of this is directly attributed to my having got into Gary Vaynerchuk's content and ideas about putting out content, as well as the significance of video content. However, a big unlock for me came in the spring during quarantine when I got the idea to do daily videos unedited and for me that was a big unlock - not only to come up with ideas to speak about them and to not worry at all about post-production or any editing work at all and that was huge for me to go into it and just speak.

One of the ways that it actually contributed in a fascinating way has also been with regards to Star Wars videos. I created my Star Wars YouTube channel 6 years ago in November 2014; from November 2014 until March of this year, I had published 11 videos. Since then, I have doubled that production. 

Largely, this is due to the positive influences and ideas of Gary Vaynerchuk, as well as the realization I don't necessarily need to edit down my videos. So a huge major piece of that was just talking about books and not worrying about any post-production work. I've also begun to be less afraid to put out content also realize there's an interest in certain pieces of content. In addition, I just discovered a week ago the ease with which it is to record off of a screen, so I don't necessarily need to try to find and download various files of various television episodes of Star Wars shows, so it is a lot easier to go and record clips and then insert them into videos such as this video on The Mandalorian or this video from this past week on Jango Fett. 

So I'm very excited to continue producing video content and also to be working on my Star Wars YouTube channel, especially since we're only a quarter of the way done with this season of The Mandalorian and there's a lot of renewed interest in Star Wars and especially Mandalorians, as well as the Darksaber, of which I already have not only relevant video content, but a bunch of written content on my Star Wars website. I'm very excited to see what can happen and, hopefully, I'll be able to break through to 300 subscribers on my YouTube channel soon :)

Julie Nolke's Excellent Explaining the Pandemic to My Past Self Series (So Far)

Sometime this summer, I stumbled upon a couple of videos entitled "Explaining the Pandemic to My Past Self", and found them hilarious. When the third in the series was published on Thursday, I knew I had to share them!

Created by Julie Nolke, an actress from Canada, this series envisions her travelling back in time to an earlier month in 2020 to speak to an earlier version of herself, which results in hilarity.

First Video: April 2020

The first video in the series was published on April 9th and envisions her speaking to her January 2020 self, which is greatly amusing, as her January 2020 self has no idea of what is coming:

Second Video: June 2020

The second video in the series was published on June 4th and has her June self visiting her April 2020 self immediately after her April 2020 self visits her January 2020 self:

Third Video: October 2020

The third video in the series was published five days ago and has her October 2020 self speaking to her June 2020 self. To be honest, I don't know why Nolke held off for four months to release the third video in the series, especially since so much happens in 2020. Nevertheless, the wait was worth it, as this one has been the best of the series so far:

I truly hope that she doesn't stop this series any time soon and that she continues releasing videos, as these are fantastic!

Finally Starting My Real Estate Website

I finally did something that's been on my mind for months and I just hadn't pulled the trigger previously: creating a real estate website for my real estate business. I probably should have done it when I first became a real estate agent but I didn't, and then I should have done it after I completed my first real estate sales transaction and, again I didn't, and then I should have done it when I celebrated my one year anniversary of being a licensed real estate and, yet again, I didn't do it. 

The time has come, I decided, I really just need to have a website. Of course, yes, I do have one provided by my brokerage, however, I said that I really wanted a place especially to have information about my services, but I actually what was particularly driving me to have a real estate website was a place to showcase real estate videos.

Having published weekly real estate videos for over a year now, I wanted to feature these videos, as well as directing people to certain pages containing relevant real estate videos to help them out. Providing that value to people regarding real estate is something that deeply motivated me to create it. And, yes, there will also be various blog posts on the website, especially concerning the real estate market and other related information.

I finally created my real estate website and now I've got to go work on it - not only populate it with content, but also to get it into good shape.

Fascinating Article on American Police History

Having never thought about policing and its history, I had simply been under the impression that policing has been around for many centuries. However, in the Western world, that has not necessarily been the case. I found a recent article to be quite enlightening about the police. Published in an issue last month of The New Yorker, Jill Lepore's "The Long Blue Line" in the July 20th issue (pages 64-69) (as well as online as "The Invention of the Police"), the article discusses the origins of policing in America.

Starting off etymologically, Lepore writes

"To police is to maintain law and order, but the word derives from polis—the Greek for “city,” or “polity”—by way of politia, the Latin for “citizenship,” and it entered English from the Middle French police, which meant not constables but government. “The police,” as a civil force charged with deterring crime, came to the United States from England and is generally associated with monarchy—“keeping the king’s peace”—which makes it surprising that, in the antimonarchical United States, it got so big, so fast. The reason is, mainly, slavery." (64)

However, as Lepore notes,

History begins with etymology, but it doesn’t end there. The polis is not the police. The American Revolution toppled the power of the king over his people—in America, “the law is king,” Thomas Paine wrote—but not the power of a man over his family. The power of the police has its origins in that kind of power. Under the rule of law, people are equals; under the rule of police, as the legal theorist Markus Dubber has written, we are not. We are more like the women, children, servants, and slaves in a household in ancient Greece, the people who were not allowed to be a part of the polis. But for centuries, through struggles for independence, emancipation, enfranchisement, and equal rights, we’ve been fighting to enter the polis. One way to think about “Abolish the police,” then, is as an argument that, now that all of us have finally clawed our way into the polis, the police are obsolete. (64)

The serious issue that is confronting us nowadays regarding police is

The crisis in policing is the culmination of a thousand other failures—failures of education, social services, public health, gun regulation, criminal justice, and economic development. Police have a lot in common with firefighters, E.M.T.s, and paramedics: they’re there to help, often at great sacrifice, and by placing themselves in harm’s way. To say that this doesn’t always work out, however, does not begin to cover the size of the problem. The killing of George Floyd, in Minneapolis, cannot be wished away as an outlier. In each of the past five years, police in the United States have killed roughly a thousand people. (During each of those same years, about a hundred police officers were killed in the line of duty.) One study suggests that, among American men between the ages of fifteen and thirty-four, the number who were treated in emergency rooms as a result of injuries inflicted by police and security guards was almost as great as the number who, as pedestrians, were injured by motor vehicles. Urban police forces are nearly always whiter than the communities they patrol. The victims of police brutality are disproportionately Black teen-age boys: children. To say that many good and admirable people are police officers, dedicated and brave public servants, which is, of course, true, is to fail to address both the nature and the scale of the crisis and the legacy of centuries of racial injustice. (64)

Lepore goes back a century to modern policing, which incorporated militaristic conceptions:

Modern American policing began in 1909, when August Vollmer became the chief of the police department in Berkeley, California. Vollmer refashioned American police into an American military. He’d served with the Eighth Army Corps in the Philippines in 1898. “For years, ever since Spanish-American War days, I’ve studied military tactics and used them to good effect in rounding up crooks,” he later explained. “After all we’re conducting a war, a war against the enemies of society.” Who were those enemies? Mobsters, bootleggers, socialist agitators, strikers, union organizers, immigrants, and Black people.

To domestic policing, Vollmer and his peers adapted the kinds of tactics and weapons that had been deployed against Native Americans in the West and against colonized peoples in other parts of the world, including Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, as the sociologist Julian Go has demonstrated. Vollmer instituted a training model imitated all over the country, by police departments that were often led and staffed by other veterans of the United States wars of conquest and occupation. A “police captain or lieutenant should occupy exactly the same position in the public mind as that of a captain or lieutenant in the United States army,” Detroit’s commissioner of police said. (66-67)

Pointing out a cultural disconnect about how police were appearing on television, Lepore observes that

Two kinds of police appeared on mid-century American television. The good guys solved crime on prime-time police procedurals like “Dragnet,” starting in 1951, and “Adam-12,” beginning in 1968 (both featured the L.A.P.D.). The bad guys shocked America’s conscience on the nightly news: Arkansas state troopers barring Black students from entering Little Rock Central High School, in 1957; Birmingham police clubbing and arresting some seven hundred Black children protesting segregation, in 1963; and Alabama state troopers beating voting-rights marchers at Selma, in 1965. These two faces of policing help explain how, in the nineteen-sixties, the more people protested police brutality, the more money governments gave to police departments.

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson declared a “war on crime,” and asked Congress to pass the Law Enforcement Assistance Act, under which the federal government would supply local police with military-grade weapons, weapons that were being used in the war in Vietnam. During riots in Watts that summer, law enforcement killed thirty-one people and arrested more than four thousand; fighting the protesters, the head of the L.A.P.D. said, was “very much like fighting the Viet Cong.” Preparing for a Senate vote just days after the uprising ended, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee said, “For some time, it has been my feeling that the task of law enforcement agencies is really not much different from military forces; namely, to deter crime before it occurs, just as our military objective is deterrence of aggression.” (68)

While the article is not a complete history of policing, nor, for that matter, is it even a whole history of the culture of police in America, it's a fascinatingly insightful overview of police in America.

Star Wars & Judaism Series Completed

Having announced in May that I would be doing a Star Wars & Judaism Zoom series, I am proud to share that I have now completed this series.

Taking place on Sunday evenings from late May through this past Sunday, I am thankful to the handful of folks who joined me every Sunday evening for a dozen weeks to discuss similarities and dissimilarities of scenes from Star Wars movies against Jewish texts.

Drawing upon Biblical and Rabbinic texts, I compared and contrasted scenes and dialogue from the twelve theatrically-released Star Wars films, here are all of the source sheets from this series:

1. A New Hope
2. The Empire Strikes Back
3. Return of the Jedi
4. The Phantom Menace
5. Attack of the Clones
6. Revenge of the Sith
7. Star Wars The Clone Wars
8. The Force Awakens
9. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
10. The Last Jedi
11. Solo: A Star Wars Story
12. The Rise of Skywalker

While the first session was kept to 40 minutes, as I was on a basic Zoom account, I am fortunate that a couple of people stepped-up to sponsor and subsidize me upgrading to a paid Zoom account, for which I am very appreciative.

Thank you to all of those who joined in the discussions - it was a great experience! :)

Reflecting on This Spring's A Few with Drew Series

Back in the spring, while on a walk around my neighborhood and listening to an episode of "Tea with Gary Vee", I was inspired to create a Coronatine project: "A Few with Drew" (which you can read more about its genesis here). Basically, I would create a new few-minute video every day, whether in the morning or evening, Sunday-Friday, and talk about a few things I was doing or what was on my mind. 

Posting
I posted the episodes to Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram; I did not successfully post to YouTube every day, but I was good about posting to Facebook and Instagram. This series lasted up until my first day at my new job. To some degree, I really thought I could continue creating "A Few with Drew" videos, but the next day, I really was no longer in the mindset of creating such videos. After all, these were meant to be both reflective of my Coronatine experience, as well as a creative outlet for me amidst Coronatine, but going into work for 7.5-8 hours a day no longer seemed to be in any way related to the Coronatine experience.


Wrap-up Episode?
I thought it would be a great idea to do a wrap-up episode of "A Few with Drew", but, as time went on, it just never happened :( This post is the closest I plan on getting to such a video (unless I discuss it on a different video...).

Beneficial Consequences
The effects and consequences of the 44 episodes I did with "A Few with Drew" extended beyond the actual episodes, themselves. One key consequence that I had been shooting for was literally sharing my experiences and having people react/respond, which I received and was great. I wasn't in it for huge numbers, just anything, and I was happy with that.

A halfway unexpected consequence was forcing myself to get comfortable and work on the skill of speaking to a camera in one-shot. While previous video projects of mine have involved editing, whether to remove my filler speech or for other reasons, I knew from the outset that I didn't have the bandwidth to take on a new video-editing project (in addition to my weekly real estate videos and weekly videos/podcasts for Jewish Drinking), so I would have to really have a sense of what I was planning on saying and speaking on the shows prior to recording. I have mentioned earlier that it caused an unlock in my reducing friction in creating video content, allowing me to create more Star Wars videos, as well as making my real estate videos less heavy on editing, which was great. 

Finally, an unexpected consequence of this project was live Zoom sessions: the first evening that I posted a "Few with Drew" video, someone suggested on Facebook that I turn it into a live Zoom discussion/drinking opportunity. So, that Sunday, I did a live Zoom session, which went well, then ended up doing a further four more. Out of these five Zoom sessions which brought together various people looking to connect amidst Coronatine, Star Wars kept coming up and I realized I wanted to do a live Zoom series focussing on Star Wars.

So, inspired by a rabbinic colleague's doing a special Judaism and Star Wars Zoom session, I recognized that no one has ever done an entire series on Judaism and Star Wars movies. So, after taking off Mother's Day for a Zoom session, the following Sunday, I began doing weekly Zoom sessions on Star wars theatrically-released films and comparing them with Biblical and Rabbinic texts (so far, ten sessions completed with just two further sessions to go(!)).

Going Forward
Although I was done with the series of "A Few with Drew", I really quite liked the idea of doing short, daily videos. Thus, a new series was inspired, "Minute Morning Musings", which I plan on discussing in a future post :)

A Core Thesis of Gary Vaynerchuk's: Put Content Online

For those of you who have seen me publishing posts on this platform (and other platforms, as well), you may have noticed that I have been sharing a fair amount of Gary Vaynerchuk-related content. Today is no different, as this is a quick clip of his sharing a core thesis amongst his ideas: put content online:

A Few Key Gary Vee Videos

Having mentioned my appreciation for Gary Vaynerchuk videos, I've recently found myself commonly sharing a small number of key Gary Vee videos that I have found valuable and want to share with other people who I think would derive a lot of value from them, as well.

The first of these videos is not only the first Gary Vaynerchuk video/talk that I watched/listened to, but it's also an incredibly helpful and insightful video (which I may delve into further on another occasion):
After beginning to get into Gary Vaynerchuk content, I mentioned this newfound interest of mine to someone who respects Gary Vee and had even met him years ago. He shared with me this solid video from all the way back in 2015, which has remarkably - and insightfully - stood the test of time (at least so far):
Finally, having mentioned earlier on this blog about my appreciation for "Tea with Gary Vee", there has been one particular segment that has not only been deeply impactful for me in the way I think about charging for services, but is also incredibly fascinating (okay, and entertaining), which is the last half-hour of this video:
I hope you derive value from these videos! Enjoy :)

Gary Vaynerchuk on Why Businesses Don't Seem to Care Much for Social Media

While beginning to listen to yesterday's "Tea with Gary Vee" episode on my way home from work yesterday, I found this segment to be greatly fascinating regarding businesses and social media:
I have mentioned before regarding my appreciation for "Tea with Gary Vee", and have been so glad that, after a few week hiatus, the show returned last week on a daily basis during the week! I am so excited for more episodes - this is really great Gary Vaynerchuk content!

Starting New Job

Wearing a surgical mask for my first day on the job

New Job
I started a new job yesterday! The new job is working at Cedar Village, set to take over the position of Director of Pastoral Care. I am very fortunate that my predecessor and I are overlapping for a few weeks, allowing her to pass along her knowledge to me, helping foster a smoother transition, as she shares institutional knowledge with me.

Not Due to Coronavirus

While we are in the midst of the Covid-19 outbreak, the process for this job started before everything shut down due to this novel coronavirus. My first meeting to discuss this position took place right before everything shut down - it was a coffee meeting at the JCC. That seems so long ago, as Coronatine has so strangely distorted our sense of time. It was a different era!

Coronavirus Precautions
In addition to wearing a mask - I was actually given a surgical mask instead of the cloth mask I was wearing, due to the facility not permitting cloth masks to be worn within its walls - there are, as one would surmise, many, many precautions in place. Due to these precautions, much of my job is different at the moment than it will be when we don't have to worry about Coronavirus.

Coronavirus Differences
While aspects of the job description include making sure there are various classes (including teaching them), prayer services on Shabbat, and helping comfort families with regard to the condition of loved ones, those are not taking place in-person. However, this does help me focus, for the moment, on both adjusting to the new facility, the new job, as well as to developing relationships with those at Cedar Village, which will be significantly important in my pastoral role there.

Lot to Learn
I certainly have a lot to learn, in general, but certainly in the next few weeks as I glean insights from my predecessor about my new job!

New Zoom Series: Star Wars & Judaism

Having spent the past five Sunday evenings convening a Zoom chat during this Coronatine period, which is something that developed off of a suggestion from a Coronatine project of mine, I have been wondering this past week about doing a Star Wars & Judaism Zoom series.

Starting Something New
Today, I decided to stop wondering and decided to go ahead and do it. Partially inspired by Star Wars Day this week and seeing a lot of interest in these two beloved topics, this series will be taking place over the next 12 Sunday evenings at 8pm EDT (5pm PDT) on Zoom. And there is no charge.

Temporal Structure
My tentative idea is to start off with welcoming people, as well as letting people sign-on for the first five minutes, followed by 20-25 minutes of textual discussion, and finishing-up with 10-15 minutes of Q&A. This is based off a 40-minute Zoom call, but if we can work something out, it's possible to make it longer.

Texts
My plan is to look at both broad themes in these theatrically-released movies (e.g. hope, luck, revenge, anger, etc.) and particular statements (e.g. "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering"), then find relevant Biblical and Rabbinic texts to compare and/or contrast them. I know other people have used a much broader range of texts (e.g. Kabbalistic texts, Hasidic texts, philosophical texts, Mussar texts, etc.) in comparing/contrasting with Star Wars, but I will stick to my meat-and-potatoes texts of Biblical and Rabbinic texts. I will be sharing these texts on Sefaria, so anyone can view them and/or use them.

Open to Ideas
If you have any suggestions, ideas, etc., feel free to send them my way!

Becoming a Marvel Cinematic Universe Fan

Starting Out with Iron Man and Avengers
When Iron Man came out in the theaters, I saw it with my wife, then we saw its sequel when it came out, followed by seeing Iron Man appear in Avengers. However, I didn’t know who any of the characters were in Avengers, aside from Iron Man and Black Widow, so I didn’t know or care about any of them, so I came away from the movie not really understanding what it was about. And, yes, I subsequently saw Iron Man 3, which was neat to see Tony Stark dealing with his PTSD. However, I knew I had to start catching-up and saw Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers Age of Ultron (we didn't know who all of the characters were in the first Avengers movie, so we didn't care to see the sequel in theatres, but watched it in preparation for Captain America Civil War).

Captain America Civil War was what felicitously triggered my MCU fandom

Captivated by Captain America Civil War
All of this changed with Captain America Civil War. I had agreed to go see it on its opening evening with some other folks and one of the other people in our group who was a Marvel fan came over and convinced me to watch the first Captain America movie, which was enjoyable and provided a backstory for Captain America. When I saw Captain America Civil War, I was utterly blown away at the experience. Not only was the action compelling, but the dialogue was spectacularly fantastic. With such an incredibly entertaining and well put-together cinematic experience, I was deeply intrigued at the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and wanted to know more about all of these characters in the movie and their backstories/what their motivations were.

Having seen Avengers, I liked it, but didn't know the characters' backstories

Catching-up
Fortunately, a few weeks later, I happened to be on a flight to Israel from LA, as I was staffing a Birthright Israel trip, and our Delta flight had a lot of Marvel movies available for watching - lucky me! So, I watched what I could and, on the return flight, not only continued to catch up on my MCU-watching, but even re-watched a couple of movies, such as Avengers and Avengers Age of Ultron in order to gain a better sense of where everyone fit in in that universe. In that short period of time, spurred on by the incredible Civil War and catching up on most of the MCU was fantastic. After returning, I watched whatever other MCU movies I had not yet seen to catch up.

Caught-up
From there on out, I watched every MCU movie and even found out about the MCU prelude comics, which were helpful in understanding the MCU. In addition to the clever dialogue in the movies (especially those directed by the Russo brothers), what I have found to be so fascinating about this series of movies is that they have well-developed characters, a well-developed universe, but here’s the thing that really gets me: they weave them in together so well. The universe is well-constructed, with plots that intertwine so intricately and cleverly that provides a curious amount of interest, especially since it’s clear a lot of thought has gone into it.

Continuing to Enjoy
Having enjoyed the MCU, if you've seen a movie here or there, you may find a lot of enjoyment in gaining a broader perspective of the MCU through watching the other movies. If you do, I recommend watching them in their release order, and I hope you greatly enjoy the MCU!

Getting More Into Making Videos

Real Estate Videos

When I heard about the power of video for real estate, I knew I had to begin publishing videos about real estate. Having now been publishing real estate videos for over a half-year, I still have more coming up.

That, in itself, is not particularly noteworthy.

Surprisingly, however, I received a lot of compliments on my videos. What I hadn’t realized was that not a lot of other real estate agents were publishing videos, at least not here in Cincinnati.

And Also JewishDrinking.com podcasts

While that felt good to receive the compliments, I also began to work more on video-editing due to my video and podcasting for JewishDrinking.com.

A Few with Drew

A big jump for me recently, however, has been doing my daily Coronatine project, “A Fewwith Drew”, a [nearly] daily video of 3-5 minutes speaking to the camera about a few topics and possibly with drink in hand (whether coffee, tea, beer, whiskey, etc.). Inspired by Gary Vaynerchuk’s “Tea with Gary Vee”, I decided to embark on this project, but I knew I didn’t have the time nor did I have the energy to engage in another video project involving editing. So I decided to do something I’ve never done with video-production and publishing: no editing.

Background

For some context, I began playing around with publishing videos in 2008-2009 (which also happened to be my final year in rabbinical school), on a few topics, but also did a weekly vlog post for 26 weeks (yes, a full half-year). (Here's one of my final ones, following that 26th weekly vlog post.)

(While I had a lot of enjoyment as a kid recording videos of various things (including videos of me shooting hoops and playing other sports with friends (I remember having a great clip of a really awesome badminton move with a friend)), there wasn’t a lot of editing, although I did sometimes hook up two VHRs and copy over certain scenes from one VHS casette to the other one (such as that badminton highlight), but none of that was in the era of publishing to the Internet.)

Following that vlogging experience, I then did my 30 Videos of 30 Drinks by a 30-Year Old, which was a cool project, which also got me an article write-up in an Israeli newspaper, but the most important takeaway for me from it was thinkingabout my speaking to the camera, especially in seeking to decrease or even eliminating filler words (e.g. eh, um, uh) from my speech, even if just on-camera. Of course, it also helped my video-editing skills through practice.

At this point, when people ask which software I used for video-editing, the answer is simple: I used Windows Movie Maker, which had come with my computer. That’s I got my start with video-editing - on a simple, video-editing software.

In 2013-2014, when I began editing and putting together some Star Wars material, I was looking around for some software online that would convert certain video files to other video file formats and stumbled upon one that also had a video-editor associated with it. Having downloaded it and liking it, I paid some money for the license to it. This software was Wondershare’s Filmora, which worked nicely.

While I would occasionally publish a video here or there over between 2014 and 2019, I really didn’t work on it much.

That is, until I began working on my real estate videos, as well as the JewishDrinking podcast videos.

“A Few with Drew” Serves as Catalyst for Further Videos

Having seen how easily I can make videos and publish them with no editing has served as a catalyst for considering how much more video-production and publishing I can involve myself in. The clearest example is having begun publishing a couple of Star Wars videos, especially on books. While those were directly-inspired by my “A Few with Drew” videos, as they involved no post-production and removed the friction of taking the time and energy to edit them.

Taking the lesson of my cocktails videos project of seeking to remove filler from my speech, at least on-camera, I have sought to eradicate any filler from my speech on-camera for the “A Few with Drew” project, which I haven’t fully perfected, but have definitely been improving. Taking this non-editing approach has enabled me to make more Star Wars videos, even if I need to be quite mindful regarding speaking to the camera without fillers and really knowing what I need to speak to the camera, as if it will be a complete product right there.

While I plan on doing some more with a bit of editing, certainly for these Star Wars bookvideos, I can do it with less friction for my own energies and time, which is great, and which I hope yields further Star Wars video content.

I am now also tempted to create more video content on Talmudic topics. While I have a broad interest in Talmudic texts, I really probably should focus it for JewishDrinking.com on Jewish drinking texts in the Talmud. Perhaps, at a later point, I can branch out.

For the time being, I am now excited about this “unlock” of ease of video-publishing that I had made more difficult for myself by necessitating or at least thinking I needed to edit any of my videos prior to publication.

Stay tuned.

Hitting the 25th Podcast Episode Mark

I still remember sitting and struggling to research podcasting mechanics 3-4 years ago and trying to wrap my head around podcasting (if you must know, I was having a hard time understanding where to deposit the podcasts and how podcatchers work),* and thinking that I basically understand recording and editing, but was struggling with exactly doing those things. However, a larger struggle I was experiencing at that moment was what the podcast would be – my mind was heading towards a Star Wars podcast.

For those who know me, I am excited about sharing my knowledge of Star Wars and discussing it with fellow fans, and have even appeared on another Star Wars podcast, yet I had concerns: there are already so many Star Wars podcasts out there – what would my podcast add? Also, why? Just because I wanted to do a podcast? That’s enough of a reason for beginning a podcast – why would anyone want to listen? Also, I’m not the most on-top of Star Wars news, etc. as I know I could be and that others out there are already doing.

Last April, I posted on this blog that I was thinking yet again of podcasting and had no longer been desiring to podcast about Star Wars, but was turning to Jewish textual topics. Here, there is a wide-open space for content, as I could easily come up with a dozen different topics that are both interesting and that I could speak knowledgeably on, get guests, and that are not being handled elsewhere (e.g. an entire podcast about Pirkei Avot).

Finally, September rolled around and I was inspired to create JewishDrinking.com,** but was mainly thinking about the written content, especially what I had previously published elsewhere, which I imported to the website. However, I was dragging my feet on other media until a phone conversation on September 13^th with someone who urged me not to worry about technological concerns, which could either be solved by purchasing equipment, renting out equipment, or finding spaces with equipment available. I then realized I didn’t need fancy equipment for podcasting – I could just shoot a video, edit the video (which I’ve done before), take the audio out of the video and figure out some podcasting website to publish it. That night, I then shot and edited my first episode, which I then published.

On a Skype call with a guest for the Jewish Drinking podcast

Since then, I began reaching-out to potential guests, scheduled our Skype or Zoom sessions, recorded them, edited them, and, as of yesterday, hit the 25^th podcast episode’s publication! (All 25 of them are available here.)

One of the coolest aspects of these episodes is both connecting with other people seriously thinking about these drinking aspects in Jewish history, tradition, and more! Whether they are academics, fellow rabbis, or others, it’s been enjoyable to both connect with them, learn about their fields, and, above all, bring all of these disparate conversations into a single place where people may not have known about such matters. 

Weirdly enough, in the half-year since beginning the podcast series, I’ve been surprised to see that this is the main content I am publishing on Jewish Drinking – who would have thought that I would be less interested in blogging than in producing audio and video content?

I am excited for what’s coming down the pipes for Jewish Drinking and am excited to have crossed this milestone, and looking forward to more podcast episodes!