Tune in to The Chuck Show for (?) !

That's right, friends – my friends – I will be streaming video live on election night
from CNN Grill at Time Warner Center in New York. They tell me "Internet reporter Abbi Tatton will do live hits (and possible blogger interviews) on CNN" and a very heavy programming presence for CNN.com Live. Live hits, do they mean she'll do drugs on-air?

If I can hear Abbi Tatton's English accent while I drink excessively on CNN's dime, America wins. A brighter tomorrow is just around the corner, especially since I'll have my kickass Obama doll and a surprise McCain creature doll.

My longtime friend and videoblog superhero / citizen journalist Steve Garfield will also be there, doing what he does best: Being Steve, on video, with the people. We have long threatened "The Chuck and Steve Show" (or was it The Steve and Chuck Show?) and oh yes, it will happen. Of course my massive ego filled up the entire logo I made, but I must keep up the cult of personality - you do understand?

Anyway, that's probably the very least interesting thing you can expect from The UpTake's live nationwide coverage. We've got vote chaser's in several hotspots and Noah Kunin is down in Chicago with Citizen Kate, Global Pundit Steve, and about 2 million hopefully-not-rioting revellers. Come fuckin' hang out with us!

(Disclaimer: Logo is a demonstration of the Logobama tool and not meant as an endorsement or any other connection by The UpTake. It's just me being silly, honest. Though I did already vote for "That One - shh.)

Citizen Journalists detained in China

According to Free Tibet 2008 and boingboing, citizen journalist/filmmaker Brian Conley and his friend, union organizer Jeff Rae (both pictured above with unknown drunk lady outside a NYC bar) have been detained in Beijing for documenting Free Tibet actions. Well-known art vlogger Michael Liss of pouringdown.tv has apparently also been detained.

Noel Hidalgo was deported fairly quickly for a similar "offense," let's hope my vlogger friends are granted a safe and speedy release. I hereby induct you all into the citizen journalist Hall of Awesome.

Speaking of citizen journalist heroes, Josh Wolf got a nice writeup about his new bona-fide newspaper gig.

The Ointment winding down

I've become a big fan of Steve Tatham's daily funny news show The Ointment. Steve first drew my attention to his vlog show in a comment on my blog in March 2006. I was a little harsh on his humor at first, but I found his take on things funnier and funnier the more I watched.

After 550 (!) episodes, it looks like he's calling it quits with just a few more episodes to go. I know how hard it is to produce daily content, and can imagine the challenge and sacrifice of doing it for 2.5 years.

So I salute you, Steve Tatham, and look forward to your next project after you catch up on the teevee. (There's this one show called Lost...)

Steve Garfield, Mobile Video Journalist

My friend Steve Garfield is always on the cutting edge of posting video online. I first discovered Steve when I was making Blogumentary and saw him post video of a Howard Dean blogger breakfast. He declared 2004 "Year of the Videoblog" because he's always ahead of the curve like that. Now, he just beat CNN to a scoop about Duncan Hunter in New Hampshire. That's just one of many stories Steve is finding while streaming live video from his Nokia phone using a service called Qik. The UpTake's Noah Kunin caught up with him in New Hampshire, uploaded the footage to me last night, and now here it is for you, dear viewer.

Watch more of Steve's live mobile videos on Qik.

YouTube Politics and Google Elves

Here's an interview Noah Kunin and I did with YouTube's News and Politics Editor (and Carleton College grad) Steve Grove. Some interesting questions got edited out. I asked him if a YouTube television channel is in the works, whether they'll offer HD video like Vimeo, and whether political campaigns lobby him to get featured. His answer to the last question is mostly in the video - it sounds like yes, campaigns do lobby him but he just gives them tips on getting their video out there. As for YouTubeTV and YouTube in HD? They're just focusing on making sure the massive amount of video they have now works well, and sees YouTube as more of a compliment to television than a replacement. However, I don't imagine he'd spill any product development beans.

Oh yeah, and he totally admits there's such a thing as Google Elves. They're like gay gremlins.

My Iowa Roadtrip on Veracifier

I'm so excited to see this video up on Veracifier, home of Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo TV.

This is certainly more entertaining than your usual citizen journalism video (I think), in part out of necessity. I drove to Iowa after a commercial shoot in Minneapolis, arrived just in time to get parked and setup, tape the Dem candidates until my tape was gone halfway through Obama's speech after midnight. In other words, I was missing one of the things that makes a citizen journalist video good: Context, such as interviews with regular folks, or even footage of myself.

I knew it would be weak unless I did a voiceover and somehow recreated my roadtrip down there. So I shot myself against a blue screen, did a screen capture of Google Map's Street View down 35W, and made a fun story out of it. Of course the hockey fans trampling Hillary signs was a nice surprise too, even though I didn't really get footage of it.

A whole team of UpTake CJs will be on the ground in Des Moines and surrounding areas for the January 3 caucus. We might even check in with folks LIVE using Mogulus. "Stay tooned!"

Vlog Santa returns

Well, this is what he slapped together anyways, what with the writer's strike (whom he calls "dirty gay butt hippies" or "commies", I believe). VlogSanta.TV. Just one more video to get up in time for Xmas - where you finally what happened to Sprinkles the Magic Elf slave.

The UpTake partners with Veracifier

Big news!  The UpTake now has a new outlet for the video it produces.  We just launched a strategic partnership with Veracifier.com to recruit, train, and showcase independent video journalists from around the country during the 2008 election year. That means our citizen journalists have the opportunity to have their work featured alongside video from Talking Points Memo. Needless to say, we're very excited by this partnership.

Mike McIntee posted the Press Release. Mike, by the way, is executive producer for The UpTake who used to run television news rooms. He's really been running the citizen journalism operation - everything from organizing citizen journalists to training, editorial, and helping setup our new UpTake Headquarters right across the street from the Xcel Center. We'll have a front row seat to the Republican National Convention in 2008, and we hope citizen journalists from around the country and beyond will join us.

It's a very Epic Fu Christmas

Happy Merrydays to all vloggers everywhere, especially hot live video party hosts Steve and Zadi of Epic Fu. Here's a taste of the festivities in fast-motion, set to Wham's Last Christmas. Pour yourself a mug of wine and enjoy. And please - slow down and read the brilliant witticisms in the live chat, won't you?

Big screen version
Ustream archive of the whole party

Equal Rights from Brooklyn

A good question for the upcoming Republican YouTube/CNN Debate from Mary "Video Pancakes" Matthews:

Mary & Jen's similar question for the Democrats got on CNN, which led Mary & Jen to a very entertaining debate about whether to submit again for the Republicans.