Welcome New Classes

It's spring, 2011 at WCCC, and it's time for a new podcasting class. Welcome everyone, and I hope you enjoy yourselves this semester.

Welcome New Classes

Hey, we got two classes this year! Look at all of the names in the link corner and you will see that there's a bunch of them. I hope everyone has fun.

Advertising Class Commercial

My advertising class (MED-56) at Westmoreland Community College produced a class commercial. It was written, directed, produced, shot and edited by the class. All I did was give them some advise, at times. Please understand these are mostly photography students. There were only two video students in the class.

If You Were a Rock & Roll Record

Here's a blast from the past...sorta. Back in my disc jockey, talk show host days I worked at WKPA and WYDD, two stations that served the Pittsburgh market. While there a group of us got together and decided to record a couple songs. We recorded three in all, this one, "As Long as I Got You," and "Hey Baby. The song posted here is our version of the Freddie "Boom Boom" Cannon hit, "If You Were a Rock & Roll Record." The group was entitled Justice Burtner and A.M. Drive, and this song, believe it or not, got us a national recording contract with Laurie Records (as you can see on the spinning record in the video). I don't know how many copies we sold, but members of the group probably bought most of them... the song didn't go anywhere. "Hey Baby" and "As Long as I Got You" were much better songs vocally, but Laurie chose not to pick them up.

The members of the group were: Dave Justice (Disc Jockey), Chuck Burtner (Disc Jockey), Ron Spinelli (me -- talk show host and station manager), Karen Barnes (disc jockey -- a beautiful young lady who unfortunately passed away some years ago) and Gail Seldon (station public affairs manager). Try not to laugh too hard when you hear this one. I'll post the others as soon as I figure out what kind of video should go with them... remember, these were made before music videos were popular (1979-1981).

A Tribute to My Wonderful Wife, Linda L. Spinelli

There is a insidious disease that is quite rare, and unfortunately my girl, my wife Linda became a victim of this disease. It is called neuro-endocrine carcinoma, or simply carcinoid cancer. There is no cure for this disease! This is a silent killer as, unlike other forms of cancer, there are no symptoms. We learned that Linda had this in March of 2009 when she developed a sore neck that wouldn't go away. A tumor had formed on her C-6 vertebrae and destroyed it, necessitating a replacement. During the operation they discovered tumors in other areas of her spine, liver, lungs and brain, with the most serious being in the liver. Despite best efforts by doctors and oncologists, the disease won by destroying her liver. My girl, my best friend passed away on September 8th, leaving a very angry husband (not with her), four cats (Coco, Mocha, Bootsy and Little Bit) and a dog (Peanut) behind. The pets can't figure out where their "mama" has gone, but I know, and it has broken my heart and crushed my spirit. The video posted here is something I put together as a remembrance of Linda for playing at the funeral home. It was hard to do I must say (although video editing wise it is quite simple). The last song at the end is "Unchained Melody," our wedding dance music. That Righteous Brothers song, which was used so prominently in the movie"Ghost," was my favorite song, but now I never want to hear it again. I hope you enjoy the video.

Welcome Students in MED 103, Fall 2009

Well, it's that time of year again when we're back to school and looking forward to another fine semester of entertainment and fun.... Wait a minute, I thought this was college and had to be boring. Well, you'll be bored enough as the semester progresses, so in this class at least lets be bored a little, and have some fun, too. This blog is an example of what you'll be doing this semester.

The picture to the left is one I put together. You see, my brother-in-law was married about this time last year, and as part of his reception he decided to do karaoke. My wife and I, since we were filming the wedding, were required to participate, so we did the song "Cover of the Rolling Stone," by Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show. At the end we produced this picture attached to an actual Rolling Stone magazine and gave it to the bride and groom. I think I look good... but Linda looks like a late 60's hooker... but don't tell her I said that.

Lets enjoy the class this year. I look forward to spending the semester with all of you.

Disney -- Big Entertainment, Bigger Rip-Off

Walt Disney World is a great family place for entertainment. It has good rides, provides a fun atmosphere, brings back memories of youth and is, perhaps, the biggest rip-off I have ever seen.

What happens when you go to Walt Disney World? You have fun, that's a given... but you also spend a lot of money. My wife and I purchased a five day "Park Hopper" pass, which means you can go to one or all of the Disney parks in one day, if you so desire. We never did that, but we did visit three of their parks.

Besides the tickets costing around $500 for the five day pass, and besides a hot dog and french fries costing $6.95, the incredible costs of international food at Epcot and the huge cost of souveniers (one cheaply-made T-shirt cost $30), the folks at Disney decided that since they provide parking, they should charge you for that, too.

I don't mind paying for parking. I believe that $5.00 per day would have been reasonable. They wanted $12.00 per day... or an additional $60 for those of us who chose to stay outside of the Disney resorts -- and those of us who did it this way were many.

I did some quick calculations and found that a family of four spending five days at the park, paying for tickets, meals, souveniers and snacks in the park, rental car and hotel would spend in excess of $2,000 for a five day vacation here. I think that is a bit much, and probably outside the budget of many families.

You know... the thing that bothered me most was not the prices inside the park or even the prices for the ticket, but that $12.00 parking charge. I go back far enough to remember when parking was free... now, they have found a new way to get more of your green into their pockets.

Okay, enough complaining. Of the parks we visited, I found Epcot to be the least entertaining and the most walking. Admittedly, this is a park that is more suited for adults (I heard more than one youngster complaining about having to be at this park rather than having fun at the Magic Kingdon, the water parks or one of the other fun-locations). I did go on several rides, but couldn't find the one I really wanted to try. Soaring was a ride that interested me, but I followed their maps and no matter how hard I tried, Icouldn't find it.

In any event, here I am standing in front of the dancing fountains with the geodesic dome in the background. You have to admit, there are a huge number of great photo ops in the Park. You just have to wait until you find a clear spot before you shoot -- and, depending on the day, that clear spot may never come.

Being a video guy I thought I would find Disney Hollywood Studios interesting, and there were parts that were. This picture is from the Indiana Jones presentation. As you can see I didn't shoot Indiana's stunt double, or the other actors and actions that the show contained, but I got, instead, pictures of the technical items that interested me.

This camera dolly and another item not pictured here, a rather large crane, were two things that I put on my wish list for the coming year. I won't get them, but I sure liked they way they worked. I had to see the show a second time because the first time through all I did was look at the equipment and how they did the special effects. The second time I watched it for the entertainment value, and it was done very well. I highly recommend it should any of you go there while it is still playing.

While Disney parks were interesting, I probably wouldn't go there again anytime in the near future. My favorite time was visiting the beach -- a one hour drive from Disney will land you on Alan Sheppard Beach in Cocoa Beach, Florida, which is right down the road from the Kennedy Space Center on Cape Canaveral.

The water was rough while we were there, and I freely admit I got "The Liver" beat out of me by the crashing waves. Red Flags were posted on the beaches indicating that there was a severe danger of rip tides, but I ignored them and went in anyway. I have to admit, the surf was really rough, though.

When not at Disney or the beach I was enjoying a couple of other favorite activities, like enjoying a good cigar on the veranda of the Condo, or having a drink with some good food at one of the local eateries (the picture on the right was taken at the Sail Fish Marina Restaurant on Singer Island, Palm Beach, Florida. Hey, good times, good drink, good food and a good smoke -- what more do you want on your vacation? No, wait a minute. Don't answer that! I probably don't want to know.