My Word with Douglas E. Welch

Here are the top My Word posts for 2011 according to page views. Check them out!

• Recently Listened Podcasts for March 3, 2011
• YUM! – Ferrero Rocher reviewed on CandyBlog
• Video: Millard Canyon, Angeles National Forest
• Norton Internet Security Problems
• Deceptive Food Packaging – Welch’s Concord Grape
• Protection (and style) for your iBook
• Food: Texas BBQ from Smoke City Market in Sherman Oaks
• Palm Trees Sketch from May 2006
• Photo: Sunset sky
• Mary Colter: Architect of the Southwest
• Photo: Old is new
• Photos: LA Friday Coffee at LACMA
• My Instagram photo gallery via Instagrid
• Get My Word via Email
• What I’m Reading…Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Book Five: Last Olympian
• Wolfram Alpha can help parents with children’s math homework — also Khan Academy
• Food: Christmas Oatmeal Recipe and Video
• Book: Berried to the Hilt: A Grey Whale Inn Mystery
• Food: Homemade Ginger Beer
• Audio: Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol read by the Podcast Community on Facebook

Here is a list of my viewed videos on YouTube for 2011

Every year my friend Ric Turner does some amazing light displays for Halloween and Christmas. This year’s Christmas show is a version of Angry Birds that plays on his Christmas lights?!?!?!? Watch the video below or see it for yourself on Philbrook Avenue in Santa Clarita, CA.

Watch “Angry Birds Christmas Light Game” on YouTube.com

Video Description:

“Help! The pigs are trying to ruin Christmas. Grab the sling shot and fire those birds! From the people who brought you the Guitar Hero Christmas Light game! Running on two computers and 10 Light-o-rama 16 channel controllers, uses more than 20,000 lights and less than one cent of electricity per game. Audio is broadcast on 99.1FM, and the controller has a long enough cord for people to play in their cars on the street. Easier than the iPhone version, and bigger too.”

Our 6th Annual LIVE Reading of Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol will take place on Sunday, December 18, 2011 at 6pm EST/3pm PST.

Our annual holiday reading of this classic Dickens’ story. We bring together frends and family to read sections from a condensed version of the story — said to be made by Charles Dickens himself — for his own live, public readings. Follow Scrooge, Bob Crachit, Tiny Tim and all the familiar characters as they both teach and learn what Christmas is all about.

Tune in while you prepare your Christmas cookies or wrap your Christmas presents. Join the “spirits” of the season!

Click Here to Watch/Listen Live to A Christmas Carol

Consider having your own reading of A Christmas Carol, or other favorite story, as a way to gather friends together and share a unique experience. You don’t have to broadcast it like we do, but why not share it with the world!

This year’s show is sponsored by WelchWrite.com, Eclipse-1 Media and New Media Interchange.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Enjoy more Christmas Carol in your own home!

Free download of “A Christmas Carol” – Text/ePub/HTML/Kindle versions available

The audio CD of Patrick Stewart’s one man version of A Christmas Carol is absolutely amazing. We saw the show several times here in LA and met Patrick one evening. His version of “A Christmas Carol” was the driving factor in starting our own yearly reading of the story.

More “A Christmas Carol” on Amazon.com

Having been to London twice now, I really liked this video. It gives a feeling of its people and character all from the window of the ubiquitous red bus.

London Bus Tour from moritz oberholzer on Vimeo.

A bit DIY for most people, but could be an interesting experiment to do with the kids and use for the Halloween haunt. — Douglas

Make your own fog machine for $5

from The Red Ferret Journal – gadgets, cool sites, freeware and tech trivia

With Halloween fast approaching, I’m sure that some of you are still trying to figure out ways to make your house spookier than ever. Scary decorations are nice, and having the perfect lighting helps, but [...]

Read the entire article

It is always a bit cool seeing a real-world location you have visited pop up in a television show or movie. Living here in Los Angeles, that actually happens quite a bit. Imagine my surprise though when The Atrium in Cardiff, UK showed up in this episode of the Sarah Jane Adventures. We spent quite a bit of time in this building as this is where Rosanne presented her paper at a conference dedicated to the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood back in June 2010.

The Atrium is a really nice, modern designed building used by the media studies departments of the University of Glamorgan. Look for the shot down the spiral stairway. I have this same exact shot in my photos from the trip.

As a tech geek/food geek, what better thing to do than create an unboxing video for the amazing KitchenAid mixer I won at the Techmunch Food Blogger Conference.

Big thanks to Bakespace.com and KitchenAid for providing the opportunity to win such great appliances. Woot!

Here are some chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies I made with the new mixer tonight.

Techmunch Panel: Tips on Creating and Distributing Mouthwatering Multimedia Content

Watch “Tips on Creating and Distributing Mouthwatering Multimedia Content” from Techmunch – iTunes Ready Video

Moderator: Douglas E. Welch (@douglaswelch), New Media Consultant & writer/producer of A Gardener’s Notebook. More at DouglasEWelch.com

Sara O’Donnell (@averagebetty), Producer and Host of AverageBetty.com

Diane Cu (@whiteonrice), Photographer and Publisher of White on Rice Couple.com

Sandi McKenna (@McMedia), Host of Midlife Roadtrip.com

John Trefry Video Producer, Docstoc.com (formerly Video Producer Mahalo.com for Recipe.com Videos) and founder of 4wordthought.com.

Our friend, Bill Farmer, who has portrayed the voice of Goofy for almost 25 years, appeared on KCAL9 news this week to talk about the D23 Disney Expo.