Nan’s Notebook
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Nan Prancin’: “Let Her Cook” (feat. Glorilla)
Why I made the video, the process I went through to make it, where I posted it, and what feedback I got.
First, here is the video as posted on YouTube and then I’ll tell you more about it below:
Why?
The reason I made it?
It was inspired by Glorilla’s fierce performance on Saturday Night Live recently (view here). Their strength and stagecraft — wow! I just felt the spirit come over me. Let her cook, I looked up, means to let someone do their thing. Dance is what so many of us need right now. It’s physical, it’s rebellious, and it’s creative. I would even say joyous.
How I did mine
I dusted off videos of myself prancin’ around in short skirt, blue sequin top and red boots.
(I made them originally for my video Riot Act about online security. The dance videos are broken into steps that I can mix around as desired and set to different songs and messages. I intended to get some mileage out of these dance videos!)
To make my “Let Her Cook” video, here’s what I did:
opened Canva, where I have all the video steps uploaded already, and started a new video project
selected some steps and placed them into some initial order on project pages
removed the original backgrounds (drapes in my living room) of the dance steps and added in pink graphic videos of Canva’s behind me, like a stage. I even added fog/smoke in front of me for one shot
arranged the steps in a choreographed sequence for the song, listening to the song over and over and over again
fussed and fussed and fussed until it was as good as I was gonna get it without taking too darn long. At one point, it’s just pencils down. Or the moment would pass, and I’d miss it by being a blame-nabbit perfectionist.
downloaded the video — with no sound — onto my laptop, then uploaded it to the cloud
downloaded the video onto my cell phone
from my cell phone, uploaded it to several platforms, picking the song up on each platform where available: YouTube, Instagram (& Facebook). I found that the original song wasn’t available on TikTok, so I used a lousy substitute at first. Then I just downloaded the YouTube version of my video with YouTube logo and uploaded it to TikTok. On Threads and BlueSky I shared a link to the YouTube video.
Well, how did it do?
For me, it did pretty darn well! Let’s face it, I’m no influencer, but I am delusional enough to think that someone might see it and appreciate it. Maybe even a bunch of someones.
As of right now, the video is approaching 600 views and several likes on YouTube shorts. I got a fun comment, too, someone offering to give granny his broomstick anytime.
I posted it on Instagram (and Facebook), but it’s not on Instagram today. Why? I don’t know. Maybe it was taken down? The last I knew it had over 200 views there and many likes.
On Facebook, I got a lot of love and “You Go Girl” energy from friends!
On TikTok, it didn’t go very far, inching toward 150 views.
On BlueSky and Threads, no one sees anything I say or do.
But now, when asked that hard question for some of us to answer, what I “do,” I can and do say that I dance on the internet.
Also, my mother saw the video and asked about the dance outfit…
“More Babies!” — video with short rhyming poem, artwork
by New York poet NG Swett
Just a quick video post today, including a couple of extra pieces of material:
notes about the substance of the poem
when and how I wrote it
creating and posting the video
The substance of the poem
The billionaires, plutocrats, oligarchs — some are calling for more babies.
Women should have more babies, some say. Women shouldn’t be able to end a pregnancy under any circumstances, some say. Life is too… precious!
Over a lifetime, families can easily shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars per person for taxes, health care, child care, education, shelter, food, transportation, weddings, and finally assisted living. The willingness to pay is only limited by our means. The value of a statistical life was estimated at $7.5 million in 2020 according to FEMA. Oh how the shareholders must drool at a number like that!
Other happy civilized countries don’t have things set up this way. Every heartstring we have is tapped for all it’s worth. Every fear stoked for our last dime.
There’s pushback on social media to this idea of women as livestock, especially among women. But the good news for the owner class is that they can mute ‘em with algorithms. (Studies show that social media is terrible for women’s mental health, especially secular liberals.)
Scientists proved that the human race is stripping the planet of resources, causing mass extinction, and polluting it to the brink of extinction. So do we really need more people? Or should we get our house in order first?
Writing the poem
So this all tickled my funny bone a little, so I jotted down this little rhyming poem, “More Babies!” just this week in a big black journal that I’ve been using lately for sketching and writing.
To illustrate the poem, I pulled up a painting I did some time ago of a made-up plutocrat, “One.” It’s from a series of a couple dozen mini acrylic paintings I made as art therapy to get me through writing and editing my first novel — a very, very challenging project! The paintings are all illustrations from scenes of the novel.
In the painting, One lounges god-like across a royal-looking chair in front of a glass window at night. You can see a bridge lit up behind him. The rug under his shiny black boots is a rough map of the Outer Lands Archipelago.
Making the videos
With the poem, the painting, and some branding basics for 4seasonshelf, I then made a short video in two formats, wide and vertical mobile. I added two audio tracks, one with the sound of a typewriter and another with the sound of an eerie lullaby…
I’m placing the wide format video here on 4seasonshelf.com first.
Then they will go on the billionaires’ platforms…
“The Best Season?” a small talkin’ one-minute love poem
What is YOUR favorite season -- winter, spring, summer or fall? Here's a nice and easy one-minute short poem about a great small talk topic that everyone cares about, the seasons and the weather. Illustrated with black and white photo of a spring daffodil flower for a contemporary minimalist aesthetic. The short rhyming poem, "The Best Season?", is one of a collection of 36 poems in the poetry book, HOLD ME TIGHT by NY/Outer Lands Archipelago poet, blogger and painter NG Swett. The book is available in hard cover and ebook internationally. Nan is experimenting with short mobile videos like this for sharing poems, blog posts and new paintings online.
Three slides of a short 1-minute mobile video for the poem “The Best Season?” by NG Swett, Outer Lands Archipelago / NY poet
This is the 1:09sec video for posting “The Best Season?” love poem from HOLD ME TIGHT poetry book.
The video and the individual slides (pngs) are for posting on social media platforms with links back here to this website at 4seasonshelf.com.
Audio is added on each platform to avoid copyright issues.
What is YOUR favorite season
-- winter, spring, summer or fall?
Here's a nice and easy one-minute short poem about a great small talk topic. Everyone cares about the seasons and the weather!
Small talk is a lost art, isn’t it? People are so shy and wary of talking to strangers. When you’re at the front desk, as I’ve been from time to time over the years, small talk is perfect for engaging with people. It’s friendly but not nosy.
People feel nostalgic for the seasons and what special things each season brings to life. Changes, cycles and transitions are in our human nature.
About this poem
The short rhyming poem, "The Best Season?", is one from my new collection of 36 poems, HOLD ME TIGHT (link to buy internationally). The book is available in hard cover and ebook formats. It’s gorgeous if I do say so myself. I love it!
Have you ever made a book? Or would you like to? It’s quite a journey, and I share it on this blog and in my enewsletter.
Minimalist aesthetic photo illustration
The poem is Illustrated here and in the book with a black and white photo of a flowering spring daffodil for a contemporary minimalist aesthetic.
In the book, each of the 36 poems shares a two-page spread with its own minimalist black and white photo collage illustration.
How did I make the book? People have been asking me, and I share all the details here in a blog post all about making and publishing the love poetry book. Here is the cover:
I’m experimenting with short mobile videos like the one above for sharing poems, blog posts and new paintings online.
Thanks for checking out my blog!
~ Nan
P.S. I invite you to keep in touch by subscribing to my email list.
~ Headquarters of 4seasonshelf and home to the New York poet NG Swett ~
The Outer Lands Archipelago is made up of all of the ancient islands along the East Coast created 30,000 years ago during the last Ice Age when the Labrador Glacier was halted by the mighty Atlantic Ocean.
The islands of the archipelago include New York’s Long Island, Block Island, Nantucket, Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and many other stunning islands.
Morning Sunshine: Blueberry Pancakes
Morning Sunshine with Nan making blueberry pancakes — video
Morning Sunshine video: Nan makes blueberry pancakes
I don’t always make breakfast, but when I do, I seem to want to make a video about it and set it to music haha!
This morning, it was blueberry pancakes.
How I made the video
While I was standing around, I took some quick pix and vids.
I sat down at the dining room table with my Motorola smartphone and logged into Canva to made a 20-sec mobile video (vertical short format for social media). I picked a cool mobile video template, uploaded a few of my own images and very short video segments, cropped and trimmed things up, and once happy with it, downloaded it to my phone.
One video segment of me having a bite of pancake took several takes, and even then I had to run it through an Instagram filter and download that. I was wearing no makeup and was basically still in my PJs…
I downloaded the video from Canva to my phone and then uploaded it to multiple platforms. In each platform, I added the same music: The Devil Went Down To Georgia by the Charlie Daniels Band. (Can you guess why I used that song?) I found the right fiddle section of the song and adjusted the soundtrack accordingly.
I added in some hashtags by the seat of my pants, such as #morningroutine #blueberrytiktok but hashtags is definitely an area I could spend more time on researching for optimal discovery.
What am I trying to accomplish with this video?
I don’t know! Somebody please tell me haha!
No seriously, I’m trying to learn to make videos quickly and easily so that I can do it on the fly. In general, videos are great for SEO (search engine optimization) and engagement. Making pancakes tells a little story, and storytelling is great.
Put something out there and see what happens, that’s good feedback.
Specifically with this video, the idea is (1) to give viewers some inspiration for making a yummy quick breakfast with just a couple of ingredients, (2) to show my natural habitat so that people can get to know me, and (3) to put another video out there to see what works.
So how’s the video doing?
It varies by platform. It got immediate attention on TikTok. It’s also on YouTube and Instagram.
Sometimes it takes a while for a video’s views to shape up, but sometimes it takes off right away — or dies a quick but painful death lol. It’s good to see what works and what doesn’t.
So far, the people are liking blueberry pancakes, bagels with opera, poetry, how to start a fire, how to make a seasonal wreath, daylight savings time, St. Patrick’s Day parade, plein air painting, and promotional videos for my books.
#shelfie #4seasonshelf
What's on the shelf today?
On the shelf today are early indoor planting stuff…
seed packets
pen & ink sketches of seed packets
herbs in faux terracotta window planter (indoors)
clean plastic containers for planting seeds
It's springtime, and the garden adventure begins again here in the Outer Lands Archipelago.
We still have a while until we can plant outdoors, except for certain crops that like colder temps, such as leafy greens, peas, etc., which don’t mind a little frost.
Farmstand Update: What’s In Season
It’s the end of March, and most local farmstands have only one thing as of yet: firewood (see below). But before you know it, you'll see early crops start to come in like rhubarb, asparagus, horseradish and many more bittersweet lovelies. Local chickens are already laying eggs. And fresh daffodils!
Local farm stand with firewood in early spring empty shelves.
~ Nan
P.S. The #SHELFIE short video above is part of the #100daychallenge and will be uploaded to the 4seasonshelf constellation of social media. I created it in Canva, downloaded it, and will send it up to each platform. I’ll also add gameshow sounds on those platforms because it’d be fun. Find and follow @4seasonshelf on your favorite platform!