Mon Jul 20,
2009,
17:52 GMT

Lifecasting update, 1st Weekend and 1st White Supremacist

Posted by: Hal

Planned events for the rest of today: 3pm – an exciting phone dialogue with my older brother who lives in “the city above Toronto.” 4pm – cooking with Hal. 9pm – scrabble with Hal’s wife, W.

Okay all seven cameras are up and running! You can watch me live right now or anytime you feel like from the Peep crypt (aka my basement), as well as the kitchen and the living room. If you really want you can watch me go to the bathroom. (I know, how puerile and immature. But it got director Sally excited, didn’t it…) Quality use of the emoticon right there, I have to say.

So it all went live Friday night. It was supposed to go live Friday morning, but it took way longer than anyone expected to get everything set up.

The weekend was pretty weird. I couldn’t really spend that much time on the cameras, as obviously the whole family was about. I am able to turn off the cameras as needed, but every time I turned them off I felt strangely guilty. After all, I’m supposed to be lifecasting 24 hours a day. Of course that’s not entirely feasible. W. will only appear on camera wearing a hat pulled halfway down her head, and three year old E won’t be appearing on camera for more than few seconds. However I did manage to sleep on camera, take a few pisses, do some cooking Sunday morning, and talk to some people in the various chat rooms connected to the cameras.

So far I’ve connected with a white supremacist who called me a Zionist pig (where did that come from?), a 17 year old from Scotland (who called me boring), a Japanese gamer (who I made a mod on my channel so he could help give time-outs to those who say evil), and a fellow from Halifax who listened to me play guitar and requested a Tom Waits song. I’ve also heard from various people whom I actually know or am cyber-attached to, ranging from my neighbor (who watched my nap) to a few Facebook friends I’ve never met. Plus a few people I never would have imagined would come online to watch me.

Initial reactions: *Stress – director Sally and producer Jeanette want me on camera all the time. I feel the pressure to perform and entertain. It’s more stressful than I thought it would be. *Self consciousness – I am talking to myself a lot, or rather, I am talking to my invisible audience a lot. I catch myself talking to myself and it sounds kinda crazy. Which it is. *Showmanship — I’ve occasionally found myself liking the idea of having an audience and I’ve been playing to the camera a bit during those moments. *Obsession — I break off what I’m doing constantly to check and see if anyone wants to chat with me.

So the lifecast continues to develop. Stay tuned.

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The Bloggist

Hey, I’m Hal Niedzviecki. I’m a writer/thinker who lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with my wife and daughter. Up till now I’ve always considered myself a private person. But at the same time I’m fascinated by people who effortlessly open themselves up to the whole world. So I’ve… more...