In these videos by 80-year-old geriatric1927 we once again get to listen to stories about his childhood. And the specific subject matter is fathers, and in his case, grandfathers.

But Peter -- geriatric1927 -- presents some philosophy on families, his ideas on independence within families, and he gives a loving tribute to his father with some lovely, detailed descriptions of his good times during childhood spent with his dad, a hard-working adventurous man who was willing to try most anything.

As always in his blog postings, Peter paints a really nice picture of his own personal history and about his father and who the man was -- and he sprinkles in some general history. Again, we're not only entertained with Peter's stories but we learn a little world history too.

If one is to relate seemingly banal information on one's family background and historical stories in a fairly plain, narrative form, you risk boring your audience. But Peter always makes history come alive. He always has something very interesting to impart to his (now huge) worldwide audience and always with detailed facts and anecdotes in a voice that makes you want to tune him in and tune out all your other ambient noise.

(Speaking of ambient noise, geriatric1927's videos have picked up an annoying high pitched background noise. Ouch! It is the video. Do not adjust your set.)

Labels: aitkins, blogging, England, family, fathers, geriatric1927, history, Telling it all, zimmers, Zipster08

All videos and reviews for geriatric1927

Wouldn't it be great to have the ability to hear (only) your grandparents' really interesting and most meaningful stories? Start it or pause it with a click of your mouse? And you could revisit, or not, any time you wanted? Yes? You'll wanna watch this then.

If you remember Alistair Cooke and his BBC Radio America program, "Letter From America", than this is your own "Grandpa's Letter From England" ... well, not your actual grandpa, but I'm thinking you'll want this one as your adopted grandfather.

Peter, a 79-year-old widower, living alone in the English countryside, had just hoped to provide thoughtful answers and wisdom to the YouTube community but it soon turned into regular and meaningful fireside chats, weaving his interesting stories with details of English history and his personal thoughts and memories.

This is part oral history and part grandfatherly story time. It's easy to see why his audience is growing by the hundreds every day. His soothing British accented voice and detailed chats leave you wanting more after each short segment. Tell us more grandfather! More! This grandfather, unlike the grandpa you knew, only talks in concise 6-minute blocks.

In his initial video he speaks to the younger generation, saying that he'll be here "to bitch and grumble about life in general from the perspective of an old person who's been there and done that."

But he quickly narrows his subject area to his own background with his series "Telling It Like It Is". Following the axiom that the best speeches or stories are always the ones we know best, from personal experience, Peter gives his recollections of his life from childhood on.

He starts out with his early education with historical insights. Each video story time begins ("Hello YouTubers") right where the last one left us. And in the style of Alistair Cooke, he signs off with, "Goodbye and thank you for listening."

We'll be listening. And watching for more.

Labels: aitkins, England, geriatric1927, news and blogs, WWII

From YouTube.com user: Zipster08

Now this is what the "worldwide web" and "community" is all about: Bringing people together from around the world, all connected only via their individual Internet connections for the purpose of creating something meaningful and to share in a cause in the spirit of the Christmas. Hokey? Maybe. Successful? Incredibly.

The cause was a simple one: to bring together voices from the YouTube vlogging community in a choir of sorts to present The 12 Days of Christmas. A simple cause but no small undertaking. But if the definition of a successful cause, by YouTube standards, is a high number of views, then this one is a smashing success. This entertaining video (as of Dec. 17) has surpassed 1.24 million views. (And they received 3288 comments.)

In early November Matt5413 posted a video request asking others to send in their renditions of the traditional Christmas song. After all the entries were received Matt5413, SilentWhistle and Zipster08 went to work creating this very creative piece of living art that wove together not only the many varied voices, but also the lively images and personalities of each of the 'choir' members.

Kudos go to the flawless editing by SilentWhistle, with production help from Zipster08. (I'm still trying to figure out how he kept everyone's singing in time with the musical track that carries the song throughout the video.)

What makes this piece more layered and interesting and infinitely more watchable is the homespun nature of it. Some of collaborators have, um, well, shall we say less than professional sounding voices, while a few of the voices are very impressive. The backgrounds, lighting and sound quality are all varied and most are imperfect. And again that's what brings the community feel to this and makes you want to stay for every verse.

I apologize for sounding like a cliche, but successful efforts like these that obviously involve many hours of tedious work without the thought of monetary reward are what Christmas is all about. Excellent work.

Labels: aitkins, Christmas, crossmack, DiGiTiLsOuL, ezaviar, fehquig, geriatric1927, gguider, karldaly, loonylisa, Matt5413, mharris1920, mrspassic, people, proudyke, rmrsgirl, SilentWhistle, Zipster08

From YouTube.com user: geriatric1927

And in response ...
This fourth video from geriatric1927 is a video response to another video about YouTube itself. In it he discusses about his own online habits, and he is quite computer literate. I don't think I've seen another man of his age so intune with the computer world. He is though, and although these early videos are quite simple, his words are what make them worth watching. He is candid with his views, and he has a way of putting them together well. One thing I noticed is that when he speaks his eyes are usually shut. That might be something to work on, but it is a small thing. I'm just one that feels you should look someone in the eye when you're speaking. Same goes for a camera.

Labels: avalos, geriatric1927, news and blogs

From YouTube.com user: geriatric1927

Some thoughts on double standards.
In this third video from geriatric1927, he talks about an issue that is bothering him quite a bit. He brings up a the idea of double standards in reference to the treatment of two people in very similar situations. They are handled quite differently, and he has no problem discussing it here.

The situation at hand is a head of a school losing his job for kissing a girl on the forehead. A Russian official had knelt down and kissed a young girl on the stomach. Yet nothing happened to him. The KGB didn't rush in to arrest him. Definitely a different standard here. geriatric1927 speaks well and the videos have nice intros. Definitely one to watch.

Labels: avalos, geriatric1927, news and blogs, questions

From YouTube.com user: geriatric1927

A second attempt!
Here is geriatric1927's second attempt at a video. He is still in the early stages here as he finds his way through YouTube. The only thing of interest here is he discusses what will he will be talking about in future videos. This will be about what annoys him and what news bits he finds stupid. I'm sure he'll have a lot to talk about in future videos, but this one isn't worth watching much.

Labels: avalos, geriatric1927, news and blogs

From YouTube.com user: geriatric1927

In the spotlight: geriatric1927
Another vlogger I will be taking a look at in the weeks ahead is geriatric1927. As the daughter of a man born in 1925, this vlogger particularly interests me. The older generation typically has so much to say, and I know when my dad speaks up about something I tend to listen. I don't think I'll ever see my dad on YouTube. He doesn't even know how to run a computer!

This older gentleman seems to know how to do that just fine, and it shows you that people of all ages watch YouTube videos. This first video allows geriatric1927 to get his feet wet. We have a little bit of music, and him talking about being on YouTube. He has an easy nature about him, and I think I'm really going to enjoy seeing and hearing what he has to say.

Labels: avalos, geriatric1927, news and blogs