Category Archives: Update

My Films Made it to IMDB!

This morning I got some great news:  Not only did I not die during my sleep, but I awoke to find out that my movies had been listed on the International Movie Database, IMDB.com.

For those of you who don’t know, IMDB is the go-to website for all of Hollywood’s smash hits.  They have every single movie ever released within the U.S. and they even list most of the world’s foreign films as well.

IMDBList

To top that, they have a totally enmeshed network of links that allow its visitors to click from movie to actor to director to producer to film company and more.  Just go there and check it out.  You’ll see what I mean.  It’s a veritable smorgasbord of movie geek delicacies.

And now they have the best travel documentaries ever made: The Travel Geek series!  So we can finally say that IMDB is complete.  HAH!

What great news!  I was so stoked when I found out that I checked my website email and I found out that not only did I receive the distinguished honor of being listed on this massive and widely known website, I also had an official offer in my inbox as well.  I won’t go over the details here, but let’s just say that it was including paying me for my listing and possibly even purchasing the films and paying me to complete even more.

Oscar’s; here we come!

There has been so much momentum with my films in the last six months, that I figured, now that I have this amazing news, I may as well take this opportunity to list them here.

While traveling, I’ve done a lot of things.  I’ve published four books, finished my master’s degree, produced more than 75,000 images on my online gallery and released four feature films.  And that has all been since 2011.

But there’s been a lot more.  My YouTube channel has nearly 50,000 page views and more than 200 subscribers.  This blog is followed by 1,200 other bloggers, 1,545 registered email followers, almost 4,000 Twitter followers across four accounts and 3,523 Facebook followers.

In the last four months, I’ve seen the largest spike in followers, viewers and readers than in any time that the blog has been running.  And I am just getting started.

In the very near future, I am going to be publishing an ebook for each of my online galleries.  And since there are more than 3,000 photos across 60+ albums, that’ll be quite a lot of books!  And that’s in addition to a deal that I am working on to publish a series of travel short stories and journals later this year.

I have an app currently being built so that I will be able to deliver the ebooks as cheaply as possible to iPad, iTunes and Google Player users.  So there will soon be an app available to view those books and possibly even this blog at the flick of the finger.

So thanks a lot for sticking with me throughout the years.  And look forward to even more in the months to come.

To see my listing as the Director of the Travel Geek films, go to www.imdb.com and in the search bar search for “Cyle O’Donnell.”  The direct link is HERE.

I have also been notified by the company that I will be featured on several of the documentary blogs that are upcoming, and also that they know about my “Travel Geek: Documentary Singapore film which will be listed shortly.

They have asked that I keep them abreast of my latest films, as it’s obvious that it is a series of films that I am creating.  And so I should also be seeing Travel Geek: Documentary Malaysia being listed hopefully by the end of the year.

I have just gone for my first filming session to Borneo.  While there, I also filmed a short for my Top Ten Travel Tips for Exercising on the Go. But I plan on going for my second set soon.  Once I have completed what I hope to complete there in June or July, I may be finished filming for the entire documentary.  So if that’s the case, I will be releasing Travel Geek: Documentary Malaysia ahead of schedule!

I’ll keep you posted on all the progress.

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What do you think?  Have you watched my films?  Do you like them?  Do you think that they could be better or is there any advice you can offer?

Go to my YouTube page and watch a few of the other videos.  Do you like the content? What can I do to make it better?

How about IMDB?  Do you go there and do you have anything to add about the page that these movies are listed on?

 

Thanks for your comments!

Update: Headed to Malacca

Coming up this next weekend (Mar 15-17, 2013), I’ll be headed out to Melacca for my first visit to the country’s cultural and historical hub.

There are a lot of places throughout Malaysia that have a truly unique feel and look.  There are many places with their own distinct line through the recent past.  But in no place is this idea more encapsulated in such a condensed area.

In fact, Melacca is the third smallest state in the country.  It’s been dubbed the “Historic State,” and it’s located on the southern region of Peninsular Malaysia.

It’s placement and history here have even so entrenched in the history of global trade that the Strait of Melacca got its name from the millions of international goods that entered its port every year during its height as a trade mecca during the colonial era.

In 2008 it was named as a UNESCO World Heritage site.  And though it was the home of the first Malay Sultanate, the monarchy was quashed with the Portuguese claimed rule here in the 16th century.

But you can read more about all that when I return from Melacca with a new photos and footage in tow.

Till then, enjoy this short documentary and get an idea of what I’ll be enjoying when I head there for my three-day weekend!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc50CAvnUJw&w=560&h=315]

Malacca Update:

This weekend, starting March 15th, I’ll be headed out to Melacca to check off one more of the amazing filming junkets that I have planned for the Malaysia Documentary.

I’m very excited about this trip since Melacca is one of those old-world places that should be on every anthro-nerd’s to-do list.  It’s got something for everyone.

There’s history, culture, great sights.  There’s even a lot of old architecture for the eyes to feast upon.  It’ll be a great experience and I look forward to coming back with not only some great interviews from the locals, but also a nice gallery of photos.

I’ll be taking my time, since this is the first three-day weekend of which I will be actually be spending its entirety in one of my Malaysia destinations.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc50CAvnUJw&w=560&h=315]

Adventure on a Roll

Wan

This past weekend, I headed out to Serdang and had a blast at the Giant Hamster Ball.  I also met some amazing new friends and shot some really cool footage for my latest documentary here in Malaysia.

GAC Adventures Malaysia, hosted the event which included a water orb, bumper orb and, of course, the downhill orb (and even had an archery set-up while you wait!).  I suppose that calling them “Giant Balls” might have brought on the wrong impression.  So they ended up with “orb” instead.

In any case, I met Wan, the environmentalist pictured above, and his cousin, the lovely and bubbly, Amaal, who have both been wonderful contacts to meet along the way.

Wan works as a conservation forester in one of the oldest forests in Malaysia.  They call this the virgin forest because of its untouched beauty.  And Wan said that I will be welcomed to join him on many weekends when we can explore this wonderful place.  So I will definitely be taking him up on that.

Amaal has sent me some amazing contacts for going out all over Malaysia and seeing the country that most people don’t get to see when they visit here.  So I am happy to have met such enthusiastic and knowledgeable folks that can show me the ropes.

So, thanks to her, I will be looking forward to filming wild elephants at the Kuala Gandah Elephant Conservation Center, doing zip-lines with SkyTrex Adventures, checking out the National Museum and seeing what kinds of amazing masks they have on display, visiting a plethora of breathtaking waterfalls all over the country (including a 4WD trip to the Jereng Kang Waterfall), going to the largest continuous rain forest complex in Peninsular Malaysia, Belum- Temengor, and even hope to do the famous North Borneo Railway through the jungles of Sabah!

And let’s not forget the skydiving that I still have planned!  CJ, the owner of GAC Adventures, has even told me about the motorized paragliding that he and his friends do.  So I’ve also been invited along for that.

It looks like I have my work cut out for me in the coming months.  And it’s gonna be an absolute blast traveling all over the country to get this amazing footage.

Don’t worry; I will be blogging all about it and bringing you along with me.  But don’t forget that this will all be going into an ultimate documentary that exposes the Malaysia that only shows itself to those willing to live and stay here long enough to meet the right people (like Amaal and Wan) to make it happen!

Check out the short video below to get a sneak preview of the downhill orb and other events that went down this past weekend.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtEGWAMp26Q&w=560&h=315]

Penang for the Chinese New Year Part One

Travel Update:

This past week was the Chinese New Year.  And since it’s one of the biggest holidays for public and government workers, I spent almost an entire week on the road.  It was so nice to get back out and explore my favorite place in Malaysia: Penang.

Penang is one of those places that presents a near opposite persona to the rest of a country.  In the case of the very conservative, very Muslim Malaysia, Penang is much more liberal.  It caters to tourism in a way that most other places in this country do not – or at least will not.  And because they have become more dependent on this form of income, they have long since started to “put up” with the more unpleasant backlash to including many foreigners in their commerce – at least they’ve done so in terms of the way that the foreign element is seen in a majority Muslim country.

My trip started on Thursday morning and because it’s the monsoon season, my trip took more than 12 hours!  I left my home port at around 9am and changed buses in Seremban.  Then I traveled on what should have been an eight-hour bus ride to Butterworth.  From there, I took the ferry across to the island of Penang.  And then it was a short city bus to India Town inside of the Georgetown area of the city.

Being that it was the first evening of the New Year break, it was pretty difficult to get a hotel.  But I finally checked in at the “Red Inn” on the historic colonial street, “Love Lane.”

Love Lane is the road where one’s “love life” took an expansive turn when the city was first established by the British in the turn of the 20th century.  And the name quickly changed from its original designation, which predates the finality of the settlement – and which clearly was not instituted by the colonial era British settlers.

As the story goes, young men from the Catholic school (then named the School of the Assumption Church) would come to this street to meet with the girls of the Farquir Street Covenant School.  This street, even today, because of its narrow, high buildings abutting either side, was a clever and opportune location for escaping much of the risk of meeting in other highly visible locations nearby.

As the students grew up, they simply named it “the Lane of Love” which then stuck as this generation was the first to expand upon the building of the infrastructure.  Later still, it became even more iconic as more and more westerners used Penang as their jumping-off point to Thailand and parts south in Malaysia.  Because many of the old buildings were converted into hotels, it became a hotbed of prostitution and confirmed its appropriate title in the city maps and history books.

Today, this area likely resembles what it must have looked like back then.  Only now, the prostitutes have penises and the only clergy in this area aren’t out hunting nuns.

Penang’s location so close to Thailand has poised it to be the one-stop shop for all visa-runners and renewers from the country to the north.  And when they (and all the other through-traffic that frequents this island) come here, they bring with them a hint of their party lifestyle from Thailand.

The local shops here have adapted to selling passport photos, …

[Continued on Penang for the Chinese New Year Part Two]

Well I'll Be a Giant Hamster!

I was going to make this really entertaining introduction about the update for this week’s filming expedition, but ultimately it’s pretty simple.

This weekend, I am taking off to a town just outside of Kuala Lumpur so that I can hop into a giant hamster ball and roll haphazardly down a hill.

There are some other events that I will be doing there, but basically, that’s it.  Not a lot of explaining to do.  But the images that come to mind after saying just that sentence really does a lot to build up the excitement.  And I plan on having a blast.  I have always wanted to do this and I have never known how or where these things take place.  So perhaps that will be enough for this update.

Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel to get updated when the outtakes are released and check in at cyleodonnell.com for more travel and filming updates.

Below are various Google search images to help that ol’ mental pallet in creating the right picture of what I’ll be “climbing into” this weekend!

Prepping for Malaysia's Thaipusam Festival

For the Thaipusam festival, 2013, I took off to the Batu Cave, just north of Kuala Lumpur.

I left with my good friend Aw, who came down from Thailand to help me capture footage of the event. This video is the intro to both the festival and the gear that I took with me.

[Video recently uploaded – may take some time to process and be visible]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cOQSrkJ62Q&w=560&h=315]

Look for the new film, Travel Geek: Documentary Malaysia, to follow in late 2013.

Travel Geek: Documentary Taiwan Out now!

At long last, the film has been edited, finalized and uploaded.

And here it is:

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UjwVuDBwas&w=560&h=315]

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Original YouTube description:

Follow Cyle O’Donnell, the Travel Geek, along more than 5,000 miles of trains, cars motorbikes, planes and boats — not to mention 20-or-so miles of hiking — through Far East Asia’s hidden gem. With filming spanning more than nine months, this trek covers everything from Chinese New Year in Tainan’s fireworks battle to Changhua’s legendary Lantern Festival; from windsurfing Penghu’s gale-force winds to eating raw pigs with Lanyu’s aboriginal natives; from high atop Taipei’s tallest towers, to the hinterland of tribal Taroko Gorge, this ultimate travel documentary is sure to inspire the mind and ignite the travel lust.

Travel Geek Documentary Taiwan has taken more than a year to complete. In the cutting room, the editors spent two-and-a-half months sifting through 114 Gigabytes worth of files spread out among 2,866 fils from 68 folders. And when it was finished, the final cut was one-hour-and-59-minutes long with more than four hours of outtakes, extra footage including marketing and subscriber media.

The experience of living and filming in Taiwan was amazing. And during the time the I spent in Taiwan, I also visited North and South Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand and the Philippines. So this film is the culmination of much enjoyment and success. And throughout this time, I also changed a lot as a media professional, a photographer and even as a person.

It’s bittersweet to see this particular film released because in addition to finalizing the edits and releasing it, I have also closed off another important and learned time in my life. And as I watch this film, I can’t help but be nostalgic and reflective of all the times in between the shots that no one else will feel quite so moved by but me. And while this film was captured before I left for film school (meaning, I didn’t have quite the gear that I have now in order to make it a little more “professional”), I still think it turned out pretty well.

In any case, it is my pleasure to announce the latest release of films in the Moving Stills library, Travel Geek: Documentary Taiwan. If you enjoy it half as much I did making it, I will be able to call it a success.

A special note just to subscribers is sent out that offers how to get free downloads and discounted packages of the Full-HD, 1080p version of this film, along with director’s notes, a signed script and the entire photo gallery that I shot from this trip.

Be sure to subscribe and get free stuff and inside tips from all my trips, and the videos that follow.

Please “Like,” Subscribe and share!!

More videos at https://www.cyleodonnell.com/films

Subscribe to Cyle O’Donnell’s travel blog at http://www.cyleodonnell.me

Follow on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/cyleodonnell

and http://www.twitter.com/travelg33k

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Personal page: http://www.facebook.com/thetravelgeek

So you think you're busy?

TaiwanTitleShot_resize

Many times I’ve wondered why so many people like to sit and complain about something and then, when the option comes for them to get up and do something about it, they remain seated and seem to come up with a reason that they are disinterested in action.  And this is after moaning and moaning about this thing or that stuff or “those people.”  And it was just so important that it’s worth taking up all that time and energy to talk about.

This is probably where phrases like “bark is bigger than bite,” and “walk the walk, or talk the talk” came from.  And it stands to reason that those doing the most talking, or barking as it were, do the least walking… or biting.

Well, I’m proud to say that I’m a biter.

Hey, before you put your head in the gutter, you know what I mean.  I’m talking about putting action behind my lust for adventure and for producing a world of media for us all to share.

When I was growing up, I always threatened to do things.  Normally they amounted to the more annoying things related to being a stubborn and unruly child.  But as my mother somberly recalls, I’d always actually do them.  So she grew to know my claims as solemn promises rather than empty threats.  And there have been only a few, very purposeful times in my life where this has not been the trend.

I can’t recall if it was for the satisfaction, or if it was my plan all along.  But I like to think that I have always been a man of action because this is just something we should all embrace: doing what we say we will do.

Having said that, I have always talked about the traveling and the writing and the photography that I’d someday publish.  And I always knew that I’d be doing it, too.  But until I started traveling, all I could do was fantasize.  Of course, my family traveled a lot when I was younger.  And I got to see a lot of the states.  But when I’d write in my journal or take my video camera and make little mini-movies with my brother, they would always be firmly grounded in our current location.

And so I’d wait.  Wait until the time of my life when I could finally break free from the shackles of normality and trade the mundane for the magical.

And I have realized with growing profundity over the course of the last nine years that I have finally made good on my youthful promises.  I’ve finally been able to climb over this giant challenge that I made to myself (and indeed to the world I’d consigned myself to explore) when I was younger.  And I have gone out into the world, produced a heap of photos, published several books and made a library of movies — all while traveling and seeing the grand planet that I knew was out there when I was a kid.

Why this whimsical trip down memory lane in an otherwise travel-focused blog?  Well, apart from releasing the blogs in January, I have been focusing on my latest film.  And along with taking up much of the time that I’d normally be blogging, it’s taken a lot of effort, too.

So much effort, in fact, that I have not gotten much sleep since the turn of the new year.  And the process for this film started even farther back than that.

In the last year, I spent nine months gathering footage for my feature length film in Taiwan. In doing so, I covered more than 5,000 miles on trains, cars, motorbikes, planes and boats — not to mention 20-or-so miles of hiking — while gathering 70-plus hours of footage, on which I spent the last two-and-a-half months and hundreds of hours cutting, composing, recutting and editing so that I could release it by the due date of February 28 (the official anniversary of the last day of filming).

And in that time, I’ve sifted through 114 Gigabytes worth of data spread out across 2,866 files from 68 folders of completely original media; and composed and added 15 musical themes and 215 soundtracks; all to produce one full length, two-hour film and more than four hours of extras and outtakes.

And this is in addition to editing dozens of photos, revamping two websites, editing 50-plus pages of my latest book, keeping up with this blog and shooting two weeks worth of footage for future media productions here in Malaysia.

In my personal life, last but not least, I was dealing with a lengthy personal challenge, moving halfway around the world and getting a job working as a college professor in a new place with very limited accommodations and still being expected to be at work on time and perform as I would under much less demanding circumstances.

Whew! Now THAT’S busy!

In any case, I’ve finished the film as of 9:30 last night.  And I am now awaiting the first render to finalize, which takes about 16 hours on my computer.  I will watch it for the first time in its completed form tonight and check for errors, transitional problems, good flow and all the other things that a good director should be watching for.

And when I am satisfied that it is worthy of the global audience, I’ll be releasing one more of my childhood dreams to the world.

I am very excited about this latest release.  It will be twice as long as my longest documentary to date.  And while that’s not necessarily a good thing in today’s fast paced, watch-on-the-go, five-minute YouTube videos, at the very least it will hold the potential to bring me into the realm of serious travelers and respected documentary filmmakers.  And that’s the exciting part — among all the other very fulfilling parts that come along with the finality of a year-long project.

This latest film was captured more like a journal than either of my two preceding films.  It wound up being 1:58 (1hr & 58m) and I was the only camera operator for most of the footage.  So many of the shots are handheld, pointed at myself and I even had to coordinate shot sequences so that I could later edit with that sequence in mind.  So not only did this project require a lot of forethought and planning, but it was also the result of a lot of introspection and taking lessons from what I learned in my journals and my previous filming expeditions.  I wanted that “gonzo journalist” style in this latest one.  And I think that my planning helped me achieve that.

And while I did keep journals from all of the places and experiences in this film, I never released them here on my blog.  So this latest doc also has a sense of nostalgia in that I am able to blog through one of my videos.  Trust me; it has the personal touch that comes through in this blog.  So I am happy to finally see it come to life.

As always, the film will be available for free as a 720/30p YouTube video.  But if you’d like to purchase a Full High Definition 1080p copy, it will come with all of the extra short films that were created, many outtakes that were not used in the feature, lots of HDR photos and trip journals.  And because you’re a subscriber of this blog or because you are subscribed to my YouTube channel or follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you’ll also get all the production photos, planning and script notes, a PDF of a signed script (originals available) and photos from the road that will never appear online.  It’s all ready for immediate download; all for $8.99!

Please visit the Travel Geek: Documentary Taiwan film page for more details and to view extras from the trip.  And when the film becomes available, I will update the blog and post the final details.

Thanks to those of you who have commented, shared, sent feedback throughout the filming and subscribed to my YouTube channel.  I hope you continue to share, comment and enjoy these as much as I enjoy making them.  I like knowing that I have created something for people to share and that makes the world a little bit better during the time that I happened to have visited.

New Extended Cut of Travel Geek Documentary Hong Kong & Macau out now!

In addition to the newly published Travel Geek Documentary: Philippines, I have taken my reader response and YouTube subscribers’ comments seriously.  And in that, I have spent many hours re-editing, refashioning and finally re-releasing this new, extended version (call it a “Director’s Cut”) of the original Travel Geek documentary from Hong Kong and Macau.

Like the documentary from the Philippines, this film has been hugely successful (by my meager standards, anyway) on YouTube and Vimeo, collectively bringing in more then 10,000 views and 40 new subscribers since its release in June, 2012. That’s 1,400 views per month!  Almost 50 per day!

So I am very excited about this new edition.  And hopefully, this will motivate new attention and attract new subscribers (wink, wink) from this blog and it will be passed around and enjoyed in its new, longer rendering.

Below, it is my pleasure to announce Travel Geek Documentary: Hong Kong & Macau (Extended Cut, Feature Length).
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF3zfPcAEns&w=560&h=315]


If you liked this video: Subscribe to me on YouTube

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Original video description on YouTube:

The director’s new release of Travel Geek Documentary: Hong Kong & Macau, includes, among other things, the ability for YouTube to broadcast it worldwide.

This extended cut of the Hong Kong & Macau Travel Geek documentary features extended scenes, a copyright-free soundtrack and additional footage not shown in the original version.

Original Description:

Follow Cyle O’Donnell, the Travel Geek, as he visits China’s two Special Administrative Regions. Nearly being arrested for filming in casinos, jumping off the world’s tallest bungy jump and sneaking around a black market in Hong Kong’s notorious underworld are just a few of the sights in this edition of the Travel Geek series.

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