The
following videos contain footage from my first two months on the road
in 2007 (out of six months). I intended to edit and upload several more
videos before hitting the road again, but I simply ran out of time,
which is a shame because it only gets better from here. (If you only intend to watch one video, watch this one.)
Maybe someday I'll be able to put more videos up here.
Description: I was interviewed by WCMH Channel
4 (Columbus, Ohio) outside the Los Angeles Coliseum before the Ohio
State/USC game in fall 2008. (If you see a message that says this video
is no longer available, try again later. I don't know why it keeps
doing that.)
Description:
This is actually someone else's video. I met GloZell Green in
September 2008 when I stopped to take a break as I walked through
Burbank, California. I had no idea I was outside the Tonight Show
studio at first, but I ended up attending the show four days in a row;
three of those days with GloZell, who attended every Tonight Show
taping for over two years.
Description: This video provides a glimpse into
one of many cop
encounters I've had on the road. It is a good representation of the
typical Aimless cop
encounter, yet it also contains some very uncommon situations.
You'll probably think the camera is all over the
place, but I am actually amazed by the fact that the subject is usually
in the
picture. Y'see, I wasn't standing there looking through the camera when
I captured this footage. Most of the time I was holding the camera in
one hand
or the other, at about waist level, kind of pointing it toward
someone or something, having no idea if I was anywhere near my target.
Not bad, considering.
Description: On my way
to an on-ramp in
Florida, I stopped for a moment to ask someone a question, and I ended
up having a two-hour conversation with him. He turned out to be an
Irishman who had just ridden a dirt bike from Miami to California and
most of the way back.
Tim Kenneally has a "gift for the gab," as well as a lot of interesting
observations about the differences and similarities about the United
States and Europe.
Disclaimer: There is A LOT of nasty language
in this video. (So kids, make sure neither your
parents nor teachers are around when you watch it.)
Description: This video is my favorite
so far, even though it'll probably make you think I'm a total jerkwad.
It begins beside the Naples on-ramp a couple hours after Tim rode off
into the sunrise, with me trying to get a ride across Alligator Alley
to the Miami metro area, and it follows my desperate attempt to get the
hell out of Florida.
Most of the footage in this video is of me talking to the camera "in
the field." However, it's nothing like the talking heads you see on
A&E. I think it provides a lot of insight into how it feels
to be stuck in Florida, dealing with rogue cops, with most of your body
sunburned, and pretty much every other kind of discomfort you can
imagine. I just wish I'd been able to capture more video of these
things happening, instead of just having video of me talking about the
things that happened. (If only HBO and A&E, et al, knew what
they're ignoring.)
If you end up thinking I'm a real jerk after watching this video, just
keep in mind that you don't know how it feels to do what I've done,
especially in Florida. Everyone I've met who has traveled Florida like
this--EVERY SINGLE PERSON--shares the opinions I express in this video.
If you don't like what I have to say in this video, keep in mind that
I'm just the
messenger.
My very special
thanks to:
Daniel Dosier, Heather Roberts, Alex Stern, Jason Widener,
Travis Beechler, Terri Beechler, Bobby Ware, Tim Kenneally, Lew Graff, Joshua Norman,
Michael Adair, Penny Crandall, Mason Crandall, Joe Johnson, Lorie
McMurray, Eric Aeby, Matt Goldsmith, Amanda Berry, Faren Cheek, Quinn
Williamson, and Dwayne Adams... for
helping me survive and escape Florida.
The following videos are from November and
December of 2006. Because this trip was not quite Aimless, I call it Quasi-Aimless. Quasi-Aimless was an unplanned trip
I made in late 2006 (before the real Aimless began), during which I had
luxuries such as an emergency credit card. In the real Aimless, I do
not allow myself to carry a credit card or an ATM card or anything else
that could bail me out in hard times.
Description: While helping an acquaintance
transport merchandise between Ohio and California, I soon realized he
did not appreciate my huge favor. So on November 18, 2006, in the
middle of Utah, I ended my association with the guy and I walked off to
begin some kind of aimless adventure. After spending time in Las Vegas
and southern California over the next few weeks, I began hitchhiking
back to Ohio just 10 days before Christmas. This video is a collage of
my experiences from six weeks on the road in late 2006.
Description: In Las Vegas I met a homeless
advocate named Joe Sacco. Joe has a job and a place to live, and he
makes enough money to eat well. Regardless, he knows where he can get
good, edible food for free, so he does. While talking to Joe at a
coffee house, he invited me to accompany him at a nearby dumpster so I
could learn some of the basics of dumpster diving.
I want to thank all the kind people who helped me make it through
the
journey that resulted in these videos. I'll never know the names of
some of the people who helped me, but here is a list of the
people I know helped me during the Quasi-Aimless part of the
journey.
Stephen
Colbert: For Your Editing Pleasure
While you're here, you might as well watch my Stephen Colbert
edits. YouTube viewers are giving these videos almost 5 stars. The first
one is the funniest Colbert edit on YouTube. That's not my words;
those are the words of people who have watched it. The second
one is almost as funny; it has a lot of the same stuff as the first
video. And the third video is
worth watching if you have a few minutes.
It's not bad; it's just nowhere near as good as the other two.
There are also a couple other ones I didn't include here. One of them
is better than all of these, but the audio and video are slightly out
of sync on the YouTube file. You'll find it if you really want to find
it.
Aimless
needs your help!
If
you like what you've seen here, I humbly request that you send an
e-mail to a friend, inviting him or her to Aimless. That's all I ask of
you. You may not believe such a
small favor can make much of a difference, but I know your cooperation
could spark an intense snowball effect. I sincerely appreciate your
assistance. Thank you.
If
you are looking for a web host, I highly recommend Net Acceleration.
Without their assistance, Aimless would still be going nowhere. Thanks
Net
Acceleration!
![[Aimless Header]](images/header950.jpg)
![[collier_county_sheriff.mov]](images/collier_county_sheriff.jpg)
![[tim_kenneally.mov]](images/tim_kenneally.jpg)
![[escape_from_florida.mov]](images/escape_from_florida.jpg)
![[meet_the_hobos.mov]](images/meet_the_hobos.jpg)
![[join_the_hobos.mov]](images/join_the_hobos.jpg)
![[quasi_revised.mov]](images/quasi_revised.jpg)
![[dumpster_diving.movv]](images/dumpster_diving.jpg)
![[Thanks Net Acceleration!]](images/netaccellogo225.jpg)