tom willner

No, it's not a video that can go back in time and alter itself, though that would be pretty cool. I've created a video for my song Retroactive using creative commons photos from Flickr.com. This music video comes complete with 39 photos of superheros, bell-bottoms, a cat, a frog, cupcakes, and a half-naked, drunk batman.

If you are not familiar with it already, come read more about the creative commons license here. I've released all my music under a creative commons license so that you are welcome to create new works with my songs, which several of you have done. "Breaking News," the photo on the left, is one of the photos used in the video from Hermida.

View the music video for Retroactive on YouTube here

If you could choose a super power to have, what would it be? I found myself faced with that quandary in a dream. I came up with an unusual choice, and to appreciate my reasoning probably requires a little background information.

Having spent a significant amount of my waking hours in corporate America, it's hard not to come across the term "proactive." Everyone is always talking about being more proactive; to stop from always working in a reactive mode. An authority-type figure, usually wearing a tie or red power suit says "We really need to change how we work to be more proactive. We must anticipate business needs and prepare for them in advance. We can't afford to spend all our time just putting out the latest fires." Well, this sounds like an awful lot of work to me. Politicians, on the other hand, have mastered a different approach. They seem much more comfortable with screwing up, then fixing it after the fact (e.g. retroactive immunity and presidential pardons). This strikes me as a much easier, lazier way to solve problems. So when I had a dream about becoming a super hero who got to choose his own super power, I chose to be "Retroactive." After all, hindsight is 20/20.

Which brings me to this month's song. The image of a super hero who is Retroactive already has a particular super suit. And a song about a super hero who is Retroactive has to have some cool vintage instruments. Well, perhaps you're starting to see where I'm heading. So here's "Retroactive." Enjoy, and let me know what you think.

The cool retro stereo picture is courtesy of Marcus Vegas on Flickr.

Download "Retroactive"
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Lyrics and Info

Imagine yourself as a member of an elite group of people from across the globe sharing a common purpose. Envision a place where you utilize cutting edge technology to express your message to the world. Feel the power only you posess to become one of the few, the proud, the important, and come sign my new guestbook.

Yes, what was once available only on countless other websites is now available on mine. Thanks to the magic of Slide, you can stick a virtual pin in my google map, and post a message and your photo. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and sign my guestbook right now! Don't worry, I'll wait here, and you can finish reading me after you're done. Done? Great. Thanks.

What's interesting about this guestbook, is that I was able to post it on tomwillner.com, turningthirty.org, and my MySpace profile (which, by the way, you should go check out, because I've just redesigned it, and well, I need your help to make sure it doesn't suck). So anyway, the guestbook is actually a service from Slide.com. Which got me thinking: I use a whole lot of different services on the web, and it would be interesting to share with you just how many I use to make up the magic that is the Tom Willner Online Experience. Here goes:

MySpace, Facebook, Blogger, Delicious, iLike, Slide, PayPal, Payloadz, CDBaby, iTunes, Taxi, Broadjam, Sonicbids, Audiosparx, StockMusicSite, Amazon, YouTube, Eventful, Eventbrite, Widgetbox, Springwidgets, Myxer, Feedburner, YourMailingListProvider, AddThis, Flickr, Disqus, CafePress, DownloadUplift, Sharinghope.tv, 1and1, LinkedIn, Plaxo, and Google. That's 34 different online services, all intricately and seamlessly integrated to provide you with virtually limitless ways to interact with yours truly. A massive jumble of socially networked Willnerdom. See you out on the facespace.

The date was September 8, 2008. The stock market was still above 11,000; vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin had not yet given her first TV interview; and Amazon had just unveiled it's new video on demand service. It was a simpler time. It was also the last time I posted a new ringtone.

And you, intrepid readers, swiftly posted your preferences for additional ringtones, but alas, had to wait almost five months to get them. Wait no more - last night I posted every ringtone you asked for: Rain, Over You, September, You Are My Storm; Sing It Out, and what have become known as my Relay songs - Celebrate, What Would You Do, and now Every Candle Has A Name. Check out my ringtone page to send any and all of them to your phones. I hope you enjoy them.

I also wanted to let you know that Terry Moore has done a terrific job creating a video of photos from the Moses Lake Relay For Life set to Jack Storey's and my song Every Candle Has A Name. You can see the video here.