For me, one major frustration of this newsletter format has been its limitations in terms of incorporating visual media. It is easily overloaded with too many photos or video. Every time I published a piece it was a mano a mano struggle to get it out intact, and my initial enthusiasm for Substack waned rapidly.
Not that I was ever able to upload much video on any platform, except sparingly. The huge file sizes make it like trying to push a hippo through the eye of a needle on our (formerly) crappy rural internet.
That’s right—formerly. Because now, thanks to the fastest fibre any of us has ever experienced (how we got it is an epic story of perserverance and guerilla-style ingenuity that I will save for another time), it’s time to play to the text-based strengths of Substack as a notification tool.
First,
Herrleklären now has its own dedicated YouTube channel! I will highlight here the pieces I feel are most worth sharing, but I am currently committed to adding a short piece everyday.
Second,
I’m happy to announce that the revival of the Academy of the Impossible as an outward facing entity (with yours truly as the new director) has been marked by the launch of a new project.
Since just before Christmas, we have been streaming a “live from Lanark County” farm reality TV show every night at 7pm on the Metaviews Twitch channel. Fast upload speeds mean I am now realizing my dream, first incubated in ‘90s Manhattan, of having a public access tv show. Here’s a short clip:
(Newsflash: we now have baby bunnies).
While the plot of The Academy of the Impossible Live Show never varies—it’s my son Murley and I doing evening chores here at the Academy—the action is different every night, thanks to the master improvisors that our animal faculty members are.
I’ve posted to the Herrleklären Youtube channel—in its entirety—what I believe to be the *best* episode we’ve produced to date:
If you aren’t a gamer or a fan of watching other people play videogames live, you may not have ever heard of Twitch. Unlike YouTube, it enables us to be both LIVE and interactive (there’s a chat feature). Jesse Hirsh somehow manages to edit on the fly a multi-camera experience that is more engaging than I thought possible.
Herrleklären subscribers Sherida R., my other son, Laurence H-F, and Allan H have been faithful and active participants in these nightly broadcasts. They are joined by two adorable local young men who are loyal viewers despite their bedtime coming before show’s end, and a growing international audience of random Central European insomniacs.
Right now we need a critical mass of live concurrent viewers to get the recomendation algorithm to start promoting the visibility of the show, so please consider tuning in at 7pm EST (and even better, creating a Twitch account so you can follow the channel).
Third,
If the nightly show stokes an appetite for animal-based content you didn’t know you had, you may be interested to hear that we are also experimenting with a more irregular and informal live morning chores show that appears on other platforms (e.g., Reddit’s r/AnimalsonReddit).
A daytime continous raw feed from the barn is featured on Academy of the Impossible Twitch channel. (Nighttime is re-runs of the evening chores show).
And last but not least,
In the near future I’m hoping to stream some interviews as well as some fitness-related content on the Herrleklären Twitch channel. The latter is part of my open source, participatory fitness project, Not A Gym.
Dear readers, if you have either interest or input to offer regarding the latter, let your voice be heard!