Real Dream Live is the internet home of Real Dream Productions
Welcome!
Welcome to the new online home of Real Dream Productions. So who are we? Well, the short answer is that we're the owners and publishers of the popular "How-To Video Podcast," which is co-produced by Madeline Merced, and Eric Wyeth. If you look to the sidebar on this page, you'll find links to our current projects, as well as to mysterious, undefined new projects. Stay tuned!
"Podcast" is a new word, and one that has quickly gained traction in the lexicon of a dedicated, internet-savvy online community. But what of the casual mainstream internet users? Do they know what a podcast is? The fact is, many don't. However, many are slowly becoming aware of it, just as they're becoming aware of an exciting new movement called "Video on Demand." Truth be told, Podcasting is one of the most economical and efficient mechanisms for Video on Demand available.
Simply put, a podcast is an audio or video program on the internet, which you can "subscribe" to for free by using a special software program, like iTunes, Miro, or Juice, which will download new episodes to your computer whenever a new program is available, or it is convenient for you. GruntMedia has an excellent tutorial about how it all works. To find out more about it, click here!
It isn't often that you get to do good, have a great time, eat well, and try something just a bit exotic -- all at the same time! Well, we had that opportunity on Saturday, February 9th, thanks to The For The Love of Chocolate Benefit, hosted by the French Pastry School in Chicago, Illinois. The Foundation's benefit, which is an exclusive black-tie event, serves a noble purpose: To help those looking for a new direction in life find the resources to be trained by some of the best chefs in not just the U.S., but the world!
As has been demonstrated to us time and again by the artisans at the French Pastry School, an education in the culinary field isn't just about going to "cooking school!" Quite to the contrary! If all you want to do is cook, then look no further than Madeline's idol (and friend to the show), Rachael Ray. No, an education in the culinary arts is just that: An arts education! You need look no further than the delectables at your favorite restaurant or the hand dipped sweets in the windows of your local candy boutique to see the attention to detail, the craft that makes food into something more than just a meal.
If you need further proof, though, then look no further than our coverage of the For The Love of Chocolate Benefit. We take you behind the scenes to see sweet and savory chocolate themed foods, fanciful chocolate sculptures, and most exotic of all, chocolate fashions. One dress is even being modeled by our own Madeline Merced! Now that is a treat!
YouTube graciously invited us to join the YouTube "Partner Program," which will allow us to share in revenue through AdSense ads on our video pages and through embedded players, like the one you see below. If all works as it should, the videos you see should be our videos (as opposed to random YouTube videos, Hopefully it works!
Congratulations to Madeline for her flawless performance on our local NBC affiliates' morning news show! The producer was so impressed by the positive fan mail that they received that she immediately booked Madeline for an encore appearance! Way to go, Madi!
You can see some behind-the-scenes footage of Madeline's appearance, as well as a cut down segment of her past appearance on The Rachael Ray Show in this week's episode of "How-To!" If you want a Quicktime version, just use the Widget in the right hand sidebar.
I like this video. Not for it's production value (which isn't bad, either), but for it's message. After starting this whole podcast and YouTube thing, I have to say that my perceptions have evolved a bit. Sure, I was always pretty open minded about other cultures, but now that we've got a vehicle that gets us invited into people's homes, and even their lives, it's like the bright candle of enlightenment on my window sill has given itself over to the dawn.
We are proud to count many Muslims among our own fans, both on YouTube, and through our own site. We've had pictures from Saudi Arabia, gotten emails from Kuwait, Yemen, UAE, and Iran.
Our own Frappr Map shows the diversity of our audience.
Not all people in the "West" are bigots, or are afraid to see Muslims in airports, just as not all Muslims are terrorists. It's time we stopped fearing each other and started talking to each other.
As you all know, this is the "corporate" home of the company that Madeline and I formed to produce our podcasts, "How-To" and "Taste of How-To," so I feel like I'm taking a bit of a risk by publishing this post, and am likely to draw more than just a little ire with it. To which I say, read to the end and you'll see where I'm going with it.
So here's the thing: I don't get the Latino culture. I just don't. That may not be a surprise to some, seeing as I'm of Swedish and French descent, and to really understand a culture, you need not just to be exposed to it, but immersed in it. That I get. What I don't understand is how a cultural and racial base that occupies a significant percentage of the population in dozens of countries across at least three continents can be so gosh-darned provincial!
My exposure to the Latin community in my own home state had yielded the impression that the diversity within it was a celebrated and exciting component of day-to-day life. Even one of our current internet outlets, VOY Plaza, caters to the young, on-the-go Latino through their web and VCast Channels. They specifically sought us out because they felt Madeline represented their demographic well. Since we've been doing quite well with VOY Plaza, I had no reason to doubt my assumptions were wrong.
Enter YouTube. What would we ever do without YouTube? Madeline and I have shot at least two Latin-centric episodes of How-To, although her Colombian-Puerto Rican heritage is a constant, albeit subtle and subconscious component of each and every episode. One episode is called "How-To Make Empanadas con Pico de Gallo," and the other features a modern, less traditional, but still generally accepted recipe for Ceviché (a dish that uses citric acid to "cook" or cure fish, rather than using heat). Each recipe does have a "classic" variation, which is different from country to country, and even region-to-region within a given country. Add in family variations on traditional dishes, and finding the way to "properly" make empanadas or ceviché is as dicey of a proposition as finding the "proper" way to make meatloaf. It just realistically can't be done! But that doesn't stop the haters on YouTube from invoking their country's way of doing it, usually while insulting another country's recipe or culture (in one commenter's case, it was nearly to the point of racism) and telling us what a disservice we've done to Latin culture. And that is the root of my confusion.
Why are the self-appointed Latin cultural watchdogs on YouTube so provincial in their defense of it? By ignoring the familial and regional impacts on their culture in favor of traditionalist influences, perhaps in fear of being homogenized, they run the risk of not just societal stagnation, but also of isolation. Is that really what the Latino world community wants? I didn't think so, but since I'm not of Latin descent, then maybe I'm wrong.
Below are the controversial videos in question:
I've closed comments on the "Ceviché" video, because the commentary wasn't generating any new insights or discussions.
As always, the views expressed in this post are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of Real Dream Productions, Madeline Merced, "How-To," "Taste of How-To," VOY Plaza, or any of our partners.
We're excited about a couple of new things going on. One is small, and one is big, but both should help improve communication between us and our audience. We'll start with the small news first: We've added the ability for our viewers to leave comments directly from the page of the video that they're watching. That may seem like something that should have been a default choice, but the software we currently use to generate our site did not easily allow for that. Once comments begin to pile up, we'll be adding a widget to the site that will display the most recent comments. Along with the comments, we now have TrackBacks to help cross link our site with other blogs. We're looking forward to hearing what you have to say!
The second piece of news is a bit bigger, and definitely more exciting. Madeline, the creator and hostess of How-To, and a founding partner in Real Dream Productions, has launched a new blog called The Bean Bag Chair. The blog features some of her favorite videos that she's found on YouTube, that we've produced for How-To, or that she's made on her own! Her original videos won't take the place of How-To, and will not interfere with our production schedule. Instead, they're windows into Madeline's "unrehearsed" personality. Her subjects are personal, funny, and at times poignant. Most of all, they're a lot of fun. Go ahead and check out her first posted video below, and then visit her blog, The Bean Bag Chair!
Real Dream Productions is the producer, owner and publisher of the popular podcast, "How-To with Madeline Merced." Real Dream Productions is committed to providing it's high quality content on a wide range of platforms, including Video On Demand, select Internet sites and portals, viral video sites and via podcasting.
