Back to School

[DashTube1]

Thank you for taking us back! that was awesome!

[anakin1814]

Thanks mate! :)

[jrsnyderjr]

Wow...I was distracted by the snow and the idea of cold and transported back to a different era on that campus...like 1960.

The biggest shock of my life was when my parents moved from a very hot warm climate to WI so my father could get his Master's degree at Madison.

My mother and I had never encountered Americans, tundra cold weather, flat land. I spent the first grade there and I have very good memories of that time as a little kid on that campus. It was too damn cold tho...

[anakin1814]

Wow...cool memories and cool connection to UW-Madison! :)

[jrsnyderjr]

cool being the operative "punny" word here in all senses of the word! hahaha!

[anakin1814]

I like puns! :)

[fehquig]

I graduated twenty years ago. When I went back to the campus where I earned my degree, everything was changed and the department where I was a student was gone. It was a bit like something out of Kafka...

[anakin1814]

A big part of the campus has changed and it's mind boggling to see that. Luckily the parts I showed here all stayed in tact! :)

[JeepGirl2]

What a beautiful campus! It seems HUGE!

How many students?

thanks for taking us along for the tour. :0)

[anakin1814]

When I was there, there was something like 40,000 students, including grad students I guess. Not sure now, all these years later.

[paisleyduck]

Cool, I love Madison too. The University campus is beautiful. A stark contrast to my Uni! Great video, thanks for showing us! :)

[anakin1814]

You are very welcome! I always thought Madison was a big city but now after spending sometime in Chicago, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, etc. I realize that it's a very quaint campus!

[SunnyDazStormyNitz]

Beautiful campus Gary. Thanks for the tour.

Great camera work Mike. :-)

[anakin1814]

You are very welcome! Thanks for watching! :)

[audionautix]

thanks for using my music! I changed my mind, you don't look like Wash.

thanks for sharing your history and some of Madison too. Hey, you got a camera person!!

[anakin1814]

Your music works great for this! You are so incredibly talented! THANK YOU! (And having a camera person is very cool!)

[dl737]

Nice tour - I really never developed a connection with my Alma Mater - and am still more connected to my high school (will be there again in a couple of weeks) than my college. There are many reasons for why that is - and I am sort of jealous of people who do have that attachment. Fortunately my son does - so at least he will have something like you do.

[anakin1814]

Thanks Danny. I had a rough time in high school so was very happy to get away (although ironically I live less than a mile from it now). For me, Madison was where I can to be and learned that being myself was alright. Add to that it's an incredible city and there's just no way I can't be in love with it! :)

[IAGuy06]

I was wondering who your camera man was. :)

I have a sister that's an art teacher in VA. Interesting about The Onion.

Thanks for the tour Gary.

[anakin1814]

Someday I still want to be an art teacher!

And with Mike in town, it was a good way to show him around as well as make a video! :)

[IAGuy06]

She wants to quit teaching and sell her art but hasn't sold enough to do that yet.

She got her masters, I told her she should teach at a university but that doesn't seem to interest her.

Sounds like you guys had fun. :)

[anakin1814]

We really did. We got to meet up with Captainfury2007 for a dinner and beer as well, so it was a nice mini-gathering.

[nbwulf]

East coast colleges trump west coast colleges when it comes to design, look, feel, etc... Awesome tour my friend. And fine camerawork Mike. (=

[anakin1814]

And where do the midwest colleges fall into this? ;)

Glad you liked the tour. You should do a video like this! And yeah, Mike did a great job and gets exactly how I'd frame the shots!

[nbwulf]

I clump the midwest colleges in as well... Much better than a UCLA or UCSD. (=

[anakin1814]

I think that's the first time in my life that I've ever been lumped together with the east coast! Suddenly I feel the need to spend a lot of money on a sub-par cup of coffee...

[f3xpgm]

Thanks for sharing you memories! It was cool to see and hear about those beautiful places!

lol, i started this comment in portuguese i don't know why! lol

[anakin1814]

Thanks for watching Felix! It was fun to share my love for these places with my friends!

All that talk on Curt's video about Charo must have made you want to start in portuguese! :P

[f3xpgm]

LOL, i don't even want to know why you guys started to talk about her!

[anakin1814]

Curt is obsessed with her and anything that has to do with the 70s! LOL

[AndyPliskin]

This was awesome Gary. I'm a sucker for beautiful archatechture, so this was really cool. I have similar feelings about Houghton, so I can totally identify.

Seriously, really well done!

[anakin1814]

The next time you go back, you should make a video! You won't have the feelings of nostalgia that I did on this one quite yet, but it's a cool thing to do, to kind of keep in my personal record books now.

[AndyPliskin]

While I was there I made it a point not to show too much of campus for privacy reasons. I guess it didn't matter, considering I said the name of the college and they have less than 1,000 students. Any creeper who wanted to find me probably could have pretty easily, but I'll still feel more comfortable showing the place off now that I'm not there anymore, lol.

[anakin1814]

No...that makes complete sense. I've had a few people ask me "What park do you vlog at." Could you imagine if they were disturbed and somehow met me at that park? That would be insane! You're safer now doing it, i agree. It would be too easy for people to figure out where you would have been.

[JustA11en]

Abe looked cold. >:)

Nice tour of the old stomping grounds, Gary.

[anakin1814]

Abe wasn't the only one! :)

[ShortbusMooner]

Nice school! Alas, I only went to community college!

Hope you're having a good time! *hugs*

[anakin1814]

I bet the community college was cheaper!

Good to see you! :)

[battlebauble]

The lake shore and your river, so deja-vu! Madison is definately a slice of Americana, Gary. What a great tour! Wish CMU looked so good! I sort of envy you. Univeristy today at age 46 just doesn't seem quite so grand and nostalgic as your experience. But than you could make something as mundane as grocery shopping a sublime experience, Gary! LOL!

[anakin1814]

I don't think I really caught the deja-vu of the river/lake until walking down the path the other day. Now it all makes sense! :)

[sugarandlance]

Impressive tour! It looks so cold. Buildings were beautiful. Was there any out takes? If so, share? :)

[anakin1814]

Believe it or not, I had a total of 15 minutes of footage, for this 9 minute video. The only outtakes were a few false starts, but that's it. Most of these are one-take wonders! (It was too cold to do it again!)

[LuckyStrike502]

That looks like a really nice campus! Thanks for sharing!

[anakin1814]

Thanks for watching Jason! :)

[WFaN4600]

Gary where is the Lost Review...............

[anakin1814]

As you can see by this video, I was out of town over the weekend! I'm planning on recording my Lost review tonight!

[PaintedRavensong]

Wow...what a gorgeous school!! I would have loved to have gone to a school like that. Great "living room!" Oh my gosh...I love the ONION! Thanks so very much for the tour. Wonderful! I'll bet you miss it!

[anakin1814]

I never realize how much I miss it until I visit it there! THANK YOU! :)

[21stCenturyCat]

Great tour, liked the look of that bar in particular! :)

[anakin1814]

The bar part is indeed the best! :)

[ralfonzo83]

wow..with a camera man holding the camera, it´s a total new experience watching you!

[anakin1814]

It was different recording it this way too! Lots of fun.

[gunman50cal]

deep i do thank

[anakin1814]

Welcome you are.

[1DRock37167]

Love the architecture of this school and especially the Memorial Union, I could spend all day in that building:)

Great tour of campus Gary, thanks!

[anakin1814]

Thank you Daryl! I spent A LOT of time in that union. Ah, good times! :)

[andymooseman]

So, you're making travel documentries now, are you?

Nice departure & very well done. I'd like to see some more videos like this & i'll admit it's something i'd like to do as well. All i need is a good cameraman.

Tell Mike he did a great job too.

One question. Do all of the state capitols have buildings like this? I remember Nashville had something very similar. I think it's great :)

[anakin1814]

When recording the different pieces of this, I never thought of it as a travel documentary until I pieced it together. I want to do this more often...possibly with the farm I grew up on amongst other things. It was fun to piece together to, and believe it or not, challenged me in the editing process!

Not all of our capitals look like that, but many of them do. I had to look that up myself.

[andymooseman]

I think a farm video would be great.

They are a great personal record & something to keep.

I'm sure doing this kind of video would become easier with experience. I can imagine it must have been hard trying to decide what to film & what to leave out.

I get that when i do my scenic walks :)

[anakin1814]

To be honest, I didn't think twice about what I wanted to film and what I didn't. These were all very natural things. I have about 3 or 4 other things on the other side of campus that I wasn't able to get to, but those will be for another vlog! It was great fun to do and a great way to show Mike my campus!

Doing this, I almost thought of it as a video to someday show my nephews since I never really got any of it on video back then. :)

[andymooseman]

I had a feeling this was a pretty personal video & understandably so. It begs the question, were you making it for us, or yourself & nephews? :)

[anakin1814]

Yes! :)

[thornekatt]

This was great work. So well put together.

Thanks for the tour!

Sheri~

[anakin1814]

Thank you! I spent a lot of time editing this one. Your comment means a lot! :)

[OhCurt]

Those old buildings are cool (preserving historical architecture? what a concept!).

State street looks busy - and I didn't know The Onion was born out of that city.

Rodney Dangerfield covered up the school's name for that movie??

No respect, I tells ya! No respect!

[anakin1814]

"Say when..."

"After this drink!" :)

[kenrg]

Looks like a very cool place to go to school. No, strike "cool" - make that "damn cold". But great tour - I may just have to do a reply from UCSC.

[anakin1814]

Cold is an understatement. And my cameraman, being a resident of the west coast was a real trooper! It was a good way for me to show him where I'm from. I'd LOVE to see a video response to this!

[qiranger]

State Street!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[anakin1814]

LOVE IT!

[qiranger]

It was a great experience. I was there in 1998!!! Fun times at the Con!

[anakin1814]

So many good times...

[vjm1234]

i kept waiting for you to hunt down some old professors to interview!!!  lol. That would have been fun. =) SmileyD

[anakin1814]

I had thoughts of going into a few of the buildings, although I kind of chickened out!

[vjm1234]

Awesome vid G! Made me wanna go revisit my alma mater. And man o man, am I jealous! So many times I've wished I'd had someone to hold my damn camera. =) Great to see you enjoying yourself and reliving some memories. SmileyD

[anakin1814]

You SHOULD revisit it and make a video response! It was something very personal for me to do and I'm glad I'm able to share it!

[AngryAussie]

Ahhh the good old days. Way more interesting than my old college campus! You should take us back there again in summer for comparison.

[anakin1814]

It's a truly beautiful place in the summer. Yeah, I definitely need to make a video!

[LeSaMilano]

I love Madison. The campus is one of the most beautiful in the whole midwest and possibly the country. Lucky you to have spent that time there.

I spent a lot of time up there myself

in my formative years! (especially because the drinking age was only 18 in Wisconsin back then! LOL)

thanks for the trip down memory lane. Great video Gar. xoxox

[anakin1814]

So trippy to me that you spent time there as well, visiting! I love how all of our paths have somehow crossed one way or another!

[thizizliz]

What a gorgeous campus! Thank you so much for the tour and the personal stories. I really enjoyed it.

[anakin1814]

You are very welcome!

[BGenerous]

That was a cool tour Gary! Brings back so many memories of college. At U of Minnesota, Madison had a reputation for being a party school. In the spring, one Brother Jed would come to town and speak in the mall area. Everyone knew his schtick from past years and would speak key lines along with him. We sat out in the warm spring sun listening, and when he got to the part about Madison they would say it with him, "Universitah of Wis--con--SIN!!" shouting "SIN." lol Ah those were the days!

[anakin1814]

Ah, a U of M grad!! COOL! WI had a nice back and forth w/ MN from what I remember. A lot of my close friends were actually from MPLS 'burbs. These were definitely the days! :)

[Aaroncast86]

Respect.

This was really well done. You basically took the medium of documentary and combined it with vlogging. Definitely taking things to a new level Gary.

[anakin1814]

Thanks Aaron! It kind of felt like a bunch of mini-vlogs when doing this. I appreciate the comment! :)

[thefrozenghost]

Beautiful place to spend your formative years, G. And here I thought you just drew a turtle from matchbook cover and sent it in...

[anakin1814]

Nah...they rejected me!

[TamHickey67]

What a great video. It's always good to reflect on the past to see where we are now and how we grew up.

[anakin1814]

Thanks Tam! That's kind of what it turned into as I started making this, even though I wasn't sure what it was going to be when I set out to make it! :)

[Sugartalker]

I really enjoyed this Gary! That does look like a very nice area. The Onion started there?! Cool! I love the Onion. I was not aware that it started as a paper. Thanks for sharing.

[anakin1814]

The Onion was once a cheap black and white paper with all stories about the campus. I knew ppl who drew comics in it, and I even had friends who appeared in a segment they called "The Onion Drunk of the Week!" :)

[Jinxie228]

Nice trip back to school!  Thanks for sharing!

[anakin1814]

Thanks Martha!

[binsk]

That was REALLY interesting to watch Gary!

And your cameraman did a good job too. :)

[anakin1814]

Thank you! :)

[bjhorton2005]

nice! Thanks for sharing that.

[anakin1814]

Thanks for watching Brad! :)

[bjhorton2005]

No thank you! I have actually been there, because my brother lives nearby in Richland Center. I have been around there and thought about taking a tour, but now YOU gave me one. It'd be neat to visit with you there someday. -Brad

[anakin1814]

Well, this spring I'm hoping to set up a Wisconsin YouTube meetup in Madison.

[RiddleSpider]

Very cool, I have recently reconnected with college friends via internet and it's like I am there all over again :)

[anakin1814]

Thanks to Facebook, a friend from that dorm just contacted me the night before I recorded this video. I haven't talked to him in 2 almost 20 years!

[mickmusing]

Lovely video, Gary.

But what about the parties and the beer and the girls?

[anakin1814]

Thanks Michael! I'm 37 years old. To go back to the places where I drank all the beer, had fun with all the girls, and made a complete ass of myself would make me look and feel REALLY old! (They'd be like "Who's the old perv with the video camera.)

[TheAposlSF]

that must have been an amazing experience! thanks for sharing that with us, Gary!

~Samar

[anakin1814]

Thanks Samar! It was great going down memory lane making this video. To say I had a lot of amazing experiences there is really an understatement! :)

[bugsinrug]

Wow Gary...what a great campus and beautiful, historical buildings. How lucky you were to have furthered your education there. Thanks for taking us on this tour. hugs, Chris

[anakin1814]

Thanks Chris! It was great fun to go there and I learned so much! I'd love to live there again someday. Thanks for coming on the tour with me! :)

[GuruMN]

The crazy part about you mentioning The Onion is that at our inpromptu gathering that we had with snotpokkit, brojoghost, kokohawk, backgotback, cadwaladr, and I today is that we read The Onion today and talked about the articles on the front page. It's cool to see you mentioning it, nice to know that it comes from Madison. :-)

~Guru

[anakin1814]

That is a very interesting coincidence! I'm jealous of your little gathering today! I wish I lived closer to you guys! Oh well, on Thursday I got to hang out with musoSF and Captainfury2007. So it's all good! :)

[kayleewyatt]

HQ!

[anakin1814]

Yippee!!

[kayleewyatt]

u can rest now, job well done :)

[anakin1814]

Whew. LOL

[americannamor]

Wow that a was a great video. Get yourself a job for the Travel channel or something.

Awesome campus, I work at a college and it looks like a Walmart compared to those buildings. Even the bigger, more historic colleges in my area can't hold a candle to yours.

[anakin1814]

I'd LOVE to do a travel channel gig! How cool would that be? I want to do more of these about things from my past, like the family farm and stuff like that. This video was as much for me as anything.

[americannamor]

Seriously, this video and your sailing one should be in your portfolio or what ever the film maker term is. What could you loose by sending your videos to different people.

[anakin1814]

Wow. Thank you. I never thought of those two videos in the same vein, but they are both very much the same. The other one that comes to mind is the one where I was training for the 1/2 marathon, and I showed a bunch of the Wisconsin landscape (then the storm shows up). I need to approach things more like this. THANK YOU! :)

[vclamp]

The lake shore path always looks nasty knowing that most of the school year is cold & windy. State street, coffee shops, restaurants, record (head) shops... The state capital is a study in marble. Der Rathskeller was seen in "Back toSchool" also.

I haven't been out there in a year, so maybe in springtime.

Thanks for posting you story Gary.

[anakin1814]

You are very welcome. I did this for me, of course...but I'm realizing how many other parts of my past I need to recapture for video, to tell my story for my nephews as well as to get it on film for me!

[boobtubious]

Very cool! I was there back in 1999 for some training at Avid. I also have a friend who went there about 20 years ago!

[anakin1814]

Cool!! I love it there! Was that your friend who looks like me? Maybe it WAS me!

[oneiblind30]

I love the onion with it's hint of truth.

[anakin1814]

That's what's so great about it! LOL

[LilCav68]

This one is better than last year's (or whenever that one was). It looks COLLLLLDDDDDD.

I wish I went as a traditional student. Great memories.

[anakin1814]

By last years are you talking about the one where I was just by the river, talking about my past? I like this one better too, but this was definitely done in the spirit of that video. I need to revisit more of my past, I've decided...from the farm, to my high school, etc. And cold is an understatement. My poor California cameraman!

[LilCav68]

No, I thought you have a video of the school because I remember the window. Maybe it was included in a football game video?

I know what those visits will mean. You go boi. Umm, the camera man left us in the midwest. Not feeling too bad for him *defector* LOL..

[anakin1814]

Hmmm. I haven't done anything back in Madison for YouTube yet. I wonder which one you're thinking of? I didn't make a football game video. The cameraman WAS a good sport, so I'll cut him some slack!

[LilCav68]

Ok... I KNOW I saw something from your school one time. I have a pretty good memory. Maybe it was just a clip of something? Augh. Maybe I was channeling Miss Cleo?

[anakin1814]

I've never shot anything on campus before, so maybe you're having a flashback, flashforward, or hot flash?Are you thinking of a few of the photos I shot from the football game?

[LilCav68]

Maybe it was the pictures then!!! Didn't you go with your bro & sister last year? Thanks for saving my sanity.. LOL

[anakin1814]

Yeah...and there were some at camp randall...although I don't know what window you're talking about. They were in my flickr account. B**** crazy! LOL

[LilCav68]

Oh don't you B**** crazy on me... I'll get on a snow plow & drive up to Siberia just to kick your ass. LOLOL

I swear you showed me something like that! grr

[anakin1814]

Good luck if the snow plow starts with these temps! Kick my ass huh? Where is the lurve, cwazy b, where is da lurve? LOL

[LilCav68]

Let me quote.. "it's all lurve"....

Nah, I'll start it down here, drive there w/o turning it off, then drive back... LOLOL... *eyebrow*

[anakin1814]

And what about gassing it up? You'll run out of gas mah lurve! *Sings "Baby It's Cold Outside" in best Ertha Kitt voice.* LOL

[LilCav68]

.... 0.o ..... me just looking at you... LOL

[anakin1814]

Through frosted windows/fogged up glasses no doubt. LOL

[LilCav68]

my eyebrow has had such a workout tonight that it's on top of my head right now...

[anakin1814]

LOL! Who needs plastic surgery! LOL

[kayleewyatt]

this is my favorite show~

[kayleewyatt]

the Lambeau vid, i think

[anakin1814]

Hmmm. Lambeau vid? Maybe from the Green Bay marathon I did with the statues of Vince Lambardi? Is that what you're thinking of?

[kayleewyatt]

8:03 I want that jpeg!

[anakin1814]

Heck, if Obama can be in front of the one in Washington... :)

[kayleewyatt]

i know, right! still want that jpeg, lol *hint*

[anakin1814]

Did you see the TwitPict of me and Mike with Abe behind us?

[kayleewyatt]

oh man, did I comment? if no comment, didn't see it, lol

**runs to twitpict**

yesterday a blur, Bday party for tweens, hurts one's brain :P

[anakin1814]

Not sure if you did or not. Yesterday was a blur for me too!

[kayleewyatt]

Cool memory walk ! I did not know that about the onion! :) TY

[anakin1814]

Yeah....i remember seeing one of the first issues ever published. I sent about 12 copies of it to friends. It was quite shocking back then! :)

[kayleewyatt]

hey its suppose to be shocking... all our issues at MSU were always late, but our libray carried it!

[anakin1814]

Yeah. The first one I saw said "Penis Fear Runs Rampant on Campus" and had a picture of Joe Camel's face on the front, discussing what his face really looks like. That's still shocking...imagine back in 1989! LOL

[kayleewyatt]

:) wow

[anakin1814]

Yeah! LOL

[DietDrPepperGirl]

I live about 45 minutes from Madison and I have to agree it is an amazing city. I just plain feel good when I'm there. Nice video. :D

[anakin1814]

There's just a vibe there, isn't there? Love it! :)

[DILLIGAF333]

Student unions are great places for..."studying."

Especially if there's a bar there.

[anakin1814]

Oh yeah. There's a bar there. With GREAT German beer!! *drools*

I want this damn thing to go HQ!!

[nerdfighter4]

Beautiful Campus! Thanks for the tour.

[anakin1814]

You are very welcome!! I saved you A LOT of walking! :)

[kingalberich]

first comment, it's nice to see where you went for school xD

[anakin1814]

Thanks! :)