I'm going to post my previous ramblings on various subjects here. Ideally I should post videos of me doing it but I'm not so articulate when the camera is rolling. Let's start with the subject of "Backwards Masking" in recorded music and voices:

Personally I think it's nonsense. I know some musicians have recorded some backwards vocals deliberately and overtly, for the fun of it, like Pink Floyd and Oingo Boingo. As in "find the secret message" by playing this backwards.

But I think the vast majority   more...of stuff people hear backwards is largely phonetic coincidences. Phonetics and phrasing can be quirky even playing music forwards, like an R.E.M. song has a line including the words "big hill" and the way Michael Stipe sings it makes it sounds like "big kill". There are people who insist he says kill when he says hill. And I can hear how they would think that. So from my experience it works backwards as well, combinations of gibberish backwards phonetics can appear like words. And if you go into it expecting to hear words that's just what you will hear. Like in the Beatles “Revolution #9”, sure enough the man repeating the phrase “number 9” sounds like “turn me on, dead man” when played backwards, or something close to it. Pure dumb phonetic coincidence.

Like people who truly believe you can see "Satan's Face" in still frames of the smoke of the burning Twin Towers on 9/11. You could also probably see a ducky and pony if you look long enough. And any other suggestion I put in your mind.

A friend and I had a 4-track recorder years ago and we got drunk and did our own backwards-masking song. And it was strange because when we played it backwards there were phonetic sounds in certain words that weren't there when played forward, like a "k" sound appearing backwards in a word that had no k, c, q, ch or anything sounding like a k. Just like the R.E.M. song. I encourage anyone with the software on their computer to record yourself reading something, then play it in reverse and keep track of the words (in reverse) and see if you are not surprised by how the phonetics sound.

And as far as any of this registering on your subconscious I think that's nonsense too. That makes me think of the same people who insist everything that has ever crossed your field of vision is recorded in your subconscious. Like if you turn your head quickly from left to right with your eyes open, everything in-between is registered in your brain, like a series of still-frames and could be called up somehow, like license plates, people's faces, etc. It's just a blur between two focus points, if you ask me. I refuse to believe people can act like chronic idiots on a daily basis, yet have this supercomputer brain, subconsciously recording every single frame of vision and playing songs backwards in their heads and processing the information. It’s wishful thinking.  less

Hey all!
Many thanks to my friends and subscribers and all the supportive comments I've gotten. It takes forever to make an animation (or at least it seems like it does) and it's very rewarding when I hear someone likes something I've done. I always start an animation with big ideas and grandiose plans. Then reality sets in, and I start having to make compromises and tossing great ideas overboard. I end up achieving only about 20% of what I originally envisioned. So when I'm working on it   more...I'm never sure if an animation is any good, as all I can think about is the 80% I never got to do.
It's only afterwards when it's all done and I've stepped away from it, and someone says they like it that I see it for what it is.
So thanks again for watching!
On some of the animations there is a lag in the audio, which really bugs me. It's probably introduced during the LiveVideo compression process. I've tried uploading some of the clips more than once, to see if that clears it up. Will keep working on it.
Ulysses1904 (aka Ghost of Stephen Foster)  less