Beta Project - 12 minute of Dystopian NYC

MrSquished · Jun 17, 2024

A very rough around the edges first attempt at any action cam video, and first time editing a video on a computer ever. Started last night, four hours later......I got a few things down ok, really fucked up a couple audio transitions, missed a video transition or two, could choose better video transitions in general timed with the footage, barely delved into text and animation text effects, etc... etc...I know I have to reduce my head movement, except when I'm trying to stay alive, but also pan slower to show stuff going on the sidewalks or areas to the right or left of me, etc...Also by the time I got to Manhattan I had 30 fairly well-paced miles under me, with one giant lunch stop. I would ride faster overall, make the bike riding a bit more interesting. Keep in mind nobody honked at me, cursed at me, or ran to get out of my way at all, this is just a normal way of riding efficiently and quickly.

Second two thirds is the decent section. After the intro, skip a few minutes in for the better parts.

But from getting dropped off in Manhattan by the Staten Island Ferry, riding through the Financial District, through Chinatown, to the East Village and Tompkins Square Park to Washington Square Park. Had about an hour of footage cut it down to 12 minutes. Wait till the end cats that is when the crime starts

Also I had to find copywrite free music, and I just barely scratched that surface as much of it sucks, so only have 5 downloaded tracks so far. That is going to take some hours to build a good library. But whatever.

Future videos will include some narration at times during the ride, always having a food destination or two as well, turn them into guided adventures, but always, always pointing out the dystopian anarchy that is indeed, one of the greatest cities in the world.

DYSTOPIAN HELLHOLE OF NYC - a waste of 12 minutes of your time.

brycejones · Jun 17, 2024

You're a brave soul, glad you survived. Although I'm a little traumatized from all the bodies.

ivwshane · Jun 18, 2024

lol you ran so many red lights! I felt like I was watching a new release of GTA.

Stokely · Jun 18, 2024

Fake AI video, I know from watching OANN and posts on facebook that NYC is overrun with migrant gangs. Nice try though!

MrSquished · Jun 18, 2024

ivwshane said:
lol you ran so many red lights! I felt like I was watching a new release of GTA.

Ha. Yeah it's just part of riding in the city, Just do it safely like I did. Confident but respectful. Never had to make any any elusive movement, never had to slam on my brakes, never had a car had to break hard, never got honked at. Definitely if you have the confidence that's how a lot of people ride. Just keep your head on a swivel and be alert. It's very meditative to ride like that as you are just one with the bike and your surroundings.

One thing I don't do is ride the wrong way down one way streets or bike lanes. I'm no salmon.

I guess it keeps the video a bit interesting though

DigDog · Jun 18, 2024

i spent a lot of time in NYC (for a foreigner) in the 80s. I was just now looking at the map because of some weird forgotten memory of a bookstore along ?Lexington? that i used to get my RPG books from, and what came over me was the realization that my dad would just let me casually wander around NYC on my own when i was 14-15; after all, it's a grid, it's not like he's gonna get lost, no?
God bless the old man, the older i get the more i realize how fucking reckless he was as a parent. Let me drive his car from East Hampton to Boston. Without. A. License.
Ed Koch would have been the Major. NYC was still hugely affordable, i'm talking 50c knish and 99c hotdogs, 500 bucks rent for a loft, and a $1 subway token was considered expensive. The subway was just ludicrous in the characters you'd meet. Weird stuff, really.

MrSquished · Jun 18, 2024

DigDog said:
i spent a lot of time in NYC (for a foreigner) in the 80s. I was just now looking at the map because of some weird forgotten memory of a bookstore along ?Lexington? that i used to get my RPG books from, and what came over me was the realization that my dad would just let me casually wander around NYC on my own when i was 14-15; after all, it's a grid, it's not like he's gonna get lost, no?
God bless the old man, the older i get the more i realize how fucking reckless he was as a parent. Let me drive his car from East Hampton to Boston. Without. A. License.
Ed Koch would have been the Major. NYC was still hugely affordable, i'm talking 50c knish and 99c hotdogs, 500 bucks rent for a loft, and a $1 subway token was considered expensive. The subway was just ludicrous in the characters you'd meet. Weird stuff, really.

See it a lot these days too. Tons of teens on their own in the city. All they need is subway fare. They go do lots of things independently. They are exposed to insane amounts of diversity and culture and pick up street smarts really fast. People are talking about dystopian NYC, which as you can see from my video, does not exist. I will ride through BK and Queens too and take video on food tours, it's not just downtown Manhattan. Teens are allowed to be independent by their parents - and I am talking from all classes, races and backgrounds. You could easily see a middle or lower class kid roaming around as well as the kids of wealthy upper east or upper west siders. This is the true anarchy of the mean streets of the city.

soulcougher73 · Jun 18, 2024

Were those zombies I saw? I knew it!!

Brovane · Jun 18, 2024

Great video, enjoyed watching it. Never would want to live in New York, some of that riding you were really dodging both people and cars.

MtnMan · Jun 18, 2024

MrSquished said:
A very rough around the edges first attempt at any action cam video, and first time editing a video on a computer ever. Started last night, four hours later......I got a few things down ok, really fucked up a couple audio transitions, missed a video transition or two, could choose better video transitions in general timed with the footage, barely delved into text and animation text effects, etc... etc...I know I have to reduce my head movement, except when I'm trying to stay alive, but also pan slower to show stuff going on the sidewalks or areas to the right or left of me, etc...Also by the time I got to Manhattan I had 30 fairly well-paced miles under me, with one giant lunch stop. I would ride faster overall, make the bike riding a bit more interesting. Keep in mind nobody honked at me, cursed at me, or ran to get out of my way at all, this is just a normal way of riding efficiently and quickly.

Second two thirds is the decent section. After the intro, skip a few minutes in for the better parts.

But from getting dropped off in Manhattan by the Staten Island Ferry, riding through the Financial District, through Chinatown, to the East Village and Tompkins Square Park to Washington Square Park. Had about an hour of footage cut it down to 12 minutes. Wait till the end cats that is when the crime starts

Also I had to find copywrite free music, and I just barely scratched that surface as much of it sucks, so only have 5 downloaded tracks so far. That is going to take some hours to build a good library. But whatever.

Future videos will include some narration at times during the ride, always having a food destination or two as well, turn them into guided adventures, but always, always pointing out the dystopian anarchy that is indeed, one of the greatest cities in the world.

DYSTOPIAN HELLHOLE OF NYC - a waste of 12 minutes of your time.

This jack wagon is why everyone fucking hates cyclists, stop sign = fuck it, red-light = fuck it, pedestrian in crosswalk = fuck them also.

IronWing · Jun 18, 2024

I've never been to NYC and it's funny how many buildings I recognize because the Wiki front page editor has a thing for NYC architecture articles.

Oyeve · Jun 18, 2024

Man, you braved Canal street. Its hard just to cross the street!

The only crime I saw was all from you! Going through red lights, riding in the parks! And you didn't even bike through my neighborhood in the Lower East Side!

MrSquished · Jun 18, 2024

MtnMan said:
This jack wagon is why everyone fucking hates cyclists, stop sign = fuck it, red-light = fuck it, pedestrian in crosswalk = fuck them also.

I had zero close calls. There is no reason a cyclist can't use a stop sign or red light as a yield sign. I edited out anytime I'm waiting at a crosswalk or red light, it's boring to watch. So you only see the ones I go through, not the stop signs or red lights I sit at. The closest I got to pedestrians in the video was when I had the green light and they were crossing against a don't walk. I rang my bell on that one, and you can hear it, I had the right of way, my light was green, and it went smoothly. I did get one warning from a cyclist though toward the end of the video. I crossed a red as there was literally no cars coming at all, but the cyclists still had the right of way on me.

You can also see when I am riding slow through Tompkins Square park, there are absolutely no reactions from the pedestrians as I am completely respecting their space and riding slow. You can even see when I am getting close to the hockey players on the court, a pedestrian looks at me coming and just continues on their path, as I just go behind them. They didn't change their trajectory at all because they saw me coming slow and making eye contact.

I can say from watching the video vs experiencing it, it looks a lot more close on the video than in real life. Also most of the video was sped to 1.35x normal speed, for sake of time.

cytg111 · Jun 18, 2024

"I just rescued that girl from BLM" ... Riiight we all saw what you did there. Pervert.

MrSquished · Jun 18, 2024

cytg111 said:
"I just rescued that girl from BLM" ... Riiight we all saw what you did there. Pervert.

Don't tell anyone! I'm part of a massive BLM pedophile ring! We are on two wheels for mobility and ease of escape from abduction situations gone wrong.

MtnMan · Jun 18, 2024

MrSquished said:
I had zero close calls. There is no reason a cyclist can't use a stop sign or red light as a yield sign. I edited out anytime I'm waiting at a crosswalk or red light, it's boring to watch. So you only see the ones I go through, not the stop signs or red lights I sit at. The closest I got to pedestrians in the video was when I had the green light and they were crossing against a don't walk. I rang my bell on that one, and you can hear it, I had the right of way, my light was green, and it went smoothly. I did get one warning from a cyclist though toward the end of the video. I crossed a red as there was literally no cars coming at all, but the cyclists still had the right of way on me.

You can also see when I am riding slow through Tompkins Square park, there are absolutely no reactions from the pedestrians as I am completely respecting their space and riding slow. You can even see when I am getting close to the hockey players on the court, a pedestrian looks at me coming and just continues on their path, as I just go behind them. They didn't change their trajectory at all because they saw me coming slow and making eye contact.

I can say from watching the video vs experiencing it, it looks a lot more close on the video than in real life. Also most of the video was sped to 1.35x normal speed, for sake of time.

So I'm in a motor vehicle, and red lights and stop signs, can be just reclassified (in my mind) as a yield sign if the intersection is clear?

Kinda like magically declassifying (in your mind) stolen top secrets documents you keep in your bathroom?

MrSquished · Jun 18, 2024

MtnMan said:
So I'm in a motor vehicle, and red lights and stop signs, can be just reclassified (in my mind) as a yield sign if the intersection is clear?

Kinda like magically declassifying (in your mind) stolen top secrets documents you keep in your bathroom?

Comparing this to declassifying top secret documents is quite insane but anyway.

No, cars need to follow the rules of the road because they are two ton boxes of metal that easily maim and deal death, they are a far different animal than a 25lb bike which, as a rider, I have much better lines of sight as well, and much better stopping power for my lightweight bike, compared to a car. If a car did what I did at some of those lights and stop signs how do you think it would have gone compared to me on my two wheels? I do pray you can come up with a big difference.

MtnMan · Jun 18, 2024

MrSquished said:
Comparing this to declassifying top secret documents is quite insane but anyway.

No, cars need to follow the rules of the road because they are two ton boxes of metal that easily maim and deal death, they are a far different animal than a 25lb bike which, as a rider, I have much better lines of sight as well, and much better stopping power for my lightweight bike, compared to a car. If a car did what I did at some of those lights and stop signs how do you think it would have gone compared to me on my two wheels? I do pray you can come up with a big difference.

25lb bike, seems you omitted the roughly 200lb rider.

Classified docs vs. changing stop signs. Twisting the narrative on an illegal activity to suit your position.

Granted, a few states allow cyclists 'rollin stops', but NY is not one of them.

MrSquished · Jun 18, 2024

MtnMan said:
25lb bike, seems you omitted the roughly 200lb rider.

Classified docs vs. changing stop signs. Twisting the narrative on an illegal activity to suit your position.

Granted, a few states allow cyclists 'rollin stops', but NY is not one of them.

If you want to start to equate the danger of a bicycle and rider to a car, you are just not being reasonable, and in fact, very unreasonable. Also, the classifieds document comparison is inane.

I never said it was legal, I said it can be totally sensible and is way way way safer than cars doing it, to the point it's an asinine comparison. It was illegal to smoke weed until recently, not all laws are sensible.

iRONic · Jun 18, 2024

MtnMan said:
This jack wagon is why everyone fucking hates cyclists, stop sign = fuck it, red-light = fuck it, pedestrian in crosswalk = fuck them also.

Definitely some pucker factor moments in that vid, from errybody!

MrSquished · Jun 18, 2024

If you want to watch some bicyclists really riding like jackasses, watch some alleycat vids.

One thing I noticed, in that video I passed a ton of people. not really many fatties or very obese people. Go to a walmart hub in the center of the boonies, with a much much smaller population and zero tourists, I mean, whole 'nother story.

Damn skinny big city liberal elitists!

IJTSSG · Jun 19, 2024

More accurate thread title would be " Beta rides its bike"

Hopefully it's recording when it gets clotheslined.

Meghan54 · Jun 19, 2024

IJTSSG said:
More accurate thread title would be " Beta rides its bike"

Hopefully it's recording when it gets clotheslined.

So you’re jealous you’ve never learned to ride a bike I see. 👍

Amused · Jun 19, 2024

Meghan54 said:
So you’re jealous you’ve never learned to ride a bike I see. 👍

It's always easy to spot the non-riders. Same with folks who have never rode a motorcycle and can't understand lane splitting.

Bikes and motorcycles are not cars. Not only is it absurd to expect them to drive like cars, it's far less safe.

A few weeks on a bike and you'll see every move he made was safe and smart keeping himself out of danger and out of the way of others. Constantly stopping causes MORE issues, not less.

And no matter what we do on a bike, it pisses drivers off. If we're on the side we're a annoyance to be passed at unsafe distances. If we take the whole lane to preserve our safety, we're a roadblock that costs them a precious 30 fucking seconds of their life.

If we stop at every stop sign, we're slowing them down and risk getting hit from behind. If we safely roll the stop sign we're law breaking and "unsafe."

My advice to people who hate bike riders: Ride a road bike for a few weeks. You'll quickly learn why we do what we do.

PSA: In virtually every state now there is a law mandating 3 feet between your car and a bike. Stop passing us with just inches to spare and clipping us with your fucking mirrors. That 5 seconds you just saved is not worth my fucking life. AND, the more you drive like that the more I am likely to just take the whole lane FAR more often for my own safety and not let you pass at all.

repoman0 · Jun 19, 2024

Meghan54 said:
So you’re jealous you’ve never learned to ride a bike I see. 👍

More like any thread here is an excuse for that poster to spread formulaic and predictable vapid anger and hate.

Beta Project - 12 minute of Dystopian NYC

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