• Archaeologists in Turkey recently discovered an 11,000-year-old stone carving of a man holding his wiener while fighting off leopards…yes, you read that right.

    Transcript

    We’re gonna be talking about the oldest narrative scene we have in documented history and it’s of a man holding his wiener. Yes, I said wiener.

    Apparently, the stone two-panel carving was discovered by archaeologists in Turkey in an 11,000-year-old complex. This engraving of a man holding his wiener was found on benches that lined the walls in a communal area.

    So this guy holding his dick, though, wasn’t the main focal point of this engraving. There were two panels. Both panels, though, portray a person in the middle facing dangerous animals and this is where the narrative scene comes into play.

    So on the left panel, we see a squatting male figure who holds something like a snake kind of in his hand, and he’s going up against a bull.

    The right panel, with the man grabbing his schlong, has leopards approaching him from either side. It’s supposed to be a very, like, scary kind of scene a little bit.

    These Turkish panels, though, are believed by archaeologists to be the first known progression of a story narrative.


  • Want to crop your horizontal footage to vertical footage? Here’s literally the easiest way to do it in Final Cut Pro! 🎬

    First, copy any and all footage you want cropped for vertical.

    Do Command+N to make a new project. Before clicking “OK,” click this little dropdown menu where it says “Video” and select “Vertical.” Now click “OK.”

    Amara Andrew - 16x9 to 9x16 in FCP - 2

    Go ahead and paste your footage into this project, so Command+V.

    Amara Andrew - 16x9 to 9x16 in FCP - 3

    Now, here’s the secret sauce! Go ahead and select all the clips in your timeline and come over here to the “Inspector panel.”

    Now, go all the way down to the bottom to “Spatial Conform.” Click the dropdown menu, select Fill, and now your footage will fill the space, so you don’t have to scale it up to like 320% or something like that.

    Amara Andrew - 16x9 to 9x16 in FCP - 5

    Hope this helps!

    Watch the video


  • As climate change continues to take a toll on our planet, art insurance is becoming increasingly expensive!!

    If you visit a museum or buy an art piece from a gallery, these expenses will trickle down to you, the consumer.

    Transcript

    Art insurance around the world is expected in conjunction with climate change. Art insurance is typically bought by art museums, galleries, and collectors to help protect not only against theft and damage to the piece, but also for natural disasters.

    Between 1980-2021, there was an average number of 7.7 weather and climate disaster events. That’s just in the U.S.

    So, because of this, premiums are expected to rise consistently to match the denser quantity of weather and climate-related disasters.

    The worse climate change gets, the more expensive things will be in the world.


  • Apparently, the British Museum has been in talks with Greece to return the Elgin (Parthenon) marbles!

    Negotiations have finally been opened between the chairman of the British Museum and the Greek prime minister…but there’s a catch.

    Transcript

    Apparently, the British Museum is currently in talks with Greece to return the (Elgin) Parthenon Marbles.

    Greece has been asking for the Marbles back from the British Museum for a very, very long time.

    Negotiations between the British Museum Chairman and the Greek Prime Minister have been taking place since November 2021. An insider said that an agreement is 90% complete.

    This situation is complicated, though. Apparently, there is an act by the British Parliament that prohibits the museum from selling, giving away, or otherwise disposing of any items in the collection unless they’re duplicates or not needed for study.

    Surely, there can be some sort of concession or amendment, though, right?


  • Giant ancient kitty/Van Gogh forcibly sold/Return of the bog bodies/Christie’s shocking profits 2022

    By Amara is a weekly art and history podcast hosted by Amara Andrew. Each week, we’ll take a quick look at the goings on in the art and history world.

    This week, we’re looking at a giant ancient kitty, a van Gogh painting that was forcibly sold, return of the bog bodies, and guess how much Christie’s made this year!

    🎧 Subscribe on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts!

    MY MINIMALIST PODCAST KIT

    For links to all the tools I use to make my podcast happen, check out the post here!

    Who is Amara Andrew?

    Hi there! My name’s Amara and I’m a videographer, historian, illustrator, and creator living in Chicago.


  • Every year, there’s a showstopper piece from Art Basel Miami Beach. This year, it was ATM Leaderboard by MSCHF.

    No longer do we have to wonder how much someone makes, because this little ATM has all the answers. 👀

    Transcript

    At the Miami Beach Art Basel every year, there’s always that one show-stopper piece. This year, the show-stopping piece was ATM Leaderboard by MSCHF.

    No longer do we have to size each other up and wonder how much each other makes. This little ATM tells us.

    So, this is how the machine works: you walk up to it, insert your debit card, and input your pin. The machine, then, takes a photo of you to display next to your bank balance.

    When the machine isn’t in use, it’s continuously flashing through the “high scores.”

    This artwork was purchased by a Miami collector for $75,000. They intend to display the work in a way that the public can interact with it.

    I’d like to recommend that they put it somewhere in South Beach!


  • How about a trip back in time to ancient Rome? Archaeologists recently discovered the remains of 1900-year-old food in the sewers of the Colosseum. The snacks on offer were definitely far different than the snacks you’d find today! 👀

    Transcript

    Have you ever been to a sporting event? When you went to said sporting event, did you get something to eat? What was it, like chips, pretzels, hot dogs, cookies, etc.?

    Well, if you were in ancient Rome, you would’ve gotten something very different!

    Archaeologists found the remains of 1,900-year-old food in the drainage system of the Colosseum in Rome.

    The excavation work started in 2021 and archaeologists have since found traces of olives, nuts, meats, cherries, grapes, figs, blackberries, and peaches.

    So, if you were ever wondering what an ancient Roman ate, there you go!


  • My final prediction for the 3 trends of social media in 2023 is that micro-influencers (accounts with under 100K followers) will be able to steal the spotlight (& monetize their content)!💰

    What’s a “microinfluencer?”

    If you’re a microinfluencer, meaning you have under 100,000 followers, this could be your year!

    Microinfluencers typically have followers who are way more engaged in their content versus people who have 100,000+ followers.

    Because of this level of engagement, brands will want to work with smaller influencers more since they can get a higher ROI than working with a big name.

    Brands consider microinfluencers “underpriced attention.”

    This also plays into my other prediction about “authentic” content creators because people who have 1,000 followers are seen as more relatable than those with millions and millions of followers.

    Watch the video


  • 2023 will be the year of videos! And this perfectly ties in with part 1 of my 2023 social media trend predictions.

    Video will still dominate!

    Just like I mentioned in my previous part, brands are going to want scrappy, authentic, and unpolished videos.

    TikTok changed the social media game!

    Social graph —> Interest graph

    Social media changed from “social graph,” meaning connecting people that know each other, to “interest graph,” meaning that you now get to see content you actually want to see.

    This way, it doesn’t matter if you have two or 2 million followers.

    Further, TikTok even shies away from calling their platform a “social media platform,” and instead calls it an entertainment platform.

    We’ve seen basically every other social media platform shift their focus to short-form, video-based content, including YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

    If you’re looking to get into the video market, now’s as good a time as ever.

    If you have any questions, reach out to me and I can help ya out! 🙂

    Watch the video


  • This week, I’m predicting the 3 social media trends that I can see coming’ down the pipeline in 2023! 🥳

    Today, we’re starting with “authenticity.” More and more people want to engage with “authentic” content, but just what the hell does that mean?! 🤔

    What is authenticity and UGC?

    This isn’t a new idea, but experts are predicting that there will be more emphasis placed on “authentic” creators, so people who offer lots of behind-the-scenes content.

    UGC or user-generated content worked really well in 2022, so brands are going to be utilizing that a lot more.

    What this means for you

    More and more, people want looks behind the curtain and to see how the whole content creation process goes.

    You can still create beautifully crafted and perfectly edited content, but make sure you’re offering those glimpses behind the scenes.

    Here’s how to do this!

    Capture quick and intimate videos of your day.

    Are you making a larger video? Then, capture the intimate, behind-the-scenes shots or videos of what happened before, during, and after shooting!

    This way, you’ll have more content to post!

    Watch the video