A Scoutmaster's Blog

Wow. I did not realize this until today, but there are twenty videos that feature Buttons, the radical Boy Scout, so far. That is almost enough for a television season. Does that mean it is time to consider a season #2?

When I first starting creating videos with Buttons I did it as an experiment. Could I make him interesting enough, and life-like enough, to where people would watch him? Over the last two years I think I have my answer. In 2008, the videos featuring Buttons and friends received over 36,000 hits through the podcast and website. (That does NOT include the hits on Youtube.) He seems to have a small fan base out there in internet land. And my mother gets a real kick out of watching his videos also.

Here is a current list of the video of Buttons, the radical Boy Scout:
Buttons in “The Scout Oath”
Buttons in “The Scout Oath (almost)
Buttons in “The Scout Law”
Buttons and the Scout Motto
Buttons in “The Cub Scout Promise” (giggles)
Buttons in Physically Strong (This one happens to be my favorite.)
Buttons interviews Eymard, the assistant scoutmaster.
Buttons in “The Cub Scout Promise” (Law of the Pack)
Buttons in “You Know You Are A Boy Scout When… Part 1”
Buttons’ Cub Scout Visit and Big Announcement
Buttons in “You Know You Are A Boy Scout When… Part 2”
Buttons in “Rec Room Tour”
Buttons and the Outdoor Code
Buttons in “Playing Broomball”
Buttons’ Announcement About MSPP
The Buttons and Randall Show, Part 1
The Buttons and Randall Show, Part 2
Buttons reads the Farewell Message of Baden-Powell
Buttons Learns About Girl Scouting
The Buttons and Randall Show, Part 3

All these videos can be found through the Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast. Many of them can also be found on the Troop 68 website and on Youtube. A few can be found on the Yahoo video site.

Buttons will be branching out a little in the future. In addition to a new video that is in production, Buttons and Scoutmaster Steve (yeah, me) will be experimenting with creating an audio podcast about Scouting. Stay tuned and keep watching this blog for further announcements.

By the way, which ones have been your favorite videos featuring that radical Boy Scout?

Up until now, Buttons, the radical Boy Scout, has always been about the Boy Scouting program. He has talked about the Scout Oath and Law, being physically fit, how to tell when you know you are a Boy Scout, and has interviewed a Cub Scout and an assistant scoutmaster. Today, he begins to expand his Scouting knowledge into something he has never talked about before – Girl Scouting!

In the United States, boys and girls have separate Scouting programs (except for Exploring). Boy Scouting and Girl Scouting are very different programs even though they share many of the same goals. In both programs the members may chose to earn the highest award available to them. In Boy Scouting that would be the rank of Eagle Scout. In Girl Scouting it is the Gold Award.

I recently had the honor of attending the Gold Award ceremony of my niece and two other Girl Scouts. It was very impressive, and I learned a few things about Girl Scouting that I did not know. I video recorded the ceremony at the request of my sister, and we plan to broadcast it over our local community television station.

After the ceremony, I had the chance to congratulate each of the girls, and ask them if they would be willing to be interviewed by Buttons, the radical Scout. They had all seen a Buttons video or two so they knew what I was asking. To my pleasant surprise, they all said yes to the idea.

This video posting to the Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast is the first of these videos. Ali Kociemba, one of the Gold Award recipients, is the first Girl Scout to be interviewed by Buttons. They discuss the different age groups of Girl Scouting, what some of the awards are, service projects, what Ali did for her Gold award, and what her favorite troop activities were. It turned out to be a nice introduction to Girl Scouting.

You are invited to leave a comment using the link below, or at the iTunes Music Store, or at the PTC Media forums. Drop me an email at webmaster@melrosetroop68.org. It really is great to hear what you think about the podcast videos.

Click here to DOWNLOAD this Podcast
Subscribe to Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast through iTunes.
or at http://feeds2.feedburner.com/melrosescoutingproductions
Check out other Scouting podcasts at PTC Media.

They are back! Buttons, the radical Boy Scout, and his friends Randall and Bones return in another video with more terrible jokes, more one liners, and more “Yo, dude”s. A fourth puppet joins the group and gives a quick little take on the thoughts of a wise man.

I want to thank Josh for helping me out this this one (and the next one). We spent over three hours filming the puppets last Saturday to end up with about 90 minutes of video. That footage will then be editing down to two shows, each taking about two to three hours per show to edit. Each show will end up being about 5-6 minutes long.

We had fun filming with the puppets and trying to come up with ways for Randall to be interrupted for each show. I was afraid that I might not find my voice back that I used for Randall, but I think I got pretty close. We spent more time filming scenes with Randall because my voice kept trying to slip back into doing Buttons, which I find much easier to do.

I hope you enjoy watching these shows. (We have one more planned. In fact, it has already been filmed. It just needs to be edited.) If you do enjoy them I ask that you go to iTunes, if you have an account, and leave a review for Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast. Or, go to PTC Media and leave a comment on the forums.

Or drop me an email at webmaster@ melrosetroop68.org
Thanks for watching.

Click here to DOWNLOAD this Podcast
Subscribe to Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast through iTunes.
Check out the other Scouting podcasts at PTC Media.

The Boy Scouts of Troop 68 have been performing a little skit/song called Star Trekking since the mid-eighties. (See blog post from August 2, 2006) It has been quite popular with most campfire audiences. In 1990 (wow, eighteen years ago) the troop performed this skit on a local television station station. This video was taped by one of the parents, luckily. Two and a half years ago I placed the video online at YouTube for the world to see. Since then, the video has received over 39,000 views, and averages somewhere around 50-60 views per day.

Well, it seems that several of this year’s Buckskin staff at Many Point Scout Camp has seen the video. Some more then once. One Friday, the last full day of camp, our camp commissioner visited our campsite and asked me if I was the one in the video that was on YouTube. I said I was and gave him a quick explanation how that all came about. He was grinning from ear to ear when he asked me to sign his cap, and then asked me if I would perform the skit with some of the camp’s staff during the Friday night closing campfire program. I agreed, but wondered when we would have time to practice. After all, the staff would be busy all day. He replied that I should meet them at the camp lodge at 9:00 that evening.

The campfire was scheduled to start at 9:30 pm. Not much time to practice.

I was at the lodge at 9:00, which was a one minute walk from our troop’s campsite. Only half of the staff that were to be a part of the skit were there. The rest showed up as they arrived from their program areas. Unfortunately, we did not really have much time to practice. In fact, all we had time to do was to choose who would play what roles, go over each person’s lines once, and practice the refrain. We did not even get to run through the song one time. This could be interesting, I thought to myself as I walked back to my campsite. Luckily, most of the participants had viewed the skit on YouTube and had a good idea how it was done.

I brought my camcorder along to the campfire program and was able to find another staff member to record the skit. When the time came, I left my seat in the audience to join the staff at the side. As we walked out to center stage I could not help but think of the possibility of the train wreck that was about to occur. After all, we really had not practiced together.

I did not have to worry. The staff came through with flying colors. And better yet, the hundreds of Scouts and adult leaders in the audience loved it. The cheering at the end of the skit was overwhelming. We had pulled it off, and pulled it off well.

Once I returned home from summer camp I had a problem with the camcorder. It began eating my tapes. One of the tapes it tried eating was the one that had the footage of Star Trekking. I had promised the staff that I would put this video online for them to see. I needed that footage. I bought a new camcorder, and luckily was able to retrieve the video from the campfire program. In fact, I should be able to get a few podcasts from the footage. Unfortunately, the footage is pretty dark since it was filmed after sunset.

So here is that video of Star Trekking, performed at the Many Point Scout Camp closing campfire program on July 18, 2008. This video is dedicated to the 2008 Buckskin camp staff, and to the camp’s Ranger Scott, who appears in that YouTube video.

Please leave a comment here using the link below, at the iTunes Music Store, or at the PTC Media forums. Or drop me an email at webmaster@melrosetroop68.org. It really is great to hear what you think about the podcast videos.

Click here to DOWNLOAD this Podcast
Subscribe to Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast throughiTunes.
or at http://feeds.feedburner.com/melrosescoutingproductions
Check out the other Scouting podcasts at PTC Media.

Three members of Melrose Boy Scout Troop 68 attended the Naguonabe Lodge Spring Conclave at Parker Scout Reservation in May of 2006. I was along for the ride to provide moral support, transportation, and to capture the weekend in photos. The three newly elected candidates did very well during the weekend, working hard, and passing the “tests”. The ate well at the Saturday night feast and met many fellow Order of the Arrow members. All in all, it was a great weekend.

Once I arrived back home I did what I do so well. I downloaded the pictures from my camera to the computer. Turns out I had taken quite a few during the weekend. During the next few days I thought about turning the pictures into a slide show but could not quite decide on what music to use. I finally decided to use a song from Steve McDonald’s Sons of Somerled album called Celtic Warrior. It was a great fit.

The video has been on Youtube since October, 2006. It has received nearly 1800 views since then, mostly by Order of the Arrow members, I believe. It has also created a small controversy which is something I did not expect. Because there are a few pictures from the ordeal ceremony several OA members from around the country thought I should remove the video from Youtube. Other members claimed that nothing was given away by the pictures unless you knew what happened during the ceremony. I agreed with the later comment and left the video on Youtube. Besides, most of the secrecy about the OA is no longer a secret.

Well, this video is the next installment on the Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast. You can view the video here. Watch it, and see which side of the camp you fall on.

With the help of Mr. Bob, I am trying to set up a video podcast on iTunes. Unfortunately, I am not very smart when it comes to this type of thing. I have spent the evening trying to get the links up but the files are not working. The first file will be Buttons, the radical Boy Scout, reciting the Scout Oath. Oh well, I just have to keep trying I guess.

Hmmmm…. Maybe it is working. Here is the video:
http://melrosetroop68.org/QTmov/ButtonsScoutOath.m4v