"Coming to a computer near you!"

.

A discussion yesterday with John Ecay (Sound View technical director) led to some potentially great news. They're in the process of installing a video storage, archival, and streaming video server with MPEG-4 compression. That means in the near future it'll be possible to get on-demand streaming video of ALL of Sound View's programming.

This may include "Table For Two", "Grandma's Kitchen", "Air Line Rail Trail", and anything else I come up with for broadcast. Coupled with my in-progress website, I'll be able to post links that will stream my shows to your computer.

How cool is that?

There's no firm date for when it'll be fully implemented, but I'd imagine in the next several weeks/months. As soon as I can get my shows up on the server, I'll post links.

FutureDV.Com is open for business!

.
Well, in a manner of speaking...

You see, yesterday I registered the domain name "futuredv.com" with Godaddy.com for a measly eleven bucks. What that got me was the domain name for a year, plus privacy (so when the NSA comes looking for me, they'll have to work an extra one-millionth of a second to track me down), and "domain redirection".

Redirection is when you just have a "parked" domain, which is a non-existant web page, and if someone goes to it, they are magically transported to a web site of your choice. Which, in this case, is right here.

Go ahead, try it. Type in "www.futuredv.com" and see where it'll get ya! Right Here, that's where! LOL!!! ROFL!!! WFT?!??!!!!!11!!!on3

Um, please ignore that silliness...

Oh, and today's my birthday. I know, BFD... Sorry there's no graphic in this post...apparently Blogger is having some trouble with the photo loading function. Nothin' but boring text for you today!

My favorite movies of 2005

Here's my countdown list of my five favorite movies of last year...read it and weep:

5. "A History of Violence" - Interesting flick. Aragorn seems to be just as good at killing here as he was in "Lord of the Rings"...although automatic weapons DO make it easier. Ed Harris and Maria Bello (who's a good actor and yet again had trouble with her clothes staying on) co-star, but William Hurt had an awful turn as a mob boss. The movie was good enough to survive it.

4. "Good Night and Good Luck" - I doubt that George Clooney chose to do this political history right now by coincidence. David Strathairn was the perfect choice for Edward R. Murrow, and the stellar supporting cast rounded out this movie. Some of the actual footage of McCarthy's witch hunt could have been cut down a bit, but overall it worked to good effect. Patricia Clarkson is good in anything she does, even small supporting roles.

3. "Walk The Line" - Wah-keen Feenicks (my spelling) and Reese('s a cute piece) Witherspoon both turned in Golden Globe-winning performances. Mr. Phoenix (my spelling again) only whispered a couple times in the movie, so I was actually able to understand him. And who knew he could sing? Then again, Johnny Cash is probably the easiest singer to imitate.

2. "The Constant Gardener" - Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz starred in this wonderful movie. Troubling and sad, yes, but ultimately hopeful. It contained perhaps the best movei line of the year, when Fiennes objected to taking Weisz to Africa on the grounds that they don't know each other very well, and she replies "You can learn me." That was a nice bit of dialogue there.

And my favorite of the year:

1. "Junebug" - Possibly the most underrated movie of the year. Amy Adams, Embeth Davidtz and Alessandro Nivola have a wonderful chemistry in this study of Southern manners and mannerisms. Even through the sad parts, I didn't want this one to end.

(Hoo boy, after reading the above paragraph, I feel just like Robert De Niro did when he said in "Analyze This", "...slap a pair of tits on me and I'm a woman!")

And here's a guilty pleasure:

"Just Friends" - Ryan Reynolds ("Van Wilder" himself...don't worry, the "fat" makeup is gone 10 minutes in) and Amy Smart in a wacky Roger Kumble ("Cruel Intentions", "The Sweetest Thing") directed comedy. Anna Faris KILLED as the ditzy, clueless pop star. Any time she was on the screen, I was laughing.

And little things were funny, like a huge bouncer throwing Reynolds out of a bar in a heap and yelling, "...and STAY out", and then muttering "I always wanted to say that" had me guffawing.

OK, maybe it's not that funny in print. Go watch it.

That's my list. Any comments?

Projects in development

Next week, Ant and I are going to meet with Harry the glassworker and discuss the documentary. We'll talk about how to approach the subject; how best to tape it; and if it's going to be feasible to produce an instructional video for potential sale.

Last week I showed my "Rail Trail" doc to some friends. They all seemed to enjoy it, especially the pacing and the music. After that, we watched a commercially produced video that was given to a friend as a gift.

We viewed it, and only a minute into it everybody started making comments about how boring it was. The subject (a boat tour of some local islands) should have been interesting, but there wasn't any audio whatsoever other than sparse narration. Apparently they used the exact script they recite on the boat while touring the islands, but when devoid of the simplist natural sounds or music it sounded completely dry and clinical.

I don't think "clinical" is a word that should pop into your head when viewing a movie about scenic islands and boating. Everyone commented upon the major difference between the two videos. Even though it's kind of sad to see someone pawning off such poorly executed work, it does encourage me to think that if they can sell something like that, all I need to do is work hard enough and I'll be able to successfully market my own work.

Anyway, besides the glass working doc, I'm going to shoot another "greenway" type doc when the weather warms up a bit. There's some interesting trails located nearby, only 20 minutes away. That'll make it easier to shoot additional footage as needed, as opposed to the "Rail Trail" shoot, which was a three-hour round trip from our home.

Yeah, although I'm reasonably committed to my art, I'm not going to waste a half-day driving and $30 of gas to shoot some filler video for my 13-minute documentary short.

After all, there's plenty of good subjects a lot closer to home.

A movie that would be fun to make

Boy, did they have fun in the 50's or what? Ed Wood is a favorite of mine...how can't you enjoy "Plan 9 from Outer Space"? Some movies look great just from the poster; check it out:


I haven't seen this movie, but the poster is awesome. It tells a story in itself; a story of mutant spiders, desolate mountains, and gals with really large bosoms.

Gotta keep this in mind if I ever need to make a movie poster.

Things that suck

It's been a while since I posted a crazed rant, so here goes. Strap in, kiddies!

I drive a lot for work. It's usually no problem, and I drive all over Connecticut, SE New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Traffic usually moves well, except for one little road that goes through Fairfield County. And I'd like to know just one thing...


What the FUCK is the problem with the Merritt Parkway? Everbody hits Bridgeport and suddenly SLOWS DOWN TO 15MPH. Then they stop. Forever, it seems.

Yes, it sucks.

And it's January. That's usually enough reason to piss me off, but I made a New Year's resolution to try to not complain about the weather. Besides, it's been unusually mild this winter, so I'll shut up about that.

But in a couple weeks I have a birthday. Forty-fucking-SEVEN! Jeesus...who'da thunk I'd even LIVE this long? I went back and looked at my birthday blog post from last year, and I have to admit I'm somewhat grumpier this year...I think I'd better work on that.

Finally, I received the digital camera I ordered. From Walmart Online. Yeah, it came the same week that news of their rampant institutional racism hit the media. They decided it was a good idea to offer suggestions for "similar products" if you wanted to buy the DVD of the TV series "Planet of the Apes".

While a reasonable person might think it's good to associate movies like "King Kong", "Might Joe Young", even "Gorillas In The Mist" with "Planet..." But apparently they thought it was appropriate to associate it with a show about Martin Luther King, along with biographies of Dorothy Dandridge and Jack Johnson. For fuck's sake, what is WRONG with these idiots?

In the interest of fairness, Walmart executives insist the associations were completely accidental, and they apologized profusely for the "mistake". Yeah, sure.

I guess Walmart has seen the last of my bidness. That'll learn 'em!



Thank you. Good luck and good night.

Happy "Oh Six"! And more stuff...

.
Yay! It's 2006!


I'm thrilled to announce that for two years in a row, I've managed to not get the year wrong any time I've had to write the date. You know, like when you write a check later this month, and you'll put "05" on the date instead of "06"...well, I made it through a second consecutive year without fucking it up.

Go ahead and laugh...I guarantee you'll think of me the first time you screw up the date. THEN we'll see who laughs...Ah-ha-ha-ha!

Other news...I decided that my next project is going to be a documentary about glass art, specifically marble making. My friend Harry Kravet (Harry's Web Site) is the artist, and we're talking about maybe making an instructional DVD about marbles.

That we can sell. And make money. Hopefully.


This is one of Harry's creations. Cool, huh?

Anyway, I'm sure it'll be fun, and Anthony is interested in the project too. We'll start pre-production sometime later this month. Although technically speaking, we're already IN pre-, since we're discussing the project, and I've already been researching the subject. But for the sake of argument, I'll consider it officially pre- when we all sit down and hash out an outline and detail our objectives.

Not that any of that really matters. I'm just killing some time before we go to a New Year's Day party...yes, that's New Year's DAY. We did the big thing in downtown Milford last night, capped by fireworks at midnight and another 2 hours partying with friends at their downtown apartment. Today is a yearly New Year's DAY party...it's always fun to see who's got the hangovers.

Hope you all have a great 2006!

Alright already!

.


Sheesh...I get the message!


Make your own sign at Church Sign Generator.

My new(?) digital camera

.
Yesterday was Christmas. There was a cute little present under the tree for me, a digital camera. If you've read this or my other blog Full Tilt Sailing Team regularly, you might recall what happened to my previous digital camera. For those of you who don't know, it was dropped from my wife's backpack into roughly 30 feet of water on Block Island as she clambered from the dinghy onto our sailboat back in August.

Hey, I'm not saying it was HER fault or anything...heck, ANYONE could have forgotten they had a camera in their backpack after using it just a few minutes before. It WAS kind of sad though, because I'd had the camera for about seven years. I miss it.

Since then, I've purchased a Panasonic mini-DV camera, which also works as a 2.3 megapixel digital camera (with the optional memory card). It's OK, but it's a little bulky for casual photos, and I worry about possibly damaging it...like, by dropping it into the OCEAN or something. I wanted an inexpensive (just in case) digital camera to replace it so I asked Joyce to buy me a Fuji A345 to replace it, for about $150.


I like the A345 because it's got a 3X optical zoom, which mostly makes up for the minimal 4.1 megapixal resolution; anyway, my old Casio digital was a sub megapixal model and I got a lot of good use out of it...you can see lots of photos I shot with in on my blogs prior to August '05. Plus, the store offered a free 64MB memory card, to upgrade the standard 16MB card that comes with the camera.

So, Xmas morning I opened up the gift and took out the camera. Hmmm, this is interesting...the batteries are already loaded in the camera. And the plastic sheet that usually covers the LCD window is missing. That's weird. I click the camera on. As I start thinking about it, I switch the camera to PLAY mode.

Bing! There's a picture of somebody's house. I start scrolling through the pictures (half-hoping to find some juicy nudie pics, but no such luck) and see a bunch of photos of the house; like what a real estate agent would shoot. I checked the date stamps, and see they were taken about 3 weeks before Joyce bought the camera.

Those bastards sold me a USED camera! I packed it up, and took it back to the store. Of course, they were out of that model, so I got a full refund. But they didn't notice the free memory chip on the receipt, so I got to keep it. Ha-ha-ha! I burned them for a chip that costs 20 bucks!

Now I've got to find a new camera somewhere else. Normally I enjoy shopping for electronic gadgets, but I'm so burned out from Xmas shopping that I think I'll wait a few days before hitting the local stores to find a replacement. But we had a great time anyway this year, and spent some quality time with the family(s).

We hope you all had a fun holiday.

So far, so good

.
The Newport mini-doc is coming along. I've edited together about 7 minutes worth, and I expect it to run somewhere around 12-14 minutes. I've also downloaded some great public domain classical music from archive.org for the soundtrack. It's going pretty good.


This is the library in one of the mansions. Nice room. Except there's no available wall space for a 60" flat-screen television. Jeez, I thought these guys were rich.

Every room seems to have a 20 foot high ceiling, and the doors average about 12 feet high. I always wondered why they needed such high doors, because the beds they slept in were way shorter than an average queen-sized bed these days, so they must have been short. I guess if your ceiling is 20 feet high, a little 6-1/2 foot door would look a little silly.

I'm thinking about getting a second monitor for my computer, so I can have the editing timeline on one, and the video window on another. It would make editing quite a bit easier.

I'd like to get back to Newport for some more shooting; I could use a bit more daytime scenic shots of the town, but I guess I've got enough to put it together.

Here's another review..."Broken Flowers" (2005)

.
I wouldn't be surprised if everyone, having sat through this movie expecting any kind of a pay-off at the end, wants to shoot director Jim Jarmusch. In his head. With a bazooka.


Yeah yeah, it's a character study, like "Lost In Translation", or "Porky's". I liked Lost In Translation, and I'm a big Bill Murray fan (although I'm resigned to the fact that he'll never ever be Carl from "Caddyshack" again in a movie), but I really was hoping for something a little less...nothing, I guess, at the end.

One of the things I loved about Lost In Translation was the fact that Bob Harris and Charlotte never got it on with each other; the Hollywood norm would have had them shag like rabbits during a brief encounter, and then part in a friendly, sweet way. However, I like the way the movie actually ended...they consummated on an emotional level, and left each other more fulfilled than possible any other way.

But "Broken Flowers", well...as Eugene Levy said so well in "Club Paradise" (1986), it was "all preparation and no H".

Truer words were never spoken.

"Murderball" (2005)

.
Mark Zupan from Team USA
Not many movies are outstanding this year, in my opinion. It's more or less a "blah" kind of cinema year. I don't think I'm going to see "Brokeback Mountain"; it's not really my "cup o' cowboy coffee", if you catch my drift; although I die laughing whenever I hear the phrase "I wish I knew how to quit you," spoken in that backwoods cowboy drawl...it frickin' slays me every time; not that there's anything wrong with that, of course. Replace the two guys with a couple of gals, and I'll get right in line and buy two tickets...one for me, and one for my fully erect...ah, never mind.

When I first heard about "Murderball", I thought big deal, wheelchair rugby. Probably a real bore fest. So, I decided to check it out only after hearing about how great it was from several trusted sources.

Holy shit, these guys are completely insane! I should have suspected it wouldn't be a "normal" movie about people with disabilities...I'm aware that able-bodied rugby players tend to behave well outside of accepted social paradigms, and they have very liberal views when it comes to suffering or causing pain, bleeding, and grievious bodily harm. These guys are no different.

This documentary follows the national "Quad Rugby" teams from the USA and Canada, and features individual studies of members of both teams. The level of competition and intensity displayed is no less than in any other team sport; maybe moreso, seeing as how much they've all had to overcome to get on the teams. The photography and narrative captures this perfectly.

"Murderball" should be an easy consideration for an Academy Award, provided it can be nominated in the Documentary category (I'm being cautious here, because sometimes the rules for nomination are a little sketchy and obscure). But if "March of the Penguins" is also nominated in the Documentary category, it'll probably win, 'cause everybody loves "cute".

There's nothing "cute" about "Murderball".

And so it begins...again

.
Now that I've transferred all the video footage of Newport to my PC, it's time to officially start editing. As I may have mentioned before, this is where the real work begins.

I'm noticing that the footage looks really nice; the Panasonic has wonderful color characteristics, and even the outdoor shots made on a bleak winter's day (even though it's not Winter yet) look awesome.

Again, the lack of a tripod and adequate setup time (basically "point and shoot" guerilla filmmaking) caused some shakiness. And I should remember to remove the .45X wide angle lens when I shoot telephoto...it kind of defeats the purpose, ya know?


This is a view of the back of "The Elms". Probably the only thing comparable to being born a Vanderbilt back in those days is being Bill Gates today. These people had so much money I hear they heated their mansions with hollowed-out logs filled with hundred dollar bills!

OK, that was a slight exaggeration...I know for a fact they used fifties and twenties; they saved the hundreds to light their cigars.

I guess I can't stall any more; it's time to log off the 'net and get to work.

"Ho' Ho' Ho'!"

.


Get it?

How to have fun in a mansion

.

1) Buy a ticket to tour the Newport mansions.

2) Disregard the dire warnings forbidding any photography.

3) Sneak video of the various rooms, and manage to get away with it (for a while).

4) Click off a still digital picture while forgetting that the camera is set for auto-flash, thereby illuminating the entire wing with a 30-millisecond burst of brilliant white brightness.

5) Nearly drop the camera from the balcony when the PA system clicks on and a very loud (and extremely pissed-off voice) booms, "There is NO photography allowed anywhere in the mansion!" For good effect, it's repeated three more times. Loudly.

6) Flee like frightened schoolgirls while the voice is still echoing throughout the mansion.

7) Repeat at next mansion.

Trust me...it's fun.

My DVD has gone International!

Technically speaking, because I mailed a copy of it to Gazza, who happens to live in England, specifically the Liverpool area, so I expect he sounds just like the Beatles when he talks. Gazza wrote me tonight and said he saw the DVD and liked it.

He emailed me a screen cap of the DVD, and asked if it was "the bridge that those people drove off of in Beetlejuice". I don't think it is; they used a stunt bridge. You know how clever those Hollywood people are.

Oh, and I'm going to spend a few days in Newport, so maybe I'll get some video footage of the mansions or something.

"Table For Two" now on Cablevision

I'm very pleased to announce that Michael and Kristen's weekly hour long gossip-fest will be broadcast on Cablevision Channel 77 on Wednesday nights at 8:30. Ant and me are sponsoring "Table For Two", which is currently seen in central Connecticut on several public access networks.

"Table For Two" will now be available in the towns of Milford, Orange, Bridgeport, Fairfield, Woodbridge, and Stratford (Wow, that's a tony sounding group of towns...well, except for Bridgeport) We've opened up another 100,000-home market to this edgy, funny show.

Watch "Table For Two", and practice saying "Uhn-uhh girlfrien', don't GO there!" in the privacy of your own home!

UPDATE: The first episode will air at 9:30 on December 7th, then 8:30 on the 14th, then it's pre-empted on the 21st for a live broadcast, then 8:30 every Wednesday afterwards. Make a note and stick it on your Tivo.

Burning a few DVDs

Now that my short documentary is done, I'm creating some DVDs on my trusty little external DVD burner. Using Pinnacle to burn DVDs on an external USB-connected DVD burner ain't the fastest thing on wheels, but it's workable. I'm up to my 7th DVD of the day, and I think that'll be enough for now.


The DVDs that I made don't look as nice as this one. I don't have CD-labeling stuff, so I just wrote on them with a Sharpie. Low rent all the way!

I've got to give a DVD to the following people:

Joyce - she wants to show my mom-in-law her big (little) screen debut
Anthony - he's anxious to see if I'll challenge his brilliance at next year's awards
Lori - she's totally into producing great shows, and she wants to see this
Sound View - gotta drop off a couple copies to the programming folks there, see what they think

And I'll keep a couple DVDs for me.

Oh, and "Put It There (Shag Nasty)" (click link to hear it) by McKinney's Cotton Pickers (1929), one of my soundtrack songs, has become my most recent favorite song. I'm putting it on my MP3 player.

It's finally done!

Finished my movie this morning. Once I decided to let the editing process flow naturally, rather than try to stretch the available footage to 25 minutes, it all started going together.

The movie runs just under 14 minutes, so it's going to be a mini-documentary. It'll be the kind of thing the public access station can run when it has 15 minutes to fill.

One month ago Joyce and I filmed the thing, so I'm pleased with how quickly I got it finished. It's not perfect, but as a learning exercise and quicky short subject for TV it's acceptable.


What I learned from this project:

1. Write the script BEFORE shooting. Simply pointing the camera at interesting stuff doesn't lend itself to a coherent narrative.

2. Shoot to edit. Use your abilities to set up transitions and special effects, and make the editing easier.

3. Clean the lens! Yeah, there was a little dust on the lens by the end of the day, and the wide-angle lens coupled with a low sun angle really showed the lens dust in a couple shots. You can't see that crap in the LCD display when you're shooting outdoors. A monitor would help, but is somewhat impracticle on a bicycle.

4. Try to select your music ahead of time. Again, shooting to edit also applies to background music.

5. Have fun; remember, this is a hobby.

So, out of the five, I think I did more "5" than anything else. It really WAS fun, in spite of my dramatics in recent posts. (maybe it was fun BECAUSE of all that booze! - JUST KIDDING)

The final tally of the finished edit:

Runing time - 13:45
54 video segments
27 still images
40 video transitions
6 audio clips/songs
2 mpeg archive movie clips
7 voice over segments
36 title pages
16 title transitions

Now all I have to do is burn a few DVDs and I'm done.

Again, I know it's not perfect (this is me preparing myself for the inevitable criticism I'm sure it'll garner), but it's good. I like it, and that's what counts. Joyce likes it too. That counts even more.


I've finally got a handle on the Pinnacle software. Which is cool. I'm ready to get started on my next project!

And now as I'm typing this there are some delicious smells making their way up from the kitchen. The bird's almost done, and those yams are mighty sweet-smellin'! Yummy!

Driven to drink! (only a bit, anyway)

OK, today I completed another three minutes of post-production on my documentary. It looks like it'll max out at well under twenty minutes, but I simply don't have enough footage to work with. Remember that Joyce and I took our bikes and our only camera and rode 14 miles over the trail. I shot somewhat less than 50 minutes of tape, and there's only so much I can pad in the usuable footage. I'm knocking myself out trying to finish this damned thing...so, now it's time for a breather.

This is for Gazza, who made fun of my Bud Light beer the other day. Look at THIS, mate! I'm drinking a MAN'S drink! Single malt Scotch!

Christ, it's really GOOD, too! No ice, no soda...just a glass and a soon-to-be-empty bottle of Glenmorangie (from my friend Lori who just visited the UK and brought me this wonderful little gift!) Here's a foolproof rule of thumb when it comes to Scotch: Any single malt Scotch with 'GLEN' in it's name has GOT to be good!

Anyway, enough of the boozing. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in America, and I have a lot to be thankful for. It's been a great year, and I'm looking forward to surviving Xmas (I've given up on enjoying it; these days, I'm just happy if I get through it without fucking KILLING somebody!).

Have a great holiday!

This just in - Sam died

"SANTA BARBARA, California (AP) -- Sam, the dog whose ugliness earned him TV appearances, limousine rides and even a meeting with millionaire Donald Trump, has died, the Santa Barbara News-Press reported Tuesday."

"The pooch with the hairless body, crooked teeth and sparse tuft of hair atop his knobby head died Friday, just short of his 15th birthday, said his owner, Susie Lockheed."
(from CNN.com - 11/21/05)

Sam was featured in this blog not very long ago, after he'd won the "World's Ugliest Dog" contest. Sam was euthanized after his heart started failing. No word on whether the ugly animal left any horrific offspring...but I think I can take a guess:
.
.
.
.


Oh, that's just MEAN.

"The Fog of Editing"

Open project, insert clip, right click, edit, split clip, delete, click Play, right click, click edit, delete, click toolbox, click record voice-over, click Record, read text into microphone, click stop, click timeline, click Play, listen to voice-over, click Pause, click Toolbox, click Add CD Music, click track 2, click Add to movie, click Play, listen to music and voice-over, click pause, move cursor to beginning of clip, click Transitions, click on fade-in transition, click Album, click Insert Photo, click arrow to page through pictures, click and drag image into Timeline, double click photo, move cursor to right side and drag to right, click Transitions, drag transition onto Timeline, click Play, double click clip, move cursor onto timer, click down arrow 3 times to shorten clip by one tenth of a second, click Play to see how music syncs up with video, repeat with next clip, ad infinatum.

That took care of about ten seconds of finished video. I've been working on this thing for five hours today, and I've only got eight minutes done. I know that I'm still learning, but Jesus!

Fuck this shit, it's time for a beer!

"It's an honor just being nominated..."

Bullshit! I wanted to win, I wanted a statue of my very own, to hold, to display, to lord over everyone else who LOST! But NOOO-OOOO!

...ahem...what I meant to say is, Congratulations to Anthony, winner of the 2005 "Tommy" award for Public Access Excellence, in the Best Student PSA Category (Public Service Announcement).

The "Tommys" were awarded by Soundview TV at a gala event Tuesday, starting with a wine and appetizers reception at the City Lights Gallery, followed by the Awards Extravaganza at the Playhouse On The Green in beautiful downtown Bridgeport. Tommys were given to the best producers of shows ranging from Entertainment, Community Affairs, Inspirational, Student PSA, and Technical, plus the Christopher M. Bowley Achiever of the Year Award, given to the one who achieves excellence in community access.

Now, I'd known for weeks now that Anthony was nominated for Best PSA, and we decided to attend with awards with our families. Anthony brought his wife Mary and son Brian, and Joyce accompanied me. Ant was a bit nervous but looked dapper in his double-breasted suit straight out of GQ. Even Brian was looking sharp, in his little tie. Joyce and Mary both obviously love purple, because they were color coordinated. The reception was fun, but I could see Anthony was a little nervous.

We walked the half-block to the theatre, and as we reached our seats I opened my program that listed the nominees. Holy shit! My PSA was nominated also, with two others! I had absolutely NO idea I was in the running! If I'd known, I could have started hating Ant WEEKS ago, instead of now!

I leaned over and pointed it out to him. He smiled and said "Good luck, dude!" Damn, why does he have to be nice when I'm trying to work up a good competitive hatred?

But then I calmed down and realized that I knew Ant's PSA was far better than mine. You see, the PSA is a sort of practical final exam for the field producer's course at Soundview; you have to produce one to graduate. So I threw together some nonsense about voting, it being weeks before the '04 election. It didn't help; Bush won anyway.

Anthony literally took WEEKS putting together what was essentially a 40-second work of art on the subject of drunk driving. He agonized for days about finding one exact sound effect; that's the level of effort he put into the production. I knew in my heart that his was way better than mine, so I was hoping he'd win it. Anyway, it's an honor just to be nominated, right?

Then it got to the point where the PSA award would be announced. As they read the names of us nominees, I panicked for a nanosecond because I didn't have any idea what to say if I won. Then I came back to reality and waited for Ant's name to be called. I gave Ant the ol' thumbs-up as we held our breath.

"And the winner is....(drum roll)....Anthony Rodriguez, for "Drunk Driving"!" The place exploded in applause, and as Ant stood and made his way toward the stage his PSA was played on the giant screen on the stage.

The seriousness of the PSA soon quieted the room, and you could hear Ant's voice narrating the video. Near the end of the PSA, you see a close-up of my hand reaching for a drink on a table, and Ant's hand grabs my wrist. He holds out his other hand, and I give him my car keys. Just before the fade-out, I yelled, "That was my arm!" I got a huge laugh as Ant reached the stage (I'm such an attention whore, I simply couldn't keep my mouth shut during his moment in the spotlight.)

Anthony gave a very nice acceptance speech, and he thanked me as a "good production partner and talented hand actor" or something like that; good line, dude.

The rest of the ceremony Ant held the statue like it was a winning lotto ticket. After, when we shuffled out to the lobby for dessert and coffee, I asked if I could look at the statue. I pretended to read the inscription, then acted surprised as I said, "Did you know they spelled Rodriguez with a Q?" (Trivia: that happened in "Boogie Nights", when Luis Guzman and his brothers unveiled the huge neon sign for their niteclub). Ant yelled "No way!", but he grabbed the statue back for a close look, while I gaffawed in my usual tactless way.

It was quite a night, and I'm truly thrilled that Ant won the award. I've even learned that it can be more fun to see a friend win than to win something yourself.


(Note: I'll have pictures of the actual event here in a week or two)

Archive.org rocks!

I've been having the time of my life surfing through the digitally constructed halls of the Internet Archive web site!

The IA was founded to provide a cultural "Internet library"; a sort of Library of Alexandria for the modern age (hopefully without the barbarous hordes burning and pillaging it).

The ancient Libary at Alexandria
The Archive has an enormous list of audio, video, graphic, and text files on nearly every subject. Looking for an MP3 of a 1927 blues singer? You'll probably find it.

There are loads of files that have either Creative Commons licensing, or are Public Domain. Which means that you can use the files as long as they're for non-commercial use and are properly attributed.

So, I'm downloading archive video and background music for my public access documentary. Check out the site; you'll probably be amazed at the amount of interesting stuff there.

Major props to "firedoglake"

I've made a concerted effort to leave my personal politics out of this blog, since this is more or less a filmmaking journal, but in light of the indictments against Lewis "Scooter" Libby, I want to mention one of my favorite people on the internet, Jane Hamsher.

I've brought her up on this blog before, but she bears mentioning again; Jane wrote a book called "Killer Instinct", about her experiences in Hollywood and her adventures with Oliver Stone as the producer of "Natural Born Killers". It's absolutely the best and most revealing book about Hollywood that I've ever read. GO BUY IT! Or steal it. Just read it. It's that good.

Jane is currently retired from Hollywood, but she puts her razor sharp intellect and keen analytical skills to good use to dissect and explain the political complexities of the Bush administration and the CIA leak scandal on her blog, firedoglake.

firedoglake is one of thousands of blogs that comment daily on politics, but it stands out as one of the most carefully researched and intelligent sites on the net. Not to mention the dozens of regulars who post there daily...these people are amazing. I used to think I was sort of smart until I started reading their comments. Oh, man! Compared to them, I feel like an audience member at a taping of "Jeopardy"; I can follow what's going on, but I'd never be able to keep up with the guys standing on the stage! :-)

Jane also has something most political commentators lack; a wicked sense of humor. Along with ReddHedd, who lately shares the article posting duties, they are both very funny. It makes it more palatable when reading about the reprehensible actions performed by the highest officials in our government. Jane kicks serious ass!

And what's with a grown man with an important White House job going by the nickname "Scooter", anyway? Gee, are Wally and the Beaver also on the staff? Where's Eddie Haskell?

Anyway, I just needed to say that; now, back to my regularly scheduled blog!

(Image borrowed from 2 Political Junkies and Mark Kleiman)

My first documentary

Yesterday, Joyce and I took a day off and went bicycling upstate at the Air Line Rail Trail in East Hampton and Colchester. We took the video camera so I could shoot some tape for a 30-minute documentary on the trail.

I'm going to take the footage and insert still photos, along with graphics and narration, to tell the story of the long-abandoned rail line that was converted to a state park hiking trail.

I'm going to see if I can get it done in a couple weeks; there's nothing like setting an impossible deadline for yourself!

Autumn in Connecticut...does it get any better than this?

So THIS is live TV!

Tonight, Ant, Chad and me drove up to Wallingford to be in the studio during this week's live episode of "Table For Two", the show-biz talk show hosted by "Death Knocks" alum Michael Buckley and Kristin Baltramaitis.

Michael and Kristin's show is a fast-paced Hollywood gossip fest, peppered with loads of one-liners and bawdy references. Along with humorous quizzes, top-5 lists, and pictures of the celebrities they're talking about.

Michael and Kristin have wonderful chemistry. The studio "audience" of maybe a dozen friends and acquaintances were kept laughing and clapping by the host's wickedly funny antics. They do this LIVE every week, and it's an HOUR-LONG show! I don't know how they manage to catch their breath!

Ant and I are going to try to sponsor the show for broadcast on Cablevision Bridgeport at Sound View TV. Normally, they require 4 week's worth of shows in advance to get into the lineup, but because the show is topical (it refers to the previous weekend's top movies and TV shows) we have to try to get it rebroadcast by later that same week. I'll try to talk them into accepting the DVDs of the show, produced on Mondays, for broadcast on Thursday or Friday. That should be adequate for the DVDs to be gotten to the studio.

They might allow this.

If they want to be nice and helpful, that is.

Yeah, I'm not holding my breath or anything. We'll see.

I'm getting the hang of this

This week Lori and I did some additional taping at the studio. She wanted to get several more intros for her show taped. We did more green screen work, and I think I'm learning how to do this at long last.

We reserved the studio for three hours, giving me ample time to set everything up. Here's what I need to do to prepare for production:

Move the TV cameras and monitor/light board
Take the stage platform and chair out of the prop room
Set up camera on tripod and hook up to video monitor
Aim stage lights for 3-point lighting scheme
Adjust green screen floods for even lighting
Connect lavalier mic to camera
Zoom in for focus and set manual white balance
Shoot a minute of test footage then review it on monitor

If everything looks and sounds good, then we begin. As you can see, it takes the better part of an hour to setup and breakdown the set; it's best to have 3 hours reserved, so you get at least an hour of production time.

Here's a self-portrait of me (Duh! of COURSE it's a picture of me...that's what a "self-portrait" is...ASS!) in the studio taken with my DV camera. I like that I can snap off photos anytime the camera is turned on. And when I take a photo while it's playing a tape, it captures a frame from the video. Cool!

Digital Camera Update

This week I'm back in digital camera mode. I picked up a 512K SD-memory card for my Panasonic DV camera. CompUSA had them on sale for a miserly 30 bucks.

Now I can take digital photos in addition to shooting video. The half-gigabyte memory card has a capacity of something like 127,000 million-billion-shabba-dabba-ding-dong photos...I'm not too sure of that last number because I kind of scanned over the specs.

But I know it's a lot.

So now I can take loads of 2.3 mega-pixal digital pictures. It's not the greatest, but it's a hell of a lot better than the sub-mega-pixal camera that I used for the last seven years. Of course, I still want to buy a regular digital camera, but I'll wait until the holidays so Joyce can buy me one for Xmas.

Episode 2 GK and TV baseball coverage

Today the second episode of Grandma's Kitchen was broadcast on Cablevision. It was the episode about the homemade jam, with a Swing 39 song at the end. Fine entertainment for the whole family!

By the way, the original image on the TV screen in the picture above was from "Kukla, Fran & Ollie", a show I remember from my early childhood. God, I'm old.

...and I used to watch "Beanie & Cecil", too!

Hey, it's baseball time! I've been watching the playoffs on FOX, and I noticed something that is annoying the hell outta me. When they show the pitcher dealing to the batter, and the view is over the pitcher's shoulder showing home plate and the stands, usually you can see one of those changing billboards on the fence by the stands. Normally, they roll the adverts by every few moments, so that there's often a new ad in view when the next batter is up.

Well, they've started putting up a plain green screen there so the production people can use chromakey to insert different ads in the space. It's probably much less expensive than actually physically creating the signs, just as it's cheaper to build a Death Star at the Industrial Light & Magic special effects department rather than constructing a real one in space.

That being said, while watching the game I noticed that every time they showed the fake ads, they were jittering slightly around within the boarders of the green screen. Because the camera viewing the action is using a high powered zoom lens to show the pitcher and batter, and at that range the camera jiggles. But the chromakeyed image is steady, so it tends to look as if it's shaking around it's little area.

Which is SO distracting I find myself watching the fake ads more than the pitcher and batter. I think it annoys me mostly because it's like the network is trying to fool us with their crappy special effects. It's almost like they think we're too stupid to notice what's going on and they're putting one over on us.

Please, all sports networks, listen to me: stop with the bullshit effects. I've learned to accept the stupid yellow 1st down line on NFL broadcasts, but can we just call a truce at that point? Because, it's getting a bit silly.

I just wanna watch a game without all your bullshit dimestore bells & whistles. Is that asking too much?