03.15.10
I now understand why they call Twitter a micro-blogging service. I think almost all readers of this blog (if at all many) know by now that the majority of my immediate updates are done through Twitter and Facebook. It’s just the easiest way to jot a thought down right away and keep people updated without feeling as if your notifications are a burden.
I’m feeling the pangs and need for a more thorough update however. Recently I have met a lot of new people and opportunity seems to be coming from all directions, another reason why blogging has been so infrequent. I am writing this in a plane flying to our nations capitol, once again accompanying the Do You Dream In Color crew. I am excited to visit now with more time to explore and potentially to qualify this as true travel time while working. (The last time I was here was with Mickey shooting CJ and Mario, which was a whirlwind week in which there was no time for sightseeing. I still got to indulge my foodie self with an awesome crab cake breakfast sandwich though, in Baltimore.)
I’m also excited to see NYC once again, this time with plenty of exploration time reserved because we have no shooting obligations while in the city. I’m really glad that this time I will get to relax with my mind fully focused on nothing but absorbing the sights and sounds of a city I have a crush on.
Finally, but certainly not lastly, I have to once again acknowledge how well my last week went shooting our spec pilot for “Josh Jennings for Congress“. It was literally the funniest time I’ve had behind a camera. When Nathan put the script in my hands, I knew it was a gem of hilarity, but it was an even greater satisfaction to see the actors pull it off with grace.
posted in: personal
01.05.10
For those of you who know how pragmatic I can be, you know I don’t normally subscribe to karma. Something is different about the way I feel about welcoming the new year and I’m ready to take on new challenges with a new determination and discipline. In short, I have a very good feeling about 2010. I am excited about several things on the horizon:
1. Trevor White’s new developing feature “Jamesy Boy” is a fantastic script that I am ready to sink my teeth into. The storytelling structure offers an exciting chance to craft two complimentary looks and I am excited to do an early scout with Trevor next week.
2. “Do You Dream in Color”, the new documentary feature I am currently shooting has the potential to travel to China later this year. Combined with some inspiration from my recent travels abroad, I have reinspired myself to take on learning a second language (Mandarin) with a new vigor. In a sense, it has become a very serious New Years resolution.
3. Generally, work is supposed to pick up! I heard the Universal backlot was full of cars yesterday (the first official work day of the year)… And is it true that LA is implementing new tax incentives for film production?
posted in: musings
12.03.09
Interscope released “Shots” three weeks ago and has since netted close to a million views! Check out the add in my collected works.
posted in: site updates
10.11.09
I remember walking down Figueroa teasing Brian with Mangs about his late night IM and phone conversations with a girl who I had never met, and who I would later learn would be, a very, very special lady.
This is really him talking to Lindsay!
I met Lindsay Keefer the following summer, at a quaint Uncle Sam’s in Arizona. Her radiant personality and inquisitiveness grabbed my attention right away. Lindsay is the kind of person whose curiosity is unending, and whose love for life is worn on the outside. I discovered this all immediately, the very first time we met.
After we left the restaurant I told Brian how lucky he was to have her, and all he could say was, “I know…” - You could hear the humbleness in his voice just as you can see the cherry-red blush that fades up over a cartoon character’s cheeks.
In just a moment, I will board a plane to witness the union of two people who I’ve known to be in love for a very long time. The anticipation I’ve had for this weekend is really unexplainable. It’s been given a lot of time to manifest. It’s a special kind of love, the kind that lasts forever. Don’t think I make statements like that flippantly. I really mean it.
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posted in: personal
09.24.09
If you happen across my montage page for whatever reason, reload your browsers. I decided to change it a bit.
posted in: site updates
09.16.09
I finished day 1 and came up with some simple discoveries, but let me guide you through some of the steps that have led me to this point.
Shopping List (per node):
Realization #1: If you’re budget conscious like we are, the software that exists in our price range is dreadfully underdeveloped. If you have the money, I would highly recommend going with a tried and true software solution. (There’s also a reason why certain companies charge thousands for what they’re offering, at least, I hope they are…) Despite that, without boring you with why some of the other solutions failed, I’ll let you know which program we did settle on: Amleto by Nodalideas.com. The programmers specifically targeted Lightwave, which is the software of primary concern for us, and was the most simple in terms of what it’s software did. We still need to troubleshoot frame slicing, as it is producing some unwanted results, but overall, we are very satisfied with it, primarily because it doesn’t rely on Windows file sharing to push the files across the network. The lead programmer even wrote us back an e-mail with rewritten code! I look forward to communicating with him further with our troubleshooting needs.
Realization #2: Memory isn’t that big an issue. We sent render tests to the nodes and registered negligible gains from having two sticks of memory versus having one. We will distribute the remaining memory across all the nodes.
Realization #3: Make sure to have a few extra computer cables and doo-dads along with you. I was so spoiled by purchasing full towers in the past, which gave you a variety pack of all the cables you need to adapt molex to sata, or molex to case fan. Everything in the above shopping list more or less played nice with each other, except the Case. It has a proprietary 16-pin power/reset/LED cable and you need to make sure Supermicro gives you the adapter to work with your non-Supermicro motherboard. It’s not the end of the world, though. Just make sure you have the underlined and you should be able to make the shopping list above work.
posted in: technology
09.14.09
This week, I am embarking on a brand new, technologically geeked out adventure:
the construction of a render farm.
Over the last few weeks I’ve been doing some prep work, figuring out which parts to order and how all the open source software will ultimately interface with our programs in question, namely Lightwave and After Effects.
For some of you this probably seems strange for a guy like me who works in production. But to those of you who really know me, this really isn’t anything out of the ordinary.
I’ve been known for ‘geeking out’, yes. I can’t help it. And all avenues of filmmaking interest me, whether it’s production or post. In this instance, it happens to be with something a bit off the beaten path. Keep posted for updates. I’m hoping that by the time I’m done blogging about this, I will have made a pretty intensive guide for setting up the aforementioned warez.
posted in: technology
09.08.09
The day after I had set up my blog and I was all too proud of having finished the work I had done on the site, I had a discussion with my friend Dave Roth about the very idea of a blog, married with my website, which, in many very certain terms, is a kind of resume. So he asked me this:
Do I have to censor myself knowing that…
…employers might be reading??
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posted in: culture, opinion
09.04.09
Vanity plates. Gotta love ‘em.
posted in: pics
09.01.09
A friend once told me of a television show titled “Sports Night”, claiming it was one of the best shows they had ever seen. And after they had described what the show was to me (a behind-the-scenes look at people who produce a sports show), I had imagined something totally slick and in-your-face. A show which exploited modern conventions of what I knew ESPN to be, replete with 60mph headline tickers with brawny, fast-talking analysts laying down coverage of SPORTS.
I had no idea that I was about to watch a show from the ’90s.
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posted in: culture
