Art
Noelle (Christmas Movie) on DVD Nov 11
Nov 9th
Let me just take a second to recommend a great independent Christian film for the holidays. Noelle was released last year near Christmas, and it’s just wonderful.
I happened upon it by accident just by seeing the information on the local theatre’s website. I decided to give it a shot, and I’m glad I did. A chance encounter with a wonderful feel-good movie that is totally family friendly. Some called it anti-Catholic, but it’s not anti-Catholic at all. In fact, it’s very much pro-Christian and pro-Catholic in most ways. The fallen heroes in the movie just happen to be priests…so, anything that happens is not an attack on them as priests but rather their failings as people.
Will have to pick this up Tuesday at Wal Mart.
Photoshop(ped): Haunted History Of Halloween DVD Box Cover
Oct 19th
I’ve been working in Photoshop outside my class work again. This here is pretty basic stuff, but I notice the History Channel special, The Haunted History of Halloween airs this week and next (over several showings). I wanted to record it to DVD then create a DVD label for the box cover. I have finished the front cover and will work on the back cover and the spine soon.
I will import the front cover into a wraparound DVD cover tutorial I found here. The dimenions that site gives are a bit off from mine, and I didn’t take into consideration the bleed (frankly, I’m not entire certain what that all means, as I haven’t looked into that process indepth yet). But, it should fit fairl well, I think. To get my dimensions, I simply measured a DVD at home and got 5.377 x 7.377. Hope this helps for anyone wanting to make their own DVD covers.
Below are (1) the original actual DVD cover (which I based the basic layout on), (2) my draft version, (3) my final version with the text “THE HISTORY CHANNEL” changed from Times New Roman to Charlemagne. Changine the font sort of officially changes the whole logo itself, as that font is part of their branding, but it’s for my own use and I wasn’t going for exact.
Click on any of the pics for full-sized versions…
Photoshop Tutorials- Grass Text
Oct 18th
I’m taking Photoshop as part of my degree. I’ve worked with the program a bit over the years, but I don’t know tons about it or what it can really do when you get into it. I should be taking 2 or 3 more photoshop classes after this initial class, so I should get fairly well versed in it after 2 years and then more so after 2 more years when I transfer to get a bachelor’s (currently working toward an assoc. in visual communicatons with a concentration on film/video).
Anyhow, I’m trying to find as many online tutorials I can for the program and try out some of them myself. I found this one the other day where you make a greenish background with a gradient to a soft yellow, you get a photo of grass, you make letters made of grass, add shadows and accents, etc. It’s pretty cool, so I wanted to see what I could do myself.
I had trouble with step 12 where you use the pen tool and cut away the excess grass. I can’t figure out how to do that. I can trace the first letter of EARTH with the pen, then I inverse the selection…but I’m not sure how you get that tracing to come out as the grass alone and the excess grass deleted.
I worked on finding a solution over a period of a few hours while doing other things online, and I couldn’t get a solution. I found many others in the comments of that tutorial had the same issue. I thought about it, and I worked around that issue. Instead of using the pen tool, I simply used the lasso tool, traced around in the same manner, copied that selection, hid the text and grass picture layers, pasted the E of earth, then unhid the grass and text layers, and went to the A in earth, and so forth. Should come out the same way in the end.
Here is what I have so far as the background…I hid the grass layer which I’m working on now just so you can see the background I came up with by using the textured paper photos supplied in the tutorial, rotated and duplicated a few of those texture layers, added some black paintbrush to the corners as instructed, etc.
I scaled this image down so it’d fit the screen here, The final pic I’m creating will be 1280 x 800 at 600ppi. Click image for fullsize version
I’d recommend checking out more of the tutorials on this particular site. Check out the videos for You Don’t Know Photoshop on youtube (easy to follow, funny, and informative while entertaining at the same time), there are some podcasts I downloaded but have yet to listen to. I have a couple of books as well, so that should add to the basic book I have for the class. Nice material to supplement the textbook itself.
I got the master collection, so I now have Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, and all the rest…hopefully I can get some of the “for dummies” books and learn each program. Trying my best to become as well rounded in the field as possible. Beef up the ol’ resume and all that fun stuff…I’m off to get some sleep for now.
New Fall TV- Dexter, Worst Week, Raising The Bar, and More
Sep 24th
Some items of interest with the new fall TV season…
Dexter is back on Showtime Sept 28. Along with the devilishly funny Californication starring David Duchovny as sex-addicted writer Hank Moody (cruel irony? Duchovny recently came out as a sex addict himself). Love both shows, especially Dexter. Never before did I think I’d love a serial killer and think he was a swell guy. If you’re not familiar with the premise, it’s based on a series of books (the first book, which I have read, is terrible when compared to the television series) about Dexter Morgan, a blood spatter analyst for Miami, Dade County who also happens to be a serial killer. The catch is- he only kills bad guys…other serial killers, rapists, those sorts of people. Michael C. Hall (Six Feet Under), plays Dexter, and he does so brilliantly. You can’t help but love the character and root for him constantly. It’s a weird feeling watching a guy kill someone, and then find yourself on the edge of your seat praying the cop driving by doesn’t find him. I saw the sneak peek of the premiere episode, and it’s decent. Not much happens, but they introduce some new characters and what seems to be the basic storyline for the season…Jimmy Smits is involved as a local district attorney.
CBS premiered the US version of the British series Worst Week of My Life. The US version is simply titled Worst Week, and it’s nearly as hilarious as the original UK version. I saw the British version on BBC America a couple of years ago, and I laughed out loud throughout every episode. A rare treat, no doubt. The American version changes it up a bit, in the opener the female lead is pregnant and about to get married to her boyfriend. In the UK version, series one dealt with their upcoming wedding and the disasters involved with it and series 2 tackled the pregnancy. Basic premise is- the guy wants his girl’s parents to like him, but he is a complete disaster in nearly everything he seems to do- if he’s not flooding her parent’s basement and destroying the electrical system, he’s busy peeing into a large pot of food thinking it’s the bathroom. There were a number big laughs in the first episode, and I’m pleasently surprised after reading a bunch of bad reviews from fans of the original.
Not sure how they will turn a 16 episode 2 series British series into 22 episodes per season into the forseeable future. But, I don’t even understand how anyone could write one episode of TV and get anyone to watch, let alone 22 every year.
It airs Monday nights on CBS.
Mark-Paul Gosselaar stars in TNT’s new record-breaking series Raising The Bar. He plays an atty in the public defendant’s office who is all about making the law work and it working fair no matter what. He spars with clueless judges and unethical attorneys in the DA. Saw two episodes of this, and it’s actually really good. I didn’t think I’d like it, but I’m actually very much looking forward to the other 2 episodes I have on the DVR.
Gosselaar is wonderful as is the rest of the cast…nearly all of them I’ve never seen before, but it’s well rounded so far, and the numerous characters add their own dimension to the plotlines which works well. I’d recommend checking this one out as soon as you can.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s new season started last week on FX, and it’s crazier than ever. Two eps per week, same as last year…last week we found the gang hunting humans for man meat and hunting former friends for sport. When Charlie asked if it was racist not to kill and eat the black guy, I was cracking up. When Dee pecked like a bird at her burger because the taste of human flesh demanded she eat more and do it now- wow. Great stuff. It seems the stories and gags juet keep getting more insane each time. The show is often hit and miss for me, but if last week is any indication of what we have to look forward to this season- watch this show now! You’ll be glad (and probably a little disturbed) you did.
Finally- Do Not Disturb on Fox. Jerry O’Connell headlines this series about a bunch of idiots in a hotel who…well, they don’t do much. O’Connell is a ladies man who manages the joint, and he can’t stop having sex with all the girls whose uniforms consist of black miniskirts and black hooker boots…there’s a gay guy thrown in for the comedy of it, Reno 911′s Niecy Nash is here as well, but I personally don’t find her one bit funny or even remotely charming. The rest of the cast are throw-aways who could be replaced with monkeys who could perform the mechanical roles just as well. The show might last 6 episodes before being canned, but canned it shall be…the sooner, the better.
According to TV Guide’s new season guide, there are over 200 new shows…lots more to come…
1970′s Television Race Relations- White Shadow: “A Simple Massa Will Do”
Sep 17th
You sure as hell couldn’t get away with this today, but in 1978, when Ken Reeves (white basketball coach at a predominantly black high school in LA) talks to Sybil, the black female vice principal, the racial language heats up!
The following exchange is from the episode, Pregnant Pause:
Sybil: Buy you a cup of coffee, Mr. Reeves?
Reeves: Only if you promise to stop calling me “Mr. Reeves.” A simple “massa” will do.
I love The White Shadow. I remember being in 7th grade and begging my mom to let me stay up till midnight on school nights (Sundays I think it was) to watch the show on Nick at Night. She’d always say yes, and my love the series was born. I was watching the season 1 box set the last few notes, and I never noticed this exchange before. I laughed out loud. Big time. It was a different time. He meant nothing by it, and they had a good relationship in the show. I just thought it was surprising to see how things have changed,
The Return of the Los Palmas 7
Sep 4th
The Return of the Los Palmas 7 by Madness. Love this song.
I’d love to see a drum corps do a show with all Madness music. I think this one would be a great opener for a show…really show off the front ensemble with the mallet work.
The song itself just sounds SO 80′s. Gotta love that…almost 30 years old this song is. Amazing.
Has It Come To This?
Aug 29th
That’s it, I’ve turned into a 14 year old girl.
As I’m pretty much loving this song and the video itself, I’m fairly certain that’s about the only reasonable explanation. What’s next, a subscription to Tiger Beat magazine? Maybe some posters of the Jonas Brothers on the ceiling above my bed, so I can pretend to sleep next to Nick and whatever the other two are called?
Seriously? This was not how I saw 30.
(Sigh)
DCI News: Cadets Bested by 4 Corps in San Antonio?
Jul 20th
First off, I haven’t seen any of this year’s DCI shows. They canceled the yearly show in Evansville (after 30 years due to costs), and I haven’t had the resources to travel anywhere, so…I’ve no idea what we’re dealing with. I have seen clips of the Cadets show and read all about the controversy.
I will say that I totally disagree with where Hopkins is taking the Cadets. Heck, the constant name changes for the corps is enough to annoy me (Holy Name Cadets, Garfield Cadets, Cadets of Bergen County, Cadets). This whole idea of a drum corps show turning into almost a play-of-sorts is bad bad bad. When I saw their announcement of the show and saw it had a big storyline and lots of dialogue, I cringed and asked an invisible Hoppy- “what are you doing???!” So, the Cadets, who I used to love so much- let’s just say these past few years I haven’t been a fan. I just don’t like the vocals, the weird themes, the drum mouth sounds as opposed to- get this…drums! I’m all for varied styles and such, but this just bugs me.
With that out of the way, I saw the Cadets daily update and EMail, and wow. They were 3.65 points behind Blue Devils!
______________________
Last night’s show results: San Antonio, TX
World Class
Blue Devils 92.375
The Cavaliers 90.975
Carolina Crown 90.025
Phantom Regiment 89.775
The Cadets 88.725
Bluecoats 86.650
Santa Clara Vanguard 86.425
Blue Knights 82.700
Boston Crusaders 82.450
Blue Stars 80.675
Glassmen 79.950
Crossmen 77.275
______________________
And Carolina Crown has beat them a number of times this season. Crazy. Good to see the Bluecoats (one of my favorite corps and one I nearly marched with) doing so well. Sad to see the Crossmen down there at the bottom.
And, finally the Madison Scouts. Seriously? What happened to you guys? You’ll notice they’re not even on the list above. And that’s because they didn’t even secure a spot in the Southwesten Championship! Too sad. I love these guys. Has never been the best of the best (they’ve won titles, no doubt, but they’ve never been consistently one of the best corps), but they’ve always been a fan fave because of their unbridled power and flat out knock you out of your seat hornline. Hopefully they’ll make a quick return to the top 12. Truth be told, it doesn’t look like it will matter in a few years, as DCI is in such a decline they won’t even televise the world championships this year. They’ll still produce and charge $40 for the DVD of said event tho (I assume)…
UPDATE (July 20, 2008- 6:20pm): From what I read over at Drum Corps Planet, it seems there was a lot of rain in San Antonio and the Cadets had a points violation due to a fall I presume. Didn’t read the entire thread, but there was a points violation somewhere that seemed to be connected to the slippery turf.
From reading Hop’s livejournal blog (I found it, but I don’t recall the url at the moment), it looks like there were also housing problems the day before and some musical problems as well.
Devo – Through Being Cool (Music Video
Jul 14th
Devo – Through Being Cool (Music Video)
So, I’m driving to work this morning. Tons of traffic as they’ve decided to split the expressway into a divided section going one way? It was confusing seeing people driving next too me (going the same way) but on the other side of the median.
I was listening to Opie & Anthony on XM Radio as I always do in the car, but I decided to check to see what was playing on XM44- Fred. Turns out it was Devo with a song I’d never heard before called Through Being Cool.
Awesome.
Fred is a pretty cool channel. Weird eclectic music all the time. Whoever programs the channel seems to love playing Time Warp from Rocky Horror, Flock Of Seagulls, and Devo.
I couldn’t for the life of me tell you what Through Being Cool means. The lyrics make no sense whatsoever. It makes me think of mashed potatoes tho, but I’m not sure if that says anything or not…
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