Sometimes it takes our computers a moment to render high resolution video. The dry erase board in "photog hallway" helps fill that time.



I didn't have as much much video to render as I initially thought, or I else I would've drawn way more carnage below the robot's massive, steel kicks.

Here's what it looked like in my viewfinder the moment before fifteen screaming kids in superhero outfits charged at me with plastic swords. I had to fight back the reaction to kick back at them with my legs, much like I would do with dogs, geese, or the demonic midgets from Phantasm 2.

It was a fun little assignment, and I counted around nine Batmans and seven Supermans. Although my favorite one was the kid who decided to be a supervillian and constantly did the opposite thing that the adults asked him to.

[semi-raw web video]

There's certain things you probably don't expect to see when you come to work on any given day. I'm certain that one of them is probably a wallaby.



I think owning a mini-kangaroo is probably fun, but I find it crazy that the last person I'd expect to own one - fellow photog, James Cooper - is walking around with one stuffed in a shopping bag. I see him being the kind of guy that has a real nasty, ugly dog. One that he has for years, until it eventually bites one of his kids and then he get rid of it or takes it 'out behind the shed'. But a wallaby? No way.

Anyway, that's the best shot I could get of the thing. Despite all my pleading, he refused to let it out of the bag while in the station (as it would hop all over the place and completely devastate the room in a matter of minutes).

It sounds lame, but I'm swamped with a few projects and haven't had time to blog much. Sounding even more lame, I'm finding myself totally swamped in fall season pilots and season premiers. It's like crack to me - I love watching all the new shows. I'm even working on a crappy home made calendar so I can keep track of it all. [Next week: Lost and BSG!]

Being a comic book geek, I'm watched Heroes - and now I think I'm going to make a chart showing all the little elements it has in common with Lost (even if they're only in my mind).

I also really like Studio 60, but can't fall in love with it since it'll fall apart when Sorkin moves on in two years or something. [pilot episode on nbc.com]

Sadly, there's one channel I can't see here in Greenville: Current TV. I mess around on the website every now and then, but during my week in NYC I got hooked on watching all the exclusive broadcast-only "pods". My favorite was the video "Date Lady Sovereign" made after the internet stunt a few months back - finally got some closure on that one.

Anyway, that's all I got for now.
Back to watching TV and writing comic books.

When I was in Portland two weeks ago, my super-friend Dirk sat Hasser and I down on his sofa and then popped a disc into his DVD player. "Ever see Deichkind?" he said. Before we could answer, "nope," the video began. What we watched for the next three minutes, blew my mind. Today, I decided to share it with you.

Don't speak German? Doesn't matter. Rad knows no language barriers.



I found it on YouTube (natch), and I decided it'd make a fun Friday post. That, and having it on my blog will make it even one step easier for me to watch at least fifteen times a day.

Taking a quick break from celebrating the arrival of my baby XDCAM, I'm posting a quick link to my latest station video blog entry. I mention this for two reasons:
1) I used some elements from our wedding as part of this week's topic, "Wired Weddings"
2) Kyann likes to see our wedding video, even if it's only for a fraction of a second.

Okay, so today's post was going to be "XDCAM Unleashed!", but I don't think I've properly unleashed the new camera yet. So far I've only shot a city planning meeting and a county development story. Does that count as unleashing? Probably not.

It doesn't matter anyway. I'm not quite sure if I actually know how to unleash this thing yet. Perhaps it's something I'll need to meditate over. You know, harness my chi and all that.

But, since I haven't really meditated since the time I pretended to in my 5th grade taekwando class, I instead decided to ask the experts: fellow photographers, Lenslinger and Weaver - both XDCAM zen masters.

Weaver writes:

"I kinda think of the XDCam as my baby. I have to carry it around, cradle it, put it in it's 'crib' and make sure it has it's freshly charged batteries."

He adds, "Another great feature I love is the DVR like capablities of the internal memory. Being able to hold a 12 second pre-roll of video in the cache without burning up disc space while waiting for that elusive shot.It's just a great camera. The only thing better would be the HD version. I am really happy with it.

Lenslinger writes:

"The XD has more menus, options and features than most Third World defense systems. Since fiddling with them makes my eyes glaze over, I quickly learned to ignore them all and shoot everything as fuzzy and blue as I always have. YOU can too."

He also adds, "Remember, 'bot - the XD is like any other camera you've used, except there's a spinning laser inside that could cleave your melon in half should you crack it open at the wrong time. Happy Shooting!"

Sound advice! Thanks guys! Perhaps tomorrow, the unleashing will officially begin. [and then I'll refrain from using the word 'unleash' in any more blog posts this year, unless it has something to do with ninjas.]

Today I came into work expecting to see my old betacam sitting in the cage, but it was gone. In its place was a shiny new Sony XDCAM and a bunch of sweet-ass accessories. And while I'm trilled to have some cool 21st century gear, I feel kinda sad that I didn't get a chance to say "goodbye" to my old friend.

It's sorta like when a little boy has a sick puppy so the parents wait until he's away at school, and then they take it to the vet to be put to sleep. The last time I saw my betacam, it was happy hobbling along on three good legs over to its favorite spot to take nap. I pet its grimy blue protective armor and said, "I'll you see you when I get back from vacation, okay? Don't worry, I'll see you soon."

But, I never saw it again.

My beta may be gone, but at least I have all the fond memories. I'll always remember shooting a 30 minute press conference on a 20 minute tape with a battery that only lasted 10 minutes. I'll always remember they way folks at a press conference could tell when I stopped recording them because the servo noise was so insanely loud when I punched the record/stop button. I'll always remember the sound it made when it crunched on a tape - that's camera language for "I love you".

I could go on all day, but instead I'll recue one of my favorite jams, Little Lost Betacam, which seems oddly sad now.

Tomorrow....I unleash the XDCAM!

And a few final shots from Times Square before we left NYC (only to be held captive at JFK airport for eight hours):





And here's a closer shot of my cool new shirt:



It has a robot immolating himself, and the caption reads, "We on fire up in here."


[UPDATE: Here's some more photos from the wedding/reception, taken by my pal Audio.]

I had a swell time on my vacation in NYC, and here's a few photos from my adventures:



1. Over the course of five days we went to just about every H&M store in the New York metro area. I was happy to see the new Madonna ad campaign in full swing, and I was thrilled to see that the random photos of her "crew" also included uber-record-producer, Stewart Price. (You may remember my Price playlist from a few months back.)



2. I've been sorta-following all the LonelyGirl15 stuff on YouTube and in the media. I've always kinda pegged it to be a hoax, but I got the official word when I saw this headline [above] scrolling in Times Square. I think it's rad that a video blog (albeit, a fake one) made it's way into the mainstream press.



3. I was in a Broadway show on Thursday night. Somehow we won front-row tickets to the musical The Spelling Bee and then later I was picked before the show to be part of the audience participants. They basically had me go up on stage, along with three other average folks, and "compete" in the spelling bee alongside the actors. It was surreal seeing the first 40 minutes of the show from the little bleachers on stage, as some guy (who I think was in Rent) would occasionally grab and fling me to the next position on stage. I ended up being the final person on stage and the cast sang a special song around me when I was finally removed from the contest.

WE'RE MARRIED!

I've been enjoying a week of knocking about Portland, hanging out with old friends. We ate happy hour all week, and barely got enough sleep to get by each day. Our friends and famliy were teriffic, the wedding was awesome, and the actual ceremony lasted just shy of five minutes.

I should point out that the above photo isn't real (but it easliy could've been if Kyann found a way to attach her Treo to her wedding dress).

I uploaded a few (very few) pics from the ceremony to my flickr profile. I'll add more shots when I find time...

Off to New York!

My vacation has officially begun, and this Saturday morning marks the beginning of "Countdown: Wedding" as Kyann and I head off to the airport. I'll do my best to keep up with the blog, and maybe even share a few bachelor party wedding photos with ya.



I'll miss all my peeps in Greenville, but I'm really excited to tear up the streets in my favorite place in the world, Portland, OR. [FYI: There will be full scale karaoke armageddon @ The Ambassador on Wednesday, 10pm. Faces will be rocked. See you there.]

Later, Y'all.

/robot

Today was just crazy (for me) all day long, as I prepared to get as much stuff done as I could before my vacation. And it was with great sadness that my pal, Elise had her last day today. There was a sad/cute moment where she cried while translating something in Chinese before being awarded the honorary "goodbye cookie-cake" from our News Director, Andy.



Just as I was thinking about how much I would miss my breakdancing team member, I sensed a disturbance in the force...something I haven't felt since....

MARLA CICHOWSKI!



She popped-in the newsroom this afternoon as she passed through Greenville on her way to the beach. Sadly, not enough time for either us to sufficiently pump up the jam.

Here's a shot from Beech Springs Intermediate School, where I was a guest speaker today. I'm holding my complimentary gift basket loaded with snacks and PC magazines.



I talked about the internet, the TV business and pretty much anything else these kids asked me about. And - believe me - they asked EVERYTHING. Although, I found that if I just offered to let them hold the mic or betacam it served as a nice distraction.

Anyway, I had a swell time, and hopefully did a decent job convincing them to become doctors and lawyers.