NYT – Sandra Day O’Connor’s Plan for Joystick Justice

June 5th, 2008

Can you believe this?!

Great. She quit the Supremes two full years early for THIS?! Does she really think that making some (guaranteed gawdawful) ‘edutainment’ software will create a huge giant wave of civic understanding, let-alone civic involvement?

Here’s a thought– why not leverage what works. For example, make an Extension Pack on top of a currently highly-successful game, such as GTA4 (Grand Theft Auto IV) or WoW (World of Warcraft), with little SIM-like bubbles popping-up listing all the Federal & Civic codes being violated as you tool around, killing things. Fun -and- Enlightening!

Geeze Ms O’Connor– you really want all your ex-brethren Supremes to be household names like Simon & Paula? THEY WILL– just as soon as they complete their dismantling of Roe-v-Wade. When the hoi polloi wake up & realize that the USA has just become the only “First World Nation” in which it is illegal to have an abortion, and they they have absolutely no say in the matter, the hue & outcry will be epic. Because, despite all neo-con arguments to the contrary, “Roe v. Wade did not mean that abortions could be performed. They have always been done, dating from ancient Greek days”, WALDO L. FIELDING, M.D.

Dare we say “Impeach”– both Roberts & Alito -swore- to Congress that they were “strict Constructionists”… but it turns-out that 30yrs of Roe-v-Wade precept isn’t enough. Heck, O’Connor might actually be alive to watch -all- of her previous ‘swing-vote’ decisions be dismantled.

God.Help.Us.All.

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a ‘Goal-Setting Workshop’…

November 16th, 2007

…it’s that Time of the Year
…when we’re busily juggling Family & Stress & more Family & (guilt) about New Years Resolutions long-forgotten

…& maybe a bit of reflection-time gets squeezed-in; “am I where I thought I’d be, back when?”

Well then– now’s a great time for a Goal-Setting Workshop!!

It basically goes like this:
1) find a quiet room, spare hour, & no cell phone
2. grab a sheet of paper & pen (not pencil)
3. sit down, & think: “what would i do, if i COULD NOT FAIL, & had INFINITE TIME & FUNDS”.
4. now write, for the rest of the hour, -and-
5. don’t think about “coulda/shoulda/woulda” or “i can’t” or “that’ll never happen”

-then-
6. finish the hour, go take a break, come back, &
7. start separating the ideas into: “1 year from now”, “5 years”, “10 years”, “20 years”

-and finally-
8. pick the top ‘interesting’ idea from “1 year”, the one you’re most inspired by, & do something NOW, right that minute, specifically & physically, to start making it happen!!

  • sign-up for a class,
  • fill-out a visa/travel application,
  • google the nearest xxx & spend the rest of the day hanging out there doing yyy
  • etcetc!!

IOW: break that “cool thing I’d like to (have) done someday” down into ‘bite-sized chunks’, & then take a big bite :-D
It’s called “baby steps”… but you have to make that step!!

Really– You can DO IT!!
There’s nothing stopping you!!

Do it TODAY!!
Make it Real– do something tangible that you can hold in your hand, when you hit the pillow tonight… something you hadn’t woke-up this morning thinking you would do, something that you hadn’t really ever thought you could do!

It doesn’t matter if it “makes no sense”; pay no heed to the (voices) that say, “you’ll never be able to do that”… take that first step anyway!!

And then tomorrow, do another! And another!!
Write-down your Goal, & your list of Steps, add target-dates on each Step, & hang it on your bedroom door, or over your mirror. You can’t believe how great it feels, when you check-off another ‘step’ towards that Goal, that thing you “didn’t believe possible”.

…& why does all this work??
…b/c all those ‘little steps’, bit by bit, start adding-up… like ‘interest’ in your savings account, you start getting more & more ‘momentum’, more & more ‘leverage’…
…& previously-’unreasonable’ things, ideas, start becoming more possible
…you start saying “i can do that” more & more
…you start realizing “hey, i already did that(?!!)” to things that you’d've previously avoided

…you start being less “at the effect” of the events in your life, & more in the position of choosing What & Where & Why…
…less apt to ‘put up with’ stuff you’re ‘kinda/sorta not-interested’ in, &
…lots more apt to walk-in w/ a clear, specific Goal, & not leave until you Get it…

It’s called Purpose
It’s called Momentum
It’s called Success :-D

…fwiw, i did all this in ’94, & have gotten everything on my list so far… i’m kinda blown-away, actually.
…we’re talking “never in a million years” stuff :-P

& for reference, the ‘steps’ above are straight out of Franklin Quest, Tony Robbins, Dale Carnegie, etcetc

    “When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.” –Patanjali, author of the Yoga Sutras

…Now go out, & have a Blast!!!

PS: If your ‘work situation’ isn’t exactly as fulfilling as it might be, you may want to check-out this post. ‘Ta!

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How can you be against “Health Care for Children”

October 5th, 2007

HTF can you be against health-care for children?
…isn’t that the first rule politicians learn: nestle-up to vets & kiss the babies?
Why not say “fuck mom & I hate apple pie”?!!

…All those childhood years of hearing about Marie Antoinette, about how her basic obliviousness was part-&-parcel of the utter cluelessness of the French Ruling Class… how her words were totemic in galvanizing the French Revolution. And most of all, how she deserved whatever she (& the Aristocracy) got (ie, their heads separated from their necks).

But I ask you– when somebody has no health insurance; has no ability to get to a doctor; (barely) able to get to an Emergency Room; to then wait for literally dozens of hours to be seen by harried, overworked ER doctors who are trained to deal with major trauma victims first & foremost… And then finally to almost certainly default on payment for the (understandably) premium-price that is charged by ER’s… (they are for “emergencies”, not for ‘normal medical care’; it’s in their very name!)

…And yet Bush says: “I mean, people have access to health care in America,” he said. “After all, you just go to an emergency room.” link…
Or how about when he said last week, “they don’t need Government Health Care; they can just ask their doctor”.

I ask you– doesn’t that sound a bit familiar?
Someone else who has absolutely no clue about whom they were talking about? Someone born w/ a silver spoon so far down their throats they simply couldn’t conceive of lacking basic sustenance; the question was never “eat or go hungry”, but rather “eat lobster or go eat steak”:

“Why do they need bread? Let them eat cake”

…I wonder– As Euripides said, “Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad”. Could this be, at the very last, a chance for the Dems to override a Presidential veto?????

If that happens, that will open the floodgates… if at first a trickle, before the roar:

  • Accountability for Katrina
  • Accountability for Federal Debt
  • Accountability for Social Security lockbox raiding, -& even-
  • Accountability for Iraq

    • We can only hope.

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    Hairy Potter Spoilers….

    July 22nd, 2007

    Fuuuuck.

    1. Logical inconsistencies
    2. Canonical violations
    3. Missed opportunities
    4. Long, pointless scenes that tell us nothing new
    5. Rambling misdirections mistaken for ‘suspense’
    6. Seemingly arbitrary character reversals

    …plus your average features of the amateur writer:

    1. Deux ex Machina (over & over & over)
    2. “Telling not Showing”
    3. “On the nose” (ie, utterly lacking subtext; think “soap opera”. Ie, Sue says, “I’m going to Jane’s house to yell at her”. Scene: “Sue walks into Jane’s house, & starts yelling”. Gee thanks, I like my pablum well-milled.)

    ….sounds like your average fan-fic, no?

    No wait– this isn’t happening… are you trying to tell me, THAT’S HOW IT ENDS?!!!!

    Repeat after me–
    “Dear J.K… We Expected More.”

    …& please don’t trot-out the hoary rationalization, “hey, these are Children’s Books, they don’t have to be Great Literature”.
    Um, here’s a quick list of “children’s books” which are enjoyed by both children and adults (& don’t suffer from that ‘list of shame’ above):

      Lord of the Rings (books and movies)
      Chronicles of Narnia
      Original Star Wars trilogy
      Xmen 1 & 2

    So wtf happened????
    Rowling got a little full of herself. This started around #4; the book suddenly tripled in size, filled w/ tons of overstuffed scenes which had been cut in #1-3… but now she was Famous & her editors got squelched.
    Rowling got a little burned-out. By #6, she was just putting in time, blithely filling her pages with “I-meant-to-do-that-all-along” & seemingly unconcerned that characters literally millions of people have grown to love, were acting in utterly uncharacteristic ways. Earth to Rowling: we love characters who are real, & feel betrayed when they’re not being themselves… & esp. when ppl like you tell us, “no, wait, this really does make sense; this is how you should think”. No it doesn’t; no we won’t.
    Rowling got Hollywood Envy. After watching ppl in a different country cut her books apart (& having her version of the screenplays summarily dismissed), she started packing her books with Hollywood Moments… Not once in the first 3 books was I thinking about movies; but come book 4, I start seeing scenes written not for character development, but for Production Value. And then by #6, it’s just pastiche of scenes & imagery directly lifted from LOTR, Xmen, & even Matrix 2, for bog’s sake.

    All in all–
    Harry Potter Jumped the Shark around book 4. #5 almost regains its footing, but #6 & #7 just disappear into the chum.

    “So what?” you ask.
    “Why all the dismay & angst?”

    People– it’s call “missed opportunities”. We wouldn’t care if none of the books were any good; there’s whole sections of bookstores filled with rows upon rows of fantasy & sci-fi which are just regurgitated, cliched pablum with shiny covers.

    But Harry #1-#3 are Quite Good; enjoyable, page-turners chock-full with the joy-of-discovery and the Wonder of a whole new, magical (literally) world to discover. Rowling created a terrific universe, & some fascinating characters to play in it. When she began, & was still full of inspiration & enthusiasm, she made something Larger than herself, & we all couldn’t wait to See What Happened Next.

    In her own way, I’d call her series the book equivalent of “Star Wars”. The first three [ie, Episodes 4, 5, 6] have their faults, sure… but are much greater than the sum of their parts, & continue to inspire Delight in both young and old. But then came “Episode 1″, & all of a sudden it felt like the author didn’t believe in the magic of the first 3, or had perhaps forgotten. Joy, wonder, discovery… all gone, substituted for some bad behavior that was more ‘turgid’ than “dark”.

    And as the characters flatten, Evil becomes hackneyed. Voldemort’s Death Eaters lose their mystery & act for all the world like board-room bureaucrats w/ petty rivalries; even Voldemort himself becomes just a johnny-one-note, “me so smart & I kill people”. This Won’t Do; the measure of a Hero is the strength, malevolence, & even brilliance of the Evil arrayed against him. In short, even a dork on a desert planet can become a Jedi Master when he’s up against a Dark Lord of the Sith, who’s very breathing sounds like the Earth is wrenching itself apart, & who commands mystical powers which can literally do just that.

    Vader was brilliant, conflicted, mysterious, & had plans upon plans (& an incredible, tragic backstory). Voldemort is a snake-eyed 1/2-sane psychopath who Just Wants to Kill Harry & screams & throws tantrums when he’s thwarted. See the difference?

    But not only does our Main Guy Potter step-back & let himself be forever ‘guided’ (even Obi Wan has to get outta the way for Luke to start to shine), but even his Guides themselves are puerile. Consider Dumbledore’s sudden new trope in #6, “me so brainy & I know what’s best for you”. No one’s ever called him “brainy” before, & now even Hagrid says it twice. Jeeesh– the frickin’ ‘partial Voldemort’ Riddle in “Chamber” had more characterization & depth than did Dumbledore in all his “I know best” & “I wish I had more time” scenes in #6 (let-alone #7, in that gawd-awful “in-the-Matrix” moment).

    …and since this is a Mostly Filmmaking blog[sic], let me just say, I pity the poor bastard who has to shoot #6.
    Ah gee, there goes Harry w/ his head in a bucket^H^H^H^H ‘pensieve’ again. “Harry the Ostrich”, watching everyone else live their lives. Watching as others do all the magic. Pissing & moaning as no one listens to him. Frozen stiff while his Mentor gets dead. Oh boo hoo I can’t play Quiddich or snog my BF’s sister. Hey, that right there’s one fascinating, dynamic, “take-the-world-by-the-horns” character to watch, isn’t it? “The Boy who Pouted”. Here’s my $10, lemme wait in line…

    At least in #5, Harry steps-up & becomes a leader, creating & training the DA, & [finally] showing that his own courage, if not magic, is worthy of awe (if not for the first time better than Hermione’s).
    But #6? Fully half the book is exposition, telling us Riddle’s life story… & it doesn’t ever tell us why he’s like who he is!!!! Um, so he’s a bitter bastard w/ a crappy childhood… Fine, just like everyone else in homeroom. And sure he wants to have everyone worship his ass… um, that’s normal teenage angst, & he already is “Best Boy” & being shortlisted for Minister. So, you’re still not telling me why does he decide to become so evil?! “Just Because?” Gee thanks!
    And does the fact that Dumbledore is to BLAME for the rise of Voldemort ever once get addressed? Discovered him, brought him to Hogwarts, sheltered him, and never warned anyone he was a vicious bastard. For fuck’s sake– that’s pretty awesome angst right there; even a crappy author with that kind of setup could make some hints about “the nature of evil” &/or “the perils of hubris”… Um, Obi-Wan & Vader, anyone?

    Worst of all– in #6 Harry is back to “I ain’t got no magic of my own”, obsessively relying on Snape’s potion-manual, & full of angst that all his powers are just leftovers from Voldemort’s curse. Is it just me, or has all the ‘character development’ from #5 kinda disappeared?

    And now w/ #7, Harry is a passive character again, lead-around by the nose, & finally defeating Voldemort on a technicality, bolstered by an 11th-hour “he’s not really dead” moment. Shit. There was more passion, action, magic, catharsis, & even character-development in Mrs. Weasley’s waxing of Bellatrix… & that took 1/2 as long.

    But I’m not bitter :-P … let me leave w/ 2 good things to say about #7:
    1) FINALLY the ‘good guys’ don’t have to be frickin’ victims all the time. #4-6 were like paeons to “evil guys get all the fun”, while the good guys just get caught, punished, tortured, & have crappy useless spells to protect them. In #7, the good guys finally let fly w/ some righteous magic, if not some of the 7 Unforgiveable’s.
    2. Dumbledore is redeemed… however tacked-on & 1/2-assed the explanation, at least he’s not going-out as a whiny bitch blown over a battlement.

    IN CONCLUSION:
    There’s a fucking difference between characters with “shades of grey”, and inconsistent, cliched, amateurish writing.

    I’m only pissed at myself that I didn’t have the sand to toss the book aside a la Dorothy Parker, when by page 30 the Big Reveal of the trussed-up person turned-out to be an inconsequential nobody, while meanwhile absolutely zero character development has happened. At least in #6, by that point we knew Snape was “bound” to do something nasty; here they’re all gibbering at a table, “we so evil”, & “here’s exactly what’s gonna happen next chapter”. That’s pretty great suspense, right there.

    I never watched Matrix 3, nor Xmen 3, nor Aliens 3. I Knew Better, & steered clear… & thereby still am able to love Matrix 1, Xmen 1 & 2, & Aliens 1 & 2.
    I wish I’d done the same w/ “Star Wars Episode 1,2,3″… they’re so awful they caused blow-back in my brain, & made me question if the original “Star Wars” (ep’s 4,5,6) were that good after all. But whew– they were.

    And here? I wish I’d never read #6 or #7… I could leave w/ the idea of Harry swearing at the cruel world, & heading off into the forest to practice his Art & to one day re-emerge & tear Voldemort down. No pensieve bullshit, no “let me ask everyone else what I should do”, no pseudo-mystical ‘coming back from the dead’ & ‘this has all happened before’ bored network-writer’esque cop-outs I’ve seen before on “Matrix 2″ & “Alias”…

    …just a straight “you killed my father, prepare to die”.
    Sounds like a terrific fucking movie, right there.

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    An Ode to ‘Magical Thinking’

    July 12th, 2007

    Quick now– what do Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Bruce Jenner, Jimmy Connors, Arthur Ashe, etc etc have in common??
    They visualize.

    And not just “Oh I hope I’m gonna win” kinda visualization…
    we’re talking systematic, strategic, detailed, intricate, point-by-point visualization. Tiger even admits to visualizing his complete swing, from beginning to end, multiple times before he even lays hands on the club.
    Or how about your average church-goer? Praying for what they want, & if the [few] churches I’ve attended are any indicator, there’s often feedback “Please pray for the sick of our parish” & kudos for who’s shown recovery from last week (I prefer Fr. Michael’s joke, “what about the sick of the parish?”).
    It’s clear that, if nothing else, belief via visualization &/or prayer is actively done by myriad very successful top performers, if not weekly church-goers. So the question is, how did all this get systematically categorized as ‘myth’, & the term “magical thinking” loosely translate as “bullsh*t”.

    Somewhere in the last few years (perhaps synchronized w/ Bush 2′s presidency?) there has been a systematic attack on anything not deemed kosher by churches… eg, evolution, ‘secular humanism’, & that immense whipping-generation of the far right: “the 60′s”.

    And yet, ask any down-in-the-trenches scientist, often called ‘technicians’ (because they gain their living actually doing the work rather than publishing papers about it), & they agree– postulates determine the conclusion. An immense number of ‘common sense’ & ‘widely known’ scientific “laws” aren’t so ‘eternal’ & self-evident, you know– not too long ago, “everybody knew” the world was flat & the sun orbited us… & ppl were tortured (or ridiculed, refused publishing, etc) for believing otherwise. Or how about all the “absolutely wrong” claims about meridians in the body, how the blood has ‘tides’ in sync with the moon just as the oceans do, or that open-skull (let-alone open-heart) surgery can be done with only a few accupuncture needles? All these were “hogwash” to scientific journals up to mid 20th Century… and yet are accepted “scientific fact” now.

    Now, did the occurrences change? Nope. So why are they suddenly “true”? Actually, they always were true; just the Authorities hadn’t decided to Believe them yet.

    So let’s explore what ‘Belief’ means. “Belief”, according to top philosopher W.V. Quine, is knowledge unquestioned, which has attained that status after rigorous testing, a la scientific method (hypothesis, deduction, experiment, etc). Which sounds pretty rigorous, and Quine is careful to show how this works in ‘normal’ people too, not just scientists. And yet, funny how Quine’s ultimate summation in The Web of Belief was this: “knowledge turns into [unquestioned] belief when the grounds of satisfaction are realized”.

    So even a master philosopher, whose books are unparalleled in the field, recognizes the point– all of our scientific method, of building & testing hypotheses, still turn on a single, non-objective process: “are we satisfied”.

    And so yes, it’s currently fashionable to slam “magical thinking” as thoughts, actions, beliefs about the outcome of an event, which have nothing to do and/or no effect on that outcome.

    All I ask are two things:

  • spend an equal amount of time considering the opposite case. Ie, “could all those highly-successful, peak performers be ‘completely wrong’?”
  • try (visualization, positive affirmations, etc) yourself, with an open mind. Ie, don’t do them “knowing that they won’t work”.

    • …b/c if nothing else, you might experience something you haven’t expected, ie something ‘new’, which is always a blast. The thrill of discovery is the hallmark of a mind that is able to learn.
    …& more-importantly, by not “knowing that the outcome will be false”, perhaps you’ll avoid employing some ‘magical thinking’ (ironically enough) of your own :-P .

    Check out every single tennis, golf, etc “how-to” book. They all employ visualization. Scroll-up & re-read that list of top performers… they all swear by visualization. So why not try it, & see if it makes any difference to your own attempts to train behavior.

    Oh & btw– of the many experiences I’ve had with the “power of visualization”, let me list one: after shattering my tibia, I was told in no uncertain terms by two different doctors: “thigh-high cast for 6 weeks, & then ankle cast for another 6 weeks”. I didn’t like this scenario, & visualized up a storm, using techniques from “Zen in the Martial Arts“… & was walking, sans cast, in 5 weeks.

    Call it “magical thinking”, if you will… I like the doctor’s version: “how the heck did you do that?”

    Dunno. It Just Works.

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    SF 2007 48Hr Film Fest!!!

    June 27th, 2007

    Hey– our 7minute film premiered at the San Francisco 48Hour Film Fest last nite, & it rocked!!. We got a ton of applause, laughter (at the right parts), & congrats’ afterwards…

    So while it’s fresh, here’s a bit of hard-won wisdom[sic]:

    Pre-production:
    1) get clear roles assigned, w/ lines-of-command & deliverables
    2. test test test your equipment first to confirm everything works together (computers, mics etc)
    3. try to do a ‘dress rehearsal’, ie “mini fest” of 5hrs or so, from (mini) script to playing it on a tv, to see how everyone does under pressure, & get everyone familiar w/ their roles, tools, & what’s expected of them.
    4. let the writer(s) Do Their Thing… try to not inflict them w/ your ‘good ideas’ until they ask for them, but do step-in & point-out when any of the following get lost in the mix:

  • From the first page, & on each page following, we should always know: “What is Happening -and- Why do I Care?”
  • Start quickly, & End w/ a Bang. There’s no time for ‘Deep Thoughts’ in a short film…
  • Simple & funny is always much better than long & involved… this includes # of characters, subplots, character arcs, anti-climaxes, etc etc.
  • Leave VO (voiceover) as your Method of Last Resort to fix a film which doesn’t make sense. It’s waaay too easy to make crappy VO which “tells you what to think” & completely cheapens your film…

    • Production:
    1) get a ‘set boss’ (AD? Producer?) who manages traffic, & keeps (numbnuts) from walking thru shots, etc.
    2. iron-out workflow (slates? continuity-girl? script-boy? “who can call ‘cut’?” does Director need to watch a monitor or camera LCD screen? does Producer?) *before* the shoot
    3. “the set works best when it is optimized for allowing the actors to *be* their parts. Anything/everything that distracts from the actors giving real moments *must* be ruthlessly pruned if you want to capture anything of value”.

  • This is HELL when *everyone* has ‘great ideas’[sic] & just Has to come running-up & give their $.02 {see #1}
  • OTOH– ignoring everyone’s ideas will definitely lose you out on great in-the-moment inspirations which are the lifeblood of a truly creative set (I typically get 30%+ of my best stuff thru in-the-moment inspiration).
  • also: Tape is Cheap. Keep the camera rolling, thru rehearsals, thru ‘blown takes’, etc. Encourage the actors to just say ‘rhutabega rhutabega’ & keep rolling into a second take– if you don’t call “cut!”, they won’t have to re-find their flow, & you’ll find they give you better stuff, faster. This does mean your Editor needs to look at *everything*… which in a 1-day shoot, shouldn’t be more than 2 tapes anyway.

    • 4. “Shoot for the Edit”. Check-out the “10-Minute Film School” by Robert Rodriguez in the Bonus Features for “El Mariachi” — eg, shoot w/ transitions in mind, get cutaways, & you can grab multiple ‘shots’ in a single take, if you change focal lengths, move the camera, etc. Note: this kind of [compressed] shooting only works if your editor is on board; if the editor isn’t flexible, they’ll just see ‘disjointed shots’ & won’t know what to do w/ them…

    Post-Production:
    1) while editor is doing their thing, let the cast/crew watch the dailies. That keeps morale up
    2. editor: mark/subclip the *great* moments, the ones that make you blink, laugh, or feel… & make sure they stay in the final edit
    3. cut together sequences, starting w/ the easiest and/or most fun. Show this sequence to a few of the above-the-line Team, & it will get everyone amped, & engender some good ideas
    4. let the editor assemble ‘their version’ first, & then let the director give notes. Nobody can create worth a damn w/ someone watching over their shoulder…
    5. edit in ‘passes’: rough assembly, then dialogue intercutting, then soundtrack, special FX, color-correction, etc. Eg don’t waste time on color-correction if your audio has holes in it (guilty! :-0)
    6. make sure not to cut-out the [special line, prompt, dialogue, etc]!!!
    7. leave time for a ‘sanity check’ viewing, w/ (new) viewers… they’ll tell you what you missed

    -and finally-
    8. cut the film you’ve made, *not* the one it “said in the script”. You can’t create shots that don’t exist, but you can cut to heighten performances, or diminish now-unneeded story beats or character moments. Don’t be surprised if the final film only passably matches the script… Doesn’t matter, if the film *works*.

    …Hope that helps, & See you at the Movies!!!

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    Sony V1U Review… it’s DOF…

    April 25th, 2007

    …ROCKS.

    That’s it. Full review.

    Oh, you want some more? Okay then–

    I just got back from Snaders 2007, & yet another ‘heads-up’ between the top HDV cam’s. What are my comparitors?

    • visual quality
    • useability
    • features

    …in that order. Basically, I figure what’s the use of a great lens, if you can’t focus it? (*cough* Canon *cough*). Or if the chips display a ‘messy’ image, etc. We’re comparing ‘complete packages’ here, lens + viewfinder + chips + recording format. The object being, how to get the best looking image out of the camera, suitable for broadcast and/or film-out (cf Billups’ book).

    Another guideline is “utility”, or if you will, “simplicity”. If in order to make a camera work at its best, one needs tons of outboard peripherals, this is not a good thing. Example: if you have a great lens, but the viewfinder’s low quality necessitates using a broadcast monitor in order to focus accurately, you’ve just eliminated ‘run & gun’ type shooting. Correspondingly, if you need an extended “DOF Adapter”, then why use a small-format camera? You might as well shoot with a shoulder-cam, & get the better chips & better recorded format, & when you tally rental fees, might cost nearly the same.

    Beyond all that, here’s the brass tacks:

    Despite all the FUD re. the difficulty of getting short DOF w/ the 1/4″ chips of the V1U, getting short DOF is actually quite easy… due to the length of the lens (20x vs. the normal 12x of the Z1U, HVX200, etc). From 5′ away, I was able to shoot face-size objects, & throw objects 5″ further away, significantly out of focus. This is incredible– usually, one expects needing to sit waaay back, & zoom waaay in to get this kind of short-DOF performance. Nope– instead, at 5′ away, you’re well-within the normal (read: tight) tolerances available to the indie filmmaker, shooting in a borrowed apartment. You can easily shoot a cinematic two-shot in a living-room, from 5′ away, & rack between their faces.
    And the focus was a dream, due to the excellently-executed peaking circuit. Multiple levels, multiple colors (I just chose white / bright), & a very narrow ‘notch’ of range, worked flawlessly together to create a focusing experience that was far closer to the CineAlta than I’d've ever expected.

    Please check out my last review re. my experience focusing the other 3 cams… from the low-res of the XL-H1, to the wide peaking ‘notch’ of the JVC, & the ‘subtle’ peaking of the Z1, I was just not too impressed with the whole idea of peaking on the handicam form-factor. Well, hold the presses– peaking on the V1U reminded me strongly of the brightness, crispness, & tightness displayed by the CineAlta viewfinder standing right next to it… which cost ~3x the price of the entire V1 unit :-D

    I was actually rack-focusing a cheeto, from the front to the back, & then further back to the pretzel, & then out of the bowl to the gambling chips nearby. This is just astonishing… you just don’t get this kind of short DOF with the HVX (or PD150)… & (almost) that much w/ the JVC. This tells me that the lens-length is key here, not the chip-size.

    & let’s not get started w/ CMOS… more contrast-range than CCD, & better: more ‘organic’ response. From skin-colors which are reproduced more believably, to what you can only call an ‘organic knee’ that occurs when you shoot blown-out/specular highlights (try shooting a light-bulb, or a candle, in a dark room)… the image looks smooth, organic, like one of those Kodak adverts… completely missing the ‘crunchyness’ which occurs in CCD-generated footage.

    Plus 24p. Plus a pretty-good cinegama mode. Plus fantastic form-factor & button-layout.

    This is the “PD150 with 24p” we’ve been waiting for all these years… but look–

    • 1080/24p
    • 3x CMOS chips
    • fantastic lens
    • truly best-in-class viewfinder
    • histogram to monitor image density
    • peaking -and- zebras, at the same time

    …simply brilliant. An absolute winner.

    Mortgage something, honey. Me gots to buy…

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    ‘Activist Judges’, indeed…

    April 20th, 2007

    So have you heard about the US Supreme Court ruling on weds?
    …Exactly as predicted w/ the promotion of Alito & Roberts last year, the first major decision(s) of the new Court are directly targeting abortion. This ruling represents the first major threat against “Roe vs Wade” in 30+ years. And at this rate, with the neocon’s new solid majority on the Court (with current members Scalia & Thomas eagerly stating for the record “we think abortion should be outlawed”)… it’s not inconceivable that within the next few years or so, the USA will gain the distinction of being the only 1st-world nation which outlaws abortion.

    How could this happen? The US Government is not the Taliban, right? We’re a non-radical, educated, informed country… whose women have been equal in ‘the eyes of the law’ for so long, it’s not worth mentioning (or even on the radar of young feminists). So how could 33yr-old precedent-setting “Roe v. Wade” suddenly be under attack?

    Ah, but let’s take a walk back to Jr. High Civics class… Despite the high-visibility of the Presidential role, or the loud brouhaha of the legislative process in Congress… these 9 old, mostly under-the-radar ‘Justices’[sic] are fully equal in power to Congress, or the President himself. It’s right there in the Constitution– Congress makes laws, Pres signs/enforce them (or not, as we’ve been seeing for the last 7yrs), & the Court decides if those laws or enforcings are “Constitutional” or not. That’s Power. But you know what’s even more powerful? These 9 ppl DO NOT EVER LEAVE, UNTIL THEY DIE. The most we can be stuck w/ an awful, misrepresenting Pres is 8yrs, or Congressperson 4yrs. But chances are, like the Pope, we’ll be stuck w/ the current crop of Supremes for the next 20yrs or so… esp. these two new, ‘stealth neocon’ appointments.

    So what’s all the fuss w/ this new Ruling, anyway? Well, they just upheld a state’s right to ban ‘partial-birth abortion’… ie, D&C past the 1st trimester. “And what’s that?” you ask… Well, specific medical techniques aside, ‘partial-birth abortion’[sic] has long been rigged as a ‘wedge-issue’ to start dismantling the basic legality of abortion; specifically, the main rationale, ie. abortion is under a woman’s “right to privacy”. By reframing abortion into “viability of a child” rather than “woman’s right to privacy” (let-alone “viability of partially-developed, non-thinking protoplasm”), the neocons & born-agains are rabble-rousing. Why call a woman “independent” & “maker of a very difficult choice”, when you can call her “baby-killer”?

    To think that this could happen in a Country long self-proclaimed as “The Land of the Free”…. Well, you must remember that this same country has actually been presided-over by Republicans for 19 of the last 27 years(?)… & they’ve finally got their payoff: a solid neocon majority in the Supreme Court.

    The most appalling feature of the neocon movement is its unabashed hypocrisy– they have zero hesitation proscribing moral rulings over ‘the common people’, which they themselves casually ignore. From sending the historically least amount of its sons to war, to eagerly plundering the common reserves, the average neocon acts like Raskolnikov of “Crime & Punishment” (or the ‘bad guys’ in “Knight Rider”): they’re Above the Law, judicially as well as morally.

    Or in other words, when the Bushie girls have their statistically predicable mishap w/ a condom & their lunar cycle, the Bushies will pack them up on Air Force One & fly them over to Dubai or somewhere where they can have world-class medical care, pre & post-op, for their very own abortion(s). Laws, morals, money, service-to-country, abstinence… these are only ‘talking points’ for stump speeches, nicely spun by H-wood writers & pumped-up w/ strongly-framed rhetoric by Rove. Because if you think Bush & cohort truly actually believe the neocon fundamentalism they outwardly espouse, perhaps you haven’t been paying attention.

    PS– Oh, & about that “Activist Judges” tag… funny how, after literally years of whining, ranting, & otherwise dirty politic’ing, labelling each & every Court decision they didn’t like as “Activist Judging”… it’s just friggin’ hilarious how the NeoCons leap at the opportunity to do a little ‘Activist Judging’ themselves. Creating ‘Policy’ from the Bench, hmm? Nothing like THIRTY FULL YEARS OF JUDICIAL PRECEPT to set the “Law of the Land”, you-know? Nah, let’s just toss that out, as soon as we have a Majority. I just hope to see these NeoCons hoist on their own petard… it doesn’t take too much to get them all attacking each other. Picture this: the Supremes pulling the plug on all ‘Right to Privacy’, & so the respective states start pushing mandatory drug screening… for everyone. Quaking now, Pill Poppin’ Rush.L?

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    300 “SPAAAAAAAAR-TAAAAAAA!!!!”‘s… at the IMAX!

    March 27th, 2007

    WHOAAAA!
    “300″ *rocked*!!!
    …they got the martial-stance/worldview *right*
    …they got the training *right*
    …they got the martial arts / fighting *right*
    …they got the battlefield dynamics *right* — even *better* than LOTR
    …they got the politics *right*
    …they got the religion/fight-the-gods *right*
    …they got the existentialism *right*
    …& they even got the relationship [strong-female] *right*

    …basically, they respected the Warriors:
    -what they believed,
    -what they stood for,
    -how they lived, &
    -how they died.

    …iow, it’s not about personal glory; it’s about doing what’s *right*.
    …so, so-what if they were a little silly re. the ‘reason vs. eastern mysticism’ part; i’ll spot them that, & they gave me 3 sex scenes & 3 decapitations. :-D DD

    …as far as the filmmaking itself, I found the following instructive:
    1) the Project started w/ a *great* story: the absolute *Classic* martial story
    2. -then- got some great writing & imagery from Frank Miller
    3. [but] the Director ignored Miller, -&-
    a) pumped-up Gorga, & made her a main character
    b. gave Leonidas a son, which made him human
    c. created several totemic images, including the ‘Villager Tree’ & ‘goodbye in the wheat-field’

    hmmmm.
    so Yes it’s true– a writer who also writes core imagery is an auteur (ie, Miller)
    -but- he still can be (successfully) re-written, & the story taken to the next level.
    …which isn’t usually the case; most times an auteur is re-written, ugliness (& hackdom) ensues.

    So yeah– as a long-time martial artist, I really appreciated the care the filmmaker(s) took to get the martial sensibilities right… from physical fighting-form to the mental philosophy. But even the CGI VFX was superb, very much a ‘character’ in the piece, shifting (styles) from scene to scene to augment the storytelling. And finally the storytelling itself was perfect: sparse, direct, like a gut-punch… but (knew) enough to slow-down occasionally, & ‘ease’ into the character scenes.

    & finally– Re the IMAX experience (or rather, IMAX projection of a 1:1.85 film)– hm. Bright, new print? Great. Lots of loud speakers? Fine. Large projected print at the upper curved screen? Dunno… this wasn’t ‘IMAX’; it was just ‘big’. (Real IMAX films are shot from POV of lower-third of screen, & biased inwards left/right as well, so all the surrounding imagery creates the IMAX ‘immersion effect’.) I’m wondering– my Toshiba widescreen at home has a ‘fake anamorphic’ mode which digitally stretches the farthest left/right to create the surroundings… while leaving the center-cut the same. Maybe if something similar was done here(?)

    …all I know is I saw LOTR in a widescreen theatre at the Metreon, & the experience was v. similar… but cost 1/2 as much. I know that H-wood is trying desperately to get us to come-out to the theatres, but charging $15 for ‘fake-IMAX’ isn’t doing it for me. ‘Real’ IMAX is amazing, & well-worth the cash…

    If they really need more ‘eyeballs’ in the theatre, ‘buying seats & eating sugar’, then maybe they need to provide something a lot more compelling… hot & cold running blondes, perhaps?

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    Oscars ’07 — Ah gee, whoopie! …& land of the living lesbians

    February 26th, 2007

    So the Academy, in its infinite wisdom, decided to ‘finally reward’ Scorsese. Fine… let’s just call this one for “Raging Bull” & “Taxi Driver“, & be done with it. And bonus– maybe he’ll stop whining, stop appearing as “incessant film authority” in all those retrospectives, & start working on an actual film 1/2-way as good as those 2 above. Yeah right.
    And btw, so much for all those elaborate Price-Waterhouse shennigans re. ‘guarded briefcases’ w/ their ‘secret tabulations’… B/c there just ain’t no way you get Coppola, Spielberg, & Lucas all together to hand-out an oscar, if it ain’t going to Scorsese. Sheeeze, why not just get the ladies from “Deal or No Deal” & be done w/ it; at least they’re waaay better to look at, & seem genuinely compassionate when ppl blow huge deals & go-home w/ peanuts…

    But hey– right outta some kind of Howard [no 'K'] Stern’s wet fantasy, we had the parade of those ladies from lesbos:

    • Ellen (of course)
    • Melissa Etheridge, -aaaand-
    • Jody Foster!!!

    Hottt! :-)
    But Oscar ’07′s best moment, has just gotta be when “Departed” took-home the brass ring. Based, as announced, on a 2002 “Japanese”[sic] film, which Scorsese always claimed he “didn’t see” yet somehow imitated so slavishly…

    Um, can we all just agree that, if the “Best Film of 2007″ is just a thinly-disguised remake of a very recent, emminently watchable foreign film… then maybe Hollywood hasn’t just suffered from “runaway production’ (ie. Canada, Romania, New Zealand). They’ve actually outsourced their creativity as well.

    All Hail you auteurs of “Foreign Cinema”– for you’re making the films we’ll be watching tomorrow, & not just subtitled & hidden in grimey art-cinemas & on the waiting list on Netflix. And for all you purveyors of off-shoring, who keep pointing at H-wood saying “the US still provides the entertainment of the world”… well, reality-check, bitches.

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