Monday, June 2, 2008

Fire at Universal, damages BTTF courthouse

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-studiofire2-2008jun02,0,5175136.story

I just read the Universal Studios is battling a fire on their backlot. A part of the story also indicates that many classic movie sets have been damaged due to the fire. It saddens me to learn that the courthouse square from my favorite movie, Back to The Future is on of those affected.

I actually got to see the courthouse a few times as a child. However, it was before I considered that movie to be my most liked. And I really don't think I took it all in back then knowing what it was that I was looking at. It's too bad, as now I may not ever see it again. I guess you always figure it will be there, and you figure someday you will return to see it again. I hope I can find images from my parents to help remember me being there.

I also hope that no one else gets hurt and that many of the other movie memorabilia that can not be recreated makes it out of this one.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Mexico Video Completed and Doing Well



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH5ZfI79tJ4

Almost two weeks ago I completed the first video from the Rocky Point, Mexico trip. Immediately after doing so, I received a large amount of positive comments about it. It was also estimated by a couple people that this will become my most highest viewed video. At 1,400+ views so far, it is definitely climbing higher than any other video I have done. However, my most viewed video is at 53,800 and still gets viewed regularly. And all it is is a cruise video from one of my trips. It will take a long time for it to ever catch up, which is doubtful that it will.

It's very hard to predict views on these things, but I do believe my cruise video does well because of the search terms I included in the description , tags, and title. This new Mexico video seems to be doing well as Don Giannatti has it linked on a few of his sites, and I'm sure the thumbnail plays a part too, as it features all five models together.

Also, I followed youtube's suggested resolution for their new "high quality" feature. And I was ecstatic to see that this one actually has a high quality version! You can't see a huge difference, but it does look better. Most noticeably, you can make out the facial features much better.

It's funny too, that this video was just going to be a quick "teaser trailer" feature snippets from the shoots. Makes me concerned that the feature videos won't be considered as good. Needless to day, since the release of that, I started playing GTA IV and couldn't really stop. I also picked up a Wii and a Wii Fit. I will speak more on that in the next TGI episode (one is coming, I assure you). I solved the story mode of GTA over the memorial day weekend , so now hopefully I can concentrate on another video.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Inspiration to be creative, post Mexico

Photo by Jerry O' Connor



I've been back from my trip to Rocky Point, Mexico for 1.5 weeks now. As soon as I got back I had to pick up a copy of GTA IV. Haven't played very much, for every time I sit down and turn on the TV, I feel guilty for not working on the videos from the trip. All the photographers who attended have produced some outstanding photos from this trip\workshop (example shown above). Yet, I have nothing to present. And because of my awkward muteness (I tend to not talk much when around people I just met), everyone probably thinks I was some creepy guy taking footage of the girls and has now run off with it.

But just watching these photographers set up their shots and create a new setting and a new shoot every minute was amazing to me. If anything, this trip has inspired me to be more creative. Whether it be with more viral videos, the show, or maybe starting photography myself, I don't know. But for now, I'm going to work on the videos from this trip, and then record another episode for the show. We'll just see what happens from there.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Day 4 in Puerto PeƱasco, Mexico

I didn't really know what to expect when I decided to come down to Phoenix and then head to Mexico for a few days for a photography workshop. I was offered the chance to attend and film the whole event as well as broadcast it via the internet. I now realize this has been one of the most unique vacations I have ever had. It was very hectic and it seemed like it was all non stop action. It has been incredibly interesting to see these photographers and models do their work in a remote setting such as this.

Neither the broadcast or filming, did I expect much of anything to happen with. Sure enough, not very many people attended the broadcast, which was kind of expected by me. However, I got a ton of footage of these people working and have more creative stuff to work with than I have ever had. It will be fun seeing what I've captured and then what I can edit and put together in a finalized video.

It is now the middle of the week and the photographers and the models have gone home. However, me and my cousin Jim (the participant in the workshop who invited me here), are staying for a few days longer to just enjoy the location in a vacationing atmosphere rather than a working atmosphere.

Lighting Essentials Workshop

Thursday, April 10, 2008

World of Warcraft meets Portal

Very cool video of World of Warcraft with elements of Portal put into it.

The Device Has Been Modified

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Having fun in Paradise City!

I rented and then after enjoying it way too much, I purchased a copy of Burnout Paradise for the Xbox 360.

Just the free roaming aspect of the city and inviting my friends to just run around in the city is enough to waste hours and hours of time. Way too much fun.

BurnoutAholics and the Burnout Paradise Interactive Locations Map are a couple of very helpful resources I found that will help you in the game. They will help you out in finding all those many billboards, smashes, drive thrus, and in earning the achievements.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

My return to youtube, a new video

After a hiatus of over 6 months, I finally made a new youtube video.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f03OxYt2jA

This is a review of a product that I purchased a few years back that sounded really intriguing. I've had the idea of doing this review for quite some time and just never put it into production until now. I thought this would be really hilarious and show how insane I am. The final product didn't seem as humorous as what I was hoping for, but there are a couple of entertaining lines in there.

The funny thing is, this was the toughest youtube video to edit, besides my first ones when I didn't know video editing. The problem I faced was that I shot it at so many different angles, the lighting was different for each, and each angle was shown separately at different points in the video. So I had to use a large amount of separate tracks, adjust the lighting for each, and then make it flow together. The frustration has now caused me to purchase a lighting kit for future videos.

This video also took a large amount of takes while filming. I still can't seem to keep a script in my head and then flow with it while in front of a camera. However, after all the editing, I feel that my speech flow came off a lot better than the G15 keyboard review I did, which was for the longest time, my most viewed video.

Also, I wanted to do this video after thegaminginsiders.com went live. That way I could use this video as my first to have a mention of our new podcast. It is one of the very first methods we have used thus far to promote the site.