Lightworks. One word – Very cool (yes that’s two words…). The time has come for me to at least temporarily rethink some video tools and what could be more affordable than free? I’d seen some info about this tool coming for some time over the past year and finally got around to getting it up and running today. Good stuff…
Keeping in mind, I spent maybe a whole hour in it, I can give a few quick impressions of it so far…

1. First off, it feels very sturdy. Previous experience with open source stuff has always been hit or miss. In Lightworks I didn’t even feel an inkling that something wanted to crash at any point.
2. VERY different. I think in the long run this will be good, because I can already see how it’s crafted to a certain kind of workflow, but this feels nothing like Premiere, Vegas or even Final Cut Pro…
3. Tools – lots… Well, for a free piece of software. You’ve got all the basic effects you could want, and in particular, the color correcting stuff looks pretty detailed.
4. Formats – Pulled in raw video from the Canon60D with no hiccups. It appears to deal with most HD video formats pretty well. My quick install didn’t seem to have all the listed export options, but I’m guessing a quick google search or some forum browsing would rectify that.
5. Runs on an average machine – Got it working smoothly on this 3+ year old laptop with no problems…
6. Shark – Yea, there’s a tool tip thing ala Microsofts’ dreaded paper-clip.. But it’s a shark, so at least there’s that…

All in all, I’m excited to explore this more and will surely have an update once I get rolling with the Canon60D and really shoot something worth showing (so far no amount of editing will help video footage of shoes and boxes and the other various things in this room I’ve shot to just get used to the camera – but that’s for another post…)

Grab the beta ‘here‘…

                          

Thoroughly blown away… This trailer is fantastic (at least as far as zombie-based video games go…). Originally saw this via a perfectly summed up tweet from @alisonhaislip (and she just might be exactly right!) – “these 3 minutes are better than the entire series of LOST”. More info can be had at the Dead Island site…

                          

Ah, the joys of the distraction of a gaming console… And thanks to a kindly donation from a friend, I can join that world (only 3 years or so late…)… It goes a little something like this… XBOX she is broken for second time… XBOX she is given to me under the “if you can fix it you can keep it” variety… Well of course I’m gonna give it a shot to fix!

I scoured the web (for you see, I am not a “fixit” kinda guy…) I needed to find the most detailed, handholding, spoonfeeding directions ever… The more videos and pictures, the better! Luckily I was able to get together the materials I needed (a whopping $14 worth of screws, washers & some thermal paste…) and bolstered up the confidence to crack open the machine…

Now, this post isn’t about fixing the RROD (Red Ring of Death) on an xbox 360… What’s great is, this post isn’t really about anything…

See, I’ve been feeling like I’ve been slacking all the way around when it comes to my various forays into the online world (music blog/iphoneography/clevedads blog/etc)…I was sick on and off for the past few weeks (a little cold/ a little stomach bug – luckily not at the same time)… And work has picked up enough to keep me a little busier as well (a good thing for sure!)

And now I’ve created a scenario where I can already see myself distracted even more during my down time by getting even ever so slightly into gaming… I mean, the games are intense now (keeping in mind I’ve been on the journey since the Atari 2600, through various Sega & Nintendo consoles, and the original XBox).  So I guess the trick is, how can I make this a good thing?  How can I add another thing to my incredibly full plate of “hobbies and interests” and not feel even more like I’m just “not getting anything done”?

Just a few weeks ago I started researching DSLR’s! I’ve set my sights on the Canon T2i to get back to my video roots (really wanted something nice to shoot with) and figured I could explore my photography bug as well… Where will that fit in? I haven’t made a mix in a while… I’m starting to get to be multiple episodes behind on my favorite TV shows… I want to spend more time with my daughter… There’s a bass guitar sitting and staring at me untouched from across the room… I need to exercise… I want to get more involved in Cleveland-related stuff… Etc, etc, etc!

Do I keep trying to find a way to fit all this stuff I like into my life? Do I pick one (or two or three) and spend some effort getting more focused? Does it matter so much or should I just enjoy each thing along the way?

                          

So those of you who know me know I used to smoke… Fulltime, pack-a-day, all day smoker… And that was for over 20 years (give or take a few times I managed to quit for a few weeks or months). 11 weeks ago, I kicked the habit. Not easy, but necessary. I mean I have a kid I want to be around for, I was sick of smelling like smoke, standing outside freezing, and at $6 a day, my budget just couldn’t take it anymore…

At first it was kinda easy. Lots of my friends had quit and I just wasn’t around it anymore. Crazy as it sounds though, I really missed the “act” of smoking. I missed holding something, having an excuse to “step away” from whatever I was doing, having something to make the ‘commute’ less boring, etc… I missed “inhaling” something (yes, I know this is the point at which non-smokers think I’m crazy, but any of you who smoked more than just socially know what I mean…). All the years I’d smoked I’d always wished there was some healthy alternative. But quitting always meant giving up the “smoking” part of smoking. Chewing gum (ya get an oral fix and some nicotine, but your jaw can only take so much…); the patch(a continuous dose of nicotine with nothing to satisfy the other parts of the habits -- and you get really messed up dreams…); chantix ( expensive, but for the nicotine addiction part -- it works… The depression however I could do without… No need to mess up my brain chemistry that way…)

Along comes the e-cig. I know I’d heard of ‘em, but never really considered it. A few friends suggested it, but I thought I’d just go “traditional” and try quitting with the gum… Then I tried one… And I researched it. And for some reason it took a second to put two and two together, but here right in front of me was that mythological “healthier” alternative I’d been dreaming existed! Could it be -- I could resume the parts of smoking I enjoyed, while skipping all the bad stuff, and still ween myself off Nicotine (which by the way, may or may not be as bad for you as some may have you think -- studies show health benefits including positive effects against depression, alzheimer’s, parkinsons, and diabetes to name a few…)… Needless to say, I was pretty excited… Sure, I was 9 or 10 weeks into this latest attempt to quit, but the gum chewing was getting old quick (and it’s not the cheapest stuff out there either) and I could already sense that will to stay a non-smoker breaking down a bit… (Plus the techie geek part of me saw this as a neat gadget…an added bonus).

This would probably be a good spot for a little technical review for those of you who don’t know or understand what and e-cig or vaping is…(see I like to pretend like people read this…tee hee). I’m going to borrow a bit from the Wikipedia entry on e-cigs, but essentially it goes a little something like this…

An e-cigarette is a battery-powered device that provides inhaled doses of nicotine or non-nicotine vaporized solution….this vapor also provides a flavor and physical sensation similar to that of inhaled tobacco smoke, while no smoke or combustion is actually involved in its operation. See I bolded a few important bits right off the top there? You can get this with no nicotine, and there’s no combustion (the primary part of burning tobacco that previously filled my lungs with 1000′s of chemicals…). Let’s continue…While electronic cigarettes take many forms, they each generally employ the same basic components: a mouthpiece, a heating element, a rechargeable battery, and various electronic circuits.

Nicotine solutions sold separately for use in refillable cartridges are sometimes referred to as “e-liquid” or “e-juice”, and commonly contain some amount of flavoring, with hundreds of different flavors available. They consist of nicotine dissolved in propylene glycol (PG) and/or vegetable glycerin (glycerol) or VG. Both PG and VG are common food additives. PG has been used as the aqueous-based chemical additive in asthma inhalers and nebulizers since the 1950s, with no serious side effects known. So essentially the amount of chemicals and garbage being inhaled is not even close to what goes in your body when smoking ‘analog’ cigarettes.

So it boils down to this… Sure, ultimately I suppose partaking in NONE of the previous items would be the best health option. But much like enjoying an occasional alcoholic beverage or a chocolaty desert, there are things we as humans enjoy that aren’t spectacularly healthy for us, and if I can reduce the health risk by such a substantial amount, it seems like a good plan, ya?

That brings me to some of the lunacy I discovered as I read up on vaping (it really makes no sense to call it smoking, as there’s no smoke…).  See, it seems the mere existence of e-cig’s as an alternative to smoking or pharmaceutical nicotine cessation solutions is a serious threat. So much so, there’s some crazy law proposals on the books right now. South Carolina and Oregon are trying to include e-cig’s in the umbrella of smoking bans, essentially forcing vapers to occupy the same smoking areas with the smoke they’re trying to get away from… The FDA is trying to get weird regulations passed as well and even some groups feel that because “less harm” isn’t “no harm”, these things shouldn’t exist. They’ve even gone as far as citing “potential for public confusion” as a possible reason to ban e-cigs. The CASAA is a great place to keep on top of current legal battles…

That brings me to a quick note on the vaping community. See, I had a bit of a delay between ordering my e-cigs and receiving them (backordered, weather delays, weekends & holidays, etc). But this gave me a chunk of time to really dive in and understand not only the Bloog product (which I swear I’ll touch on before this post is over), but what an amazing group of people appear to be out that there championing this not only as a way to stay off regular smokes, but as a completely different activity. It reminded me at first of  the beer aficionados… Sharing tips and techniques, recipes, opinions… There’s obviously this activity as a common ground, but what’s remarkable is the wealth of information being put out there and the willingness to share with us ‘noobs’ to the vaping experience… Just a quick few links I’ve checked often already include the ECF, Vapers Forum,  GrimmGreen, Vapenstein, and VapeTV. There’s tons more as well, including vaper meetups and podcasts…

So that (finally) brings me to the Bloog MaxxFusion, the e-cig I decided to go with. I sampled a few others but after checking out some of these sites, I found again and again rave reviews of the Bloog. I basically started to put together the interesting tale of “Leaford“, someone who’d been a big part of the early days of the vaping community, so much so that he’s brought his expertise to a number of places to improve the overall quality and experience of vaping and the hardware involved. Turns out, he’s now helping Bloog create their latest product -- the MaxxFusion. Improvements in battery life, better vapor and stability in cartomizors, etc. It’s actually a great story…

Well I knew I wasn’t ready to jump into mod’s (custom built units for vaping -- they come in every shape and size you can imagine), but I wanted a quality starter kit.  This Vapenstein review was really what sold me, but I also recommend checking out Grimm Green’s review as well (I’ll stick it at the end of the post). These guys are well respected (from what I can tell) in the vaping community, and both gave some love to this product.

I decided earlier this evening to write a noob review of my first few hours with the Bloog over on the ECF, so I’ll plop a condensed version here (I mean I’ve been typing for an hour now…this is easily the longest post spipasucci.com has ever seen…). But as a note, if anyone has interest and would like me to include more info about my foray into vaping down the raod, drop me a line or a comment -- I’ll be happy to oblige…

The Bloog MaxxFusion Ultimate Starter Kit & Additional Cartos:

Nice packaging, easy to tell what was what, and some nice quick directions included… I decided to charge the batteries (didn’t check if they had any charge to them, but since the kit came with a passthru (a usb version that runs off a usb cord instead of a battery),  I figured I’d start with that…)…
The hit was super smooth, nice blast of vapor, easy to drag… There seems to be no delay to it (some e-cigs, especially automatic need what is called a ‘primer puff’ to sort of activate and get rollin…)

The cartos: (the pre-filled cartomizors -- ie: the things that give the flavor and produce the vapor…) I ordered the ‘Red’ with the kit and then a pack of ‘Coffee’ & ‘RY4′ (all 11mg Nicotine)… The Red is a nice taste. More of a nutty taste than a true tobacco taste, but I kinda dig it. It tastes the ‘cleanest’ of the 3 to me (meaning I guess the least amount of ‘flavor’). I still think I need to adjust to all the variety… There’s zero harshness to me (in any of the cartos I tried) which is nice as I just got past a nasty cold…

Next I tried the Coffee… To me it’s much more of a mild hint of caramel than coffee. Being my first try at a “non-tobacco” flavor, I have to say I quite enjoyed it as well… I could see this being a nice morning vape or post-meal vape for sure…

Last there’s the RY4. I’d say, of the 3 I tried, this may be my favorite (though they are all quite pleasing). The website describes a hint of caramel taste in this, but I still felt the coffee was closer to a hint of caramel. There’s a definite sweetness there however… I’m sure I have a lot of experimenting to do before I can better accurately describe vape flavors…

Overall, I’m super thrilled with this product and can seriously see this keeping me away from analog cigarettes for good… There’s a definitive cost savings as well as an obvious health benefit over my previous ways… And, if I get to meet and talk with some great folks along the way, all the better!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI-X0hleKrI

                          

So somewhere along the way I must have signed up for some info on this… I don’t recall, but today I got an email about it, so I thought I’d check it out… It’s called OnLive and according to the site it’s basically cloud gaming… I was pretty skeptical and I’m not exactly on the world’s speediest laptop, but I thought I’d give it a shot. It’s free to signup and there’s tons of free demos. Oh, and it looks like there is an iPad app as well…

Surprisingly, it actually runs real well… And the Demos are time based (30 minute chunks…not bad) at which time you could either pay a small fee to play for a longer time (I believe 3 hours) or in larger chunks (some I believe you can buy unlimited time)… It’s an interesting idea to say the least, and based on how it ran during my quick hour of experience, I’d say if they can get the word out, there’s probably a market for it… So if yer bored and looking for something to kill some time that could actually interest you further (especially if you’re like me and your most modern gaming system is the original X-Box), this is worth checking…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Lqkz5UJHbY

                          

When it comes to all things Twitter I’ve found nothing better than ‘TweetDeck’. At least for the desktop (I’ve begun using TweetDeck for iPhone recently again because I’m now managing more than one Twitter account, but I actually prefer the basic ‘Twitter’ app… But that’s another geek post topic for another time…)

Well, I’m not about to get all techy here and there are about a million reviews of all the twitter desktop clients out there, but the reason for this post is actually more about trying to tackle all the following I’ve been doing lately (spipasucci is following 543 folks already…).  So I guess I’m asking those of you who do quite a bit of following… Got any tips?

With the recent launch of spipmusic (and thus a new twitter feed to manage), I’m gonna try to bump all my music blog & band related follows over to that account. I started messing with lists, but man that’s a pain to keep up with. I could just go on an ‘unfollow’ mission (as many people seem to do with facebook friend “purges”), but I really dig a lot of the stuff I’ve been getting to see lately (especially the funny peoples – there’s a crapton of funny stuff flying by all day…)

So if ya have any tips or suggestions, feel free to throw me a comment… Also, since it’s a friday and I don’t usually do the #ff (follow friday) thing, here’s some of that previously mentioned “crapton” of funny worth checking out…

@tinaisall, @thesulk, @DamienFahey, @plasticdeer, @bazecraze, @BoweKnows, @JessCallMeJaydi, @kristygee, @pomranz, @yoyoha, @bubblebathos,@MrsRupertPupkin, @TheJamieLee, @ChelseaVPeretti, @jennyslate25, @TheSteveAgee, @amyschumer, @jennyandteets, @colinkane, @kellyoxford, @michaelaWat, @robhuebel, @AmberTozer, @KrystalGibbon, @nickkroll, @robdelaney, @jordanrubin, @paulscheer, @morgan_murphy, ….. to name a few (cuz this is exhausting so I’m not listing anymore so get over it… you’ll have to find others on your own…)

                          

Exquisite Clock Presentation from Joao Wilbert on Vimeo.

I just stumbled onto this site and am really blown away by some of the stuff found here. Most of the stuff is not only very functional, but truly creative and inspiring works of art. Its an entirely different and stunning way to take this piece of digital technology and craft into it some fascinating ideas…

Plastikman Live @ Paris, Villette Sonique from CPU on Vimeo.

                          

WordPress › Blog » WordPress 3.0 “Thelonious”.
So I made the leap and upgraded this and my iPhoneography blog to WordPress 3.0. and WOW… First off – easiest and smoothest upgrade yet (although I never really had issues before except having to upgrade the mySQL stuff one time). Within seconds there was a very noticible jump in page load speed, not only in the dashboard and admin of wordpress, but on my blog itself… I felt it was getting a little sluggish and thought it was because of all the plugins. Now my blog is kicking along faster (guess that should be another motivation to update it more often…). I’d say for anyone using it but waiting to go ahead and make the leap to 3.0!