In the first time in a long time, I headed out and saw a flick ‘solo’… And it was great! There’s a million reviews out there already, so I won’t give some long winded tale about this movie… But let’s just say, it’s refreshing to watch an edgy comedy that pulls no punches. Raunchy good times non stop…

I will say nearly the entire cast was awesome. But Jennifer Aniston and Charlie Day steal the movie. It has to go without saying that Aniston is pretty stunning in the movie, but not just visually. With a mouth like a sailor, every scene of hers is drop dead funny. Charlie Day pulls off oddball goofs like no other and its great to finally see him get a starring role in a film… Rush out and catch this movie (unless of course you’re offended by just about anything…then steer clear and go see that horrible looking new Kevin James talking animals movie…).

On that note… Red Band Trailer (NSFW).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpjupmLhzwc

                          

Just watch…

                          

I am absolutely sucked in to all the fantastic work going on these days with DSLR photography and video and having recently purchased one of my own, am certainly looking forward to getting more and more creative with my own shooting. Philip Bloom is a London based Director and Filmmaker who has a TON of fantastic stuff online, much of it done in a learning/experimenting capacity. His tips are invaluable and there’s days of material to absorb.

His latest piece on Vimeo explores working with HDR Timelapse photography and the results are fascinating.. Everyone knows what timelapse is, but in case you don’t understand HDR photography, it’s essentially High Dynamic Range photography; (via wikipedia:”a set of techniques that allow a greater dynamic range of luminance between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than current standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods.”).

The video itself is pretty stunning (I especially like all the stuff that starts around the 1:40 mark), and it’s helped by one of my favorite soundtrack pieces – ‘Moon’ by Clint Mansell… Even better, Philip has put a detailed 30 minute “commentary” track on his site about the technical stuff surrounding this undertaking, and this further enhances the piece. The shots of Vegas architecture and energy are well worth your time…

                          

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…

                          

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

                          

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FavUpD_IjVY

So yesterday I’m stumbling around Vimeo to find something to post on the music blog,  and caught this video by Eskmo. I was absolutely blown away by what was done with some basic city footage to create an stunning music video. So a few clicks later and I’m completely captivated by the motion animation of one Cyriak Harris, a freelance animator from Brighton, UK.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCBBQ9AaKY4

His site is chock-full of not only some great illustration work, but tons of fantastic video pieces… I think what grabs me the most right off the bat (besides my love for things bizarre), is how well motion video is manipulated and mixed with the motion graphics and illustration work to create such frenzied and visually rich material. Mutated hands, morphed animals and mind boggling landscapes made of pieces parts of what is probably basic video footage. I’d love to see some sort of breakdown of one of his pieces (like a video walkthrough of some of the tricks he’s pulling off in Photoshop and After Effects…).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqULTO4SOqU

The music video stuff is great and even the ‘goofing around’ short pieces are not only hilarious, but just spectacular to watch… You’d be remiss not to subscribe to his youtube channel and keep an eye out for more…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKlCIR654Ho

                          

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

                          

A month or so ago, David Lynch announced a video contest on Genero.tv for two new songs he’d recently released. (I so want to enter one of these someday – eventually I’ll get the needed equipment, software & time…).

Well, fast forward to January 3rd and the winners have been announced. Both the videos are ‘really’ impressive, especially given the relatively short timeframe. I’m sure anyone who’s a fan of Mr. Lynch already has some quirky visual ideas in their head, but both the winning videos (in their own way) capture both the mood of the chosen song as well as meshing nicely with the style and mood we all expect for anything related to Lynch’s creative body of work… I had some trouble getting the genero.tv video embeds to work, so you’ll have to click the images below to view the videos (and I highly recommend you do… I mean, it’s 9 minutes total that will enrich your day, that can’t be bad, right?)

GOOD DAY TODAY – David Lynch

Directed by Arnold de Parscau, this video is simply described as “A little boy is having dinner with his family.” Of course, there’s much more than that here. I love the slow paced shots and the transitions into the mind/imagination of the boy was very well done. The settings/environments are smothered in a beautiful darkness. The ending (I won’t spoil) felt a little forced but still works well.

I KNOW – David Lynch

Directed by Tamar Drachli (and shot solely on a Canon 7D!), this video is my favorite of the two. The story is a little more subtle (listed as “A man obsessed by the woman that left him tries to bring her back through the remote control”), but is still very captivating. Great use of natural lighting, nice cuts and shadows, striking close-ups and compelling pace.

All in all it looks like this was a successful venture for Genero.tv, and it looks like they’ve already got some new video contests running (for Duran Duran & OMD to name a few). A nice way to generate some stunning user content. I hope to get the chance later to browse some of the other contest submission and this will definitely be a site I’ll keep my eye on…