That’s a Wrap

It's not very often you get to go back and revisit something you worked on in the past. That's why I got really excited when I heard my class reunion was coming up. Instantly, I remembered that I always wanted to revisit the Senior Video with the fresh eyes of a professional. If I had my way, it would have been completely redone from the camera tapes, but (as I've discovered over the years) nothing is ever that easy.

Most of the tapes don't exist anymore. Some were destroyed, some were lost, and many of them are sitting somewhere at the High School. Luckily, I came across the master tapes for Prom, some of the masters for the ditch days, and some master tapes I never even knew existed.

So back in June, I set out to restore and revamp the Senior Video. It started out slow, mainly because I was too lazy to dive head first into a major quagmire. Like Iraq, I was afraid there'd be no getting out after I got in.

The only copy I still have of the finished video from 1998 is in pretty bad shape. So it took a lot of Photoshopping and color correction to get the shots I don't have anymore somewhat passable. It doesn't look as good as the remastered Prom segment, but it looks pretty comparable with the VHS copies that went out in 1998.

Since I was already there fixing things, I went whole hog on the editing. Removing cuts inside transitions (ugh), tightening up the pace, and (in some cases) creating a completely new segment. All while trying to give the video a new theme: one of success, not tragedy.

Sure, we miss our friends, but we all went out and did pretty well for ourselves. The world didn't end at graduation. That's what the new video represents.

So it's locked and in the can. Just waiting until after my next sleep cycle to start authoring the DVD. After that, preparations turn to the screening at the reunion. I still have to get Sherri to sew the projection screen, and I have to make some last minute structural modifications to the frame.

What I'm not looking forward to is the week immediately following the reunion. I'm going to be swamped with orders, and manufacturing one disc at a time could take a while. Having a duplication house do it would exceed my budget. If I went that route, I'd have to charge $24.95 on each disc just to break even.

So my distribution plan is as follows:

As soon as money comes in, print off 200 copies of the DVD label and case label.
Prepare packaging for shipment.
Burn and QC discs over the weekend.
Ship a wave of discs on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

12:03 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

I See a White Door and I Want it Painted Black

We're switching rooms with the kid this week. That means painting two rooms and fixing all the little problems that come up. It's SUPER-FUN!

Two days down, and Room 1 (our new room) is almost finished. All it needs now is the new ceiling fan installed, and all of the outlets replaced. Then it's ready to move in.

As it turns out, Sherri stole the look of my edit bay. Light tan walls with black accents. But the black ceiling looks way better in the room. We saw a plank wood ceiling painted black, and fell in love with the look, so that's the inspiration we went with. I wanted to cover the ceiling in black wainscot to get the look exact, but money became an issue.

When we get some fund replenished, I'm building a 7-ft tall black headboard with recessed art displays and lighting. It's going to make one hell of a statement.

The kid is getting an upgrade out of the baby room decor into big boy coolness. We're going vintage airplane in there, complete with models (nothing from the Jet Age is allowed) hanging from the ceiling.

My only concern is crawling under the house to move the Dish cable into the new room. I hate small spaces, and I hate spiders. I could very well freak out and die down there... forever haunting the 24-inches under the house.

8:19 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

The End of a Long Day
Current mood: accomplished

I woke up at 6:45 this morning to take Aiden to school. After that, it was an all-day cram fest of editing.

I forgot to get samples of my graphics work together for a job I'm pursuing, so I flew through cutting a new graphics reel in just under an hour. I tweaked my Editor's Reel after that and had everything up on a server by the afternoon. Not bad.

But the editing didn't stop. I've given myself a week to re-cut and restore the 1998 Senior Video. The reunion isn't until August 30th, but with this possible job coming up in the next few weeks, I wanted to get it done before I'm suddenly tossed into the life of having no life again.

Epic progress was made. I finished six 4-minute segments (all in varying degrees of completion.) Three of those had to be cut from scratch, which means exporting still of the nasty old video, cleaning them up in Photoshop, then bringing them back in and rough cutting them to the new music mix.

Now, if I had just been able to work that fast on the infomercial job, I wouldn't have had to stay 18 hours to make the deadline...

8:23 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

I Can’t Sleep So I’m Posting a Survey

A is for age: 28

B is for beer of choice: Gordon Biersch Dunkles

C is for career: Editor

D is for your dog's name: Koda (next Pug will be Kenai)

E is for essential item you use everyday: Lighter

F is for favorite TV show at the moment: Psychic Kids

G is for favorite game: Lego Star Wars

H is for hometown: I moved too much to have a hometown.

I is for instruments you play: Used to play violin and viola.

J is for favorite juice: Eh. I'm more of a Vitamin Water guy.

K is for whose butt you'd like to kick: My kid's preschool teacher.

L is for last restaurant you ate at? Jose's.

M is for marriage: Been married almost 2 months.

N is for number of piercings: 0

O is for overnight hospital stays: Never.

P is for people you were with today: Sherri, Aiden, and my mom.

Q is for what you do with your quiet time: What quiet time?!

R is for biggest regret: Not going to school sooner.

S is for status: Locked and loaded.

T is for time you woke up today: 7:30am

U is for are you unique: Just like everyone else!

V is for the vegetable you like? Tie between broccoli and brussel sprouts.

W is for worst habit: Smoking/Procrastinating.

X is for x-rays you've had: I pretty much glow in the dark.

Y is for yummy food you ate today: Well, "yummy" is a matter for debate. But I had Dominos.

Z is for zodiac sign: Capricorn


PART 2.

Are there certain things that can't be joked about?
Yes. Hybrid Cars of the Third Reich.

Would you rather be a taxi driver, a doctor, or an accountant?
Accountant. (A really bad one, because I suck at math.)

Have you ever hung upside down from the side of your bed till you felt spacey?
Yes.

What is one thing you would like people to say about you at your funeral?
Funniest guy I ever knew.

Do you think everyone is a little crazy?
I think everyone is a lot crazy.

Do you have a best friend to lean on?
Sherri.

If you could go back in time and change something, what would it be?
I'd start using Rogaine when I was like, 5.

Are you happy with your life at the moment?
Absolutely.

What's the worst thing anyone has ever done to you?
Gave me blue balls at Disneyland. Try walking five miles with marbles the size of grapefruits and tell me you don't want to vomit.

What are you listening to?
Nothing.

Do you support abortions?
In certain cases, I would. But being retarded enough to not take precautions is not one of them.

Doesn't a minute seem much longer when you're waiting and watching time?
Yes.

What's the first thing you do when waking up in the morning?
Curse the sun.

Seven days from now, will you be in a relationship?
Yes.

Where is your number two person on your friends list?
I don't remember who my number 2 is.

Who do you not get along with?
Internet people.

Did you ever lose a best friend?
Only when I moved.

Are you anything like you were at this point last year?
No. Now I have the beard of awesomeness.

Would you date someone 20 years older than you?
OMFG. You can die for putting that image in my head.

Do you miss someone today?
Nah, not really.

How did your day start off?
Like it always does... with some Yo Gabba Gabba.

Are you waiting for something?
Waiting to fall asleep.

Have you ever read an entire book in one day?
I read two books to Aiden at bedtime. So technically, yes. But anything at my reading level takes me decades to finish.

Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance?
No. You can maybe earn it.

What is bothering you right now?
Figuring out how to balance one of my projects that has a hard deadline with possible employment.

Was New Years enjoyable?
Nah. We're boring old people.

How's the weather today?
Dark and cool right now.

When was the last time you were truly, completely happy with your life?
The operative word is "completely" so I'd have to say never. There's always something that isn't perfect.

Would you be able to date someone who had a kid with someone else?
I'm married to one, and he's the coolest kid ever.

What do you miss most about the past?
Not being judged for disciplining your child.

Did any of your friends go out with any of your ex's?
I'm not sure.

Is there something that has happened in your past that you really hate talking about?
When my mom found dirty pictures of me and my wife. I disappear when she brings that crap up.

Do you drink milk?
No. I usually get soy in my Starbucks, and that's it.

If you could get back in touch with one person you've lost touch with, who would it be?
I'm in contact with all the people I want to be in contact with.

How often do you do laundry?
Whenever I run out of clothes.

What color shirt are you wearing?
Brown.

Do you regret anything?
I regret eating so much pizza. I hate pizza poops in the morning.

How much older than you is your 2 person on your top?
Again, i don't remember who is in my top 10.

Do you find it easier to forgive or forget?
Forgive. I never forget.

Have you ever talked to someone when they were high?
Um... yes.

Who was the last girl you hugged?
Sherri.

Who was the last guy you hugged?
I don't hug guys.

Whats one thing you really want to do but haven't gotten the chance yet?
Make a shitload of money.

9:45 AM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Oh This is Just Silly
Current mood: annoyed

While QCing the tape, we noticed that some of the graphics are causing abrupt color shift on lower tracks at graphic cuts. Everyone is at a loss as to how to fix the issue, but I'm almost certain that it's being caused by mishandled alpha channels. How to fix that on a tight deadline, I don't know. It can't really be done. So I'm attempting to jerry-rig a fix so we can get a somewhat clean master.

I'm also willing to bet that if I ran this thing through BetaSP, we wouldn't even see the shift. But alas, we have to master to DigiBeta, which means we have to watch our colors closely.

Regardless, today is my last day. Hopefully all goes well and we're not running down to tackle the FedEx guy at the 6:30 pickup.

9:45 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

FALL BACK!

Okay, so I had to use my fall back dates because of some monumental hardware problems yesterday, which put into question my reliability on this job.

Today has gone smooth. I made all the changes needed in a matter of an hour, and things were looking good for us to make the 5:30 pickup for FedEx.

However, at the last minute, we get a note to add a tiny little "plus S&H" in the offer areas. That one tiny title unrendered all of the offer areas, and I've taken the better part of the past hour and a half to re-render before mastering to tape.

So here it is, 4:30. Enough time to lay off to tape, but no time to QC the damn thing before sending it out.

Fuck me.

4:32 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

The End is Near! REPENT! REPENT!

I'm finally wrapping up this infomercial job this week. (For real, this time.) That's why I'm sitting in the office on a Sunday, relinking media, color correcting, and getting everything prepped for the last bit of legal tweaking on Monday, then output Monday afternoon. Tuesday and Wednesday I'm keeping reserved for fall back and post-mastering organizational stuff.

What was supposed to be a two week job turned into a month, so I can't complain. I've made a lot of money

I'm not sure what I'm going to do after this job wraps up. I think I've decided that direct response is just too hectic, and has too little room for creativity for me. So I'm going to attempt to get back into the fun stuff on the other side of the hill. It pays less, but I get more. That's all I care about.

3:26 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Update O’ Life: 5/14/08

One week. One week until the big day. I wish I could say I'm nervous, but I'm not. I really scored when I found Sherri. She supports me in more ways than anyone else has. You know, other girlfriends or friends... or even family that did more to encourage my old lifestyle than push me to find a new one.

If it weren't for her, I wouldn't be in this wonderful place ripping my hair out over mis-wired systems, outputs that don't work, and the stress of getting this project that's already way late out the door by the end of the week. Thanks, Sherri. Thanks for nothing... haha, j/k. You know I love you.

Speaking of work, things seem to be going smoothly for the time being. It turns out that the second day of every week is the "bad" day. The day when nothing goes right, I miss deadlines, and drive home so pissed off that I black out for miles at a time.

Today started with a bang. I ripped the system apart and rewired everything so the DVD recorder is properly hook up for good. I burned two discs that went bad for a variety of reasons, but the third one looks to be good. (it's finalizing as I type.)

I'm done next Tuesday at the latest, then I'm moving on to other potential projects starting up next month. Unless I get a call-back from this job.

So it looks like things are taking off after the writer's strike put me out of commission for the past six months. I'm making good money, good connections, and a miserable drive. Middle-class... I have arrived!

10:29 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Weekend! Woo-hoo!

It's the end of week one of my freelance gig in Century City. I'm effing tired. I have a 3-1/2 hour drive in the morning, and hour at night. I also have to get there early to get a spot in the $10 parking lot. The saving grace: Starbucks is on my way to Century Plaza. And there's a dude in there that makes the best quad-shot caramel macchiato ever.

We should be wrapped by mid-week, when I'll part ways with the company and start fishing around for other leads. Already working on one that's going to put me in the direction I want to be moving.

10:17 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Okay, So No One Died

Well, the $5k is gone. I guess the upside is she only owes $900 after this whole clusterfuck.

As far as the wedding goes, it's still on. We made a deal with her mom to pay for it through her. Otherwise, we'd have an entire guest list to call and cancel with. It would have sucked given how excited my family got that they're all going to be in the same place at the same time for the first time in decades.

So it seems we've dodged the bullet... this time.

2:47 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment