Hot off the press - well, not 'press' but editor's computer I guess - is the first 'full' video production I've been involved in to date. I did all the lighting and a lot of the camera work too, over a mere two evenings. Editing - lots of chromakey work - took a week.

YouTube - Anticipation trailer contest (Mydeo, Canon, Digital Video)

Its up against some stiff competition, though, so I have no idea it if will win. This is the competition it was entered in.


Technorati tags: video trailer cinematography chromakey effects lighting camera

The Firefly/Serenity world gets another boost, this time from UK daily broadsheet The Guardian on Wednesday this week in an article on how SciFi and Fantasy has changed over the years. The author lists Firely as one of his five best shows, thus:

"2. Firefly (2002)
Set in the year 2517, when America and China have joined forces to become the somewhat sinister Alliance, a band of rogues, smugglers, criminals and reprobates - diamonds, the lot of them - struggle with existential problems more than they do with warp engines. Created by Joss Whedon, and often described as a western in space, it's more Deadwood than Bonanza. Cruelly cancelled after 14 episodes, it spawned the feature film, Serenity."

The Guardian | Sci-fi has never been more now

Play.com (UK) : Serenity : DVD - Free Delivery

play.com are currently offering the DVD of Serenity (the movie that Joss Wheedon got made against all the odds after the TV series Firefly was cancelled) for a mere 2.99 including postage. No excuses - get yerself a copy now!

Play.com (UK) : Serenity : DVD - Free Delivery

BBC NEWS | Technology | 'Day of silence' for US web radio

"'Day of silence' for US web radio
Web radio broadcasters across the US will hold a 'day of silence' on Tuesday in protest at plans to hike royalty payments when music is played online."

These new fees are yet another knee-jerk reaction by a tierd and old-fashioned US music industry to new technology, desparate to hold on their massive profits. When will they wake up to the fact that people end up bying music that they hear online - just like broadcast radio? All Internet radio stations should just stop broadcasting for a month to make the record companies realise how they help sales.

BBC NEWS | Technology | 'Day of silence' for US web radio

Was very lucky with the weather at today's motocross from the Northampton club at Whaddon near Milton Keynes. But unfortunately there were a couple of accidents in the morning, one of whic resulted in a rider loosing a finger. A full gallery of the day's photos is online now.

UniversalHD Boards

"Browncoats Unite! Join the Independent Militia"

Universal Studios (rather than Fox) appear to be gauging audience opinion on the continuation of the outstanding cowboys-in-space sci-fi series Firefly having launced a Firefly section to their HD message board.

UniversalHD Boards

Lisa (my niece) and Casey's wedding went off ok yesterday, despite the best efforts of the weather to spoil it. Personally I'd rather it rain than be baking hot, which is what we all expected for mid-June. I had been asked to be the official wedding photographer, but as I don't ever do weddings, of course I declined. Which was just as well, going by the 80 or so shots I did manage to take with one of the borrowed-from-work Ricoh 500SE-W cameras which was having trouble seeing its SD card.


Just emerged from the service - we had about 10 minutes before the rain started again; fortunately the reception was just a short walk.



Left to right: my eldest brother and father of the bride, bride Lisa, Lisa's mum, and Lisa's two grandmothers.



Left to right: groom Casey's grandmother, Lisa and Casey, and Casey's parents.



The cake.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Microsoft to reflect UK dialects

"Microsoft to reflect UK dialects
A Microsoft project to create downloadable dictionaries to reflect the UK's rich local dialect heritage is drawing to a close."

The next release of Vista will therefore include the following phrases:
"Windows is shite" - Northern England
"Windows is pants" - Home Counties
"Windows is crap" - Essex
"Windows is tawdry" - Kensington

BBC NEWS | Technology | Microsoft to reflect UK dialects

Apple - Safari 3 Public Beta

Apple have now made available a Windows version of their Safari web browser, touting speed as one of its prime attractions. Frankly anyone willing to put up with the time Windows takes to start up, shut down, or do pretty much anything, would probably put up with a web page taking the odd few seconds extra to load.

Apple - Safari 3 Public Beta

Some students at the Open University have made a 23 minute video, now hosted on Google Video, on their perceptions of Milton Keynes. Its a very impressive production:

MK - at first sight

BBC NEWS | England | London | MPs call for Olympic logo rethink

"MPs call for Olympic logo rethink
MPs have signed a series of Commons motions calling for a rethink of the 2012 London Olympics logo. In one, the Conservative MP Philip Davies described the design as 'childish and ridiculous' and 'a pathetic attempt to appear trendy'."

The biggest tragedy of this farce is that it has wasted £400,000 of Lottery money that could have gone to sport centres around the UK, currently crying out for money, to train the very altheletes who should be looking to compete in the 2012 Olympics.

BBC NEWS | England | London | MPs call for Olympic logo rethink

"US rejects German G8 climate goal
Washington says it will not agree to a deal on slashing greenhouse gas emissions at the G8 summit in Germany. A top US climate official [briefly removed his head from the sand and] said the G8 should not dictate members' policies..."

Well, what a surprise - not.

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | US rejects German G8 climate goal

Technorati tags: climate Bush G8 Washingon greenhouse gas CO2 emissions