Manipulators
Another Perfect Catastrophe
Unfocused, Biased, Irreverent & Irrelevant. A bit like you.
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Los Angeles Area VFX Studios
November 12, 2009 Filed in: Older Content By:
In case you haven’t heard me yapping about my online visual effects tracking and collaboration software, VFX Nexus, well, here I am to do it again.
I’m offering to come meet any studio that wants to take a look at VFX Nexus for use in their collaboration and shot tracking. I’ll also do the initial configuration customized for your studio. Keep in mind it also works great for you independent producer types. More info here.
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Adventures in DRM
November 10, 2009 Filed in: Older Content By:
This post is part praise, part cautionary tale. In short, I was able to get a reasonable response from Apple’s iTunes customer support when some of my iTunes Plus upgrades failed to download properly. However, there is some content that looks like it will not be upgraded–ever?
iTunes, at the beginning, had a controversial form of Digital Rights Management, called FairPlay. Personally, I thought it was one of the least restrictive and better working forms of DRM, but it wasn’t without its problems, and causes people to this day to remain weary of the iTunes store, despite the fact that they have gone DRM free for their music files. This change happened over a year ago, with the wide adoption of their iTunes Plus format–a format I am very happy with. Great quality music files, no DRM tangling up my enjoyment.
I recently combed through my rather extensive music collection, and I kept running into titles that still had DRM on them (AAC Protected, they are called). I emailed a list of most of these, cross-referenced with the order numbers from iTunes. Having to search and match order numbers to tracks is a mind-numbingly painful experience. Especially when the iTunes store tends to have an occasional fit where it bounces you offline, causing you to have to log in again.
The response was mostly helpful in tone: go do all the things the online documentation already told you to do. Otherwise, our servers report that all downloads happened successfully (They didn’t. I know what I’m doing… and why some tracks within an order downloaded and others didn’t is a bit of a mystery.). I replied that I tried all these things, and tacked on a few more orders I was able to look up in the meantime. They reauthorized me for download on most of these tracks. It took a while, but it was worth the hassle.
Now, the tracks that are still not iTunes Plus-ified… what of them? It looks like it’s not happening. From the email (emphasis mine):
I understand you were unable to find the missing upgrades using the directions I provided. I can certainly appreciate your concern and I am delighted to assist you with this today.
I have posted the missing orders to your account. Due to the length of time since these items were ordered, it was necessary to post the full orders back. The reason the items you listed that were not upgraded was because the versions you purchased are no longer available in the store.
Oh… but they are.
Case in point, Tom Waits, Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards. Won’t be upgraded. Not sure the exact reason, but I think it’s because it was renamed to the simper (cleaner?) tile, “Orphans.” merely because an album name changed, or perhaps the record label changed hands, or any number of things that are out of my control, but should constitute the ability to download an upgrade to iTunes Plus files. I wanted to play the game, but for now I am stuck with substandard, protected files on a rather extensive investment in music.
Bad movies…
August 10, 2009 Filed in: Older Content By:
(At least this one isn’t PJ’s fault…), I saw Rise of Cobra. Some really good effects, the scene where they’re chasing an H2 through Paris was damn good. Otherwise, crap. Most everything predictable, dialog written in crayon (they actually said “knowing is half the battle” twice).
Remote Blogging About Nothing
July 22, 2009 Filed in: Older Content By:
I’m still caught up in the technical aspects of getting this blog going so we’ll have maximal cromulence once it’s primetime. Last few days I figured out how to redirect the old RSS feeds to the new one. It’s easier than I could have anticipated ( “There’s a plugin for that!” could be Wordpress’s slogan ). Now I’ve set up blogging via iPhone. And therefore I’m attaching a picture of my cat just to make sure it all clicks.
Hello there again, 2009
June 3, 2009 Filed in: Older Content By:
Working on some more web stuff. Amazing how quickly things move along when you’re not paying attention. I gotta post something new to this blog just to check stuff out! Look for more coming soon… don’t know if that means it will be here or elsewhere, but something will happen!
VFX Nexus
January 23, 2009 Filed in: Older Content By:
It’s been a while since I’ve contributed to this sleepy little blog. There’s been a lot going on these days! One of the last, big projects I just got to the point of “going live” is VFX Nexus. It’s the tool I’ve been honing along with my business partners for years. I’m pretty dang proud of it, and I’m looking forward to hearing how other people are getting along with using it.
It was designed to compliment and simplify the ways I like to work when doing VFX production. I’ve been leading teams for years now, and the artists really seem to like the straightforward workflow we have going. It’s almost like a version of Getting Things Done specialized for Visual Effects, and put in a website.
November 7, 2008 Filed in: Older Content By:
Am I the only one a bit worried by Bush playing up everything his administration is doing to smoothly hand over power?
A: It’s no big deal. Has been done about every 4-8 years dozens of times now.
B: How often does this administration do anything competently?
C: How many times has Bush announced he’s doing something while actually doing the opposite, like all the things he praised in State of the Union addresses that he cut severely the very next budget? Also the promises that use of force would be a ‘last resort’ in Iraq and that he needed the authorization to provide diplomatic pressure.
An open letter to all members of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences:
July 17, 2008 Filed in: Older Content By:
Did you even watch Andromeda Strain? I know you received a screener of it. Was “For Your Consideration” and “Produced by Ridley Scott” all you needed to know about it to carbon copy its’ name back onto the nominations form?
4 hours of the most embarrassing, mindless dreck I watched this year–an absolute slap in the face to the original (which didn’t have a single element that wasn’t far and away superior–37 years ago–to this committee-stamped low budget travesty) gets SEVEN god-damned nominations?
Let’s put that in a little perspective. 13 hours of Battlestar Galactica got 6 nominations (counting one for a short-form featurette). The final Season of THE WIRE got exactly ONE NOMINATION–and THE WIRE has never been nominated for Best Drama. But, again, Andromeda Strain 2008 gets SEVEN NOMINATIONS.
I really hope whatever payola or influence peddling the production company used on you was worth both your personal dignity and whatever little dignity was left in your academy. I now have more respect for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Mini-review of old-news Vantage Point.
June 30, 2008 Filed in: Older Content By:
Flying on a nice shiny Air Canada Embraer 190 yesterday I had the time to watch an inflight movie, so finally got around to seeing Vantage Point.
(I think I already know the answer to this, but…) Is it just me rooting for somebody to die when they make stupid decisions in movies, even if they’re traumatized little girls running across a busy road to their mommy? And that they show the murdering terrorist having time to make the exact wrong choice for his character, entirely unmotivated by a single frame of film that came before… It would’ve been so much more fun to watch if he’d made the pragmatic, logical decision…
And what the hell is it with misuse of video switchers in movies? Don’t some of the people working on film come from a *telecommunications* and film background, having had actually used a switcher for at least 5 minutes in college? You *switch* (hence the name video SWITCHer) cameras during a newscast (and just about everything else–except to occasionally mix things up during a concert–maybe), you do not do a fucking dissolve or Video Toaster wipe every take. Sheesh, I thought it was well established that the T-bar was only used TO FIRE THE DEATH STAR!
All that said, I liked the movie better than I thought I would. It was a good enough movie that I was pissed it wasn’t even better.
Separated At Birth?
June 19, 2008 Filed in: Older Content By:
I have to admit, as one of the 36 purchasers of WindowsMe, I immediately thought of the
similarity of the logos when Apple revealed it.
[pic of WindowsMe and MobileMe logos that I can't get to upload through blogger, dammit]
My current opinion of mobileMe (without having touched it, and I’m acting as if you care,
since it works in the Windows and online world, too),
1) Still too expensive. Make it $40/yr, and I’ll consider it.
2) Not enough storage space to do anything revolutionary for me. I’m sure Apple wants to
make sure they aren’t competing with their own backup solution (TimeMachine).
3) Where was it 3 years ago, when it was really needed!? Nowadays, people can expect
to have a laptop with them at all times (at $500 a pop, why not?), along with their cool-guy-phone
(less than $500 a pop), so they would be syncing their phone contacts and their computer
contacts all on their primary computer.
4) I still think it will help out many a person, and the online email seems nifty. Don’t think
I need it though, and for mere fraction a month I get really sweet web hosting with a lot more space.
My current opinion of mobileMe (without having touched it, and I’m acting as if you care,
since it works in the Windows and online world, too),
1) Still too expensive. Make it $40/yr, and I’ll consider it.
2) Not enough storage space to do anything revolutionary for me. I’m sure Apple wants to
make sure they aren’t competing with their own backup solution (TimeMachine).
3) Where was it 3 years ago, when it was really needed!? Nowadays, people can expect
to have a laptop with them at all times (at $500 a pop, why not?), along with their cool-guy-phone
(less than $500 a pop), so they would be syncing their phone contacts and their computer
contacts all on their primary computer.
4) I still think it will help out many a person, and the online email seems nifty. Don’t think
I need it though, and for mere fraction a month I get really sweet web hosting with a lot more space.
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