Lost is back

so, season four starts tonight. Anybody still watching? Meg and I watched a little of the replay last night. It felt like an old friend was back. An old friend who’s really creepy.

Sluggish

I feel like I’ve been sluggish on the posting the past few days. You can usually take from that Ken’s really been on the go. In the past several days, my wife and both kids have all been sick. I’ve taken the two little ones to the doctor, each on separate days of course. If the doctors are right and medicines kick in properly, we should be pulling out by the weekend. So, that’s what’s been keeping me busy.

That, and this. Full review later.

Jesse Kirsch

I’m loving the portfolio of Jesse Kirsch. The Columbia Film Festival 2006 piece is especially awesome.

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iPhone bloglines

fans of the iPhone and bloglines rejoice. Try http://i.bloglines.com for an iPhone friendly experience.

HEMA – online animation

Ben T. clued me in on this… HEMA has a clever Flash site to demonstrate. At first, I thought “hmm, OK, I’ll just… close… this” but as it progressed I was impressed and found it to be a worthwhile use of my time to watch it for a few minutes.

Yes and No.

Yes and No.

Hand Shadow Puppetry

Gotta take some time to commit this to memory, Hand Shadow Puppetry guide.

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Who?

I saw this online the other day. However, instead of Chuck Norris, substitute Joel Yates.

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Mario Power-ups

Reminisce. Here’s a nice collection of Mario power-ups. If you were like me, beginning in 1985 with Super Mario Bros., these pixels are near and dear to my heart.

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Unleash 2008 promo

Unleash 2008, it’s coming. Which of you will I see there?

Hulu strategy

Hulu discusses its strategy and some details over at Techcrunch. I’m already a huge fan. Looks like it’ll be available to all of us sometime in March. Get in on that!

So you want to make art (job opening)

Think you have what it takes to create lovely moving works of art? Would you like to have a shot to do it at NewSpring? Well, this may be your chance.

I’m looking for someone to join my team in the area of production and motion content, specifically working for the children’s area.

I’d like to know who’s out there, who’s interested, and what your skills are. We are looking for a motion graphics artist / animator, not just a videographer. This is not an entry level or learning role; a functional proficiency will be required walking into this job.

The person who takes this role will need to meet the following:

- Loves Jesus and the mission and vision of NewSpring Church.
- Has the passion and skills to bring the vision of the children’s area to life
- Has working knowledge of animation programs (After Effects a must, 3D skills a huge bonus)
- Leadership potential, able to direct volunteers
- Be able to work full time
- Be able to demonstrate demo reel of your work

If you are interested, contact me at ken dot wilson at newspring dot cc, call the church offices at 864.226.6585, or find me through the contact form. Please email a current resume.

Eye-Fi

Eye-Fi looks to be incredible. It would save me a whole 4 minutes every 7 days.

Yes and No.

Yes and No.

Kid Koala / Moon River

Found a youtube clip of Kid Koala remixing Moon River which was my favorite piece he performed the other night. It’s slow, not what you’d typically expect from a DJ. At least fast forward to the middle (about 1:54) to catch the masterful solo. I would recommend enjoying the entire piece… it’s haunting.

DJ Shadow preshow video

Here’s the video they ran before the DJ Shadow set, explaining the process of vinyl mixing. Interesting, and sets up the concept well.

DJ Shadow / Cut Chemist + Kid Koala

Tonight, I ventured down to Atlanta to catch one of my all-time favorite musicians (and coincidentally, one of the 10 people I’ve vowed to see live in concert)… DJ Shadow. It was amazing, to say the least. DJ and Justin were kind enough to join me.

The show opened with Kid Koala on 4 decks. He’s a funny little fella, full of energy and just comical to watch. He mixed some great beats, but strangely his cover of “Moon River” stood out the strongest. You have to hear it to understand.

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Then there was an uncomfortable 45 minute downtime before the next act. One thing I observed, people will wait in anticipation in very uncomfortable conditions (hot, crowded, loud, smoky) to see an artist they love and respect.

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Finally, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist took the stage. There’s so much I heard I don’t believe I could accurately describe it. But a few things caught me as particularly impressive.

(1) DJ Shadow seems genuinely excited about every new 45 he put on his decks. There was a little smile, a twinkle, that showed he had something new coming. His attitude was contagious.

(2) The show started with an “instructional video” of sorts that explained their style of mixing. He then filled in the details. Basically, there were two DJs, 8 turntables, and they used 100% pure vinyl. No electronic samples, no computers, no CD players, no iPod. There were, however, some guitar pedals and a looping pedal for each DJ. But everything was sampled live. They made it a big point to explain they they’re pure vinyl and all live.

That may not sound all that impressive, but it’s incredible to see in motion.

(3) They mixed in some Pac Man and other 80s era video games.

(4) The best part was watching the interplay of the two DJs, perfectly in sync.

(5) They played the new work, The Hard Sell, in its entirety.

(6) They did not rely on repeating their past successful songs, no matter how much the audience demanded it. Rather, they pushed forward, innovated, and created something fresh and authentic.

(7) They used little remote web cams to show the action up close. They weren’t superior in quality at all, but they were 100% perfectly suited to enhance the show.

(8) The show ended with them scratching and remixing the solo to Metallica’s “One.”

That’s all I have time for tonight, I’m beat.

Whirlweekend

It’s been a great weekend, I recollect as I’m warm and cozy on my couch after a great Sunday. Joe Sangl brought a frenzied energy to the NewSpring stage today and a solid message to boot. Apparently there’s some sort of football game on, or that’s what they tell me. Today went well, especially with a few different production variables.

But the highlight of tonight was when I got home and checked on Gardner. He (of course) wanted me to tell him a story. Unless you live in my house, you probably haven’t heard this epic tale I’ve been developing with him for the past year or so. It began with a story of how he rides around in my Jeep Cherokee. Then it evolved. Then it evolved again (this time the cats are teaching him how to drive). A few thousand more iterations and I’ll just give you a glimpse, tonight Gardner requests this…

Can you tell me the story about the jeep and odyssey and ajala (those are our cats) and how we drived around and then the bulldozer and and the jeep is flat and then pancakes and we saw Tadbit (Gardner’s beloved stuffed frog) and Chick-fil-a and it was REAL LOUD and then Tadbit and little Tadbit were in the back and we went to Chuck-E-Cheese and then…

This goes on for about 3 minutes, a recounting of every minute detail ever told in a Jeep story to my son, all in one stream of consciousness utterance.

Of course, I’m then prompted to spin another Jeep tale, introducing new characters (tonight, we developed his green glowing night light character into a full featured actor with a back story) and new elements. I believe tonight they visited a factory in Germany where they make gears.

Why am I sharing this with you? Because I love being a Dad. And I love finding new ways to stretch creativity. Kids learn a lot from you (nearly everything in their first few years) and I love to show him what fun can come with just stretching your imagination. I don’t ever want Gardner to say “oh, I’m not creative.” I want to nurture his and Rainey’s little minds and allow then to grow rather than allow them to stifle. It really is a discipline.

PS – I totally got linked on Tony’s blog today.

Octane Coffee

Octane Coffee, now that’s a tag line. Plus, I hear they’re using a YWFT typeface.

In Rainbows, in full

I wish I’d been as lucky as these guys. But then, I do live across the pond (doesn’t that sound cool to say?). Is that the right pond?