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Wow! Getting work done is a GOOD thing!
2002-11-30 00:32:14
I did a lot and yet remarkably little today.
What I *DID* do was finish reading the Tupperware book, going through a chapter on Napoleonic armies, scan a book on sci-fi and decided to keep it for fringe opinions in my paper, trim and start VCD encoding Hairspray, work on a video segment, capture footage for an on-hold project, and eat 2 meals of leftovers (one of cinnamon rolls, the other of thanxgiving leftovers). I also paid my phone bill, which is good since Sunday is the day that late fees start piling on.
What I did *NOT* do was study for GRE, work on my graduate applications, revise my writing samples, clean my room, clean the common room, do my laundry, or take my suit to the dry cleaners. These are all on tomorrow's list, as well as having dinner at my sister's again.
If I'm lucky I'll also get to start part two of Hairspray - Part 1 is taking 23 hours because I've got the noise filter on a bit high. It may a bit higher than I really wanted, but this kinda needs it. Unfortunately I can't sample the file a bit of the way in. I also hope that it speeds up a bit overnight - I've had DivX files playing all day as well as capturing video, working in premiere, etc. and that takes up a lot of processes that would otherwise go to the encoding.
The AMV segment was remarkably simple to do short of a few awkward bits. The most time-consuming aspect so far has been to photoshop out a couple of moments of on-screen text and then re-importing them into premiere. It looks like I'm going to be safely under time for fitting this on a CD for Katsucon...and as long as my CDs get here soon, well on time for making my contest submission. Liner notes are gonna be hell tho. I should find out how many copies I need to print..
Anyhow, loyal readers, things are getting interesting. Finals are 2 weeks off, everything is coming to a head. -
fun fun fun until daddy took her t-bird away
2002-11-29 01:11:00
today was a pretty good day. woke up to find a reg key for iuVCR in my mailbox, which allowed me to 1)cap hairspray, 2)cap hairspray on the macy's parade, and 3)grab some clips for my current AMV project.
Also got some reading done. yay.
Had dinner at my sister's. Great stuff, there's leftovers in my fridge now as well as 3 bottles of Bitburger (YAY!!!!!!!).
The only other big news that I can think of is the fact that Ali Davis has quit her job as a porn clerk. For those who don't know who Ali Davis is or why this is important, this amazing woman has done a job that few would want to for over a year - worked as a clerk at a video store with a large porno section and then blogged about it. Her posts were intelligently written and always fascinating to read. Most people found out about her blogging because she was featured on NPR about it - which almost got her fired. For anyone with some free time this weekend, I highly recommend reading the archives: http://www.improvisation.ws/mb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4475
Good luck to Ms. Davis in her new profession. -
Get ready Baltimore....
2002-11-28 00:43:19
there's a bright brand-new day in store
let me out so this dream's unfurled
i'll eat some breakfast and change the world.
i promise Baltimore
once i cha-cha right out of this door
the world's gonna wake up and see
Baltimore and me...
Yup, I got my Hairspray video in the mail today. All I can say is WOW. This show kicks incredible ass and EVERYONE in the New York area should either drop their $60 for a show next year now or get their asses to the theatre at 7AM to get rush seats. I am DEFINATELY finding a way to see this show next time I'm in the city. The cast is amazing, the book is funny, and the music is WOW. For those who don't know, the score was written by the same guy who did the music for South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut. This is great stuff here musical fans, my CD is listed as shipped already from Amazon. I had to break my used CDs only whenever possible stance because the only used disc I could get when I placed my order was $0.50 cheaper - not worth the deal....and I had it originally tagged to an import. I split the order, though, so that I could get this sooner, meaning I effectively paid retail for this disc. Only for theatre.
There is a catch to all this. I'd been using a cracked program for my TV card software, and after patches and fixes to keep it working on its own, it gave in and refused to stabilize itself, so I had to shell out, leaving me effectively at $0 for this month's spendable money. I had been hoping to have some carryover too. I also bought a cleaning tape for my VCR today at Target, and it seems to have made a difference. Guess it really needed it.
But back to my TV software, there's a 24-36 hour turnaround from the time you pay online through share-it and the time you get your reg code - meaning that not only can I not watch Hairspray again before late afternoon Friday, but my editing has been thrown off because ATI's native software for 2K is unusable and VirtualDub chokes a nasty death trying to cap in the non-standard resolution I use to work around a couple issues with the capture card. This means that I lose a day and a half this weekend on Editing, and even on prep as I haven't watched this show in over a year. Fortunately, though, the company that handles processing has an office in Köln, so it may be closer to 24 hours on processing, especially with the time zone difference being in my favor (6 hrs behind here)
The German presentation went well, the class liked the clip we showed of Manitu (not to be confused with Manitou, the AMV creator) and the prof showed genuine interest. Unfortunately, she said that I pretty much need to get an A on the final if I want to cement my B in her class. Well, shit, there goes that hope. Time to seriously crack down and such.
Talking to anneke on AIM right now. Talking about hentai. Being reminded that I need to re-render my hentai video so that I can have a DVD ready MPEG-2 to send her for the AMV distro Hentai disc. Poor Paul.
Seeing my sister and my mother tomorrow. The former is cooking, the latter is visiting from NYC (and hasn't seen Hairspray...if I get my code you can bet I'm sending VCDs back with her if possible). Should be a good meal, and there will be alcohol, which I can definately use.
Anyhow, it's getting late. Happy murdering of innocent creatures and indiginous peoples day to the Americans, Happy Thursday to everyone else. -
tick, tick...BOOM!
2002-11-26 22:56:06
Well, in 10 hours I'll be giving my German presentation. Barb's still finishing up her half, I tried doing a runthrough on mine earlier and despite some stumbling I think I did OK. Time comes in at about 8-9 minutes which is fine - we need to be 15 total before video and I know that I'll talk faster having done a runthrough tonight.
Also completed today was 104 frames of good old-fashioned photoshopping, this time to remove the word "FUCK!" from the semi-backgorund in a clip I'm using. Since this vid's going to a con with a strictly enforced Under-21 (and more importantly their parents) content rule, guess who got to make sure it's not there anymore. It sticks out like a sore thumb, but I don't really care - it'll be kept clean on the final copy that I give out to people who aren't the con.
"Peter Pan and Tinkerbell which way to neverneverland? Emerald City's gone to hell since the wizard blew off his command!" -
Growl
2002-11-25 23:54:32
I feel as though I am performing in an increasingly empty theatre as the great LiveJournal migration continues. I get the impression that a lot of people who used to read here frequently because their journals were on the org are now not, because all of their friends have moved over to LJ and naturally their friends list with them. I really don't want to deal with LJ if I don't have to, too many people over there that can find me too easily. Even if I set up an account just to make a friends' list everyone would still see it (you can see who lists you), and chances are it'd get noticed at that point and someone would come commenting to see who the fuck this is.
Got my 3rd German exam back this morning. While it WAS an improvement over my last score, it's still a C. Wednesday is our presentation and while I haven't written out my half, I should be able to work from outline like I do with just about every other presentation I do nowadays so I'm not worried. The files are all laid out for a VCD as well, I just have to burn and hope that the player doesn't decide to reject me. After class I think I'm going to talk to Dr. Moyer and try to figure out what the fuck is going on and why I can't seem to get it together to pull through in her class.
My only class today (Tuesday) is 224 and we're covering the French Revolution. I'm also getting a bunch of tapes back from Mouse which will help with my current project. Afterwards is more prep for the presentation tomorrow.
I'm looking forward to this weekend to use it for, what else, work. Reading for 50's, GRE review, AMV projects, graduate applications, all that fun stuff. Everyone'll be gone and no one will want to hook up over the weekend anyhow (short of my sister who is hosting my mother for the weekend and as such I will visit them on Thursday and Saturday).
Who gives a fuck about this anyhow?
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