The Alchemist

This is hilarious! Seriously - take a couple minutes and enjoy!

Want to see any or all of the trailers for the 2006 Academy Award nominated films? They’re all right here on Apple’s movie trailer site. In HD even!

Very nice.

I’m branching out… well, kind of. I was talking to an artist about her Mac and technology the other day and she asked if I could create a website for her that she could maintain on her own using iWeb. So I did.

And let me tell you… oh sure, iWeb and .mac does make publishing a basic website fairly easy for non-techies… but if you’re considering this option, there are some serious drawbacks that you should be aware of:

• No custom objects. I had to copy and paste common objects (like the menus) from page to page! And if I need to change them, I have to delete them on each page and copy them all over the place again!
• No custom code. If you want to insert something that isn’t directly supported by iWeb, you have to publish the site and then edit the HTML by hand. And of course, if you republish, you lose your changes!
• Special page types. You just select a “photos” or a “blog” object to put on a page, you have to insert a special “photos” or “blog” page.
• No styles. There is no concept of a “style” for a site, so you can’t apply, say, fonts or colors consistently and globally across the pages in a site.
• Not even a global search and replace.

So basically iWeb pretty much stinks for all but the most basic, mundane, and manual stuff. Too bad, too, because if Apple would have made iWeb work like their Keynote presentation application, it would have completely rocked. Note to Apple: Make iWeb like Keynote!

Anyway, she loves her new site. But let me tell you: iWeb is a real PITA for the poor designer.

Ah, commercial shoots - you just never know where your photo is going to end up.

Frankly, I didn’t know if I’d ever see where my picture was going to be used, but I found at least one place: The Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association website.

So consider it a game. I’ve narrowed it down to just one page for you: Can you find me?

Now wasn’t that fun?

Jake has outdone himself again. He’s just posted a new trailer for Shade of Grey… and it is even better than the first. (If that is even possible.) Gotta say, he’s a heck of an editor and I’m really looking forward to seeing what he’s doing with the film!

I’ve posted it on my portfolio page, but if you didn’t make it there on your way here, I’ve included it here as well. Enjoy… and let me know what you think!

Superbowl bound, baby.

And that will be the end of that. HD-DVD wins! Speaking of Sony, anyone else remember Betamax? I didn’t think so…

Everyone’s favorite 1970’s exploitation film, “Foxxy Madonna vs. The Black Death” is being reworked into a fantastic new “director’s cut” and I did some ADR work for the new cut today. In case you aren’t familiar, ADR stands for “Automatic Dialog Replacement” – which basically means that I spent a couple hours sitting in a box with blankets all around me speaking my lines (and various noises) into a microphone in an attempt to match the video scenes that Jake had edited together from our shoot.

It sounds like a blast, doesn’t it?

Well actually, it wasn’t all that bad. I enjoyed the chance to get together with old friends again. And, of course, we joked around a lot and generally had a good time which made the (admittedly somewhat annoying) process of ADR not too bad at all! Plus, it’s always kind of fun to play vocal games with a microphone. I just hope some of that stuff never gets published!

And, ultimately, I think that our film will be better for the extra work. I even took the chance to “fix up” some of my vocal intonation and annunciation to improve (I hope!) my overall acting beyond the original takes.

Speaking of Foxxy, there’s not much time left. Your votes for the contest need to be in by midnight on January 22nd! So please vote!

David Boreanaz, Mel Gibson, and Barak Obama, Michael Rosenbaum, and Ray Liotta look like me…? Hmmm. Well, check it out. I’ll let you be the judge…

Submitted for your legal review:

Exhibit A

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” - U. S. Constitution, Amendment 4

Exhibit B

President Bush quietly has claimed sweeping new powers to open Americans’ mail without a judge’s warrant.

“You have to be concerned,” a senior U.S. official agreed. “It takes executive-branch authority beyond anything we’ve ever known

Exhibit C

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” - U.S. Presidents’ oath of office

But, of course, 9/11 changed everything, right? Right?