Dedication

I found this interesting because the "Kid in the Picture" technique mentioned in this video is something we're learning in "Motion Graphics" class this week.

Adobe Contribute

adobe,bavmorda

Today my Adobe Creative Sutie 3 "Master Collection" arrived which is pretty dang exciting. Of course now I'm sitting here trying to figure out just what exactly everything does.  I've got the basics down (not including the fancy new features) ... the basics being Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Flash and Fireworks.  I know how to fumble around in InDesign and Premiere (because I know Final Cut Pro and a little work with the Avid and Pro Tools) ... but I know nothing about Contribute, Encore and Soundbooth.  AfterEffects I'm in the process of learning so I'm not too worried about that. 

Smart web perusers will properly guess that the point and purpose of this blog entry is to test this "Contribute" program which supposedly allows me to update my blogs and web page pages easily.  Since it linked right up to my blogger account - this was handy.  We shall see if it actually works (in just two shakes of a lamb's tail). 

I've spent part of my evening playing with the pre-made music scores in Soundbooth but I had hoped it would be a multi-track editing program and it doesn't look like it is.  (Is it?) Well obviously I'm going to have to sit here with the included video training and teach myself these things.  Encore looks to be a DVD authoring program.  I know at school we'll be learning on DVD Studio Pro so I can only hope it relates in obvious ways.

My feelings on the new icon designs are mixed.  I do like the abbreviations (i.e. "Ps," "Ct," "Br," etc.) instead of the icon graphics but I'm not too fond of the color choices for these little chips.  But then I'm a fluourescent gal myself.

I've installed this new suite on my new computer, Bavmorda, and so far everything is still running fast.  I have yet to open 3-4 programs with huge files open in each yet.

Faux Tornado Hits L.A.

So Saturday night (late enough to technically be Sunday morning) I was minding my own business, driving home and about to exit off of the 10 West when I see to my surprise... a tornado. A large looming tornado hovering over Santa Monica!

I have a misfunctioning "Fight or Flight" system ... Brain says "Erin you are a tiny weakling person" ... Adrenaline says "FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!!!" So in this situation my first reaction was not to pack up my wordly belongings and find somebody with a basement ... instead it was to grab my camera and my family and go TO the looming tornado.

My initial attempts to rouse people were kinda uneventful.

Me: MOM!! TORNADO!!! GET YOUR SHOES ON!!!
Mom: I just took my contacts out!

Me: DAD!!! COME NOW! TORNADO!!
Dad: Wait. I'm uploading my digital pictures to my computer.
Me: DAD!!! WE'RE ALL ABOUT TO DIE. THE APOCALYPSE IS HAPPENING!!!
Dad: Hold on. Hold on.

Me: AMY!!! ARE YOU SEEING THIS TORNADO THING???
Amy: Are you drunk? Is this April?

Minutes later after I've fumbled for camera batteries and finally have a functioning camera of my own - my mother and I go out to investigate.

Mom: Wow! I wish I could see it but I'm not wearing my contacts. OK I'm going to bed now.

Dad finally emerges and sees it for himself. What is it?? We can't tell. It kinda looks like a tornado but there's nothing on the news... nobody's running around screaming ... everyone's pretty much asleep ... oh and it's not moving. I'm pretty sure tornados move. So I convince Dad to jump in Vlad the Matrix with me and we drive toward the tornado to investigate.

Shortly after getting back on the freeway it becomes obvious that it's lights pointed at the sky. A laser light show?? At 2am?? That seems odd. We finally find the source to be Santa Monica High School but the school itself is black, no one in the area and no big crowds of people. We find a cozy little neighborhood parking spot and proceed to enact a stakeout while also attempting to get a damn decent picture. By now the lights have changed from white to red to green to blue ... had they been fascinating colors when we were at home.. "tornado" would have been quickly crossed off the list. Nothing really eventful happened other than a few other cars that apparently had the same idea as us showed up.

At some point two dudes knocked on my window saying, "Are you seeing this?!?!" In retrospect this was a stupid question as we were sitting in our car, staring at it, pointing our cameras at it and ... you know.. pretty much we had eyes. But I'll give them a little slack as they clearly thought we were being invaded by space aliens. And their adrenaline told them to come engage in a little alien vs. human fisticuffs.

So ... did anyone else see this? What was it? Or I should say, "Why was it?" Two theories have been presented to me. The first - I saw a sign advertising a light show at the Santa Monica Civic Center on August 23. Could this have been a test run? The second - a neighbor says there's some super secret thing involving two well-known directors (coughspielberg ... coughlucas) happening at Santa Monica High (a.k.a. Samohi) on the 10th. So that's tomorrow. (Well... again "technically" that is "today" as I'm posting post midnight.)

Hopefully we'll know soon. But my apocalypse trial run only served to prove that I will be amongst the first to die if anything truly frightening happens.

Broads on the Way

For those of you who like Broadway I just read some exciting news and thought I'd share the link:

Broadway News

XANADU and 9 to 5!!!! Holy hell! While Xanadu is exciting in and of itself in that lovely campy way ... 9 to 5 is the possibility that has me saving my nickles. Dolly Parton has written the music/lyrics and so it is destined to be wonderful! So far it's just had a book reading with Allison Janney as Violet but but.... it just HAS TO SURVIVE!

Meanwhile - I'm still waiting patiently for the Broadway treatment of Fried Green Tomatoes. The rights were purchased a couple of years ago (which briefly annoyed me since I'd already started drafting the musical ... I'd wrote a couple lines of lyrics for the opening song which was about finding a head in the garden ... and the whole thing was gonna be called "Whistle Stop"... I thought that was ingenious.) When it happened I scoured the available resources and found the address for the dude who'd purchased it and sent him a letter begging him to give it a musical treatment.

He didn't write back.

I still think it'd be great but it's more likely that they were planning a more Steel Magnolias interpretation.

But meanwhile .. The Color Purple seems to work! I'm getting my e-mail newsletters regularly and crossing my fingers for a Los Angeles visit on the tour.

Friday I went to see SHOW BUSINESS: THE ROAD TO BROADWAY which is ... eh... an OK documentary. The confusing thing was that Alan Cumming kept showing up and he wasn't a focus at all. He was like.. the narrator that wasn't narrating. In the end it became clear when the credits rolled and he was listed as one of the producers. Ahhhh!

Anyhoo.... after watching that I'm a nervous wreck about the fate of the Fried Green Tomatoes adaptation and the chances for 9 to 5.

SHOW BUSINESS: THE ROAD TO BROADWAY follows four musicals during a season leading up to the Tony's and 6 months following the awards. The four musicals it focuses on are Wicked, Caroline or Change, Avenue Q and Taboo (the Boy George musical). So if you have an interest in any of those titles - you might like the doc. Watching it made me A) Annoyed that I'm not bi-coastal. B) Really annoyed that I didn't get to see Taboo.

One day, New York City, I will meet you! (I'm looking at the sky and shaking my fists now.)

In other related topics... did you know Lestat was a musical? I discovered this on YouTube. Thank god for YouTube! I regret not seeing this either but my chances were slimmer.

And there's a lovely little campaign to release the cast album that was recorded but shelved when the play closed:

Anyone got an extra ticket to Wicked? I'd like to see it again.