pretty good weekend

oh boy, awesome, I got the new UP blu-ray, let's put it in and watch the Dug short before Law & Order: SVU comes on

Your version of TotalMedia Theatre is unable to play this disc. You may purchase and enter an activation code to upgrade TotalMedia Theatre. What would you like to do?

...so this blu-ray thing is basically a scam, huh?

Okay, it went down like this:

In August, I went to the New England Revolution's annual MEET THE REVS fan event. It's cool, season ticket holders and other VIPs get a chance to meet the players, get autographs, bullshit with the front office staff, eat tons of free concessions-- it's a nice fringe benefit. This year, I'd bought a bunch of those nifty little Flip camcorders because KMart was blowing them out at $37 each. I sold most of them on eBay, but kept a few to carry around with me to stuff like this. So I made a fun little interview segment, where I ask various players and coaches stupid questions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rWch2uwH5o

Two months later, MLSNet announces a contest for their EXTRA TIME video podcast-- the Guest Reporter contest, in which entrants must submit a three minute interview to enter. Any subject, any topic, it just has to be competently produced and interesting. So I re-trimmed and submitted the video I'd already shot, just for kicks. After all, I'd already done most of the heavy lifting, why not enter?

Two weeks later, they asked for a release form. Hmmm, maybe I was going to win something. Exciting!

Last week, I was selected as a finalist, which means I was definitely going to win something (either the runner-up prize of a Zune HD, which is pretty damn awesome, or a trip to Seattle for MLS Cup, which is VERY damn awesome).

Today, I got a phone call from the actual Extra Time show. You can see the whole mess here, starting at 6:23:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_XEkcICaRs

I'm psyched. In three weeks, we're jetting off to Seattle to see the Revs win (okay, that's kind of a long shot... but there's a chance!!), meet a bunch of awesome people (some for the VERY FIRST TIME despite knowing over the internet for years), and I'll even get to shoot a segment of Extra Time with the crew. And it's all compliments of Extra Time-- I even get a pocketful of spending cash!

I'm smack in the middle of an extremely tough, busy week, but this really puts a spring in my step!

See subject line.

Yes, that's right, going to Seattle on November 20th-23rd for MLS Cup. I'll have more on how I got the prize in a subsequent post as I'm still waiting for details to be released to the public.

In the meantime, WOOOO PARTY. Hey tikistitch and kabael, let's hang out and ride bikes

To my Otakon pals--

The Sheraton City Center (not the one attached to the CC, the one two blocks away by the First Mariner center) is accepting reservations for next year (July 30-August 2) at $99/night for a two double bed room. I just booked a room. I may move hotels and cancel the reservation later on if I can scare up a comparable deal at a better hotel (would prefer to do the Rizzadisson, as that seems to be where a lot of my pals stay), but I've got an inexpensive backup if, like last year, it becomes impossible to find a room for less than $150/night.

You should be able to book through sheraton.com. When the rates are displayed, scroll down towards the bottom. BOOM! Savings.

Long and photo-heavy, so have a gander after the jump.

( it's like motorhead and the grateful dead in a game of twister )

( Lord, to be 33 forever. )

I'm in con scramble mode because Otakon is next weekend and I'll be in St. Louis all week on business, so I can't do my work midweek at the absolute last minute like I usually do.

I've got all my video clips dumped and arranged, but shit still keeps not working. I'm using clips from a DVD that I grabbed raw MPG streams from (nice and quick) to pop into Adobe Premiere. The clips play back perfectly when I just open them up in Media Player, but after I import them into Premiere, the audio falls completely out of synch.

What the hell is Premiere doing to the video footage to make this happen? And keep in mind, this only happens to SOME of the stuff I ripped as common MPEGs, not all of it.

I'd give my left eye for a simple video editor that just worked on everything, no constant rush to transcode and import and re-mux and normalize and otherwise spend hours doing make-work just to get everything interoperable.

Every year, the city of Cambridge takes a few of my tax dollars, and a few dollars from each of the other 100,000+ residents, and does this:



They block off traffic on Mass. Ave (the main drag) for two blocks in front of City Hall, and throw a gigantic dance party. Yes, a city-wide DANCE PARTY.



The city is pretty diverse, and a really entertaining mix of people show up to jam to the current thudding, monotonous club fare that passes for dance music today, and of course lots of hilariously obnoxious floor-fillers from years past. Heard this time: "September" by Earth, Wind, & Fire.



By the end of the night, a huge mass of sweating, giggling people were all acting like high school freshmen again, and it all ended, rather appropriately, with a massive sing/sway-a-long to "I'll be There" by the Jackson Five. I can honestly think of no more fitting tribute to Jacko than this.



Thanks, Space Michael! What's your favorite MJ song? Mine's always been "The Way You Make Me Feel." Check out this rad cover by Boston-area dude Bleu. (Bleu is finally releasing a new record next month. About fucking time I say, Mr McCauley!)