Merry Christmas!

Christmas! For all the ugly in the world this year- today was a day of quiet family time for me. Much needed. 

Christmas Eve 2012

Bought the tree at Home Depot on Saturday morning and decorated it yesterday evening with our traditional Ska music selections playing in the background. We wanted to get the tree closer to Christmas Day this year. This afternoon we went to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Good film but longish, but it had to be so to accommodate J.R.R.'s incredible story. Tomorrow is Christmas and I feel very thankful to be able to spend time with my little family.

Apocalypse (Not) Now

So all the hype was just that...hype. After a few family members seemed concerned last week, I did some extra research on the Mayans supposed End Of The World Prophecy. Well it seems that the Mayans never said it was the Apocalypse, but rather the ending of a long assed 5,000 year calendar, a time to celebrate, not fear, kinda like a Super New Year. 

Full Size Asphalt Slurpie

Snow and slush all over the ground this morning. A little slick in spots driving, but most drivers were slowing down to avoid sliding into each other. Took my wife to work since I had the day off. Nice little slushie drive. 

Go-Kustom TV Season 5, Episode 1

Been working on Rod Hill's interview about his 1962 Studebaker Gasser for Go-Kustom TV Season 5, Episode 1. This was from the Rat Bastards Slaughterhouse car show. An extended version of this clip will also be in my upcoming film Rats & Gassers: Kustom Kulture Takes A Ride. My editing schedule has slowed down a bit due to me working full time again and the Holidays. My foot has been bugging me the last week as well. Don't know what I did to it, but it feels like my big to on my right foot is broken or something. Been taking lots of Ibuprofen. 

Go-Kustom TV Season 5 Episode 1

Got the new Go-Kustom TV hostess section with Kitty Mansfield edited today.  This is for Episode 1 for Season 5. I also was able to assemble that section with the new intro clip so the front end of this episode is complete. Also did a little work on the Go-Kustom TV website, adding a still of Kitty to the front page and a free downloadable MP3 file of the new, shortened and sped-up version the Go-Kustom TV Theme song. Next I am gonna dig into the full episode editing and then pull two of the interviews for Rats & Gassers: Kustom Kulture Takes A Ride. Many of the interviews from the car shows of Go-Kustom TV will end up in Rats & Gassers. 

Go-Kustom TV Season 5

Went up to Craig VanSant's garage to film Kitty Mansfield's opening dialog for the first episode of Go-Kustom TV Season 5. I have started final editing on the new series. We have had some interest in the show from a European Motorsports Network so I need to get the pilot completed for screening. I also plan on shopping the show to American Networks once we have the pilot and promo materials ready. Kitty did an excellent job introducing the episode- more to come!

Go-Kustom TV

Been busy with the new job and editing. Completed a new intro for Go-Kustom TV Season 5. This one is shorter and a bit uptempo from the original version. The first episode for Season 5 is the Slaughterhouse Car Show we filmed last summer in Monroe. We will have Kitty Mansfield (our new Hostess) record her opening dialog in a few days.

New Job

Starting my second week of a new job. At an Office Supplies Store with Copy Center. A friend of mine put in a good word and I got in. Hectic retail, but good people and atmosphere. Man...I was unemployed since July. Lots of financial catching up to do.

Fixed the Meat Wagon II

My 1/25th scale 1960 Chrysler Hearse Gasser Concept, "Meat Wagon II" that I had built for my film/story Evil Undead Girlfiend: The Re-Animation Of Issa Kross, got severely damaged, this year. It started when I dropped it at a car show I had taken it too and then got beat up worse in our move from our Arts School. The MWII had been sitting in a box with the leg cutter blade broken off, front axle off, rear bumper off and body apart for months. After re-assembling I added a moon tank on the grill. Almost as good as new. 

New Rats & Gasser Poster

Made a new Rats & Gassers: Kustom Kulture Takes A Ride movie poster (35x23 inches big) with Big Tom and Carla's "Mr. Nasty" Henry J Gasser and model Jean Viva. The series is growing. Eventually I wan to have dozens of large posters available for the film. The posters are available on Cafe Press. 

Rats & Gassers Filming

Went up to Lake Cassidy (north of Seattle) to film for Rats & Gassers: Kustom Kulture Takes A Ride featuring model Jean Viva and Big Tom and Carla's insane "Mr. Nasty" big block Ford powered Henry J. This was a pick-up set I did last minute for the film. Since I have multiple shots of Mr. Nasty (in the background during Big Tom's interview and racing at the Eruption Drags last summer in rust and primer) I thought it would be nice to include some footage of the finished car. Man it was chilly, but thankfully clear.  

Done Deal

Barack Obama easily won his second run for the Presidency last night. With all the pre-election hype, I was seriously dreading a prolonged "to close to call" election like in 2000, but by 10PM Pacific Time the outcome was very obvious. This is the second time I have voted for Obama and the second time I have voted for the candidate that actually became President. I didn't vote in 1984. Looking back I can't remember why.
Here is a list of the Presidential Candidates I voted for since 1988.
1988 Michael Dukakis (Democrat Party)
1992 Ross Perot (Big Eared Rich Guy Party)
1996 Ross Perot (Reform Party)
2000 Ralph Nader (Green Party)
2004 John Kerry (Democrat Party)
2008 Barack Obama (Democrat Party)
2012 Barack Obama (Democrat Party)

A lot of my hardcore Republican friends on Facebook and Twitter were throwing sour grapes at everyone and anyone. Some were cursing Obama and saying things like "America is now in the hands of Satan..." yadda yadda yadda. My Democratic friends were jubilant posting pics of Obama and his family. Personally I tend to vote Democratic Party, but that's because of limited choices and I really consider myself an Indie. I am really hoping we can get a serious third, fourth and fifth political party in the discussion and election process.

My personal feeling about Obama is he is cut from the same Goldman Sachs cloth as many other of our current and former politicians. Lesser of two evils? I like what I see of the man, but he has not always been an effective leader. The health care reform has been a major accomplishment, but he needs to work more with Republicans. Reaching out to them? Not really, more like bitch slapping some of them. The Republican Party has been hijacked by crazy Uber-Conservatives that seriously believe that THEIR beliefs are the ONLY beliefs and that (like the Taliban) God only smiles on them and theirs. Hopefully these Tea Party fringe elements will get a wake up call from this election and realize that the times are changing and they can no longer pretend it's 1812. 

Rats & Gassers Filming

Craig with Ken Knowles of Alley Katz Magazine 

Craig VanSant in his shop

Went over to Craig VanSant's shop to film an interview with him about his Hot Rods and get some live footage of his 1949 Plymouth Sedan in action. Ken Knowles of Alley Katz Magazine also came by. He was dropping some scrap metal and ended up in a quick cameo scene. After the interview Craig and I went down to a long straight road to film some drive by passes b of his Plymouth. During our second pass the Plymouth's rear shock hanger got hung up on a 6 inch road edge during turnaround and we had to go back to Craig's shop to get a floor jack and a 4x4 timber to stick under the tire. The road had been recently repaved and had extreme sections of drop off that very were hard to see. After that we finished several more high speed passes (with me filming roadside) and the attached a Go-Pro for the drive back to Craig's Shop. I was a little too hasty on setting up the GoPro and it actually flew off the Plymouth! I watched it tumble down the highway, breaking out of it's plastic case and landing lens down on the pavement! Luckily the GoPro worked fine after. Got some great footage

My Trailers In Soul United Short Film Fest

Got a few of my movie trailers in the upcoming Soul United Film Fest #3. This will be at the Historic Everett Theater on Thursday November 15th, 2012. I love that theater, but due to the economy they have been having financial difficulties. I believe this is an HET fund raising event.

Vintage Hot Rod Films for Rats & Gassers

Started doing conversions of old Hot Rod public domain footage for Rats & Gassers: Kustom Kulture Takes A Ride. This is for the historical perspective of the Hot Rod in Kustom Kulture.

Reason Rack Extension Polar

Just bought the Reason 6.5 Rack Extension Polar effect. Multi pitch shifting, delay and a wicked freeze button that freezes incoming sounds! I am really falling in love with Reason as the ultimate musicians composition tool. Endless possibilities.

More Rats & Gassers Posters & Merch

Added quite a few more posters today on our Cafe Press pages. 

New Rats & Gassers Poster

Made a new poster for Rats & Gassers: Kustom Kulture Takes A Ride. This one features pin-up model Cara Mia at Steve Leary's Shop.  I took this set of photographs along with some video for the film. The poster is available through our Cafe Press webpages.

Big Sandy

Our prayers go out to the families in Sandy's path!

Old Gear

Broke out the old gear to add to the home studio. Sold a lot of gear the last few months and had some things (like my Boss SE-50 and Roland S-550) that are useful but going unused. I am trying to skinny up my recording set-up and not just buy things I never use and that sit and collect dust.

"Rat Rods"

I am surprise at how many Hot Rod Guys are insulted or get all bent out of shape by the term "Rat Rod." It reminds me of "Punk Rock" back in the early '80's. This one dink on a message board told me that the Rat Rod Guys were inferior and their rides were crap and how dare they call their cars "Rats" and that was stupid because you don't call Hot Rods "Hots." When "Punk" became a term for the music I was making in 1981, I embraced it. It killed the "Sleeper Rock" of the time and re-birthed not only Ska, Rockabilly, New Wave etc. but eventually Metal and Hip Hop. Rat Rods have spark a new interest in Hot Rods from a younger generation and helped kill Street Rods (aka Sleeper Rock) and rebirth Traditional Hot Rodding (guys who didn't like the Rats but wanted the credibility of a DIY ride as opposed to a 1-800-BUYMYROD approach).

MORE FILE CONVERSIONS ACK!

Just found two more folders of files that need conversion from .mts to .mov files! I thought I was done with this! Ack ack ack! 

ReasonSync Video Player for Reason 6.5

This is the program I have been waiting for! I am an avid Propellerheads Reason user and have always wished there was an easy way to sync video with Reason, especially now since you can record audio directly into the program. I sent an e-mail to the Propellerheads "Suggestion" e-mail inbox saying "why the hell don't you guys support film makers with a video player ap for Reason." They replied saying that a third party already made such an application called ReasonSync! I went to their website and downloaded the program and...it didn't work. The prompt said my older laptop was incompatible with the program. I contacted the company and to my surprise they e-miled me back in a few minutes! Josh Levy who designed the program and owns the company e-mailed me asking details about what was going on with the install. I told him and within a few hours he told me that, in fact, the program was not designed to run on older 32bit configured machines, but he would redesign a version just for me! Well- not just for me, it was also to his benefit since any other older laptop user would have the same issue. Now that's customer service! I got the beta version within 24 hours and it worked flawlessly (so far). Amazing. Now to stress how epic this is for me- much of Rat Rod Rockers! was scored on Reason, but I would have to bounce music tracks between Final Cut Pro, Reason and Cubase. Now I can just take the rough cut video to Reason score and adjust, bounce to Final Cut Pro and I am done! Potentially hours and hours of time saved in editing and scoring!!! Reason has so many cool RackExtensions, Line 6 amp effects, etc. I really prefer it to Pro Tools and Cubase. Best of all ReasonSync is like $30! The website is http://www.reasonsync.com/ReasonSync.html I highly recommend it!

File Conversions Done!

Robb Newby (left) and D.A. Sebasstian (right) set up a GoPro HD on poles
infront of Robb's pick-up during filming his segment for Rats & Gassers.

So I finally found all older MTS files (one batch I hadn't saved to disc and was stashed on my computers internal drive). Wow- this was alot of work! It wouldn't have been a such a big deal, but I realized AFTER I had converted all the Canon HF-G10 .mts files to .mov files  that I had to re-do everything with the Brorsoft MTS conversion program. As I was editing a friends wedding video, I noticed occasion frame duplication, meaning I done a proper 30 fps to 24fps conversion. Better then than after I was halfway through editing Rats & Gassers! Now everything works and looks perfect and I can finally dig in. 

Old Gear

I bought the KMS-30 and DDM-220 new back in 1984. I found the
Boss DR-55 in an Atlanta music store in 1987. Talked the guy
down from $60 to $40. 

Yamaha CS1x- a very cool synth for the time. Nice fat sounds.

Selling old gear is becoming an addiction for me! I found a cat who collects old analog drum machines and synths and he has bought this batch of kit from me, Boss Dr. Rhythm DR-55, Korg KMS-30 MIDI/DIN/TAPE SyncBox (very rare), Korg DDM-220 and my Yamaha CS1x synth. Since I have moved completely to Reason 6.5 as my main recording setup (and before when I was using Cubase VST5 and Reason 4 on my G4 tower) I seldom even turned on the Yamaha nor un-boxed any of my old drum machines. After this last move, I realized how many boxes of stuff I had that...well...sat in boxes. I am going through a purging stage, trying to skinny up my life. Too much crap...now not as much. :)

Ohh Well

Ever done something so wrong- but in a professional way? I just did. I was asked to participate in an online competition about unique Northwest types. I did one autobiographical style on being a Indie-Film Maker in the Northwest. I didn't realize that most were third person character type clips until after I uploaded mine. Oh well. Not so much wasted time. First, I got serious about ADR narration on this clip, which I will be doing tons of for my new documentary. Second, sections of this clip can be used as a demo reel if I don't place in the competition. So glass half full.

Line 6 KB37

This (Line 6 KB37) is my main keyboard now. Goes directly into Reason 6.5. Also has usb out, audio ins/outs, footswitch ins, accurate audio meters, etc. so it truly is a one size fits all solution to computer based music creation. I can do more with this and a laptop than I used to be able to with a room full of synths, samplers, amps, effects and drum machines. 

Last Lap Of File Conversions

I am on the last lap of the File Conversion Grand Prix! These are all files I shot on the Canon HF-G10 that come out of the camera as .MTS files which are unable by most editing programs. I had tried one process a few months ago and thought they would work, but on closer inspection found added frames on the playback. I discovered this while editing a friends wedding video. So I re-did and re-done all of the multi-gigs of data. Ack.

Our New (To Us) 1993 Chrysler Concorde

Just bought a 1993 Chrysler Concorde for $2,750. Has 79,000 miles and is very very clean. New around town family car. Didn't want to get in too deep with a commuter car while I am getting the '66 Charger done. Eventually I will need to buy a big Dodge pick-up as a support vehicle for Go-Kustom Films. Maybe a flatbed that I can put a small camera crane rig on.