blog.noetech.com

Concert Series

I spent this weekend at two concerts. Fist up on Saturday night was Tony Bennett at the Hollywood Bowl with Devon. He was great and played for two hours. Not too bad for someone his age. He's a real entertainer, filling the night not only with great music, but with a lot of stories.

The surprise hit of the night though was the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Jeff Tyzik. They played a great collection of Jazz from the 20s.

On Sunday I went with a friend from work and Devon to see Tom Petty at the Verizon Amphitheater in Irvine. After the two hour drive (an hour of which was spent going less then a mile), we had to walk a half mile to our seats. Not the best venue. Our seats were very much nose bleed, but the show as awesome. I've never seen them perform before, so I was very excited.

He played my two favorites, Refuge and Breakdown. Because the drive took so long, some kind of accident, we missed Jackson Browne opening. Too bad, the last song sounded great while we were getting our beer.

Next week, James Taylor, also at the Bowl.

Technorati Tags: Jackson Browne, Tony Bennett, Hollywood Bowl, Tom Petty

Final Cut Pro 5

Some one asked me what I though of FCP 5 in light of my articles (here and here) on Xsan and FCP 4.5. So here is a five minute answer.

I think FCP 5 is a huge improvement. Specifically I'm a big fan of the multicam support (blows Avid away), improved realtime effect, and the button bars (finally). I like Soundtrack Pro too.

But it still lacks a few major things needed to be used in a facility like ours. There's still no way to share bins and projects easily. Exporting sequences and bins to the FCP XML format is a pain, and takes too long. If you have two editors each working on an act, it's a real pain to get them strung-out for an output.

Media management, while significantly improved, still needs work. There needs to be a way to set storage options per project so editors don't have to worry about changing settings and / or digitizing to the wrong drive. In our area, a different project could be in each bay each day.

I may be wrong about this, but there still isn't an easy way to manage user settings like the Avid has. Yes you can save your button config, and your window config, etc. But they get saved separately and have to be loaded in separately. Avid's Users is a much better way.

Technorati Tags: xsan, puppy, world of wonder, avid

GTI Side

GTI Side
Originally uploaded by Tom Wolf.

Living in LA

I've lived in LA now for almost two years. It seems crazy to me that it has been that long, but a lot as happened to me since I've moved here.

I'm make more money then I did in Chicago, and not just by a little bit, well more then double. California salary ranges are ridiculous, but thank God for it.

I have a new, absolutely awesome car.

I'm finally getting my Bug out here next month.

I'm still looking to pickup a Triumph TR-3

I've made my mark at World of Wonder and my name is on several films (including a successful theatrical documentary) and countless televisions shows.

I some how turned my tech job into "Head of Post Production and Technology" which, if I do say so myself, sounds very impressive.

I have a corner office (it's easy when you are the one who designs the new space).

I get to work on exciting projects that go beyond traditional TV, including one now that I can't really talk about, but should be very cool.

I'm dating a wonderful person.

I'm finally divorced.

My hours have dropped down to a more normal range, only about 60 a week at most.

I'm seeing Tom Petty on Sunday, and James Taylor the week after.

That's better. It's important sometimes to list all the good things, otherwise I'll forget. My job can be very stressful so I like to remind myself that I work for and with amazing people and I need to be grateful for the position I'm in. I could still be working at Columbia College after all (though I wouldn't mind the hours).

I still need to move to a real apartment, but that's my doing. I'm too cheap, I really don't want to pay 1,200 in rent. Currently I don't even have to think about paying rent, I don't really want that to change.

Technorati Tags: GTI, VW, world of wonder, triumph

A New Car

Apparently my Gallery installation has broken since I last used it a few months ago. I'm not looking so good in these pictures, really need to straighten out my back and lose a few pounds.

Buying a new car sucks, I'm not very good at negotiations. Lots of "I'm walking out", "you're screwing me" and of course from them, "I'm not making a dime on this deal". Almost too much trouble, but I did end up getting a good price. Devon was kind enough to drive to the shop and sit with me for the three hours it took to sign the deal (more on her soon enough).

Now I need to get the Bug to LA, and sell the Jetta.

Technorati Tags: Cars, GTI, VW

A New Car

I bought a new car this weekend, a VW GTI 1.8T. It's red with black leather interior. After a year of trying what to do about a vehicle, I finally found one I liked. It's a small high-school flashback, when I drove a '87 GTI.

After I decided what I wanted, it took a few calls to find a lot that had the exact model in stock. I ended up getting it in Santa Monica. I got it for 4k under sticker, and feel good about the price I payed. Anyway, in love. Now I just need to chip it, get new tires and stereo :-)

Pictures to come soon.

Technorati Tags: GTI, Cars, VW