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South Texas Rain

11 Jun

It hardly ever rains here in South Texas, but it’s rained more in the past week than it usually does in a full year. But this isn’t a post about the weather, it’ s about my new toy: a Sony HDR-CX380 camcorder. This sucker shoots full 1920×1080p at 60 frames per second and 55× optical zoom.

The other day it was raining so I decided to test out the camera. Here’s my ghetto-ass neighborhood being deluged with rain.  For shits and grins, I rendered the footage in B&W just to see what it would look like, and I was pleased with the results. I was tempted to jack up the contrast to give it an overexposed B-movie look,  but instead I just added a little something at the 1:30 mark.

One of the cool things about shooting at 60fps is that slo-mo looks much cooler. In a couple of spots, I slowed the footage down to half speed and it looks pretty damned good.

The downside of shooting at 1080p @ 60fps is that my computer freaks out when trying to process the footage. Right now I’m exporting a 10-minute clip shot in 1080i @ 29.97 fps and it’s going to take 5 hours to complete. This 8-minute clip took about 24 hours to export to a 1280×720 .h264 encoded mp4. Research indicates it’s not a processor or RAM issue, but that standard 7200rpm hard drives have difficulties with higher frame rates.

If I have any complaints about the camera they’re relatively minor. First, if I don’t want to shoot at 1080p @ 60fps, I can either shoot at 10801 @60fps or 720p @ 29.97fps; there’s no option for shooting at 1080 @ 29.97fps, or 24fps, for that matter. Of course, shooting at 720p vastly increases the amount of footage you can put on either the 16GB internal memory or an external memory card (up to 64GB; I got a 32GB that will probably serve me well, although I’ll probably upgrade the card soon).

Incidentally, my main reason for purchasing this particular model is that it is the cheapest Sony consumer camcorder with an external microphone jack. I haven’t tested the external mic capabilities yet, but the built-in mic does an impressive job. In some earlier footage I shot, the songs of the  neighborhood birds are nicely separated; you can tell some are coming from the south and others to the east and north.

I’d definitely recommend this camera to anyone. Sony makes an upgraded model that has a built-in projector, if that suits your fancy. I’d advise you to forgo that option and use the savings to get an external memory card, extra battery, and a tripod (you can’t take advantage of the camera’s 55× optical zoom without a tripod… trust me on this).

Craigslist and Butthurt is a dangerous combination

23 Jul

For some unknown reason, I read the local musician’s section at Craigslist on a regular basis. I honestly don’t know why, since most of the ads there are for Iron Maiden/Metallica/Misfits tribute bands or some form of heavy metal that is either brutal or intense, or both.

Every now and then, I get the urge to respond. The other day I had a little fun with all the “intense” stuff being posted, and a couple of people joined in on the fun.

Last night, I came across this ad, featuring this gem of a line:

if you consider yourself an “intellectual musician”, or if your first question is if i have anything recorded for you to hear, your not the type of person i’m looking for

To which I responded:

In other words, you’re looking for unintelligent, unthinking people who aren’t the least bit curious about what they’re getting themselves into.
Good luck with that. I’m sure you’ll attract some real creative types with that attitude.

This is what I found in my inbox this morning (I didn’t make any changes other than to remove the guy’s name):

If your ever done being a little bitch who hides behind post and emails, my name is [redacted] i’m from Annaville, i’ll be glad to meet you any where any time. In fact, i’m down town most nights. Feel free to ask around.

My response (Again, I’ve removed the guy’s name):

[redacted]? The [redacted]? Swoon!

How about this: at High Noon today (that’s when the big hand is on the 12 and the little hand is on the 12), you meet me at the corner of Eat Shit and Die.

Seriously, what kind of goddamned loser gets so butthurt over a Craigslist posting that he has to puff up his big ol’ chest and threaten an ass-whoopin’? That’s right, a loser like [redacted], that’s who! There’s no need for me to ask around about you, I’ve got you figured out: you’re a fucking moron and a wannabe thug.

Instead of making an ass out of yourself by playing internet tough guy, why don’t you pick up your guitar and write some whiny emo song about how your poor little feelings got hurt and you had to lash out like The Hulk… HULK ANGRY!!! HULK SMASH!!! HULK WRITE BUTTHURT EMAIL!!! AAAARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!

Thanks for emailing me. It’s nice to start the day off with a laugh, especially when that laugh is at the expense of an idiot.

Have a nice day,

JLB

Furthermore, I posted this to Craigslist:

If you read something on Craigslist — or anywhere else on the internet, for that matter — that upsets, offends, or otherwise upsets your delicate sensibilities, it’s probably best to just move on to the next post, page, article, LOLcat, YouTube video, or whatever.

However, if you are so upset that you absolutely must respond, the last thing you should do is play the Internet Tough Guy and threaten violence. It doesn’t matter how tough you are; when you threaten violence over the internet, you’re just making yourself the butt of a joke. We’re not laughing with you, we’re laughing at you.

I realize that most people here have spent the requisite 5 minutes in the civilized world needed to learn this valuable lesson, but apparently there are a few folks who didn’t get the memo.

If I hear back from my new friend, I’ll update accordingly. Also, the links in this post a subject to dying at any time, with little or no notice.