Warning Blogs Will Be Sporadic

             Yes, for the next week or two I will be updating periodically and not necessarily on my usual days.  None the less I will try to put out at least 2 updates each week.  No on to my wrap up of the week.

           

            Last week I finally got the music for the pro bono job so I have been working on the mix for that.  The major issues that I’ve had with it are the vocals were recorded so low that I had to gain everything.  So now I have to combat hisses and buzzing that I wouldn’t have to deal with too much if the kid knew how to record properly.  Enough of that, I did promise that I would stop talking about it.

           

            But Saturday I did watch the Torchlight Parade rough out side my door.  It was a great parade and you can see some of the parade photos here: http://flic.kr/ps/2w2CEX

            Sunday was movie day.  We saw The Way Way Back and The Wolverine.  Both we good films but Way Way Back I would have to say is a little better and a more compelling story.  Although how could you say no to Hugh Jackman’s body, yum!

             Monday I just wanted to relax.  So I worked some more on the bono gig (stupid me) and cuddled up with my man on the couch.  Not a whole lot going on with my life but trying to make things happen is all good.

            Thursday I am going to be at my parents to help my mom around the place after she goes in for some surgery.  It is very minor, she can drive herself home right afterwards, but I still need to help out around the place.  So you can expect some random posts to pop up throw out the week.

See you on the other side

Warrior Dash and Bad Films

            A delayed blog but whatever it gave me some time to do a write up on a horrible movie called R.I.P.D.   More on that to come late, for now I shall do a quick recap of my week.

           

            The Start of my week went ok, finished up the sound edit for that pro bono gig, gone shopping with my mom.  It went slightly down hill when I was awoken from sleep by a bum sing hymns right outside my window.  He wouldn’t shut up for over an hour until the police finally came.  The freaky part was there conversation about a bag he “found” and the items in there which included a large knife.  Also the bum confessed that he was in jail for burglary.  What a stand up guy, I am going to buy a fire extinguisher for protection… or some wasp spray.

            On Saturday I went to cheer on my man at the Warrior Dash.  I didn’t run this year due to funds and just not being in shape, but next year I shall!  His time that he completed the 3 mile obstacle course was 1 hour and 3 minutes.   For someone who didn’t really train that much I am proud of him. 

            Sunday I lugged out my tired and very sore man to the Bite of Seattle.  We mostly watched the cooking demos and dock dogs but we did have some food from the Tom Douglas Ally area.  Most of the food was decent but I loved the root beer float cupcakes, so good.  Before we left there was a cooking competition where two chefs faced off with a mystery basket.  It was like the show chopped but in only one round.  It was intense and fun, I will go see it again next year if they that again.

            Monday when this was suppose to be up, I went to the movies instead.  I saw the Men in Black rip off R.I.P.D.  I have no clue how this script got the green light but whole crap the dialogue was shit.  Jeff Bridges was suppose to be a funny cowboy figure but the jokes fell flat and there wasn’t any chemistry between the two actors.  The visual effects went spectacular and seemed like a rip off from the first Men in Black film.  Same your money and time by not see this film.  Instead wait for it to come out on DVD in two months to rent it and make a drinking game out of it.  It is the only way you will be able to watch this film.

            See you on Friday for some kind of rant or something, don’t forget if you live in the Seattle area that Seafair is coming and that means the Torchlight parade is this Saturday!

See you on the other side

Bitchin’ Fridays: Say No to Pro Bono

            If you are a regular who follows my blog you would know the issues that I have had with this gig that I am donating my time on.  Hell last Friday’s rant was about a similar subject.  This week I am going to discus why you shouldn’t take free work.

           

            Giving out your services for free is like a hooker giving out complimentary sex, it only benefits one person.  It also makes you look cheep, desperate, and lacking experience.  Now this is how I feel after taking this gig, minus the lacking part.  No matter what even if they promise future paid work for you, if they don’t have money now what makes you think they will have money in the future projects.  They will not magically become famous off of one short film that is playing at a local film festival.

            Now starting out you might be tempted to do free work, don’t!  If you want to break into the industry or even get some kind of taste what it is like you can do one of two things.  The first is taking up an internship (most helpful if you went to school or are currently in school).  With internship you will be running medial tasks like coffee runner, but if you work it wisely your supervisor or someone will show you a new skill set.  The second is to shadow a professional for a day or week.  This is great for anyone curious about a particular job and wants to find out more info.  While yes these are not paying you are getting something out of it, a skill set and knowledge.

            Already a professional, well this handy chart depicts how to handle a variety of people who ask you to do work:

Work For Free

If you click on the link you can see that no matter what, always say no to a company or director who ask you to work for free.  I would say the only time you should donate your time and work would be for close family and a charity that would make your reel and resume look good.

            I would love to thank http://www.shouldiworkforfree.com/ for sweet graphic.  If you have any suggestions on what I should bitch about next week leave me a comment or any of your own personal horror stories of jobs gone wrong.  See you Monday for a wrap up of my week.

See you on the other side.

This Will Be Short and Sweet

            Hi people!  This is going to be really short since I did a wrap up on Thursday. Now you must be wondering what I have been doing between Thursday and today.  Well to be honest not a whole lot.  

            I did go out with friends to Lunchbox Laboratory for the first time.  It is a burger joint with many type of burgers; I had the Hothead with sweet potato fries and an Oreo milkshake with 2 shots of Irish cream.  I was good and fairly priced, I will be returning there soon.

            Sunday my man and I went for a 6 mile walk around a local park.  It is at the waterfront in front of Sculpture Park.  I am sure I have talked about this park before in previous posts but it is still a beautiful park and you just can’t beat the view.  

            Well that it for the past couple of days, now if you will excuse me I have to go compose my self while listening to stranger baby talk my kitten threw the window.  

See you on the other side

Bitchin’ Fridays: Dropping the Ball

           

            Dropping the ball is an expression correlating to someone who has made a mistake through carelessness, inattention or incompetence.  Originally started in sports (unknown to which particular sport it is) in which a player’s error causes difficulty for there team.  In the 40’s it became a popular expression to point out a person’s error.

            Now you must be thinking this is interesting but what has this have to do with what you said in yesterday’s blog.  Well I am getting to that now. 

            Two days ago I received an email from the director/producer of a pro bono job that I agreed to do.  In this email she was asked how the sound design was coming along, the music is nearly done, and wanting to know the ETA for the final mix.  I will now give you a brief recap of everything up to this point:

            Back in January I meet with the director/producer to interview for the sound designer and post mixing job.  I agreed to do this work pro bono with the possibility of if this web series takes off their will be pay for future episodes.  I later get a phone call from the director (about two weeks later) telling me the onset sound guy ( I call him the kid) would not work for them unless he did the post sound design.  The director still wanted me to do the mix for the film but what pissed me off was the fact she didn’t put her foot down and tell the kid no.  I still agreed to do the final mix for her but told her that in the future I would like to do the editing as well. 

            After a few rounds or email from the post production team, the kid chimed in the discussion that he was the all around sound guy for this project and that he was doing the editing and mixing as well.  The kid was already on thin ice with me, so naturally went in the discussion forums to correct his mistake.  In a private email is disclosed exactly what I wanted from the final product out of him.  I high doubt he understood half the shit I said. 

            Months go by and they take forever to do the editing, of course all the work is being done for free so you can’t really expect this to be a fast production.  Finally at the end of May the sound team could finally go to work.  I get an email from the kid saying he can’t work on it for another 2-4 weeks.  I told him he can do one of two thing; give me what ever he has done up to that point now or give me it to me when the composer is finished which I predicted to be after the 4^th of July.  I was such a good guesser, but the thing is I never heard back from the kid.  That is until the latest email came out, and now back to the present BOOM!

            In response to the initial email I called out the kid for not giving me the sound edits, in a nice way.  I am not a complete bitch.  The kid finally reposed.  His first line in the email is “my bad, I dropped the ball.”  Well no shit kid.  I get that you have two jobs and remodeling your house but I expressed to you on more than one occasion that if you can’t do this tell me and let me go on my way.  Also I don’t want to hear your excuses.  Unless a family member died or is in the hospital, you can work on this on your off hours.  Hell I’ve done it before, come home and work on side projects for a few hours or even an hour each night.   

            What really bugged me was the fact that he used dropping the ball as a crutch and didn’t have anyway to remedy the situation.  Also the director took the “dropped ball” as an excuse.  I understand you don’t really want to rock the boat since everyone is working for free, but this project should have been done no later than May.  I believe when you dropped the ball you should do everything in your power to help remedy the situation and not sit back and use it as a crutch.

            I would love to thank wisegeek.com for there in-depth analysis of the expression dropping the ball and its origin.  If you have any suggestions on what I should bitch about next week leave me a comment or any of your own personal stories of the ball being dropped on you.  See you Monday for a wrap up of my week.

See you on the other side.

Back From Vacation

            Well as you can see I have not updated in a while.  This is due to the fact that went on a mini vacation to my parent’s house.  It wasn’t so much as a vacation but a means to escape the building heat in my apartment.  Also my sister and her family were there.  I may have to do a special post on reasons why my sister and I don’t get along….

             

            In any case I went over, I cooled down, and now I’m back.

            And what did I have to come back to... well for one a cooler apartment.

            Two, the worst sun burn ever!

            And three, that pro bono work looks like it will finally be done and off my hands!  In about two weeks.  If you recall from a number of posts back about some kid wanting to do the sound design, well he dropped the ball.  I am going to make Friday’s rant about this so come back tomorrow for more details and back history.

            The remainder of this week is going to be some sound editing, or a lot depending on how much the kid actually did, and cleaning up.  I plan on bringing back party Wednesday soon.  What is going to change about it is that it will only be updated once or a month.  So leave any suggestions on what themes I should do, follow me on twitter I promise to update more on that.

See you on the other side

Colorful Rainbows and Heat Waves

            I hate the heat. 

            Always have, always will.

           

            This past week Mother Nature decided to turn our already hot apartment into a sauna.  Being street level you would think that out apartments would be cool, but no that is not the case.  There isn’t a crass breeze to help so now we are forced to close everything up, not use the stove or oven, and make a make shift air-conditioning unit using a fan and ice.

           

Getto Style

            But all was not lost I had lunch with my father when he came in from Peru at 1000 spirits.  I wouldn’t recommend this place for lunch unless all you want is burgers or salad.  The drinks could be a little stronger for the price you are paying but if you mention this to your waiter they will make sure the bartender doesn’t skimp on the alcohol.

           

            Another good thing this past week was Pride weekend.  I attended the Sunday parade and my friend was supposed to meet me but she bailed her loss on missing out at all the fab.  I did eventually meet

up with some other friends who were a block away from me and we all hung out after wards.

            The parade it’s self was ok, needed more floats, costumes, and condom throwing.  It also lasted a little too long (over 2 ½ hours) but that could be because of the heat. 

            After the parade and activities at the Seattle Center I went home and immediately felt ill.  Between the heat, lack of water, and alcohol I believe I came down with a mild case of heat exhaustion.   Lesson learned drink more water and no alcohol on hot days or long exposure in the sun.

            This coming is America week, sorry Canadians but we are going to show you what pride in your country really look like!  Also that damn game (Defiance) is gone from our shelves and into the hands of someone who has no clue what horrors await them.  Be sure to follow me on twitter for what’s happening in my life.

See you on the other side