All posts by Mike

A Postcard for Fred and a Stamp

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Here’s another short film shot on the Jazz DV151. It is about sending Fred a postcard. My shaky camera work aside, the film gives a better sense of the camera’s capabilities, especially in low light where the gain gets cranked up. I noticed at times that the camera has a mild sound sync loss. I would also note that about an hour into recording the footage, I finally had to switch the batteries (and I’d been using it a couple days prior also). The camera runs off of double A’s.

For interested parties, Megan will be posting the video on Melodic Insomniac also. She’ll probably have some different comments on it than I.

Howard the Duck

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Howard the Duck is on Hulu. Check it out.

Howard the Duck

Update: Robot Holocaust is also on Hulu. Somewhere I’m not surprised that Howard the Duck made it on, which I actually really like. I watched it on VHS last night, and if I had of known it was on Hulu then, I would have watched it there. Robot Holocaust, however, is horrific, which means that if one were to factor the movie into those same pedestrian standards of poor which frequently rank Howard the Duck as atrocious, it could cause one’s head to explode or at least bring about the Robot Holocaust. It does have a nice title though and I like to pretend it was filmed at Sandy Hook even though it was filmed elsewhere.

Robot Holocaust

Jazz DV151

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I bought the Jazz DV151 camera from Walmart for $20.00 yesterday. The camera has a flip out viewscreen and records AVI files onto SD cards (it can handle up to 2GB cards) at a 320 x 240 resolution. The image is pretty much what you would expect from a $20.00 camera, but I haven’t been able to stop playing with it. Check out the short movie below to see and hear the quality of the recording. I’m still trying to figure out if I can hook the camera up to my computer so I can double it as a web cam (when you connect the camera to a computer with the USB, it switches automatically to download mode). I posted a picture of the camera at the bottom of this post so interested parties can see what it looks like.

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Turkey Breasts

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Turkey Breasts was shot over the winter holiday. In addition to featuring Thom, Tim, Brian, Megan, a turkey and other stuff, the film features the dirt road out by my parent’s place in Salisbury, MD. Over the years, the dirt road has appeared in a number of movies I’ve been involved with in one way or another. In the ones on Protozoic alone, it crops up in Operation: Red Chicken Disco Jesus (Redux)</a href>, The Cave of Trouble in: Search for the Chupacabra, Spontaneous Combustion and The Bridge. For me, getting to return to the dirt road was one of my favorite parts about making this movie. It’s pretty cool to get old with your buddies and the places you grew up.

For interested parties, Tim has some production stills from the shoot that can be viewed here.

Hope you enjoy the film.

Can

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The final version of the short film I produced for MiND, Media Independence in Philadelphia is live online. I think it is has been live for a while, I was just unaware that it was.

You can view it by clicking here.

Part of I Can’t Wait to Hear Your Excuse appears in Can. However, Can also includes the acting talents of Jon Gillis as well as an original score by lyricist, composer and librettist Frumi Cohen, who has produced and directed over 20 musicals since 1979.

While you’re on the MiND site, be sure to check out their other content. They’ve got a lot of really great and informative stuff that is sure to blow your mind (couldn’t help myself on that one).

Click here to watch Can.

This ??? REVEALED

the mindlab,

I know everybody has been waiting for the big reveal, well here it is, straight from the horse’s mouth.

—–

From: Thom
Subject: picture
Date: February 16, 2009 3:51:13 PM EST
To: Mike

OK - wait, ...before you read this go get something to eat.  Go! Now...  take a break and grab
something.  The story has a much better affect if you are in the middle of eating your favorite food!

About 10 years ago I was working at a agency serving adults with developmental disabilities and I 
was dating a nurse.  I had brought this picture into work and after showing it to my nurse girlfriend I 
placed it up on my cork board where the picture hung for over a year.  My office was well traveled 
and received a lot of traffic from other employees passing by to ask for my guidance.  Many of them 
would comment on the photo and say "what is that a picture of?" Some would even guess --- "it's a 
star or plant".  So I would just smile and say "close guess...  but I can't say".  No one ever guessed 
correctly, mind you it did present itself a little differently when you print it out on a sheet of paper 
and originally it was only the bottom photo that was posted for everyone to see.  So you ask, what is 
this wonderful photo?  Well, this is the infamous "Jeep Butt"  (Pilonidal Cyct) that I was diagnosed 
with in 1998.  I was having problems and when it first started I didn't want to go see the doctor as I 
was embarrassed and hopeful it would heal.  My newly acquired nurse girlfriend wanted me to drop 
trou so she could see and tell me the outlook on my bum.  I refused but told her I'd take a picture of 
my ass and bring it to work.  These two pictures are the result - furthermore she made an accurate 
diagnosis on the spot by just looking at the pictures.  I have no idea how she guessed correctly 
because the picture is so out of focus and the bump looks like a pimple to me.  Anyhow, only her and 
I knew the true identity of the printed picture.



----


Yum.  Hope you were eating steak tartar like me.  Read more about the [pilonidal cyst here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilonidal_cyst).


* Editors Note:  Thom and I were slightly confused as to whether or not the phrase for yanking one's pants down was "drop trou" or "drop trout."  I think it's fish.