Wow! It’s been over a month since my last update! It’s easy to go a long time without updating, especially when you’ve been keeping yourself busy. And busy I’ve been! As you know, I picked up a Canon 7d a while ago, but I haven’t really gotten around to doing any video with it; until now, that is! The video that you see above is my most recent play-thing: a time-lapse video of a melting ice cube. Pictures were taken every 15 seconds and there’s a little bit of color correction done in post. I look forward to more forays into this area in the future.

I’ve becoming increasingly interested in video recently, and I may just have to start coming up with some concepts for my own short film. Interestingly, though I work as a visual effects artist, I think I want to try something that has no vfx work in it. I’ve been watching more films recently too:

Avatar
Was an entertaining movie. Reminded me of the usual Dances With Wolves/Pocahontas/Last Samurai plot and carried it well I think. I would have seen it twice if I didn’t have to see it in 3D. I found the action scenes too difficult to focus on and really would have preferred to see it in 2D.

Alice in Wonderland
Knowing that Alice wasn’t real 3D, I didn’t even want to give the glasses a chance. Was sorely disappointed in the story, and looking back I remember very little aside from Depp’s Scottish accent. Why was the hatter Scottish?

The Karate Kid
I’m not sure if I have ever seen this one before! But I watched it recently and I have to say, this is part of what is inspiring me to get into doing some live action stuff right now. A film that was well done with very little budget.

The Karate Kid Part II
What can I say? Watched the first one and had to watch the second. I’ve got the third one waiting to be seen now too. I had seen the last 30 minutes of this one before… but nothing before that. I like films that aren’t driven by visual effects.

Seven Samurai
We had a bunch of people over to watch this during Kurasawa’s 100th birthday. It’s the first time I’ve seen one of his films, and I was definitely a fan. It’s a long film, but well done.

La Dolce Vita
Ok… so I’m not a fan of every film. I think this one fits into the wtf genre of films.

My first attempt at a time-lapse was actually a melting chocolate bunny. Of course silly old me accidentally melted the poor thing in the process of trying to set-up. Lessons learned. Of course, I have been busy with taking photos over the past month as well, and it’s only fair that I show off a few more of them too.

I’ve been trying to get back into doing music. Starz Animation has an event that they have called “Music Night” that they run every now and then. A bunch of employees get together, learn some music, and put on a show. This year the company decided to move off site and into a pub for music night, so if you happened to be at the Blue Moon Pub in Toronto on March 26th, you could have seen me doing a few songs with some of the gang there. If you weren’t so lucky to have found your way into said pub on said night however, here’s a video I got of one of the songs we did. That would be me in the white shirt with the set of lungs.

And finally, before your head explodes, I’m going to leave you with this: it is my birthday on May 5th. These are things I want:

Audio
Windscreen
Boss GT-10 Guitar Effects Processor

Video
Spiderbrace 2 Combo
EF-S 10-22mm 3.5-4.5 USM

I apologize for having ludicrously expensive hobbies. You could always check here for any other ideas.

Can’t stop listening to this at the moment.

- Record 12 songs

- Destiny of an Emperor Palace Theme
- Mr Big: Take Cover
- Joe Satriani: Love Thing
- Satriani: Ten Words
- Megadeth: She Wolf
- Megadeth: Back in the Day
- Skid Row: Slave to the Grind
- Yngwie Malmsteen: Sorrow
- Bach: Prelude Cello Suite #1 (BWV1007)
- Moist: Push
- Jimmy Eat World: Futures
- Foo Fighters: Monkey Wrench

- Perform live
- Participate in a video game competition
- Beat the games I own but have never finished

- Assassin’s Creed
- Dragon Quest V
- Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess
- Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicals
- Drake’s Fortune
- Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

- Finish re-reading The Wheel of Time and then read The Gathering Storm

– The Path of Daggers
- Winter’s Heart
- Crossroads of Twilight
- Knife of Dreams
- The Gathering Storm
- Towers of Midnight?

– Redesign this website
- Pay for a new lens using money earned from photography
- Make a triptych
- Finish the Dragoon Kain Munny that I started
- Leave North America

You may recall that I am a fan of music. Of gaming. Of video game music. And you may even recall that I am a fan of Final Fantasy IV. Thus, it should be of no surprise to you then, that when I heard of Final Fantasy IV: Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption; a nerdgasm ensued.

So now that I have a guitar again, I’m in the process or re-learning how to play. I’ve decided to start with learning a song from Destiny of an Emperor. I just figured out the bass line and recorded it, so over the next week hopefully I can figure out the guitar.

Destiny of an Emperor, Palace Theme

INTRO:

G|--------------------------|

D|------------------------8-|

A|-13-----13-13-9-8-6-6-6---|

E|--------------------------|

THEME:

________________________________________________________

|

|3x

|G|-------------------------------------------------|

|D|-------11-------13-15-13----13-15-13----13-15-13-|

|A|----11----11-13----------13----------13----------|

|E|-11----------------------------------------------|

|

|

|G|-------------------13-15-|

|D|----------11-13/15-------|

|A|----11-13----------------|

|E|-14----------------------|

|

|

|G|----15----15----13----13---10---10-------|

|D|-------------------------------------6-8-|

|A|-13----13----11----11----9----9----6-----|

|E|-----------------------------------------|

|

|

|G|---10---10----13----13-------------|

|D|-----------------------------------|

|A|-9----9----11----11----13-13-11-13-|

|E|-----------------------------------|

|________________________________________________________

It’s not unusual for me to to do retro-active posts, however it is unusual for me to start a post, save it, and then completely forget to go back to it. On August 14th, I went to see the Progressive Nation tour at the Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto. This concert ended up being more of an after thought for me really (for what it’s worth I also bought the tickets before writing this blog post). I was originally planning on seeing Chickenfoot on the 4th, but when I went to buy tickets, I saw that PizzaPizza and Ticketmaster were running a promotion for dirt cheap tickets to various concerts. The Progressive Nation tour was one of them! How could I turn down $20 tickets for a 5 hour concert? So one concert ended up becoming two concerts. Actually, my mom ended up visiting in that same time period, and so we went to see the Moody Blues. So two concerts ended up becoming three concerts.

So Chickenfoot first… well… this was kind of an unfortunate series of events. I was going to see them with Jeff Wagner from SESI but, for reasons that I cannot seem to find, the date ended up being bumped from the 4th to the 5th. We never really gave much thought to this as we had plenty of warning, however as the date approached we realized that Jeff was flying to New Orleans for Siggraph on the 5th! As much as I wanted to see Chickenfoot, it just seemed like the tickets were pricey enough that it wasn’t worth going on my own. I had just moved into a new apartment, and had lots of stuff to keep spending money on, so I refunded the tickets. I ended up using my portion of the money, as well as a wedding gift certificate from Tristan on a new tv stand (to go with our new tv). So I may have missed out on this concert, but I did end up with some furniture that needed to be purchased without having to take any extra money out of my bank account.

Well… the Moody Blues certainly didn’t earn their name by being exciting on stage. I saw them on the 12th at the Molson Amphitheatre… and it was kind of a bittersweet experience. The Moody Blues are excellent musicians, who are spot on when they play. Justin can really belt out the lyrics, and if you close your eyes you can really get into the music. Based on what I’ve watched on Youtube, and my dad’s dvd collection, the band has never had much stage presence, and this concert was no different. If you’re a fan of their music, and have never been to a concert then by all means: go see them! If you’ve been to concerts before though, keep in mind that they have little stage presence. No opening band, and they take an intermission partway through. The audience is a different breed as well. While I didn’t get much enjoyment out of the concert, it was interesting to see the crowd of 50 somethings getting into it by mildly patting their knees in time to the music and starting up conversations with the strangers next to them.

I’ve seen Dream Theater twice already in the past, and so I was content to just get the cheapest tickets despite the fact that they were in the back of the Amphitheatre. It ended up being a a very hot day, and the event started at 6pm… I don’t get off work until 6:30 and work in the opposite end of town but tried to leave a bit early for the concert. When I arrived at the Amphitheatre, I decided that what with the heat and all, I may as well get myself an ice cream from the Baskin Robbins that is at Ontario Place. Frustratingly, security would not let me take the cone with me to the venue so I was even later arriving to the concert as I stood outside the gates eating my dessert. Unfortunately I ended up sitting down just as the opening band was finishing. It was still pretty early, and so I figured that I had just caught the end of the first band, but at least I would be able to see the other three. Dream Theater is the only band of the four that I was actually familiar with, so when the next band began, I had no idea who it was I was listening to. I was stunned at how good the guitar work was, but certainly felt that the rest of the band was a little lack-luster. I remember commenting to Andrea that “This band could get a lot more popular if they found a better singer.” I didn’t realize at the time that this was Zappa Plays Zappa that I was listening to.

Dream Theater’s set began, and the music was good. The audience began singing… but well… there was a distinct cheap feeling to the seats that we were in (see the top of the two images to the left). The people around me were… well, slobs would be a flattering description. One guy in front of me was drunk out of his trees and was kicked out after throwing his beer bottle about 15 feet into the air. Music was good… couldn’t really see the band, audience around me was a bit lack lustre… but hey… what do you expect for the cheapest tickets? Guess I’ve learned my lesson… definitely no tickets cheaper than mid-range for me in the future. But wait! There’s more! About halfway through Dream Theater’s set, these two guys approached Andrea and I. “Hey” they say, “we’ve got to take off early. Here, have our tickets. They’re way better; enjoy the rest of the concert.” We were instantly upgraded from being at the back to the amphitheatre, to being at the front of the amphitheatre. The only time I’ve been closer to the stage is at the Opera House for Symphony X, where there are no seats. Let’s just say that not only was the visual show better now that we could see the band, but the audience was COMPLETELY different. They were so much more into it. Except of course for the guy who was passed out drunk next to me. I’m assuming he was a Zappa fan.

This will be the final post that covers the events of May 17th 2009, but there needs to be just a smidge more detail added before I move onto the events of the honeymoon. The cake that you see on the left was a glorious citrusy carrot cake with a magnificent butter-cream and fondont icing. It was made for us by Cathy, Andrea’s mom, who is constantly doing amazing things with food. She will eventually realize that she will be a gazillionaire if she opens her own restaurant. Cathy had made several trial cakes for use as the wedding approached so that we could choose a flavour. She also decided to break her arm just before our wedding. Well… I’m sure it wasn’t completely by choice… but at any rate, she’d had enough practice that she was able to instruct a variety of helpers on this cake. So to all who helped ensure that my taste buds had the best experience possible, I say “Thank You”. The top tier now sits… swathed in seran wrap, encased in a plastic container, chilled in my freezer… awaiting next year, a time when it will then leap into my belly: where it really belongs.

May I present to you, Exhibit A: The Best Man. The bridegroom’s chief attendant at a wedding. The one guy deemed responsible enough not to lose the wedding rings for the span of about half an hour before the ceremony; the one guy deemed fun enough to throw a paint-ballin’, go-kartin’, video-gamin’ bachelor party. Spence Robinson, is a cool dude whom I go rock climbing with whenever I’m not a workaholic. He graduated from the same program as Andrea during the good ole college days, and at the moment they’re both working at the same studio too. Now, for those who don’t know… the final duty of the best man at the wedding is to toast the bride and groom. It’s a proud tradition. And I’ve got to give him props. I had to micturate so badly that I could barely say a word when it was my time, and Spence did such a fine job, that I figured “what better place to immortalize his words than here in the blogosphere?”. And so, with no further ado, here’s the heartfelt toast:

Thank you also to everyone else who made a speech.

For our first dance, we played an edited version of Extreme’s Unconditionally. Yes, by now, we all are aware that Allegro likes his 80’s metal. Andrea actually digs the occasional Extreme, and Steve Vai too. I happened to be listening to this song one time, long before an engagement existed, when Andrea decided that it should be “ours”. And now it is. Other songs of note from the reception, include Repo’s “Didn’t Know I’d Love You So Much” which Andrea danced to with her Dad. Andrea and Andrew, and My Mom and I then danced to Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable” followed by a dance between My dad and Andrea and Cathy and I to Jimmy Durante’s “Make Someone Happy” (though to my dismay, there were unfortunately no kids lip syncing while wearing a fedora…). On the note of music: I would also like to thank Dan Haid for performing on the keyboard for us during the ceremony.