Camera Lust: Fuji X100

I love this camera and want it very badly.
It combines the latest in pocket camera technology with the sensor of a full size SLR (APS-C) and the old school looks of my antique camera collection.
It reminds me of the all too expensive Leica cameras but will hopefully fall in my price range...
I look at this camera and it makes me want to take beautiful photos, which is unlike the Canon 5D Mark II, which makes me want to make incredible films.
Gotta love it when companies surprise you with just beautiful design. wow.

A Quick Film for a Friend.

Doug and Brynn Holzapels are two of our very good friends here in Los Angeles. They are the couple that have the beautiful baby, Lyla, who you would have seen in my reel and other videos I have posted on this blog.
Doug is an incredibly talented musician who teaches lessons on the side. One of his students, Paulina, has quite a following on YouTube and she and Doug post their duets all the time. Recently I pursuaded them to allow me to shoot one of their videos to provide some better camera footage. It was a very simple setup and I am very pleased with the outcome.
Doug also used some of his high end music recording equipment to record a live session that sounded as if it were in a studio. The combination of the better camera and audio really make these two artists stand out.
Anyways, I hope the best for the both of them.

Here is their latest video:

Director of Photography: U Smile by Rochelle Diamante

My great friend, Aaron Huisman, and myself DP'd this music video. We did all the beach footage and I am very happy to see how it came out.
The artist was very friendly and very talented.
I loved this project because all I had to do was film it and didn't have to worry about editing it or anything else. Since filming is my passion I loved this because I didn't have to worry about all the other parts of production.
Here is the Music Video:


Here are some photos of Rochelle I took in between shots on the beach at Santa Monica:

Hello iPod Nano. Hello my new watch.

Okay...
I have lots of passions in life.
One is my faith
One is my wife
One is my family
One is my dog... maybe dogs (later post)
One is my love of tech
One is my love of bags
One is my love of watches...


And that is what I am going to talk about today: my love of watches.
I have always loved watches probably because it was a piece of technology that you can wear with you 24/7! I had a collection of watches growing up and still do today. I clearly get this passion for the tickety tocks from my mom who takes this love to another level! :)

Fossil's Palm OS Watch

One of my favorite finds, and one that I had to be patient on for a couple of years, was Fossil's line of watches they created in conjunction with Palm. They were basically little Palm PDAs on your wrist! So cool but very limited in functionality and tough on batteries. They were also very expensive! Finally the lack of interest brought the prices down like crazy and I snagged one for around $75! Never really wore it but it is part of my tech colection. I was contemplating selling it a year ago to raise some money for Katie and Me but, surprising to me, Katie convinced me not to sell it. I am glad I didn't. It is a very unique watch.

I always have my eye on a couple of different watches and am always looking for that sale, clearance or ebay deal.

Casio PAW5000 Pathfinder

Recently I have been eyeing Casio's latest Pathfinder watch, the PAW5000. These pathfinder watches were always cool in my eyes but not very attractive. Great for camping but for everyday life they never worked. Well they just released a new Pathfinder which, I believe, is their first to include an analog face and a metal band option. It looks great but has a steep price tag for my budget. It will soon come down though... you just have to be patient.

Lately I have been fascinated with the idea of turning Apple's latest iPod Nano into a watch. I am positive that many companies are figuring this out because I am seeing more and more companies talk about this and even coming out with some early products. In all it is pretty easy because you just basically clip the Nano to a watch band and viola! However, I am not so easily convinced and want to see a totally new product that fully integrates the iPod Nano into a good looking band. I would love to see some kind of Metal band the continues the styling cues of the nano. To me, this could be a refresh of what fossil tried to do with palm. Granted, the nano is a locked device and apps, currently, can't be written for the new Nano but maybe a jailbreak process could create some cool apps that would allow you to access your calendar and/or your address book... who knows.. I am currently being patient and waiting for the write product to make it to market.
Here are a few current products or adaption of products already on the market:
If you click on the pics they will take you to the corresponding company.

A Look into the Future

I am in love with all things technological.
My mother tells stories of me as a baby sleeping not with a teddy bear but with the families hair dryer. I loved taking things apart and figure out how stuff works and have a box somewhere at my parents house filled with broken speakers... walkmen.. cd players... and other mechanical things all in a state of disarray.
I also have a serious problem hoarding wires and cables. Katie knows this all too well. I just can't throw away old speaker cables, usb cords, or my plethora of fire wire cables because I have this fear of one day needing them and the knowledge that I once had the item of need but threw it away is just too hard to bear.


All this to say... I love technology and when people write or create pictures of the future and how we might one day live and interact with technology just makes me giddy! I love movies and books that deal with a possible look into our a future.


Here are a couple of videos that give you a peek of what the future might hold.
One is from Apple in the 80s, one is from a new company, and the last is a video I made for my University depicting a possible future for the iPhone and educational integration. We developed this film knowing nothing of a future "app store" nor "face-time."


Enjoy.

 


ACU's Connected

Part I

Part II

The New Apple TV - A Disappointment

I wanted apps! Where are my apps?

To me, apps would totally revitalize the Apple TV and make it a truly have-to-have ipad/iphone/itouch accessory!

Developers could create simplistic/addictive games for the Apple TV utilizing the included remote and also create more intensive games utilizing the ipad/iphone as a remote. I'm just so confused why they wouldn't create an iOS enviroment for this product.

I'm so confused, disappointed, and upset.

I've been waiting for something great exactly from this product and was let down again. The only thing that has REALLY changed is the addition of Netflix.

Also, can i expect to see an update for my current Apple TV? Do I get Netflix?

Lastly,  the airplay thing is cool but still doesn't make up for the lack of apps.

Lastly Lastly, I hope people can hack the heck out of this and really push the A4 chip to its limits! Lets see some jailbreaking action for the new Apple TV!!

Another Day in LA: A Water Main Waterfall

Living Simpler: Lose the TiVo!

I know... I know...
Just yesterday I was raving over my TiVo going on and on about how much I love it and how it allows me to save so much money throughout the year. Well, I am throwing that out.

I've been researching and found that since your TiVo never sleeps--because it continually records all day long which is part of its incredible coolness--it costs just under $50 of electricity annually! The crazy thing is this: If you do 15 laundry loads a month using cold wash and cold rinse it only costs around $22 annually. Your TiVo can easily cost you more in electricity then your washing machine!

Now I really don't have a great solution but chew on this...

Hulu offers most broadcast TV shows online after they premier and just recently they launched a new service called Hulu Plus. Hulu + gives you access to a huge catalog of old shows and gives you a "season pass" for all the Fall's new TV lineup. Essentially you could drop your $12 TiVo fee and purchase the $10 Hulu Plus subscription and still have access to all these great shows and since the TiVo can only record 2 shows at a time you would never have to sacrifice an episode on another channel due to 2 other shows being recorded.

So, you would be saving around $2 a month in subscription fees from TiVo in lieu of the Hulu + subscription AND you would be saving around $50 annually in energy costs. This would also allow you to have one less electronic gadget and make life a little simpler.... and cheaper.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is the first post in this series that I have not personally tinkered with. I've done the research but nothing hands on yet. However, I am cooking up a really crazy idea for Katie and me that would really bring simplistic living to another level. :)

My New REEL

Here is my current Reel. I just finished yesterday and if you have any comments I would love to hear them.

It is a little long but I just love the song so much and didn't want to cut it up. Maybe I can request a new version from the help of my BIL (brother-in-law).

Anyways,
Here is a montage of my favorite films.

Living Simpler: Lose the Cable

I have no statistics to back this up but I would imagine most people spend between $50-$150, and maybe more, for cable tv. I am clumping everything into the cable group that is not over-the-air broadcast tv. This includes standard cable, satellite, fiber... and anything else that requires a subscription.

Now I understand that alot of people out there have these big HD tvs and they want the best looking content to fill these screens and this is the reason for cable. Most believe that the only way to receive HD is through a subscription service... well i have a secret for you: YOU CAN GET HD TV FOR FREE!
"WHAT," you may be asking yourself, "I can get HD tv for free?" Yes you can and you do this by simply installing an antenna either the old fashion bunny ear type or a old fashioned antenna atop your dwelling.

Want to know another secret: The best looking HD content is that which arrives to every house freely over-the-air (OTA). In fact, it is this exact signal that these other companies, like satellite or standard cable, receive and then rebroadcast at a lesser quality. The best quality comes free!

Now I know there are other reasons for desiring cable such as the need for more content. OTA broadcasts only include ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW, PBS and then a dozen other smaller broadcasts that I have no desire for. There are many who "need" to have ESPN or some other random sports network but this desire can easily cost you over $100 a month which equates to $1200 annually! That is alot of money.

Katie and I decided to go the free route.

I mounted an antennae to our house and ran cable to our two TVs. One line goes to our TV in the bedroom and the other goes to our TiVo in the living room. This brings me to my next simplistic device: the TiVo.

Katie and I love our TiVo. Not only are we able to record seasons of our favorite shows but also have the ability to search youtube, podcasts and Netflix Instant Watch. The TiVo cost us around $200 and a monthly service fee of $12. Now I hate having to pay a monthly fee again but the ability to have a DVR record our favorite shows in HD is just worth it. Our lives our way to busy to actually sit and watch a TV show at it's actual airing time.

Through our TiVo and the fact that we live at the epicenter of the Entertainment Capital has turned us into TVaholics! We love good TV and probably love TV more then movies.  The TiVo makes it very easy for us to watch our favorite broadcast shows but for those shows that air on cable networks we use Netflix.

Netflix is another great way to save money. We our on the bottom tier service which gives us one disc rental and all the Instant Watch we can consume. Netflix is slowly growing their online library and the ability to watch our Instant Watch shows through our TiVo is a great thing.

For those who can say no to sports networks and the Disney Channel should take a look at OTA broadcasts. Its free!