Gin Me Hendricks

God save me for that pun… the worst puns are the ones that aren’t funny.

While this review was fun to do, the purpose was really more about editing video than getting drunk.  A few years ago, I bought a Canon HV20 High Def Camcorder.  One of the highlight features was that it could shoot “24p,” that is “24 progressive frames per second.” 

There are a couple of reasons why someone might want this, but suffice it to say, 24p footage has a different characteristic to it.  It’s less “fluid,” but some say it gives your end result a more “cinema-like” result.  I’m not kidding myself, nothing I’m shooting is going to garner an Academy Award – if anything, my stuff looks along the lines of The Office.  To me, non-24p high def stuff looks “hyper-real” and almost “too smooth.”

So why am I still talking about this?  Well, it turns out the “highlight feature” was a bit misleading.  You don’t really care, but the 24p footage is actually wrapped in a 60i (60 interlaced frames per second) “wrapper” in order to make it more compliant with the HDV standard (I guess…).  This is don’t through a process called “telecine” or sometimes “pulldown.”  You’ve lost interest at this point, but the bottom line is that I finally figured out the Gordian Knot of 24p footage from the HV20.  So this was my first full test.

For reference, here’s some non-24p stuff (though, I think these aren’t the best examples):

P.S. Melanie is JOKING! It’s her imaginary, horrible alter ego.

Read More about "Gin Me Hendricks"

C-I-N-D-Y

Many people are surprised to learn that I was the male lead in a musical at the local all-girls' school eight years ago. I'm not sure which element of that last sentence surprises them the most, but suffice it to say that most are surprised.

The musical was "Cindy," a very loosely interpreted "Cinderella story." The setting was a 1920s Jewish deli in New York... or at least, that was the original setting. Given that the reproduction was being performed by a Catholic school in California, the setting was changed to a '90s Italian pizzeria in Los Angeles. The transition was not entirely seemless, despite the best efforts of the play's producers to amend the song lyrics.

I had a lot of fun being involved in the production. I was one of two guys present daily at a Catholic all-girls' school three days a week for as many months. It was actually far more innocent than stereotypes allow. I'd say the same in regards to the other male present, my 22-year old counterpart, but he did end up dating the female lead after production had ended -- that was the rumor I'd heard anyway.

I'd happened upon the gig after being invited by a freshman (or rather "freshgirl," but that just sounds wrong) to their Winter ball. I was a lousy dance date. I was obstinately critical of what we called dancing, so if I was your escort for the night, you likely sat around and watched everyone else have fun. In my defense, I did warn my host to this end.

I'd attended another variety show on the campus a few weeks prior and mentioned to one nominated princess that if she was elected "queen," I would sing to her at the dance. I really couldn't say how this all came about, but sure enough, she was the queen, and before the night was through, I was on stage in front of a couple hundred singing "To Make You Feel My Love," a capella. This resulted in:

1. My host becoming incredibly pissed with me. I wouldn't dance for the life of me, but I'd sing a capella to some other girl?!
2. An innocent young girl perceiving that I'd just expressed my undying love for her.
3. An audition in the La Reina High School Players' production of their Spring musical "Cindy."

I auditioned with Billy Joel's "For The Longest Time," and was type-cast in the role of "Lucky," a hopeless romantic constantly wooing Cindy Bella with little success. The result of this affair is embedded below.

I learned quite a few things during those few weeks, not the least of which were:

• James Taylor's "Greatest Hits" album just scratches the surface, and
• You can't chase one sister if you've already expressed your undying love -- on-stage, in song, and in front of everyone -- to the other sister.

Thanks & apologies to everyone involved! Read More about "C-I-N-D-Y"