Jonathan Oxer
[Blog]
>> Miranda Skerman to co-host SuperHouse
Fri, Sep 5th 9:04am 2008 >> SuperHouse
People use all sorts of strange images as their online profile picture, like on Facebook and MySpace, and in IM clients. Most people put a picture of their own face but others put in pictures of their pets, or their kids, or some celebrity or model that they like. It's pretty normal to be on a site like Facebook and see Brad Pitt or Linda Evangelista staring at you from the profile of a person who you *know* looks nothing like them. So it was quite mentally jarring recently to see a profile picture for Miranda Skerman and have the first reaction as "oh yeah, another substitute-a-model-for-me profile", then do a mental double-take, and think hang on, that really *is* what she looks like, not just what she wishes she looked like. Which is a roundabout way of coming to the point that Miranda has agreed to co-host the new TV show I'm putting together, SuperHouse. Woot!
People use all sorts of strange images as their online profile picture, like on Facebook and MySpace, and in IM clients. Most people put a picture of their own face but others put in pictures of their pets, or their kids, or some celebrity or model that they like. It's pretty normal to be on a site like Facebook and see Brad Pitt or Linda Evangelista staring at you from the profile of a person who you *know* looks nothing like them. So it was quite mentally jarring recently to see a profile picture for Miranda Skerman and have the first reaction as "oh yeah, another substitute-a-model-for-me profile", then do a mental double-take, and think hang on, that really *is* what she looks like, not just what she wishes she looked like. Which is a roundabout way of coming to the point that Miranda has agreed to co-host the new TV show I'm putting together, SuperHouse. Woot!
>> Jondo the mandroid is RX-8 enabled
Sat, Jun 21st 2:20pm 2008 >> SuperHouse
Well, it's been a long time coming but *at* *last* I've got my hands on the car that was designed specifically for me. I've previously owned an RX2, 4 RX3s (one of which is still in a shed at my Mum's place), an RX5 (briefly, mainly as a donor car for parts), and an RX7. In early 2000 when I was talking about getting another RX7 Ann didn't like the idea because they're only a 2 seater, and she said that Mazda needed to build a 4 seater version. It was about that time that stories of the RX-EVOLV project started leaking out of Mazda, and I knew that if they ever actually built it I'd have to buy one. Stephen and Elspeth were kind enough to let me drive their RX-8 while I was up in Brisbane a little while ago, and about a month ago I started seriously looking for one. Mission accomplished, because now we have a new member of the family:
Well, it's been a long time coming but *at* *last* I've got my hands on the car that was designed specifically for me. I've previously owned an RX2, 4 RX3s (one of which is still in a shed at my Mum's place), an RX5 (briefly, mainly as a donor car for parts), and an RX7. In early 2000 when I was talking about getting another RX7 Ann didn't like the idea because they're only a 2 seater, and she said that Mazda needed to build a 4 seater version. It was about that time that stories of the RX-EVOLV project started leaking out of Mazda, and I knew that if they ever actually built it I'd have to buy one. Stephen and Elspeth were kind enough to let me drive their RX-8 while I was up in Brisbane a little while ago, and about a month ago I started seriously looking for one. Mission accomplished, because now we have a new member of the family:
>> Secret project progressing nicely
Thu, Jun 5th 9:15pm 2008 >> SuperHouse
Turns out I got my weeks stuffed up: after preparing a talk for phpMelb I discovered that the meeting is next Thursday, not today. Which is great, because there were two exciting deliveries today and so I get to play with new toys instead of doing a talk! The first package was one of these little babies, a Canon HV30:
It's a compact little camera, but unlike a typical consumer camcorder it does high-definition widescreen at progressive 24 frames/second (1080i/24p, for those who care!) which is what you need for broadcast-quality footage. It also a lot of the manual controls you'd normally only find in professional gear - all for under $1200! Very sweet. This is what will become the "B" camera for my secret project, ie: the camera we take into nasty places like under the house and inside the ceiling. The primary camera will probably be a Sony HVR-Z1, but that hasn't arrived yet.
The other package was a pair of radio mics. Only cheapies (good ones cost more than a camera!) but I did some quick testing tonight and the audio quality seems pretty good. They'll do for filming the pilot, at least, and we'll see what happens after that.
Which reminds me: last week I went into a local specialist camera shop that has a decent range of quality video gear, and gave them a laundry list of gear that I wanted including the HV30, the HVR-Z1, radio mics, lighting, and other bits and pieces, and they couldn't give me prices on the spot so they said they'd call me back the next day with a good price. And they never called! You'd think that when someone walks in and says they want to buy $10k of gear they'd actually bother following it up, but apparently not.
Turns out I got my weeks stuffed up: after preparing a talk for phpMelb I discovered that the meeting is next Thursday, not today. Which is great, because there were two exciting deliveries today and so I get to play with new toys instead of doing a talk! The first package was one of these little babies, a Canon HV30:
It's a compact little camera, but unlike a typical consumer camcorder it does high-definition widescreen at progressive 24 frames/second (1080i/24p, for those who care!) which is what you need for broadcast-quality footage. It also a lot of the manual controls you'd normally only find in professional gear - all for under $1200! Very sweet. This is what will become the "B" camera for my secret project, ie: the camera we take into nasty places like under the house and inside the ceiling. The primary camera will probably be a Sony HVR-Z1, but that hasn't arrived yet.
The other package was a pair of radio mics. Only cheapies (good ones cost more than a camera!) but I did some quick testing tonight and the audio quality seems pretty good. They'll do for filming the pilot, at least, and we'll see what happens after that.
Which reminds me: last week I went into a local specialist camera shop that has a decent range of quality video gear, and gave them a laundry list of gear that I wanted including the HV30, the HVR-Z1, radio mics, lighting, and other bits and pieces, and they couldn't give me prices on the spot so they said they'd call me back the next day with a good price. And they never called! You'd think that when someone walks in and says they want to buy $10k of gear they'd actually bother following it up, but apparently not.
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