The Jack Noodle Journal

Welcome home Castichells!
We are very happy to have you back in the states. I am looking forward to looking through your hundreds of photographs.

K and I went to dinner with the World travelers last night.

It looks like it might be a nice day out there weather wise today. So far K has had a pretty rainy spring break. Yesterday was her first day of nice weather.
The little lady is heading up to Shelton for a couple of days.
I’ll be by my lonesome.
It’s okay. I’ve got a horror movie festival planned for this evening.
Embarrassment free, solo bad movie viewing.

I have been stuck for the last couple of days on something. I’ve been obsessing over it a bit. I think I am over it now. The spell is starting to wear off.
Follow my surfing trail if you will and you’ll get a peak at my current nuttiness.

So I was minding my business reading things here and there on the internets when I read this story about a Portland guy who won an award at SXSW for a music video he made for Thom Yorke. Yeah Portland! The video is here. It’s pretty amazing. Having Thom’s music playing on your video could make footage of a line at the grocery store look cool though.
Upon my first few viewings of the video I was totally blown away by the miniature sets, landscapes, buildings and models. I was also amazed by how well the live action mixed with the toy models. It must have taken forever to build those sets!

My web surfing journey continues with my investigation of the people involved with the making of the video. Ah yes, Bent Image Labs huh? Looks like they are around the corner up on Division.
While in the midst of a google on Bent, I find this guy blogging about the “Harrowdown Hill” video. I can totally hear this guy in a Napoleon Dynamite voice going, “Duh! That look is SO 11 months ago!”

Turns out what I thought were miniatures in the video is actually real photography and footage manipulated to look fake. Cool!
This technique is called “tilt shifting“. Sorry Mr. Dynamite, but I hadn’t heard of or seen this before. Perhaps I am not as hip and up to date as I once was.
I guess it has been around for awhile and is achieved by using special lenses that create the distortion.

From there I surfed over to this page and found these jaw dropping images. Man oh man. That’s crazy right?

So I am starting to think around this time that this is something that I could probably emulate in photoshop. I then went to this page that talked about making little toys.
Hmm, yes, It looks like others are trying this in Photoshop.
From that page I headed over to here where there is an alright Photoshop tutorial on how to mimic the look.

I’ve been working on one of my photos and almost have it down I think. It’s harder than it looks. I think the real trick is to start out with a photo taken from a distance and from above. The blurring on the top and bottom of the image is really distracting to me as well. Perhaps your starting photo should have areas of empty space at the top and bottom that isn’t distracting when blurred.
I’ll post some stuff of my own up for you to look at when I get something to look good.

Now I’m looking at things like the waterfront downtown trying to imagine how I could get it miniaturized.

woo hoo! Spring break!

K has a fun filled spring break in the works.
One of the thousands of perks that our Oregon teachers receive is spring and summer breaks. Other perks they get are high pay, mountains of cash and wonderful, intelligent, understanding parents to deal with.

Yeah, no spring break for this guy. I’m working.

Happy birthday to my Pa! 58 years young today.
My brother and I took the old man out to dinner last night. It was a pretty fun time.
I think we might be going out to Beavercreek for dinner on Tuesday as well.

Not much to report today yet.
I’ll get back to you if something comes up.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot:

1. It’s Ministry Monday. I’m listening to “Psalm 69″ right now. Perhaps tomorrow will be TOOL Tuesday.

2. Visit Mr. Castichell’s website to read a post from Japan.

Hey there happy Friday friends!
Let me tell you: It is a beautiful spring morning out there right now.
Man! It’s invigorating!
So sorry I have to be in my dark cube today.
oh well. 8 hours and 58 minutes. I can make it.

What sort of plans do you have for the weekend? Not too much going on around these parts.
My dad’s birthday is coming up so we might try to get out to Beavercreek sometime soon.

I’m going to continue with my video work this weekend. Go through more manuals and training DVDs.
I shot some more footage yesterday here at the studio. I did some tweaking to my old camera and think I got better shots than I did on Tuesday. Plus the exerciser was on a white background this time which seemed to help with a better lighting situation. We’ll see. I haven’t looked at yesterday’s footage yet.

I have been doing some research on cameras this week.
There’s some nice stuff out there.

I’m investigating the HD world. Do I dare get into that bee’s nest?
I still have a ways to go before finishing it, but I have been watching the new Nine Inch Nails (god here he goes about NIN again) DVD, “Beside You In Time” and was absolutely blown away by how beautiful the quality of the HD looks. Man oh man. Sharp as a tack. After shooting that noise concert in the dark last week I am totally impressed with how much light and color they sucked out of the NIN concert.

So what cameras did they use? There’s a pretty interesting HD FAQ attached to the website that gives a little peak into the process.
I’m going to have to look closely at the end credits to see if I can pick the cameras out. I think it was filmed with some sort of Sony product.

My dilemma with researching cameras is that I don’t want to spend 30 thousand dollars on a video camera. Sure, if it was a perfect World and I had an abundance of cash then I could totally load up on the cameras and make a NIN HD video. I’m serious about being a videographer but can’t afford to be 30 thousand dollars serious yet.
I’m in trouble because I’m more serious than 200 bucks. I can’t get the quality I want in a camera for 200, but also can’t pay 8 thousand for a sweet prosumer model.
My old camera has been great and served me well for almost 10 years and will continue to do so under certain conditions.
So I need a camera that has a great picture, works well in low light, is more powerful than my old camera and doesn’t totally break the bank.

Right now I have my eyes on the Canon HV20. I think it’s what I am after. It’s not totally pro but it’s not wimpy either. I have been a fan of the Canon products. My other cameras are Canons. We’ll see though. I need to read more about it and save my pennies.

It won’t be out until April, so that gives me some time to come down off of the ledge.

Spring is here now, right? Woo hoo! Ding dong winter’s dead!
It was a tad chilly this morning, but no matter. The calendar never lies.
Winter is gone. No more talk of it again until the end of the year.
I am glad winter is dead. I’m ready for spring.

I shot some more video here at the office yesterday. I was on set filming the photographic shooting. We were photographing a model on an exercise machine for a exercise machine company’s product shot.
I am extremely unhappy with my DV camera’s performance. I got home and uploaded what I shot for the day and was mortified. It was grainy and out of focus.
That camera is not handling lower light situations very well at all.
I can only image what the no light footage I handed over to Stu after Friday nights shooting looks like.
Argh!

I was just bitching to my coworker about the camera and he thinks I should rent one for the shooting I was going to do some more of on Thursday.
Yes. Renting a camera. Hmm now that’s an idea.

I am officially looking for a new camera.
I need to do some research and figure out what I am looking for.
I have to get one that behaves better in lower light for sure.

Maybe an HD DV camera?
Yeah.
I need to load up on some overtime hours to start saving for it.

I really enjoyed being on the shoot yesterday. That is some fun stuff folks!

Happy Sunday to you folks! How are you doing? Things are pretty good around these parts.
We just got back from taking the kids on a dog walk.
Got ourselves some mochas.

It’s kind of cloudy out there right now. The sun has been peaking through on occasion.

Did you all do something crazy for St. Patrick’s day? We didn’t celebrate the holiday at all.
We went to a Boston Terrier meet up at the dog park. Then K worked in the yard while I worked on some video and the computer. We went to Vincente’s for some pizza and watched a couple of documentaries when we got home. I zonked out in the middle of the second documentary about the history of the civil rights movement in America. I think I barely made it to 9:30.
No green beer for us.

I had a great time filming the experimental noise show on Friday night. I think I got a few good shots for Stu. I got 70 minutes of footage down on tape. I need a new camera. I can barely get an image in low light situations.
It was LOUD! The earplugs I wore all evening were totally required. It was an interesting scene. There is a definite protocol to the experimental noise genre. They weren’t just getting up there and being as loud as they could. Well, actually they were but there was a process and a lot of thinking going into it. I appreciated the art of it. It was cool being a cameraman because I could go backstage and got to talk to the noise makers. There were some nice kids. 7 bands played.

The cameramen agreed that “Instinct Control” put on an excellent performance. Here’s one of his tunes for your listening pleasure. He was also doing the video projections for the show. I was going to talk to him about his gear but didn’t get a chance.

It seemed like a lot of kids in the audience and the bar had come to see the band “Trees” (hard to find a link to your website with a common band name like Trees). There was quite a murmur going around about the lead screamer of the Trees who happens to be my good friend G’s brother, Lenny. Lenny is an awesome screamer. Lenny, you nut. Doesn’t screaming like that hurt?

I had a fun time filming for Stu. Hopefully we can work on some more projects soon. His documentary on the noise scene should be finished for his class and showing at the Mission Theater on April 13th I think he said. I’ll give you all more details closer to the day so you can come and see the work.

I have got to get going on some chores.
We are going to Abby the girl’s (not Abby the dog) birthday party today. She’s turning 8? Gosh, these kids are all going to be teenagers before we know it!
It’s a pirate theme party so I’ve got to get my red and white striped shirt and eye patch on.

Hey do you know what? The Castichells are on the other side of the globe right now in Japan. Woo hoo! I hope you guys are having fun.
It’s night time there right at this moment isn’t it?
If you guys get a chance please update the internets with stories of your adventures and photos. I’ll keep a diligent eye out for news and postcards.

We saw Babel last night. It was fine. I could see it blowing you away if you were in the right mood. I wasn’t.
The shots in Japan reminded me that our friends are there.
I would love to visit Tokyo some day.

I was talking about doing some concert video work on Monday. Low and behold, music show filming presents itself. I volunteered to be part of my buddy Stu’s crew. We are going to be filming an experimental noise rock show at a place downtown called Someday Lounge on Friday night. I’m excited. It should be fun.

I haven’t been to this Someday Lounge place before. I’d invite all of you to come and check it out but I’m not exactly sure what this “experimental noise” business is about yet. I’ve heard some tales. Stu said he’s providing ear plugs to his team. Stu is putting together a documentary on noise and these acts that make it. I should check out some of the band’s music before Friday night to see if there are any bits that would inform my filming.

My Zo-Ko website had been down. I’m not sure how long it was down.
It’s back up now.
It was blocked by the web host due to nonpayment. I hadn’t been interested in paying the bill.
I’m all paid up now.

I don’t think I have done anything with that site since my portfolio day, college graduation week, September 2005.
Soon to be 2 years. Time is flying kids.

I haven’t really done any web stuff since then.
I haven’t been interested.
I’ve done video stuff and other fun things, but not much with the internets.

I’ll probably let the Zo-Ko site float for a bit longer until it expires next time.
I’m not excited about the Zo-Ko direction anymore. The site is fine, but I don’t think it represents my interests or boat floaters anymore.

I’ve got a new direction for my web presence bouncing around in my brain at the moment.
I’ll have to get it out and up one of these days.

I couldn’t remember my passwords for the Zo-Ko site so I had to do some digging through my papers.
I found my pass codes in my wonderful little moleskine notebook (that’s funny, I thought it was mole skin). There are some excellent notes, scribbles, and ideas in that puppy. I was thumbing through it on the bus this morning. I need to read those notes closer and bring some of those gems out into the light again.
I love peeking through my old scribbles. I’m my biggest fan.

One of these days I am going to go back through my old school work and notebooks.
I think there are some notes in there written to the future Noodle, telling him to research the jotted ideas and directions that the school Noodle didn’t have time to explore.

Oh boy. This time change thing stinks. Not cool.
I had the hardest time waking up this morning. Sure, the alarm clock said 6, but my body still knew it as 5.
My bus riding commute was thrown off as well. The usual passengers seemed to be off.
The lighting was weird.

I am waking up now as noon approaches.

Over the weekend I watched a DJ Shadow DVD, “In Tune and On Time“. It was pretty good. That DJ magic is mesmerizing to watch. The concert had some cool video, graphics, and visuals projected over Shadow and on to screens as he performed. The footage was edited nicely for the DVD.

I just added the new NIN DVD “Beside You In Time” to our Netflix queue and I am anticipating some sweet video footage, and over concert projections on that as well. If you watch the trailer you’ll see what I’m talking about with that crazy shot of the baboon jumping across the auditorium.

I would love to do some live concert video, trippy images work. I guess the kids are calling that VJ work.
It would be fun to project stuff from my laptop over the top of a band rocking out.
I am pretty impressed with how the VJs can hit the marks or beats at the right moment.
I should do some research on the live triggering of video clips at concerts.

Found a photo of myself that I don’t remember being taken. I was cute as a wee tike. I am very good with children and other dogs.

We have reached that time of the week that I like to call Friday. Around this time of the week I am fond of saying, “I am very glad the weekend is almost here”.
It was a good week. I was pretty busy at the office. Last night after my German class, I was ready for the week to be over. I felt grumpy.
I have run out of energy. Sleepy.
I need to sleep in on Saturday morning.

The We’re From Japan show on Wednesday was magnificent! Those boys really rocked it. The kids in Japan are going to dig them!
It had been a while since I had seen them play live. I was impressed with the growth of the following that seems to have occurred since I last saw them.
I am very glad the lady and I went. It was worth the Thursday morning sleepiness. Ah getting old. Remember the days when you could go to a show every single night and show up for work the next morning bright eyed and bushy tailed? Bushy eyed and bright tailed?

We are all caught up to the current season of our Battlestar Galactica viewing. We finished the last 2 episodes of season 2.5 last night. Now we are waiting once again for another TV series to release their next season on DVD. More waiting. Battlestar has been a good show. Season 2.5 ended with giant cliffhangers as all season finales do, but we weren’t tearing our hair out when the end came like we’ve done with Lost or Six Feet Under season finales. Waiting for season 3 of Battlestar is going to be a much easier wait than season 3 of Lost has been. In the middle of, or maybe the beginning of season 2.5, there was an episode that was just so jaw droppingly amazing. After that story arc wrapped up, the crew of the Battlestar wobbled quite a bit with 2 lame episodes and then eventually regained their feet ending up with a strong closer to the season. When Battlestar Galactica is good it is SO good. When it’s bad it’s only slightly bad. Definitely forgivable.

What will we watch now? We have some Netflix build up that was on hold during our Battlestar binge.
Oh yeah, the movie “300″ comes out this weekend doesn’t it? I would like to see that.

What’s the fun for this weekend? You guys and gals have anything going?
I am going to get serious about my training this weekend.

Looks like we will be in meetings with the German for a large portion of this Friday.
I should warm up my coffee and grab a good seat before they are gone.

Put on your dancing shoes kids! There’s rock afoot this evening!

Our friends, the lovely lads of the rock band We’re From Japan will be playing a show tonight at the Doug Fir and we will be attending.
It starts at 9 and is priced at the affordable amount of 6 dollars.

The show tonight is going to be their Japanese tour kick off. Yep, they will be playing a number of concerts in Japan. I believe they’ll be gone for 3 weeks.
I’m sure they’re going to hear this over and over again, but see what happens when you have a country in your band name? It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. You will eventually tour your namesake.

The lovely Ms. Castichell will be joining the band for the Asian tour as their roadie. Maybe she will be serving as the manager. Definitely not a groupie though. Those kids are actually HER groupies.

Anyone in reading distance of this post should come to the show. It will be fun.
We will be totally tired for work on Thursday morning but that is a sacrifice we are willing to make to help celebrate the coming success of our friend’s World domination.