Finally...

After hopping between 2 HMVs in Metrotown, I finally got my prized Flight of the Conchords CD!

I support FOTC 100% which is why I'm buying their albums and avoiding downloads.

Mel (Kristen Schaal), watch out, there's a new obsessed fan in town.

Want to know how to capture from your PlayStation 3 in HD?

Jack's Vlog (HD): How to capture from a PS3 in HD from Jack Zhang on Vimeo.

Go to the video page to get the 30p version
Part of the Jack's Vlog series

The balance of life is true... (contains serious content)

Yesterday, I had a more than great day accomplishing all of my work at school and felt very good... too good for that fact, which is why I just know it would tumble down immediately... and it did.

I've recently been extremely stressed about waiting for a job from somewhere like Greedy Productions and I think it's disrupted my sleep pattern, the sleep time was 5:00AM. This caused me to sleep and I also knew that if I woke up and went to school, I'd need more sleep and have to go to the beds at the Nurse's room without any other choice than to be sent home. So I remained sleeping there.

[This portion is intentionally left blank for a good reason. Contact me just in case you're worried.]

I hear of mental health days off and they sound great, I think I just took one today, except it's terrible.

Thus, the balance of life is true.

Film Composer? Try video games, it's better.

I recently discovered a Film Composer with a background coming from the band "Scorpions": Ralph Rieckermann.

His scores are great, but the films and how the music cues used in those films stink worse than Uwe Boll's movies (that's right, there are films worser than Uwe Boll).

I am making a big suggestion to him to join the video gaming industry where most of his music cues fit perfectly with action or suspense games.

If you want to listen to a very small sample of his music cues, drop by his Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/proskorp.

If you have an account (which I don't cause I don't ride the Myspace/Facebook social networking wave), drop him a line about this post if you can, seriously...

Intensity Pro Woes

Ok, so I finally get a Dual-Core PC with PCI-Expesss and thought this as the most opportune moment to use the Intensity Pro. But... after completing all my setups, the capture in 720 and 1080 to MJPG drop LOTS of frames. Low-motion and low detail video is encoded well, but high-motion and high detail video drops TONs of frames.

I have 2 choices now, keep the 1.8Ghz dual core and use a RAID to go uncompressed (or if my processor power is still sufficent, get no dropped frames) or go to 2.4+Ghz.

Edit: I've just figured out that my LGA775 socket motherboard can go all the way to the best Quad-core processors! (but to play it safe, I'm going for the Q6600) I'm also possibly looking at a video card upgrade beyond the onboard video card to the GeForce 8600GT.

If you're on DVinfo.net, and you want to help, go to this link to help figure out why I have dropped frames...

Edit (April 28): Scratch that, a GeForce 9600GT would also do... or not. I'd better ask the guys at NCIX tomorrow about this...

My Next Camera...

I'm split between the Canon XH-A1 which has native 1440x1080 CCDs and could do 24p but that can't be captured by my current video editor, Sony Vegas.



And the Sony HVR-Z1U, sightings of this camera are so wide that you'll see them nearly everywhere. It's the primary camera for "Deadliest Catch", it even has NTSC/PAL switching! The only bummer is no 24p and a lower pixel count CCD.



I'm leaning towards the Z1U since I used it before back in 2006, but it all depends if I'm editing Final Cut Pro or Vegas in the next few years.

But which camera (and hopefully specifically for one of you out there who's name's related to time) do YOU think I should get as my next camera?

Un-**bleep**-Believable!

The Flight of the Conchords CD has been delayed a whole week in Canada. What is it this time? Bi-lingual packaging again?

A day later is fine for this kind of stuff (Sly Cooper 3 was only delayed 1 day due to Bi-lingual packaging) but a week is freakishly long.

Japan-North America delays are more acceptable since FCC certification and Canadian ICES-003 certification is needed for stuff coming from there.

Moving to the US doesn't solve things either, this is where you remember the things the Michael Moore movie "Sicko" taught you.

AKA Visit Teaser Trailer

Normally I wouldn't really do this and only release the finished video on that "day in the future." But after seeing a demand for some good behind the scenes footage on the3eds.com, I just had to release some footage as a Teaser Trailer.

Youtube link (AVC High-Quality)
Best watch it in HQ since regular quality has been too butchered.

The guy waving is Scott "Diggs" Underwood, a AKA veteran and in my opinion, should be a character in the series cause of his wacky personality.

All I can say is it'll be released somewhere after the movie airs. I cannot guarantee the whole thing will be publicly posted either.

My next possible interview (if possible)...

With Matt Hill and Sam Vincent (Courtesy of Studio Kaiju):



Part 2:



Matt's on a year long run right now so right now I can't interview both at once, but once it's arranged, you'll know I'll bring my HDV HC7 to it. That's right, the possibly first High-Def interview with Matt and Sam, the intro bumper is already done.

I am officially admitting to a secret...

I...

watch The Sopranos (when it was on, I've stopped watching since it ended) and Entourage when I'm angry/mad to calm me down. It satisfies my anger craving.

So far, after a non-climaxing rough patch due to an unspecifiable cause, I am quite calm after watching one episode of Entourage then a best of Entourage montage on YouTube.

I'll watch another episode then play a game to be calm. This is way better than around the same time last year when a crippling incident nearly destroyed my life.

[serious discussion]
I believe these anger spurts could be astrological, considering how certain specific minds could turn bad in the spring (especially the Aprils of the past few years). (Allan Schoenborn is the perfect example, I know what he's going through because I nearly experienced the same thing last April. Extreme guilt and fear overwhelms him as I did the few days after my incident, except his will last a lifetime.)

Galactic alignment and major events seem to be commingling together (with Virgina Tech only a few days after my incident) I suspect that the next April might be even more dire, and don't even start on 2012... For all we know, our fears might be one step closer to truth...
[/serious discussion]

Wow...

See for yourself:



That's my dad, the butting photographer, being photographed by a photojournalist from a local newspaper.

Makes me think more about Greedy Productions...

Parallel

A new film from John Morrison.

My review: Amazingly deep, makes you think after it, and would qualify for Sundance had better equipment been used. (I can hook you up John and Cody with HD equipment and editing...)

Warning: Rated PG-13 due to extreme gun violence. Viewer Discretion is advised.

Need a moral boost... (short rant)

For the first time in a while, I haven't had anything to cheer me up.

Pure boredom and inactivity is either good or bad, considering that activity and over-confidence could lead to a pitfall of unimaginable proportions.

In less words: If life's too good, you're bound to have something to destroy your luck and if life seems terrible, some sheer luck might perk it up.

Stuck in the middle... the more efficient (or not) way.

Sick.

It's been a long time coming, and finally it has come. The dreaded cold.

If it persists past Monday I might miss a few days of school. I just mustered the energy to post this blog post.

A coincidental story was that I got sick the morning of 9/11/2001. I believed my sick times come with every school year beginning. That was so except for the past 2 years. When I was in China, I had a runny nose for most of the days there, but that's travel sickness.

I had been immune to colds for quite a while, until now.