Thinking: Bowling
Where: I’m at my desk.

I was finally able to watch The Avengers (In 3D but it didn’t make a difference. Save your money.) earlier this week and I am very relieved that it wasn’t disappointing. The film currently holds the title for the biggest opening EVER. The Avengers has been built up through 5 movies over the span of about 4 years so expectations were high from myself and many others. Prior to the release of The Avengers, I had ranked the previous 5 Marvel films as follows:

1. Iron Man – funny, entertaining and a great origin story. Stark has swag.
2. The Hulk – a more serious tone than Iron Man but I enjoyed how the Hulk’s origin was told.cap
3. Captain America – liked this one almost as much as The Hulk. Captain America takes the #3 spot because it seemed like could just do anything. There wasn’t much conflict and it started to get boring.
4. Thor – too cheesy for my tastes.
5. Iron Man 2 – the story lacked cohesiveness and direction and seemed to go everywhere. Wasn’t that interesting.

With Joss Whedon directing, The Avengers easily takes the top stop for all the same reasons that I liked Iron Man and simply because the film had followed up with the story lines from the previous 5 movies and continued to expand on the super heroes personalities as they slowly learned to work with each other. I can understand when people say that the movie started off slow but I feel that the slow pacing was necessary at the beginning to re-introduce everyone to the characters and to set up the conflicts that would eventually cause the team to bond. Action-lovers do not need to worry though because as the 2-hour plus film progresses, the action increases too up to the epic battle at the end where the Avengers learn to work together.

My favorite part of the film occurs during the epic battle where there is a continuous shot showcasing the teamwork with the Avengers. The shot begins with Captain America and Iron Man fighting off the Chitauri and Iron Man utilizes Cap’s shield to bounce one of his repulsor rays toward the enemy. The shot then moves upwards towards the massive flying serpent monster (I don’t really know what to call it or what it was called) showing the Hulk and Thor pound and stab the monster. The ending scene revealing who was ultimately behind the plan of using Loki to invade earth was also a nice touch. I wasn’t sure if the reveal was intended to introduce the villain of The Avengers 2 (which has already been confirmed to happen) or just a quick nod/ surprise twist to another Marvel character.

As it stands right now, The Avengers is easily my favorite of the Avenger series of films but does not quite reach the top spot on my list of comic book movies. My top 3 comic book movies are listed below:

1. X-Men: First Class
2. The Dark Knight
3. The Avengers

The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man are both set to be released in July and I’m curious to see if either of these movies or both of them will replace any of the movies in the top 3.

FILED UNDER: editing, Movies, Out and About BY Aivren AT 3:23 PM
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Thinking: R.I.P. Adam “M.C.A.” Yauch
Where: I’m at my desk.

With the release of the highly anticipated film The Avengers today, IGN has compiled an article focusing on the important super heroes of the Avengers. Their series of videos will bring any movie-goers up to speed with the characters and events leading up to The Avengers. The first video in the series is embedded above and the rest of the videos can be seen in their article here.

FILED UNDER: Edit, editing, Videography BY Aivren AT 1:12 PM
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Thinking: Kate Upton doing the Cat Daddy
Where: Kate Upt…I’m at my desk.

I’ll just leave this here…

Credit to http://www.terrysdiary.com/

FILED UNDER: Etc, Videography BY Aivren AT 1:50 PM
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Thinking: Dr. Pepper
Where: SD Airport

Similar interface to FCP

I’ve been a hardcore user of Final Cut Pro and the other programs that comprised Final Cut Studio since 2005. itIn fact, it was the main reason why I chose to switch from Windows to Macs. Prior to the switch, I was still learning how to edit with Adobe Premiere and Final Cut Pro was widely considered to be the “industry standard” in video production. I loved Final Cut Studio. There wasn’t a steep learning curve and I was very satisfied with the workflow from capturing/ importing footage, rendering footing and exporting footage. Over the past two years, however, I slowly getting disappointed in Apple’s support for Final Cut Studio (Was never interested in Final Cut X) and I began to get curious about the progress of Adobe Premiere. It wasn’t until an unfortunate turn of events this year that I was left without a sturdy and reliable editing system. I had two choices: either purchase a new Macbook Pro and continue using FCP 6 or purchase a Windows laptop and give Adobe Premiere and the CS5.5 suite a try.

I chose to give Adobe Premiere a chance.

I replaced the DVD drive for another HDD

Money was a huge factor in my decision. I initially wanted a newer Macbook Pro and install both Final Cut Studio and the CS5.5 suite to maximize my options but my financial situation simply would not allow it. I researched various Macbook Pro’s and Windows laptops and finally bought a 15″ barbone MSI laptop with three internal hard drives and 16GB RAM. I chose a laptop because portability was important. The MSI laptop cost about $1,500 (tax already included). FYI, the current low-end 15″ MBP without any modifications will already run me $1,799 (4GB RAM and a measly 500GB 5400RPM hard drive). Another important factor to note is that the MSI laptop had the option of choosing an nVidia card that supports Premiere’s Mercury Playback Engine GPU Acceleration.

No need to render

It took me about a week of reading manuals and watching tutorials but I enjoy the entire Adobe CS5.5 suite very much. For one, being primarily a DSLR shooter, I do not need to transcode my DSLR footage to ProRes. That automatically saves me time, storage space and money on extra external drives. I know Final Cut Pro X does that too but the next reason is what makes me appreciate being an Adobe user.

Dynamic Link = FU FCP

I use Adobe After Effects a lot. Whether it’s for simple color correction, animating text or rotoscoping footage. With CS5.5, there is an option known as “Adobe Dynamic Link” which will give me the option to import an entire Premiere sequence in to After Effects as a new composition. No need to render footage or wait to export the entire sequence. Simply go to File -> Adobe Dynamic Link -> New After Effects Composition. That’s it. I can also select footage, copy it, then go to an After Effect composition and paste that footage directly on to the composition. Additionally, I can send my Premiere sequence to Encore (Adobe’s version of DVD Studio Pro but with the added option of being able to author your own Blu-rays). As mentioned earlier, the MSI laptop also has an nVidia video card that allows me to choose an option on Premiere that automatically renders footage in the sequence. These options make my video editing workflow extremely efficient and has made me very happy for making my switch.

TLDR (Too long, didn’t read)? I’m ecstatic to be using Adobe CS5.5 on a Windows laptop. Dynamic Link pwns. FU FCP.

Below is one of the first videos I edited on my new system:

FILED UNDER: DSLR, Edit, Videography BY Aivren AT 4:13 PM
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Thinking: New Jack City
Where: I’m at my desk.

Bioware’s Mass Effect 3 has been out for a little more than a month and I have spent an abundant amount of time playing the franchise’s new multiplayer mode. Multiplayer consists of fighting one of three enemy types from the Mass Effect franchise (Reaper, Geth or Cerberus) in 10 waves where each successive wave will consist of a higher volume of stronger enemies. Mass Effect 3′s multiplayer comparable to Gears of War’s Horde mode or Halo Reach’s Firefight mode. While the main priority in each wave is to kill all the enemies, the 4 player team may also be tasked to complete one additional objective to advance to the next wave. These objectives will require the players to either: disable four devices spread through out random areas of the location, kill four specific enemies or hack a terminal (this requires at least one player to remain in a specific area to fill up a “hack” bar). Each of these objectives have a time limit to complete. Failure to complete an objective will end the round of multiplayer. When 10 waves have been completed, wave 11 will have a 2 minute time limit and require the surviving players to position themselves at the LZ (landing zone) for extraction at the end of the 2 minutes while a massive amount of enemies attempt to prevent the players from getting to the LZ. All players will be rewarded with credits if at least one player makes it to the LZ.

Time limits on objectives add a sense of urgency to the mayhem

At the end of each game, players will earn credits based on their performance, if they made it to the LZ and which difficulty level was played (Bronze, Silver and Gold). The credits are used to buy different packages which are basically booster packs that contain equipment, weapons, weapon mods and new characters. The more expensive the pack, the higher chance of receiving a rare item. While this method of acquiring new items can be frustrating when you can’t get that one weapon or character that you desperately want, it also causes players to keep on playing to earn more credits and buy more packages. Additionally, Bioware has been conducting special “Operation” weekends where players can earn rare weapons or earn more experience per game. Bioware has also released a free DLC (Resurgence Pack) for multiplayer mode with new weapons, characters and maps. The only catch is that you are not automatically given the weapons or characters but will have to earn them by buying packages.

Not just a skin. Each race has their own set of powers.

Customize your character and spend your points wisely

While the multiplayer game types are lacking in variety, there are multiple classes and different races within each class. Play styles will differ not only based on which class you choose but also which race you play within that class since each race has their own set of unique powers. I believe this is the strong point of Mass Effect 3′s multiplayer and the main reason why it has become so popular. As mentioned earlier, the new Resurgence Pack DLC adds more characters that players can experiment with. As long as Bioware continues with their special weekend “Operations” and new DLC, players will be fighting waves of Geth, Reapers and Cerberus troops for a long time to come.

FILED UNDER: Edit, Games BY Aivren AT 3:04 PM
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Thinking: Coffee
Where: At my desk

I stumbled across this trailer from a friend’s Facebook post and after watching the trailer above, Ted is now on my top 10 list of movies to watch this year (my top 10 list is currently dominated by action films). You can’t go wrong with a bad mouthing teddy bear, right? Ted stars Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis (YES!) and Seth McFarlane as the voice of Ted. Ted will be released on July 13, 2012.

FILED UNDER: Edit, Movies BY Aivren AT 10:56 AM
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Thinking: Slaters 50/50.
Where: My desk

About a week and a half after the season 2 finale of The Walking Dead initially aired, my thoughts concerning the finale remain the same. I did enjoy the disjointed escape from the farm of Rick and crew and Rick Grimes’ “Rick-tatorship” after their reunion. While it concluded season 2 with a lot of anticipation for what to expect from season 3, I felt that the fans who had read the comics were impacted the most since they knew who would be introduced and what story arcs they could expect in season 3. I’m specifically talking about the Michonne reveal during Andrea’s escape and the appearance of the Prison at the end of the episode.
The Talking dead conducted a poll after the finale and the Michonne reveal was a dominant 60% of the vote as the most favorite moment of the episode. My initial reaction was that I thought the character looked bad ass as opposed to people who have read the comics who thought, “Oh $hit! It’s Michonne!” I just felt that this particular moment would have had more impact had I read the comics. The reason being that the fans who have read the comic books know who this character is and will do in the story and therefore know what they can look forward to in the series. The same goes for the debut of the Prison as the next location the characters will find themselves in. I didn’t feel this way after watching the season 1 finale and the season 2 mid-season finale.
I purposely avoid the comics because I do not want to spoil the story for myself (although I know that the television series does tend to loosely follow the comic book storylines). As weird as it sounds, based on the season 2 finale, I feel that I will need to start reading the comics to get the most out of season 3.

FILED UNDER: Etc, Random BY Aivren AT 11:43 AM
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April 1, 2012 cannot come soon enough.

I have not read any of the books from “A Song of Ice and Fire” series by George R. R Martin but it looks like all hell will break loose especially with Arya Stark’s words at the end of the trailer: “Anyone can be killed.”

FILED UNDER: Edit, TV BY Aivren AT 3:24 PM
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The first official trailer for Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed III trailer was released today and while no gameplay footage was included in the trailer, the environment of the American colonies of 1775 looks like it’ll add a refreshing play style for players who have played the previous AC installments. I was a disappointed with AC: Revelations so I’m looking forward to this game when it’s released on October 30th of this year.

FILED UNDER: Games BY Aivren AT 1:08 PM
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Thinking: TDK
Where: At my desk

I was looking for an affordable light kit for low light shoots and I finally settled on purchasing the ePhoto light kit late last year. I concluded that the light kit was within my price range and was perfect to start with if I ever chose to purchase a more expensive kit.

While the price was reasonable, the major downside to this kit was that it is extremely difficult to put the softboxes together. The rods used to shape the softboxes appear too long at first but they must be bent pretty far and forced within the softboxes pockets (some reviewers on Amazon believe that they were sent the wrong length of rods). I figured out that the easiest way to install the four rods (per softbox) was to have someone help you bend the rods or if you do not have any help, press the rods against a wall to bend them easier. Once the softboxes are assembled, it is highly advisable that you do not take them apart again.

The lights are pretty bright and I’m happy with how they diffuse. below was the first test run I did with the light kit:

FILED UNDER: DSLR, Edit, Videography BY Aivren AT 2:30 PM
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