The trailer is done! It's posted on YouTube, and the customer, Pat McDermott, seems to be very satisfied with the results.
Upon uploading this video initially, I was faced with a major disappointment. For some reason, the video appeared blurry and pixellated, until I clicked on the little "HQ" toggle on the lower right side of the movie player frame. I was scrambling to find out what had gone wrong, and apologizing profusely to my customer for delivering a sub-excellent product.
It all made a little more sense after finding this blurb in the YouTube Help forums:
We made improvements to standard quality for video uploads! Unless there is a large difference between standard quality and HQ , the upload will produce standard quality by default (and not HQ as before).
In other words, the bar has been raised and you're going to find it hard to get HQ encoding at present, with the "upgrade" to "standard (normal) quality." It can be done but you may need to search the forum to find out possible ways that could work for you. Most of us are too tired to repeat ourselves on this, and no one I know is convinced they have a foolproof method forrendering that will ALWAYS give you HQ encoding.
In other words, the resolution and quality of my uploaded video was TOO GOOD. So good that YouTube split it up into high-quality and low-quality versions for the benefit of people with slower connection speeds. I will have to keep this in mind for future projects, as I think the whole HQ toggle thing is obnoxious, and frankly, unnecessary. If anything, the HQ display should be the default setting, allowing people to lower the quality if needed for streaming speed, etc.
Regardless, this is a very exciting milestone for me. I have been interested in working with video for many years, and have never really had the opportunity. Now I am dying for my recent purchase of Adobe Master Collection CS4 to arrive so I can do even cooler stuff from here on out.
Ms. McDermott is currently on a rampage (in a good way), posting this link on her site, her Facebook page, and sending it out to a staggering number of colleagues, web loops, discussion groups, and a company called Blazing Trailers that specializes in showcasing exactly this kind of media.
I am proud of my work on this project. If it generates some more work of this nature in the future, even better. I look forward to creating more trailers for Pat when she rolls out the remaining books in her series!
I seem to be satisfied? I'm ecstatic! You did a fabulous job, Rick! I'm glad you've extended your considerable talents into video. Thank you so much!
— By Pat McDermott, on
May 21, 2009 12:22 PM
You're very welcome! I've already got a few fragments of ideas bubbling for the next one.
— By Shag, on
May 27, 2009 9:49 AM
Quick news flash! As of yesterday evening, author Pat McDermott now has a fully functional blog, which I suggest you read. Pat is the author of "A Band of Roses", and the upcoming "Fiery Roses", two action/adventure stories set in an alternate world in which Brian Boru survived the Battle of Clontarf and propagated the rule of Irish monarchy to the present day. Good stuff.
Her book can now be purchased as an e-book through Red Rose Publishing. It's very obvious after reading a single page that her novel is the result of a lot of hard work and research. The sequel, "Fiery Roses," is coming soon!
March of this year has definitely followed the old adage thus far, not only in terms of weather, but also the general climate of life and work.
Kicking the month off with a bit of turbulence was an excellent trip back up to Rainbow Ridge for a pleasant weekend with some old friends. A new addition to the group this time around was Jack, the 16-month-old son of Brian and Amy. (More on this trip in a future post...)
On the heels of that, there has been getting back to reality and back to work, to finish up the website that I have been working with Matt Harkins on since the end of January. Final changes were completed on Sunday, and the maiden voyage from my hard drive, through the tubes, and out into the Internets was completed Monday night. Here's the finished site if you'd like to check it out. This guy does some pretty fabulous work. Of course, I'm hoping he feels the same about me... ha ha.
Next on the agenda is finalizing the blog architecture and template for author Pat McDermott. She has just completed a publishing deal with a new publisher to redistribute her first novel as an e-book, and the second installment is ready to launch. She asked me to help her get into the world of blogging, and remarked that it seemed a little odd for so many people to write about stuff and expect everyone else to actually care. I agree, for the most part. I blog for my own enjoyment, I honestly don't care all that much who reads this or why. However, in Pat's case, I think it would be roughly the equivalent of a veteran actor doing standup comedy gigs on the weekends to stay on his toes.
In any case, I will certainly make the announcement when her blog is complete, because I am sure she will have a lot of interesting things to share and talk about, her numerous travels not being the least of them. The work on my end is about 95% completed, we have a meeting scheduled this weekend to finalize it and run through her preferences, tweaks on fonts, colors, etc. You can see a preview of the work-in-progress here.
Point is, after a hectic start to March, I think I'm over the hump, at least for the moment. I have a few odds and ends to attend to, and the recent frenzy at my 9 to 5 gig has died down considerably. It's nice to be busy once in a while, but with the lovely weather of Spring just around the corner, it's also nice to be able to relax and enjoy doing nothing, which is what I do best.
Your help with getting me into the blogosphere has been phenomenal, Rick. I love the site you designed and appreciate your patient lessons walking me through the blogging process. All I have to do now is find something interesting to blog about! Thank you.
— By Pat McDermott, on
March 23, 2009 9:08 AM
There's nothing I can say that can accurately convey the sense of loss I feel over one of the 20th Century's most important authors, except that his writing had an amazing way of putting everything -- our actions, our mere existence, the universe itself -- into perspective. Vonnegut was a man who broke down the hugeness of our planet, and the monstrousness of our species, into childlike concepts. I will never forget seeing him on a tv interview, advocating a new and much-needed Cabinet position: "Secretary of the Future".
Here's a pretty comprehensive summing-up of his life.
(Although they left out the part where he wonders aloud how long he was going to have to wait before the damn cigarettes finally did their job and killed him already.)
One more thing: Kurt Vonnegut, a cynical, curmudgeony genius, would no doubt appreciate the minimal media coverage (or lack thereof) concerning his death, and what it ultimately says about our culture and its fascination with "celebrities" vs. "actual important topics 1 through infinity". After browsing through several other blogs and message boards, it was difficult to keep from crying when I read the messages of grief and loss from his readers. Unfortunately, we have no problem focusing our attention on (for example) Anna-Nicole Smith and her death, her fortune, the lineage of her child -- for WEEKS on end. But the passing of a brilliant mind like Vonnegut's will surely receive only the most cursory mentions on tonight's news broadcasts. I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it.
Note: I just checked Google News. Anna Nicole Smith is at the top of the quick-links list for today's news, with over 2,100 related articles. Kurt Vonnegut's death is listed about 3/4 of the way down the page, with about 800.
On the weekend of February 24th, 2007, the esteemed members of the Popov Society (est. 1997, Syracuse NY) came together for their first official winter session.
The meeting was held at the borrowed mountain getaway of Justin Guinan, Doctor of Veterinary Butorphenology and host of this winter's activities. In attendance were myself, "Surly" John Tomaselli, "Pukey" John Laughlin, "Commander" Craig Peterson, "Jeffy Jeff" Jeff Feligno, Brian "Voice of Reason" Rickard, and a dog named Roxy.
The Popov Society typically meets annually during summer months for sessions involving camping, drinking, listening to music, swimming, and other activities too banal or frowned-upon-by-society to mention. The Society was formed in the spring of 1997, when several college students living in the same complex became friends through a series of chance meetings. Almost every member managed to become violently ill from ingesting Popov Vodka, with the curious exception of "Pukey" John, who did not puke at all until a single non-Popov-related incident years later, when he passed out and vomited on the Doorborough couch.
Highlights of the weekend's activities included:
The assembly of one of the two mystery puzzles contained in a murder mystery game called "C is for Chocolate".
A violent attack from a Satanic ladybug.
Somehow managing to hit myself in the face rather hard with a refrigerator door. My head still hurts and it's 6 days later.
Wondering if Mike Mursch was going to surprise us by appearing over the vast horizon on a magic carpet, blasting Boston and drinking Iron City Beer.
Reading through the book version of "Puppetry of the Penis" that we discovered in the basement.
Discovering the existence of "Bruce Porn Road" only a few miles from our location.
Eating smoked venison sticks, thoughtfully provided by "Pukey" John.
The presence of an actual Swiss German cuckoo clock.
The tentative plan of the Popov Society is to revisit the Stamford, NY house in late June of this year for the summer session, as opposed to the usual camping trips to Arkville or to the Pennsylvania border for mud-soaked weekends at Soaring Eagle Campground. The presence of running water, showers, indoor toilets, and pre-existing shelter make this new location the most popular one yet.
If we return, I have every intention of exploring Bruce Porn Road, as I have read there is a pretty good hike along a gorge nearby. In the meantime, enjoy the photos from our weekend sloth-fest.
The cuckoo clock actually came from Koblenz, Germany - but close enough. jgguinan@yahoo.com father of jtguinan@yahoo.com
— By Dad-Dude, on
July 28, 2007 3:51 PM
Apologies Dr. G.! At any rate, thanks so much for letting us use the place, we had a great time. Hopefully we didn't destroy anything too important...
— By Shag, on
July 31, 2007 8:59 AM
It may displease you to learn that someone stole the street sign. Someone made a replacement with plywood and spray paint.
— By Anonymous, on
October 11, 2009 7:56 PM
Whoops. I meant to say... the Bruce Porn Road street sign.
— By Anonymous, on
October 11, 2009 7:57 PM
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