CPI Update -- Just Plain Stupid

Thursday morning, all was well. I had finally freed up some memory on my computer when I had the fantastic idea of converting my video files from 30 fps (frames per second) to 24 fps, thus saving me more room on my computer and even on the external hard drive.

I was so into this idea that while I was placing my files into the converter (which happened to be my own interview files), I actually deleted them. Where my head was at ... I don't know.

I sat and stewed around thinking of that I had done. It was pretty stupid, since I needed the data source to make the new converted files, and on top of that, I didn't have enough room anyway!

I checked my camera to see if I had the original interview on there, but no ... it was long gone. My only conclusion is that I have to do my own interview again. I e-mailed Mike and Robb about my little problem and again losing valuable time to continue post-production.

The only other thing that I could work on was my own little section in the project ("The Players of The Owl Garden") and that only took me a few hours to complete on Thursday afternoon. But all the while, I was still stewing over the fact that I had deleted a completely original interview.

Hopefully this weekend I can get the interview done so I can continue working next week, although it's going to get quite busy with the 4th of July and Jarrod's wedding next weekend in South Dakota.

CPI Update -- A Few Bumps...

Last Tuesday, I finished what I affectionately call "Scene 2," which is similar to the "Opening Sequence" in terms of flow and tone. "Scene 2" is basically a re-birth of The Owl Garden itself, bringing us (the audience) all back to the place, if you will.

It's highly debatable whether or not I should have similar scenes back-to-back like this, because it seems to sad and depressing -- broken up by the actual title sequence with a "Pirates of the Caribbean" score tied in -- but I want to give the audience a nice little "up-down" feel to it: sure, we had some damn good times out there, but on the other hand -- it's sad to see it go, always knowing that we cannot be forever young and we'll no longer get to play the game there.

Yesterday, a constant struggle. I've successfully filled up my external hard drive and on top of that, I still needed to convert the "Night Games" files! I was basically at wits end, but I freed up some space on my internal hard drive and I managed to squeeze them in.

Then, another bump ... I was going to start "Scene 3" in which I actually start into the interviews. I find out that the first two (out of four) files for Robb's interview were actually corrupted, but luckily for me, I still had the originals on my camera. Last night, I find out again that the first file of Robb's interview is STILL corrupted, so I'm giving it another shot once again this morning. Hopefully this will be the only bump in the project, knock on wood.

CPI Update -- Hard Drive is Here

Yesterday, I finally got my 320GB hard drive that I ordered last week. All day, I was busy converting all my video files from .mpg to .avi so I can work with them a little bit easier.

Funny thing is ... I've already filled my external hard drive! Since I've eased up some room on my original hard drive, I can still convert the "night games", three files that I have yet to convert to .avi.

For a couple of hours last night, I was busy doing my minor overhaul to the Opening Sequence and now I'm prepared to finish up the titles today. After that, it's going to get a little tougher as I get into the "meat-n-bones" of the project. I want to make everything as perfect as possible and it's my fear that I'll look back on the project one day and I'll think that I've left something out or I should've done something better. My expectations are high, probably higher of those who are ready and willing to watch this project, but it's just that this idea has been in my head for nearly 3-4 years now and I'm going to do the best job possible with what I've got!

The big think to look at is the music. George Lucas himself said that "50% of a movie is the music". I want to keep that nice "roller-coaster" flow of it and I've got a pretty good handle on in. Just what I want to use, in terms of music, is the big question. I also want to buy a few more original soundtracks to help me out, but I've got no worries.

A Fine Weekend

Once again, it was the "weekend of weekends" back in the G.F. area, in which everybody was invited back over to Robb and Jen's house for a fun-filled day of food, fun, laughter, and the all-famous parade.

This year, however, the skies were not threatening to unleash its fury on us like it did last year, complete with a downpour and lightning strikes so close that it made your hair stand on end. The temperature reached into the 90's with clear, blue skies above us. This day would make some pretty good memories.

I, for one, got to a late start on Saturday. I got up late from the night before as I golfed a full round of 18 at a nearby course, so was just a tic sore. Also, I had to get some of my clothes washed since I had nothing to wear, and then Dad was asking me to get some "brunch" ready so he could start grilling. I was under the gun, so to speak, as I was trying to get some chores done prior to getting to G.F.

I finally got ready and arrived at Robb's at around 12:45, just a few minutes before the parade was going to start. Luckily for me, there was food left over and Robb said I could help myself.

As the parade started, just sitting in your chair -- a person could already tell that he or she was going to get some sun. I already made the mistake of not wearing any headwear or not applying any sunscreen to my fair skin. The beers were flowing, the water fights continued (with actual parade members), and in the end, it was a pretty good parade.

After a little conversation and watching Robb's son Bryce run around naked for a while, we decided to pull out the all-important bean bag set. This was it, the culmination of our weekend ... who would dominate at this sport this time.

But Robb was all up on it! He actually ordered new bean bags from a web site claiming that it's the official source of your bean bag (or "cornhole") accesories. These bags were huge, weighing 1 pound each and filled with corn. After a while, it took some time to get used to (these bags, although heavy, bounced like a basketball off the board).

Robb and I teamed up early on. The general rule is that if you win, you keep playing until somebody knocks you out. If memory serves correctly, we lost our first game. But once we played again, Robb and I pulled off the impossible -- 11 straight victories. A few of those victories were by-way of a "skunk", in which it's like a run-rule. If one team scores 11 unanswered points, the game is over and it's considered to be a "skunk." We finally lost to the super-team of Jen and Lacey, who started a small streak of their own.

After that, the people started to file away while the beer kept flowing. I stuck around until just before 10:00 p.m. that night, although I had stopped drinking a few hours before. The sun had finally gotten to me, as my forehead and my arms had taken the brunt of the ultra-violet punishment. For I-don't-know-how-many-years-in-a-row, I didn't make the street dance next to the Minnesota River.

Overall, a great weekend put on my Robb and Jen. Can't wait 'til next year!

I Don't Know About You...

...but I like beer. Miller Lite.

Just thought I'd have to add that.

A Tale of Two Leagues

Last night was supposed to be my grand venture into the softball league in P-Town, but due to a nice, steady rain the games were cancelled for Wednesday night.

Well tonight, sitting back watching the U.S. Open on ESPN, I received a phone call from a fellow coach and he was looking for players for their league opener. With ten minutes to game time, they only had 6 players. I agreed to play.

The team that I was playing on is a decent team, older guys in their mid-30's (and a few into their 40's) who still could play good softball. We were up against a team of younger guys (even younger than me), a team of post-high school graduates from P-Town who could hit the ball quite well.

We were screwed from the start, especially on defense: we only had 9 guys. I played center field, and for the first couple of innings of the first game, our defense was solid. I made a few good plays and couldn't hit the cut-off man for the life of me!

We scored 10 runs in the first two innings, then it seemed like everything shut off. We ended up losing in the bottom of the 7th inning 11-10. On defense, with three outfielders it really starts to hurt, especially when the other team starts hitting the gaps. I felt like I was participating in a track meet and I was drenched in sweat, from head to toe (and the humidity didn't help either).

My batting wasn't too shabby out of the gate, as I went 2-for-3 with a base-on-balls and managed to hit in a couple of ribbies. What also hurt us on offense is that we had to take an out for our "10th batter," which I really didn't think that was all fair, but hey, those are the rules.

Another interesting rule in this league is that there is no height limit to the pitches! If I were pitching, I'd have a field day with the strike zone ... but again, there was no ASA umpire and they were using a carpet for the strike zone (if you know my history with a carpet, it's not a good one).

With our team let down after our last-inning loss, we played the same team again right away. Tired and weary, we gave up 13 runs in the 1st inning and we still couldn't find our bats. We played the "walking game," or as I like to call it "kissing your sister," as we scored most of our runs by taking the walk and walking in the runs. Sure, it's a little frustrating because in softball, you're expected to hit the ball. In the end, we were 10-runned by the 5th inning and the game was called.

I, for one, didn't hit the ball so well during the second game. I went 0-1 with 2 bases-on-balls. I also misjudged a few fly balls in center (in my defense, once the lights are on it was really difficult to judge the balls since the light towers are so low to the ground).

But surprisingly enough, I'm not too sore -- thankfully that I had taken up jogging to cut back on the soreness and weariness in anticipation of the upcoming softball season. Only my feet are sore (due to the spikes) and my lower back aches just a bit, but other than that, I feel tip-top (I may not say the same thing in the morning!).

In comparision to the HomeTown league, I consider the league in P-Town to be of a "lesser-league": there are some rule differences, the games aren't under the supervision of ASA umpires, and the competition isn't as strong as it is back Home. Although it is the first week of the season here and I haven't seen much or seen all the teams, it just feels different to play here.

And you thought the HomeTown's outfield was lumpy ... so should see this place. Wow. It's like a roller-coaster in some places.

Summer Plans

Besides the whole CPI Project to keep me busy, I'm managing to plug through the first week of my summer vacation from teaching.

I should be out trying to find a part-time job to pay for all my expensive toys, but I need some time to finally relax and to tend to things at home.

I'm glad to say that I'm finally on a softball team here in P-Town. A fellow teacher/coach at the school hooked me up with a team that currently seems to be struggling a bit, but I'm all for getting out there, playing hard, having fun, and drinking a few beers on the side. Then, during some weekends I'll head back to the HomeTown to play in a few tournaments.

The months of June and July are filling up with fun ... starting off with another UFC pay-per-view. Sean gave me the head's up yesterday regarding the PPV, but I'm not sure if I'll be back for that (since gas is so friggin' high). But we're all looking forward to the fun at Robb and Jen's in a few weekends, when "it's all on": bean bags and donkey balls galore.

In July, Jarrod's getting married. I'm in line to be an usher, so it's going to be an expensive weekend.

CPI Update -- Post-Production!

So close, yet so far away.

Last weekend was HUGE in terms of gettings things done and organized, as Robb stopped over at Mike's house last Sunday and we finally got his interview done for the Project (a very nice and professional interview, by the way). Now, I've got it all together, but one thing is currently holding me back: the lack of memory on my own hard drive.

When I bought my new Sony Vaio desktop back in the Summer of '05, I already had the idea of "The Owl Garden" retrospective in my head so I wanted to order something with a large hard drive. I had a 300GB hard drive installed thinking that all was well, but...

With all the footage and the new interviews on my computer, I've only got about 30GB of space left! So now, in a couple of weeks, I'll be in the process of purchasing a new external hard drive (the one I'm looking at is 320GB, thus doubling my hard drive space).

Once I get that, I'll finally set things in motion to finalize the Project. I'm still gunning for an August release.

Currently to pass the time, I'm giving the "opening sequence" a minor overhaul: new titles, taking a few things out, but basically, all is the same. I should start "storyboarding" the Project this week, just thinking of where things should go and set the overall "flow" for the Project.

CPI Update -- A Joint Venture?

With a new-found reinvigoration at Crash Productions, I've also decided to jump start Crash Publications with some new screenplays, once The Owl Garden Project is finally completed.

These new screenplays (whichever they are: short films or a feature) can be implemented into some new projects for Crash Productions. I've talked to Mike about this -- getting some ideas together and on paper -- and hope that it is realistic enough where we can get together and actually produce something. It's one thing in which everybody can jump at a certain idea, but it's also another thing in which it is actually started on and completed.

But for now, my main focus is getting The Owl Garden Project done. I just want to get started on some ideas for the future and hopefully with everybody's help, things can run smoothly.

What's Tony Playing?

With summer almost in full-swing and a lot of free time on my hands, I'm starting to dust off the ol' PS2 with some new and impressive games.

I personally haven't bought a new game in a long while, unless it's already been marked down. Xenosaga: Episode II and Tiger Woods '07 are prime examples of that. I picked up Tiger' 07 last Sunday and have been plugging my through the game, advancing my "created" character through the Team Tour and the PGA Season. After struggling for the first few months on the PGA calendar, my character has finally come around -- even winning the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach (with an impressive score of -21).

My brother also lent me his copy of God of War II -- which is by far probably one of the most impressive games ever to be played on the PS2. I had purchased the first game a couple of years ago and this new sequel picks up right where it left off. I highly recommend this game to anybody who hasn't even played it yet!