Putting Together a CD 6:04 PM

| Recording Guitar for the C.D.|

   Buckling down and recording isn't my strongest area for sure. I can hear a million different arrangements in my head, and deciding which one to go with is near impossible. I've chosen six songs (five new, and one old) to record; and now it's just feeling out each song and figuring out how I want to lay down the tracks.
   I've decided, that for better or for worse, I'm going to do every single track/overdub in one take... that way I won't confuse myself with the unlimited amount of options that poke their head out when you start cutting, slicing, layering, and all that jazz. So I'll go with keeping it simple by doing what comes instinctively, and hope it comes together.
   Also, I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not trying to record and produce "An Album"; but rather a compilation of roughly recorded songs that will be a friendly "Hi, hello, these are the songs I write and like to sing.".  Nothing more, nothing less.
   As soon as I'm done this set of songs, I'm excited to start working on my next set of songs. I really feel that this CD and the next one after it are really the same project and tell one story.  

A Case of You - Acoustic Cover 5:33 PM

   I don't have very many opportunities to play music these days. Nevertheless, it's one of my first loves and I don't think I'll ever be able to get it out of me. So, I figure, I'll just play in my room and put it up for anyone who cares to listen.

Let the Games Begin 10:13 PM

I've been away from this blog for some time now. I simply lost interest.

Now, I'm interested again.

So. Hello. I am back. Let the games begin.

Photo of the Day: June Painting with Water 3:36 PM

June Painting With Spilled Water on the Sunroom Floor.

Skype is Down - How to Fix 11:33 PM

Skype is currently having problems. A step by step guide on how to get your Skype back up and running.

The Skype Error Message

   Twitter and Facebook are becoming flooded with questions like: "Why isn't my Skype working?", "Skype is giving me an error message.", etc.
   If you're one of those getting the "Skype has stopped working" error message when trying to open Skype, don't worry... it's not your computer freaking out on you or anything, it's that Skype is temporarily down.  Many have reported problems signing in, making calls, or even accessing the Skype website. This is no small thing, as so many people use Skype everyday for business and their work.
   Skype's twitter reported around about two hours ago:

"Some of you may have problems signing in to Skype and making calls. We're investigating and hope to have more details to share soon."

Skype's happy little tweet.

How to Get your Skype Up and Running Again:
   It seems it's affecting those Skype users who are on a Windows OS.  They'll be fixing it shortly, but in the meantime, here's a temporary fix from the Skype people who are scrambling to try and get it all fixed.

WINDOWS:
1. Click Start, type run and press Enter. (On Windows XP: Click Start and then Run.)
2. Type the following and click OK.
         %appdata%\skype
3. Locate and delete the file shared.xml.
4. If you cannot find this file:
         a. Click Start, type run and press Enter. (On Windows XP: Click Start and then Run.)
         b. Type the following and click OK.
             control folders
         c. In the View tab, ensure that Show hidden files and folders is enabled.
         d. Repeat steps 1~3.
5. Restart Skype

MAC:
1. Open Finder and locate the following folder:
         ~/Library/Application Support/Skype
2. Delete the file shared.xml.
3. Restart Skype

Please note that the ~ sign means your home folder. You can find your home folder by opening Finder and selecting Go > Home from the menu bar or pressing Command (Apple), Shift and H keys at the same time.

(Pasted from Skype's how to.)

The Microsoft Connection:
   The most amusing (and worrying) thing about Skype's global crash today is that they were just purchased by Microsoft. With so many of us relying on Skype for daily communications, I'm just praying Microsoft doesn't screw up a perfectly good product.

States Trip - The Food Concierge 5:44 PM

| Matt Ellison putting up The Food Concierge's logo for our video shoot. |

   I've just returned from a week long trip to California--working with "The Food Concierge" (A California-based website that brings foodies, chefs, and restaurants together all under one community). While there I got to work closely with graphic designer extraordinaire Matt Ellison and photographer/web developer Dan McNair. It was a real treat to be able to knock heads with creative professionals who have such a passion for excellence.

   My main focus while there was designing and creating content for T.F.C.--mainly through video and pictures. I can't give away too much, but in the coming months you'll see some beautiful videos of some of the most amazing restaurants in the L.A. area.

   I'm going to go into a little rant here... but creating unique, quality, and informative content is such an important part of building a brand and presence on the web. So many new business shy away from putting time and resources into creating quality content and just hope people will find them; but if companies want to stand out as authorities in their fields, they've gotta share the type of content that proves it. People are just tired of companies plugging themselves and throwing up cheesy adds and self-promoting content... they want real, important, and useful (or entertaining) content.

   You'll be seeing some of that kind of material from The Food Concierge soon. You can check out the book (.pdf) explaining what they do.

   Here are some behind-the-scene pictures of my time there:

| Filming in Progress sign for The Food Concierge (Designed by Matt Ellison) |

| Dan taking a little chimp break after a long day of shooting. Sunset Beach, California |

| Driving to our next restaurant shoot. Beautiful California weather. |

| Filming at Ciao Italia - a beautiful Italian restaurant that uses all fresh ingredients located in Whittier, CA.|

| Matt and Leo on set for some personal interviews |

| The Food Concierge studio/office |

Photo of the Day: Pasta 9:49 PM

| Delicious pasta prepared by Mac... what a feast it was. |

My Baby Seira 3:47 AM

| Seira, 1 year, 5 months |

Rob Thomas Cover: Now Comes the Night 4:13 AM

   Throwing this up as well.  Just a simple cover of a song I've always loved.

The Japan Earthquake: Evacuation from Chiba 4:06 AM

I know that my posts are few and far between.  But here are some pictures that I took while fleeing the Chiba area with family and friends.  We stayed in Yaizu, Shizuoka.  A lovely place, with lovely people.

   Compiled footage of our trip down.  There's a lot of faces in this video, and a lot of good memories to match.

   A collaboration between Shelly (my six year old niece) and I -- Traffic Lights on the way to Shizuoka.  We left the house at 3 or 4am.

    Yaizu Beach.  It was a bit cold and windy... but at least we weren't worried about aftershocks and radiation. 

   Shelly's birthday party.  

   Dilly, in one of his more quiet, caring moments.

   Baby leaning into the car to say her goodbyes.  I left for home several days before Seira & Yosh came back down. 

   The McNairs plus One.  Shout out to all of those who went out of they're way to give us a place to stay and a bed to crash on.  My parents-in law and Robert & Merry...thank you.  So much.

   Elaina, June, and Dilly.  Some of my most favorite people.

   Dan McNair trying his luck at some in-car shooting.  I guess... I was too.

   Yours truly on the return trip.

The Japan Earthquake: Update 1 2:18 AM

   So I'm back home in good old Ichihara.  It's dark.  It's quiet.  And there is no end to the annoying aftershocks that keep shaking us all back to reality.
   Anyways, I thought I would post some pictures and footage.  Expect more.

 | Sitting outside waiting for the earth to stop shaking |

| On the hill outside our house watching the COSMOS factory burn. This is before the first large blast. |

   Took this video a couple of hours after the first earthquake.  The blasts from the COSMOS factory on fire were more frightening than the initial quake.  WARNING: There is some strong language used.

| COSMOS plant in flames. |

Retouching in PS (High Speed) 1:51 PM

   Needed to test out my screen capture program, so I thought I would let it run in the background as I retouched a picture.  This is a picture I took way back when I first got the Sigma 30mm 1.4 (about a year and a half ago).
   I'm afraid you're probably not going to learn much from this video, but I figured why not stick it up.  There are some pretty funny mistakes in there as well... Like the masking of the lens blur... lol.
    Anyhow, if you want a basic rundown:

1. Opened the picture in Camera Raw and worked out the Color Balance, Exposure, corrected the barrel distortion, and added a bit of a clarity boost to the subject.
2. Opened the picture in photoshop and cleaned up little skin problems and dirt on the pillar.  Used the Healing Brush.
3. Worked with Curves and Masks to bring attention to the subject.  Cooled down the road and background and warmed up the subject using curves.
4. Brought some color into the sky and also gave the pillar a little bit more dimension and contrast.
5. Brought in some mid-tone contrast by adding a desaturated layer on soft light and masking that into the appropriate places.
6. Contoured the face a bit to have a bit more of a "hard" look.  
7. Lens-Blurred the background and masked it in.
8. Free Transformed the picture and stretched it to be 2% taller than the original.
9. Changed the color of the car in the background.

   If you have any questions, just shoot them my way.