The Wall

Whats the first thing one does when they something goes wrong? Well assuming they arent a pussy, theyd probably try again. At least once. Its understandable how a failure of something is demoralizing, but giving it one more go is usually enough of a test to see how itll really pan out.

So how demoralizing is it when throughout the endtire week things have jsut been crashing down like a shelf of Priceless Ming Vase’s?

Lets run down the list of crap thats been going on since Monday in no particular order:

• The Mac + Audio
  When i bought this thing, i bought it for a very specific purpose: Capturing and Editing. Other activities would try to include broadcasting JagRADIO from it as an internet radio station, it would also act as a networked audio and video editing station, as well as the recording station for the podcasts. Essentially rendering my PC to remain for Frivilous activities, as even my word processing happens within Google Docs.

  A friend lent me a copy of Final Cut Pro 5. Its not the newest copy and its not the suite, jsut the video editor. I have to say, im extremely underwhelmed by it. Not only did it look and feel primitive, but it also acted like Adobe Premiere 6.5, almost to a T. Im used to my real-time feedback and viewing without the need to render everything.
  I also got my hands on a copy of Logic Pro to try it out. Hundreds and hundreds of extremely strange issues later, and i stuck with garageBand in the grand scheme of things.

  Broadcasting was a joke too. The only good internet stream broadcaster was Nicecast, a deviation of Icecast (the software i use on my PC before the Mac). While it worked and people were able to connect, the many hoops and instabilities of cutting away from music to live broadcast recording was far more troublesome than it should be. Edcast, what ive used on my PC as an encoder, allows me to click a button and it seamlessly transmits me. Thats what i wanted.

  So heres the thing: I migrated all my audio equipment back to my PC (1 USB cable lol) and immediately setup Icecast and Edcast again. Except, wow, IT DOESN’T WORK ANYMORE. I dont know what happened… but neither the DSP nor the broadcaster are allowing the stream to work. Ive been boxing with that since Sunday actually.

• The Mac + Video
  I bought a Samsung MiniDV camcorder so i could get some projects underway. It worked great for capturing footage made with Prosumer grade cameras from the College, but when i tried recording footage yesterday with it: Undewhelmed is a word that doesn’t even cut it.
  The image quality it captures is fine, hell its even got a built in light that makes shooting in dark conditions a breeze.
  But the audio quality is so horrendously terrible that its not worth it. This thing obviously wasn’t designed to record anything with audio thats in front of the camera. It sounds fine when speaking to it from behind the lense.  (speaking of which there no finder, just an LCD door) But there is NO input for another audio device like a Microphone.

  So im returning the piece of shit and exploring other options. I think im gonna invest in a TV Turner stick for my Mac.

  Speaking of which, back onto the mac. There was something bothering me with the Mac for some time. It worked alright and using it for pretty much anything has been a breeze with the exception of Logic Pro.  But i happened to notice when running Premiere CS4, that the interface: LAAAAAAAGs.
  Im used to lagging Adobe interfaces, i used Flash CS3 for some time. But i also know that the new interface for CS4 has been sped up dramatically.

  So i looked into the system specs of my computer. CPU is fine 2.66GHz DualCore, RAM is ok with 2GB could be more but ill live, but when i saw my Video Card i nearly burst out into rage: ATi Radeon HD 2600 Pro. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! This card is like FIVE years old! Its the worst performing ATi HD card out of benchmarkers to DATE. What the HELL?! I thought i got an NVidia 8600

  So while it CAN edit video in Premiere and After Effects and still give me back real-time footage feedback (unlike Fianl Cut 5) having everything, not jsut the video capture lagging to the point of knocking the audio off synch, but even having tghe goddamn scrollbars lag, is extremely dissapointing. |
  I wasn’t expecting a powerhouse out of the iMac, but i did expect it to at least run THIS.

  So now im trying to figure out where i can go and what i have to do to see if i can exchange my brand new iMac for the brand new model that came out that does in fact have the NVidia 8600 i originally thought i was going to get.

• The Car
  The plus side to all of thsi is i got my license back and in full swing. So i can drive again, YAY! Amongst all the stupid shit thats happened in the past couple days, i at least have this.
• Podcasting
  Unfortunately Kit will not be able to join me in AnthroMedia this week. He has business to take care of in Edmonton on the day, so ive brought back Osaka to help fill in the slots!
• Gaming
  Got me some SF4 a long time ago, as noted by AnthroMedia Episode 2 and the past couple Coyotecasts.
  But i also bit the bullet and got RE5. Ill give ya a hint: Its a badass game. Controls be damned, i hate em, but i had so much fun i didn’t mind it during my playthrough.

I think that roughly is about it.  *sigh*

TOO MUCH GOING ON!

… BUT WHY DO I LOVE IT SO MUCH?!
Folks, in short: i lead a very busy life. Inf ac ti shouldn’t even be typing this right now, I should be writing scripts for my upcoming reveal of a new section of the site! Im not gonna say what it is but i will hint that its annoucnement will be apart of the Anthromedia Live show next Saturday!

Ive been running around like a headless chicken for the past 3 weeks doing random rediculous things for the sake of Black Jaguar Studios as a whole. I eat, I breath, and I sleep this Label.
Also Street Fighter 4 BUT THATS A whole different story altogether!

In the meantime, check out the damn forum! Black Jaguar Studios Forum that is!

Thats all i got for now, ill check in with you guys a little bit later! Ciao!

-K

I have a hint: Loving it.

Im about to test drive this “Logic pro” and i cant wait to see how that turns out to be. Sooo stoked. Also trying to setup the sc_serv and sc_trans on the mac for the broadcasting, should be interesting lol.

THis is the new blogging software i was referring to! Yay!

“But dude, its like windows vista…” i know, its a pretty neat Widget based theme. The theme will range randomly through the course of time.

Luckily enough for me, i did not have to change addresses AND this thing allowed me to import both my Developer Blog and Personal Blog from Blogger seamlessly I feel right at home again, haha