Padd Solutions

Converted by Falcon Hive

Some amazing new footage of the building of Disneyland, mainly through time lapse, has recently been discovered before going into deep storage in a Pennsylvania salt mine. Take a look!






Enjoy :)

☺ Brian
I got a chance to attend Cirque Berzerk down at Los Angeles State Historic Park near Chinatown. And it was great.



We decided to take public transportation. Friday night, traffic: who wants to deal with that? It's only a 10 minute walk from the Chinatown Gold Line station. Upon approaching the tent we could see the crowds moving in and every now and then the flame thrower doing its thing against the sunset sky. It was like a ritual was about to take place and we were invited. Closer in we could see food, music, and all sorts of demented characters roaming the park grounds. The marquee burns in the distance inviting more guests in. Five minutes until show time and we headed on into an old fashion circus stage with a bit of creepiness to it.

The show started.

I gotta say, even though I've seen most of the acts performed in a Cirque du Soleil show, they were still amazingly done. But there's something about the show that I just love that even Cirque du Soleil has yet to achieve. There's a more old-fashioness to the whole production as if this was all put together by an actual circus family. Even during the intermission the cast hangs out with the audience as they get some food and drinks and listen to the live band. There's a sense of family, community, and a whole lot of fun to the show.


The story was great. Awesome music, even though they could approve on the acoustics of the tent and the sound system. The lyrics were difficult to understand. The food was also surprisingly good. I fell in love with the underworld feel of the whole experience. Same reason why I'm so in love with Halloween Horror Nights. It's definitely more of an adult circus, however mature kids could still enjoy it as long as sexy underwear dances and guy-on-guy kissing are not a problem. There were a few families there that night that I'm sure enjoyed their experience. And it's great that it's more than a show. Before, intermission, and after the show there's music, food, and drinks to create this whole party atmosphere that happens at this quiet park every weekend night just outside downtown LA. It's like another world.


Go see it before it ends August 9th.

☺ Brian
My good friend Caron will be studying abroad in Ghana, Africa for the next five months. She's leaving this Friday (July 24) and coming back in December. She has set up a new blog called The Ghanalogues where she'll record her experiences. Be sure to follow (RSS feeds are quite handy) as I'm positive it'll be quite the read and wish her a fun and safe trip :)

☺ Brian
(500) Days of Summer.



I've already seen it twice through advance screenings and I have to say it's probably my favorite film of the year so far. Although simple and a bit cliche, the story from the way it's creatively played out is something I can relate to much more than other films. How many times have you played house at IKEA or have been in situation where your Expectations vs Reality don't exactly match up? For me, many. Everything about the film just appeals to me: romantic dark comedy, relationships, how much I love Zooey Deschanel, the amazing soundtrack, the fact that it takes place in LA, the cinematography, beautiful score, the wardrobe choices, production design... everything. This film fairly sums me up in an hour and a half.

Go see it. I know I will see it again. I already have two planned screenings with some friends of mine and my sister wants to go see it again. And I'm down to go see it again even more (hey, you and I, let's go!).

☺ Brian
As many of you have heard, my student film The Gold Line has been canceled for now and we're going ahead with another script I'm currently writing called The Community Pool (or possibly called just Pool... not to get confused with my other project called The Pool). Although what looks to be a short script, I've been having a little bit of writer's block lately. So naturally, I started designing our business cards in the meantime (it also helps that Moo is having $20 off 200 pack of cards sale that ends July 11th).

But I need your help. I have three potential front designs and I need to choose one. For those you who know Moo, you can chave as many designs as you want, however, only on one side and I already have two different designs for the other side (one for general release and another for cast/crew contact).

Which do you think is better?


Version 1: I was thinking of calling the film just POOL, or at least on the initial business cards. I like the design and simplicity.


Version 2: I added a glow around the POOL. I did it initially to make the word more readable, but there's an added story element that factors well into why the word glows. But regardless, does it look good? I've never been much of a fan of drop shadows.


Version 3: I used the entire original title here. I love the design, but I'm not sure if I want to use this font for the title or important headings (see version 4).


Back Version 1: This is the back for the general release cards (to help promote the film). I love this font, but if I go with version 3, I either have to change the title or important heading font to something else or I can keep this how it is if I go with version 1 or 2.

Thoughts?

☺ Brian
I've always considered myself mainly an editor (Final Cut Pro!).

However, I've come to realize that most of my income is made through graphic design work. The majority of my time working is designing a web site, logo, or print layout. And I enjoy it. A lot.

Whereas editing I can often get sick of. Well, to be more specific, I'm usually extremely lazy to start an editing job, but once I get the ball rolling, I'm a little bit more attached, but not entirely crazy to work. I'm often wishing I could do other things. Maybe it's because I've edited over 200 projects in the last 8 years? Editing does take a lot more patience. Maybe it's my 4-year old computer to blame? With increasing video resolutions, new software upgrades, and the normal wear and tear, the speed in which my computer can edit becomes slower and slower (not to mention putting out much more heat in my already boiling room = more frustrations). And I can't edit off my 2-year old laptop. But with graphic designing, I'm 100% attached and loving what I do even if I may not be the greatest. But I have yet to get into serious memory intense graphic designing.

I think I need a new computer. Yes, that's it. That solves everything.

☺ Brian
On February 24, 2009 at 12:08 AM I downloaded the free iTunes download of the week of "Sleepyhead" and ever since I've been slowly becoming addicted to the band Passion Pit. I've always had a love for alternative-electronic music and this has now been my latest obsession, especially "The Reeling" from their latest album Manners. I play the song constantly; best heard loud especially when driving at night in LA with friends. The music video is also brilliant:


Although I'm not much for "clubbing" or even concerts, my life exists at night. There's something about the night that makes me feel like I have the whole world to ourselves (my friends & I). This music video evokes the many (almost weekly) fun late nights with my friends in LA going to midnight movies at the Nuart, shopping for the obscure at Amoeba, roaming the dark alleys of the Arts District to eat some exotic sausages at Wurstküche, walking on Santa Monica beach at 3 am, driving all over LA hunting down the Korean taco craze that is Kogi, and coming home at dawn. I love the night. I love my friends. And I love LA. "The Reeling" compacts all these feelings together into one song that's just, well... fun.

You can download the song for free as part of Urban Outfitter's LSTN series. It's included in LSTN #5 and as an added bonus, "Sleepyhead" is included in LSTN #2, but why not just download them all? There are some really great songs in there.

Hope you like!

☺ Brian

I have a deep respect for their mission to bring community and art together in Santa Clarita. And they put on some awesome events at some really great places.

This Saturday, July 11, 2009 from 2-6 pm, they will be holding a free art show at the Town Grind in Newhall. I suggest you all go:


Be sure to visit their slew of social networking sites:
Flickr
Vimeo

ps: Pick up a FREE Slurpee from any 7-Eleven on the way to (and from) the event!

☺ Brian
This just in from the wee hours of the night/morning.

I hear yelling from my next door neighbors at around 2 am this morning. Apparently their son (just graduated high school) is yelling back and forth with what appears to be his girlfriend who steps out of the front porch wearing nothing but a blanket around her. She stomps towards the driveway out of my view and comes back shortly demanding that he move his jeep so she can leave. The kid refuses at first and then goes onto saying that she can move around it. The girl keeps yelling strongly while the kid just keeps making these immature sounding excuses not to. This stupid argument goes on for about 10 minutes and all I want to do is go out there and move that darn jeep. You have to remember that they are very loud and can be clearly heard throughout my house. I am the only awake though that is hearing this happen.

Finally, the kid moves his jeep. The girl backs out of the driveway. A few more yells and cussing from the girl to the guy and she speeds away down my street. Shortly after, the guy does the same chasing after her with great acceleration. From the way they were driving, let's hope none of them crashed. The guy has yet to return home (it is now 3:52 am as I type these words).

ps: Was that long enough of a wait?

☺ Brian
It's been awhile since I've written anything meaningful in this blog, and it'll be even longer before that ever happens. But I promise that I will! I've just been spending a lot of time redesigning this blog to something simpler. The old design was a bit too complex and "loady" for my ever-changing taste. I even took out the ads! I didn't think they were worth the clutter. I only made 36¢ with them. Hope you like my new blog design and that you'll follow it or at least read it or something.

But for now, it's 3:30 am and I'm dead tired. I'm heading to bed. Hope you are all sleeping safe and sound :)

☺ Brian