KC FILM FEST 2013

Kansas City Film Fest

April 10-14, 2013

I decided last year that I would get a pass for the entire KC Film Fest. I had a great time in just the few films I was able to see and the seminars I attended. As this year approached I followed through and bought Sherri and I both Gold Passes for the Festival. Sherri, unfortunately had to work for some of the days and other commitments did intrude, but I was able to go all 5 days and see around 30 features and shorts. That is a lot of movie watching!

Wednesday

On the first day of the Fest I actually saw my favorite film. "Lost on Purpose". It is a feature and set on a rural dairy farm. The story was good, and I really enjoyed the sound of the film. They completely got summer in the country. I also watched a short program and my favorites here were "Death of Shadows" and "What about us?" Finished the day with another documentary feature, "Hit and Stay" about Vietnam war protesters.

Thursday

Only got to see one thing on this day. We had to go to see Isaac (nephew) in a play. Sherri did get off work early and got to come. We say "Heartland, Portrait of Survival" about the Joplin tornado. It was well made and we both liked it a lot. More on this to come.

Friday

Two more short programs. Heartland Narratives and Midwestern Tales. "Blind Sight" and "Nooner" were my two favorites from the first and "Into Thick Air" in the second. Probably my favorite short of the Festival. Very funny. We then had Volleyball to go to, so a short Friday evening.

Saturday

Well I was hoping to go to some seminars or workshops this morning but the format changed from last year and the educational seminars were reserved for young film makers. I, instead, went to see "Summer Children", a film made in 1964 and then lost until it's restoration by the original Producer and Cinematographer. I spent some time talking to Jack Robinette after and later at the Festival. Then after lunch with Sherri it was back to see another short program, Random Relationships. My favorite here was "Paper People" and Sherri's was "Stalled". Next up was "One Small Hitch". It was a well done romantic comedy that we both liked a lot. Then... Experimental and Animation. Sherri made it through the first 4. The 15 min film of time lapse of Tokyo sent her to the bar. She did miss some cute animated shorts. My favorite was "Green Acres". After that and a couple of cocktails at the after party (Bronies were there) home for sleep!

Sunday

Started the day off with "It's a Disaster!" Brunch. This was one of the few times the system kinda let us down. It was $15 above the price of our passes to go to the brunch. For that you get a "free" mimosa. Still had to pay for your food. Kinda missed the mark there. we liked the movie but they need to revisit something like this for next year. We then actually skipped the next session as it was 75 degrees outside and we had some lunch. Ended up our films with The Lighter Side or short films. I think our favorite here was "Thumb" or "Saving the Human Race" (the only zombie film of the festival. We had great fun at the awards program but were dissapointed by how few of the winners were actually there to receive their awards. (It did get us to the after party quicker though). The party was a blast, we made connections and enjoyed talking to all the film makers in a casual setting. 

Kind of the highlight for me was Andrew, the film maker who brought his short "Papa Pinata" , and I went with him on a flying trip before the award ceremony to take his picture with the big Pinata at Power and Light. 

Great fun, lots of memories and I am already looking forward to next year.

KC Zoo

Went to the Zoo on the 15th of March as it got to 80 degrees here in Kansas City. Of course it was 45 the next day...  Here are some of the images we got with my rented 70-200 f/2.8 Nikon on my D5100. Enjoy!

Win8 Redeux

As much as I hate Win8 for desktop is how much I love it for Phone

Kansas City Snow 2013

  Isn't it funny how you set out to do something and the coolest thing you find is on the way to what you thought you were looking for? I know this happens in life, a lot! but this is a photography thing. I decided it would look cool to get some shots at Penguin Park since the snow. I had to go to Overland Photo Supply to pick up a part for my work tripod, and of course a couple of things for me :-) and planned to go to the park on the way home. Well while driving past Lake of the Woods I spotted some sun bathing geese. It was just as well I stopped to get these because someone had already dorked up the snow at Penguin Park so I had nothing worth shooting there anyway :-)

Really liking the new D5100

So nice to be able to just shoot away and not constantly see the $$ flying out the window.

Don't get me wrong, still like the look of film, but man, so much more creative freedom and after all, isn't that what its all about?

Windows 8

Well Win8 is on the scene now, and in the fine tradition of Windows ME and Vista it is horrible. If you actually use your computer as a computer and not a toy, stay far away from it.

I downloaded the RC about a year ago and installed it on an extra hard drive and then ran it on hardware that was approved for the upgrade. Install was fast and easy and it took no time to get up and running. That was the last pleasant experience I have had. The new home screen (first of many tablet/phone inspired bits) is fine for getting around but if you are a mouse baby and not using a touchscreen the big blocky "icons" are just annoying. I ran it for about a week and reformatted the drive and moved back to 7.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago and we are upgrading our edit capabilities at work to full HD and needed a new computer to do it. The one we selected came loaded with Windows8 and the manufacturer had no provision for a "down" grade to 7. We would be using Premiere Pro CS6 which is supposedly written with Win8 in mind. Navigation in a work environment is a nightmare, performance with a 32gb RAM i7 machine with a GTX650 1gb video card was horrible. Just to shut down is now a multiple step process.

Making it impossible to boot to the Desktop is an insane feature. Removing the "Start" button makes program navigation tedious at best. I just can't find a thing to say good about it and the things I hated were to numerous to mention. Obviously MS is done with serious computer users and has now designed a Tablet OS that is designed for casual button pushers that surf the web and play Angry Birds. We kept and struggled with it at the office for a week and then burned down the HD and installed Windows7. All is better now.

The worst part is I do computer repair on the side and I have 0 interest in learning this crappy OS so it is going to limit what machines I can work on going forward.

Well there you have what I feel about Win8, if my software ran on Linux I'd jump ship in a heart beat. I guess I kept WinXP until 7 came out and will now keep 7 as long as I can, but if Win9 is based on this crappy OS I have no clue where business and power users can go from here. Not Apple that's for sure :-)

BC

The Gimble Functions!!

Well I still have balance and weight issues to address, but it functions! I am no engineer but I made a functioning gimble!