Is life really just "the shadows we make with our hands?"

So, as most of you know who are reading this, I am the Gaffer for Retro Film Studios… (Star Trek Phase 2 and Buck Rogers Begins). When we were shooting Buck Rogers Begins, we had an indoor scene that took place on a sunny day. Sadly, mother nature or Thor or whomever didn’t see fit to make the needed weather coincide with the shoot date.

Fortunately, lights from Mole Richardson, a company that’s made studio lights since time immemorial, helped save the day! In the shot below, our “sunlight” is being provided courtesy of a Mole Richardson Type 3081 “burning” in the pouring rain! The particular beastie we used is one of our oldest lamps in our lighting kit. It’s probably someplace between 30 and 50 years old. Still runs like new, with only an occasional bulb change as the only service it’s required.

I love Arri lights (top barn door clips, dual mounting holes), and B&M makes a great set of lights too… but my favorite work horses are still the ancient Mole Richardson units. I’ve seen some of their fixtures still in continuous use after 40, 50, 60 or more years… which also makes them great buys! One can buy an ancient Mole and expect it to work – or need nothing more than a few inches of new wiring inside…

Hello all,

For those who havent been following them, or reading the tech news, TheNerdSupport (.com) is a SCAREWARE SCAM!!! Do not subscribe to their service. If you have, uninstall their spyware/remote control app, install REAL Anti-Virus software (AVG, McAfee, Norton) and a full anti-spyware suite (if you dont get the full packages of the others). Do a FULL AND THOROUGH scan of your machine. Change your online account passwords. If you use your credit cards via the computer, you may also wish to monitor or change them.

More info can be found here:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/security/359233/the-unstoppable-tech-support-scam

And here:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100322112145AAhz3rm

And here:

http://www.talkreviews.com/thenerdsupport.com

And here:

http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews247659.html

And dozens of other places.

And contrary to what their website may imply, their domain name is registered in India:

The Nerd Support
+91.9680115111 Phone
280-A, Talwandi
KOTA, Rajasthan 324005
India

We are currently in the process of completing our “Buck Rogers Begins” pilot episode and have started fund raising for it! Please, check out the link below and help us spread the word!!! For those of you who have checked out “Star Trek Phase 2″ we are the same team behind both efforts, quality episodes, quality stories…, quality productions. Help us make this new series a reality!!!!

Visit the KickStarer Project Page here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1796708800/buck-rogers-begins

Don’t forget to spread the word to everyone you know!!!

ANYONE WITH INFORMATION PLEASE HELP OUT

Andrew Koenig
Walter’s 41 year old son – has been missing since February 14th.

Andrew Koenig was last seen on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2010, in Vancover, British Columbia.  Andrew Koenig never boarded his flight back to the US, on 2/16 and he hasn’t heard from since.

Andrew was last seen at a bakery in the Stanley Park area of Vancouver.

If you’ve seen Andrew since February 14th, PLEASE contact Detective Raymond Payette of the Vancouver Police Department at 604-717-2534.

A Slashdot article recently said:

“The RIAA will appeal the ruling that reduced Jammie Thomas-Rasset’s $1.92 million fine for file sharing to $54,000. ‘”It is a shame that Ms. Thomas-Rasset continues to deny any responsibility for her actions rather than accept a reasonable settlement offer and put this case behind her,” said RIAA spokeswoman Cara Duckworth.’ Joe Sibley, an attorney for Thomas-Rasset, said his client would not settle for the $25,000 that the RIAA has asked for.

The truth of this matter is that since the RIAA has had the “award” reduced to $54,000, they hoped that Thomas-Rasset would settle for paying less (the $25,000) which would thus mean the case was brought to settlement instead of conclusion.

What’s the importance here? The RIAA does NOT want a standing verdict of $54,000 when they are trying to sue for many many times that. It means that even though the ruling isnt binding on other courts, it is influential and can be cited by others in such cases, reducing (or in that jurisdiction/court, possibly eliminating) the chance of multi-million dollar penalties being levied against a music sharer. So… the RIAA wants Thomas-Rasset to settle, thinking she’d be dumb enough to simply agree to $25,000 instead of $54,000 that way the judgement never gets entered and the RIAA won’t have this case as a “semi-precedent” to be used against them by others.

Sadly, they are now trying to fool the world with their most recent statement. Yet again. What idiots. I hope Thomas-Rasset sticks to her guns…

While I don’t do any file sharing, I am very computer savvy (or at least so I would think) and was using the Internet long before 95% of the US population knew it existed (thanks IBM & OS/2 for the first OS with full Internet support!!!)… and the RIAA deserves every failure they get in these cases – at least until they:

• Get licensed investigators
• Have said investigators actually trained on how the Internet, tracking people online and networking in general really works
• Provide real evidence of file sharing and distribution to support any damage claim
• Ensure they are not extorting people who they cannot truly establish the guilt of
• Stop stealing artists’ music and selling it for a profit (see the pending cases in Canada and the US against the “Big Four” – these are CRIMINAL cases, btw… not simple civil ones like Thomas-Rasset’s file sharing case).

You know… just those few minor things…

…but I am not holding my breath.

So… time to update the websites. Jeff Hayes and I have been working on new designs for both the Buck Rogers Begins site and the Star Trek New Voyages: Phase 2 site. Once again, the phenomenal artwork is mostly Jeff’s and the coding, layout and additional graphics are mine.

The Buck Rogers site is getting an entire overhaul, totally new look, and a bunch of added sections finally (which we will be slowly expanding). The Star Trek New Voyages: Phase 2 site will be getting some new graphics, and some major changes to layout and navigation to make finding stuff easier – as well as a bunch of new content. Not as big a change visually as the Buck Rogers site, but the improved navigation and additional content should make up for it…

I think everyone will be thrilled with the new looks of both sites! Well, I hope everyone will be thrilled with it…

Well, after playing with a few free GPS Navigation and Mapping stuff for the T-Mobile G1, I’ve recently gotten an update notice on my phone for Google Maps. The new version includes GPS Navigation (in “beta” like so many of Google’s products) which I started playing with.

I am thoroughly (more…)

Hey everyone!!! The Star Trek New Voyages: Phase 2 Team has recently released Blood and Fire Part 2!!!

The stunning conclusion to “Blood and Fire” – Pursued and damaged by repeated Klingon attacks, the Enterprise crew must respond to a distress call from a Federation research ship. In a matter of hours (more…)

Hey everyone! So, BaF Part 2 is up and online!

The stunning conclusion to “Blood and Fire” – Pursued and damaged by repeated Klingon attacks, the Enterprise crew must respond to a distress call from a Federation research ship. In a matter of hours the ship and crew will be consumed by a nearby star and the crew of the Enterprise will be consumed by an mysterious horror that threatens both ships as the Klingons watch and wait. Guest starring Evan Fowler and introducing Bobby Rice as Ensign Peter Kirk, nephew of the Captain. Written & Directed by David Gerrold. Teleplay by Carlos Pedraza. Episode filmed in June of 2007. Released Nov 20th, 2009.

Watch it here:

Or via YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=488054500CDC73FD

Or watch it streaming via the STP2 Media Server:
http://videos.startrekphase2media.com/BaF2/

Hello all!

The Teaser for Star Trek New Voyages: Phase 2’s Blood and Fire Part 2 has been released!

Check it out and enjoy!

Star Trek Phase 2: Blood and Fire Part 2 (TEASER)