New Fuji Video

Here's a good example of work that is fun and stretches the imagination. D2Creative, the company I work for, was asked to help tell the story of Fujifilm and how they've migrated from a well known film brand name, to a technology company that influences lives everywhere in ways we never see. It had to be 3 minutes or less. We had a lot of freedom to imagine, create, and even trash ideas and start over, so long as the main idea was communicated. Much of it was created and composited in After Effects, with design and 3D by Pat Sodano, Art Director.
I posted this on Youtube and would like to hear comments.

Fujifilm. From What You Know, to What You Can't Imagine.

Comcast obstructs public hearing

So to prevent the government from doing their job and holding open pubic hearings on the subject of net neutrality, Comcast packed the hearing with employees and paid space-takers thus preventing the public from gaining access and taking part. Story here and here.
Comcast is under a subpoena from New York's attorney general claiming it interfered with the Internet traffic of video competitors. Federal public hearings were held yesterday to explore what Comcast did, and what effect those actions could have on the users and businesses that are it’s customers.
Comcast apparently does not want to have those users and business owners able to make their concerns known to regulators.

This is of interest to anyone creating content for eventual distribution on the Internet (pretty much everyone in my business now.)

Saw Facebook founder on 60 Minutes tonight

Leslie Stahl and Mark Zuckerberg. Talk about 2 people talking across a gulf of experience. My favorite moment was...

Stahl: People are saying you're the next Larry and Sergey. (proud to be referring offhandedly to Google's founders)
Zuckerberg: (long blank look) Is that a question?

The real grilling was reseved for "Beacon", 'course, and up to then he seemed to be your basic unaffected 23 year old, t-shirt wearing multibillionaire. However, MZ seemed not to understand why people might care if Facebook broadcasts to all their "friends" that they just bought a vibrator or a carburetor pipe from Amazon.
That's really a little hard to believe. So smart, worth 3 billion, looks innocent, but doesn't get it?
Oh, and that nice candle holder Brenda bought for your birthday... she got it Tuesday at RemainersForLess.com.

It's a East Coast, West Coast Thing

Another dozen, this time at the Lebanon Hotel near Clinton. Six nice tasty flat east coast oysters, and six more mineraly, fresh tasting west coasters from Oregon. The Oregon oysters look more like "welk" shells with a spiky points and a much deeper profile. They're in the back of the plate above, east coast in front. Great taste. A couple of martinis might have dulled my palette, but then I don't have to worry as much about bacteria in a bad oyster, do I?

Oyster on

Up at 4am to get plane to Florida, but not tired enough last night to go to Southport Raw bar in Ft. Lauderdale where they feature Florida Apalachicola oysters. This area is on the gulf, tucked below the panhandle. 4 dozen later (between 3 people) I have this to report: My book was right in that southern oysters are milder and less salty than the ones grown in the north. They grow faster seem to acquire less of that "ocean" flavor i like. In turn, Southerners think northern oysters are "gamey" tasting and unsurprisingly prefer the local varieties. Looking forward to a comparitive tasting in NYC.

Waterwheel... Next stop, Oyster Bar

The other night at the Waterwheel restaurant we had a little post-Christmas dinner. I got a great book as a present from my mate Johnny, The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell, about Oysters and the close relationship they have to New York City's history. New York harbor, it' s tributaries and bays was the largest and most renown collection of oyster beds in the world. New York oysters were clean and plentiful, and thought to be the best tasting. They were shipped all round the world. I'm about halfway through the book and I want to go to NYC and walk around some of the haunts and geography mentioned. Naturally, I'll have to sample some specimens profiled, although hopefully they're imported from cleaner waters in this day and age. I'm researching the "where" and will consult with others about the "when".

More From the Mighty Mighty Ipod

I upgraded the software to 1.1.2, mostly to put an end to the annoying prompts to upgrade every time I synced (syunc?) Jailbroke it. Then I see the leak about 1.1.3. Jeez, one step ahead of the law again.
I grabbed a couple of new apps to facilitate file transfer. Anyone set up an ad hoc network over 2 wireless ipods?