Today's strip, guys. And be sure to read the newspost below it.
I was born six years after Empire released. Star Wars being at least somewhat pervasive in my household, by the time I could remember things I already knew that Vader was Luke's father. I don't remember what it felt like to find out or even if I was mature enough to connect the dots and feel as gut-punched as Luke looks onscreen. And if I wanted to find out more, Jabba's Palace was just an epilogue and another crawl away, right there.
So now that they talk about it that way, I do kind of appreciate them keeping us in suspense for an extra couple of days
Like, I want to see if my Dad is reading it. (He got me into roleplaying as well.) And ask him if he remembers what he felt coming out of Empire that first time.
Got sucked into Elite: Dangerous, somehow. Not sure how, it just happened, and now I've got a small cargo hauler stripped down to hold the max amount and three quarters of a million credits. And a cramp in my hand from all the joystick use. giggity
"Coruscant...the capital of the Republic...the entire planet is one big city"
Which is a great way in film to describe what took Heir to the Empire at least a page. There is so much backstory on Coruscant, but a character said (redundantly, if you think about it) the most crucial piece of information the audience needed at that time.
I just finished reading a book called Dark Eden that has a VERY different, alien world, not just alien as in "not Earth" but as in "these concepts haven't even been done before". Information is revealed by the characters little by little in a natural fashion. I recommend picking it up for world building done well, and revealed to the audience well. The first lesson I'd take from it is, don't be afraid to throw your audience into the deep end off the bat. Just throw them worldbuilding lifelines as the narrative calls and you'll be fine.
I have a bookmark folder in Chrome, where Darths & Droids sits among 23 other webcomics. Its Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday update schedule is awesome in a sea of Monday/Wednesday/Fridays.
At some point I'll definitely have to go through and re-read, because when something goes so off tangent...
A more distant orbit would result in a slower orbital period than 30 days. Check every moon in the solar system and in fact the planets themselves. Mercury takes 88 Earth days; Neptune takes 165 Earth years.
I personally am in the camp that figures, if it works for the story and setting you want to build, do it without worrying about what's scientifically accurate, as long as it passes the "sounds reasonable" sniff test. That being said, you may want to look at a moon around a gas giant in our solar system. How long is its orbital period, how far away is it from its parent planet, how large is that parent planet. Then you can math it up and find that it wouldn't be behind the planet for much time at all - look at how long one of our lunar eclipses last (a few hours) and our moon is much bigger in relation to Earth than a gas giant's moons are in relation to it.
Also note that the moon likely wouldn't be in the eclipse shade at all but for maybe once or twice a year, unless you go for the contrivance of having the moon's orbital plane exactly match the orbital plane of the parent planet.
As for the color of planetshine - seems reasonable that a blue planet would reflect more blue light while a red gas giant might reflect redder light.
As far as I know, gas giants are well known to exist within different Goldilocks zones in different star systems. Upsilon Andromedae is one I can name off the top of my head (because I wrote a story set there too, ages ago).
Now that we're caught up on most of our weddings from the past year, I got the chance to go back and edit the video from a photo shoot we did last spring. Hopefully it's a fun watch, at least for those (...two?) of you with kids.
My boss was the creative force behind the entire shoot. My responsibility was entirely on the video side - taking the photo plans and schedules and creating a shot list for behind the scenes shots as well as shots that mimic the usual wedding highlight style, then filming those shots on the day of. Finally I was the editor.
Due to a suggestion from Bertocci, backed up by Owen, I went with a track from Incomptech. The first episode of the season came out last week, and the second just now.
Color's not perfect but I am damn happy with where the production is right now.
The meal for this one, Grilled Cuban Sandwiches, was Vapes' idea, having just seen Chef a couple of weeks prior to his visit. (I, hypocritically, still haven't gotten around to it.)
So, I'm editing a few new episodes of the next season, in which I've started using lavalier microphones. And it's become apparent to me that with the extra noise of the kitchen largely reduced... it's frickin' quiet. And I don't think I can get away without music underscoring it.
Does anyone have suggestions of music that is royalty-free, preferably cheap to obtain, and preferably something that doesn't try to call attention to itself?
Religious officiants are often hesitant enough letting you place a camera on the altar or even get close at all. (My boss shot one this year where he was limited to the balcony. Period.) Awesome if you can do it but asking might just make the priest/pastor/whomever very wary about working with you.
The original impetus to use all the same camera was so that some shots would not be of a noticeably different quality than others. Should this even be a concern? What camera would you recommend? We're planning on getting Hero4 Silvers for our GoPros.
Considering budget here for a few moments, it will be a lot cheaper to get a gaggle of GoPros and upgrade later. If you have no cameras at all this might be a good choice for an event or two but you'll soon start to sorely miss tha bility to get close-ups. By contrast, the Hero 3 and onwards will stand quite favorably with DSLRs. Not quite at the same level (depending on the DSLR) but a bit of color correction generally solves that.
In editing, we use the GoPros sparingly; though they're running the whole time, unless they have the perfect angle for something happening (lighting unity candles or a great view from a pergola) they're only shown occasionally, so if they're slightly worse quality it's not that bad.
A mid-to-high-end full frame isn't required for your main camera, though, especially as you're getting started out. Budget DSLRs and mirrorless cameras are doing amazing things nowadays, and offer great versatility with interchangeable lenses; they'll often come with a kit lens that had a great zoom range as well for when you're just getting started with it.
As for GoPro models, the Hero 4 Silver has the LCD back and the Black doesn't, which probably affects battery life. I'd look up a comparison chart between the Hero 4 series and the Hero 3/3+ series to get a good balance between visual quality and battery life.
ShadowDuelist wrote:
My understanding is that the newer GoPros have a not-wide-as-fuck mode. I've never worked with one, but I think that should work for this? I wish I had one to mess around with.
I forgot about that. That mode crops the sensor so you'll get more noise, which is alright in daytime but in low light will have a very noticeable quality degradation. It'll be worth playing with once you get your camera.
I've seen video of a GoPro in the bride's bouquet but that's obviously a preproduction thing, designing the bouquet from the ground up to be able to hold it, making sure she's holding it that way forward as she walks down the aisle, and that the maid of honor holds it camera out during the ceremony (or if it's placed on the ground or a table, camera out). Invasive in preproduction and the bride needs to be enthusiastic about it, but not incredibly apparent to guests that it's there.
Yes and no. There are a few stills from my own wedding outside of the formals that I love; hell, one of them I use as my standard profile pic on YouTube, Twitter, etc. Granted, you're looking at one shot out of fifty in those cases, a much lower ratio than from the formals, but it's still worth it to me for a photo of the crowded dance floor with my wife's cousin making the silliest face, his daughter on his shoulders; or the random video shot of my dad asking my grandmother for a dance and her face just lighting up.
ShadowDuelist, GoPros are a great "fire-and-forget" tool. As I said, we often use a couple during the ceremony for two reasons. First, the ultra-wide angle can give an impressive view of a majestic cathedral that you can't get on DSLR until you're getting a 14mm lens just for the job. Second, they can be placed relatively inconspicuously. In a church, as long as the pastor has no objections, they can be placed in the sanctuary facing out to get a shot of the gathered guests, in a pergola for a top-down view of the couple and the officiant, and even on light stands to get up ten, twelve, fifteen feet for a unique establishing shot angle. The high establishing shot is also why we have one as a dump shot during the reception. (It'll also double as a guest reaction shot when they're laughing during the toasts.)
I wouldn't use a GoPro, personally, for roving shots, whether intended to be used in motion or just going place to place. If you plan on moving during the ceremony you're better off with something with a nice long lens so that you can get closeups on the couple and maybe their parents in the seats, again for reaction shots. As for video booth messages, a GoPro would be too wide for one or two people talking into a microphone, but if you have a different camera for your main camera there it can provide a neat behind the scenes angle.
Tom's idea of GoPros on tables has merit, but as he said it'd be pretty expensive. If you were to do it at all, I'd place it on the parent tables during toasts, especially if you don't have an assistant videographer getting establishing shots for you. Also as Tom mentioned, battery life is a concern. A GoPro Hero 3 Black lasts for about an hour and a half, plus an hour with a battery pack on the back. Bring spares, especially if you have an hour long ceremony ahead of you. (Your battery should last the ceremony but you'll need to swap if you want to use it during the reception at all.)
I did a bit more with AC IV Black Flag in anticipation of Rogue. I got the latter for Christmas and am looking forward to the reversed take on the series.
(Well, I thought I had, but apparently not. Fixed now, obviously.)
I've also been playing some mobile games, particularly along the Clash of Clans style: Age of Empires Castle Siege and Star Wars Commander. Bit of a long shot, but is anybody playing either of those? Wouldn't mind joining an alliance with people.
I thought I had posted this when I released it... recently I've been able to get some people over and play Artemis, finally. Since I do Let's Plays anyway, I made something of a production out of it.
I'm disappointed it took me so long to be able to start playing this game but so glad I'm finally able to. I've got a good crew and can't wait to get back into it when we're all back from our respective holiday breaks.
My wife and I enjoy Fate/Stay Night, she even cosplayed as Saber for Otakon one year. We still need to watch the Unlimited Blade Works movie and Fate/Zero, and I guess UBW is getting a series treatment too. (Didn't stop us from using the closing song from UBW as our first dance song at our wedding.)
Christmas is a time for some families to gather around and watch TV, but if you're like me and aren't that interested in what the in-laws are watching you take to Netflix to see what you can find. It's under this context that I discovered and watched Arpeggio of Blue Steel.
Take the basic premise of the Battleship movie (alien warships come to Earth to take over the seas), turn down the built-in vitriol against it, turn up the anime tropes, and add a few years after first contact.
Years ago, the Fleet of Fog came from nowhere, imitated the form of human naval ships but with added alien technology completely obliterated human forces, and proceeded to blockade the seas and cut off all intercontinental contact, though did not invade land. Then, for some reason, the sub I-401 defected to Chihaya Gunzou, a cadet at the Maritime Academy. Two years later, he and his crew are the only hope against the Fleet of Fog.
The anime covers a single arc, and deviates from the source manga a bit from what I've been able to gather. With just twelve episodes, it tells a tight cohesive story though I found myself wishing for a bit more exposition on some things. In the manga it's mentioned nice and early that Gunzou's father had defected to the Fog; it's never stated in the anime, though that's one rumor. We never find out where the Fog came from, and the human crew members aren't very well fleshed out. There's the XO who wears a helmet; the excitable weapons officer (think the same archetype as Sokka from The Last Airbender); there are the two cute girls, the sonar operator with pink headphones and the engineer with the unfortunate dual stigma of always being in the engine room instead of the bridge and of being animated with a bit extra boob jiggle.
Ships are better characterized, as all major ships of the Fog, including I-401, have created human-like mental models of themselves. This is perhaps appropriate, as the story is more about them and the effects our protagonist has on them than it is about the humans on the sub. All of the girls in the opening are mental models of various ships in the series, each with their own distinct personality (except for the I-400 and I-402 creepy twins, they obviously share one). (Apparently one is even referred to as Fast Battleship Tsundere by other characters in the manga itself.) I enjoyed the development of them, and if I had to choose a favorite character it'd be from them, not from the paltry pool of humans.
Two movies are getting released next year, one a recap of the season and one an all-new story. While I'd've preferred a new series, it's still something I'm looking forward to.
1. ICPOS 2. Limp-Dick Christmas Lights 3. Writing a Letter 4. Blank Walls and Crowded Shelves 5. I Feel More Like a Leonard
After a couple days of the album on my commute, I'm going to agree with that ranking, maybe flipping 4 and 5 depending on my mood. Insidious is by far my favorite of the album, though man I hope you release the lyrics because all I catch at the wedding is bar, shots, finally believed.
Someone mentioned that the vocals are mixed a bit soft; I agree, as it took me a couple listens on songs I wasn't familiar with to pick out what was being sad. At this point they're good, though.
Limp-Dick is another great one, with a great accompanying video. Obviously it's a Christmas song now, because of having the word Christmas in it and the instrumentation, even though you explicitly state that "this isn't one of those times".
Writing a Letter. Man, I was not expecting somber and heartfelt, but it makes total sense knowing some of the background of the project. It's a fresh take on a breakup and one that I really, really appreciated. (Also it took me three listens before I smacked my forehead and realized the song its instrumental was reminding me of was Ben Folds' "The Luckiest". I imagine that channeling him was intentional?)
Blank Walls took me some time to warm up to. Part of this is just me trying to create a literal image in my head of what's going on; why is furniture being moved out while they're demoing the place, whose place was it*, who is the narrator anyway. This morning I realized that I was trying too hard; you're not telling a story, it seemed to me, as much as painting a tone. The scene and vignettes described could make a beautiful painting, and it strikes me that any music video for the song could just slowly track around the painting a la the opening to the Stargate movie.
Leonard is probably my least favorite but it's not bad; its ranking is more a testament to how much Blank Walls and Crowded Shelves grew on me. I went through maybe a week wishing my middle name (Kevin) was my first but I also blame Home Alone. Fun fact: your vocal performance reminded me of Weird Al when he's doing the slightly crazier singing voices.
So, yeah. I definitely enjoy this and hope you get the chance to do more. Great job to everybody involved!
*As I think on it now, I'm deciding that the home belongs to the couple that passed away within days of each other in "The Luckiest". So hah.
Buying now, will burn to a CD for my commute tomorrow. Main one I'm looking forward to is Propaganda, but then I also have that YouTube video downloaded and have listened to that in the car as well. Interested in hearing the final mix!
