Weblog

A haiku for NAB

In Vegas but sad,
New shoes are good, but feet hurt
Should have bought socks too.

Blogging NAB – Apple’s Announcements

This is what it looks like when I take notes at a broadcasting event.
These are my notes from Apple’s presentation where they announced Final Cut Studio 2 and Final Cut Server.
My notes will be decipherable to a TV person, but likely unreadable to others. Welcome to my world.
Apple tells me to not use my laptop during the presentation.

Workflow Automation
Templates
Review and Approve
Automated encode & publish
Intergration
Shot selection
Rough cut editing
Save as FCP
Online/offline workflow

Final Cut Studio 2 – $1299

AJA Box – $3495 in July

Open Format Tiumeline

Mix formats, resolutions, and frame rates in a timeline

Smoothcam

Motion compensation

Editable Motion Templates

Motion 3

Soundtrack Pro 2

Stereo & Surround mix in common project

Conform audio tracks

Sync changes between pictures & sound with workflow

Waveform editor w/frequency spectrum view – truly impressive
Mulittrack audio ADR tools
Auto conform tool with change tracking

Compressor 3

Color – Finish & Color Grading – SD, HD, 2k

Truly a comprehensive package that any other vendor, especially Avid, will be hard pressed to match.

Today we honor Jackie Robinson

Today, I am taking time to remember Jackie Robinson, a man of quiet dignity and extraordinary bravery.

Twitter & the New York Times

The New York Times now has a set of Twitter feeds. Follow them, and you get your news via Twitter.
I’ll let the rest of the blogosphere blather on about Twitter and it’s impact. Maybe they will stop navel gazing about a blogger code of conduct for a few moments to make profound statements about paradigm shifts.
To me, I find the agility of the New York Times to adapt to new concepts to be amazing. Anyone who counts out newspapers as a viable media business is simply wrong.

A post for Mondays

Help name the newborn goat

One of my fraternity brothers keeps goats at his home. Last night, a momma goat gave birth. Take a look and help him name the goat.

Name This Goat – Newborn Needs A Name! – The most amazing videos are a click away
My suggestion is Inkspot.

Pearls Before Breakfast

Take a moment to read this truly fascinating article about stopping to listen to musicians. (via MeFi)

Making Pastrami

One day while out shopping, Michele bought a corned brisket. She’s aways on the lookout for new things and knew that I’d be interested in a whole corned beef that wasn’t sliced.
The difference between corned beef and pastrami is subtle. In both cases, a beef brisket is ‘corned’ by curing it in a salt brine for a couple weeks. This comes from the days before refrigeration, where the use of salt and sugar to preserve meat for a long time was common.
To turn the corned brisket into a corned beef, you boil the meat.
To turn the corned brisket into pastrami, you smoke the meat.
Loyal Cruft Readers will know that I love to smoke meats, so I decided to make pastrami.
Here is the brisket.

To smoke the meat, I needed a pastrami rub recipe to properly season it. I found this pastrami rub recipe and decided it looked good.

* 5 tablespoons kosher salt
* 4 tablespoons paprika
* 3 tablespoons coriander seeds
* 3 tablespoons brown sugar
* 2 tablespoons black peppercorns
* 2 tablespoons yellow mustard seeds
* 1 tablespoon white peppercorns
* 8 cloves garlic, minced
I enjoy making my own spice rubs. It’s fun to grind things up and mix things together. The smell is amazing.

The rub is applied liberally to the corned brisket.

And into the smoker it goes.

I hit it with smoke for about two hours and then gave it about 3 more hours of straight heat.
The pastrami looked pretty good coming out and definitely had a bit of the ‘pastrami smell’. I was quite encouraged.

Slicing the pastrami revealed a nice look of pink meat, typical of corned meat. Normally cooking meat this long would have turned it gray. Thanks to the nitrates in the corning brine, the color is maintained.
Of course, the real test is the taste. I’ll have to admit, I was a little disappointed. While is had a hint of the pastrami flavor, it tasted much stronger of a traditional corned beef. Maybe I should have soaked it in water a bit to release more salt or maybe they had pre-boiled the meat.

We enjoyed the pastrami, but I know I can do better. I will buy a raw brisket and corn it myself this time. Alton Brown, my culinary hero, did an episode on corning beef, and I will follow his recipe.
Let me know if you have any suggestions, I haven’t found a lot of home pastrami makers out there.

Twitter’s Secret Plot

I have uncovered the true business plan for Twitter.
Twitter is a front organization for the cell phone battery manufacturers.
Their nefarious plot is to make your mobile phone vibrate so much from Twitter messages that the batteries literally wear out and you need to buy replacements.
Doubt me? Then you come up with a business model for Twitter that makes better sense.

Category: Weblog

Spamalot Rabbit