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RottenCarcass

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Everything posted by RottenCarcass

  1. No, of course it's obvious that the genocide was the biggest crime - I'm just saying that it was stupid even on its own terms, meaning that Nazis were interested in world conquest a 1000 year Reich and Germany uber alles. And even if you looked at it from just that extremely narrow point of view of Nazi ultimate aims, their racism was counter-productive to their own stated goals - the patriotic Jews could've been working for the greater Germany (a Nazi aim), and instead of the U.S. developing atomic weapons it could have been Germany and so on. Meaning it was insane madness. Shooting yourself in the foot. Even from a Nazi point of view of wanting to build Great Germany. And because they lost the war - partially because of such stupid self-defeating policies - now Germany is the opposite of the Nazi ideal (very free and good to refugees), so the long term goals of the Nazis were defeated yet again - bottom line, meaning racism just makes no sense and is completely self-defeating. That was my point - that even from their own racist point of view, they will not achieve their goals, anywhere - whether Germany, or Britain, or Russia (which also expelled many talented Jews and other minorities). It's madness.
  2. Speaking of racism motivating the "Leave" vote - it's really funny. Well, not funny for the victims of racism as they get abused daily now in the UK. But funny from the point of view of their purported motives. Because while they hate the Poles and other Eastern Europeans, and may be successful in kicking them out of the UK in the next few years, exiting the EU does nothing as far as immigration from the Commonwealth - so instead of the Eastern Europeans, who within a generation (and often less) become highly productive and educated assets to the British economy, now they'll have a lot more immigrants from countries they hate even more - from Africa, Asia etc. It's the same "smart" idea the Nazis had with persecuting Jews in Germany - highly educated and patriotic people (like Einstein for example) - either emigrated to contribute to other countries (like the U.S.) or were murdered at great cost and so were of no help to Germany. And now, there are very few Jews left in Germany, but they'll get plenty of other Middle Eastern people, Muslim and otherwise, and it'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out. Racism is stupid and self-defeating, and we'll see how they like it when it comes back to bite them. Yes, it was a democratic vote. It should be respected. Because, after all, it was Mencken who said: "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." You take the good with the bad, regardless. Everybody makes mistakes - the U.S. re-elected Bush after his disastrous first term, for which America, the world, and the Middle East in particular will continue pay for decades to come. Which reminds me, I wonder who will learn any lessons from the Chilcot Report... I just feel bad for all the people who through no fault of their own will be caught up in all this. Take care, my British friends - I have lived in London back in the 90's and loved it so, and been back many times. I am sad, and wish you guys the very best.
  3. Funny, I see the same problem pop up more and more often in U.S. movies too. Some actors mumble, and some actors just have really bad enunciation. The main girl in "It Follows" to my ears just has atrocious enunciation. A film I saw recently that had a really good rep "The Invitation" has the main character guy enunciate so badly that half the time I couldn't understand him, while I had no problem with the rest of the actors in that movie. I doubt that just that one actor was badly mic'd while the sound person did a good job with literally every other actor. At some point, if the director does not support you, there is not much you can do. I mean, I personally would not approach the actor, but I would warn the director that this actor is going to be a bear to hear for the audience. Unfortunately, the director has the script in front of him/her and doesn't hear the problem. Oh well, you can only do what you can do. But then you hear back "oh we had a terrible sound person, we got lots of complaints from the audience that they could not understand our main actor", not stopping to think how that "terrible" sound person managed to get perfectly good sound from the rest of the 20 actors in the production, and just "happened" to drop the ball on that one actor. Meanwhile the director is not going to come back and say "gee, I was warned about this actor by the sound guy", instead, he'll just agree that it was the fault of the sound guy, because after all "that's the job of sound". What can you do? Maybe just stick a lav down the throat of that one guy and let the post folks worry about how to put it together.
  4. My condolences - may he Rest In Peace. He was a hero of mine, someone I was aware of from the very beginning of my interest in film. As a professional to begin with, and then I became aware of his work as an activist for humanity, and my respect for him, already sky-high, went even higher. I have seen/heard him speak at several events, and I never worked up the nerve to approach him, and now it is too late, so I can only say how much I admire and appreciate him to everyone else who has gathered here today. What a truly great man!
  5. I think that's the idea behind the 70D. Tascam is a bit more ambitious with the 701D, otherwise how can they justify such a price differential - the 70D is $300 (and can be had for less), whereas the 701D is double that - if the idea was that people would be using the 701D the same way they are using the 70D, then it's hard to see who would buy the 701D at double the price.
  6. Anyone got ahold of one? Feedback? At $600 it's cheaper than the F8, but I'd like to hear what people's experiences are...
  7. The worst is when on location there's some nasty low-level sound that I've just got to track down. It makes you look crazy as you wander about stopping and straining your ears, turning your head this way and that, and generally looking deranged. And once you locate the source of the annoyance then you have to find a way to silence it. The worst are the intermittent ones, where something kicks in at the worst possible moment. I generally try to do as thorough a walk through the location before a shoot as possible, but then there's always some surprise "well, yes, but only every Tuesday morning!".
  8. Producer: "and we have this equipment we just rented, use this, and drop your gear rental rates" Me: "sorry I only work with my own gear" Producer: "But, but, but--" Me: "Do you want me to use gear that I'm familiar with, or some models I've never used? What do you think will be more productive and safer and get better results? Even if it's exactly the same gear, I would still use mine, as I know it intimately, I know if it's working and its quirks, and I know it's in working order - do you prefer that, or do you prefer that I take a chance on equipment that may or may not work? I come in a package. Let me ask you, if you're hiring an assassin, doesn't it make sense to let him/her choose their own weapons for the job? Sound work is like that: sometimes all you have is one chance and a very high value target". Producer: "OK, ok". Me: "Good." Look him in the eye - "and I get paid cash, half up front, half after the job" OK, I'm kidding with that last one, but only a little
  9. Wow, pretty thin article, tbh. I've been on some way troubled productions, and from the description of this one, it's hard to say exactly how bad it was.
  10. The only dumb comment I've heard re: women doing production sound, is not from a soundie, but from a producer who opined that women don't work sound because they're too weak to boom. As happens, the first time I worked with a woman was on a European production, and she could boom longer/better than the other guy on the same production - and I conveyed that information to the producer, who shut up at that moment. Bottom line, you may encounter fools, but it will rarely be a fellow soundie. I'd encourage you to go into what strikes your fancy, and don't worry about the occasional foolish person; when you do good work, your reputation will follow and you won't have any problems.
  11. Of course, that's the entire foundation of IP protection laws, including patents. It's supposed to promote innovation by granting the IP holder a time-limited monopoly on economic exploitation - for the ultimate benefit of society. And at its best one hopes that's the way it works. But it is also true, that since imperfect humans are involved, no law will be perfect, and in due time unintended consequences will manifest, and counterproductive outcomes that are directly injurious to the ultimate aims of the IP regimen (benefit of society) serve to undermine respect for the law. Jeff Wexler said it best: none of us here are in a position to know the nitty gritty behind this Zaxcom/Tascam situation. Only those directly involved know the details - I mean, that's just patently (oops!) obvious. It may very well be that it's like Constantin outlines - perhaps Zaxcom are merely defending their hard-earned patents against unjust usurpation. In which case, more power to them and my sympathy is 100% on their side. It is also however possible that a company might be inappropriately stretching a marginal or trivial patent to prevent competition, which results in injury to another company and ultimately to the consumer - it is fully legal, because there is always a gap between the loophole-laden letter of the law and the lofty spirit of the law. It may be "inappropriate" from a spirit point of view, but pass muster in the letter. Which case is it? I don't know, and I'm not passing judgment. I am only pointing out that while those who defend one company here are assuming the first case, while refusing to acknowledge the possibility of the second case, and those on the other side are doing the reverse. It's in how you choose to see it. But hey, we've been here before in other cases: the market will find a way - buy abroad and use here, boycott one or the other company, buy a knockoff from China/India/Wherever and ignore the IP issue, a thousand individual decisions. We don't know. That's the truth. What is indisputably true is that now we're deprived of a useful product... temporarily, one hopes. Perhaps we're deprived for good reason, or for spurious reasons, but either way, if it's desirable enough, someone will make it, and we'll get it one way or another and life will go on.
  12. So what you're saying, is that it's like tic-tac-toe. And it just went from three in a row win-win-win... solved! to win-win-lose... blocked! Others may have a different opinion: win-lose-lose. After all, if this is a win for Tascam for the reason that "potential lawsuit and court proceedings will not drag on and on", then had Zaxcom simply dropped their suit, it would also be a win for Tascam as there would not be proceedings that drag on and on - except that now Tascam would be able to sell their products, which would really be a win. Which tells me that it's not really a win for Tascam. The losers of course in either case are the end users who don't get the benefit of using gear. It's all in how you see it. Who knows, it might even be a lose-lose-lose as people who hate what they perceive as consumer hostile actions by a company, decide to boycott their products. Whatever the case, it's amazing how much such non-technical factors influence what gear we get to use or not use, or how such gear works, when companies are forced to pretzel their designs to get around some claim or another, whether legitimate or not - so if ever you look at a piece of gear and wonder "why did they do it this convoluted way", the explanation may not be something that an engineer can answer, but rather a lawyer. Interesting times we live in.
  13. I wanted to go to the CineFamily screening (with the some members of the original crew as special guests) last night, but the tickets were sold out. I'll go next week... from what I understand, the film is a pretty tedious "hi-jinks" total misfire, but it'll be fun to see what kind of production challenges they must have faced.
  14. Zoom is coming out with a new field recorder, the F8: https://youtu.be/ocfWiHoMk1Y https://youtu.be/3ain4-2IsT4?t=1m3s
  15. Well, public toilets are one thing. But then you get to the home toilets. Out here in the drought stricken California, we've long since had regulations about how much water you're allowed to have in your toilet water tank. That creates problems of all kinds, including the fecal matter refusing to gracefully disappear down the sewage line, so the solution then is either to sit on the pot one hand on a bucket full of water ready, the other hand holding a plunger, or a diet that induces liquid feces only. The Toto sounds fantastic, but I would prefer if instead of the music module they had the option of a powerful piston that pushes all matter further down the sewage pipe, steam-engine style - that would provide all the sound cover you need as the piston operates back and forth, and also dispose of a human body if you ever need to. Bring it on!
  16. Standard operating procedure for observant Jewish businesses - you'll get the same thing at Adorama. Totally worth the small trouble though, in my experience... B&H and Adorama are my go-to merchants.
  17. Well, no, I'm not being a jerk. I honestly feel that a robust approach to wiring is superior. If you approach the talent hemming and hawing and acting weird, it actually makes them feel creepy. But if you walk up with a matter-of-fact attitude, then having to put your hands here and there seems just like the job that it is, and not some creepy thing you have to apologize for. It's like makeup - part of the job, and quite frankly, compared to makeup, it's far less stressful and onerous... think what the talent has to put up with in makeup, especially if sfx masks etc., are involved - by comparison getting wired for sound is a piece of cake. Stand tall, be professional, don't act weird - people sense if you are uneasy and it makes them uneasy in turn... why would I want to do that? So the talent is hot - you walk up professionally, friendly but meaning BUSINESS. No weird apologies and no weird movements. Drop the dang thing, wire up - keep the explanations to a minimum. Seriously. Everyone prefers the guy who knows just what he wants and what needs to be done and takes a firm hand and responsibility - you can trust and rely on. Have you ever been around dogs or children or for that matter other human beings? Uneasy energy is contagious, and calm assertive energy is too. Up to you what you want to spread.
  18. What's with the warming? Man up, lady, gent! "OK, this is metal and might be a bit cold, so heads up!" and off you go.
  19. I use the Anker powerbanks E5 (15000mAh) and E6 (20800mAh) with my DR70D and DR60D - a U.S. company with the best reputation wrt. commercial battery backup solutions. The ones I have work like a charm - I can't even tell you how long they'd last from experience, because I've never had one run out while working, I just charge them when I get back, and they last for days. There's a practical problem of the convenience - the Tascam BP-6AA can be conveniently attached to the recorder, but with powerbanks and USB, you're on your own. The other thing is that any USB cable like that is going to be fiddly and the micro USB makes me very nervous as far as fragility - in my experience there's always a danger of damaging the input or simply having the cable detach while in use - I always put in fresh batteries into my recorder anyway, because in case the USB fails, the batteries in the unit take over smoothly (I haven't had any failures yet, though). I wish there was some way to securely lock the USB into the recorder, but I guess that's just an issue with all USB connectors (don't get me started on those tiny HDMI ports on cameras that inevitably break).
  20. And here I thought you meant a harness like this : Boom Audio Body Harness
  21. Somebody mentioned Lexar cards. I know this is anecdotal, one person experience, but I have personally had just the worst luck with Lexar. I've had several cards fail, three CF, and one SD and one microSD, and even a Lexar thumb drive fail. I know any card can fail, and this is just statistics, but I've never had any other brand card fail on me - not any, and I'm including crazy stuff like Wintec and PNY - and so many failures from Lexar just put it outside of consideration for me. So, take it for what it's worth. I'm sticking with Sandisk personally.
  22. When I saw this, I immediately thought of the AT System 10. What with the ever shrinking spectrum, the day is soon upon us when it's 2.4 or nothing, and so I must admit, I'm paying more attention to this. I'd like to see a decent comparison between the Rode and the AT, because I honestly see having to get something like this very soon, just hope they'll shrink this a bit because right now that shicks humongous.
  23. I actually have a bunch of these, bought them when they were on sale. They're not going to compete with top level lavs, but for quick and dirty backup, they're really quite decent and much better than the $30 trash that's sold on ebay. I even used them on a project two weeks ago, in an armory where we couldn't use wireless or booms, and I just wired these to the talent (3 guys), stuck them on zoom 1 recorders and hoped for the best. Luckily, the levels were OK and nobody had a bad word to say about the sound. My verdict - not bad in emergency situations and I carry them in my grab bag of random stuff just in case they might come in handy.
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