Hogan's Blog #13

Getting Ready for the Holidays!!

Even though people are hustling and bustling, running around frantically searching for unbeatable bargains on Black Friday is not the only thing people are doing. Folks around the globe are gearing up for the most festive time of year. Christmas!!

Although the shopping for the perfect gift at the last minute is a tell all sign that someone wasn't ready or just procrastinated, sometimes the gift of love is more important than that material fancy gadget doodad you so furiously fought that old woman for at the mall. Love and the spread of friendship, cheer, and good will toward men is what this time of year is all about.

Sure the corporations want it to be about that perfect gift, but that is only so they can make the moolah to get the most extravagent gift on the market for their loved ones. It's called "buying their love." Businessmen worldwide far to often fall into the grips of the most terrible, ferocious, evil, and down right naughty trap of making the almighty dollar and lose track of what is truly important in their lives.

This is also the time for classic holiday movies!! Yea!! Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Frosty Returns, The Little Drummer Boy, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, A Christmas Carol (the version doesn't matter), It's A Wonderful Life, Home Alone, The Santa Clause 1, 2, and 3, White Christmas, Holiday Inn, Jingle All the Way, A Christmas Story, A Charlie Brown Christmas...the list can go on forever, but this is a short list of the movies my family and I sit down and watch EVERY YEAR!!

These timelss classic tell the stories of things are good, they get bad, you find a solution, and everything is all good again...and sometimes better than before. This holiday season make the resolution to change your heart, like in the movies. Change your life and quit telling the little white lies that got you out of that sticky situation you were in. Don't hide the truth because, believe it or not, the truth can actually hurt less from the start than living that lie and having it turn back on you 10-fold. Your family and loved ones deserve the true you regardless of the stupid mistakes that may have been made. Fouling up and confessing the truth really will save you all kinds of heartache and despair in the end.

Okay, off the soapbox. Movies, movies, movies. This is where Disney's concept of total merchandising really takes form. Walt Disney was truly a visionary and extremely smart businessman at the end of the day. Not only did his shows inspire the future, but they also embraced the past. During the early starts of his television show, Disney featured behind-the-scenes looks at the making of the magic. Sort of promoting the new content. He also knew that he could also show re-runs of classic movies and cartoons that started his career to the new generation and the older generations would encourage the watching of these films and shorts virtually cementing the stories in people's minds and hearts.

Every Christmas season there are radio stations that dedicate their airtimes to the playing of holiday music from Black Friday until Christmas Day. Cable networks and major networks fit as many holiday shows as they can into their schedules. Every year it is the same timeless shows and new content as well. The new ones tell the old stories in a format designed for the younger generation in tune with what is hot and trending that year.

The Charles Dickens classic tale, A Christmas Carol, has been made in at least 100 different ways I can think of including cartoons, live action films, and plays, but this story never gets old! By far the best version stars George C. Scott as Scrooge, followed by Disney's version with Jim Carrey in a number of parts in the film, then another Disney version with the classic characters filling the roles - Scrooge McDuck, Mickey, Donald, Minnie, Daisy, Goofy, and Pete the Cat, lastly the Patrick Stewart version.

To close, use this season to reunite with family and loved ones and spread yuletide cheer to all. Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year.

Hogan's Blog #12

The Twilight Saga comes to a close..........or does it?

On November 17, my wife and I hired a babysitter and went to the final installment of the Twilight saga, Breaking Dawn Part 2. To make a long story short, Bella (Kristen Stewart) beats up Jacob (Taylor Lautner) at the beginning, which Edward (Robert Pattinson) enjoys, and the good guys win in the end, but this is not a review of the movie.

The opening scenes show Bella's new vampire abilities. The cameras use of zoom and quick panning and transitions give the viewer the feel of things Bella is going through by taking in so much information all at once. The level of detail shows the audience the depth of perception this storyline's vampires have.

Renesmee, Bella and Edward's daughter, is computer graphic enhanced for about the first 20 minutes or so. Supposedly this, to me, is so the baby could look like Bella. After the first 20 minutes, give or take, the CG baby is ditched for a real life little girl.

This film is full of computerized imagery that helps to provide the audience with the sense of being in the scene on the screen. As if you were whisked away into the Amazon jungle by name.

 

So lots of recruiting other vampires and werewolves from around the globe to witnesses the Volturi's attempt to crush the Collins clan.

The last battle is actually a pretty good use of computer technology to pull of amazing scenes for the audience to view. Zooms, pans, quick shots, close ups, wide angle, and low angle shots really make the viewer feel as though they are right there in the battle. I could see this segment becoming a 3D rendition that would make this even more believable.

In the end, the audience is surprised that all the fighting.....no, no, no....you have to see it to find out this stunning and feel good moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DYH2t8fCqo

The movie was pretty well done and surpasses any of its predecessors in action scenes. (made it worth going to see)

Hogan's Blog #11

A Visit to KHNL Studios, Honolulu

On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 the students of MULT 2060: Modern Media Systems had the opportunity and the privilege of visiting a live broadcast of Sunrise Hawaii News Now which airs on KGMB, KFVE, and KHNL from 0530 til 0930 daily. The show airs for 3 hours on KGMB, one hour on KFVE, and one hour on KHNL.

During our time at the station, we were able to visit the Control Room, the Broadcasting Room, and Studio B. The great thing is that the fine folks behind the scenes were very informative and shared anything we wished to know. They were constantly asking if we had questions and were willing to share all the information they could.

The first room we were taken to was the Control Room. This is were the director, producer, and control board dude (sorry, lack of title) sit and manage how everything is seen on the television.

 

There were three screens, each showing virtually the same things only in different layouts. Supposedly, the layouts each of the respected three preferred. The screens were broken down into what looked like one massive blob of PIP (picture in picture). each screen bore a total of 13 different feeds. On these screens were feeds from 4 servers containing pre-edited material used for "spots" during the broadcast, feeds for live shots, three cameras from the broadcast studio, a camera from Studio B, and the broadcast and "waiting" screen. The "waiting" screen was a screen were something was preloaded before broadcast on television. Kind of like making sure the shot or next shot was correct before put on the air.

The director, Mark Platte, was a very busy person. He was constantly dealing with live "on-the-scene" newscasters, six people in the broadcast studio, the producer, and the control board dude. All the spectacular transitions, i.e. fades, dissolves, quick go-tos, dual screen and quad screen formats, seen on the air is all coordinated seconds before it happens. While managing everything going on from weather to finance and the shots for live broadcasts from the studios, he constantly keeps watch on the countdown monitor. This monitor informs him of how long they have on the air, how long the commercial breaks are, and how much time is left broadcasting on one station before switching to the next.

During the course of the program that day, the producer came in with a breaking story about a horse trailer toppling on a freeway, and within what seemed to be seconds, the story was on the air with live footage from a satellite feed.

The control board dude had lots of things to manage. The board is constructed with buttons and dials linked to everything server, feed, and preset transition at his disposal. There are presets for the dual screen, quad screen, transitions, fades, dissolves, quick changes, and servers. Being the very skilled person he is, and also working this setup for a number of years, he pulls off everything the director wants to have happen almost exactly when he says it should happen only seconds after being told it is going to happen. (you follow?)

 

We were then taken to the broadcasting studio where, Tannya Joaquin, Howard Dicus, and Dan Cooke put there faces on television for everyone to see. The floor director, name, manages which cameras the newscasters need to be looking at for the shots and positions the director wants to have happen. We also met the man who controls all the cameras. Being an all digital studio has its advantages. All three cameras in the studio have presets for each newscaster throughout the day, so with the click of a few touch screen buttons, he can get the desired angle and pitch from the camera that shows the person on the television as it should be.

 

I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to have been a part of this field trip and learned that so much happens behind the scenes of a live television broadcast almost simultaneously. The people on and working the Sunrise edition of Hawaii News Now are very good at what they do. To, name, the cameraman, to the weatherman, the director, the control board dude, and everyone else at KHNL Studios, thank you for the opportunity to let us go behind-the-scenes and catch a glimpse of the organized madhouse.

Hogan's Blog #10

Express Yourself............

(There's more after the pics...scroll down and see!!)

        

Pictured above are my car and my wife's plate she is picking up this week.



Ever thought about how hard it is to remember your license plate number. If someone asks you, could you tell them? Parking garages ask for license plate numbers when applying for an assigned parking spot. The best way to never forget, is the personalized license plate, or vanity plate.

Is it really vain to want a license plate that expresses who you are, your name, your occupation, or just some funny saying that will get people laughing as they are stuck in traffic or cruising the highway. It's funny how, when you aren't looking for them, you see them everywhere, but the minute you decide to seek out as many as possible, you can not find one. Craziness!!

The personalized license plate has fascinated millions of vehicle owners for decades, and the sales of these miniature advertising spots, for yourself or your business, is rising. The vanity license plates may have been a luxury item in the past, but now for a measly 25 smackaroos a year, that space is yours and not just some randomly generated number/letter combination that'll boggle your mind when someone asks you for it.

http://www4.honolulu.gov/specialplates/

This link will help you on your way to expressing yourself to the world!! Or maybe just to the people living on and visiting this tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Please allow 60-90 days for delivery.

I have mine. Where's yours? Please forgive the non-authentic look of the following pictures, but my phone hasn't got the best photographic imaging software when bouncing around the car or sitting in traffic. With a little help from the generation tool on the website, Microsoft Visio, and Microsoft Powerpoint, I am pleased to share with you some of the vanity plates I have seen around since I got my personalized piece of $25 vanity aluminum.

Found this active group on facebook.com. They have over 99 members and lots of photos. If you are interested....

https://www.facebook.com/welcomeback/requests/#!/groups/157361394330967/?fref=ts

There are less than ten groups on faacebook focused on vanity, specialty, or personalized plates. I guess people don't want to share beyond their colorful, well thought out expressions on their cars. I won't......

Hogan's Blog #9

Disney acquires Lucasfilm

The Walt Disney company recently acquired Lucasfilm, Ltd. for a cool $4.05 billion. Along with the announcement of the acquisition, Disney screamed Star Wars: Episode VII coming 2015 without hesitation. Disney has also said that episodes VIII and IX will follow. They have also given the possibilty that even more Star Wars movies will emerge in future releases to further the epic saga.

With this acquisition, does Disney have what it takes to make George Lucas proud of his business decision? Lucas seems to feel as though they do, or he would have never sold his lucrative empire.

Will Harrison Ford reprise his role as Han Solo? It could be possible, but that all depends on how much time is placed between trilogies. Between episodes III and IV, there was a span of about 18-20 years. Even between episodes I and II, ten years passed. For now, nothing has been confirmed about Ford's return. Will we see Carrie Fisher return as Leia and Mark Hamill be Luke Skywalker again? Nothing is for certain. It is still too early to tell. The best bet is to keep an eye on these actors and actress through IMDb.com for any kind of comfirmations.

Do the fans feel that Disney will be able to uphold the traditional feel and adventure that is associated with the Star Wars legacy? Only time will tell, but initial thoughts have been those of tremendous approval of the soon-to-be much anticipated 7th Star Wars film.

Recently, Disney has flopped with a different kind of space adventure, John Carter, but seems to have recovered from this failure and had solidified the faith place in them by George Lucas.

Lucasfilm, Ltd. did not only own the Star Wars franchise, but has had their hands on two other titles that we may soon see sequels for. The Indiana Jones movies may have a chance to produce a 5th installment of the Dr. Jones adventures, but more talk has been about the possibilty of a Willow 2. The speculations are endless, but also keep in mind that The Walt Disney Company is the king of sequels. Anything is possible when you wish upon a star.

Hogan's Blog #8

The Political Post: Short and Sweet



Before I get started, there are two things you are supposed to never talk about to people. The reason for this accepted norm is because the feelings and emotions surrounding these subjects is too much for some people to handle. The two subjects are religion and politics.

I am not one to really get on the bandwagon and voice my opinion about political issues, but there is something that needs to be said about the Presidential debates and the Hawaiian race for governor. We are nearing the end of the road and campaigns are spicing up and winding down. Voting is next week and the current ads are focusing on the negatives and why you shouldn't vote for one candidate and why you should vote for the other.

The biggest reason to hate political leaders and their campaigns and speeches is because everything they say is just a lie to get you to vote for them. Seriously, if we look back at all of our past leaders and elected officials, when was the last time any of them the American voters that they were going to do something and it actually got done.

Election 2008: President Obama is elected. It had nothing to do with whether or not America was ready for an African American president. It was because the Republicans didn't put anyone against him that was worth voting for. Sarah Palin as Vice-President, what a joke. The American people are tired of watching GW act so illiterate in from of a teleprompter. Let's get a president who doesn't make us look like backwoods rejects. Oh yeah, we are starting to pull out of Afghanistan, but more needs to be done because we went over there and bombed the crap out of them for no reason whatsoever, so their economy and infrastructure needs to be rebuilt. In other words, if we build it, they will sell us oil cheaper!

Election 2004: GW gets re-elected.  Right after he got elected, BOOM!!!!!!, national crisis and an excuse to go over to the middle east and finished what daddy started. Corner the oil market, by claiming that Hussein has hoarding "Weapons of Mass Destruction" and his accomplice is hiding out in Afghanistan. We got Hussein, but Bin Laden at large. Okay, so now let's get involved in a "War on Terror." WTF? Really? Let us tell you the same thing we told your daddy. Holy War!! Leave it alone. We have bigger problems on the homefront to deal with.

Election 2000: What!? GW gets put in office. Hello, popularity vote. We wanted the other guy. Right after the whole ordeal about a man getting serviced. Yes, he was married. Yes, it was wrong. Even after that whole "impeachment" hearing and "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" speeches, Clinton today is one of the most influencial and publicly political figures around.

Election 1996: Clinton re-elected. Yea, someone who is actually doing something about the defecit and the American economy is booming. New laws are being passed and people are starting to enjoy life a little.

Election 1992: George, what are you doing? We thought you would keep up appearances like Reagan, but we have our own oil!! Hello, let them kill themselves. Who cares about the middle east? They have been locked in a holy war for MILLENIA!!!!!

 

Okay enough of that, but the campaigns today are saying the traffic congestions will be worse with rail than without. Come on people. The world population is growing exponentially. There will be more people driving cars on the road. OF COURSE there will be more traffic. It won't matter if the rail is built or not. The rail has nothing to do with making Hawaii traffic any better. It is a way for tourists to commute faster from Ala Moana to Ewa and Ko'olina so we can get more of their money. Very simple.

Simply, any time someone says that there is some avenue that will be "better" for the public good in the long run usually has an ace up his sleeve of how some profit can be made at the expense of the lower and middle middle class. (middle middle class - make sense?) Namely, us!

So, vote how you want. Vote for the guy that shares the same opinions and values as you, but rest assured that whomever is put into office will do whatever for whomever is paying the most money! Period!