#i guess it's likely photoshop vs premiere

[thisnerdsadventures]

I, a campaign manager

so in addition to being a CTO, a CS major, and a dorm vice president, i was also a campaign manager for 2 weeks (the exact campaign that I was managing is not entirely difficult to figure out if you really want to know, especially if you click on the links BUT i will be trying to not mention it specifically here lol). You might be wondering - (1) why and (2) how did you end up becoming a campaign manager..... you're not even a poli sci/gov/humanities/literally anything vaguely related to this major??

You're correct, yes, how did this happen? Well that's a great place to start this story:

How in the world this happened

Friends drag you into stuff. This happens to be the same friend that dragged me to New York, and then was 20% of the reason I got dragged into the negotiation class, and then was maybe 15% of the reason i got dragged into nonprofit activities? In terms of providing unique opportunities in my life, she definitely takes the cake. So one day, she says "I'm running for this position," and me and the squad says "we gotchu." What does that mean? Clearly wasn't sure in the beginning, but we were texting campaign strategies and slogans and tiktok ideas in the chat for fun. None of us had any real responsibilities, especially since the actual candidates were still weighing the playing field and figuring out their platform.

I also was a course 6, so I guess there was some expectation that I would make the website, even though I didn't actually code the website from scratch.

but anyways, it was actual campaign time.

CAMPAIGN SZN

After they figured out the campaign platform, it was game on for the campaign materials. We spent a lot of time on artwork, we photoshopped pictures from a photo shoot, we came up with campaign motto ideas, we brainstormed strategies for officially announcing the campaign. We had an actual campaign meeting to talk over things in mid-April where I met like six different people, friends from both candidates on this ticket, who were supporting this effort. We had a google drive AND a Dropbox. Look at this:

Despite this seemingly organized effort, it was not that organized because this publicity team didn't actually actively do anything for like a week. Many reasons for this: one being it was actually the semester, and it was also CPW weekend. Unfortunately for me, that weekend was literally hell for me, because I was managing this site for our nonprofit, CPW events (so like five zoom calls on a Saturday), classes (because those are still happening), and then the campaign thing finally started, about a week before voting opened. In the form, of a website.

So the tl;dr is I developed an entire Squarespace website in one night. Yes, one night. I had to model it from I think the website from a Harvard campaign site, which took me like three or four hours on a Saturday night, which is a very fast time in my opinion to learn how to use Squarespace. I also bought a domain and figured out how to connect it to Squarespace at like 1 in the morning, which was the first domain I ever bought in my life!

(It expires in a month. I am absolutely going to let it die.)

Also, if anyone from squarespace is reading this for some reason, yall made a really solid product. I actually was very happy with my experience. You all should use it, I am 100% not sponsored by them at all, but honestly it was a very good experience. If you need to develop a website in four hours and don't have a lot of webdev experience, definitely consider it. You can even see website clicks and user analytics, it's actually really put together.

The next day we spend a lot of time going through website changes and artwork changes. It's bad. We had so many discussions about color palettes and the advantages of a 3 column vs 4 column layout. Yes. I'm serious. I'm starting to go crazy.

If anyone's interested, I would say that our website definitely was better than the other campaign's website. Like objectively. Like both campaigns were great, but the website? well. Here's the link (archived because I only paid for 1 month of squarespace :D) The amount of detail that went into it is actually incredible, the amount of spacing, i even had to custom CSS the header image so that mobile headers would show up correctly.

THE CAMPAIGN VIDEO

so sometime during this week, I had this thought about making a really good campaign video. I was very inspired by some of these Google ads that started with a Google search bar. (Yes, I am aware that I am that much of a Google simp.) To be honest, rewatching this ad, I really definitely just copied this entire ad lol, it's ok we don't have to talk about that.

That Wednesday, we coincidentally talked about what makes campaign videos successful. We talked about how Trump's incendiary imagery helped stoke the flames and how it was really effective in getting people to vote, and eventually helped him beat Clinton in the presidential election. So I went and took that and grabbed news clips and campus videos and overlayed that in the video, and it went from like a solid 6 to an 8 immediately, in my honest, unbiased opinion. You can see what I mean in the video itself: [link].

We also had to put together quite a few interviews about what they wanted from the school and were looking for in their candidates, which took a million years of coordination, but we somehow got it done in three days, and everything was put together in a flurry of a weekend, unending changes and small fixes for sixteen hours straight. I could not even tell you how much I learned about premiere pro and how to use layer masks and everything. I even composed the music for the first fifteen seconds of it. Literally, composed, it.

And so on a Sunday afternoon FINALLY right before voting, the video drops. I'm sitting in my backyard absorbing the sun because I hadn't left my computer for 48 hours straight.

It gets like 1000 views or impressions or something in like two days, which is incredible for me, since I'm not a professional by any standards, but I am considering being a professional campaign manager at this point. By the way, we're also managing an Instagram page, a Facebook page, a tiktok page, a website, our individual social media pages, and we're trying to synchronize this video drop and all of our publicity efforts across every single one of these channels. It's chaotic at best.

VOTING SZN

So it's voting week, where we give everyone an entire week to vote. Across the week, it's mostly a waiting game, we make a few more tiktoks and funny videos that we publicize to get out the vote more. The last day, we're thinking about it, and we know the final vote's gonna be close, so we message every. single. person. in our Facebook friends list. I think I singlehandedly convinced like twenty people to vote (and hopefully vote for our ticket).

There's a lot of drama about different stuff. I won't really talk about it because I think it got really messy, but this week and entire couple weeks was a lot to get through honestly. As a reminder, I'm also working on my senior thesis and my nonprofit website work is peaking at this point, so everything is very, very bad and none of us have slept in a while. Also it's the pandemic.

Finally, the results come out. We lost by like 20 votes or something, out of 1500 or so total votes casted or something like that. It's one of the highest voter turnouts in school history or something, I don't quite remember. After that, we're so emotionally drained from this whole thing that we just don't talk about it for a while and that's that.

If the ticket won, I wonder how it would've turned out. I feel like things would've continued to be busy, and maybe that's not a great thing. So maybe everything happened for a reason. I don't know, but those three weeks were quite interesting, quite fun, quite odd. I'm putting those videos in my personal portfolio and am putting Adobe Premiere Pro and Squarespace on my resume and moving on.

Anyways, thought I'd just share! i haven't posted in a while, and this was definitely one of my #weird #odd stories from my time at MIT, which is quite reminiscent of #weird #odd at MIT in general.

[shadows-twilight]

RWBY Volume 7, Chapter 1

What is up, FNDM!!! At long last we are back with an all new volume of RWBY, and thus I am back to gush about it! Let's just jump right in with my thoughts and opinions on Chapter 1 of RWBY Volume 7, "The Greatest Kingdom"

MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW:

I swear, the moon gets prettier and prettier every volume. This opening shot is incredible.

When we heard his one line in the trailer, I was blown away with how little I could tell that Qrow had a new voice actor, even though I was listening for it. Now that we get to hear more of it, the differences are admittedly starting to stand out a bit more. That being said, I don't think it will take long at all to get used to it, andJason Liebrecht is still doing an amazing job. I certainly look forward to his performance moving forward.

Looks like I was right in the finale in that the lower area is Mantle. I must say, it looks amazing. Everything about it just looks so dirty and industrial, definitely what I would imagine for the slums of the technological giant that is Atlas. Major kudos to CRWBY for this setting design.

Ooh, both Ironwood and Winter get new outfits. They look good, though something about Ironwood's beard looks off to me. Maybe I'm just not used to it, but something about the shading makes it look photoshopped on. Maybe it'll look better in the future.

Decided to pause on the newsboard that the purple haired dude is looking at, and I must say, while there isn't a lot there, what can be made out is...foreboding. The bottom middle headline I believe says "Outer Wall Damaged" which certainly seems like it will be important later, while the one to its left seems to be an opinion piece on the dust embargo. The standouts, however, are the top two. The first on the left talks about a journalist being found dead (always a good sign in politically charged climates) while the one on the right talks about an upcoming council election. Specifically, it talks about a "Mantle Hometown Hero" (whom I am assuming to be the woman on all of the posters that looks like she wouldn't look out of place in The Dragon Prince) going up against an "Atlesian Tycoon." Five Lien on who THAT could possibly be. Are Team RWBY and Friends going to have to go up against Jacques in a political arena? Because that could get pretty interesting.

I'd say that drone was too cute to die the way it did, but quite frankly it was far too funny for me to muster up that much compassion.

Yeesh, our first look at the Faunus Dust Miners, and it is not a pretty sight. Or maybe it's just the drunk asshole spouting casual racism. Either way, it's an ugly sight.

Thank you Weiss. We were all thinking it, put the trash where it belongs.

So did the drunk with the blue beanie know who they were? I feel like that was what he was trying to say before he decided to eat shit.

I don't know who the mouse Faunus girl was that exited the clinic, and we'll probably never see her again, but she was adorable as hell and I feel like that deserved mentioning.

Hmm, a robotics technician that resides in Atlas, has similar hair style and skin tone to the guy we cut to when Penny died, and is currently wearing a pink bow tie? Yeah, no idea who this is.

I love his chair. That is all.

"Days Since Last Nonsense: 0" I like the added touch of 'nonsense' being written down the side where room ran out.

If we never get to see Nora try Pietro's dancing shoes, this entire volume will be considered a waste.

So, seeing how incredibly obvious it is as to who this Pietro guy is, did anyone else perk up a bit when he referred to his daughter in present tense?

Hehe, convenient-reveal-delaying Grimm attack is conveniently-reveal-delaying

I see the Atlesian are as useless as always.

This score sounds like it's based on a song we'll be getting later, but even if it isn't I am loving it all the same

Even though his pose was completely different, when Oscar stabbed the Sabre Grimm in the head, it reminded me of Scrooge Mcduck's pogo attack in the old Ducktales game.

And there it is. The major even that they have been teasing us about for months, the big Vol 7 premiere surprise, the one, the only PENNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so excited to see our precious robot girl back! Now all we need is Pyrrha and I will be happy once more

Let's face it Ruby, any other greeting simply would not have done this reunion justice.

Plus side, the status of RWBY redheads just got a lot less endangered.

"We have so many things to catch up about" Oh, Penny, you have no idea.

Dangit, Qrow, you had to jinx it, didn't you. I mean, I guess that's pretty on brand for you, but still.

These Ace-Ops guys certainly seem...colorful (despite most of them wearing the standard boring Atlas white color palette). I'm particularly interested in who I'm assuming is the leader, who the credits name Clover Ebi. I don't know who or what his character allusion is, but I feel like him being covered in stereotypical good luck charms is a sign.

Woohoo! New intro time! Just like last time, there's a lot to unpack here, so let's get into it

-The opening silhouettes remind me a lot of the original trailers, and quite frankly I love it for that. Not sure how I feel about the more pastel color pallet, though. -The shot of Team RWBY flying through the sky and shifting throughout all of their main outfits? A stroke of genius. -They seem to have updated Yang's semblance effect from the Bees vs Adam fight. It looks amazing and I love it. -Ironwood alone in a dark war room certainly doesn't seem ominous-Hmm, now the Ace-Ops guys get there own silhouette portraits? I am certainly interested in getting to know these guys. -When we zoom out on Watts's computer, alongside the Ace-Ops we see something to do with Mantle's security network as well as an election map. This election is definitely looking like it's going to be a main focal point of this volume. -Nothing too special here, just a few character shots, a silhouette of Tyrian looking creepy, Ironwood looking angry and sad (though the effect of the snow and ice consuming him is interesting),  Jacques and Whitley looking smarmy, Weiss and Winter looking at each other (their facial expressions are certainly telling of what their relationship is going to be like this volume), Pietro and Maria, a group shot of Teams RWBY, Team JNR, and Oscar, and of course, Penny looking adorable. -Now that we're getting to see it in motion, I must admit that Jaune's new haircut doesn't look too bad. Also, I noticed his shield now incorporates hard light dust. I wonder if it just widens his shield a little or if it will manifest in other ways as well. -When the Mantle citizen threw a rock at the hologram of Ironwood, it briefly flickered to Jacques. That's concerning. -The action scenes are a lot of fun, with Oscar training with Ironwood, and Weiss and Blake in the dust mines, but the really interesting one is the Mantle Hero and Qrow going up against Tyrian. I wonder if Qrow knows her. -The group shot at the end is very My Hero Academia and I absolutely love it. -Wow, even Qrow gets a new outfit. It only took him twenty years. -Ooh, a brief look at the Relic of Creation. I admit, I was hoping that the relics would each have different color schemes, like having all of them be gold is fine, but I was slightly hoping where the Relic of Knowledge was blue, the Relic of Creation would be maybe green and the Relic of Destruction would be red, or something like that. Still looks cool though -There was not a single hint of Cinder or Neo in the opening, and that somewhat worries me.

Hehe, credits humor "Drunk Mann played by Joel Mann" Ah, once again, RWBY shows that it knows how to come out the gate swinging. They've set up a lot of interesting things in this first episode, and I can not wait to see how it all plays out.

[tabloidtoc]

In Touch, August 12

Cover: Demi Moore finally tells all

Page 1: Contents 

Page 2: Who Wore It Better? Becky G vs. Lindsey Vonn, Lily Rabe vs. Bryce Dallas Howard, Hilary Duff vs. Beth Stern 

Page 4: Everyone’s obsessed with Keanu Reeves 

Page 6: Crib of the Week -- Sugar Ray Leonard’s villa, Tom Brady jumps off a cliff with his daughter Vivian 

Page 8: No show, no problem -- when they can’t make it to the cast photo session these stars are simply photoshopped in -- Beyonce into The Lion King cast, Kardashian holiday card, Universal’s Dark Universe cast, Robert Redford and Tom Hiddleston in Marvel’s 10th Anniversary cast shot 

Page 9: Meet Rihanna’s mini-me, Makeover of the Week -- Kate Beckinsale goes blonde, Diva of the Week -- Meryl Streep on the set of Big Little Lies, Nondenial of the Week -- Leonardo DiCaprio on his Titanic death, Man Candy of the Week -- Matt Pokora, Winner of the Week -- Jaden Smith launches a free vegan food truck to feed the homeless, Loser of the Week -- Kim Zolciak-Biermann loses $30,000 gambling 

Page 10: Up Close -- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood premiere -- Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie and Leonardo DiCaprio 

Page 11: Scout and Rumer and Tallulah Willis, Quentin Tarantino and Snoop Dogg 

Page 12: Kim Kardashian, Adam Levine, Jenny McCarthy 

Page 14: Idris Elba and Helen Mirren, Amber Heard, Justin Theroux and his rescue dog Kuma 

Page 16: Kate Hudson and daughter Rani, Russell Crowe on the set of Unhinged, Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard 

Page 18: David Beckham and kids Harper and Romeo and Cruz 

Page 19: JoJo Siwa 

Page 20: Miley Cyrus 

Page 21: Vinny Guadagnino, Lake Bell 

Page 22: Prince Harry 

Page 24: Eugenio Derbez and Eva Longoria, Anne Hathaway, Mario Lopez and his son Dominic 

Page 26: Cover Story -- Demi Moore’s bombshell tell-all 

Page 30: Brad Pitt vs. Angelina Jolie showdown over Chateau Miraval 

Page 32: Bindi Irwin engaged 

Page 34: The Palace fires back -- Kate Middleton doesn’t get Botox 

Page 36: Matt Damon’s 20-year-old stepdaughter Alexia Barroso was spotted driving Ben Affleck’s 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle SS Chevy 

Page 37: Alicia Vikander wasn’t the first choice for the April cover of Harper’s Bazaar -- Madonna was supposed to be on the cover but her demands made the magazine dump her, Heidi Klum and Naomi Campbell clashing on the set of Making the Cut, Star Sightings -- Robert Kirkman and David Alpert, Shakira, Seth MacFarlane, Charlotte McKinney, blind item 

Page 38: A wedding for Britney Spears, Jill Zarin getting engaged 

Page 42: Fredrik Eklund -- the real estate boss on fatherhood 

Page 46: Style -- Chic on the Cheap -- Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Kate Middleton 

Page 47: Bella Hadid, Ciara 

Page 48: Crochet -- Mandy Moore, Victoria Justice 

Page 50: Beauty -- Highlighter nail polish -- Bebe Rexha 

Page 52: Did I Really Do That? Emily Deschanel, Emma Greenwell 

Page 53: Yara Shahidi, Shailene Woodley 

Page 54: Animal Overload -- My dog looks like Millie Bobby Brown 

Page 56: Sneak Preview -- BH90210 

Page 58: My Night at the Home -- Alysia Reiner, Guess Whose Relative -- Stanley Tucci, Reba McEntire, Keith Morrison, Nicole Richie, Patrick Wilson, Ashlee Simpson, Cameron Diaz, Matthew Perry, Emily Blunt, Scott Foley, Diana Ross, Kelly Clarkson 

Page 60: Double Take -- Jenna Dewan 

Page 62: Horoscope -- Leo Charlize Theron 

Page 64: Last Laughs 

[flauntpage]

Dallas Week: Why Supporting the Cowboys Probably Makes You a Poser (Part 2)

Note: I wrote this column last year and decided to tweak it, update it, and publish a new version for 2018. 

………………………………

We all know one of these guys:

“Born and raised in Marlton! But I’m a lifelong Cowboys fan because my dad knew Nate Newton’s cousin.”

“Love the star on the helmet! I used to watch Roger Staubach on television back in 1974.”

“Well I grew up in Iowa, but we didn’t have a team, so I picked the Cowboys.”

These are all valid reasons to be a Dallas fan, according to Dallas fans. None of them involve being from Texas or ever having visited. “America’s Team” welcomes all front-runners and fakes.

This topic comes up every season. Eagles vs. Cowboys. It’s Dallas week on sports talk radio and disgusting locals crawl out their garbage pits to explain how they grew up in Northeast Philadelphia but support a 3-5 football team that hasn’t won diddly poo since the 1990s and is now being run into the ground by an owner who clings to the past and holds nobody accountable. The Cowboys “ain’t been nothing” for years, as Stephen A Smith recently said, yet you still have all of these bandwagon jabronies clinging to Dallas as if Troy Aikman is still out there slinging the ball around.

Philly is old-school and parochial. You grow up here, you support Philly teams. Eagles games are a family affair. You build memories through tangible experiences, like actually physically being inside of Veterans Stadium or meeting your favorite player after the game. You understand the city’s blue collar, non-cosmopolitan roots and why sport is a common thread. The third-shift factory worker who I saw puking outside of Les and Doreen’s in Fishtown last week  might not have much in common with Rand Spear, the accident lawyer, but both were probably standing somewhere on Broad Street nine months ago, watching the Birds’ celebrate their first Super Bowl win.

The reasons really aren’t important. It just is how it is. You probably know someone who has vacationed in Sea Isle City for 35 years. It’s not necessarily that they dislike Stone Harbor, they just go to Sea Isle because that’s where they’ve always gone. They’re comfortable and familiar with it, and they don’t see a need to change anything. This intrinsically Philadelphian behavior can be both good and bad, because we’re loyal and committed while not exactly diving head-first into new experiences or getting out to see the rest of the world.

I’d honestly say it’s less about how “legitimate” our fandom is. It’s more about how fraudulent others are.

If you grew up here, you don’t have an emotional or geographical link to the Cowboys, the Yankees, or Notre Dame. You just don’t. And don’t tell me that you supported the Irish because you’re an Irish Catholic; you supported them because they won football games and they were always on national television. Are Pennsylvania Methodists beaming with SMU pride? Didn’t think so.

Can you develop a connection to a foreign team over time? I don’t know. I guess. If your favorite college player of all time is drafted by the Raiders, maybe you add Oakland as a second team. I went to high school with Jimmy Develin, who won a couple of Super Bowls with the Patriots, so I was at least pulling for him to be successful even if I didn’t want the hoodie to lay his grimy hands on another Lombardi Trophy.

Likewise, you can watch the Los Angeles Lakers on NBA League Pass and share video clips on Reddit and photoshop a Twitter avatar that looks something like this:

  “I’m a lifelong fan of all four teams! I’m not a front-runner! I swear!”

You can follow the Lakers in a way that older generations weren’t able to. But you’re not really a fan. You’re not from Southern California and you probably didn’t tune in when the ’04-’05 squad was ripping off 34 wins with Brian Grant and Chucky Atkins. You got back on board when Pau Gasol showed up, like the Cowboy fan who, of course, felt drawn to the team that just so happened to win a bunch of Super Bowls.

The pretenses of your fandom are fake, and Philadelphia knows it. That’s what’s important here. It’s not your fandom itself, it’s the genesis of it.

One of the things that’s even more telling is that Texas natives come across as solid sports fans. I was down in Austin last week for the UT/West Virginia game, and Longhorn fans had to be some of the nicest people I’ve ever been around.

Seriously.

Walking in and out of the stadium, it was a lot of, “hope y’all enjoy the game.” No hostility, no bullshit, nothing. Most of the UT folks we talked to also doubled as Cowboy fans, a good chunk from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and they were really knowledgeable about their pro team. A lot of them expressed disappointment with the way Jerry Jones and Jason Garrett are driving their squad into irrelevance after winning that batch of championships back in the day.

If anything, the Texas trip I guess confirmed what I already knew – that the problem with the Dallas fan base isn’t people from Dallas, it’s the morons from New York, Philadelphia, Des Moines, and everywhere else. It’s the people who don’t have any connection to Dallas who are in denial about the status of “their team.” It’s not the Texas people, because they were polite and friendly and knew their football.

There’s a third angle here, and it’s something that I argue with soccer people all the time, but it also applies to the “four for four” sports. It’s the fallacy that you have to pick a team in the first place.

For example, the English Premier League. What team do I support? There were a bunch of articles that were written 10 years ago to help new fans decide what club to get behind. You could go with Tottenham, or Chelsea, or even Arsenal if you hated yourself.

But just like the Cowboy fan who has never been to Texas, how many Premier League fans have ever been to Manchester? Not many. I like watching the foreign game as a neutral and enjoying it that way. I don’t relate to the guy who walks around Center City with a Manchester City shirt, unless dude is actually from England and watched that club when they were utter shite, long before Sheikh Mansour showed up and started throwing millions of dollars at the best players in the world.

And if we’re on the topic of geo-shaming here, how do I explain the fandom of a guy who grew up in Chadron, Nebraska? Honestly, I don’t know. Maybe he can pick a team. But isn’t it ironic how those types of people always end up settling on the very best? Nobody ever says, “hmm.. I think I’m gonna get behind the Carolina Hurricanes.” Nah, they all become “lifelong” Yankee fans at age 19.

The line of rebuttal usually goes something like this –

“Who does this guy think he is? Who the fuck is Kinkead to tell me who I can and can’t support?”

Well, I’m not really dictating here. You can support whomever you want to support, but the vast majority of Philadelphians and gonna roll their eyes and brand you as a fraud, because the pretenses of your fandom are flimsy.

Here’s a typical example of how things work in this area:

Say you grew up in… I dunno, Secane Pennsylvania, near that pizza place. You probably watched the Eagles, Phillies, Flyers, and Sixers with your family. At age 18, maybe you leave for college down in Richmond, so now you support Spider football and basketball.

That’s pretty much what you are. That’s your fandom. You’re a Philly-area native with no connection to the Chicago Cubs, Duke, Alabama football, or Fulham.

Actually, that last one is interesting. Fulham… you know, they had a bunch of Americans playing over there. That was always intriguing, and I kept an eye on Fulham, but I didn’t feel the need to become a Fulham “supporter.”

Similarly, Philadelphia loves Mike Trout but are we Angel fans? Nah. I never understood why people felt like they had to “support” a team to enjoy watching sports. Trust me, the less emotion you put into football, the easier it is to get over losing 13-9 to Shady McCoy and Dave fucking Wannstedt.

So let’s be real; if you’re a Cowboys fan who grew up in Philadelphia, you’re a poseur. You aren’t from Texas. You probably have never been to Texas. You didn’t pay any dues or stick with your team while they were dog shit, you just hopped on the bandwagon because they won three Super Bowls more than 20 years ago.

The ultimate irony is that it’s now becoming harder and harder to call these people “front-runners,” since Dallas has been utterly mediocre for the better part of two whole decades. But even if younger folks might not be jumping on the Cowboy bandwagon, I still have utter contempt for all of you cockroaches that slithered your way into that “fan base” back in the day.

  The post Dallas Week: Why Supporting the Cowboys Probably Makes You a Poser (Part 2) appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Dallas Week: Why Supporting the Cowboys Probably Makes You a Poser (Part 2) published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

[noelcasubha]

Today’s February 1st. Finally!  January felt like it had 40 days or something. It took forever to end!

So last 2017 was a very sucky year, my lowest of lows (READ: End of Chapter 30). And just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, it did at the last minute. So I started 2018 feeling like crap coated crap with a crappy filling.

We often don’t know why things happen. What we can try to do is learn how to handle what happened, what we are going to do about it, and what can we get out of it. I tried doing new things to help me feel better, what I think will make me better physically, intellectually, emotionally I guess. But for the most part, I did them because I needed a lot of distraction. They say pain is a good motivator. It is. Sort of. I didn’t need pain to motivate me, it could’ve been something else. But we can’t always get what we want and a push is a push. I needed a push and it was unfortunate that it came as pain.

January marks the start of a new year. New opportunities might open up, you can have a fresh start, having a new perspective in life, and reinventing yourself. I have 12 months, or 52 weeks, 365 days, 8760 hours, or 525600 minutes to make this year better than last year or than the other years that I’ve had. I have to start from somewhere and I decided on these two objectives, 1)  Be Better, and 2) Get a job.

BE BETTER: BODY

First thing that came to mind was my body. If you look good, you feel good. After one year of being unemployed, I got really fat, and now most of my clothes don’t fit. And since I don’t have money to buy new clothes that would fit, or go to the gym, I decided to do exercise that I can do at home or something like that. I also looked into my food intake or diet. Here are the things I did:

Walking or jogging early in the morning from our house to the UPLB Campus and back. I would head out just after 6am, take my walk and only until I get around 10,000 steps will I start heading back home. When I get home, I’ll have around 14,000 steps which is about 8km. I’m home before 9am. I usually do this on MWF. I sue my Mi Fit and Runkeeper apps for this. And Spotify, of course.

When I get home, and/or on days I don’t go out to walk/jog, and whenever I feel like doing more, I do home exercises. I have these two apps on my phone that each give me about 5-7mins of workout. I also use dumbbells. The apps are Fitness and Seven.

I do Intermittent Fasting. My first meal of the day is at lunch, around 12nn and my last meal should end before 8pm. That will give me 16hrs of fasting which is the ideal length of IF. During IF, the only thing I could consume is either water, plain brewed coffee, or plain green tea, as the last two aids your metabolism. (You can read more about IF HERE: https://jamesclear.com/the-beginners-guide-to-intermittent-fasting)

I count calories. My current level of activity only allows me to consume around 1700 calories. When I do my morning walk/jog, it gives me an additional 450cal to consume. It’s up to me how I will dole these out within the 8hrs I’m allowed to eat. To give you an idea, 200 grams (3/4 cup) of white rice plus a viand is about 450cal already.  I use an app called Lifesum for this. This cool app gives me a food/calorie journal. Calories are based on the food items registered on the app’s database. You can also encode food items that are not yet in the database by scanning barcodes or manual input.

I take about 2tbsp of Apple Cider Vinegar 30mins before every meal. It’s good for losing weight, making you less hungry (but doesn’t work if the ulam is your favorite. haha), makes you feel full faster, and lowers blood sugar. I mix the ACV with water on a 1:6 ratio because ACV is really strong and can leave you with a burning sensation on your throat.

I try to consume about 4 liters of water everyday. 3 liters minimum.

I try to sleep at around 10pm and usually wake up at arpund 6am if I’ll go walking or 7:30 if I’m not. Enough sleep, and sleeping and waking up early helps you lose weight and feel more energized.

All the apps are synced with the Health app on my phone so they can all compile the data and have a good estimate of the calories I burned on my exercises. After 4 weeks, my belly looks and feels smaller. probably I lost 1 inch or so. One of my jeans that I had trouble putting on now fits nicely around my waist and hips. I now even need to wear a belt with it. Also, my mom complimented me that I looked like I was losing weight. Good job, self!

BE BETTER: MIND AND SOUL

Physical is now okay, so let’s do the mental, intellectual, spiritual:

Usually before going home after my walk/jog, I drop by at the St Therese Chapel to say a short prayer. I also pray a lot now, like before going to sleep and upon waking up. It makes me feel better. Also, Psalm 34:18.

I’m learning how to use Adobe Illustrator. As a Graphic Designer for more around 8 years now, I’ve only used Photoshop and Indesign. When it comes to making detailed graphics like vectors, icons, logos, etc., I think I will be able to do a better, faster job using Illustrator. After this, I might learn how to use video editing softwares like Sony Vegas or Adobe Premiere.

I’m also learning Mandarin with Duolingo. I am applying for a Marketing Officer – Trainee at SM. One preferred skill is being able to speak Mandarin as the trainees might be sent of to China for SM’s first mall in China and their biggest yet anywhere.

I’ve had a Meditation app on my phone. Haven’t been able to use it because people at home are very noisy so I can’t find a time where I can meditate.

I try to write more often here in my blog to practice writing. Not sure if I’m getting any good but it does give me something to do.

I’m also learning how to drive. I’ve driven golf carts a couple of times before. Driven an old AT Mitsubishi Lancer up a hill twice. Now, I’m learning using an old MT Suzuki Beaver, a small jeep-type vehicle. I really can’t drive due to my poor eyesight but it’s a nice skill to have especially in case of emergencies.

I feel like I want to do more but I can’t think of anything to do that is easily or readily available now, and free. Any suggestions?

JOB VS CAREER

I have been looking for a new job for more than a year now. And why my 2017 sucked is despite my many attempts, I’m still unemployed. I never applied at a job that’s beyond my skillset or experience. I don’t want to apply at a job that I know I won’t enjoy or stay long at. I guess getting a job is a lot more difficult now and there’s always someone who is better at doing what you do. What’s different now is I am more determined in getting a job within my field of interest and taking more risks. I want a job that I can build a career. I am a Marketing and Communication professional. But I am also looking into Teaching as I feel like I’d be good at that. Also, on one of my part-time jobs where I was a trainer/facilitator, I really enjoyed it and got a few compliments on how good I was and should consider having teaching as a career. I’m 31 years old now and I really need to get my shit done.

  Being a better person is nice and all but really right now, what I desperately need is a job. I don’t like not having a job for a very long time as I feel it makes me less valuable as a professional.

Also, I need to provide for my family. I have plans of having some parts of our house fixed especially my parents’ bedroom and bathroom. Currently they sleep at my room because before, they used to sleep at our living room. But when I moved to Tagaytay for work, and since I go home like once or twice a month only, I told them that they can sleep in my room in the meantime. Even though I’m staying here at home for more than a year now, i still let them sleep in my room while I sleep in the living room. What kind of a son would I be if I put my comfort first before my parents.

Another reason is I really need to start saving up for my future. Plus I want to try traveling on my own, even just local. I don’t get to travel a lot so while I don’t have my own family yet, this would be a great time to explore.

Anyway, that’s how I’m making the most out of my time right now. I hope I get my break soon. I need a win and I need it now. Pray for me and wish me good luck!

  JaNEWary Today's February 1st. Finally!  January felt like it had 40 days or something. It took forever to end!

[cameronlanier]

Musical Theatre West 2017-2018 Season Teaser

The 2017-2018 theatrical season will quickly be upon us, and as such it became time to make the newest season teaser for Musical Theatre West.  As is very common in video production this minute and a half of video actually took weeks to create, with the vast majority of the graphics being created from scratch in Adobe Photoshop and/or Illustrator.  The animations were of course done in Adobe After Effects.

For those interested the process in creating these types of motion graphics promos, a very simplistic overview of how the process goes is outlined below:

Music Selection

Music cut/mix made in Adobe Premiere

Early draft of motion graphics in After Effects

Create graphics in Adobe Photoshop and/or Illustrator

Create motion graphics in After Effects with finalized graphics

Export finished motion graphics/animated video out of After Effects

Import motion graphics/animated video into Premiere

Pair up original music cut/mix with motion graphics/animated video and export final video (from Premiere and or Adobe Media Encoder)

That is an incredibly simplified version of the process but as I get a lot of questions about the motion graphics process specifically I felt it was worth it to give a brief run down.

Of course, there are many places in that process that take enormous amounts of time, or places where you'll have to go back a step or two if something isn't working.  For example, I've often created a music cut in Premiere and started animating to it in After Effects when I've found I need to add or take away time in the music cut to better accommodate the animation.  So I'll go back to Premiere and take another shot at a music cut that works better.  That's why it's important to create a simplified version or draft of the animation if possible.  You don't want to lose time creating an elaborate animation that is only going to be changed or even cut due to a needed change in the music.

Creating graphics to use in animation is also no small task.  I do not create the logos for the shows, I only animate around them.  However, I always try to match the color palette and style of each logo I'm given with the graphics I create.  I try to create the graphics when possible in Adobe Illustrator to take full advantage of vector files.  Sometimes there are things that I prefer to do in Photoshop and when that's the case I usually make them in a massive file size/resolution so I can zoom in and out of them in After Effects without issues.

What people often don't realize is how time consuming creating graphics can be; just ask an illustrator or graphic designer, (I don't claim to be either of those things for the record).  A good example in this video project was the champagne bottle and glass in the "Nice Work If You Can Get It" section.  The client asked that I add in a champagne bottle and/or glass after I had already moved on from working on that segment.  I was happy to do so, I had already planned on adding those assets when we create a motion graphic video just for that show, but I had not yet created them for the purposes of this teaser.

Creating that bottle and glass in a style that worked with what I already had took a good chunk of time, (2 plus hours at least).  I created the bottle and glass in Illustrator and then put them into After Effects to see if I liked how it fit in with what had already been made.  It took a lot of tweaking before I got it just right.

Of course, I wasn't happy just placing a bottle and glass in the section, I wanted to animate them.  I started by creating a popping cork animation, (which meant of course I had to go back and create a cork in Illustrator).  The popping cork animation is very quick but it looked best that way to my eye.  That probably took a good hour or so to create.   

Then I went about filling the bottle and glass with moving liquid, (the Motion plugin from Mt. Mograph was a great tool here), and finally bubbles, (made possible of course with particle effects).  All in all, creating the bottle and champagne glass with those animations etc., took the better part of a full working day.  That's a good deal of work for something that shows onscreen for I'm guessing around 5-7 seconds.

So what's my point?  There really isn't one except to help people better understand the process involved.  Even though I don't design the show logos I am designing completely around them and trying to create both graphics and animations that match the tone of each show, and specifically the music being used.

I'm sure there are many people wondering why I don't just pull graphics from other sources instead of creating them myself.  I could answer that here, but I don't want this post to get any longer.  So, check out my next post in which I'll quickly explain my reasons for creating graphics vs using other people's graphics, (spoiler alert: there are times to purchase and times to create, and I'll explain more in the next post).

[janedoefvshion]

Heey all!

First off, you earn like ten brownie points for even coming here to support me and check on what I’m up to. You are beautiful and I bet you have great hair.

I won’t spend too much time on an intro here, as little snippets of me are all over my page if you want to keep exploring.

So liiike, my name is The Samarah Poe and I’m an Entertainer out of the DMV. I’m currently studying Mass Media Communications in Ohio, and my goal is to spread a message of positivity, self-love, fun, and expression through art, while also being an advocate for many social issues.

Today, I want to bring you all a short guide on how I created the short video clip “Spacey Branding” for my website. Now, it’s unfortunate that I’m currently a broke college student, therefore I have not the money to pay for a premium plan to embed videos into my site just yet. Ahh… money. Must be nice.

Anyways, *ahem* – check out the video right here so you know what I’m talking about!

  Y’all ready? Okay, leggo.

  #THE31LOOKS #RICHROCKETMEDIA

#THE31LOOKS #RICHROCKETMEDIA

  So these smexy, glittery alien-girl photos come from a fun shoot I did with Rich Rocket Media (@iamrichrocket) and Real Shots Photography (@realshotsphotography) back in December when Mr. Rocket was shooting for his project #THE31LOOKS.

I’ve been playing around in the Adobe Creative Cloud a lot as of late, just experimenting. Honestly, I’m still gaining my own skillset in this editing/ visual media world, so these are just random applications of knowledge, guessing, lots of trial and error, and extensive YouTube studying – not necessarily the most “professional” way to get things done. But aye, do what you gotta do, lol.

For this project I used both Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premiere Pro. You can edit video in Photoshop as well, but I know the Premiere platform the best.

#gallery-0-13 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-13 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-0-13 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-13 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Concerning the edit details of the two photos, I have various apps I use for editing depending on what kind of look I want, but for now we will start and focus on the photos in their finalized form.

Import your image into Adobe Photoshop. Originally as you can see, the photos before had blackened backgrounds. We want to remove the black background in the image, making it transparent, so that we can overlay the photo over special fx videos to create a “moving background”.

Select the the Quick Selection Tool, which is what my mouse is hovering over. This tool will cut away at the black background, but watch your lines carefully because you don’t want to cut the subjects arm or head off by accident. See what I mean?

Once your background is successfully cut away, simply save the image into a folder as a .psd file, and prepare to import it into Adobe Premiere, or, directly export into Premiere which will all be options under the “File” tab. Repeat this step for all pictures.

So now, here we are in Premiere Pro. I need to get better with naming and organizing my files, but it’s all a learning process ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

I downloaded a few free stock files like the “sparkles.mov” video you see above, or the “Colorful Nebula” stock photo I downloaded right from Adobe’s cloud of images (useful, but can get extremely pricey, so I like to shop around the deep web for stock too).

Begin by importing your files into your library which appears on the left of the Premiere workspace.

When you edit videos, the clip that is closer to the top will be the clip that is visible. You can layer your clips a plethora of ways in order to achieve certain styles, so play around with it in this next step.

Layer your clips so that they fill up the video sequence timelines starting with “V1”. This “V1” sequence will essentially be the base clip of the entire project. As you see below, there is a difference in the composition of the video when I swapped the clips in V1 and V3.

For the rest of the video clips and photos, it’s important to note that when you stack the clips on top of each other, nothing will remain visible besides the very top clip. You do not want them to be 100% opaque.

Double-click on a clip, and a preview of the clip should pop up in a window within your workspace. Click the tiny arrows in the upper right corner of the Effects workspace, and select “Effect Controls”. An editing menu should now pop up, specifically for the clip you selected. You may want to play around with the scale of the photo or video which will make it bigger or smaller (but beware of blur). In the menu, you should scroll down until you find the Opacity adjustment bar, and adjust the opacity to your liking.

You can mess with the colors on the clips using “Lumetri Scope”, and there’s so much other potential and hidden gems within these programs that sometimes you just have to experiment (or read the manual) to find out!

For my music I love reaching out to up and coming artists so that we both benefit – I receive great music to use, and their music is featured on the videos and projects I create! For this video I used a brief clip (cut using Premiere) of the song “Moon” by Trey Poe Productions (@treypoeproductions), an up and coming lyricist and audio engineer out of the DMV. Check him out here: https://soundcloud.com/treypoeproductions .

Make sure you adjust your audio levels in your audio clips so that they don’t “peak” which basically means so they don’t go overboard into the “red” territory and start to distort your sound (these are the sequences labeled A1 or A2 for example).

I added my own The Samarah Poe transparent logo into the mix, and added some text titles in there too just to effectively brand myself.

After all is said and done, make sure you google which video format you need to export and save your premiere video into to be the best fit for whatever platform you choose like YouTube vs Instagram.

Once this is done, click File > Export > Media and ensure all of your export options are where you need them to be. I circled key points that I make sure I check every single time because I’ve made the mistake of forgetting a step, and having to re-export it which is honestly just annoying and a waste of time.

Export that baby, and you’re all done, kid. Give yourself a pat on the back, take a deep breath, drink some water, and enjoy the art you’ve just created.

Here’s the video one more time:

I truly hope that this mini-tutorial helped, and I hope you all continue to check in and see what ya girl is up to :P.

Any questions, just hit me up!

Remember to Love Yoself.

– Marah.

      A Brief Intro, and the Making of “Spacey Branding” Heey all! First off, you earn like ten brownie points for even coming here to support me and check on what I'm up to.

[flauntpage]

Dallas Week: Why Supporting the Cowboys Probably Makes You a Poser

We all know one of these guys:

“Born and raised in Mayfair! But I’m a lifelong Cowboys fan because my dad knew Tom Landry’s uncle.”

“Love the star on the helmet! Used to watch Roger Staubach on television back in ’74.”

“Well I grew up in Idaho, but we didn’t have a team, so I picked the Cowboys.”

All valid reasons to be a Dallas fan, according to Dallas fans. None of them involve being from Texas or ever having visited. “America’s Team” welcomes all front-runners and contrarians.

This topic comes up every season. Eagles vs. Cowboys, it’s Dallas week on sports talk radio and scummy locals crawl out their holes to explain how they grew up in the Delaware Valley but support Jerry Jones, Papa John Schnatter, and whichever asshole tight end is currently roasting the Eagles’ secondary.

Philly is old-school and parochial. You grow up here, you support Philly teams. Eagles games are a family affair. You build memories through tangible experiences, like actually physically being inside of Veteran’s Stadium or meeting your favorite player after the game. You understand the city’s blue collar, non-cosmopolitan roots and why sport is a common thread. The third-shift factory worker who drinks at that shitty lounge on the corner of Aramingo and Norris might not have much in common with the Moorestown lawyer, but both could tell you where they were on 1/23/05.

The reasons really aren’t important. It just is how it is. You probably know someone who has vacationed in Wildwood for 35 years. They could vacation somewhere else, but they don’t. They just go to Wildwood because that’s where they’ve always gone. This intrinsically Philadelphian behavior can be both good and bad, because we’re loyal and committed while being simultaneously myopic.

But I’d honestly say it’s less about how “true” our fandom is. It’s more about how “fake” others are.

If you grew up here, you don’t have an emotional or geographical connection to the Cowboys, the Yankees, or Notre Dame. You just don’t. And don’t tell me that you supported the Irish because you’re an Irish Catholic, you supported them because they won football games and they were always on TV. Are Pennsylvania Methodists beaming with SMU pride? Didn’t think so.

Can you develop a connection to a foreign team over time? Yea, I guess. You can watch the Golden State Warriors on NBA League Pass and share video clips on Reddit and photoshop a Twitter avatar that looks something like this:

    You can follow the Warriors in a way that older generations weren’t able to. But you’re not really a fan. You’re not from the Bay Area and you probably didn’t watch the Dubs when Vonteego Cummings was running the point. You jumped on board when Steph Curry showed up, like the Cowboy fan who, of course, felt drawn to the team that just so happened to win a bunch of Super Bowls.

The pretenses of your fandom are fake, and Philadelphia knows it. That’s what’s important here. It’s not your fandom itself, it’s the genesis of it.

There’s a third angle here, and it’s something that I argue about with soccer people all the time, but it also applies to the “four for four” sports. It’s the fallacy that you have to pick a team in the first place.

For example, the English Premier League. What team do I support?! There were a bunch of articles that were written back in the day to help new soccer fans decide what club to get behind. You could go with Tottenham, or Chelsea, or, God forbid, Arsenal.

But just like the Cowboy fan who has never been to Texas, how many Premier League fans have ever been to Liverpool? Not many. I like watching the foreign game as a neutral and enjoying it that way. I don’t relate to the guy who walks around Center City with a Barcelona shirt, but if he also supports the Union, then that works for me.

And if we’re on the topic of geo-shaming here, how do I explain the fandom of a guy who grew up in Glendive, Montana? Honestly, I don’t know. Maybe he can pick a team. But isn’t it ironic how those types of people always end up settling on the very best? Nobody ever says, “hmm.. I think I’m gonna get behind the Arizona Diamondbacks.” Nah, they all become “lifelong” Red Sox fans at age 19.

The line of rebuttal usually goes something like this –

“Who does this guy think he is? Who the fuck is Kinkead to tell me who I can and can’t support?”

Well, I’m not really dictating here, I’m just explaining why Philadelphia looks down on “you people.”

I’ll use myself as an example.

I grew up in Gilbertsville, so I watched the Eagles, Phillies, Flyers, and Sixers with my family. I was a soccer fan, but we didn’t have a MLS team. I could have become a New York or D.C. United supporter, but I’m not from New York or D.C., so why would I?

Age 18, I leave for college in West Virginia. Go Mountaineers. I am a student enrolled in the university and living in Morgantown.

From there, I move to Georgia for two years, but I’m not a Falcons or UGA fan. I would like to see those teams do well because I now have friends who are supporters.

That’s about it. That’s my fandom. I don’t have a connection to the Chicago Cubs, or Duke, or Alabama football, or Fulham.

Actually, that last one is interesting. Fulham… you know, they had a bunch of Americans playing over there. That was always intriguing, and I kept an eye on Fulham, but I didn’t feel the need to become a Fulham “supporter.”

Similarly, Philadelphia loves Mike Trout but are we Angel fans? Nah. I never understood why people felt like they had to “support” a team to enjoy watching sports. Trust me, the less emotion you put into football, the easier it is to get over losing 13-9 to a Dave Wannstedt-coached team.

Here’s an exception to the rule –

I went to high school with James Develin, the Patriots’ fullback. I think he was an Eagles fan growing up, but now he actually plays in the NFL for a different team, so we’ll let Jimmy slide.

So maybe there are a couple of footnotes we can add here, but only in the most extreme of circumstances.

Philly natives supporting the Cowboys receive no mercy. Confess your sins and repent in the name of our lord and savior, Doug Pederson.

  Dallas Week: Why Supporting the Cowboys Probably Makes You a Poser published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv