Montecito Live Steam Railroad – KCOY-TV News

I did this news story a long time ago while I was a news photographer for KCOY-TV.

121222-204611-048

121222-204611-048, originally uploaded by Halfmac.

Merry Christmas.

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Christmas Train

Look what Santa bought for the family.

2012 SAR Awards

2012 SAR Awards, a set on Flickr.

Sequim Association Realtors Installation and Awards dinner at the 7 Cedars Casino. Taken with my new Lumix GH3, Lumix X 12-35 and Lumix X 35-100.

Kitsap Live Steamers

Heidi and I visited the Kitasp Live Steamers.

110715 KLS Friends & Family Meet

110715 KLS Friends & Family Meet, a set on Flickr.

“Super 8” Films A Masterpiece

Super 8 is the best film I have seen in years. It is exactly what a great movie should be. It does not get better than this. I started smiling in the very beginning of the film and did so through the entire film. Only a few films I have seen has done this to me. Spielberg’s own “Close Encounters” and “The Right Stuff” come to mind.

I have been interested in this film since the teaser. I am so glad they did not give away the plot in the trailer like they do on so many films these days. I was hoping it would be good because there are not a lot of original scripts being shot for summer movies by the big Hollywood Studios. Most of those films come from the Independent Studios. It is nice to see a mass market film be so good. At 50 million dollars it is one of the more frugal budgeted blockbusters and does not look it.

Are there unanswered questions about the plot, yes, but it did not take away from the wonder of this film. It succeeded on many levels. The kids were very well directed. They weren’t sassy, in your face, smarmy or ironic. They were very believable. They had real problems and found solutions. In the hand on a less competent director, this film would have gone where it did need to go. The film was very well edited in that there were no wasted scenes and the pacing was great. The special effects complemented the story and were not in the way.

Some critics were calling it a horror or monster movie but I beg to differ. It was suspenseful at times, but it was about friendship, working together, helping others, coming of age and a childlike wonder. We need more of these pictures.

I give it 5 Smiles!

Apple and Intel’s Thunderbolt Could Revolutionize Portable Live Streaming Production

More good news for production people.

See the post at frugalfilmmakers.com.

Halfmac.info Blog is moving to frugalfilmmakers.com

That is right!

All future posts about filmmaking and photography are moving to http://frugalfilmmakers.com/. We started this blog to feature exciting developments in those fields. Things are changing fast with HDSLR’s, SLE’s or mirrorless cameras and large sensor video cameras. Computers are moving quickly as well. We try to keep up and find bargains along the way. It is a brave new world and very exciting.

Again tune in to http://frugalfilmmakers.com/ for the latest info on frugal filmmaking and photography.
Subscribe to the new blog at http://frugalfilmmakers.com/.

The King’s Speech to Be Re-Edited? Update – YES

Just read an article on www.reelzchannel.com which is bad for filmmakers. They want to re-edited the “The Kings Speech” to get a PG-13 rating. THIS IS TOO BAD! The MPAA is a crock ‘O sh*t. “The Kings Speech” is not an R rated film. The “The Dark Knight” IS and was rated PG-13. Hollywood has an incredible bias against Foreign Films. I have seen so many films from overseas that should have not been rated R like “Topsy-Turvy” about Gilbert & Sullivan. They should simply resubmit the film for what it should be rated, PG-13. Even my 90 year old mother asked, “Why is this film rated R?” A few swear words? You hear these words on television now. Where’s the sex, where’s the violence? There is none!

Now back to that scene. It would dramatically change the film. Oh well it is only a film. NOT!

Films are part of our culture. They should never be censored, that is up to the filmmakers not the MPAA. I remember when Spielberg added the word, “Penisbreath” to “ET” to get a PG rating instead of the dreaded G. It was out of place in the film and you could tell the actors were uncomfortable saying it. Only for the MPAA. (By the way the filmmakers re-edited “ET” to take away the gun’s and put in walkie talkies to make it “more kid friendly”. The blanding of society.

The MPAA was established because films were no longer being made for all audiences and the prudish people were complaining. If you don’t want to see these films, don’t watch them. The ratings today need to be about what is in the film. I would prefer to know about violence instead of swearing or sex. If they have these things tell us so but let us make up our own minds if we want to see them.

I am surprised the Weinstien Company would edit this film because normally they distribute R-Rated films anyways. Most of them because of violence. I guess because very few Academy Award winning films have been R-Rated and the bets are on the it will take the Oscar for best picture that they have decided to do this. Shame on them.

UPDATE:
I just read on the Indiwire that yes it is going to be edited.

“Deadline reveals that no footage from the film was edited, but instead, the Weinsteins got clearance for PG-13 by muting three of the five prominent “Fucks” in the film. So: 2 fucks good, 5 fucks bad. And who says the MPAA are ridiculous?

Well, it looks like Harvey Scissorhands is gonna get his way. Last month, it was revealed that Harvey Weinstein was entertaining the notion of snipping/editing “The King’s Speech” so it could get a much more box office friendly and school children approved PG-13 rating. As a whole, the film is pretty harmless, but the big sequence in question was a scene in which the titular king launches into a tirade of expletives during a session with his speech therapist resulting in a string of 15 f-bombs. And while director Tom Hooper swore he wasn’t going to take a knife to his film, somebody has, and the edited version of the movie has been given the thumbs up by the MPAA.”