This chain letter-esk flotsom has been circling around on facebook and thought that it would share nicely here on the blog, I encourage other sifters to jump in and add their own 25 in the comments.

25 Random things about Randy

1. I loved performing magic tricks as a child and actually performed at birthday parties

2. I have flat feet, Fred Flintstone flat feet

3. I once appeared as a voice actor on the radio in the 70s

4. I have held Cecil B. Demiles Best Picture Oscar statue for "The Greatest Show On Earth" in my hands

5. I was born in Naples, Italy and held Italian citizenship till the age of 16

6. I studied as an actor in college for 2 years at The North Carolina School Of The Arts

7. I graduated from The North Carolina School Of The Arts with a BFA in Design And Production

8. I was voted "Best All Around Boy" as a senior in High School

9. I stole comic books as a child, because I was pressured to do so by my "so called" friends

10. I smoked a pack of cigarettes a day from the age of 20 till the age of 30

11. I was named after my mother’s brother, James

12. I was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2006

13. I didn’t win a Grammy Award In 2006

14. I moved to Los Angeles in 1988 to work on the pilot of David Lynch’s TV show “Twin Peaks”

15. I am the first person in my family to attain a college level degree

16. I learned to tie my shoes from a Ronald McDonald clown in Miami, Florida

17. I think clowns are creepy

18. My first car was a 1977 Ford Maverick

19. I am a member of The International Thespian Society since 1980

20. I love being a father

21. I wish I had followed through on my guitar lessons

22. I shave while I shower

23. I have visited Camp David on several occasions

24. I was a RA (Resident Assistant) in college

25. I once sold used cars for a living

Please, join in and give me your best captions

What can I say... I love these moon jellyfish! I shot this the morning of the SoCal Sift-up with my son at the Long Beach Aquarium.

Music is an edited version of a mash-up by DJ Earworm - L'eau de Rose which features Louis Armstrong - La Vie en Rose and Air - J’ai Dormi Sous L’eau.

There is a site/magazine for everything...EVERYTHING. Manbabies.com

With very little in the way of an announcement Facebook has introduced HD video playback and embeds for users videos. The interface for uploads is bearbones, and has lots of room for improvement, but the quality is quite good and considering that the only other comparable service, Vimeo charges for it's "Plus" HD services this is a sweet free alternative to get your HD video on the web.

I wanted to share this in my blog, I also sifted it but I know how fickle the sift can be with "artsy" stuff.

As the last few videos I have posted here show, the line between film and video is getting more and more blurry, no pun intended. The advent of the DSLR that can also shoot video has given more and more amature film makers the chance to express themselves in a medium that to this point has been very cost prohibative. Case in point is this wonderful short subject shot with the Cannon D5 MKII DSLR, the film maker has several other studies on his Vimeo page worth the time to view if you find this intresting. FYI the music is Nina Simone - Wild Like The Wind.**NOTE** there is very explicit drug use in this short, not for the squeamish.

What a lovely evening, great beer, food and conversations. A pleasure to meet everyone and see some familar faces from last years get-together.

2009 Videosift SoCal Sift-up from youdiejoe on Vimeo.

From Videosift SoCal meetup 011009

Watching "It's A Wonderful Life" for the umpteenth time tonight I wondered where "Bailey Park" from the fictional town of Bedford Falls NY was in the Los Angeles landscape, I wanted pictures, ya know... then and now stuff.... TO THE INTERNET! A google search later I found just what I was looking for, it was filmed in the town of La Cañada, just 5 miles north of my current home in South Pasadena:

Bailey Park then... 

And now... (Google Map Link)

The new Martini home then...

And now... 

The front door then...

and now... 

Thank you INTERNETS!

via Waxidermy

"Jinglebells"

After a long illness (cancer) my father passed away this past Friday. As with most deaths from cancer it's a blessing in the end as the pain was horrible for him. He was as flawed and human as any man and I loved him for it.

In the above photo I'm the little fellow in the front with the white t-shirt. My brother, Joel died nearly 22 years ago, my mother passed 8 years ago (also from cancer) so that leaves me with an immediate family of me and my son.

If you have someone you love; a parent, a sibling, spouse, a great friend don't forget to give them a kiss or hug and let them know just how you feel. My dad and I did it on a regular basis and it made it much easier to say goodbye.

This is AWESOME SAUCE! BeTaMaXMas 

Watch some Holiday goodness circa 1988, right down to the blinking 12:00 on the VCR and adjusting rabbit ears.

You can now embed HD YouTube vids, as long as you edit the embed code with this bit added to the end of the URL's &ap=%2526fmt%3D22

Also if you just wish to watch the video in HD you can add &fmt=22 at the end of the URL

I have uploaded a couple of my HD shorts to test and you can see below that it does in fact work. I have included both HD and SD embeds to compare

If you haven't noticed (cliked through to the sorce of a video in the past few days) It would seem that YouTube has gotten all up in the DTV revolution ::rolls eyes::

All video is now presented in 16:9 aspect ratio, just like those new fangled H D Tele-o-visions sets. 

No muscles this year, just the hat and a whip...

The Boy made out like a bandit, Happy Halloween!

SoCal Videosift Meetup, Nov 22nd

 Be there!