Okay, I made the video and you all have to go see how we are managing to keep our Obama sign in the yard.
I have done a lot of videos in my lifetime, but I have never edited one. This was my first go.
It’s part reenactment, part prank, all fun.
It’s only four minutes long and that includes the bloopers and credits.
Enjoy the show and make sure you have the sound on:
Let me know what you think, even if you think it sucks. We all had a lot of fun doing it.
I’ve been looking through the photo albums for some halloween costumes and have these two so far. Many more to come… I love making costumes and these were simple to make with things I had around the house.
Here’s Blane Jr. when he was just a tot.
That’s just a sheet and some makeup.
And Blane Sr. as Edward Scissorhands.
I wish I had a shot of the scissor hands. I took some black plastic sheets from those school binders and cut them to look like those long shears. We had just watched the movie and Blane had the act down to a “t”. Everyone at the party wanted to just hug him. He won a trophy that night, but I can’t remember the category.
I find the best costumes I’ve made were the simple ones when I was in a time crunch and had to come up with something for that night. My mom is like that too. She is the absolute best costume designer, ever.
I’ll put some more photos up here in the coming days before halloween.
Photo by http://www.stuckincustoms.com
I was browsing Flickr today and found this dude’s Flickr page. His photos are out of this world amazing. His blog posts about them are also amazing and entertaining. Here’s an excerpt of the post on the above photo. (Go on, the guy has character.)
My method for getting tripods into cathedrals and shooting is this:
1) Go in the exit and act like you are lost if someone asks
2) Wear a long matrix-coat and stuff your tripod up inside like a shotgun. Try not to walk with a limp.
3) Stride confidently through the crowds like you are in a hurry on a photo assignment.
4) Work your way into the pews and have a seat. You can even pretend to be Catholic and say a few Latin words as you sit down. I suggest “Pater Noster (My Father) or Quid Pro Quo (Rub Beads and go to Heaven)”
5) Slide out the tripod and assemble along the ground, When other parishioners look at you suspiciously, give them the sign of the cross.
6) Watch for old people in the main aisle, because they have trouble getting around tripods. Jump out, take your long exposures at 100 ISO, then sit back down.
7) If securty comes to get you, blame Stuck In Customs and that will confuse them long enough so you can make a getaway.
8) Don’t worry about getting caught. The church is much more leniant than they were during the Inquisition. Most big cathedrals do have crypts, but they are full of dead saints and they have never put a photographer in there.
9) If you see a tourist with a tiny camera taking a picture with the flash on, please tell them to stop. The flash does nothing in that situation. It’s just embarassing for them, really.
10) If you want some post-processing techniques, check out my tutorial at stuckincustoms.com/2006/06/06/548/
What a personality.
Here are some quotes I like from his post about post-processing techniques/.
Regarding Photomatix:
Now it is time to fire up Photomatix and get crunk in the HDR house. Okay that was stupid.
Regarding tripods:
You gotta have a solid tripod. What? You don’t want to carry around a tripod? Comon… if you are going out to shoot beautiful pictures, you better get serious. Also, if you have it over your shoulder or carry it in an aggressive way, it makes an effective weapon. As you can see, I go all over the world, often into sketchy areas, and a big tripod is often an effective deterrent. I carry it so much, I am very good at flipping it around and whipping it around my body like ninja nunchaku.
Regarding Photoshop:
What? You are not good at Photoshop? First you tell me you don’t like carrying tripods, and then you tell me you don’t like using Photoshop. How about this… Let’s get you a little bit out of your comfort zone, eh? That’s what good friends do right… push you to make yourself better. If you keep doing things you are comfortable with, then you are never going to improve and experience new things, right?
Amazing, huh? Check out his website, he has some bad-ass night city photos. And travel photos, and, and, and, just go see.
Something I have found quite useful lately is texting messages (SMS) to Google for information.
It is so easy, I prefer it to using the internet on my computer or iPhone for things like movies and showtimes, defining a word, getting directions, or finding a restaurant.
This is useful for people in the US, so keep that in mind. Yes, i know people abroad have been using this, but we haven’t gotten into texting so much because our mobile voice calls are so cheap.
Any phone with texting ability can be used for these free Google services. On my mobile plan I get unlimited texts, so I pay nothing to send or receive texts.
If I want to know what movies are playing in my area, I text “M” to 46645 (which is GOOGL on the number pad). Within five seconds I receive a free text message with three movie choices. If I don’t like these, I reply with “Next” and get more movie choices. Along with the movie choices, I get showtimes and cinema locations.
If I want to define a word, I text “d” and the word. Voila, the answer in five seconds and no bunny trail of search results.
I could even get directions using this thing. Sports scores. Stock prices.
Go check out this simple tool. I know it’s been around for a while, but even my teenagers who RULE when it comes to texting didn’t know about this. It might end up helping them get out of a jam in the future.
Google explains it best right here. You could also just text “help” to 46645 just to find out what you could do with this thing.
Poor Blane, right after we got back from the AT&T Store he asked if I was going to blog that he made good on his IOU. He did, and not only did I get a new phone, but so did the girls. Their phones were free just for signing up for new service. Not cheesy phones, but cool sliders with an mp3 player and 2 mp camera. Blane was already on AT&T through his work, so he didn’t get a new phone.
I ended up going with the iPhone (over the Tilt) because it’s an Apple product. They are reliable and work as they should. It’s simple, when you get something from them, you turn it on, and it’s ready to use. You don’t even need to read an instruction manual.
I am yet to even read the quick start guide. The phone plugs into my Mac just as the iPod does using the same cable. iTunes knows what it is and tells you what to do. It activated my phone for me.
I’m making calls, texting, watching YouTube videos, taking photos, sending and receiving email, listening to my playlists… i even got lost (yes, already, in my own city) and used the Google maps function to get out of that jam.
All this without cracking open a single manual. I did go to AskDave to find out how to move my contacts to my iPhone from my Treo. (If you ever want to know how to do anything Apple related, he has the answers)
I don’t have a single complaint. I thought the keyboard would be a bitch because it is touchscreen, but it is actually better and faster than typing on those tiny Blackberry keys.
Okay, I lie. There is one complaint. I wish I could unlock this phone so I could change out the sim card while traveling. Still, I could at least use this phone while traveling abroad on ATT networks if needed. I couldn’t do that with my other phone. Also, if I find a wifi spot somewhere? Watch out, man, I’ll be travel blogging. Live.
No trips planned yet, but you can bet I’ll be bringing this thing wherever we go.
Now if I could just get this thing to bang out screenplays…
Around Thanksgiving my nephew Capone told me he was deboning a turkey. Thinking he must have learned from the experts in Cajun Country, I asked him who taught him how to do that. He said he just looked it up on the internet, found out how to debone a chicken and applied that to the turkey.
He reminds me so much of his dad, not afraid to try anything, especially when it comes to cooking.
So I got me a turkey yesterday and searched YouTube to see if anyone had a video of how to make a turducken. I do have a little clip of what a Turducken is if you want to watch it. I wanted one with a Cajun in there to show you the character of the people down there, to kill two birds with one stone, but I didn’t find it. These people are from Houston and may be from Louisiana (last name is Hebert, that’s gotta be from home), but they don’t sound like it.
No, no. If you want to see a Cajun, a real one. Check out this guy, Poo Poo Broussard. He’s a local comedian and has the Cajun thing down to a “T.”
You HAVE to see this, the viral video that made Poo Poo famous. It is EXACTLY how the most Cajun of Cajuns talk. (just takes 30 seconds of your life)
And that coonass is funny. Here is what would have happened if ET landed in Cajun Country. (sucks one minute of your time)
If you want to see more of him, you can find all of his YouTube videos and homepage here. My favorite line on his “about me” description, “MA MOMMA NEVER WUD BRESS FEED ME, SHE SAID SHE JUS LIKE ME AS A FRIN.”
Cajuns are infamous for making fun of themselves, and this is a little exaggerated, but fun.
So that is what I did last night, seached up YouTube just to hear some voices like mine because I am lonesome for my own.
I have finally succeeded in making a roux. Yay! Now I can show you how to make it and then we can make a gumbo (the real thing, I’m from South Louisiana).
To make a roux:
(skip this part if you can buy roux in your area.)
Use equal parts flour and oil. I used 1.5 cup flour to 1.5 cup vegetable oil. Whisk it together and put it on a medium-low flame.
This will take about 45 minutes. Use a spatula to stir the mixture about every 15 seconds. You can cook it faster on a higher flame, but make sure it does not get to the smoke point. If your roux is smoking, it is burnt. Ultimately you want it to be the color of chocolate. You have to turn off the flame just before it gets to that color because the mixture keeps cooking. Here are the various shades of roux as it cooks. I used a jar of store bought roux to compare the color.
Notice I took it off the stove before it got to the desired color. Keep stirring for another 5 minutes. Don’t burn yourself. They call it Cajun Napalm for a reason.
Here it is now. Just right.
Now for the gumbo:
Transfer roux to a 2 gallon stockpot or cauldron.
Add about 1/2 gallon of hot water to the roux. Whisk. (for store bought roux, add 12 oz of it to cold water.)
It will look like this, don’t worry. 
It will come together when it boils. In the meantime, keep stirring until it becomes a suspension or your roux will fall to the bottom of the mixture and burn. 
Once it comes to a boil, add another 1.5 gallons of hot water.
Season with a Cajun spice mix. I use Tony Chachere’s, enough to where it tastes barely salted. At this point it is very dilute. 
Put the fire on medium and boil.
Gather up, chop, and saute:
1 onion, 1 bellpepper, 2 stalks celery, two cloves of garlic.
The onion tops are for garnish later.
Throw that in the stockpot and boil down for about an hour and a half. 
You’ll notice the gumbo has boiled down just enough to add one chicken.
Brown chicken pieces before adding to the gumbo. Add two links of sliced smoked sausage. Boil on medium for about 45 minutes. Add chopped onion tops.
Serve over cooked white rice. If you can buy file (pronounced fee-lay) which is ground sassafras leaves, sprinkle some of that on your bowl of gumbo.
Ca C’est bon.
The Show Must Go On 