BillGrady.com

Channel One & Spies Like Us @ Fitzgeralds

Posted by Bill under News, Photos, Reviews

Alan and I ventured out to Fitzgeralds last night for the Channel One/Spies Like Us show, and I took my camera with me. I mentioned in the last post that I thought it’s a great camera, but it proved itself to be quite the under-achiever in low-light situations. That’s okay… some people like the over-saturated, under-lit effect in their photos. Not.

Worth mentioning is the turnout for this show was pitiful. Spies Like Us was a really popular band back in the day; I thought the crowd would be a bit more substantial. Channel One is made up of some old Resistors folks, and they were known round these parts, too. Perhaps there were some other mysterious and unmentionable reasons for the low number of people downstairs at Fitz?

The most important thing about last night was how great Channel One sounded. To be honest, I remember The Resistors sounding like a good high school (?) ska band (damning praise, to be sure), but Channel One was a complete package. Tasteful harmonies, catchy tunes, humor, and drama were all displayed with a skilled touch. I’d be happy to go see them play again.

Please, no “borrowing” photos. Thanks.

And We’re Back…

Posted by Bill under News

So many things to mention, so little time to sit down and type them out:

1. After watching TheWebSiteIsDown three times a day for the past two weeks, I decided to install Skype. It’s not much fun if you don’t know anybody else who’s using it.
2. The OLPC is a neat little piece of kit, but I’m not sure if it’s useful outside of the 3rd world.
3. Vacations are hard work.
4. It is impossible for me to find a comfortable bed or comfortable pair of shoes.
5. The Canon SX100 IS is a heck of a camera for only $199.
6. Did you know ska is popular again?
7. Rock Band 2 will be the first of “fake plastic guitar” games to feature a ska song.

The Suspects… One Night Only!

Posted by Bill under News

Come see The Suspects this Friday, December 21st at The Continental Club in Houston. It’s deja vu all over again, and you shouldn’t miss it a second time!

Sharp VL-Z3 Dew Repair

Posted by Bill under How-Tos, News

Back in 2004 I posted about how hard it was to find the manual for my Sharp VL-Z3 MiniDV camera on the Sharp website, and how much better the Canadian branch of the Sharp corporate machine was at providing that kind of information. It’s now time to add a little bit more to the Sharp info pile: here’s a confirmed fix for the deadly “Sharp VL-Z DEW Message” problem.

On just about any video camera out there, you will occasionally see a “DEW” warning in the viewfinder when the sensors think there’s too much humidity present for normal operations. The Sharp VL-Z series cameras can take this to an illogical extreme: the dew sensor goes nuts and it always thinks there’s too much humidity for normal operations. Thankfully, there’s a solution to this issue and it does not involve boxing up your camera and sending it in for repair… If you’ve got a soldering iron and the realization that you’ve nothing to lose, you can repair your camera in about two minutes. It worked for me!

 UPDATE - An unseen side-effect of my “fix”… my standby function no longer works! I left my camera in the on position after playing a video, and when I came back 5 hours later my camera was hot to the touch and wouldn’t even load a tape. Buyer beware!

UPDATE - Bollocks! My dew warning has come back, and I’m shopping for a new camera. (January 14 2008)

I Wonder If It Was Anything Like “Boat Trip”?

Posted by Bill under News

Here’s a great article by a British reporter who endured a NeoCon vacation cruise. My favorite quote:

I ask - Mr Starr, do you feel ashamed that, as Osama bin Laden plotted to murder American citizens, you brought the American government to a stand-still over a few consensual blow jobs?

The answer is (not surprisingly) not as good as the question, but the article is well worth your time.