Toilet seat dilemma
Here’s an issue I never though of and believe it not a problem easily fixed at my local big box store. Turns out a big issue for the elderly (especially those with macular degeneration) is bathrooms tend to be brightly lit and most of the time, white (Mom’s bathroom falls into this simple over sight in my case in order to help with cleaning/habit; she always had white bathrooms – thinking it’s a Marine thing) there fore blurring the lines between floor, toilet & seat. Which in elderly men can add to the frustrations of normal everyday activities (or at least a good excuse;)) leading to peeing in the sink. In women helps with unneeded stress and accidents as well. Easy right… nope
Hydro heat test
Had to paint the clear tub to stop algae of coarse but this time thought I’d go silver instead of black. To help reflect the heat instead of absorbing it to hopefully help reduce the water’s heat factor
Had a bright idea and added Mylar to the lid to both reflect heat & bounce some light up. Wish me luck
More to come…
Imagine that another setback
Hi all and sorry to have seemingly disappeared just after vowing to ramp up production. Well tried to stop Mom’s cat from shooting out the front door ( since moving her down I’ve done all I could to make him an in door cat) and to keep it short, broke or significantly sprained or torn something
since it’s taken to now to use my hand enough to even care about posting even this update. Since thou wanting to curl up & get better still had to help Mom and even managed to put up railings in her room to help her get around. But that’s a different post. Will have New content on the YouTube ch as well as more posting very soon.
Anyway that’s my update for now. Please stay tuned
Micro Movie Model explained
If you have seen any of my short pieces on YouTube or read some of my twitter posts you might have noticed I often mention or refer to Micro Movies and or Digital Bytes. Simply said it’s a recategorizing, redefining or a rebranding (to use the business buzz word) of the term short for the new delivery system available (new meaning enough people with fast enough internet connections to allow uninterrupted viewing of video media) and of coarse shortening attention spans. The old definition of “the short” in our world was as a student film or an example of a movie concept, scene or taste of a directors/writers idea. Digital Bytes and Micro Movies are capsulized pieces in the form of a scene or couple scenes to form a full idea or moment in time. Resulting in break time movies, waiting room movies, stuck in line movies I.E the Micro Movie or as described by the Orlando Green Room as a filmmakers version of a one liner (in the case of the Digital Byte).
This is not just a re-branding for personal interest but and important shift as I see it #imho scents just from a festive stand point a 1:30 piece has little chance again a 30 minute or in most case up to an hour long piece before moved from the short category to the feature. Other than festivals designed for shorter form content (and then there still is little time break down in most cases) most festivals short categories goes from 0 to 60 minutes. But as more shift to the net for their viewing pleasure there will be more shorter form content whether entertainment, information or ad and the categories will have to reorganize, redefine and re-describe the content offering. If these are recognized in their new form/format they can be taken as serious entertainment & advertisement vehicles making them equally monetizable giving true independence to the Indy media creator
The breakdown as I see it;
* Digital Byte = 0 to 3 minutes
* Micro Movie = 3 minutes to 12 to 15 minutes
* Short Form Feature = 15 minutes to 1 hour
* Feature = 1 hour up
Example of a byte “Hellraiser Lost Budget
Example of a Micro “The 9”
Solar State Plan proposal
2007 there was a call out by then new Governor Charlie Crist to all with any alternative energy ideas to submit. Though this is not my area an idea came to mind and flowed onto paper unusually easy. So after asking a few respected friends to critique it I was told overwhelmingly to submit. To my surprise I received several calls from Mr. Crist’s office of how interesting the idea was and that it was being sent to their new committee and I would soon hear back. That’s where it ended no word after or taken or returned calls. So I put it aside as a nice idea that would work but without the resources it is no more than that “a good idea” and an idea with no action is worth nothing. Then while listening to WKFI out of LA I heard a cpl commercials for compaies doing dam near what I had proposed so even though I can do nothing but watch I though I would share my idea of the Solar State Plan:
Solar State Plan
Project proposal outline
D.Thomas Laskowski 11/22/07
We must act now! Florida is the Sunshine State. We should be known as the Solar State. We are known for our tourism and lately for issues like immigration, hurricanes and voting problems. Wouldn’t it be nice to be known for innovation by finding alternative ways to help with the rising cost of electricity? Without removing from the grid we can help the power companies better serve their customers. As power costs drop consumers can better handle gas prices rising. Alternative energy sources can help power companies can handle increasing peak load times. As we all know when things get cheaper American’s spend more and use more. The power companies will not only accept these changes, but help when they understand our plans will relieve ever increasing power demands. We can also use their help with regulation, adding alternative streams revenue to their services.
To our state (or any other states we help with this plan) we gain, by bringing good quality jobs to our area which may help overcome some of the fears of depression the media is starting to speak of. Our power grid is strained, antiquated and in need of help to keep up with demand. As stated before American’s will feel less strained paying more for gas if they are only paying a small amount for electricity. Also as with the early gas dip (right before it shot up) as soon as gas seemed abundant we used more, the same effect will happen with electricity.
Phase one
Farm/utility:
• Use land that has water problems or center of orchards such as orange. Put in solar farm and generate pure power.
• Use existing land that has no or little residence or commercial value. End of runways (out of crash path), swampy area’s and utility right of ways such as: towers, side of roads and large high voltage power line paths. While utilizing current infrastructure and a little re-engineering this would help bring cost down.
Phase Two
Industrial:
Make deals with manufacturing plants, malls, warehouses and other large structures to place solar and wind on roofs. They can charge their customers for power and collect the extra creating another source of revenue. The Orange County Civic Centers new solar project is a nice model to help understand the feasibility of this.
Phase Three
Residential:
Go to private residents, condo associations and home owner associations, offer the ability to avoid the high cost of solar/wind by installing a system that’s more than the house needs. They pay a small monthly fee (say half their regular power bill) giving them the middle of their average power consumption. If they go over they will get a bill for the overage. Or with equity participation they can also earn for the overage sent back to the power company.
Happy Holidays all
Thank you all who have checked out my little place on the net! Sorry it’s been a while since I posted but lots good and bad going on. I promise to share/post as well as interact more with you all in the up coming year. Since the blog is called “DigitalReel” I will be sharing more media creation stuff (love to call it filmmaking but in this world we live, as you know it’s more digital media creation with the wide variety of mixed media we run into on a regular basis), my thought’s/dreams and beliefs about the media paradigm shift we are in the midst of. How the ability to reach the world without the constraints of formal distribution has giving hope while cause a level of noise that we must now rise above, which presents both issues as well as solution for the Indy filmmaker in my humble opinion. How losing “Net Neutrality” can end it, putting us back in the back of the line. My struggles & hopefully accomplishments in creating my own pieces. My thoughts as a guerilla filmmaker as well as little tips as a guerilla without a dime that I’ve run a crossed along the way
As well as continuing to share my life taking care of my Mom in the on coming tsunami heading our way, as more of my generation take care of our parents or other loved ones overwhelms us and taxing our social security/health care system.
Sound a little intense, confusing and a bit overwhelming, well that’s me…
Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a most excellent New Year!!!
Last thought to take away while opening those new presents;
Are the streaming boxes like Roku, Fire tv and chrome an awesome way to bridge the shift or a way for the big media companies to shift the cable model over to the internet giving us only what they choose to deliver and at an alacart price that will cause media viewing (including what was free broadcast for ad exchange) to sky rocket.
Take care, have a great day and a better tomorrow