"X" marks the spot Part 1

First Happy Labor Day to those in the US.. Relax and enjoy The firestorm around Apples release of their premiere Video editing platform, Final Cut Pro X, continues to burn. At this juncture there seems to be two very distinct factions involved here. New users who find it a easy to use, powerful piece of editing software. And users of the older, now legacy software, Final Cut Pro 7 and older. As a new user of Final Cut Pro x (frankly I could never afford the old full version, only a watered down variant. Final Cut Express.) I have to say, with a little help from Ripple Training ,the venerable Lynda.com and not to forget the virtual online sources like fcp.co and it's window to a growing user base, Final Cut Pro X is getting, familiar and easy to use. And I think this (training) is at the heart of the issue. FCPX is so much different then FCP7 that it seems some users try it, mark it as unusable because it just doesn't fit into their workflow, and join the badmouth team. Of course some of their bitches are legitimate. No support for XML, old plugging architecture, high end tape imports, and a propensity to crash (a lot). I'm sure the program was mature over time just as the orginal Final Cut Pro did over it's twenty year lifespan, which at the time was labeled and buggy, ill thought and hard to work with. (you get the picture) Next time we'll look at some of the features I love, love, love.. And why the program is working for me.

A Perfect Storm of sorts.

Sometimes out of the most spontaneous of events, doors can open, curtains can be pulled back, on new worlds yet unseen by this seasoned traveler. Let me set a stage of sorts. Midweek a very close friend and colleague, MaryStarMagic, discovered Jay Kishor, Sitar and Surbahar maestro, and frequent visitor to her house was placed in a hard spot by some very short deadlines for a cover photos for an upcoming CD. I was asked if interested in helping, and true to form I jumped in to offer full support to the project. About the time we were talking up the shoot, a tropical storm named Irene decided to take aim on the Eastern Seaboard of the US, of which last I looked, was where the Washington DC area was located. Saturday arrived, both the scheduled day of the shoot and projected arrival of the hurricane later that evening. To say there wasn't some frantic emails back in forth would be a lie. But press on we did arriving at the site of the shoot early enough to hopefully avoid the storm.. What unfolded was more then the sum of the parts. Jay turned out to be one of the most warm and open people I've had the opportunity of meeting in many years. As the sky's darkened outside with the hurricanes arrival, inside the shoot progressed with a easy productive tempo. With a subject such as Jay it really didn't take long to get our shots, We were treated to first a wonderful lunch by Jays production manager, Savana and then to a short sampling of music form their upcoming CD.. Does magical seen to strong of a word for the experience.. Actually it's not. As it was. I could have stayed all day, but Hurricane Irene had other plans for us. The rains had started and we high tailed it back up north to home and kin.. Nuff for now.