Industry Guru and Journalist Bob Turner Dies

How very sad for his family, of course, but also for the many of us out there that got a lot of valuable help and information from his years of experience and dedication to his craft. I have been reading his publications since right after I got out of school and have always found at least one new thing each time that I didn't know beforehand. Better yet, there was always some new knowledge that I could apply right away.

To have been taken away by something as difficult to cope with as cancer rather than simply old age is sad in itself. I never knew much about the man himself outside of his comprehensive knowledge of the industry, but from what I've read, he was quite the human being. I personally feel indebted for all that I was able to learn from him. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife and daughter.

As of today, we've got a new URL for this site, www.ChristianJolly.com. The .com has been available for a while now, and I decided to finally pick it up, just to make sure some other fool doesn't start spoutin' off stuff pretending to be me....or something like that. It's not active yet, but that's coming within a few days. (Thanks Mike!)

Also, coming soon, my new production company TradeWind Productions will launch at www.TradeWindProductions.com. I have been DBA (Doing Business As) Christian Jolly Productions since I started working on solo work, but since only about half of my jobs constitute true solo work, I decided I needed something more representative of all the folks that I usually work with. Plus, I liked the pleasant sound of it and just felt like it would feel professional and artistic, two things people (usually) look for. So it should be fun...not sure if it will be a sustaining income any time soon, but that's cool. I have fun. I don't have a site design or even a logo yet (it's being handled as we speak). I'll have e-mail up soon and a placeholder page, so in a month or so hopefully the site will be up there with pricing and contracts and all that junk. Wish me luck!

For that matter, let me know (in the comments, of course) what you think about TradeWind Productions. Obviously I've already committed to it, and I like it so much, but it'd be nice to hear some thoughts on it (besides the friends/coworkers/family that have already talked about it). And hey, if you've got a video production need, want some old movies cut to DVD or just want to make a slide show CD/DVD out of your old photo albums, talk to me and we'll hook it up.

In other news, went to the Reel Big Fish concert Saturday night....all the same folks were there, lots of fun. Might be RBF's last tour, so I definitely wasn't going to miss it. Went and hung out at Chris and Mike's new place up in BUCKHEAD before the show for some burgers and beers. I say Chris and Mike's place, but Adam lives there, too, and unlike Chris, Adam actually went to the RBF show. Chris, oh Chris....what measure of distraction must it have taken to forego such a rockin' show? We may never know.

In OTHER other news, Eric and I trekked up to Gwam and Mo's place near Carrollton (Hilary joined up for moral support and to also see how truly awful we sounded) to practice some SCizzAP a couple weekends ago, and I have some great news...we got us up a new song, and it is hardcore like none other. Well, maybe it's just awesome, and not so much "hardcore." We actually sound a lot better than we should given our practice schedule (or lack thereof...) for the last couple of years. Still, got to have some fun playing with an electronic drum set. Seems like we'd played one before, but I guess it was just my memories of Eric rockin' out in the drum room on one of our many trips to the now-defunct MARS music stores. The good days...

I gotta get back to regular posting....this once-in-a-while, post-1000-words-or-more blogging extravaganza is almost too much for even me to handle. Sheesh, hope you enjoyed my typing. I did it just for you.

On Wednesday I took my certification exam for Adobe Premiere Pro and PASSED. Woo! So what does this mean now? Well, it means that I know how to use the program backwards and forwards. It means that I can advertise myself to others as a certified professional. If nothing else, I feel good about the work and studying that I put into this. It's only one step though, and I intend to become certified in Photoshop as well as After Effects within the next year. After that, I'll have to recertify only when there is a full number upgrade (1.0 to 2.0, not just 1.0 to 1.3). Having the 3 certifications will also set me up as a certified expert in video, which definitely has a nice ring to it. I'll keep you all posted....

"Saturday in the park...I think it was the 4th of July." Yup, it's here again, ye olde Independence Day. SCAP used to play in the parade down in Your Favorite Town, but we haven't done that since 2002...wow, doesn't seem like it's been 3 years. It'd be nice to try that out again sometime. Of course, I'll be heading down there to hang with family and friends on the 4th as usual, and check out some fireworks that night.

I need a vacation....yeah, I know I just took off for Texas almost a month ago, but I'm talking about a trip to the beach. I have a feeling that this summer is gonna fly out before I can get to a beach...that'd be a first. Because of limited vacation days, I couldn't join my family on the annual St. Simon's trip. I wouldn't have minded just taking it out of my paycheck and counting it up as part of the cost of going on a trip (and an otherwise free vacation at that), but I think that taking the extra time even with penalties could get me fired.....or at least heavily frowned upon. Ahhh, maybe next year.

Happy Independence Day to everyone. Wave a flag, yo.