Green Screen Show

I never realized just how much today's films and television shows incorporate this green screen technology, until after I watched the ChromaKey video on YouTube.  It is absolutely amazing what they can create these blank backgrounds into with todays high-tech computers and software.  From now on I am going to constantly question whether the background is real or not...

Green screen technology works with the use of computers which tunes into the green color and replaces every green pixel with a pixel from another image.  A camera is aimed at the green background and sends this information to a switcher or a chroma key device.  The camera outputs a very high voltage from the image; once the output of green from the camera matches that of the chroma key device the green from the camera "disappears."  This allows for a matte or some other video to be superimposed on the background  This technology can be implemented using any color, but green is the easiest for most modern cameras to pick up, which helps the editor to create a much clearer image.  Other colors are also much more common in wardrobes and lighting so are avoided because they result in a patchy image.  The goal is to get a solid background which the editor can then remove with software

One of my favorite TV shows, Grey's Anatomy, was featured a few times in the YouTube video and I never would have guessed it was a green screen.  Although now it seems like it should have been obvious, using a big blank screen as your background would probably be a lot cheaper than lighting a giant ship on fire.  However my absolute favorite example of the green (or blue) screen technology was in Avatar, like many others will most likely agree.  Not only did they use a blue screen, but the actors also used a special type of blue suit so their characters too were completely computer generated!

http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/2009/03/06/how-green-screen-works/

http://www.instructables.com/answers/how-does-a-green-screen-work-Why-is-it-green/

The Great Train Robbery

I can't imagine watching a movie without any sounds besides the background music.  This goes back to the "Old Time Radio Shows" blog;  growing up with color televisions and movies with words it is a very different experience to watch an older movie like this one.  I was really surprised by the bursts of color that were added to the movie which made it a little more enjoyable.  Although the music didn't always seem to go with the design it was still an interesting plot.  The acting was a bit questionable at that, especially when someone was shot; they had very different reactions than what you would think would be typical of a person getting shot, but instead they throw their hands up in the hair and twirl around.  There were quite a few spots that I laughed at, not sure if they were truly meant to be somewhat comical or not though.

Personally I am more a fan of the old radio shows as opposed to this, but back then I'm sure there was quite a fascination when these short films first came about.  If it would have been too much longer I probably wouldn't have finished watching it because it was hard to keep focused on the film at times, almost like the boring films you have to watch in class sometimes about subjects you really don't care to learn about all that much.

Blue Store or Redbox

I never liked Blockbuster, they were always so expensive and would charge you ridiculous amounts in late fees.  The only good thing about Blockbuster was that when you went into their stores, you could buy all your popcorn and candies right there, although they too were ridiculously priced.  I recently learned about their online service they are offering which sounds like a great idea, and I like the idea that you can return your watched DVDs to the store and exchange them for a new one free of charge, but there is just one problem with that.  The only Blockbuster location in Manhattan, closed its doors a few years ago, so this feature wouldn't be very useful to me.
     I like the convenience of Redbox, there is one right up the street from me and they are definitely affordable, long as you remember to return them.  They also offer a lot of promo codes that allow you to get one night free, I haven't paid for a Redbox rental in a long time!  They have a decent selection of movies, but a lot of the time when a popular movie first goes into Redbox, it is hard to actually get your hands on it because everyone else wants it.  I like the feature they just started using where you can go online and check if the movie you want is at your Redbox location, and if it is, you can reserve it and it will be waiting for you to pick up.
    When Netflix first started up, it seemed to good to be true.  A flat rate of only $10 or so a month would get you unlimited access to online movies and mail in movies.  After they changed their prices, I dumped them.  It seemed like quite a drastic increase in price that they were just trying to slide by their customers without them noticing.  It pissed me off, so I decided to end my subscription.  Their online selection is decent, they have a lot of shows that I watch, but their movies are terrible.  They never seem to update their "Recently Added" section and when they do it is always some strange anime film.  If I were willing to pay double the price almost, I would have access to a much wider selection of movies, but I don't want to wait days to watch a movie that I want to watch now.

Old Time Radio Shows

I listened to some Benny Goodman, I remember my grandpa telling me about him when I was younger so I thought I would give him a try.  We both agree that I was born a couple generations late, so he thought I would really enjoy him.  After being exposed to TV for my entire life, at first it was rather difficult to pay attention because it was just a bunch of old time music, but then I started to really start listening to the lyrics.  Songs like "The Lady is a Tramp" among many other questionably titles songs were played.
Since I have been exposed to color TV my entire life, I am not used to having to visualize everything for myself when I am watching my favorite shows so it was a completely different experience.  But this is just the same thing we have to do when we read a book, we imagine what the characters look like, what their house looks like, their town, their cars, etc.    Back in the olden golden days, I think radio shows like this one were a great way to get the family together.  Unlike today where we can watch our TV shows whenever we want between reruns and the Internet, these shows played one time, at a certain time and were not repeated (or at least I don't think that they do.)  I can just imagine a family sitting around the radio after dinner listening to their favorite shows together before they call it a night.
After listening to Benny Goodman, I tried out some westerns.  I always watched westerns with my grandpa, one of the only things he ever watched on TV.  I liked watching them on TV so I was curious to how I would like them on the radio.  At first it was hard to understand what was going on, obviously I am not a regular listener.  Back then, I'm sure listeners knew exactly who was talking just by the sound of their voice or their personality.  If I actually knew what was going on, I think it would make them more enjoyable.

Napster or iTunes?

I have always used iTunes, never even tried Napster.  It was a pretty simple choice for me because when I purchased my first iPod, they automatically give you all the software you need to install iTunes on your computer and it makes it really easy to get music onto your mp3.  While reading the reviews for Napster, although some features sound better than what is offered with iTunes, I think I will stick to iTunes.  I like the idea of the subscription plan where you can download as much as you want, but I didn't like that fact that after you decided you didn't want to pay for a subscription any longer, all your songs downloaded from Napster would no longer play... seems like a waste of money.  It also mentioned that if you purchase the subscription option, it was not compatible with iPods.  This is the main reason why I would not use Napster, I transfer all of my songs from my computer to my iPod so that I can have them where ever I go, it wouldn't make much sense to carry around my computer while I'm on a run or in the car.  I also enjoys iTunes more because they have more than just music available for download, they have movies, tv shows, podcasts, and much more which is something that I think Napster will soon need to adopt if they hope to continue to successfully compete with iTunes.