I missed it by about 30 seconds.  There was a funnel cloud so I ran inside to get the camera and when I returned this is what I saw. 

This is a really cool video that K2 showed me.  Rather than try to explain it, I'll just let you watch it.  It's a bit informational at first, but wait til the end for the effect.  Neat stuff.

The trailer for Francis Ford Coppola's latest film Tetro was just released online.  I thought some of you might fancy a look.  I'm certainly intrigued.

http://www.tetro.com/

ADDITIONALLY... The very beginning of the movie was posted at Apple and FirstShowing.net posted it on their site in Flash.  For those interested:

 http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/05/04/watch-the-opening-scene-from-francis-ford-coppolas-tetro/

I wonder about this one.  Does the journalist move to slow for the cops liking or is this cop simply a prick?  Where do journalists' rights end and police duties begin?  Watch the video and you decide.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2009/04/21/nr.sanchez.reporter.arrest.cnn

Personally I think this cop is a little overzealous.  I think police sometimes get caught up in that whole "I gave you and order, now jump bitch" mode.  Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what they do, but police need to be there to de-escalate conflict.  This officer seems to be just creating more trouble than anyone else there.  I think he was in the mood to do some arresting that day.  The cameraman cracks me up though.  Please tell me you would be tougher than this guy under fire, Al.  This guy is a wuss. 

 The sound files for Reflex have been up-loaded and an initial analysis has been conducted.  Overall, the sound that was recorded will prove to be easier to work with than previous efforts but will still require filtering, normalizing and strengthening in places.  It's not bad for a first time effort with the new equipment.  All of the extraneous noises that I heard (i.e. keyboards, etc.) can be pretty easily filtered out.  In fact, it's nothing compared to removing cicada shrieks from Showdown on Planet Earth or wind noise from Foresight.  One of the bigger issues is that it sounds a little hollow or as Jon put it, echoey, but strong ambient sound should soften it up.  For future efforts we should make sure that we record everything as a wav file instead of an mp3.  Mp3 is fine for weddings but we need higher quality for this type of work.  Good job.

I have reset the Marantz recorder so that it will now record in DLMono using the left xlr jack.  This means that it will record a stereo track using the left channel on both tracks with the right track reduced by 15 db.  This can be handy.  I have also altered the storage format so that all sound recorded will be pcm and saved as .wav files.   This is a lossless format and provides the highest quality sound.  It also creates huge files so the max amount of sound that can be stored is around 2 hours.  You can swap out the memory cards if you need to store more.

I've already gone over what are considered to be the "manly" releases for 2009 but there are several other movies that are coming to theatres in 2009  that may be decent.

1.  The Mutant Chronicles
Simon Hunter-April 24, 2009
It's gritty future sci-fi and it's got Ron Perlman.  This has got to be good.

2.  Angels and Demons
Ron Howard-December 19, 2008 May 15, 2009 
It looks like they are finally going to release this after doing who knows what to the story.  It might be a good film if Tom Hanks can snap out of his stupor from the first movie.  Where's the chick?

3.  Drag Me To Hell
Sam Raimi-May 29, 2009
With the amount of Raimi love around here I'm surprised I haven't heard more about this film.  Doubly true considering it's an all Raimi production with his brother as co-writer.  If he returns to his horror roots then this might be a good movie.  No camp please!

4. Up
Pete Docter, Bob Peterson-May 29, 2009
The latest Pixar/Disney film shoud be fun.  This movie will probably continue the string of successes that Pixar has established.

5.  The Taking of Pelham 123 
Tony Scott-June 12, 2009
Ahhh, Tony Scott and Denzel Washington back together again along with Tony Soprano and John Travolta.  A remake, I know, but I'm looking forward to it anyway.

6.  Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
David Yates-July 17, 2009
Even though I think Yates is the worst director of the lot, I still think I want to see this movie.  If for nothing else, just to see what these kids look like all grown up.

7.  The Wolfman
Joe Johnston-November 6, 2009
Another remake but come on, it's a wolfman movie so it's worth a look.  Del Toro is actually a real wolfman so it won't be a stretch for him.

8.  2012
Roland Emmerich-November 13, 2009
Mr. Emmerich has sort of a hit-or-miss record so it's hard to say what this film will be like but global cataclysm movies are usually fun.

This is what happens when you flush the toilet on an airplane.

Once again it's time to take a look ahead and see what's coming down the road from Hollywood.  It might be a good year.

 1.  Shutter Island
Martin Scorsese-October 2, 2009
Featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, this looks like it might be rather good.  Leo has improved quite a bit since Titanic and it's got Ben Kingsley and Max Von Sydow.  How cool is that? 

2.  Public Enemies
Michael Mann-July 1, 2009
I know Johnny Depp's a good actor but I can't quite see him as John Dillinger.  This could be good, or it could be crap.  I am betting on the crap side.

3.  Watchmen
Zack Snyder-March 6, 2006
This movie is already being panned for being over long and without moral values.  My kind of movie, except for the over long part.  Enjoy it in the theatre boys, I'll wait until it's streamed to my HD TV.

4.  Avatar
James Cameron -December 18, 2009
Holy cow, James Cameron is making another movie after only 12 years and it's a sci-fi flick.  I like all, well most, of his other movies so it looks like this one might be worth something.  Let's hope he hasn't gotten rusty while playing at the bottom of the ocean.

5.  Star Trek
J J Abrahams-May 8, 2009
Everyone raves about the all star cast but I haven't heard of any of them.  I'm hoping that JJ doesn't ruin the entire franchise.  The only good thing is that Shia LaBouef is not in this picture.

6.  Sherlock Holmes
Guy Ritchie-November 13, 2009
Somehow I pictured Holmes as being taller, slimmer and whiter than Robert Downey Jr.  At least Mr. Downey will portray Holme's drug use accurately.  They say that Guy Ritchie is a life-long Sherlock Holmes fan so he just might do this story justice but Jude Law as Watson?

7.  Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Michael Bay-June26, 2009
This crap will undoubtably follow in the footsteps of the first crap but with more and faster crap.  The only reason to watch this movie is Megan Fox.  I can't wait to miss it.

8.  X Men Origins: Wolverine
Gavin Hood-May 1, 2009
At least Stryker makes an appearance and is played by Danny Huston, a guy who actually looks like a young Stryker.  I hope this film does well so that the Magneto film gets the green light.  I think Magneto is much more interesting than Wolverine who was a late-comer to the comic anyway.

9.  Terminator Salvation
McG-May 22, 2009
The Charlie's Angels movies sucked big time so I'm not expecting any salvation from McG's effort and this movie may terminate the series.  The trailer (especially Mr. Bale's performance) looks way too serious for it's own good and what kind of name is McG for a white guy?

10.  Inglorious Bastards
Quentin Tarantino-August 21, 2009
Oh boy, guys on a mission movie like The Dirty Dozen or Kelley's Heroes.  Let's hope that Quentin's ego doesn't get in the way of what could be a pretty interesting film.  At the very least, this movie should keep Tarantino in his box for another 4 or 5 years.