GuruStump.com

GuruStump.com Update

Saturday, March 15th, 2008

I’ve just tossed up a new update at my website at gurustump.com. I’ve been working on other website besides just my own, and decided to finally put up a section that brags about it. The new section can be found in the main navigation via the “WEB” button, or you can just click on the following link:

GuruStump.com – Web Design

Enjoy your visit, and also enjoy the other sites this page will take you to.

Posted in Stuff that Happened, Technology | No Comments »

Red4D Productions launched

Friday, March 14th, 2008

I’ve been collaborating for the past several months with a movie director named Kevin Redford whom I have known since back in film school. I just built his website at Red4DProductions.com. I admit it’s a bit of a light launch, as it only has a few short movies on it so far, but it’s still exciting to see it go live on the web.

I invite you to go check it out. Of special interest to me is the movie “Release,” which features a younger, much skinnier me in the lead role. Feel free to watch it and then relentlessly mock me for it.

Be sure to check back in the future, as I’m sure Kevin will be posting more of his movies as well as some other interesting content to his site.

Posted in Stuff that Happened, Technology | No Comments »

New videos at gurustump.com

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008

Hey, all. I’ve just put several new videos up on my website at gurustump.com. Three of them in particular are rather interesting because they are entries in an online contest at filmaka.com, and thus far have done very well. Here are some links to the individual movies:

After Hours
This was our first round submission. Though it didn’t do well in the popular voting, the judges apparently liked it enough to get us into round 2.

Office Clash
Our second round submission took second place, and thus grabbed on of the three slots available to entries from our month to compete in the final 2007 competition.

Granny’s Day Out
This is our entry in the final competition for all entrants from 2007. We have yet to hear back whether we have won anything.

So there it is. I’m a bit excited by how well our movies have been doing, especially as I understand the prize for winning the final competition is rather more substantial than the bits of cash we have been awarded so far. So enjoy the movies, and I’ll let you know if we win anything.

Posted in Entertainement, Stuff that Happened | No Comments »

Guitar Hero with real guitars — it is finally coming

Saturday, March 1st, 2008

I’ve been musing about and hoping for this one for a while. While Activision’s Guitar Hero has been gaining greater and greater popularity out there, making gamers of people who previously thought an XBox was only for 35-year-old bacherlor’s in their parents’ basements and 10-year-old kids, I’ve been lamenting that there isn’t a game that actually helps you learn how to play a real guitar. Given that my own current guitar rig can be plugged directly into my PC and I can even get a tuner to pop up on my monitor, I knew that the technology already existed to make a computer able to tell what note you were playing. Now all that needed to happen was that someone had to take the scrolling notes of Guitar Hero and merge them with the real neck of a bonafide electric guitar.

And hooray: someone is doing it. The name of the game is “Guitar Rising” (guitarrising.com). You’ll be able to plug any electric guitar into your PC with simple USB to 1/4 inch interface. You’ll get 30 rock songs to play along with, at five levels of difficulty, and even with variable tempos so you can learn at your own pace. The first release is due out in time for this Christmas, and I’m sure if it’s successful, you’ll see expansion packs with more and more songs.

So for all you guitar heroes who wish you could translate your gaming skills over to actually performing real songs for your friends, get excited. This game is for you.

Posted in Music, Technology | No Comments »