Thursday, September 30, 2010
Music Video: Jack Johnson and Andy Samberg "At or With Me"
I'm sort of luke warm on Johnson, but this is a pretty funny video.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
YTTM 1979 Apocalypse Now (Original Trailer)
I've decided to start posting things I find via YouTube Time Machine. Today's pick is from 1979 and is the original trailer for one of my favorite movies Apocalypse Now.
Four Future Scenarios for California
Always the cynic (or realist, depending on your point of view), I like to jump to the worst-case scenarios first. Enclave Economy seems like a logical extension of where things have been headed for a while. Instead of walled-off cities though, it is more likely for there to be larger and more numerous walled-off (read "gated") communities. At least that's what my magic 8-ball told me.
Record Heat in Los Angeles
It's a little after noon right now, and it is 106 degrees in L.A. This is our moderate summer karma coming around to bite us in the ass now that it's fall.
Update: CNN is reporting we hit 112 at 12:30pm. New record, you ask? Well, duh!
Update 2: Okay, now The Weather Channel is saying we hit 113 degrees today making it the hottest temperature recorded in L.A. since 1877. The temperature has only gone over 110 degrees 3 times since they've been keeping track.
Update: CNN is reporting we hit 112 at 12:30pm. New record, you ask? Well, duh!
Update 2: Okay, now The Weather Channel is saying we hit 113 degrees today making it the hottest temperature recorded in L.A. since 1877. The temperature has only gone over 110 degrees 3 times since they've been keeping track.
Symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Here is some background on my 7 year old son Mac and his eventual diagnosis with ASD.
Mac was a difficult baby to say the least. Very colicky, we couldn't take him anywhere from the get-go. If we tried to take him to a restaurant to eat, we would just have to take turns holding him and walking him around the place to keep him from crying. And man could he cry. Its hard to believe a creature that small can produce that many decibels.
At this point, no alarm bells were going off for us. We just figured we had a "high-maintenance" kid. Up until the age of about two years, he seemed to be developing normally. He smiled, made eye-contact, and his language development was where it should have been. His mom and I also didn't know any symptoms of autism or ASD other than what we had seen on television with the most severe cases - no language, no smiling, banging their head against the wall.
Soon after Mac turned two, we started noticing some unusual things. He would make up words for certain objects and start calling them that. It didn't matter how many times we gave him the correct word - he insisted on using his own. Often times, too, when we would try to get him to answer a question, he would just repeat our question instead of answering it. For example, "Mac, do you feel happy?" Instead of saying "yes or no" he would respond "happy?" with our same intonation. In ASD terms, this is known as echolalia.
We also noticed him memorizing lines from shows he watched and then using the phrases in place of actual speech. For example, he took the line "do you know where the ball is?" from Dora the Explorer, and would use it to convey he had lost something (not a ball). Again, in ASD terms, this is known as scripting.
Mac was also obsessed with light and fan switches. His favorite thing to do was to turn lights on and off, on and off, on and off. It seemed a little OCD, but, again, we figured he had just found something he was interested in, and that he would soon move on to something else.
Another symptom Mac had which we didn't recognize at the time was "hand-flapping." Whenever Mac would get excited he would start flapping his hands like he was trying to take-off flying. Again, we just chalked it up to being a quirky personality trait.
As Mac started getting closer to age 3, and his language skills started slipping, we began to get concerned. Autism was still not even a dot on my radar at this point, be we decided he might need some language therapy to get him up to speed. We talked with his pediatrician. While she conceded he was a little behind for his age, she didn't feel overly concerned. However, she referred us to a speech therapist, and this was where things fell into place. During our first session with her, she never mentioned the word "autism", but she said she definitely felt like there was something more going on with Mac than just simple speech delay. The alarm bells were finally ringing for his mom, but I was still in denial. I had thought it was ridiculous that we were even bringing him to a speech therapist, but the idea that he was autistic was ludicrous to me. All of the quirky things he did were just Mac being Mac. But then we started looking into the symptoms of ASD, and all of Mac's strange behaviors started to make sense. We eventually had him evaluated by ASD experts at UCLA medical center who confirmed what we feared. We were crushed, and angry out ourselves for not having figured it out sooner, since early therapy and treatment is extremely crucial for children with ASD.
Mac was a difficult baby to say the least. Very colicky, we couldn't take him anywhere from the get-go. If we tried to take him to a restaurant to eat, we would just have to take turns holding him and walking him around the place to keep him from crying. And man could he cry. Its hard to believe a creature that small can produce that many decibels.
At this point, no alarm bells were going off for us. We just figured we had a "high-maintenance" kid. Up until the age of about two years, he seemed to be developing normally. He smiled, made eye-contact, and his language development was where it should have been. His mom and I also didn't know any symptoms of autism or ASD other than what we had seen on television with the most severe cases - no language, no smiling, banging their head against the wall.
Soon after Mac turned two, we started noticing some unusual things. He would make up words for certain objects and start calling them that. It didn't matter how many times we gave him the correct word - he insisted on using his own. Often times, too, when we would try to get him to answer a question, he would just repeat our question instead of answering it. For example, "Mac, do you feel happy?" Instead of saying "yes or no" he would respond "happy?" with our same intonation. In ASD terms, this is known as echolalia.
We also noticed him memorizing lines from shows he watched and then using the phrases in place of actual speech. For example, he took the line "do you know where the ball is?" from Dora the Explorer, and would use it to convey he had lost something (not a ball). Again, in ASD terms, this is known as scripting.
Mac was also obsessed with light and fan switches. His favorite thing to do was to turn lights on and off, on and off, on and off. It seemed a little OCD, but, again, we figured he had just found something he was interested in, and that he would soon move on to something else.
Another symptom Mac had which we didn't recognize at the time was "hand-flapping." Whenever Mac would get excited he would start flapping his hands like he was trying to take-off flying. Again, we just chalked it up to being a quirky personality trait.
As Mac started getting closer to age 3, and his language skills started slipping, we began to get concerned. Autism was still not even a dot on my radar at this point, be we decided he might need some language therapy to get him up to speed. We talked with his pediatrician. While she conceded he was a little behind for his age, she didn't feel overly concerned. However, she referred us to a speech therapist, and this was where things fell into place. During our first session with her, she never mentioned the word "autism", but she said she definitely felt like there was something more going on with Mac than just simple speech delay. The alarm bells were finally ringing for his mom, but I was still in denial. I had thought it was ridiculous that we were even bringing him to a speech therapist, but the idea that he was autistic was ludicrous to me. All of the quirky things he did were just Mac being Mac. But then we started looking into the symptoms of ASD, and all of Mac's strange behaviors started to make sense. We eventually had him evaluated by ASD experts at UCLA medical center who confirmed what we feared. We were crushed, and angry out ourselves for not having figured it out sooner, since early therapy and treatment is extremely crucial for children with ASD.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Climbing to the top of a transmission tower
I can barely watch this video with my fear of heights. It is amazing that there are people that can do this. I wonder if he and his partner are tethered together? Can you imagine watching this on an IMAX screen?
Last Train Home Documentary
Documentary about China's child workforce and its affect on the family. Looks beautifully shot.
The Walking Dead - Fan Made Title Sequence
THE WALKING DEAD "Opening Titles" from Daniel Kanemoto on Vimeo.
Great stuff. I have high hopes for the new show.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Anger Management
I try to see my kids as often as I can, even if they are at the Other's house during mom's half of the week. I will usually make up some excuse to stop by and see them. Last night I brought over my 5 year old's favorite blanket which he had left at my apartment. My thinking has been that it would make the transition to "divorced" life easier, but I'm starting to wonder.
When I arrived at the house, Mac (my 7 year old son who has ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) was riding his bike in the front yard. It was nearly dark, and his mom and I wanted him to come inside. We managed to get him into the house with the promise of TV. However, he soon lost interest in the TV and wanted to go back outside and ride his bike around the neighborhood. By this time it was dark outside, and we told him he was done biking for the day. He started getting upset and tried to negotiate, but we weren't having it. I asked to come with me and sit on the couch to discuss it, which he did. I told him the reasons why we didn't want him to bike - it was too dangerous to ride at night, it was too close to bedtime, etc. Mac listened, tried to argue, and then in an angry fashion headed to the door and said he was going to ride despite our objections.
I told him if he headed outside we would put his bike away. His mom told him she would delete his favorite game from the computer if he disobeyed. This last one got to him, and he came back inside, however, he was out of control at that point. He grabbed his mom's arm and bit it, and then attempted to bite me. We told him if he bit again we would call the police. That scared him enough to stop biting but he was still seeing red. Sitting with him on the couch he told me, "I make the rules! You are no longer part of this family! Leave the house - you are out of the family!" I said nothing and let him vent, but then something strange happened.
Almost immediately after he had said those things, he put his hand on my chest to feel my heartbeat. He couldn't feel anything (I was wearing a couple layers of clothing), and suddenly got this terrified look on his face. He burst into tears and kept saying over and over again "I'm sorry I said that! I'm sorry I said that!" while weeping intensely.
It took a while, but I finally convinced him that my heart was in fact beating. Within ten minutes he had calmed down and was back playing in the family room. He made no further mention of riding his bike.
I have to think that the source of his outburst was at least in part the feelings he has about the divorce that he's unable to express. He was so angry, and wanted to say the worst thing he could think of to me, and that was "you are no longer part of this family." He was probably also wishing I was dead - that's what scared him so badly when he couldn't feel my heart beating.
I never wanted this divorce, and its killing me to see how its affecting the kids. I've read books and talked to Mac's therapists. I've spoken to the kids about it, and reassured them that we are still a family even though mom and dad aren't living together, and that nothing can change that fact. I hoped that once the kids got used to the new living arrangements, things would calm down for them emotionally, but so far that hasn't happened.
Maybe stopping by for 30 minutes when they're at the mom's is a bad idea. Its always difficult when I have to leave. They get upset and are reminded again of the divorce. It might be easier on them if I just wait until its my turn to see them.
When I arrived at the house, Mac (my 7 year old son who has ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) was riding his bike in the front yard. It was nearly dark, and his mom and I wanted him to come inside. We managed to get him into the house with the promise of TV. However, he soon lost interest in the TV and wanted to go back outside and ride his bike around the neighborhood. By this time it was dark outside, and we told him he was done biking for the day. He started getting upset and tried to negotiate, but we weren't having it. I asked to come with me and sit on the couch to discuss it, which he did. I told him the reasons why we didn't want him to bike - it was too dangerous to ride at night, it was too close to bedtime, etc. Mac listened, tried to argue, and then in an angry fashion headed to the door and said he was going to ride despite our objections.
I told him if he headed outside we would put his bike away. His mom told him she would delete his favorite game from the computer if he disobeyed. This last one got to him, and he came back inside, however, he was out of control at that point. He grabbed his mom's arm and bit it, and then attempted to bite me. We told him if he bit again we would call the police. That scared him enough to stop biting but he was still seeing red. Sitting with him on the couch he told me, "I make the rules! You are no longer part of this family! Leave the house - you are out of the family!" I said nothing and let him vent, but then something strange happened.
Almost immediately after he had said those things, he put his hand on my chest to feel my heartbeat. He couldn't feel anything (I was wearing a couple layers of clothing), and suddenly got this terrified look on his face. He burst into tears and kept saying over and over again "I'm sorry I said that! I'm sorry I said that!" while weeping intensely.
It took a while, but I finally convinced him that my heart was in fact beating. Within ten minutes he had calmed down and was back playing in the family room. He made no further mention of riding his bike.
I have to think that the source of his outburst was at least in part the feelings he has about the divorce that he's unable to express. He was so angry, and wanted to say the worst thing he could think of to me, and that was "you are no longer part of this family." He was probably also wishing I was dead - that's what scared him so badly when he couldn't feel my heart beating.
I never wanted this divorce, and its killing me to see how its affecting the kids. I've read books and talked to Mac's therapists. I've spoken to the kids about it, and reassured them that we are still a family even though mom and dad aren't living together, and that nothing can change that fact. I hoped that once the kids got used to the new living arrangements, things would calm down for them emotionally, but so far that hasn't happened.
Maybe stopping by for 30 minutes when they're at the mom's is a bad idea. Its always difficult when I have to leave. They get upset and are reminded again of the divorce. It might be easier on them if I just wait until its my turn to see them.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I Extended Trailer
Anyone else find it aggravating that they split this into two movies? I guess I can't blame them for wanting to squeeze every last drop from the franchise.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
One of my favorite speeches from one of my favorite movies.
"For all the points of a compass, there's only one direction." Isn't that the sorry truth?
"For all the points of a compass, there's only one direction." Isn't that the sorry truth?
Monday, September 20, 2010
Science's Verdict: Vaccines Do NOT Cause Autsim
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=6775
"There is no detectable correlation between exposure to mercury in vaccines and ASDs [Autism Spectrum Disorders]."
Now, for the love of science, go and get your kids' vaccinated. That is all.
"There is no detectable correlation between exposure to mercury in vaccines and ASDs [Autism Spectrum Disorders]."
Now, for the love of science, go and get your kids' vaccinated. That is all.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Video HDR
I've been a fan of HDR photography for a while now. It's interesting to see the technique used with video.
HDR Video Demonstration Using Two Canon 5D mark II's from Soviet Montage on Vimeo.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Canon 7D Video Slowed to 1000 fps
7D 1000 fps from Oton Bačar on Vimeo.
Shot at 60fps on the Canon 7D and then slowed down to 1000fps using an After Effects plugin called Twixtor.
Via
Monday, September 13, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Austin, Texas
Friday, September 3, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
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