Clouds, Clowns, & Light

Gig today.

I'd recently moved the lens from my original SLR camera to the DSLR. For some reason, it never occurred to me to just use the more awesome lens I already had when I got that camera in 2007. Luckily, 14 years later, inspiration (finally) struck and I could now play with the macro function without having to figure out where film is still being sold.

All day, I'd been telling The Husband how I wanted to take a portrait of him in clown. I hadn't taken a picture of him in clown without a smartphone in a long time. I really wanted a clown photo made up of many, many pixels.

Finally, 10 minutes before we have to leave, everything is ready, I can take my photo. The light is PERFECT. I'd be able to get all the colors right even with all the high contrasts of light and dark. We go outside. I order tell politely request that the Husband stand in a counterintuitive way on the steps. He immediately follows directions. (The Husband gets his picture taken all the time when he's in clown. He knows to mind at a moment's notice for a photo).

I put up the camera. I fix the settings on the lens so we can go macro. I am super excited. I open the aperture up wide and then...this happens.

I know. I know. 😳. I KNOW. This photo is so okay I could have taken it with a point and shoot camera. I've taken better pictures with my smartphone. Shoot, I've taken better pictures with obsolete smartphones.

Anyways, what happened is that upon snapping the shutter closed, a cloud had the audacity to pass just in front of the sun to ruin my perfect lighting. I looked at the microscopic image on the LCD screen in horror. "There's a cloud!" I howled.

My parents had just arrived to watch Kid 1 and Kid 2. They got to hear me howl. Both my parents and the Husband all hesitated in unison. (Did you know that people can hesitate all together? Because people can hesitate all together. It's an interesting phenomenon to witness). Before any of them could move on from hesitation I whirled around, glared up at the sky, and I gave it what for. Then, I made all three humans freeze and wait a few moments. I would have my clown portrait in good lighting, gosh darn it.

Clearly, my powers of persuasion were on point because the cloud then chose to move on. I moved fast. The Husband was still. I got my picture. 

Behold:

 Then I flew to put my camera away. We had an ornery 3 year old to entertain.

But that's another blog post.

Cheers!

Animating a Clown

 With the pandemic, we've done a few prerecorded virtual shows. For the latest one that I am editing, I thought it would be cool to end it with an animated version of the Husband's logo. I thought it would make a more interesting finale that just a still photo. Theoretically, I knew that it would have to be created like it was a flip book, but in a digital fashion. I had made a bouncing circle flip book early on in the pandemic, so I figured I could learn how to do it digitally without too much difficulty.

Where does this pandemic teacher go when she needs to learn a new digital skill? YouTube.

I found numerous examples of how to go about creating an animation with an iPad, laptop, or both. The best one I found demonstrates how to create an animation using the apps that Apple already includes on iPads and Macs. Since I just wanted it to be a final clip at the end of the virtual clown show, it was a bonus to learn how to turn it into an overlay. With this tutorial, I learned how to use the green screen effect in iMovie. This thrilled me because it means I won't have to pay for an extra app whenever I finally figure out how to light a green background evenly. I could also record a video of the Husband, adding a cartoon on top of it later on. All I'd have to change would be giving the animation a green background. There are a lot of possibilities!

For this project though, all I needed was a short clip to put at the end of the show. It took me a few tries to get the animation to export from Keynote the way I wanted it to. First, I exported it as a gif. The quality of the picture wasn't very good after I transferred the file to my laptop. Next, I exported it as a movie. This time it was better, but not quite what I wanted because the file was so large. Finally, I realized that I could choose the size of the gif file when I export it. The first time, I had just gone with the size that was automatically chosen. So I exported the file as a gif again, but this time I chose a much larger file size.

Here's what I ended up with:

Pretty fun, right? When I added the gif as a clip to the end of the movie, I adjusted the speed of the gif so that it runs almost twice as fast. With that extra speed, the ball falls into his hand much more gracefully than it does as shown above.

What other types of animation ideas do you guys have for clowning? I want to make another one, but I can't settle on an idea.

Cheers!

The Tragic Tale of the Mango Chile Ice Floes

 So, you've probably noticed that there was a 7 year gap between blog posts. What can I say? The Husband was booking tons of parties. I have a full time job. I got my master's degree. We had Kid 2. I guess I was a little bit busy.

I decided to take a trip down memory lane and see what I was writing about back then. It was kind of fun because there were some things that I hadn't thought about in forever, such as the Kazoo post. There were other posts that I do not remember happening at ALL. Reading Naked cracked me up! I have that feeling in me like I should remember that event, but I honestly do not. I'm really glad I had written it down.

Meanwhile, I come across a draft entitled, "The Tragic Tale of the Mango Chile Ice Floes."

*pause*

That's it. There's nothing in the draft. It was 7+ years ago. I have no idea. My best guess is that it involved popsicles. It could also have been about Chilean mountain glaciers preserving mangos for millennia, but somehow that doesn't seem realistic. I mean, the Andes mountains probably aren't the best climate for mangos, am I right?

*crickets chirp*

Suddenly, amidst that crazy stream of consciousness, I came to a realization. The Tragic Tale part of the title IS THE STORY. The tragic tale of the mango chile ice floes is that the actual tale has been tragically lost to posterity, with no hope for recovery. The story is the blank page sitting underneath an amazing title that will never be written.

Too much of a reach?

Cheers, y'all!

Yeah, how you know?

 This afternoon The Husband hangs up the phone. He'd clearly just been booking a gig of some kind. "What is Mansipation?"

Me: What?

Husband: Mansipation when the slaves got freed?

Me: You mean emancipation?

Husband: Yeah. What is that?

Me: Like liberty for the slaves.

Husband: Yeah that. I just got a call for this weekend to celebrate-

Me: JUNETEENTH?!

Husband: Yeah, how you know?

Me: Because it's June. Juneteenth is when the last slaves in the South were freed in Texas. It was a few years later and the slaveowners had refused to tell them they were free so the Union army had to go in to liberate them.

Husband: Yeah, yeah. That's it! So this weekend is an event at some street, 18th and-

Me: VINE?! 18th and Vine?

Husband (shocked expression): Yeah, how you know? It's a parade. There is a jazz mus-

Me: The Jazz Museum? The museums at 18th and Vine?

Husband: Yeah, how you know? There's also a Ne-

Me: The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and the Jazz Museum?!

Husband (astonished): Yeah, how you know?

Me (gushing): You're working at the Juneteenth event by the museums at 18th and Vine!!!!! That is so cool! 

Husband: Yeah, how you know?

Me: I grew up in Kansas City.

******************************************

I cannot believe I've never talked to him about these places. It's amazing what kinds of knowledge about your home you take for granted. The Husband has lived here so long that it's easy for me to forget about him being an immigrant that wouldn't know all those nuggets of Kansas City history. I'm also white so it's easier for me to overlook teaching him about Kansas City's Black history. I clearly need to do better. I mean I saw Buck O'Neil speak TWICE growing up. He was so cool! I'll never forget how he talked about not getting the job with the Cubs because he didn't have "that piece of paper." I loved his word choice. It was an excellent way to describe a diploma. It does seem like just a piece of paper sometimes, but it's a piece of paper with power. 

I'm off now. I have to go teach my kids about these things as well and they don't read my blog.

#KnowBetterDoBetter

Rats, Cats, and Bra Money

 "What? You guys did a party? There's a pandemic, did you know?"

The Husband is fully vaccinated. I am fully vaccinated. The Elder Son has had 1 dose. The kids stay with folks that are already in our circle. We carry sanitizer. We book outdoor parties. I wear a mask. The Husband wears a face shield. I'd prefer he wear a mask, but there's something about being a clown that requires makeup visibility. Ho hum.

Now that the snarky comment prevention has been done, we can get to the good part of the post! Our first party of 2021!

Location: Duplex home backyard. We've been there twice before to celebrate. To remind me which family it is, The Husband always says, "the Bra Money Party." There are some things that are unforgettable. One of those things is being paid cash straight from a sweaty bra in May. In Bra Money Mom's defense, it appears to have been a one time gaffe.

Plot Twist: weather forecast of heavy rain.

We arrive. After The Husband has dropped me and all our changarro off (parking spots were few), I proceed to find Bra Money Mom to ask which of the duplexes to set up in as it hasn't quite begun to rain and all attendees are still outside hanging out.

And I paraphrase:

Bra Money Mom: Inside? Do you really think that's necessary?

Me: It's your party. We'll do what you want. *pulls up weather app on phone*

Me: Ma'am? In 15 minutes, it's going to be pouring rain. I think you're going to want to move inside.

**************** 15 minutes later **********************

All set up, in a room with a scent implying a lack of hygiene, we begin. It's raining cats and dogs.

****************************************************

During balloons, I'm usually keeping one eye on my playlist while familiarizing myself with where we've stashed prizes, props, and tricks. I hear the song is ending so I leave the prizes to check which song is coming to make sure it works with the party's mood. As I step behind my table, a small, gray critter streaks out from under the tablecloth.

My brain immediately thinks of rats. Thankfully, I hold myself together. No one knows I'm FREAKING OUT, except for me. I am fully aware of the adrenaline situation I find myself in. I take a second look as the creature flees. It's a kitten. A very young, very gray, very rat-sized kitten.

Later, when we're packing up to leave I discover there is a full litter box under the cabinet next to where we had set up our table. Hence the smell; hence the rat cat.

It's always something at this home and I love it. It was such a fun party.