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Ah, the joys of trying to edit video, IM, blog and upload photos inside a van. All at once. Check out the fun from day three, still going on.

Labels: Day 3, photos

posted by mtlb at 4:37 PM 0 Comments

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Any random bits of plaid we find will be shot on sight. This is our tour pledge to you. Check out all found plaid on Flickr here.

Labels: Day 3, random acts of plaid

posted by mtlb at 4:33 PM 0 Comments

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Because he has so many, and because we have spare time, Ryan’s t-shirts get their own Flickr page now.

Labels: Day 3, photos, ryan, tshirtoftheday

posted by mtlb at 4:28 PM 0 Comments

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For the tech freaks out there, here’s a general list of what we got going on:

Van:
A Ford Econoline 350 12-passenger van wrapped in 3M Controltac vinyl graphics. (With the badge all covered up, that Ford never looked so good.) AM/Fm/CD 6-speaker, although no mp3 plug.

Internet connection:
It has an Avis wireless router for general internet use, rated to have up to 11 connections at the same time, but with reduced speed. We also have a Sprint phonecard for streaming of the webcam video feed by itself than runs out of one of the Macbooks. All video is streamed through Ustream.tv without audio.

GPS: Google maps tracks our location via a Motorola dedicated cellphone.

Cameras:
The web camera is an externally mounted but discontinued Apple iSight, mounted with suction cups for glass or handheld when we feel like making you dizzy. (That camera is now incorporated into Apple’s laptops.) Camera connects to the dedicated 13” MacBook via Firewire and can operate without the need for the van to be running.

For shooting all other regular meeting and B roll, we use a Sony Digital Handicam DCR-VX2100 with shotgun mike and AKG K240 studio headphones to drown out background noise when shooting.

For stills, we shoot with a Nikon D70 SLR.

Hard drives:
For digitizing, we use a G-Tech G-RAID 300 gig external firewire drive, and offload all uncompressed footage via the VX2100’s Firewire port. Editing handled with Final Cut Pro.

Laptops:
Two 15” MacBook Pros:

• 2.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processors
  
• 1 GB 667 MHz memory
• 120GB hard drive

and
One 13” MacBook:

• 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
  
• 1GB memory
• 80GB hard drive

Power supply:
Three cigarette lighters charge all the equipment as needed via two 175 and 220 watt DC power invertors. (All cell phones and camera batteries are charged at night by everyone on their own.)

Beverages:
Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi, Snapple and water. Cans, bottles or fountain via 7-11.

Snacks:
Onboard GTS (Global Twinkie System) and GYS (Global Yodel System).

Schwag:
T-shirts, buttons and whatever else we feel like throwing at a brand.

Exterior landscaping:
Wal-Mart patio table with umbrella and Target folding patio chairs.

Labels: Day 3

posted by mtlb at 5:57 PM 1 Comments