Author : Chris Stenberg

in Media Culture

Bonjour Language School Ad

This is an oldie, but a goodie as they say. A French Language school add from the Cannes Lions advertising festival a bunch of years back, this ad has the stereotypical French narrator listing off a bunch of contradictory health facts about how people eat and have sex across the world, and how they all live longer than they do in the USA. After a barrage of facts and sexy imagery, the conclusion is to eat whatever you like, and have sex as much as you want, and that the real thing that will kill you is speaking English. I love it. This is probably one of my favourite ads of all time.

in Video Production

Final Cut Pro X: Mono to Stereo Output Mixdown

This is one of those things I seem to have to relearn in every new software I pick up, and it’s the first question I seem to ask myself when I go to output the project, “how do I get the single mono audio track to play in both channels?”

Well, thankfully in FCPX it’s actually easier than it ever has been, but when you think like an old school Avid editor, it’s not as obvious at first. So if you’re wondering, presumably that’s why you’re here, follow these steps.

 

1.) Select the clip you’re looking to modify. You may or may not have detached your audio from the video, but regardless, select the clip and be sure the inspector window is open.

 

2.) In the Audio portion of the inpector, scroll to the bottom where it says Channel Configuration. Change the configuration to Dual Mono. Select one or both tracks, and voila, that is it. Stereo audio from one single mono track, or in English, your one audio track will play out of both speakers now.

 

3.) Another handy tip is that FCPX lets you make adjustments to multiple items at once, so select all of the clips in question, and change them all to Dual Mono at the same time.

in Tech

Adding Crop Height Thumbnails to WordPress

Here is a quick tidbit of help if you’re looking to add thumbnails to your WordPress homepage, and are having issues with the sizing. I added the thumbnails to the homepage of this site (at the time of writing I am using the Peak WordPress theme), but had some issues with sizing. I added a new thumbnail type, but the portrait oriented photos would either come out constrained to the height parameter I set, or they would extend below the landscape oriented thumbnails. I just wanted them to all be nice and even looking!

To get past this blunder, here is what I did: Continue reading “Adding Crop Height Thumbnails to WordPress” »

in Travel, Wine & Food

Okanagan Spring Wine Fest 2012

Touring the wineries of the Okanagan has become one of my favourite past times, and if you’re in the Okanagan for this year’s Spring Wine Fest, I thought I’d share some of my “must visit” wineries for this spring. I’ve been living in and exploring this area for the past 7 years, and people constantly ask me where they should go, because let’s face it, it would be very challenging, if not impossible, to visit all 130+ wineries in the valley over the course of the weekend.

So if you’re curious, here’s my personal must see wineries list for Spring Wine Fest 2012: Continue reading “Okanagan Spring Wine Fest 2012” »

in Media Culture, Travel

Pull Love Riot Ads

Love wins, and so do the people involved in this now infamous photo from the Vancouver Stanley Cup riots in 2011.

I stumbled on this storefront ad for the Italian cardigan chain store Pull Love while wandering the main shopping drag in Florence. I would imagine that the subjects in this photo, and the photographer have done alright from this. What do you think? Selling out or cashing in?

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in Travel, Wine & Food

The Booking Office Cocktail Bar London

Located in London’s St. Pancras station, The Booking Office Restaurant & Bar is a swank lounge known for serving up a mean old fashioned punch, and artisan crafted cocktails.

The ceilings are high, as you can imagine they would be in a train station built in the 1800′s, the bar is set against the narrow office that would have been the ticket booking office back when this wing was in operation, and little wicket windows are still visible behind the rows of small batch spirits.

The menu is an eclectic mix of classic cocktail fare, with many drinks either originally created or inspired from classic London hotels like the Savoy. I managed to squeeze two drinks in, one being the Tiger’s Milk, a sweet milky cocktail with egg whites, and the other being a classic punch called the Glasgow. Both were top shelf by my palate.

According to my mate Stephen, The Booking Office is quite renowned for their punches, for which they have a full page dedicated on the drink list. Let’s say mine didn’t disappoint.

The area around St. Pancras might not be on the hot spot list of places to check out for London nightlife, but if you are up for a quiet evening of cocktails, chat, and sultry piano music, The Booking Office is well worth a visit.