I just got a digital camera. Interestingly, I've never owned one before. I've always been a fan of them, and I've always wanted one. I just could never justify the purchase. Since I'm going to Japan, I couldn't think of a better reason.

I was looking for a camera that would give me full control of the options with a healthy zoom lens that wasn't going to require me to take out another student loan. I found it in the Canon SX100 IS. It's a surprisingly cheap camera that is really the last step between point/shoot and full SLR. It set me back $250, has a 10x optical zoom, 8 MP, and all the fun little options a modern digital camera affords you; like face detection.

The camera is a perfect 85% solution. A professional photographer would scoff at the optics, the depth of field, the color, or the bokeh of the lens. However, a lay person is going to look at my images and think they are professional quality. Since I'm catering my work toward lay people, convincing them is all that matters. This camera gets me enough of the way along the professional spectrum. In fact, it gets me way further than $250 should.

Here's an image I took after only minor fiddling and acclamation. It is exactly what I was looking for out of this camera.

Isn't depth of field cool?

It is my prediction that the switchover to over-the-air digital television will be a huge non-issue. Most people commenting on this do not seem to understand that this only affects people getting their television programming from an antenna. It does not affect cable or satellite in any way, unlike what Comcast would have you believe. Sure, the public knowledge of the switchover is currently low, but that doesn't mean anything. The majority of people aren't going to be affected by it in the first place. Why should they have to know about it?

The expectations of that poll are bogus. The number we should be looking for is a percentage that matches the estimated number of people still on antennas. Any more than that is a bonus. Of course, those numbers matching doesn't necessarily mean that the entirety of people on antennas know of the switchover. However, that is a reasonable expectation for the poll. The current expectation that everyone, whether affected or not, should have a deep understanding of the digital rapture is absurd.

The government is spending a lot of time and money trying to educate people when they should be putting the onus on the television stations. Per FCC licensing, roughly, stations are required to meet the needs of the public. This means that the FCC can require them to run public service announcements. How about, instead of using my tax dollars to run an ad campaign, they just force television stations to run a very small number of PSA's concerning the switch to digital over a very long period of time?

In fact, they may already be doing this. It is in their best interest to do so. None of those over-the-air stations would want to be left out in the cold. By the time the switch rolls around, the market dictates that we will be inundated with notices that we should buy a digital converter box to continue receiving television from our antennas. Don't worry. Your grandma is going to know about the conversion. Even if she doesn't, you will. You can help her.

Yes, this most certainly will be another Y2K. It will be exactly like that. There will be no disaster.

I have finished the ADR sessions for my project. I just need to finish up the last bit of foley this weekend, and then I can get down to mixing and dialing everything in. I only need one or two effects from CD. I'll see about that this week.

The ADR session with Michael Bloxham went well. He was very nice and professional. We were done within 40 minutes.

I got some more foley effects done today. I got Atrium room tone to use for the airport ambience, and it sounds really good. I tried to get outdoor ambience, but very little of it is usable. Muncie has too many trains, etc. I'm going to see what the effects libraries have for me in that regard.

Here's a list of foley finished from this afternoon:

• Sign-flipping
• Sticks rubbing
• Keyboard key presses(4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42)
• Buzzer from dryer
• Woman laughing
• Microwave beeping

Through serendipity I discovered an awesome way to make the hatch sign-flipping sound. I just ran my hands across the keyboard, and then EQ'd it a little bit. It's about 85% of the way there. I can fix it further later on.

I have an ADR session scheduled for Sunday. I should be able to get all of my part done as well as some other little parts here and there. After Sunday, the only remaining ADR should be the part Michael Bloxham intends to help me with.

Things are shaping up nicely. I just wish I didn't have so much more foley to do.

I finished some of my ADR today. I didn't get a lot of it done, but I'm hopefully scheduling another session for Sunday.

I did my ADR after I finished helping Kyle Ramsy with doing some ADR on his session, and then Kris Knight had the studio after me. I ended up sticking around for all of his session to help him engineer some of it. He just needed someone to futz with knobs every once in a while, and also to push the buttons so he could record himself for a part in his project. It went well, and I had a good time.

I have another Fostex booked for tomorrow, and I have some good ideas on how to get some foley sounds that I still need.