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Star PEZ
12.06.2007 6:41 PM \| Link	One of the segments in my Christmas video project this year was a little spoof of classic Star Wars scenes acted out by PEZ dispensers! I love Star Wars (of course), and I have so many PEZ actors waiting to perform, so it was really easy to make. Since not all of the characters I needed are available as PEZ, I had to use a few stand-ins. Where else can you see Fred Flintstone as Han Solo or Santa Claus as Obi-Wan Kenobi? My favorite sequence to shoot was the cantina scene, since I could have gone all day picking out weird looking PEZ creatures from my collection! I also had fun printing out various backgrounds to shoot against. Watch for the thrilling lightsaber duel (and please ignore when my hand creeps into the frame)! Enjoy! Watch video: Star PEZ Labels: pez, star wars, videos
Vacation highlights
11.25.2007 12:32 PM \| Link	Whenever I visit Mom's family in Waco for pre-Thanksgiving, I like to bring some photos on my iPod so I can show them to everyone on TV. Since everyone enjoys seeing them so much, I decided to do a few short videos this year, using footage I've taken on trips with Mom & Dad, both from recent vacations (like Niagara Falls), as well as older ones. I managed to get three of them done, so I thought I would share these on YouTube. It's fun going back through old video and putting together the highlights of fun times! (I've also moved a few older QuickTime movies over to YouTube, which you can find on my Videos page.) Watch video: Niagara Falls Vacation Watch video: Washington DC Vacation Watch video: Fishing at Walt Disney World Labels: videos
Mikey's Mansion Mania
8.25.2007 7:21 AM \| Link	Remember my Disneyland Home Movies video that suddenly became semi-popular on YouTube? Well, the views just keep on coming, and now it's been watched over 18,000 times! My dad is a pretty famous camera man now, so maybe he should get an agent or something! I also mentioned a while back that I was contacted by DoomBuggies.com (the most amazing Haunted Mansion website ever) to use part of my video that shows some vintage exterior of the Mansion (and coincidentally, shows me throwing a fit since was too scared to go in). I just discovered that my video is now on the site, and I'm so proud and happy to give something to the Disney fan community! The video appears at the end of the History section of the site, way down near the bottom of the page - Mom and I look so nice! (This image is how the video appears, so visit the site to watch it!) I can't help feeling a little web-famous now, and thinking about Disneyland is really making me excited about going again later this year! Labels: disney, videos
The Day Jobs: more memories
7.24.2007 8:39 PM \| Link	I'm continuing to move old photos to Flickr, and now it's become kind of an obsession, since I know I will have a nice feeling of accomplishment when it's finished! Since I'm starting with photos taken in 2000, there are plenty of shots from the last few gigs of my old swing band, The Day Jobs. It's been a blast seeing these old photos again! One of these gigs was way out in the boonies (complete with flatbed trailer), and the other was on the Flagship Texas, a cool boat on Lake Travis that people rent for parties. I've also been converting my old video clips to YouTube, so I figured now would be a good time to upload some Day Jobs video! This is a performance of Mopac Bounce (an original by our guitarist Dae) from Austin Music Network, which we appeared on live. It was pretty exciting at the time! The quality of this clip is definitely lousy - I can remember that Barron helped me rip it from VHS so many years ago, and we had to make it a little postage stamp sized video in order to get decent sound. Still, it's better than nothing, so enjoy the memories! View photos: Gig in the Boonies View photos: Flagship Texas Gig Watch video: The Day Jobs / Mopac Bounce Labels: bands, pals, photos, videos
Honor Among Thieves revisited
7.21.2007 10:12 AM \| Link	Having my pal Matt back in town got me thinking about my early days in Austin, which prompted me to start moving all of my old Kodak Gallery (which used to be Ofoto back when I used it) photos over to Flickr. I decided to start with my oldest albums, and I'm trying to preserve the way they were on Ofoto, so I'm including all the pictures (even though some are so bad I would never upload them today!) with my original captions. Since I'm starting with my oldest photos first (back from 2000), the first batches have to do with my pal Tom's movie masterpiece, Honor Among Thieves! The making of this 90 minute feature (way back before I ever dreamed of video editing myself) and the huge premiere party event is legendary in the history of my Austin pals! The first short set of photos is the final night of editing, where I watched Tom finish the movie on his slow PC until about 4:00 in the morning, and the second huge set is the premiere party itself, which was held in a rented art gallery downtown. I also recently converted the funny trailer for the movie into an official WEBmikey Clip for YouTube, so you can enjoy an extremely low quality (sorry, VCRs and QuickTime were pretty crappy seven years ago!) taste of the film. I remember I was so excited about the movie being finished, that I even showed it to my fellow Works.com employees at lunch one day! Memory Lane sure is a fun place to visit - I'll be uploading hundreds more ancient photos in the days to come! View photos: Editing with Tom View photos: Honor Among Thieves Premiere Watch video: Honor Among Thieves Trailer Labels: pals, photos, videos
Wonderful waterfall
5.15.2007 12:25 PM \| Link	My parents and I always take a vacation or two together each year, and this year Mom decided it would be nice to visit Niagara Falls! It was really a fantastic trip for so many reasons. There's nothing like actually seeing the falls in person - I had seen a million photos, of course, but I was still absolutely amazed at what it was like to actually be there! The Horseshoe Falls and the American Falls are both beautiful, and it's incredible to think of the sheer power of all of that water. Our hotel was really nice and had a great falls view, but the best feature was the enclosed walkway to the casino next door, where we spent most of our time! It was fun getting Canadian money and blowing it on the slots, and we found some really fun games (I even managed to play non-stop for several hours on a single $20 once!). We took a wonderful tour to get in all the major attractions, such as the Skylon Tower (terrific view), Journey Behind the Falls (which is mind-blowing just because you can actually look out through the rushing water), and of course, the Maid of the Mist! The boat goes right up to the Horseshoe Falls, and I loved getting soaked in the mist and screaming the whole time! Everything about the trip worked out nicely - we had beautiful weather, a super-friendly driver from the airport and a great tour guide, and I even got to be together with Mom on Mother's Day, which hasn't happened in years. As always, it was a wonderful family vacation! View photos: Niagara Falls Watch video: Niagara Falls Vacation Labels: niagara falls, photos, trips, videos
My almost famous video
2.23.2007 5:44 PM \| Link	My Disneyland Home Movies video has really taken off lately on YouTube! Not only has it received more than 1,000 views, but several folks have started saying nice things about it and linking to it as well. First, I got an email from Chef Mayhem, creator of the absolutely incredible DoomBuggies.com (easily the best Haunted Mansion site ever), who may use part of the video since it has a few good exterior views of the Mansion! Second, I discovered a really nice post on a blog called The Sacred Tree of the Aracuan Bird, linking to my video with some nice discussion about Tomorrowland (as well as some fun comments about my family, including Mom's hairdo!). Third, it was also linked to in a discussion on MiceChat, as an example of old Disneyland pavement styles (what a topic!). And finally, just today I got an email from a fan (who actually owns portions of the original Submarine Voyage!) to thank me for sharing the video. Truthfully, my parents deserve all of the thanks, not only for being wonderful enough to take little Mikey to the Happiest Place on Earth, but for being enough of a camera buff to shoot that precious 8mm film in the first place! Labels: disney, videos
Target: Earth revisited
1.19.2007 10:52 PM \| Link	I've decided to go back to some old video clips that I've posted here on WEBmikey over the years and re-edit them for YouTube and Google Video, since it's just more convenient having things in one spot. I also plan on making more short clips out of camera videos and other things I've taken that I didn't have anything to do with before (or because I didn't have space to host them!). You might remember that I posted my old 8mm film called Target: Earth way back in 2001, and now I've given it this new treatment, with a special bonus! Previously this was a silent film, but back in 1979 when I made it, I remember making a cassette tape with sound effects (mostly me making explosions with my voice) and using the Imperial Attack music from the Star Wars soundtrack. So, I've added "professional" quality sound to my childhood masterpiece for your enjoyment. Now I feel like George Lucas did tweaking the Special Edition films! Watch video: Target Earth Labels: videos
Disneyland home movies
1.07.2007 10:07 PM \| Link	Back in August, I tried out my first YouTube video of Rod Miller playing piano at Disneyland. It's been about five months since then, so it's finally time for another in a series of WEBmikey Clips! This time I decided to put together some old home movies that my Dad shot during some of my very first trips to Disneyland. It's amazing to see how the park looked in the late 1960s and early 1970s! There's some nice Peoplemover footage, two rides on the original Submarine Voyage, and a good view of the Disneyland parking lot where Disney's California Adventure sits today. You can also see I was too scared to ride the Haunted Mansion back then (how embarrassing)! As I've said before, one of the reasons I love Disneyland is that I've shared it with so many members of my family who have now passed away, and this video is a treasure to me for that reason, too. Since these old home movies are silent, I used the old Monorail theme music, which seemed to fit the time frame of this gleaming Tomorrowland. I've decided that Blip.tv is kind of a pain, so I'm sticking with the big video providers, YouTube and Google Video. Enjoy it in the format of your choice (and here's a reminder link to my first video, also)! Watch video: Disneyland Home Movies Watch video: Rod Miller on Main Street Labels: disney, videos
Rod Miller video
8.05.2006 8:49 AM \| Link	Since there has been such a revolution in video lately, I decided to test the waters with a little clip of my own. There are so many ways to host video for free, but it's still hard to choose which method to use! Of course, YouTube is the favorite of the world, but I don't really like their Flash video player (and there's no way I'm going to put one of those giant ugly embedded previews here!). I thought Blip.tv looked pretty cool, but for some reason they couldn't convert my QuickTime file into Flash. But none of that really matters - I just wanted to edit a quick video and get some stuff out there, so you can choose how to want to view it! The YouTube version loads fast, but their Flash conversion is a little low quality. Blip.tv offers the actual QuickTime file, but no Flash (and their servers seem slow at times). Of course, I have tons of Disney park video, including a short clip of the great Rod Miller. Rod played piano at Disneyland for over 30 years, and he was totally amazing! He also had great Disney showmanship, and really did his best to give everyone around him that Disney feeling. So, I did some quick editing with some Main Street photos I took, so now I can present the first of many (possibly!) WEBmikey Clips! I have several ideas for short little videos like this, and it's nice to keep up my iMovie skills, too, so hopefully this first video won't be the last. Watch video: Rod Miller on Main Street Labels: disney, videos
Sunny Saturday, rainy Sunday
9.11.2005 2:15 PM \| Link	This is the first rainy day Austin has seen in a while, and it makes me want to relax and watch anime all day (I've watched three episodes of Gatchaman already!). Yesterday was sunny, though, so I did lots of shopping - I finally bought some new sheets for my bed (since my parents are coming to visit soon), and I think these are the first new sheets I can remember buying in the past five years at least (probably longer). I also went to all my usual stores in the mall, and while I was in a game shop I heard the best news - DDR Extreme 2 comes out later this month! I'm sure everyone on DDR Freak has been talking about it for months, but I haven't checked the site recently, so I feel stupid that I didn't already know! Anyway, it's definitely time for some fresh DDR, since I've been playing more often lately (25 songs yesterday, in fact), so I can't wait! (That's my DDR girlfriend Alice in the picture, by the way!) My pal Matt made a request for a little movie of my 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea water globe to catch some of the exciting pulsating squid action! Well, it's not that exciting, but I threw a QuickTime movie together anyway (just shot with my regular camera's movie mode). You are basically seeing the bottom of the squid where his mouth is, which is a "beak" (and some squids really do have beaks, I think). Sometimes on the left side you can see part of an eyeball, but mainly it's just a bunch of tentacle suckers and the beak. Of course, I had to add the original movie soundtrack, which is a great score! Watch movie Labels: videos
Mickeys and memorials
4.26.2005 7:22 PM \| Link	Sorry for the short break in WEBmikey posts recently - I was on a quick vacation with my parents in Washington DC! I've been taking Mom & Dad on a few fun trips a year, and since they hadn't been to DC in over 12 years, we thought it would be a nice city to visit together. We managed to take in just about every tourist location on the map (minus the art galleries), which included several things I hadn't seen before, such as the Capitol (my first time on the tour), the National Archives, and the World War II Memorial. We also were lucky to be in the city while the 75 InspEARations exhibit was on display - 75 different Mickey Mouse statues to celebrate Mickey's recent 75th birthday! I felt like I had a great sense of history on this trip, thinking about the actual places where I was standing and the amazing events that took place there. It was really cool to see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, too! It was also nice visiting the Air & Space Museum with Dad, since he was able to identify nearly every plane there, plus tell me stories about so many of them he had actually flown in. Mom got to see things like the Hope Diamond and the First Ladies' dresses, and I got to see the original Apple computer, so there was something for everyone to enjoy. I loved riding the Metro, too - it was so much fun figuring out where to go and how to change trains and so on. It was definitely a wonderful four-day experience! View photos: Washington DC 2005 Mickeys View photos: Washington DC 2005 Air & Space View photos: Washington DC 2005 Capitol View photos: Washington DC 2005 Memorials Watch video: Washington DC Vacation Labels: disney, family, photos, trips, videos
WDW 2004: Day 5
9.26.2004 1:27 PM \| Link	We started our last day super-early with a private fishing excursion on Seven Seas Lagoon. Our guide Dave was a lot of fun, and we caught 18 large-mouth bass in two hours - Dad had such a great time! Then we went to MGM Studios for lots of shows, including the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, the Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast, along with lunch at the Sci-Fi Dine-In. After our break we went to Epcot for dinner at Coral Reef, and then strolled around World Showcase to visit Mexico, Norway and the American Adventure, and then ended our vacation with a great view of the IllumiNations fireworks. View photos: WDW 2004 Day 5 Watch video: Fishing at Walt Disney World Labels: disney, family, photos, trips, videos
The Day Jobs live on
5.16.2004 9:27 AM \| Link	We were also marketing geniuses! We had our logo printed on matchbooks, and we left a few of them everywhere we went. Eventually they were all over town! We wanted to make T-shirts, but we realized that our dancing fans dressed much too nicely to wear them. But, they did use hankies to wipe their brows, so we had hankies make with an embroidered Day Jobs logo. I'm sure we never made a profit selling them, but it was definitely an original merchandising idea! I made lots and lots of flyers for the band, using old stock photography and coming up with goofy things to say - it was always fun showing the band my latest crazy work! Two successful years later, Dae decided to move to Los Angeles. Before he left, we spent some time in the studio to record most of our originals for posterity, and then said good bye to our founding guitarist. Around the same time, Austin's most popular swing band, The Merchants of Venus, decided to break up after five years of playing. The timing was amazing - after the Merchants' last show, Ian Case started rehearsing with us. He learned our material in no time, and the Day Jobs kept playing with almost no break at all. Ian's style was very different from Dae's, giving us a fresh feel and a new, spontaneous sound. He was instantly part of the band, and part of our close friendship as well. Several months later, Matt decided to start a new life in Japan. We debated about finding a new singer, but truthfully, all of us were a little tired from close to three years of playing, and Matt's voice was an integral part of our sound. The swing scene in Austin was also much less prominent - several swing clubs went techno, so we all saw the handwriting on the wall. We said good bye to Matt, and at the same time, said good bye to the Day Jobs as well. All of us are still close friends, and always will be - our band experience brought us together in a special way. Matt has a wonderful life in Japan with his wife Kumiko, and Dae has been a part of several music projects in Los Angeles. Ian began to study classical guitar, and now lives in New York City. Ann Marie went on to become the most serious musician of all of us, and has played more gigs with more bands than I can count (just check out her website!). Ernesto and I still play together in The Greatest American Heroes. I think all of us look back on those Day Jobs days with a special fondness - the rewards have certainly been great. View photos: Gig in the Boonies View photos: Flagship Texas Gig View photos: Finale at the Fed Watch video: Mopac Bounce Nearly five years later, we're still on the web! Part of Austin's swing history Our 1999 entry in the Chronicle's musician's register Voted the #9 swing band in the 1998-1999 Austin Music Awards! Labels: bands, pals, photos, videos
Academy Awards Party
3.24.2003 7:28 PM \| Link	I ran a webcam at my latest Academy Awards party, and just for fun I put it in time-lapse mode to film one second every five minutes. The result was pretty hilarious, so I just had to share it here. Watch video: Academy Awards Party Labels: pals, videos
Rudolph Mambo
1.26.2003 7:27 PM \| Link	My first attempt at creativity with my new camcorder! Using toys from the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer show, I put together this little stop-motion piece in about 2 hours (one to shoot, another to edit). I had more ambitious movement in mind, but the stupid cotton snow made it next to impossible to balance the figures (next time I'm using confetti snow!). Still, it's pretty fun to watch, and I got my feet wet with digital video. Watch video: Rudolph Mambo Labels: holidays, videos
Dance Dance Revolution Pals
12.10.2001 7:26 PM \| Link	One day I was browsing through my digital photos and realized that I had hundreds of shots of my friends playing DDR at various parties. So, I slapped some together into a little slide show set to the tune of "Dancing All Alone" (a favorite among my DDR crowd). Enjoy all the sock pictures! Watch video: DDR Pals Slideshow Labels: ddr, pals, videos
Target Earth
6.10.2001 7:19 PM \| Link	During the summer before I started 7th grade, I made my one and only movie - a devastating tale of global destruction brought about by a mysterious man in black who travels to earth from a blue Nerfball planet. Dad shot the whole thing on 8MM, and I was the special effects wizard who scratched laser rays onto each frame of film. Watch video: Target Earth Labels: videos
Honor Among Thieves: Tom Fleming
5.10.2001 7:18 PM \| Link	Over the course of two years worth of weekends, Tom Fleming created his incredible film noir masterpiece, Honor Among Thieves, starring just about every friend I've got (including me!). Here's the exciting trailer, featuring scenes you won't see in the movie, such as the Beetle Song and the Sleazy Bar Fly sequence (which ended up on the cutting room floor). Watch video: Honor Among Thieves Trailer Labels: videos
The Day Jobs: Mopac Bounce
4.10.2001 6:16 PM \| Link	Now that Matt is in Japan, the fabulous Day Jobs are no longer swinging. Near the apex of our earth-shattering career, we were featured on Austin Music Network and performed four songs. Here is the famous Mopac Bounce, written by Dae Kim. Watch video: The Day Jobs / Mopac Bounce Labels: bands, videos


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