As a typical 30-something Sydney-dwelling male I find myself focusing more on my expanding love handles a wee bit more than is healthy. Tsunamis batter coasts, battles rage in small African countries and WWIII is threatening to kick-off – but ‘oh no’, my waistline is what bothers my tumbling mind as I cycle to work in my dayglo spandex.

Like most students I brewed my own knock-out ale at Uni. One pint of my ‘Doug’s Porter’ would set up our night nicely… that is if you made it out the front door due to the temporary ethanol-related blindness.

Twenty (20) years later I decide it’s time to brew again. Of course, we didn’t have computers or t’internet 20 years ago, so these days it’s MUCH easier to source the equipment you need.

I bought a brew kit from a homebrew company over the net, but it’s probably easier for you just to pop to BigW and buy a Coopers Pale kit. All the basics are included; brew barrel, thermometer, hydrometer, bottles etc. Around $80 from memory.

Now let’s do the math. Coopers brew kit will make 25 litres of potable beer (3 out of 4 mates couldn’t tell the difference to real Coopers) – that’s roughly 3 cartons, which would set you back well over $100.

So you’re already in the black after making your first ‘warm-up’ beer.

Now, getting back to my ever-increasing girth…

I’ve been cutting out gluten and lactose from my diet. No particular reason, apart from I live in the Eastern Suburbs and read somewhere that as I’m Blood Type A I should only eat pulses and drink filtered water. While polishing my number plate one day I had what can only be described as a Eureka moment… “gluten-free beer”.

Naturally I told as many mates as possible about my new unique idea PRIOR to researching on t’internet – most had never heard of GF beer, and said they’d be interested in it, if I ever got to make this magical elixir. Unfortunately after approximately 10 seconds on Google, I found it not to be so unique.

I headed here for my homebrew kit, around $55 for the malt, hops, yeast and instructions:

http://www.brewerschoice.com.au/online-shop/gluten-free-products.html

There’s nothing quite like brewing your own beer on your stove top, stirring in the hops and stinking the house out – Stace loved it!

I first brewed their Gluten Free Honey Cascade Ale – was fantastic, although I’d put half the amount of honey in next time. A wee bit too sweet for my tastes.

Am currently brewing their Gluten Free Golden Ale – will report back with the findings! Warning, though, the brew takes longer than your standard homebrew – roughly 6 weeks to prime in the bottle (as opposed to 2 weeks for standard brew kits).

For the fair-weather drinkers out there who managed to get through that initial ramble, but have no interest in homebrewing, you can just buy gluten-free beer for around $70-$80 a carton:

http://www.billabongbrewing.com.au/

http://www.obrienbrewing.com.au/

And as it’s gluten-free you can drink twice as much…

We can discuss the pros and cons of flickering glasses, increased ‘event’ movie tickets and conversion process vs. shooting 3D until the cows come home (subject for another blog methinks)… but if the studios and networks want you to have 3D, then by Jove, you’ll pay for it (wait, you thought you had a say in this?!).

So, as someone who creates content and, in the end, just wants as many people to see it as possible, wouldn’t it make sense to start creating this content in 3D, even if your delivery format is still just lowly 2D? Remember the days when it was OK to shoot in Standard Def? …or am I just showing my age here?

Future-proof your content… cover your bases… floss your teeth.

I’m quite happy to stand on my orange box and make a fool of myself – if you’re in the market for a new camera, invest in 3D.  If you’re shooting a doco about mating toads, shoot it in 3D. If you’re shooting your mother-in-law’s 3rd wedding, shoot it in 3D. If you’re shooting an unnecessary sequel to a cricket slasher, shoot it in 3D.

Sure, there are differences in how you’d frame a shot, lens use, depth of focus, lighting etc  – but why let that get in the way of discussing some sweet new kit?

I’ll talk about editing software and monitor/glasses technology another time, but would first like to ogle some nice 3D cameras, if you don’t mind. But suffice to say, the tech is there, and it’s quite reasonable. Worst case? Use an intermediate codec to convert your 3D footage into anaglyph 3D in your NLE and chuck on a pair of old school 3D glasses. Cheap, done, moving on…

First up, Panasonic with their “fully-integrated Full HD 3D solid-state camcorder”, the AG-3DA1. Approx U.S. List Price $21,000.

Weighing in at around 3 kgs, the AG-3DA1 is equipped with dual lenses and two full 1920 x 1080 2.07 megapixel 3-MOS imagers to record 1080/60i, 50i, 30p, 25p and 24p (native) and 720/60p and 50p in AVCHD. It can record for up to 180 minutes on dual 32GB SD cards in Panasonic’s professional AVCHD PH mode, and offers professional interfaces including dual HD-SDI out, HDMI (version 1.4), two XLR connectors, built-in stereo microphone and twin-lens camera remotes. Phew.

They also state that “the twin-lens system adopted in the camcorder’s optical section allows the convergence point to be adjusted”, well I should hope so, otherwise the 3D wouldn’t be so hot.

Next up, Sony’s slighty more pro-looking entry (and we know how important that is to clients!), the PMW-TD300. Approx U.S. List Price $33,000 (sharp in-take of breath included).

The PMWTD300 is listed as a professional 3D shoulder camcorder with a highly compact body. Surely if was highly compact, then I wouldn’t have to shoulder mount, no?

Size quibbles aside, the stable shooting style would improve the 3D image captured, so I’ll eat my words. It does look pretty nice and although I’ve touched neither camera – you can be fairly sure it would out-perform the Panasonic, and so it should for $12,000 more.

And finally, the cheap low budget indie grindhouse alternative. Strap 2 x Canon 5D MkII’s to a 3D-BS MINI RIG (beam-splitter). Approx U.S. List Price $9,000 ($6000 for a couple of 5D kits and another $3000 for the Rig).

OK, so by far the most affordable option.. If you happen to already own a couple of Canon 5D (or 7D, or similar small HDV camera) – then this rig might be just perfect for you.

But really the cons out-weight the pros… the size (it’s as bulky as an Austrian weight-lifter), issues with sync’ing the footage from 2 different camera, manual adjustment of convergence points.

This jury’s out at the moment, though. If I already had 2 identical cameras and a lazy $3,000 sitting around, I’d get the rig to play around with. If I had a lazy $33,000, then I’d probably be drinking cocktails in Hawaii and not even writing this blog.

Til next time… start saving your pennies.

Cutting to the chase, here’s a few of my fave Aussie blogs – click, learn, discuss, argue, comment:

Gary Hayes – Gary is an award winning multi-platform producer, author, educator and Director. He runs MUVEDesign.com and recently founded the global StoryLabs.us – growing innovative multi-platform, hybrid media productions.

Laurel Papworth – Laurel is one of Australia’s top social media strategist, a renowned keynote speaker and respected thought leader on the business of being social.

Stacey Edmonds – Stacey’s current role is Head of Film & Digital at Be Learning. She recently graduating with an Advanced Diploma in Multi-Platform Screen Production and her debut feature film is currently airing on Showtime and has been released worldwide on DVD.

Problogger – A blog about blogging? Genius. much like a ‘Get Rich Quick’ book that teaches you how to release your own ‘Get Rich Quick’ book in order to get rich… presumably quickly.

That reminds me, I must resurrect my www.naturalbornbloggers.com website – yes, a blog about blogs. How meta of me.

All you need is an old LCD monitor, a spare crappy netbook, some plywood and a large hammer (oh, and about $75 of gear from an online arcade parts supplier).

Learn from my mistakes, as all is to be revealed shortly! So tune in for a step by step guide to building your own Barcade for your man-cave.

My Sony Z1 served me well over the years, and at the time was one of the best prosumer HDV cameras out there (we shot The Runs on the Z1). Today the faux progressive recording mode and pre-2011 aesthetics render it useless.

I’ve spied a few short films and training videos shot on Canon EOS 5D Mark II – I know these DSLR have their detractors (rotating shutters and crashing due to heat I hear most often)… but the footage these give you at this price point is nice.

So, the latest rumour (US keyboards seem to be missing a ‘u’ I notice from my www travels) is that the Canon 5D Mark III will be released mid-year, and have the following specs:

• 26.4 million effective pixels
• ISO expandable to 102,400
• 19 point AF system, 3 cross-type points
• DIGIC 5
• 4.9 fps continuous shooting
• 63-zone iFCL metering
• 1.04 million dot LCD
• Improved camera grip
• Improved pentaprism, approximately 100% frame coverage
• released mid-year

No word on new video codecs or HD output while recording video, and that, I wager, is what most prospective Mark III owners will be gagging for.

Will it out-do the RED Scarlet? Will it be that much better than the 7D? Will it make your screenplay better? We’ll have to wait and see.

More here when it’s leaked!

At Brain-TED, Douglas John Bainbridge Edmonds Turner demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data — including a deep dive holistic look at his CommonSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper “newspaper.”

In an unpromoted self-moderated webcam Q&A, Turner says he’ll open-source the idea behind CommonSense, to open its possibilities to all.

Ladies and Gentlemen… I bring you Brain-TED: CommonSense.

Now, just to set the record straight, I haven’t seen the new Michael Bay/Platinum Dunes/New Line/Rorschach Nightmare on Elm Street… nor do I want to. From all reports, SPOILERS!, there’s no Englund, no nudity and no fun.

The original NOES taught me at an early age that you could indeed pee yourself from laughing and sh!t yourself from fear AT THE SAME TIME. No other horror franchise has achieved that. My jocks can testify.

Brief history lesson (albeit made up) for the uninitiated, Platinum Dunes:

Well, it’s been another 18 months and another release… was it worth the wait I hear you type?

Yes and no is the answer…

Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium Upgrade from CS4

Having used 6, 6.5 Pro 1 through CS3 – I was wondering what more could be done.

Edit Apr 2011:

Nearly a year down the line from this very short test post, and I can quite honestly say that there ain’t a huge amount of difference between CS3 and CS5. OK, so they’ve fixed some stuff – but it still edits and it still crashes.

I hope that Final Cut Pro X still edits and crashes less – then we’ll have a fight on our hands again. Remind me again… who’s Avid?