iG.STUDiO: Ilya I. Gerasimenko

I am no market analyst. I would never want to be one, for that matter, so I am not. I am, however, stalked by several thoughts on the matter of yesterday's Apple's announcement of "plans to deliver models of its Macintosh computers using Intel microprocessors". The questions, which are bothering me are: 1. The Megabytes Myth. Is it just me, or somebody else remember, too, that first G4, and than G5 processors were introduced as first true 64-bit processing chips (after G5s appeared, the G4s somehow were removed from the 64-bit processing scene, anybody remember that? I am still compelled by the fact, that my iMac Flat Screen is not a 64-bit processor ANYMORE, but I understand now why it's running so slow recently. It used to be a lot faster, when it was a 64-bit. Sucks.), which are incomparably better, than whimpy Intels? From the no-market-analyst point of view, there are two explanations to this phenomenon: a) The Megabytes Myth is not a Myth, which subjectively...

At some point in my life I should, probably, stop and think about what is wrong with me. I really should. I am noticing alarming tendencies in my behavior, and I am not happy with them, tendencies. I am close to willful acknowledgement of the fact that I always try to do something I can't do for the reason one or another. The only thing that's stopping me from giving up is the amazing fact that whatever I do that I can't do, I end up actually doing. And eventually being able to. I wrote a new song (a while ago), it's already penciled into GarageBand as a bed for solos and such. The reason why I haven't recorded the sax yet is shamefully simple - I can't breathe during the melody. Design defect, so to say: I failed to leave myself a place in the tune, where I can grab some oxygen, darn it. The solution? I am working on it, for two weeks now - practicing the melody over and over. May be, next weekend I will finally be ready to record it, and stop torturing my wife...

Legend: [-] - Off key, [+] - On key In order of approximate appearance: Madonna [---] - horrible, just horrible. Some news network the next day commented: "...not sure, if John Lennon would agree with this version..." (imagine singing "Imagine" in like three different keys in a rapid succession...) Maroon5 [-] - alternative. Very. Mary J. Blidge [-] - she should apologize to Stevie for murdering his song... Bryan Williams (Beach Boys) [-] - profoundly pathetic... Norah Jones [+] - such a sweet hart, always... Gloria Estefan [+] - consistently perfect. Can't hold, not gonna. Still good. Elton John [+++] - fabulous, just fabulous. Incredible performance. Sara McLaughlin [+] Josh Groban [+] - a bit shaky, when he speaks, belting is perfect Stevie Wonder & India.Arie [+/+] - oh, look, I can sing two octaves lower, than him :) John Mayer [+?] - since he has no detectable voice, it's very hard to say if he was on or off :) Plus for the effort. And he can play ...

One tank of fuel: $25 Insurance deductible: $250 Christmas without mother-in-law: priceless. It's almost funny now, when my beloved Renegade is in the shop, I am driving a rental, and we indeed don't have to celebrate the holidays with granny, who I was supposed to bring from Cincinnati for that cheerful occasion. The trip didn't go all that well - some 80 miles south of Cleveland I hit an ice patch, lost control of the vehicle, spun across all three lanes of I-71 and bumped into guardrail. Twice. With both front and rear bumpers, don't remember the order. And, of course, I stalled, half way in the ditch, driver's side to the traffic, blocking the right lane. Am I just lucky, or am I simply not supposed to die in a car accident? That was my third time starring at the several sets of slowly approaching headlights, aimed at my vehicle, helplessly sitting on the way of the deadly flow. And, once again, somebody stopped, somebody steered away, and nothing happened. I tu...

It looks like my acoustic setup is finally complete. The sound (pun intended) difference between my old Amati Classic Super (290/2 facing, stainless steel) mouthpiece and newly acquired Otto Link Super Tone Master (10* facing, gold-plated bell metal) is impossible not to notice. It was clear enough even when I test-drove 8* about a month ago (I tried to be as objective as I could, so at the store I picked an instrument closest to mine - YTS62, and a Vandoren Traditional #3 reed), the sound was wider and fuller; that mellow fuzzy hiss I used to work so hard to produce, would come out effortlessly. Needless to say, that 10* does everything even better (I had no idea they make those, I thought 9* was the top number available), and the combination of 10* and #3 Vandoren ZZ (JaZZ) reed completely elimintated those nasty squeaks in upper register, which would pop-up once in a while, if I wasn't careful enough. Merry Christmas to me. That trip to the W 48 St. Sam Ash Manhattan Music Store...

After several months of DV abstinence, partly caused by an unprecedented attack of GarageBand eiphoria , partly - absence of footage of any value, due to rather eventless existance, I finally decided to return to the most time consuming of all of my activities, and make a movie again. Following is a short summary of the experience. I promise to keep this rant as technically oriented, as I can, in hope, that it might be of some benefit to fellow users. During nearly half of the year, which passed since my last cinematographic endevour, there were a couple of QuickTime updates, iPhoto update, and several system and security updates. Current set-up: System: Mac OS X (10.3.6) iMovie 4.0.1 iDVD 4.0.1 QuickTime 6.2 (Pro) iMac G4 800MHz 1GB RAM Good things first: audio and video ARE in synk throughout the whole 1 hour and 39 minutes of the show. I would be thrilled, if it didn't happen before, but the good thing is that it's still there. This is about it. 1. iMovie is as sl...

Now.