Shout Out to the Ian's Realm Saga! :D

Dianne Lynn Gardner, whom I am proud to call my friend, has stirred up the artist community to implement visual and auditory works in the bringing to life of her book. This is on top of her marvelous illustrations!

The first two books in the saga she wrote are; Deception Peak, and The Dragon Shield. Rubies & Robbers is in progress right now. Here are the covers of the three books:

When Dianne writes these incredible young adventure novels she does more than just write them, she illustrates them by painting on canvas. The three book covers above are just examples of her artistry. And if that wasn't enough, she takes these books one step further, by bringing them to life with film and music.

The best example of this is, if you have followed my blog, the video I posted a couple months ago for The Dragon Shield. Here it is again for those of you interested in watching it:

One of the large costs involved with her advertising in video is paying for the production services, filming, singing, and music. In the production of this video you have the following people who get paid to consider;
~ Actors
~ Props
~ Vocalist & Instrumentals: Lexa Rose
~ Filming & Editing: Myself
~ Advertising The Video
~ Driving to Locations
~ Other Misc. Costs (food, etc.)

The point here is that Dianne wants the reading community to help with an even bigger artistic task. This is what is exciting, Dianne wants to partner with Lexa Rose to create an album to go with the series! And on top of that she is looking for my help to bring the next book trailer to life, which would be awesome!

Her KickStarter campaign is going great so far, and if you would be interested in helping out with her endeavor she offers really nice bonuses like e-books and actual copies of the book. If you look in the sidebar of my blog you should see a widget that currently shows the progress of her campaign. From there you can click over to the website, I know she, myself, and everyone involved appreciates the support in bringing this art into the world as a visual and audio masterpiece!

It is a lot of fun to make and produce, and when you enjoy the work, it is that much more worth it!

Thank you for reading on behalf of everyone involved with the Ian's Realm Saga, we appreciate the large amount of community support!

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Check back later this month, I will have a post coming out about my idea regarding a sustainable restaurant! Just an idea right now, but that is where all things start!


Thank you for reading,

Alex Chandler

The Hamburger; A History and New Conception

If you don't already know, cooking is one of my favorite aspects of life, and the hamburger is something I recently became unable to eat. You may or may not already know, but recently I cut gluten out of my diet, this was mostly for health reasons. Since then I have discovered the delicacy of hamburgers wrapped in lettuce with all the fixings inside, it is so good! If you get crunchy fresh iceberg lettuce it is absolutely amazing: better then a hamburger if you ask me.

For that reason, today I will be sharing with you the history of the hamburger and my new approach to the classic hamburger.

Before we get into the history of the hamburger it would be best to understand what it looks like in the American society today. Currently we view the hamburger as a very "American" creation, whether we know the history of the burger or not, that is how we see it.
Another fascinating look is how we consume burgers, and what they mean. While the burger can be seen as fancy food, most often it is viewed as the fast food Whopper, Quarter Pounder, 3x3 Animal Style, or the other various names given by restaurants like Wendy's, Carls Jr., and Jack in the Box. In 1985 one in every six trips to a restaurant ended at a McDonalds (Chow).

Personally, and you probably have the same view, but my favorite hamburger is from that nice restaurant, that serves a nice cut of meat, battered in beer and grilled, then topped with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onions, and secret sauce on a toasted bun with large steak fries and a cold ginger ale (or root beer if you are into that kind of thing).

Anyway you like your burger there is a little bit of predictability involved, especially in regards to fast food restaurants. The burger will be prepared to your liking no matter where you go, within reason: when I worked at Burger King we had a group of teenage girls come in asking for ridiculous toppings, like heart-cut pickles and star-cut cheese...we didn't fulfill that request. But if you wanted a Double Whopper with cheese, it is made the same, every time: predictability.
While this predictability is nice for the customer, the way fast food is prepared has been effected by this desire for predictability (Ritzer). One way this is obviously seen is in the meat, processed patties cooked by machines. I will give credit to In-N-Out where they cook their patties by hand.
Another aspect that has been affected specifically in fast food, is quantity over quality (Ritzer). Can you get one or two patties for a dollar? There is no surprise that fast food burgers are not 100% beef, they can't afford to be. Although, have you ever had a Wendy's burger? What they call a patty might be a flimsy cut of beef, but it is 100% beef. Wendy's receives props for that.

This is the Wendy's Bacon Bleu Burger.

Alright Alex, now where did the hamburger originate? Alright, the origin is highly debated, this is because it was originally two slices of bread with hamburg steak in the middle. Going from there I can tell you that the Oxford Dictionary defined hamburg steak in 1802 as salt beef (Chow). Salt beef at that time is much like the Salisbury Steak of our time. In other words, salt beef is not like beef jerky, it had a sauce to it.
The website Chow, makes first note of claim to inventing the hamburger by Charles Nagreen in 1885 when he put fried ground meat between two pieces of bread so that people attending his fair could walk and eat. In 1892 another fair owner claims to have invented the hamburger when he was running low on sausage and decided to grind it up and put it in-between bread. There are more people who claim to have invented the hamburger, but in all honesty it sounds more like a rip off than anything, used to stretch the supply of beef.

Fast Food Burger Restaurants: According to Chow
White Castle starts in Kansas, 1921, selling burgers at 5 cents.
Rite Spot Restaurant in California starts selling cheeseburgers in 1924.
McDonald brothers open a streamlined version of their former burger stand in California, 1948.
In-N-Out opens up in California, 1948.
Jack in the Box opens up in California, 1951.
Burger King is founded in Florida, 1954.
Carls Jr. is founded in California, 1956.
Wendy's is founded in 1969 to compete with McDonald's.

Key Points In History:
A hamburger is featured in a Popeye comic in 1931 setting the Hamburger in American culture.
In-N-Out install the a drive thru speaker system in 1948, creating the drive thru as we know it today.
McDonald's first franchise in 1954 for $950.
Burger King launches the signature Whopper in 1957.
White Castle sells billionth burger in 1961.
McDonald brothers sell McDonald's for $2.7 Million dollars to Ray Croc in 1961.
Filet-O-Fish was created for Catholic customers in 1962.
Ronald McDonald is introduced in 1963.
Big Mac is introduced in 1968.
White Castle sells 2 billionth burger in 1968.
First Veggie Burger is created in London, 1982,
In-N-Out starts printing bible verses on their cups and burger wrappers in 1987.
Worlds Largest Hamburger is created, weighing 5520 pounds at the 1989 Burger Fest in Wisconsin.
In-N-Out's "secret" menu is revealed in a 2002 New York Times article.
Bunless Burgers reemerge in 2003 dubbed "low carb" burgers.

The first sighting of bread-less sandwiches was around the time of the Great Depression, when people who couldn't afford bread switched to lettuce and cheaper alternatives (Olver). At this point in time the no-bread aspect of life was out of necessity, but recently there have been more bread-less sandwiches available on the market, like In-N-Out's "Protein Style."

In-N-Out: Protein Style

While the idea of a bread-less diet can be necessary for some individuals, for many it is a way to eat less carbohydrates. You may consider taking the "Protein Style" next time you are having a burger, because they really are healthier and quite tasty.
One of the best parts about eating these types of burgers is the crunchy, juicy, ice-berg lettuce that makes all the flavors unite in harmony. If you get a chance, try one of these delicacies, and remember some of the history and development of the hamburger, and then come back to my blog and tell me how it was.

Thanks for your time reading.


Alex D. Chandler




Sources:

 Chow. "The Hamburger Through Time." Web. 12 Feb 2013. < http://www.chow.com/food-news/54564/the-hamburger-through-time/ >.

 Ritzer, George. The McDonaldization of Society. Blackwell Publishing, 1983. Print.

 Olver, Lynne. "The Food Timeline: Sandwhiches." . The Food Timeline. Web. 12 Feb 2013. < http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodsandwiches.html#breadless >.

Directionalization; Where to go....

Working at the Sony Booth giving people
information on products, lots of fun!


     

Howdy all you fine folks,

First of all, complete side note, if you haven't looked into this Greek artist her music is completely interesting: Joker's Daughter. Funny and unique sound. But if you would prefer something a little different look up Camera Obscura's album Underachievers Please Try Harder, silly calming album I've been listening to lately: they are from Scotland if that makes it at all more interesting.

Well today is some huge football game, I'm going for the food...granted having finally cut out gluten it's hard to find great party noms. But it will be fun with friends. Right now I'm ignoring this list of homework; 2 math readings, 1 math homework, sociology discussion board, hour long video for sociology...and some small stuff for my Econ. class. Due tonight! Woohoo.

More importantly I'm in the face-off of where to go with my future. Film is fun, but again it is a hobby. I'll do it when called upon, not for money though, for the fun. And if I had to do it professionally again I would like to get paid a little more respectively; but that's cause I am picky.

It breaks down like this, minimum of one hour working with the author deciding how they want the video done. Of course, I am willing to give free quotes, etc. But then it's, "it would be nice if you read it." Actually this one guy's book looked interesting, but if it was ever a career I can't just read every project. So then finally I have to put the video together, and I like working with actual film not just pictures. But can you imagine being asked to go into the field after all this discussion and get some footage, and put it all together with one special effect for $50. It just comes down to, will I work for under $5/hour...no.

Looking at this idea that has been floating in my mind; a gluten free restaurant, and friendly to vegans. It has a lot of potential, but then it is 'location, location, location.' Working on the location of it, considering downtown Tacoma by the University of Washington campus area. What is freaky is that this is only 16 months away. Yet it feels so far away..."senioritis" is kicking in, and I am only in my junior year of college.

Freaky truth: I have never had an experience of senioritis before. I went from sophomore in high school  to freshman in college, and now I'm a junior in college, kind of exciting!

Question for the readers: what do you think of the clicky photos on the right? I want to get an updated HTML/CSS code to make them a little more fun. If you have any thoughts or if you liked them, feel free to let me know. :)

Dianne had me make some edits to her video...I tried a couple little sneaky things, rather than being stuck with a non-hd video I used a fake HD. Basically I exported it as HD knowing that Premiere Pro can improve the quality of low quality footage. Still doesn't look like HD to anyone who pays attention, otherwise it looks fine still. The only big issue is the book covers at the end of the video which I am disappointed in: of course I just realized an easy fix for that.
Pretty much the video edits were to make the video make more sense and clean it up to prepare it for advertising. The shield in the cave was removed, and the doll was made to look less like a ghost in the first appearance. And then the credits were changed to match a Youtube schematic that Dianne and I will be adding this evening. Here is the new video if you care to take a look: we will be removing the first one from the public tonight:

If you have suggestions for improvement on the video I would enjoy hearing your thoughts.

Well I have to get ready for the day, thank you for reading, and I hope everyone has a great week (including those who read this sometime in the distant future)!

Sincerely,

Alex Chandler

The Dragon Shield Book Trailer

    It has been far too long since I gave all of you an update, I apologize. Hear is a 30 second commercial of what happened since my last post. Rolled my car, concussion for a few weeks, during finals, which was terrible. Finished my Associates of Arts & Science, and now I'm at ASU pursuing a Bachelors of Science; Management Entrepreneurship. Created the book trailer below professionally for an adult writer and artist friend. Now I am starting to do contracted work for Eggroll Creative & PR, my position is Film & Media Specialist. And on top of that I'm starting to do small jobs for people. What?? How did this happen? Partial dream starting to come true, well that's how it seems anyway.

    The author, Dianne Lynn Gardner, wrote The Dragon Shield which is the second book in the series of The Ian's Realm Saga. The first book, Deception Peak, came out in 2012, this one will be released in February.
     In the first book trailer, for the first book, I did the voice acting. I've posted the video underneath this. Pretty much, I was completely shocked what they did to my voice. Until I saw it again about a month ago and I understood and appreciated what they had done. If you can't tell they have taken my voice and made it sound like a young teenager; which was shocking, until I really considered who I was voice acting for, and how much sense that made.

    This video was not edited or filmed by me, the gal who worked on this did a pretty good job in terms of what I have learned about the programs she was using and her experience.
    The big difference seen in the process of creating these two visuals is in their nature. Deception Peak's trailer was based on vocals and what was seen. While The Dragon Shield's trailer was based on flowing with the song, and using the words to portray ideas of the film; hence the needed subtitles.
    This difference made the making of The Dragon Shield Book Trailer a lot of fun, it was slightly abstract, and portrayed ideas to grab your interest and wonder while knowing that you needed more knowledge to fully understand exactly what was going on, but if you had read the first book it would make much more sense.

    There were some mistakes I made, one that couldn't be helped once I realized it, and the other I thought had been fixed already. The one mistake I can't believe happened was that the video quality was tiny in comparison to the full HD footage it was shot in. What had happened was that I had started with some pictures and clips from Dianne that I was messing around with before the filming, and so I had started to create a framework for the footage. I subsequently imported the footage, made plenty of major adjustments (like bringing the footage down to size, which I should have picked up on). I only realized the mistake when I was going to export and I noticed the quality of the clips was not high definition. Super disappointing!
    Two editing mistakes occurred that I thought were fixed when I exported, the first being the clip of the boy in white running off, it was supposed to be in 80% speed to cover up the ending of the previous clip and match the pace of the song. And the other was with the Dragon Shield flashing in the cave. It was more of a short flicker than whatever you might call it as it appeared. I think some mistake between AE and PP with Adobe Bridge occurred as I had seen a few issues like that earlier in the work day.
    But in the end I am very proud of the job, fairly well done, those small mistakes have yet to be pointed out to me by fellow mates, so until this trailer gets a TV slot it will be as is.
 
    One might ask, how did you get the job for filming and editing the trailer Alex? If such a question was asked I would say something like this. One day in November Dianne contacted me asking if I had a singer friend who could sing in a almost Celtic sounding voice. I said, I think so, let me ask around. I contacted an old acquaintance I knew to have a wonderful talent in singing, her name is Lexa Rose. I asked if she wanted the job, and she got it. With Dianne's poem they were able to create that wonderful 'Ballad of The Dragon Shield.' Which became the centerpiece of the video trailer.
    Then I was asked by Dianne to film and edit the trailer and I happily took on the project.

    If you would prefer to visit The Ian's Realm Saga on Facebook, click that link.


    Personally I'm still working on an old project that I hope I will release this year as it was filmed about two years ago, but it will be pretty good when it comes out, not worth the wait though, but still good. Anyway, hope everyone has a great week!

Thanks for reading,

Alex D Chandler