This is the archive, no???

Have a Good Holiday? Update on Your Secret Santa

Ah the Holidays, they start back in July according to Lewis Black, then Christmas Half Time at Thanksgiving and then overtime between Christmas and New Years.  The whole holiday season is a huge rush and then just fly on by.

Did you have a good holiday?  As you can tell from my lack of writing and the most awesomeness present, the Dodocase for my iPad, I have had a great time! It isn’t even New Year yet and things are already ramping back up for another action packed year of lighting goodness.  Look for an end-of-year recap of all the excitement and news within the industry. Don’t forget, you can still nominate lighting products that you feel deserve the 2010 Best Lighting Product of the Year Award!

As for the Secret Santa Present Exchange… Have you figured WHO your Secret Santa is? I know a couple of people are behind getting their present out.  It’s understandable, we are busy people!  Now, I have heard from one person, Dean Palmer Jr., about his present.  I’ll let Dean tell you about it on his blog. What has everyone else received?  Dieing to know who your Secret Santa is? Check in below and let everyone know what you got and who you think your Secret Santa is.  We might have to wait till after the new year to announce who every one’s Secret Santa is.

Only a couple more days left in 2010.  Make sure to end it with a bang!  Have a safe and bright New Year everyone!

The Best Holiday Present – The DodoCase for the iPad

I think I am still in recovery mode from this past weekend.  Let’s just say it was a “festive” time!  I have to write about one of the best presents I received this holiday season, the DodoCase for the iPad. I was actually expecting to get this, but I never give my hope up when it comes to presents. But I am so excited I did get it!

As you might expect, I live and die by my Apple iPad and iPhone as well as my Mac’s.  I find that I use the iPad more and more while out of the office giving demo’s, explaining what I do and showing off my work as well as doing work! Heck, I use it a bunch while in the office and at home too.

With a nice price tag on the iPad, I want to protect it and keep it around for a bit so I have had a couple of cases for the iPad.  All of which have protected the iPad, but just didn’t feel right to me. That is until I found out about the DodoCase.

I have always loved MoleSkine books for writing, drafting and sketching. The look, the feel and the various sizes and kinds of paper choices is awesome.  There is literately a MoleSkine for every application that you can think of. But none for the iPad! In steps Dodocase out of San Fransisco.

Each Dodocase is made by hand by skilled book binders and offer the feel and styling of a MoleSkine case.  There isn’t much to the Dodocase other then the fact that it is a finely crafted case that the iPad “snaps” into.  The wooden frame that the iPad snuggle fits into holds the iPad in place with rubber pads on each of the corners.  The bamboo frame is cut away on the edges allowing for access to the dock connection, speakers, volume controls, silence switch, the sleep button and of course, the head phone jack.

What drew me to the Dodocase… it has to be the fact that the iPad is firmly held in place with out the use of stretchy cords over the corners or slipped into a “pocket” of some sort. Then of course there is the styling that make it look like a Moleskine case complete with the elastic band to hold the cover closed. When the cover is folded back, the Dodocase give the iPad a little bit of lift in the back when in landscape mode, a bit easier when typing.  Then there is the ability to stand the iPad on edge when in landscape mode for watching movies, and added bonus!

All and all, I love the Dodocase.  It is a stylish case that I have been searching for my iPad ever since I got it back on iPad day this year. The inner lining of the Dodocase comes in a couple of color options, I clearly chose orange! Dodocase also make a case for the Kindle 3 as well! If you have an iPad, love Moleskine books, spend the $59.95 USD on a Dodocase, I am positive you’ll love it just as much as I do!

Find out more about the Dodocase for iPad by visiting their web site at www.dodocase.com. Thanks Renee, I LOVE IT!

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Kick Your Morning & Show Off Right With Q5000 Coffee from @StageLightinc

I love arriving home to find packages on my door step.  The best ones are those that I didn’t expect!  Everyone loves opening up a present, even an envelope with a hand craft note saying someone is thinking about you.  Yes, Olivia, my birthday card still takes center stage on the fridge and I smile every morning I see it.

Enough about my sappy ways… I have to hand it to Stagelight.  First, they get me a present, which you guys really didn’t have too, but it is so appreciated! Second, they got me right in my coffee loving heart. They sent me their SELF BRANDED coffee, Q5000 Roast.

Just from the front package, it looks awesome!  Then reading the description on the back: “When you’ve programmed 5000 cues, it’s time for a special coffee…”, thus Q5000. I love it! So creative!

After a bit of laughing and just pure glee of receiving such an awesome gift, I noticed the front… It’s a cue stack! And guess what the label/Note is for Q5000 – RESTORE TO FULL. AWESOME, I love it! Of course, it is Roasted @ FULL, yet another delightful pun!

This is a huge shot out and thank you to all of you at Stagelight for putting a twinkle in my eye this holiday season! Thank you so much! Happy holidays and a bright New Year to each of you.

Now for a bit of plug… Want to try Q5000 Roast out for yourself?  Stagelight has the coffee in stock and available on their web site for $11 USD for 16oz of whole bean coffee.  Stagelight also has another blend, Focus Blend at the same, $11 USD for 16oz of whole bean coffee.

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The Living Christmas Tree – Riverdale Baptist Church

I love the holiday season! The cold crisp air, the festive mood that everyone is in and of course the LIGHTS! driving down my block each night coming home is always a treat to see the houses lite up to celebrate the season.  Then there are the houses that put their lights to music and put on a show, I love it! It just makes me so happy to see everyone playing with light and bringing cheer to everyone.

Another thing I love about this time of year are Living Christmas Trees.  No I am not talking about a douglas fir coming to life and spreading needles all over the place.  I’m talking about huge theatrical style shows that employs vast amounts of string lights, dimmers, midi control and carolers singing within a tree.

I had the pleasure of being invited to the Living Christmas Tree, (LCT) at Riverdale Baptist Church in Upper Marlboro, Maryland the other weekend.  The LCT was a two and a half hour show which included the choir singing Christmas Carols accompanied by a full orchestra and an adaptation of Charles Dicken’s, A Christmas Carol called The Gospel According to Scrooge.

The LCT lighting was designed by Riverdale’s resident Lighting designer and iSquint Columnist, John Hathcock. There is a reason you have not seen any new columns from John on iSquint as of late due to the vast amount of time that he dedicated to this design.  Not only did he have to design and program lights from the drama, but the caroling and the Living Christmas Tree as well.

Then entire rig, consisting of 22 various types of moving lights, 20 LED fixtures, 36 source fours, 12 source four pars, snow machines, Aquafoggers, a hazer and over 50,000 string lights, was all controlled of an ETC Ion with midi time control.  In the end, John used over 800+ cues on the Ion to control the entire rig for the 2.5 hour show.

The highlight of the show for me had to be the beginning of the show.  When you walk into the worship center, I was taken back just how large of a production this is.  Center stage is the Living Christmas Tree that held all 85 members of the choir. Then off to either side was the stages where the drama was to take place. Down front, the 35+ member orchestra. While finding my seat and taking all of this in and gushing at the size of the rig over head, the four Cyberlights are slowly sweeping the audience with snow flakes. It’s at this point, I knew I was in for a good light show.

The first hour of the Living Christmas Tree was the choir singing from the LCT with the orchestra. John used his rig to it’s fullest, saturating the space with colors, textures from gobos and various movements that moved with the songs. Added to all of this was the Living Christmas Tree… AMAZING! You may have seen string lights dance to music before, but nothing compares to a Living Christmas Tree lights dancing along with a live choir, orchestra and moving lights.  It still boggles my mind how much time and effort was spend just on the string lights in order for them to move with each song.

From there was the start of the drama, The Gospel according to Scrooge.  We all know the story of Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol and how Scrooge is visited by three spirits on the eve of Christmas and finds the true meaning of Christmas.  The Gospel According to Scrooge follows the same lines but finds God along the way.

After the show, I got a chance to see back stage of the Living Christmas Tree.  It was amazing to see how 85 choir members filled up the tree.  They were so tightly packed together! Then of course all the wire and dimmers connecting the tree lights… I just hope a lamp doesn’t go out, I have a hard enough time trying to fix a string on my own Christmas tree, I can’t imagine how to find a dead lamp on the Living Christmas Tree!

I had a wonderful time at the show! Everything from the lights to the singing and drama really set the mood for a wonderful holiday season.  A huge thank you to Riverdale Baptist Church and John for inviting Renee and I to the Living Christmas Tree this year.  We had a great time and look forward to the 25th anniversary next year!

Lighting Gear:

  • 36 Source 4 Lekos, various degrees
  • 12 Source 4 PAR EA’s
  • 8 HES Studio Colors
  • 6 Elation Design Spot 300 Pro’s
  • 4 Elation Design Spot 250 Pro’s
  • 4 HES Cyberlights
  • 1 Reel eFX DF-50 Hazer
  • 4 Antari S-200 Snow Machines
  • 10 Elation ELED 60 Strip lights
  • 10 ColorKey 10MM Led PAR’s
  • 2 Altman Satellite Followspots
  • 3 Rental CTI Aquafogger 3300’s

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2010 Secret Santa Present Exchange

It’s the holiday season!!! Let’s start a new tradition this year, a Secret Santa Present Exchange for lampies/squints!  We are going to keep it simple this year, only $5 can be sent on a present.  Just enough to show a fellow lighting guru some love this holiday season.

If you want to be apart of the Secret Santa Present exchange, shot an email to secretsanta@isquint.net with your name, country of origin and email address.  Hurry and get your email in before Tuesday, December 14th. First thing Wednesday, December 15th, I’ll be emailing everyone who they are a Secret Santa for.  That will give you the rest of the week to make/get a special little something for your person.

I highly encourage the home made present as everyone loves to receive something with some special care put behind the present and made especially for them. I personally LOVE getting handmade cards as I know that person was thinking of me and made it just for me.

I will try to keep everyone to the same country as best possible as sending something across country boarders is a little expensive. As with all personal and sensitive information, it will never be shared across other sites or sold to mailing list.  Your information will only be shared with your Secret Santa and that is it!

Let’s make this a special holiday for everyone! HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Oh man, I am getting so excited!  It’s noon here on the right coast, Santa just rolled down 34th St. and the Turkey is in the oven smelling up the place to where I can’t wait for dinner!  I am so thankful for such a great year, a wonderful wife, a fantastic family and of course all of you guys! Friends and family are so important to me and I consider each one of you apart of that group and thus are important to me.  I have something pretty big coming up next month that I think is so exciting and going to be so much fun.  For now though, put down the computer and spend time with family and friends.  We spend enough time together online, we’ll catch up tomorrow! ;)

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful holiday season everyone!

© 2020 Justin Lang Design, All rights reserved.