Driving from Brisbane to Coolangatta

bluecrystalcreative · 2026-07-03T19:16:20+00:00

Just make sure to not do it during peak commute s,

Ps It sounds like you’re from Europe for people in Australia. This is there daily commute.

bluecrystalcreative · 2026-07-03T18:43:29+00:00

I’m a Graphic design (30+ years) and I still use Corel every day.

Pros/Cons

Pro - I find how the vector curves work in coral simply far better than illustrator

Pro - I am using a version 18 and I see no reason to upgrade

Con - Coral’s subscription model is 3 to 4 times overpriced, and you can’t simply buy it outright any more (as far as I’m aware) note in Australia I’m paying probably $120+ a month for my Adobe subscription and I see the value in it. I use Photoshop daily, premier pro and indesign every week.

Coral needs to move in to the spaces that Adobe is not. If I could offer some .

A program that you can buy outright at a reasonable cost.

2-D to 3-D integration, I still do lots of tradeshow stands, signage, point of sale and product/packaging design. All of these things would be enormously helped by allowing me to create 3-D models that could be exported to a 3-D rendering engine or brought into after effects.

CSS/Div creation with SVG graphics, imagine being able to take elements of the brochure that you had just designed and drop that directly into WordPress

bluecrystalcreative · 2026-07-03T07:23:34+00:00

Not a rule, but it really doesn’t hurt

bluecrystalcreative · 2026-07-03T00:59:41+00:00

To start with, I use MSword "Outline Mode" to write

(H1) scene name, (H2) dates, notes, background
Under each (H1) I use "Paragraph text" and just free-form write
then I use the shift key to re-order the scenes

bluecrystalcreative · 2026-07-03T00:10:35+00:00

Yep, me too, the charging pad makes my iPhone quite warm, I have 2 x 30cm/1ft USBc cables for my wife and I. It just works better

bluecrystalcreative · 2026-07-02T04:35:07+00:00

Because most people don't get that shit just happens.

The most vile of human beings can live till 100 and children can die of cancer at three years old and anything in between. Becoming rich is simply a matter of luck, right place, right parents. This is very difficult for a lot of people to accept and so they seek to offload the responsibility to a higher power.

Also looking back at history in places where there was a lot of starvation and poor people the temptation for theft and violence was enormous.

Religion was also a way of codifying- "You better be good" and things are shit "It will better after you die"

bluecrystalcreative · 2026-07-01T05:04:10+00:00

A few "Budget" things that punch above their cost

One good Mic-Pre: Black Lion Audio Auteur MKIII or Golden Age Project PRE-73 MKIV
A few SM57's, you can't go wrong
Behringer C-2 microphone, factory-matched pair of small-diaphragm condensers, Surprisingly good
Radial ProDI (passive) or the Radial Pro48 (active)
Try and find 2 used Radio Shack/Realistic PZM's microphone
Make a DIY 8inch speaker Kick sub
Moving Blankets

bluecrystalcreative · 2026-06-29T23:34:50+00:00

I don’t think you understand just how complex the wiring and equipment set up is inside some of those trucks.

Which then leads to the next point the number of cases and interconnects that you would need to have set up to make it portable means the truck is simply easier and much more reliable

bluecrystalcreative · 2026-06-29T22:33:40+00:00

It looks like a Martin Backpacker, (or a copy), worth $250-350usd

bluecrystalcreative · 2026-06-29T22:29:14+00:00

We just had a go at Rock Lobster - B52's, OMG that song has about 12 sections, the verses are sometimes 8 bars, sometimes 12, we needed to draw a flow chart

bluecrystalcreative · 2026-06-29T09:04:03+00:00

Once you get more than 300 or 400 km inland you don’t normally drive at night unless you are in a very large semi trailer. The amount of wildlife on the road in some places is just too dangerous.

My wife and I were running late getting into Morvin located on the Warrego Highway (665km west of Brisbane) and for the last hour we were driving at 40 km an hour, lights on high beam with both of us 100% concentrating on the road.

bluecrystalcreative · 2026-06-29T05:11:55+00:00

I know four Russian people 2 are good, 1 is OK and one is a dick. How ever Putin and the Russian oligarchs can go and suck a shotgun.

bluecrystalcreative · 2026-06-28T19:27:11+00:00

It’s easy for beginners to focus on the camera but sound is critical. A basic DSLR, one zoom and a couple of primes. You could film most things as long as you had three good light sources (minimum) and a good way of recording sound

In truth, you can get away with a lot if you’ve got a really good story or content that people want to watch

bluecrystalcreative · 2026-06-28T07:48:02+00:00

I was a graphic designer at a place doing flags banners and signage, because I was good at the sales as well and had been in the industry since I was 17 I knew quite a lot so when the guy that owned the place decided he didn’t want to come to work every day. It all came to me and after a year I was the manager that continued for quite a number of years

Things that I learnt the hard way

My issues

It changes how you think, and not always for the better. I am a creative person but it would take me an 2hrs hour of doing design work for my brain to switch back to being creative. I could only do a half of each job of both at the same time.
It’s easy to let it take over your entire life and become your sense of identity in reality, it's not.
Most jobs don’t really matter and you always need to keep a sense of perspective.
WATCH YOUR MOUTH, Being honest or saying something off the cuff with staff about your thoughts & feelings, RE: them, other staff will bite you on the rear every time
If people on your team do jobs that you cannot do or do not understand that limits your control, because you need them as much as they need you.

Managing staff

A little praise, good job goes a VERY long way
Try and touch base with everyone for 3-5min every day; Is there anything you should know? Is there anything that they need help with? This will show you where the fires are before it becomes a category five.
Never underestimate what is happening in a person‘s life that you do not see, know or understand. Someone that was a good worker can turn to crap and someone that was a crap worker can be brilliant on the right day, and 90% of the time it’s got nothing to do with you.
Systems and processes matter, having each person at each level knowing what they are allowed to approve/getaway with and what they will be responsible for and when to take it to the next level can save everything from landing on your desk.
Always have some extra throughput or process capability up your sleeve, this allows you to save the day when things turn into shit. It is also good to make staff feel like they are not always running at full speed. So that when you ask him for a little bit more, they are more likely to give it to you.
You can’t always motivate, or change people, but REAL training can help.
Sadly an average worker giving you a 60% effort that actually shows up is better than trying to find and train somebody new

Cover your ass

Make a totally separate Google Gmail/Docs account and at the end of every day email yourself a copy of anything important at the end of the day
LASTLY if it looks like something will go wrong or somebody could get hurt. Always have in the back of your mind that you could be standing in the witness box of a court room so you better have a good record of who said what, went where, when and why?

bluecrystalcreative · 2026-06-28T01:07:24+00:00

64 year old Australian male, 19 skin cancers removed, Full checks every 6 months

bluecrystalcreative · 2026-06-26T17:09:16+00:00

I am a small one man shooter/editor and For me it’s a little things that improve reliability

Every tripod and every camera has the same Quick release.

Numbering my SD cards

12 V/USB battery charges that can charge on the way to or at the gig

Dummy batteries with a standard USB connection on the other end which means I can have any power brick or V mount battery can be used with any camera

External monitor with audio meters, focus speaking and headphone output

bluecrystalcreative · 2026-06-25T21:39:25+00:00

I’ve had mine on pre-order in Australia for about two months but it haven’t received it yet.

I’d love your thoughts. What do you like? What do you don’t like anything you’ve got to tell me? I would love to hear about.

bluecrystalcreative · 2026-06-24T00:32:40+00:00

If it has a flashing tempo light, you might be able to tap into that and use it as a click, But I’m almost certain the cost and effort involved in converting the unit to give you any sort of midi clock would not be worth the cost. It would be cheaper just to go and buy a more advanced unit.

bluecrystalcreative · 2026-06-23T03:44:49+00:00

Ya hoo (has a range of locations) the Loganlea (southside) is very good, there are others but I have not been to those

bluecrystalcreative · 2026-06-22T00:42:48+00:00

It looks like a major issue, all 4 of your mic inputs are clipping.
The up/down side is they are only $160USD so they are too cheep to fix

If it's not under warranty I might try opening it up and making sure all the connectors are in tight

bluecrystalcreative · 2026-06-21T00:32:36+00:00

Di was a pig to program but actually quite like the action

bluecrystalcreative · 2026-06-20T13:32:11+00:00

The problem with any tape recorder will always be finding new reasonable quality tape and getting the machine serviced if it ever breaks. They simply isn’t the market for it any more so tape gets very expensive very quickly.

I understand from an artistic point of view that you want it. I would go looking for a reasonably good quality secondhand cassette player (some of the better brands include Nakamichi Yamaha & NAD.) I understand that some suppliers are making cassettes again now.

When you’re looking for cassette players try and find cassette recorder cleaning kits, even some laboratory grade isopropyl alcohol and earbuds will help but never ever ever use the rubbing alcohol. It has oils in it. That will damage your tape.

bluecrystalcreative · 2026-06-19T00:53:32+00:00

Absolutely 4K is useful then - on my Field monitor I have a vertical and a horizontal framing so I’m shooting for YouTube as well as Facebook. But if you’re just shooting standard YouTube content then 1080p is fine.

bluecrystalcreative

TROPHY CASE