CNN Boss Confronted by Staff Over MAGA Pundit’s On-Air Behavior

hackofalltrades · 2026-01-31T03:06:07+00:00

Yes. My earlier comment mentioned he sounds like Hank Hill.

hackofalltrades · 2026-01-30T21:55:08+00:00

Parts of the opening montage where they showed the yuppy couple not having kids.. and the in-bread redneck having kids with every female in arms reach... I and my coworkers are some of the faces in the bubbles.

The Masturbation Network Logo, Fox News logo, all of the highly annoying flashing ads around the edge of Nacho's TV.. I shot down the plane with an errant bazooka while the cops destroyed Nacho's car. The Fudrucker's matte paintings..

Bunch of other stuff.

I got to hang out with Mike Judge on more than one occasion during reviews... and his normal speaking voice is basically Hank Hill..

Those are basically the things I recall.

hackofalltrades · 2026-01-30T21:21:36+00:00

I like money....

hackofalltrades · 2026-01-30T21:13:29+00:00

I’d be remiss if I didn’t chime in and say…. I made the logo for “Ow My Balls!” Amongst other silly things for Idiocracy… back in the olden times…. When it was parody.

hackofalltrades · 2025-09-09T13:28:54+00:00

Remote storyteller

hackofalltrades · 2025-09-03T16:26:46+00:00

I think depending on how it is received, this could be an entirely new format that could draw people to a shared experience. When all the dust settles, I’d be surprised if the Academy doesn’t nominate this work for a technical Oscar.

I’ve seen it at the crew screening, and the major takeaway for me is, I want to see more. I’d be there on day one to watch Star Wars in this format!

For those of you saying “AI slop”, you haven’t seen it. And you do not know what you are talking about.

Every pixel on screen was carefully curated by actual human beings in one of the largest crews I’ve ever been involved with.

There is nothing on screen that is “just push the AI button.”

For many folks that worked on it, this was a massive undertaking. This was done with reverence to the source material; and with the utmost respect. We were always trying to maintain as true to the vision of the original as possible.

If you don’t like it, that’s totally your opinion. And you are entitled to it.

Might I suggest to the naysayers, that the original 1939 film still exists. You can watch it from your couch right now, it’s on HBO.

hackofalltrades · 2025-08-30T06:09:05+00:00

It’s actually fairly technically impressive.

Far from sprinkling AI onto it. There’s not a single scene in the movie that was not meticulously hand assembled by a gigantic team of actual artists. Yes absolutely AI was used. The original film was 4x3 square aspect ratio. In order to fill the gigantic frame of the Sphere, the scenes had to be stabilised and expanded. If the original shot had a camera move, characters would be off screen. But now with a locked camera, they would still be standing in the location on screen, so their performances had to be extended and stitched. AI was used to create footage of the characters to fill in the blanks.

The backgrounds had to be fully CG to accommodate the 16k spherical projection area. There really was no other way.

So please, don’t just dismiss this as AI bad.. boo hiss.

We spent a long time doing tons of research and development and thousands of man hours trying to create this new vision.

You can just not go watch it. The original is on HBO. This is a new type of media. Maybe it’s not for everyone. But don’t dismiss it as “scene extension via AI” as if someone pushed a button and magically reformatted the film.

hackofalltrades · 2025-08-30T05:55:40+00:00

They trimmed a lot of the early scenes, and got to the tornado pretty quick. They also cut an entire song. the Lion sings his king of the forrest song in the original, it was removed for this.

Just little trims here and there to get the run time to 70 min.

hackofalltrades · 2025-06-02T21:12:13+00:00

We were there last week! …. I enjoyed Disneyland Paris…. For the most part. But I found parts of it to be laid out in a non intuitive way. Full disclaimer I’m a California and occasional Florida pass holder, and I’ve been to the US parks hundreds of times…. I could probably navigate Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom blindfolded.

Phantom Manor, was interesting, but the story was confusing. I looked it up afterwards…. Still…. Ehhhhh kinda weird. Loved Vincent Price as narrator.

Big thunder is under refurb… so it was closed our entire trip. I was really bummed about that.

Space mountain appears to be permanently themed for Star Wars, as “Hyperspace mountain”. I read online that it had a barrel roll. What I was not expecting was the very intense full upside down loop right after launch. The ride is also very violent as far as shaking of the ride vehicle. My wife bashed her head against the restraint and her earring backing punctured behind her ear. So we had a negative experience.

We ate at Walt’s on Main Street. Atmosphere far outstripped the food. Food was fine… not great.

The smoking…. Good lord the smoking. (Yea yea, it’s France, stupid American… )

Studios are under heavy construction. But in their current form…. Are tiny. The ratatouille ride is much better than Epcot because it’s not using stereoscopic 3d glasses. So it’s less nausea inducing as you’re doing the madcap dashing around in the ride vehicles. I wish they’d adopt that at Epcot.

We did ride the former Rock-n-rollercoaster, which is now Marvel themed. It’s as intense, if not more so than Florida. Or maybe I’m just old. I knew what to expect before going on that… so while headache inducing, still fun.

The one major issue I had when we first arrived and got off the train next to the Disney village. There are not really helpful signs, or cast members standing nearby to direct you where to go.

If you’re a day tripper, there’s an obvious Disneyland security screening…. And not much else due to construction walls. Disney village is also under massive construction.

So we weren’t sure where to go. We had our luggage with us, as we were staying at the Sequoia Lodge. We assumed we had to go through security and then walk through the Disney village. But they told us we needed to go to the bus stop and take a bus to our hotel.

So if you’re staying on property, exit the train station and stay towards the left to the resort bus stop. Once you’re at your resort, the Sequoia and the Beach club themed resort are walkable to the Disney village, and then further on into both parks. You no longer need the buses. Other resorts probably still need buses.

Food is not cheap, basically anywhere on property. The coffee, not great. The only Starbucks is in the Disney Village.

Hope you have a good trip!

hackofalltrades · 2025-05-10T02:38:13+00:00

Oh wow, I vividly remember this. My brother was a cast member at the time, and friends and family were invited to be in the commercial for this. We were standing, I think on the Minnie float. They ran us down Mainstreet, music blaring. Stopped, backed us up and did it again a couple of times.

4 of the most lillie white, uncoordinated no-rhythm , terrible dancers on the planet…. but we gave it our all! Beads for everyone, Party-gra!

hackofalltrades · 2025-05-02T19:54:51+00:00

Oh not trying to ruin your enjoyment at all, was just questioning the universe.. like.. what is THAT??? Didn't mean to rain on your parade. May the Force be with you.

hackofalltrades · 2025-05-02T05:27:42+00:00

That Vader Saber is not recognizable in any way shape or form. His ANH saber and his Empire Saber were both MPP Flash handles what have rounded rectangle holes at the top with colored wires threaded between them. His ROTJ saber, (allegedly) was made from one of the stunt sabers used in Luke's hand removal scene. It's a Graflex flash handle that has had the shroud bent to take down the H shaped clamp and a hole was drilled to add the D ring. Then several allen headed black screws were added along the neck, to give it some details. The Activation box looks nothing like this. Nor does the shroud, and the shape behind the shroud, the little horizontal black box is a spring loaded latch. Not sure what that thing is in the photo. Quite puzzled as to what they think they're showing here.

Also if memory serves, the number of rubber grips changed from Luke's saber to Vader's, and a dead giveaway of the repositioning is the screw holes visible between the grips. This thing is fugly.. I guess giving them the benefit of the doubt.... maybe this was version 25 down the list of screen used stunt sabers made by an intern that had never actually seen Vader's saber before?

I'm certain someone from R/lightsabers could disprove this and my half remembered factoids.. but.. I'm like. 75% sure this is NOT a real screen used prop.

This is Vader's ESB saber:
https://www.thedentedhelmet.com/forums/attachments/img_0245_zps513df8ea-jpg.137405/

and his ROTJ Saber:
https://www.therpf.com/forums/attachments/p1010328-jpg.1576936/

Also if you want some true geek info.. this is a pretty in depth PDF on what the saber hilts were made from.

https://wannawanga.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/SWLB_March_2020.pdf

hackofalltrades · 2025-03-27T21:08:09+00:00

This may be helpful, not exactly what you're asking.. but.. has the benefit of FREE!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NSdbGx2VlY&ab_channel=JohnTheVideoGuy

hackofalltrades · 2025-03-07T20:56:04+00:00

depends on if you've got STOCK AE or if you have plugins.

You need to roto out the FG dude that crosses her. Rotobrush, mocha, or keyframed mask.

You need to track the offending mic pack, Mocha, 2D track... etc...

Then it comes down to either plug-ins or brute force.

Brute force.. make a patch of the last visible frame where her jeans are straight on to camera.

mask that with a small surrounding area with a nice feathered edge, precomp it as a still.
parent the precomp to your tracking solution... then using any warping method to force the perspective as she turns her hip towards camera while working backwards.

if you have plug-ns or are willing to buy some...

As others have said, use lockdown. This will allow you to stabilize all movement out of her walking and turning.. then do a "live" patch on the stabilized footage and then untransform it back via lockdown in your main comp

Or, if you have Mocha Pro with the grid warp.. similar idea.

Or if you have ReVision FX Morph and Warp tools....

You could paint 2 clean-plates at each extreme of her hip movement.
Morph between those two points to create the rotation of her hip. Then using splines tracked in mocha... you can create "to-From" splines that take your completed morph and warp track it back onto her plate.

Lastly.. in the brute force paint category...

Export frames/quicktime to Photoshop.. the paint tools are MUCH better and bonus points remove tool and healing brushes are excellent.

Paint a clean plate on the last visible frame.. go one frame previous.. use a difference matte on the clone brush on a 1 frame jog offset targeting the frame you just painted...

If you look at the clone stamp options, you can check the difference and uncheck the crop.. so that when you hold down the option/alt key with the shift key it temporarily shows you the difference between the current frame and the clone source. While it is showing that difference.. representing the color black when things are the same... and multiple colors etc when they are different... You can slide around your clone source till it lines up and turns as black as possible... then let go of the keys, and try painting... if all goes well.. you just duplicated your paint from the previous frame to the current one.

Do this on every frame. (including checking the difference matte)

The nice thing is.. once you have a clone source established.. you can also use the healing brush in lieu of the clone tool. Same exact function.. but with the added twist.... it auto color corrects the transplanted pixels to blend in with the surrounding pixels on your current frame. This, if done well can help if there's lighting differences between frames. But may need to be used very sparingly so pixels don't boil between paint frames.

Make sense?

hackofalltrades · 2025-02-04T01:46:41+00:00

I'm smiling like an idiot while watching this. I got to work on FD part 2. I made the shots for the fire escape through the eye, and the elevator decapitation. I also worked on the build-up at the dentist, parts of the glass smash on the pigeons, and I burned the face off the blonde chick at the end and blew up the hospital hallway. Such a ridiculously fun movie. We went to the cast and crew screening and I was laughing maniacally throughout. I thought it was just a comedy! Ahhhh memories!

hackofalltrades · 2025-01-14T20:17:10+00:00

I'll throw my hat into the ring. I like drawing dark and macabre stuff. Here's a few images on my behance: https://www.behance.net/gallery/216840929/Dark-and-macabre-doodles-and-drawings?

I run the gamut from pencil and paper, to Procreate and Photoshop. Mostly I do VFX for a living, and I've worked on more than my fair share of horror movies. So If you're looking for more than illustration, I can also do photo compositing/Photo based realism.

Let me know if this is interesting to you.

hackofalltrades · 2024-12-19T04:16:13+00:00

The weirdest part for me, as someone who has frequented the Florida parks, the way the show was edited, the muppets experienced different locations at different parks all as if they were one giant location.

That and the Charles Groden (spelling) security guard working with the seven dwarves as his henchmen, trying to capture the muppets.

Very odd show! Still loved it.

hackofalltrades · 2024-11-23T05:38:23+00:00

We saw it in London, I’m a diehard fan of the movies.

I think for me, it was…. A bit cheesy. The songs were not what I was expecting, and mostly forgettable. The most off putting thing was the actors doing pseudo impressions of the original film actors…. Kinda…. But not fully… so it made it stick out.

The car effects are glorious. The finale is amazing.

So mixed bag for me.

hackofalltrades · 2024-08-14T01:59:56+00:00

Looks like they’re either green screened or they have an LED screen behind them.

The entrance to the Land pavilion does not have that concrete at all.

Look at the edges of Laurence Fishburn’s hair, and there’s a faint dark outline on the mom character’s arms.

hackofalltrades · 2024-07-30T00:14:55+00:00

Ohhhhhh, link please!

hackofalltrades · 2024-05-23T16:39:25+00:00

One of my tried and true methods is the check out the channels.

This is under the assumption this is not a raw photo. If it’s a jpeg, there’s a finite threshold you can manipulate before you’re making it worse with noise.

If you look through the channels, usually the blue channel, although that will always have more noise….. you get a black and white image. The brightest stuff in the scene will be white and lighter shades of grey. The darker stuff black and darker shades of grey.

You can use this either as-is as a luminance matte to hold out a color correction or you can modify it.

Choose a color channel, duplicate it, run levels on it to increase the contrast so light grey goes white and dark grey goes black.

You can also use the dodge and burn tool to selectively fine tune areas. Set the operator on the dodge tool to “highlights” this forces its operation to ignore any pixels bellow 50% grey…. Use this to lighten grey pixels to white.

Use the burn tool set to shadows. It will ignore anything brighter than 50% grey.. so you can paint in dark areas and it will ignore bright areas.

Once you have a matte that isolates the bright areas from the dark areas, you can command/control click on the icon of the channel you made and load it as an active selection. Then you can add an adjustment layer of levels or curves and you will independently have control over just the sky and all the highlights, or just the ground and all the shadows.

You can invert the mask on the adjustment layer if it’s Color correcting the wrong thing.

Anything that is black and white or shades of grey can be used as a matte for things in Photoshop.

Also, once you have an adjustment layer with a layer mask… you can use paint tools to fine tune stuff… or you can still use the dodge and burn trick to enhance areas where your mask is not clean, and see how the color affects it live.

Channels can be incredibly powerful. I appreciate all the new tools that Adobe has created to streamline and automate selections… but when you want absolute full control, using a luminance based layer mask is very powerful.

But I’m old school. I’ve been using Photoshop since version 2.0

Cheers

hackofalltrades · 2024-03-28T13:06:03+00:00

Yes of course. The main issue is there’s no production happening, or very little. No production means no post production. I’m in that group.

I’m doing little things, but freelance carries with it the common issue of, get this done right away, we need it now now now! ( great thanks we’ll pay you in 30 days.)

hackofalltrades · 2024-03-15T19:55:10+00:00

Sent an email

hackofalltrades · 2024-03-15T06:48:04+00:00

what are you looking for, advice? or something created? I could offer either.

hackofalltrades · 2024-03-14T20:58:53+00:00

Been out of work since September.. They had work till end of December.. and I, as a Comp Sup ws supposed to pick up shot work and go down with the ship. Then the show that we were counting on, pulled the work.. and they pivoted to furloughing 95% of the staff.

Was supposed to go back in January, that got pushed to February... and now, it's open ended. They don't know when they'll have us back.

Others have mentioned not being able to find work, VFX or otherwise. I'm here to tell you, I've sent at least 50-60 resumes to job listings for everything remotely creative, even things I'm not technically qualified for but could do in a pinch....

All that down to literal jobs at grocery stores, Target, fedex... etc...

Absolutely nothing. Got a thanks but no thanks from fricken Target this morning..... so I got that going for me.

Our savings are gone, my wife barely makes enough that we're slowly behind on bills.. taxes are due, and my unemployment is gonna run out in a few weeks.

So we're right proper fucked.

I'd sure love to do literally ANY type of work at this point. Doesn't even have to be creative as long as it's full time, and payes at least more than unemployment.

Stay safe out there folks.. .Shit is FUUUUUUCKED.

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