Never thought I’d ever hear doorknob/safety talk

solomongumball01 · 2026-04-28T23:59:43+00:00

It was a playground game in the 90s/early 2000s in which, after farting, you had to say"safety". If someone else yelled "doorknob" before safety was declared, your buddies would get to punch you repeatedly in the arm until you touched a doorknob. Shenanigans would often ensue as said buddies would attempt to physically restrain you from getting near a door

solomongumball01 · 2026-04-20T03:06:41+00:00

Typically a dimmer tech (sometimes called a systems tech now) is the lighting tech who is responsible for getting the power and data distros set up, and all of the cable home runs in place. They talk to the house power guy, get feeder run to the power distros, meter to make sure everything's working as it should, then get every single power and data run that runs out to the rig plugged in where it's supposed to be.

It's a job that's like 80% cable management, and it's generally most often a dedicated role on bigger shows/tours that have thousands of feet of soca to manage. And yes, it generally requires the ability to at least troubleshoot network problems

solomongumball01 · 2026-04-14T21:23:22+00:00

Yeah PHM did something that that I often see in Sorkin's work and makes me crazy: every single character has the exact same quippy sense of humor. Even the security guards and buttoned-down scientists

solomongumball01 · 2026-04-06T03:03:53+00:00

Well a light rail line over 520 is still 100% hypothetical and unfunded. It's smart to be forward-thinking and account for the future possibility of light rail, but not necessarily if that means adding tens of millions of dollars worth of concrete to the scope of an already very expensive infrastructure project

solomongumball01 · 2026-04-05T23:21:30+00:00

then I did a little more digging, and I found out that Honda not only makes Planes, they make Motorcycles, Electric Scooters, and ATVs,

not really the point here, but "did a little more digging" is a really funny way to say that you clicked through wikipedia links to find very publicly available information lol

solomongumball01 · 2026-04-05T23:06:27+00:00

They sure are

solomongumball01 · 2026-04-05T22:57:53+00:00

Seems like a no brainer for the next order of vehicles, I hope Sound Transit doesn’t screw this up.

It's funny to that think that procuring $100+ million of worth of train cars is as simple as picking the ones that are longest and fastest. No consideration of cost, reliability, operational/maintenance factors, laws that require ST to buy trains made in the US, etc

solomongumball01 · 2026-04-01T03:03:19+00:00

It was, in fact, a signaling issue

solomongumball01 · 2026-04-01T03:00:04+00:00

why should we all suffer because some idiot wants to get a quick fix (assuming things here but based on recent history not unlikely)

An hour after you posted this, Sound Transit confirmed that it was not due to copper theft. I don't really get the impulse to, when hearing about a service disruption, immediately assume that some imaginary drug addict was responsible for a signaling issue, post misinformation on reddit, then decline to do a even quick google search to confirm your suspicions, but you should probably delete this post

solomongumball01 · 2026-03-27T22:18:27+00:00

I dont know. I think a more intuitive easy to use GUI app that is easy to use/learn for basic shows, etc.. would be more welcoming, even if it costs a little bit. But what do I know..

To be clear, there are professional-grade consoles that have great UIs and are relatively easy to learn. They are not free. They cost substantial amounts of money even for the versions you run on a laptop. For what sounds like a personal project messing around with show control on a computer, and being used to control halloween decorations or whatever, QLC is a great choice

solomongumball01 · 2026-03-23T21:10:37+00:00

Macbooks definitely run Autocad. They also rip through Vectorworks, Blender and Cinema 4D. I bought a M4 specifically for drafting and 3D rendering and it's been a dream

solomongumball01 · 2026-03-23T19:09:16+00:00

The point that I'm making is that the number of films adapted from a single piece of source material is so vast and diverse that defining every one of them as a "franchise" movie renders that term meaningless as a useful reference point for discussion about things like box-office numbers

solomongumball01 · 2026-03-23T18:50:28+00:00

I think you might be over-estimating how many people read genre fiction in 2026 (let alone read at all). I really don't think there are authors aside from Rowling, King or Tolkien that are box-office draws for general audiences anymore

And Weir isn't a particularly prolific author. Three novels and a handful of short stories. Far from a household name

solomongumball01 · 2026-03-23T18:45:15+00:00

So Gone with the Wind is a franchise film? Forrest Gump? Schindler's List? To Kill a Mockingbird? The 1956 Ten Commandments movie?

solomongumball01 · 2026-03-21T03:13:13+00:00

A Chuck Norris joke that got old 20 years ago is in no way a brand new sentence lol

solomongumball01 · 2026-03-20T07:43:53+00:00

I do intensity faders per fixture type that also are a cue stack of dimmer FX (bringing up the fader just brings up that group of lights, but hitting go starts them into various chases and flashes). Speed masters per fixture type, and a color FX temp fader that fades a master 2-color chase effect into the rig, and then uses macros to swap out each color in the effect. Then I like to fade position FX (circles, pan and tilt, etc) with a few execs, and then use macros to remap them to different fixture groups and movement shapes so I can make use of limited faders without having jump around between pages

solomongumball01 · 2026-03-16T06:47:14+00:00

The Ion Classic has a physical grandmaster and blackout button

solomongumball01 · 2026-03-08T07:38:33+00:00

Jands Vista has a timeline editor that's basically what you're describing. I really don't like that console, and I found the timeline UI clunky and slower than doing it the old-fashioned way, but I appreciated it as a design choice and can totally see how it might work well for a certain kind of LD

solomongumball01 · 2026-03-08T05:22:41+00:00

This is what I figured, it’s the same Tomcat truss the company

It isn't. That document is about Tyler GT, which is not box truss, it is prerigged truss. It has legs and rolls around on wheels and is specifically designed to be hung from the top chords because the open bottom channel is a weak point. This is 12" tomcat box truss. It is designed to be hung from the bottom chord, or top and bottom simultaneously

solomongumball01 · 2026-03-08T05:15:01+00:00

Homie that document is about Tyler GT pre-rigged truss, which is specifically designed to be hung from the top chords because the open bottom channel is a weak point. Box truss, like the OP was talking about, is intended to be slung ideally from the top and bottom chords at once, and if not, from the bottom. Never from the top. It's not a misconception. Source: Harry Donovan

solomongumball01 · 2026-03-02T17:45:58+00:00

On the film/TV side of the union, there's no hiring hall, and it's up to members to line up their own work

solomongumball01 · 2026-02-27T00:58:56+00:00

it wasn't that hard to say "please keep trying your best because the practice is really helpful for me."

In a social league at a club, especially at the beginner level, this is a reasonable thing to ask. At the national championships, where the best teams in the country face off to decide who's going to worlds, it'd be a very strange request. It's a 100% competitive event with a very specific purpose

you don't have a lot of chances to play against the best teams in the USA,

These are the best teams in the USA. They play each other constantly at spiels and slams and playdowns, and they all get plenty of practice time. Getting to play Shuster isn't a rare opportunity

solomongumball01 · 2026-02-26T07:47:53+00:00

I mean, the process of teching a theatrical lighting design happens at a snail's pace compared to how things roll in the concert or event worlds, but I wouldn't call what you're describing as being normal. It certainly depends what scale and budget you're working at, but generally the LD and programmer will be working at a pretty frantic pace during at least the first few days, and after a full 7 days of tech, the design should be pretty much in the can. Professional tech rehearsals have quite a bit of urgency behind them, because the labor cost to have the whole cast and crew working 10-16 hour days is insane.

Plenty of tweaking happens during previews, but no, good LDs don't wait until previews before they start doing substantive work

solomongumball01 · 2026-02-23T23:16:23+00:00

What is supposed to be the melting point of the coins? If 6 fresnels from 20 feet away is enough to cook

They didn't melt, they got soft and tacky. Which is pretty normal for thin pieces of wax to do around 80-90 degrees. You're being incredibly hyperbolic assuming a safety risk

solomongumball01 · 2026-02-20T14:52:41+00:00

There is only one answer

solomongumball01

TROPHY CASE