I spent most of the afternoon/evening in the MacLab working on the Ducky DVD (I spent most of yesterday cleaning up some shots, mostly by hand in GIMP). Really, I just had to slap on a modified version on a DVD to send as an entry for the Chicago International Film Festival, but once I started up iDVD, I figured I might as well do the whole shebang. It was the first time I'd ever used iDVD, but like most of the other iApps, it's delightfully easy to use. The UI's a bit clunky at times, but considering how complicated the process could otherwise be, I'm more than willing to turn a blind eye to the few minor blemishes. If anything, annoying glitches going from FinalCut Pro 3 (which I have on my PB) to FCP 4 (which the MacLab has) caused more headaches than anything else... That and my external drive running out of space (which was easily remedied by burning data onto DVDs).

Despite having a pile of stuff to do before I leave for Portland, I bowed down to temptation and watched Hero last night. The film is beautifully shot, and the production design is impeccable. On the other hand, I found the plot to be rather simplistic, and after Crouching Tiger and Matrix, the action sequences aren't quite as impressive as they once may have been (i.e. good, but not revolutionary). I could say more, but I can't think of a way to say it without spoiling it, so I'll stop now.

Right now, well, the last thing I'm supposed to be doing is writing in my blog. But I think that's usually the case. In any case, suffice to say, I have a pile of stuff to do in the next 12 hours or so. So maybe I'll just stop talking about it and get to it...