NELEM II

[Fearless]

We have an indoor to run the show, but it should clear up nicely for the evening. The screen is finished--I climbed another 10 feet on one tree to get the screen even. 50 feet high! See you all tomorrow!

[Fearless]

Sailing at MIT is cancelled for this afternoon due to rain. We will have sailing on Sunday. Eric will be here at noon at my place to look over the venue.

[planters]

Met with Andrew's group yesterday. We will be setting up the lasers with fearless and some of these guys through today for the show tonight. The termination screen is REALLY big. Aproximatly 100 W in 7 projectors and lots (don't know how many) hazers.

[Fearless]

Pig Report: Got the fire started around 4:30 AM with 2 gallons of diesel fuel (wood was a little wet). It was all coals by 6:30 AM. Split the pig, stuffed the pig, it went on the fire, dutch oven style at 6:45 AM. There is a threat of thunderstorms at ~2 PM, but after that all good weather for the feast at 6 PM and show at 9 PM.

[TechJunkie]

The termination screen is REALLY big.

This was an understatement! Pix soon to follow.


The party was great! Roast pig, 2 kegs of beer, tons of food, good turn out of nice people, full moon, and of course 100W+ of laser power all held on a beautiful horse ranch. The only thing that was disappointing was the lack of forum members at the party. I've always found it odd that you have to twist some peoples arm to have a good time. I expected more from you guys, you missed a great party. This was a great event, and Rick extended himself to make it happen. Thankfully he has a large family, friends, and coworkers who came, or it would have been a travesty wasting all the effort he made to make this happen. The group consisted of an eclectic mix of ethnic, professional, and down to earth people. They, along with Eric (planters, the mad scientist himself), and his family were a pleasure to talk to. My girlfriend, and I had a great time. The show was awesome. The videos I took do not do it justice. The beam show Andrews gang presented made me feel like I was floating in space. The visuals from Rick, and Eric's rigs were outstanding on the HUGE outdoor screen Rick put up. I heard Rick hinting around about a live band next year. NELEM is just going to get better. I suggest you lazy bums not miss next years event. Its something you wont forget.

Thanks a million Rick. It was a day I will not forget, and I'm already counting the days till next years event.

Once I get the pictures, and videos uploaded I'll post them.

[planters]

Sailing was great. The venue is as you might expect, but better than I imagined. Heavy use of a very scenic and wide (1Km?) river in the center of Cambridge. Lots of 20 somethings sailing all kinds of small craft including an MIT owned hydrofoil, the Moth. This thing would rise up in as little as 8 knots of wind and SILENTLY FLY past you at over 20. Despite this nothing was intimidating and this did not seem in any way like an exclusive place to be. We really enjoyed it. Next year...without a doubt.

We all put out a lot of effort and Rick put out an incredible amount of effort, but, no one was/is complaining. Imagine spending the greater part of a full day with your friends aligning and integrating 5 very powerful projectors on a screen larger than a drive-in-theater and then mid afternoon the pros show up and start dumping hazers all over the place and lining up 3 more equally powerfully lasers 70 M away. A heated argument started between a couple of techs about the merits of Windows vs Mac that never really was resolved. I love that kinda stuff and then the shows started. Oh boy...

I leaned first hand the challenges of an outdoor show. We had perfect weather. There was an overcast (hiding the moon), no wind and moderate humidity. We had a lot of power and 4 or 5 really big smoke machines a huge (and usually) flat termination screen, but it still requires a lot of skill and this is where Dynamic helped a great deal. Gabe performed his winning show from ILDA last year as well as this year's submission and both were beautiful; we can appreciate them (as did the audience), but they are at a level that is quite new to us. I also noticed a funny thing when cleaning up that reminded me of something Jon Roberts once said. On the ground under each of the projector apertures there was a diverging triangle of dead (presumably fried) mosquitoes. I love these multipurpose machines.

Next year the audio will be a major focus. It was good, but these scales demand kW's. I expect there will be additional projector power as well. I know that I at least, will be contributing to that part. If Krazer is in town then maybe a tour of the ultra-fast labs and maybe there will even an alien invasion (inside joke-for now).

Anyway, just finished unpacking and getting ready to re-enter the real world. Thanks Rick.

[TechJunkie]

I missed the sailing due to car arrangements, but it I'm sure it was a blast.

Ugh...videos are crap, and out of focus. Serves me right using a point and shoot camera for laser video. Next year I'll have proper equipment.

Anywho here are a few pictures to chew on.

Unloading the pork de jour.



Rick and his wife preparing Poky for the feast.



Pic of the termination screen. This photo does not do the actual size of the screen justice.



I had my girlfriend stand in front of the screen to give prospective. Thats her in the bottom left part of the photo. To the right thats Eric, and Gabe setting up the 3 projectors from Dynamic. Big shout out to those guys for elevating the experience. I was blown away by the show they presented.



Eric and the gang setting up his, and Ricks rigs. It was an amazing the visual experience these projectors provided. Hopefully I will be able to contribute to the gala next year.



The pictures of the show came out crappy like the videos, but you can get an idea of the magnitude of the show from the pix.

Big thank you to Rick, his family, Eric, and the Dynamic crew for putting a great event together. Next year it will be bigger so mark your calenders. You have a year to plan, so no excuses.

[Fearless]

Special thanks to Eric and his crew, Shane, Gabe and Andrew from Dynamic and my brother-in-law Larry who arrived at 1AM with the pig, and helped me stuff it and put it on the fire at 6:30AM, and then had to leave a 9AM to go back to New York State! Food was amazing, the show was amazing, and the weather cooperated. Yesterday afternoon we went sailing with Eric and his crew on the Charles at MIT.

[swamidog]

that looks incredible. i wish i could have made it. can't wait for more pics and video.

[mixedgas]

Quoteing TJ: " I suggest you lazy bums not miss next years event. Its something you wont forget."

TJ

I Had the car loaded for a surprise visit but a post surgical infection cropped up Wednesday night, I had to have it treated. I Didn't want Planters to have to do his day job at the party, so followed Dentists orders to stay home so he can check me again today.

Sorry Guys, but it looks like you had a blast, nice venue, my kind of outdoor screen and nice Border Collie in pic,

I'd say maybe Next Year, but this is two years I've tried and missed.

REALLLY Sorry I missed it...

Steve