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Posts Tagged ‘Indy Jazz Fest’

Playing with Animoto

23 Dec

On a recent episode of This Week in Photography, one of the hosts mentioned a new Web 2.0 site called Animoto.  This site does slideshows right!.  I gave it a try today.  Within minutes, I was able to throw some photos I snapped of Stephanie Browning performing at Indy Jazz Fest this year, along with one of her tracks I bought on Amazon, to produce this:

Seriously, it took maybe two minutes total of my time, and another five for their servers to render the video. That’s just awesome. I need to play with it a bit more, to see how much customization they will allow, before I give it an unconditional thumbs up, but it is definitely worth checking out if you are into this sort of thing.

If they don’t have iPhoto or Aperture plugins in the works, I sure hope they are thinking about it. A way to post to Flickr would be nice as well.

 
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Posted in Jazz, Photography

 

Exercising with a Video Game

29 Jun

The USA Today Weekend insert in today’s paper has this story about the one and only Shigeru Miyamoto and his latest hit, the Wii Fit.  Nintendo had huge presence at Indy Jazz Fest (yeah, it confused me too) promoting their new fitness games and hardware.  Being a bit of a fitness geek, I couldn’t help but wander over and check it out.

The first thing that became obvious was why they were there.  Although there were a fair number of kids at Jazz Fest, there was only a mild interest among them.  No, the true target audience of this product is the middle aged set, mostly women, who are constantly looking for that weight loss silver bullet that doesn’t require too much work.

So how does it work as a fitness device?  Well, not having used it, I can’t say for certain.  Watching the games on display and how they worked, I would say probably not all that well, but it’s better than nothing.  If the time you spend at it would otherwise be spent watching TV or playing a traditional video game, there is at least activtity involved.  Much like Yoga, the majority of the games seem to focus on core strength and balance.  What’s missing is the cardiovascular fitness side of the equation and overall strength/endurance training which is need to get that metabolism going.

So, if your looking for something new and fun to suplement your existing exercise routine, or to replace some sedentary free time activity, give it a try.  Just don’t expect miracles.

 
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Posted in Fitness

 

Indy Jazz Fest 2008

15 Jun

I spent yesterday afternoon the 2008 edition of the Indy Jazz Fest. This Father’s Day tradition here in Indianapolis is a concert highlight for me each year. It’s a chance to see some well known jazz greats perform as well as discover some new talent. This year was no exception.

One of the early acts yesterday afternoon was the Stephanie Browning Quartet. This talented young vocalist is one to watch. Smart, sassy, and sexy, she has a great voice and amazing control. Her repertoire consists of standards updated with quirky arrangements and originals which sound like they could be standards.  Hailing from Chicago, she brought here regular basis, Jason Ellis, and rounded out her quartet with local legend Kenny Phelps on drums and, less well known but easily as talented, local artist Hamilton Harden on keys.

Somehow over the last year, I’ve gotten out of the habit of going out the local clubs and supporting the local artists. Once again I’ve let my life get too work centric. Yesterday reminded me what you miss when you let yourself do that

 
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Posted in Gallery, Jazz