Time-lapse Colored Water in Melting Ice and a Tulip

640x480, mov, 4.4 mb 33 sec

For this time-lapse video, I started by freezing water in an ice cube tray. Before the cube was completely solid, I used a syringe to inject some colored water in the center and let it freeze a little longer. Then I placed the cube in the glass of water with the tulip. I used my Canon PowerShot S3 IS and Granite Bay time-lapse software to make the movie. Initially the pics were taken about every 4-6 seconds but I stretched it out to every few minutes once I focused on the flower. I used the Sony Acid Music Studio to make the accompanying music.

Here are the rest of my time-lapse and stop motion videos or all these plus others can be seen at my YouTube player page.

Super Bowl XLII Predictions

After the previous two years Super Bowl predictions, it would be reasonable to have low expectations from me, but I can assure you that I have been paying attention this year and things are much more clear to me.

I will get right to the punch, the Patriots will win. It will be a close three quarters, then luckily for the Giants, time run out just as the Pats start to run away with it. Final score: New England 34, New York 24.

For the Winning Patriots:

Tom Brady will throw for 3 touchdown passes and have 2 interceptions.

Randy Moss will catch 1 of those touchdown passes.

Wes Welker will once again exceed what is expected of him and he will catch 2 touchdown passes.

Laurence Maroney will rush for less than 90 yards but he will run one in for a score.

For the losing Giants:

Manning will not play a perfect game and will therefore lose, but he will make a decent effort throwing for 2 touchdowns with 3 interceptions.

Plaxico Burress will top 100 yards receiving with 1 touchdown reception.

Amani "its not a" Toomer will catch the other touchdown pass.

Brandon Jacobs will have 100+ rushing game with a single goal line touchdown run.

As always, my excitement about Super Bowl Sunday will go way beyond the game itself. I will be spending the afternoon with my good friends with whom I have enjoyed many great games leading up to this grand finale. Whether the Giants upset the offensive juggernaut, or the Pats do as expected and go undeafted all the way, it is too late for this game to be anything but a big damn deal.

As for my part in this fantasy football season, I participated in 2 leagues. I won the league, which coincidentally I sponsored. It was more due the fact that I had Tom Brady as my quarterback, than any advantage I may have had as commissioner. Brady was the 37th overall pick in that league. I also picked up Wes Welker in the early mid season who became a steady producer.

I won the loser's bracket in the 2nd league I participated in. How did I get to the loser's bracket? Well I had the 14th pick of 14 teams and came up with Laurence Maroney and Matt Leinart as my first 2 picks. They both were terrible in the early season until Leinart finally broke his clavicle and New England finally started running a little to give Maroney some reps, by then it was too late. Tom Brady was also responsible for some fantasy domination in this league as well. He helped his owner outscore all others for the season on an otherwise mediocre team.

Happy Super Bowl!!!

Time-lapse Ice Melting in a Wine Glass

click to view video

This Time-laspe video was taken over several hours with my Canon PowerShot S3 IS along with my recently purchased GBTimelapse softwae, Both of which have been very satisfying so far. I took a picture about every 5 seconds during the shooting. The main faults are that I accidentally got my foot hung in a cord and knocked the camera off the table, which is noticealbe at about 13 seconds when you see the glass shift a little. I also was not able to figure out how to turn on the macro funtion with the GBTimelapse software until near the end of the shooting. It is not apparent on the YouTube version due to the degree of compression but you can see it at around the 2/3 mark on the quicktime version. I used my Sony Acid Music Studio software to create the music.

Here is the YouTube version of Ice Melting in a Wine Glass. Here are the rest of my time-lapse and stop motion videos.

Time-lapse Crystals Growing

Click to view Video, 6.9 mb, 33 sec, Quicktime

This is one of my first videos made with my recently purchased Canon PowerShot S3 IS. The main reason I chose this camera over the newer Canon PowerShot S5 IS is that I had read that the intervalometer feature was not in the later model and of course it was a little cheaper. I used the intervalometer to take a picture every 4 minutes during the 2 days that I allowed the crystals to grow. I used the "Space Age Crystal Growing Kit" as directed except that I didn't place any rocks in the solution to seed the crystals. The video turned out about okay, the crystals grew, but the visual effect is kind of bland. The quicktime version on my site is much sharper than the YouTube version. I made the music using my Sony Acid Music Studio software.

You can see my other time-lapse and stop motion videos here.