…with a video camera.   My sister Jennifer Brinkerhoff and her classmate Bridget Seeley are doctoral students at Arizona State University.  They are both studying Life-span development and psychology.  This semester they are enrolled in a class titled “Social Policy and Advocacy”.   Throughout the semester, the class has talked about the Arizona state budget, but the conversations have not always had a balanced perspective.

So, for their final class presentation, Jennifer and Bridget sought out some of the key decision makers in the state government for on-camera interviews to give equal time to the conservative perspective on why Arizona is in a budget crisis and how they hope to go about solving it.  They tried to take some of the questions that had come up in class and have the state representatives address them for themselves.  I helped them put together the presentation as we traveled to the state capital and met with the following individuals;

Senator Russell Pearce, Appropriations Chair- Senate District 18

Senator John Kavanaugh, Appropriations Chair- House of Representatives District 8

Senator Ron Gould, District 3

Senator Pamela Gorman, Senate Majority Whip, District 6

Arizona State Budget 2009 - fixed titles from Spencer Brinkerhoff III on Vimeo.

video updated with fixed title graphics on 5.13.09

I’ve written about tilt-shift photos and video in the past, but I just can’t get enough of it!  It makes me feel like I’m watching a Saturday morning stop-motion kid’s show.  I especially LOVE the Helicopter!  ;]

Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Here’s a look at the colors for the print inspired by the Beatles song, “Do you want to know a Secret”.

So after posting yesterday’s pencil sketch I thought I would show a little more about the process that I’ve been using for these new prints.

 erase the pencils a bit, ink and scan.

I then place the scan into Illustrator and use the Live Trace to make the raster image a vector image to be colored in Flash 

Here is a rough for two of the characters in my second choice for the Beatles Themed Artbook.  Can you guess the play?

 ”Do you want to know a secret?”

I am excited to announce that I have been invited to contribute 3 prints to an Artbook that will be sold at the San Diego ComicCon.  You can see an artist list here.  To give the book a common theme we have been asked to select a Beatles song and create something that inspired us.  When I get a bit closer to finishing the prints I’ll post more information but for now, here’s a sneak peak.

 ”she loves you”

When Princess Leia confessed her love to Han Solo as he was being dropped into the Carbon Freezing chamber he returned her affections with the statement, “I know”.  ;]

I’ve posted a few images of the “work in progress” of what I hope is to be my second official Lucasfilm print.  Thanks to my friend Brandon for suggesting naming this print after that famous line.  I’ll be sure and keep you all informed on the status of the print so here’s another sneak peak.

The other day I was listening to a podcast called This Week in Media.  One of the reoccurring themes of this media podcast is the conversation about the future of TV.  When my family got a VCR I was amazed by the ability to set it up to record a show that I wasn’t around to watch.  I could then watch it at my leisure and even fast forward through the commercials.  This process is now called time shifting.  The TV show is available on MY schedule, and the idea of rushing home to see a show is not quite as relevant as it once was.

Well, now things have gone digital.  If you miss a show, there’s a good chance that it’s available for you to watch on the Internet.  It seems like all the major networks have an online video service and with the AppleTV and Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, you can now connect your TV to the internet through these consoles.  Now with everybody wanting to have an internet presence for their TV shows, it seems like things are getting a bit muddled.  It’s always been so easy to just sit in front of the TV and surf the channels, but how do you surf through the World Wide Web to find a show to watch?  You go to YouTube.

YouTube seemed to just be a dumping ground for user created video.  Now they’re supporting HD content AND they have a section for SHOWS and MOVIES.  You can watch all seven seasons of MacGuyver or the first season of The Jackie Chan Adventures cartoon.  How about the 1968 film Inspector Clouseau staring Alan Arkin in place of Peter Sellers.  Or how about the 1967 film Casio Royale starring David Niven, Peter Sellers, Woody Allen, and a chimpanzee as James Bond.

All this time I thought that the built in inclusion of YouTube on the iPhone and Playstation3 and other media devices was just a waste of time.  Now I see that it is all so that we can watch TV where ever and whenever we want to.

GI Joe was a staple part of my Television diet growing up.  I had the action figures and the vehicles, but I don’t think that I ever went overboard with GI Joe.  So, true to form there is a new movie coming out this summer called GI JOE the rise of COBRA.  I haven’t sought out much information about the film yet, but I did find something else very interesting.

My first exposure to GI Joe was through the cartoon.  It would seem that  in preparation for this summer’s big-budget movie Hasbro has made a NEW Cartoon mini-series.  I find this interesting because it’s a cartoon with the instructions to produce a non-tiny-child-oriented GI Joe, AND it’s taking advantage of the internet distribution model.

The GI Joe: Resolute cartoon was announced as a series of 10 five-minute webisodes to be capped off by a 10-minute finale.  The online premiere of the show leads up to its broadcast premiere on Cartoon Network next week, which will show all of the webisodes as well as debut the final 10 minutes of the storyline.  So they are going to give away the first 50 minutes of the hour long movie for free online and then show the last 10 minutes on Cartoon Network.  This way they can take advantage of the internet and then have their advertisers pay for the cable tv spots and then they’ll sell the DVDs and package them with some toys.

To help sell this new non-tiny-child, more “sophisticated” take on the characters, Hasbro has hired acclaimed comic book writer Warren Ellis.  Here’s a bit from Warren’s website, “Sam Register phoned me up and said, we’d really like you to write a GI JOE animation, at a PG-13 rating, aimed at an older viewer. I said, I’ve never seen a GI JOE cartoon in my life…I know nothing about GI JOE. It is meaningless in my world.  Excellent, Sam said. Just the guy we need.”

Here is the trailer for the series and episodes 1-2 can be seen here.

I got a box from one of my fellow Star Wars Fans the other day.  It was a gift to thank me for the free sketch card contest that I ran a little while back.  I was THRILLED to find a perfect Easter surprise.

DOMO KUN!!  Like an Easter egg, Domo was waiting for me to find him in the grass.

 Then when I did find him, he lept out at me, and the chase was afoot!

I thought being chased by a monster with Bunny ears on was bad enough, but things REALLY took a turn for the worse when he transformed into DARTH DOMO!  heheh Thanks Ian for the thoughtful gift.