The Mark Bussler Blog

How Stella Got Her Chicken Back

2008-02-08T22:10:00.000-05:00

We recently taught our dog, Stella, a new trick. She can now beg for food, which we find very amusing. You don't normally see 70 pound German Shepherd begging for food. Actually she's a mixed breed, she's primarily German Shepherd and Chow Chow. But Stella is probably a mix of all different kinds of breeds, we really don't know. We adopted her from the Humane Society when she was about 1 year old and most people think she's some kind of expensive dog or a dingo when they see her. Some kids thought she was a wolf one day I was walking her.

She's quite a clever dog when she wants to be, so we treated her with her favorite food while we were training: CHICKEN. This dog will do your taxes for chicken. She also likes steak, pepperoni, fish and pretty much everything else that isn't a vegetable. But for some reason chicken makes her go crazy. She's even started learning the word "chicken". She knows the word "walk" and "cookie" too, it's really cute when her ears perk up at the sound of "walk".

I thought this was quite entertaining and that these pictures of our dog would entertain the world. And yes, she was fed chicken after taking these photos. She can hold that position for as long as it takes to get chicken shoved in her snout.

Westinghouse TV and Radio Events

2008-02-07T13:37:00.000-05:00

Here's a short list of upcoming Pittsburgh television and radio interviews that I will be doing in February and March about the Westinghouse film. This list will be expanding as we approach the DVD release date in April, but this is what I have for now. The times are approximate. If it's one thing I can talk about it's George Westinghouse and why he rocks.

- KDKA Pittsburgh Today Live: 2/15/08 (8:30 am)

- KDKA Radio – Carol Lee Espy Show: 2/16/08 (9:30 pm)

- KDKA Pittsburgh Today Live: 2/18/08 (8:30 am)

- Blog Talk Radio: 3/19/08 (9:00 pm)

- KDKA Sunday Business page: 3/23/08 (am)

- KDKA Pittsburgh Today Live: 4/8/08 (8:30 am)

Thank you to KDKA and Carol Lee Espy and everyone else! By the way, Carol Lee Espy narrates the film Westinghouse, and if you like her voice you'll dig her performance on the film, she can be heard on the Westinghouse trailer below:

The DVD is available for pre-order at Amazon.com and other locations.

Sega Genesis on HDTV and Sega-16.com Interview

2008-02-06T17:31:00.001-05:00

Mark Bussler Interview with Sega-16.com HERE.

I get a lot of traffic on my blog and some emails from people wanting to use their Sega Genesis on newer HDTVs and and projectors. Although you can probably get more technical information from the Sega-16.com website, the bottom line is that this IS possible and can look great, but it will NOT output a high-definition signal, only standard def.

I'm an avid "old-school" gamer and a complete Gen-X nerd, therefore I have a NES, an Atari 7800 and Sega Genesis all hooked up to an HDTV. I read up on some articles about how to get the Sega Genesis to output component video (which is supposedly possible but seemed expensive and tricky) so I passed on this. Since I knew it would output a better quality video signal than RF or Composite I opted to have my Sega Genesis modified with S-Video. You can read about that on an older blog post HERE.

Although the modded Sega does not look as good as HD games on the Xbox 360, the Sega Genesis with S-video does look much sharper and more vibrant than composite or RF. This will of course depend on how your tv handles standard def signals though. Not all HDTVs are the same. I have an LCD screen and it looks really good, so I'm pretty pleased. But you may not be. You may have to experiment.

That's my Atari 7800 Pro System above, note the gleaming stainless steel finish. Futuristic! Not sure what is Pro about it though.... can you make money playing Atari 7800 games? If so count me in for a Joust tournament.

The only way that I can think of actually "upconverting" the Genesis to an HD signal would be to run the s-video (or composite) output through an HD upconverter like i-Scan or something. I have not tried that and if you can afford one of those things you can probably pay Sega to manufacture you a new Genesis with HDMI (although I doubt they'd do that but you could ask...?)

I think my NES looks good on composite, it won't do s-video or component no matter what you do to it. You can modify an Atari to output s-video but I haven't gone that route. Maybe someday.... someday. One can dream. Berzerk and Yars' Revenge in glorious s-video clarity.

I borrowed a friend's PS3 while he was on a job and played through Resistance Fall of Man. It's a good game, is it up there with Bioshock and Yars' Revenge? We'll, that's a whole different blog post.

Incidentally you can read an interview with me on the Sega-16.com website HERE. Thank you to Tom Briggs and everyone at Sega-16 for supporting my film, Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show. I hope that a few classic gamers out there enjoyed the film and our adventures back in the year 2000.

Westinghouse Release Update 2/5

2008-02-05T10:09:00.000-05:00

The Westinghouse documentary film will be released on April 8th, 2008, on DVD. After a week and a half off I'm back at the "shop" working on some trailers for the film and upcoming PR events.

We're all very excited about the initial reaction to the documentary which has been very positive. I've heard from some engineers that it is "fun", and I'll take that as a compliment. I made the film to be fun, because George Westinghouse was a very technical guy and not much is documented about his personality, so I didn't want a slow technical film. The film is fun, fast paced and really digs into who this guy was and what he did for the world. I think the trailer shows this, click HERE to see it.

He wasn't an extravagant celebrity by today's standards, he was married young and stayed with his wife his whole life. He didn't lead the eccentric lifestyle of Howard Hughes. In fact, much of what George Westinghouse did is buried beneath the legend of Thomas Edison (which is a huge part of the film). Westinghouse, is in my opinion the most important American lost in history. If you are reading this blog it is only because of George Westinghouse and his drive to bring alternating current to existance! AC power is running your computer and was used in the construction and development of your computer. Alternating current was made possible by his invention of the air brake to generate capital to start Westinghouse Electric, and his ability to work with people like William Stanley and Nikola Tesla.

The Westinghouse documentary has a run time of 112 minutes and tells the complete story of George Westinghouse, his life, legacy, companies, battle with Thomas Edison and partnership with Nikola Tesla. It was made to be entertaining and informative and most of all enjoyable to watch, and I think we succeeded. I take the film up to the modern age and was very happy to work with some Westinghouse appliances like the Westinghouse roaster, Westinghouse radio, Westinghouse Baconer, Westinghouse Greenhouse, Westinghouse Dog-O-Matic and of course the Westinghouse Twins. The 1939 World's fair is also particularly interesting to me. Westinghouse stole the show with Elektro the robot, the fountains at the Lagoon of Nations and the Battle of the Centuries.

Coincidentally the film is being released at the same year Pittsburgh is celebrating its 250th anniversary. Many people think I planned this but I assure you it just worked out this way! Westinghouse was born in New York but remained a resident of Pittsburgh for most of his life. He companies like Westinghouse Air Brake and The Westinghouse Electric Company were started here (in Pittsburgh) so I think it is fitting that native Pittsburghers made the film.

The trailers for the film can be viewed HERE.

More information on upcoming Westinghouse release events and PR to come.

Two Turntables and a Nylabone

2008-01-28T09:10:00.000-05:00

Spinnin' wax. That's how I keep it real. So real that I really have a turntable and LPs. This brings up the age old question:

"Which is better, digital or analog?"

People have been killed for asking lesser questions. If you ask an audiophile this question he may attack you with an anti-static gun.

No! Don't anti-static the dog, her barking will be louder and clearer! (no dogs were de-static'd with an anti-static record cleaner in the making of this photo)

But seriously, which is better? Hell if I know, it's a matter of personal taste. I don't claim to be an expert, but I am a jerk with a computer and Internet connection so I'll just give my thoughts on the matter.

I'm probably the very last generation that even remembers vinyl when the options were vinyl, 8-track and cassette. I'm 32 and even had some records when I was growing up. I remember playing with my dad's Dual turntable and listening to his Beach Boys albums back in 1980 or so. Our family once had a behemoth late 70's white Buick with a wood grained 8-track player and velour merlot seats. It was a hand-me-down from my grandpa and I'd kill to have that car today.

Anyway, back to the point. There are those who will tell you that vinyl sounds smoother and more realistic, that this is "what music is supposed to sound like". They will claim that CDs sounds like ice picks scratching on concrete. Others will say that CDs don't pop, click and hiss and therefore they sound better.

Some choice albums!

I personally believe that the sound quality varies by the source material. On a similar priced system the same album on LP will sound better than CD, or the CD will sound better than its vinyl counterpart. I've heard it both ways and will explain.

Take for instance Duran Duran's Rio. The CD was made in the 80's back when the technology was new and it sounds flat and thin. The LP version sounds rich and thick with sound, the synth and guitar sound fantastic and the drums and cymbals sound more real. Also I picked up the LP at Jerry's Used Records in Pittsburgh for about $3, cleaned it up and it's now one of my prized LPs.

The same goes for Faith No More's "Epic", which came out in the very early 90's. The CD sounds like piss. The LP sounds great. My belief on this is that these albums were recorded for vinyl and just sound better on that medium. Perhaps the engineers who actually created the physical media just did it better, they were trained to make awesome records, not CDs... just a thought.

Let's get to the negatives with vinyl. My biggest gripe is that the quality varies by pressing, which means that two identical records can sound completely different. This sucks when you want to buy a new LP, which is why I no longer buy new ones. It's not a big deal if you find a Van Halen LP for $2 in a shop and it sounds like crap... oh well, find another one. But if you spend $40 on a new record and find out that it was made with no quality standards at all... that's infuriating.

An example of a great pressing and a great album!

Vinyl is a complete pain in the ass too. They pop and click and are generally unpredictable, but through all this comes the music and analog does have a unique sound of it's own. Real instruments sound more real! It's just a friggin nightmare to get there. Record players are no easy matter to deal with. Sure you can get them cheap on ebay these days, but then you need a phono preamp and a cartridge to even play them. These things can all add up in cost. Records take up a lot of room. I have several milk crates full of them shoved into my closet. One other problem is that the tracks on the inside of the album can often sound pretty scratchy. This is due to a variety of factors like tonearm alignment and whether the record was abused before.

CDs are smaller and when bought new don't pop and click, that is certainly a positive. They are recorded digitally and smashed onto a 700mb CD, which is pathetically small by today's standards. I think that they've gotten much better at making CDs since the mid-90's, so the newer ones sound pretty good. But again, this all depends on what kind of speakers and audio setup you have and how picky you want to be. CD players are a dime a dozen. CDs can be played in the car and they're pretty cheap these days. brand new ones can be found for under $10!

I love iPods, in fact I have my entire analog collection digitized and loaded on my iPod. I can listen to my iPod anywhere and therefore can bring my closet full of LPs in the car with me. I also have my entire CD collection from high school and college loaded on my trusty iPod.

In my lifetime I'll say that DVD is the most amazing invention that I've ever seen, followed by the iPod. The ability to bring movies and music with me anywhere at any time is a dream come true. Kids today must take this for granted. Heck, us old-timers didn't even have cell phones in college.

In this 100 year-old house everything gets covered with dust no matter how hard we clean.

Purists will complain that iPods use more compression than CDs and therefore sound like crap. Well, that's somewhat true. You can digitize your own music at higher bitrates which, in my opinion, makes them sounds more or less the same. I think that convenience wins out though. The iPod and computers are the way to go for everyday listening. You can't set up a turntable at work (usually). If you listen to an iPod with the cheap iPod headphones then it will sound bad. But if you run it into a high end stereo, or run your computer with a great audio card into a good stereo you'll get good sound. In my opinion.

In conclusion, every now and then (like today) I want to sit on the couch, put on an LP and rock the house. Since I'm on vacation and the wife's out today it's Mark's loud time. I'm playing a few LPs that sound rich, warm and vibrant. I'm cleaning them off with my record brush and zapping them with my red gun that makes a neat static sound through the speakers. This has a feeling of nostalgia for me too, and it's kind of cool. I like records, I like seeing the spinning LP and knowing that it's not digital for a change. Also the cymbals sound better.

Even the iPod is dusty!

As I type this I'm listening to "Are You Normal" by the amazing Ned's Atomic Dustbin. I bought this record in England and it's worth every penny (or pence) and sounds way better than the CD. Am I normal? No. But I'm ok with that.

More on affordable turntable setups and home theater to come... making noise is my only hobby and it's good to sit home and not stare at a computer for once...

One year ago today....

2008-01-17T13:23:00.000-05:00

It was one year ago today that we started production on Westinghouse. Quite a bit has changed since then. Pictured above is us filming at The George Westinghouse Museum in Wilmerding. Today the museum has merged with the Senator John Heinz History Center in downtown Pittsburgh. The artifacts will be on display this fall from what I understand.

Ed Reis, who is pointing at the Westinghouse Roaster, is now the Westinghouse Historian at the Heinz History Center, which is a fantastic place to visit. I recommend you check it out if you're visiting Pittsburgh.

It was a cold and snowy day back then on January 17th, 2007. It's a cold and snowy day today on January 17th, 2008 too. The big difference is that I'm DONE with the film (sort of). We're still authoring the DVD, but that's another story.

Pictured above are the "Westinghouse Twins" as they were called. The Laundromat and the clothes dryer. These are featured in the final cut of the film.

So how did this thing come together in a year...? Well, a lot of work. After I met Ed Reis in late 2006 we agreed to do the film together. I did some preliminary research and coordination, got the budget approved, etc... We filmed for a few days at the museum and also filmed the George Westinghouse Memorial in Oakland. I started writing the film in about February of 2007 after reading the Westinghouse biography by Henry Prout.

I photographed and scanned and acquired all kinds of pictures, articles and footage, literally thousands of images. Editing began in February, I write and edit at the same time so that the script follows what images and footage are available. And after a year of writing, editing, re-writing, re-editing, filming, interviewing and coffee drinking I'm finally done. I hope to post more about the process in the coming weeks as we get near the release date of April 8th!

I watched the DVD last night to make sure that the encoding looks as close to HD as it can, and it does. Every shot was inspected and it looks and sounds great. My eyes felt like they were on fire by the time I was done. I'm taking a few weeks off very soon to do all the housework I've neglected over the past year. I'll wake up in the morning, get a cup of coffee and play Xbox. I'll win Bionic Commando again on my NES. I'm going to walk the dog every day and get outside away from computers. Walking the dog doesn't involve pixels and compression ratios...

Sure, Stella loooks cute. But what she's really thinking is "Feed me or I'll rip your arm off and eat it"

Westinghouse can be pre-ordered now at major websites like Amazon.

You can view the trailer HERE.

WESTINGHOUSE DVD is done!

2008-01-15T09:20:00.000-05:00

The documentary film on George Westinghouse, his legacy, companies, partnership with Nikola Tesla and battle with Thomas Edison is finally done. After more than a year of pre-production, writing, collecting, photographing, videotaping, editing and post-production the HD film is ready for the world.

My office looks like a bomb hit it. There are papers, hard drives, tapes and notebooks strewn about the barren landscape. I've lost a few pounds, my eyes hurt and I'm generally tired at looking at computer screens (which is why I haven't blogged in a month).

Done! (so tired...)

The film was nearly complete in November. I had recorded the narration with Carol Lee Espy and had a "more or less" complete edit done. We had received a tremendous amount of interest from the engineering community and from Westinghouse employees. I was fortunate to convince Inecom to extend my budget a bit and decided to record some additional interviews to round out the film. Especially later in the film when the focus shifts to what happened to all the Westinghouse companies. I thought this was best described in their own words and it came out great. Descriptive, positive and full of pride. I owe many thanks to Jim Sutherland and Ed Reis and the SURE group.

I recorded this final batch of interviews around December 1st that totalled 10 hours, and gave myself three weeks to complete the editing of the film. For anyone considering getting into filmmaking this is NOT the way to do this. Fortunately I'd been through this before, and fuelled by coffee and French onion soup I went to work. I digitized everything, ran out of drive space, bumped terabytes of data to external drives while keeping clips I wanted, took notes of the best takes and then worked them all back into the edit. The total drive space used is close to 12 terabytes.

Pictured about are just some of the 1TB hard drives used for file backups. The main drive is a 6 terabyte Raid striped for HD playback.

After that I trimmed any narration parts that seemed redundant and tweeked the interviews (removing "uhhhs" and "ummms") and reworked the pictures and footage around them. I filmed the WABTEC Corporation in Wilmerding, received some shots from Westinghouse Electric Company (they build nuclear power plants today) and filmed a bunch of last minute insert shots like the extreme close up of the light bulb turning on (which can be seen as the first shot on the trailer HERE)

Pictured above is Stella who missed me while I was busy editing... After watching the film again and again and again I took a break through Christmas and then came back and polished it up by color correcting and really finishing the edit. After new year's I've been working with Doug and Jay on the final audio mixing and DVD mastering. Now it looks like we're about done. It looks good, sounds good and I think tells a fun and exciting story that hasn't been told before.

The DVD is scheduled to be release on April 7th, 2008. You can pre-order it from sites like Amazon or pick it up in stores. I know there will be some release events and some stuff going on in Pittsburgh (which is of course where the Westinghouse companies were based, and some still are). I hope to keep everyone informed of the release news. I'm going to go continue cleaning my office now.

The official website is www.WestinghouseFilm.com

The joys of owning a dog for the holidays.

2007-12-05T09:33:00.000-05:00

I've been living on the editing system the past few weeks, and now have only a few more days of finishing editing on "Westinghouse" to go. Which means I don't typically see daylight anymore. I work, eat, work and go to sleep. I don't even have much time to spend with Stella, our German Shepherd/Chow Chow mix these days, but this morning was different. This morning it snowed and we played outside for a while.

I read an article on MSNBC about dogs that need homes after a puppy mill was raided and thought of our dog and all the happiness (and destruction) that she brings. We adopted her a year ago from the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society and have had quite a year together. She was one year old when we adopted her, strong as an ox and rowdy beyond comprehension. The good news is she still is, but she's a bit more controllable now after a year of training and lots of walking.

Adopting a dog isn't for everyone. Especially a big dog like her. She needs constant exercise, lots of food and sheds enough hair to build two dogs. She takes a lot of time and money. It would be nice if she'd get a job and pay us back.

My point is if you want a dog this holiday season, and you have the time and money, go adopt one instead of buying one from a store. Lots of dogs need homes. They aren't perfect. They take a while to adjust to new owners and a new home. They may eat your pillows and pull down the new curtains. They may try to bring a dead bird inside the house. They may eat the pepperoni you set out for dinner. They may decide the couch by the window is theirs. They may want to run all over the house with your sock in their mouth. They may decide to eat the Christmas tree ornaments. They may bring fear into the hearts of squirrels all over the neighborhood and scare the #@$! out of people who set foot on the porch.

But an adopted pet, in my experience, is a joy to own. After they to get to know you and trust you they are your best friend forever. It's as if they know you took a chance on them.

Awww.... ok, enough emotion. I'm gonna get back to the computer and finish my film on George Westinghouse.

Pretzel Stix and Coffee

2007-11-29T20:41:00.000-05:00

It's about 9pm and I'm in the last 2-3 weeks of finishing editing on "Westinghouse". Progress is progressing smoothly, albeit slowly. Finishing editing means I basically live here until the film is done right. I'm sleepy.

Yesterday we filmed an interview with William Terbo, grand nephew of Nikola Tesla. Today I worked with Mr. Ed Reis on the commentary track for the film and recorded another interview. Right now, as I type this, I'm enjoying coffee and Pretzel Stix for dinner while I digitize footage.

Westinghouse will be released on April 8th of next year and I think you'll enjoy it. In the meantime I'm enjoying my Pretzel Stix.

Westinghouse Radio Interview 11/10/07

2007-11-11T14:30:00.000-05:00

On Saturday night, November 10th, I was privileged enough to do a radio interview on Carol Lee Espy's radio show, "The Life Lounge". We talked about the recent Inecom release, "Pennsylvania Train Stations: Restored and Revitalized". I also let the cat out of the bag on her show that Carol is the narrator of Westinghouse!

We talked a bit about Westinghouse and I received the following post on my blog:

Dave Kerr said...
Last night, I heard [Mark] Bussler mention on Carol Lee Espy's program that KDKA's first broadcast in 1920 was from the K Bldg in East Pittsburgh.

That is incorrect. The K Bldg was located in Turtle Creek not East Pittsburgh. The Westinghouse complex here in the Turtle Creek Valley was known as the East Pittsburgh Works. However, most of it, including the K Bldg, was physically located in Turtle Creek Borough.

By the way, the demolition of the historic K Bldg was completed in the past few weeks by the RIDC.

Dave Kerr
Turtle Creek Native

November 11, 2007 9:55 AM

Dave, you are correct. I made a mistake on air, fortunately this kind of information is correct in the film. I'll never get totally used to live radio because I can't turn around and re-edit myself. If I had a nickel for every dumb thing I've said on an interview I'd have an enormous pile of nickels. More info on Westinghouse is coming soon.

Visit the official Westinghouse film website HERE.

Westinghouse Production Update 11/8/07

2007-11-08T15:31:00.000-05:00

I am still alive, sort of. If you count staring intensely at a computer monitor for 10-12 hours a day as being alive. I am in the final stretch of finishing "Westinghouse", the documentary film on George Westinghouse that I am producing, directing and editing. Every day now is a lengthy session of "finishing editing" where I tweak, perfect and fine tune every detail on the 2-hour film. It's basically like watching the same movie over and over again all day every day. Fortunately, this is a good film (at least I think so!)

Of course I could mix it up an watch The Empire Strikes Back on repeat for a day, that would be fun.

The documentary was narrated a few weeks ago by Carol Lee Espy, who many of you may know from KDKA radio. KDKA radio was the first commercial radio station in the country that was started by Westinghouse Electric in 1920. I thought this was very fitting. Most importantly she has a wonderful voice, superb enunciation and is great to work with.

The film is being produced in 1080i. The DVD mastering will be started soon and the film is already available for pre-order on a number of websites. Release date is April 8th and I'd expect some theatrical screenings around that time as well.

Ok, I'm back to editing. I still get time to walk the dog most every day and play a bit of xbox when I'm fighting sleep, but my time now is dedicated to finishing this beast of a project. The good news is that many people are very excited about it and it will be released in time for the 250th anniversary of Pittsburgh (which is a complete coincidence, there's no way I could have planned that had I tried).

You can read up about Westinghouse HERE and view the trailer below.

1000 Mile Road Test of 2007 Mazda 6

2007-10-02T21:52:00.000-05:00

I've spent a month now with my new 2007 Mazda 6 and have driven it about 1000 miles. I feel I can comment pretty accurately on the car now, which is pretty exciting. This is my first car review.

Yes loyal readers, I bought a new car. Believe it or not, even as an indie documentary filmmaker and the "Classic Game Room" co-host, I do not get limousine service or have a Trans Am that drives itself. Nope, I gotta shuttle myself, my crap and my dog where I need to go.

So why did I buy a Mazda 6 of all cars? Don't they make those cheap, crappy cars that we used to make fun of? Apparently not! For starters I've been a loyal Nissan driver for about a decade. I've been through a '94 Nissan Maxima, a '98 Infiniti i30 (basically a Maxima) and a 2001 Pathfinder. My favorite was the 94 Maxima, which was awesome. That car ran to 80,000 miles without a single problem. To this day I'm not sure why I traded it in for a used I30 in '99, because the I30 was a complete piece of rubbish in comparison. It drove nice, but once the sunroof broke and electronics started going haywire, that was it for that car.

My 2001 Pathfinder, which was a year old when I bought it in 2002, when gas cost $1.50 a gallon, was a great vehicle with one major flaw. The gas mileage sucked beyond words. And the thing is, I never realized how bad it was until my first fill up when it went about 220 miles on a tank. I don't drive that much so in the grand scheme of things it wasn't a big deal, but still, it's the principle of the matter.

The shot above is the day my Pathfinder, with 86,500 miles, was traded in for my new Mazda 6 with 70 miles. You can almost see the unhappy face on it (the Pathfinder).

I loved that truck and we went through many adventures together. Plowing through snow with reckless abandon, crushing slush and rain on the PA Turnpike with ease, running the EZ Pass booth and climbing sidewalks in Philadelphia (my wife remembers that day). After 5 years the miles did add up and the maintenance was starting to become an issue. I paid off the truck a few months early and spent the savings on new suspension parts and shocks. The muffler had been replaced. The tires were near the end. And through it all I watched our inept GOP leadership subsidize the oil companies by invading Iraq with taxpayer money (and the American people voted for this!?). Anyway, it was time to go. I hate paying for f%$@ing gas, and the Pathfinder got about 14mpg around town. I'd watch the little mile counter hit 200 around the time the gas light went on and drop nearly $60 on gas.

I had been searching for cars for a while and wanted another Nissan, they drive really well and for the most part have been reliable cars. I need something pretty big with a lot of storage space, but didn't want another SUV. I drove a 2004 Maxima and hated it. The Infinitis were overpriced, although that G35 coupe looks nice. Regardless, none of their other vehicles fit my needs and most of them get lousy gas mileage.

I test drove Audi A3 and liked it but couldn't figure out why it cost so much (Oh, it's German!), same goes with BMW. Great cars, but the exchange rate adds insult to injury. And again, I didn't want to spend very much on a car. I blew my fortune on beer, dog food and Xbox you know?

I didn't care for the brakes on Acura or Honda, don't like Toyota's styling or handling and couldn't quite afford that Lamborghini. After reading everything out there I ended up considering the Subaru Legacy and the Mazda 6.... the Mazda what? You think they could have named it better. Like the Mazda DESTROYAH.

I actually never really noticed the "6" before, then I started seeing them everywhere. I really like the look of it, especially the newer ones with nice wheels and body styling. I love the hatchback which is kinda like a station wagon. The Mazda dealer brought me over a Mazda 6 to test drive and I was hooked. Firm brakes, great cornering and really nice styling. Nothing fancy, which was fine with me. No sunroof to break. And the price was well below anyting I had considered. Combined with a 0% APR rate, I bought the car.

I've been rambling on and on here with my life story, so I'll get to the review of my 2007 Mazda 6 now that it has 1012 miles on it.

I drive a very short commute, but still need to drive around town. Just 2 days ago I lugged myself, a cameraman and tons of gear to a shoot with ease. The best part about the car is the way it drives. Very tight, great road feel and really firm brakes. The styling is slick in my opinion, and that's all that matters. My wife thinks it is ugly, but even she admits it drives well.

On the negative side the seats are a bit cheap and uncomfortable at first, I'm getting used to them, but they could be much better. I went with cloth because that's all they had in the silver hatchback, and the price stayed nice and lean.

The stereo is a complete pile of junk. And to make matters worse they make it completely impossible to install a regular DIN style stereo into the car because of the convoluted size and design of the factory stereo. I had a great Alpine in my truck and can't use it. The Mazda iPod adapter is also complete garbage. Its taken me weeks to come up with an alternative stereo and iPod option which is on order.

Lets see, the AC isn't very cold on scorching days and the acceleration off the block was sluggish at first, but has since greatly improved. The acceleration on the highway and around town is outstanding for a 4 banger. I've averaged about 21 MPG around town and hope to see that improve. Haven't taken a road trip yet.

Each tank of gas now gets me 330 miles, and from a much smaller tank.

So that's my review. It's fun, looks great and sounds awful (the stereo, but I'm a stereo snob so take that with a grain of salt). The price was right and it's a great daily driver. Cheers to Mazda for making a great car. Although the black interior is now covered in white dog hair.

3 More Classic Game Rooms Online

2007-09-29T08:31:00.000-05:00

Booyah! Or should I say, "Game Room Sucka!"

This week we were able to upload about 8 Classic "Classic Game Room" episodes from waaaay back in the day. Back from the year 2000, before the global warming crisis, before YouTube, before the GOP made up a bunch of lies and invaded a foreign country sinking our country into an abysmal mess and back before everyone had cell phones, iPods and Bluetooth headsets.

The episodes are on the InecomCompany YouTube account which can be viewed HERE.

Deep from within Inecom Entertainment Company's vault of cancelled internet TV shows from the FromUSAlive.com network we pulled out the Game Room reviews of Bionic Commando, Fear Effect, Robotron 64, Wild Metal, Chu Chu Rocket, The Empire Strikes Back , Virtual On AND Draconus Cult of the Wyrm.

It's been fun to watch a number of these old reviews that I haven't really sat down and watched in a few years. I poured into the reviews that we included on the Classic Game Room DVD, but some of these others I didn't spend much time with.

My personal favorite of this bunch is Draconus. i think we had a good commentary on that episode. I also like the Chu Chu Rocket review and Fear Effect.

These are good examples of the real show, the normal episodes without the expensive outside sequences like Sega GT or Alien (which are on the DVD). I like the bigger, more expensive episodes better, but these are pretty much standard for us. Dave dropped the best one liners and performances, I muddled through the interviews and occasionally said something interesting... but typically did the mixing and editing work.

I re-edited these down a bit and remixed the audio and video where I could. On some episodes like Bionic Commando and Fear Effect we are actually missing the master tapes of the game footage, so some of the video and audio for the game review (not studio) was pulled from the media files we made in 2000.

For Bionic Commando, since I still have that game, I replayed some of the scenes and re-recorded it. Maybe you notice the change at about 4.02 or so in the episode. When we originally made that episode Dave played the game until about 1am in the studio and won it. He was really good at the game, and there's no chance I could win it now.

The same is true for Fear Effect, sort of. I don't have this game, we probably sold it back after doing the review. So most of the game footage is from the streaming media file. But I did find a Betacam SP tape of some game footage and reworked that in where I could. I also used that to remix the intro on the episode and make the disco dancing burning alive scene. Note the outtakes at the end where I tried to put an Atari Jaguar on the table and Dave wouldn't let me.

Wild Metal and Virtual On aren't anything spectacular in the way of humor, but are solid technically and offer pretty candid reviews of two games which are nothing spectacular.

And who doesn't like Chu Chu Rocket? That game is fabulous and still a great party game.

Hopefully there will be some more old episodes posted soon, so keep on the lookout!

Classic Game Room Returns Online!!

2007-09-27T13:46:00.001-05:00

It's the day we've all be waiting for... or at least all of us Classic Game Room fans. And that includes me and Dave! We haven't seen these in so long it's like watching different people almost, so we can laugh at all of our dumb jokes all over again for practically the first time.

You can see the original episodes HERE on YouTube!

Inecom Entertainment Company , which owns the rights to all the Classic Game Room episodes, decided to pull out the stops and publish some of the episodes from the 1999-2000 season. This is the first time these have been online since the "FromUSAlive.com" days!! You can still see our old website which has the text reviews, but does not play the videos, at www.ProjectGames.com.

The Game Room episodes will be appearing under the InecomCompany account on YouTube, along with our feature film trailers and some other cancelled shows that were on FromUSAlive.com back in the day.

Below is one of the all time favorite episodes, our review of The Empire Strikes Back for the Atari 2600. I remastered the episode this week (while awaiting new hard drives to finish my current film). The footage is all from the master tapes so you can see every detail. I'm not sure why my hair was so long back then but it was. I added the new blowing snow fx and the updated sounds of wind and the monsters. The snow was simply made by dragging a long PSD file of "snow" over the video image. I borrowed a licensed Steelers jacket from someone look more vinyl and "Star Wars"-like, and then went so far as to bleep out the Steelers logo with the ice cream graphic.

I also posted our review of Draconus for the Dreamcast. I particularly like this review because we were making fun of learning history and going to school. We were being obnoxious on purpose of course, but the irony is that I now produce historical documentaries and strongly support getting a good education. I'd say I look at the world in a much different way now than I did then, however I still think it's one of our funniest studio segments. I love the part when Dave says "I know Draconus is a word, because someone made it up"

Keep looking for new episodes online. They'll be coming sporadically. So quit playing Halo 3 and go watch some old Game Rooms. FYI, as I'm still waiting for new drives, I'm working on remastering the Virtual On episode and Bionic Commando.

You may ask "but if you need new drives how can you work at all?". Simple. Game Rooms are standard def. My current film, Westinghouse, is HD. HD requires terabytes of storage to do anything.

A Classic Game Room Odyssey

2007-09-22T08:11:00.001-05:00

The next installment in the saga of our editing system, Edit-Station 1, is up on YouTube. We've changed user accounts, to keep up to date with new episodes of the Classic Game Room (which may be returning??), subscribe to our new user name, InecomCompany!

Here is the original video, Classic Game Room, Whiskey and Fried Circuits!

Westinghouse Film Production Update: 9/18

2007-09-18T20:57:00.000-05:00

Been very, very busy proofreading the script and getting ready to record the narration for the Westinghouse documentary film. This doesn't provide for very exciting photos on my blog though. I'm usually hunched over the screen with two cups of coffee nearby and a splitting headache.

Just the other day I was fortunate enough to venture out of my cave (aka editing suite) and enjoy the sun and late summer air. I drove into Oakland, which houses The University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, the Carnegie Library and Museum, as well as many bars and food joints. One of my favorite is the Original Hot Dog Shop.

40'z and hot dogs in one shop! Score! To be honest I haven't been there for several months, but there have been rumors it is closing. I hope not. My wife will be devastated. She claims they have the best french fries on earth.

My trip to Oakland was not for cheap hot dogs or double fried french fries this time, but rather to look at the photo archives and maps in the Carnegie Library for potential use in the Westinghouse film. The good news is I found many excellent photos, many of which I'd never seen before, to help me complete the film. Lots of factory shots and trains, etc...

The library is right next to the museum, which is guarded by a massive dinosaur dubbed "Dippy". I call him Dippyzilla. He's actually quite large and would probably freak out anyone not expecting to see a massive, life like dinosaur standing around Forbes avenue... but not me. I'm used to him. Maybe someone needs to get Dippy a 40 from the "O".

After taking a few more photos it was time to pay for my parking and head back to work... I took the shots of the smokestacks from the parking lot of the museum. They looked pretty neat. I believe they are part of the furnace, or Batcave or powerplant or something for the museum.

Cheers, giant smokestacks! These photos are all taken with my Canon XTi, 17mm lens and polarizer filter, which is how I achieve that really nice, blue sky.

Sega in my free time....

2007-09-12T20:03:00.000-05:00

As work on the new Westinghouse documentary has been moving along, we're nearing the narration of the film and final editing. I've been pretty darned busy. Coupled with a few editing system complications is the fact I had to re-write part of the script about the Burlington Brake Trials in 1886 after learning a few more facts from some train experts who are kind enough to help out.

Anyway, by the time I get home, walk the dog, cook dinner with my wife and actually sit down its already 10pm and I'm usually too damn tired to do anything except hide in my basement for an hour or two and succumb to my addiction to Xbox Live.

Another shot:

A few months ago I decided to hook my Sega Genesis up to an HDTV. After a great deal of research it seemed that modifying the Sega with s-video was the way to go. Obviously the Sega does NOT output true HD video, but the video it does output looks much better with s-video.

I'm not technically competent to do the mods myself so a few weeks ago I sent the system to Canada where Old School Gamer did the work. I just got it back and they did a great job! I don't have any side by side comparisons, but the difference between composite video and s-video on a high def LCD screen (in standard def) is remarkable. Sega-16.com has a few screen shots on their website, but seeing it in person is even better.

I run the s-video and stereo cables through my preamp and switch the video and audio with it. That's the Genesis s-video going into the DVD slot there. The DVD player uses HDMI and optical so it avoids the analog inputs altogether.

I have an Xbox 360, PS2, Atari 7800, Sega Genesis and NES all hooked up at once and switching through an Outlaw 950. The Xbox is using HDMI video independent of the preamp, PS2 is component, Genesis is s-video, NES is composite and the Atari runs through a VCR using the RF thingy, and then gets converted to composite. My Dreamcast and N64 will be going s-video, but they aren't hooked up just yet (which is fine because I have no time for them anyway).

Old School Gamer also repaired my NES which has not been working well since we used it to record the Classic Game Room episodes back in 2000. Yes Game Room fans, this is the actual NES and Sega Genesis used to capture footage for the illustrious Classic Game Room. You know the Genesis we hold up during the X-Men episode? I bought this in 8th grade with Altered Beast and it still works flawlessly today.

The s-video brings out sharper details in the graphics and text (it's really noticeable in the text on M.U.S.H.A. and Herzog Zwei, my two favorites). The shadows beneath the jet in Herzog are now clearly a group of dots instead of a blur. The colors are much better of course. It was like playing MUSHA again for the first time because of all the detail in there.

My NES looks really nice too, but to be fair I never used it on my current setup. Which although isn't fancy, is better than the 19" TV I had 7 years ago.

I use the HDMI with my Xbox 360 which outputs games in 720p. I got the Atari Classics game for Xbox and love playing Yars' Revenge in HD. The Quotile are that much sharper and scarier. I still suck at Pong, even in HD.

It's probably pretty excessive to mod a 20 year old game system, but as I tell people, "I don't golf. I watch movies and play video games. I have all those dozens of dollars left over to spend on classic game cartridges."

What's your favorite controller? Personally I like the PS2 and Genesis controllers the best, but the Xbox 360 controller is growing on me. I never did care for the original Atari 2600 controller, which is why I got the European version that feels more like the old-school NES gamepad.

Game Room Keeps it Real

2007-08-31T11:59:00.000-05:00

How real does Game Room keep it? Real real. Really. No, Realli!

I'm still waiting on the photos from the Classic Game Room party. In the meantime:

Classic Game Room was recently reviewed by Bill "The Game Doctor" Kunkel. You can read what he has to say HERE. We're glad Bill took the time to watch the film, thank you!

In other news, I've had a few requests for autographed copies of the Classic Game Room DVD from Game Room fans, new and old alike. I'd be very happy to scribble all over your DVD or insert and make the DVD worth even less than it is now.

I'm still figuring out the easiest way to do this since we don't have any events scheduled at this time. If you are interested please post on my blog or drop me an email through TheGameRoom YouTube account. I appreciate all the kind words and support of Game Room viewers. It’s amazing that so many people remember our show from back in the day! Thank you!

Pictured above is a shot from the photo shoot for the Classic Game Room packaging. The film has been very well received and with any luck will do well enough so that we can bring the rest of the series out and make some new films. It's too early to tell at the moment. It would be great to work with Dave again, I think we'd make a great film if we got the Game Room team back together again.

Another photo, this one had way too much foam!

In the meantime, when I'm not working on my new historical film, I've had some insomniac time to play with my new Xbox 360. I can see why everyone is really worked up about this thing and why a whole new generation is being introduced to classic games like Contra and Joust. Xbox Live is awesome! I've been sucked back into classics like Smash TV, Robotron 2084 and have played a few latenight games of Mortal Kombat 3 with a good friend from school. (Finish him #26!)

You have to imagine a bunch of 30-something guys on headsets talking about home repairs and kids while trying to rip their opponents' heads off, thus spewing blood all over the screen and winning. Ahhhh video games, bringing people together.

Pictured above is my Forza 2 Black Label Beer Lamborghini Gallardo. I do not drive that car in real life.... really. No, realli!

CLASSIC GAME ROOM RELEASE DAY!

2007-08-28T14:00:00.000-05:00

Do you know what day it is? It's Classic Game Room Release Day TM (Copyright 2007 Classic Game Room). It's like a national holiday except that the banks are still open. You can now officially buy Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show and add it to your DVD collection.

If you alphabetize your DVD rack it can squeeze right in between Casablanca and Conan the Barbarian.

The DVD is available at most online retailers and gamer sites. You can read the reviews and judge for yourself if you'd like it or not. Personally, I think it's entertaining and tells the tale of our Internet video game review show amid the turmoil of the dot-com bust. But then again I've got a bizarre sense of humor. I also enjoy Yars' Revenge.

RADIO INTERVIEW

I was interviewed by Betty Jo Tucker today for her online radio show. You can listen to the show HERE.

NEW REVIEWS

A few new reviews of Classic Game Room are seen online!

Old Skool Games review

TheLogBook.com review

Adam Hunter's review

CELEBRATION

I'll post some pictures of my Classic Game Room party online this week. We're bringing in A-list celebrities, a petting zoo and four hundred cases of Black Label Beer. It's going to be insane. Or maybe I'm making this up. One thing is for certain, Yars' Revenge will be played.

Pictured above is the car I designed for Forza 2 on the Xbox 360, the Black Label Beer Lamborghini. I find this game disturbingly addictive. I'll have more pictures once I take it for a spin in Xbox-land. In the meantime it's back to work... Happy Classic Game Room day everyone!

360 Reasons to Love Atari

2007-08-27T09:54:00.000-05:00

I'll give you 360 to reasons to love Atari, or at least old school games in general. The Xbox 360. To celebrate the release of Classic Game Room on DVD this week I finally, after a year of research and price stabilization, went out and bought an Xbox 360. I had also collected all my pocket change for a year ($85) and cashed in my Discover card points, so it came out pretty cheap too. Nothing feels better than buying an Xbox with quarters and nickels. Or at least 1/4 of an Xbox with quarters and nickels. And dimes and pennies too.

I had been on the fence regarding these game systems for a while, and actually didn't even want to get one until Dave (from the Game Room!) and a few other friends convinced me that Xbox Live was the greatest thing since sliced bread. And the fact is, they're right. Holy crap is it awesome. If I didn't have a busy life I'd just vegetate in front of Xbox Live forever. As it is, I must restrain myself from spending all night playing Robotron 2084 and Contra on Xbox Live. Stella won't let me spend all my time in front of it though, I've still got to live my real life and actually walk our dog in reality.

I am very impressed with the ease of getting it online and the interface for Xbox Live. I am very unimpressed with the fact that I have to buy all these "Microsoft" accessories, like their special HDMI cable, that cost a fortune. And I really could have used a 2nd controller. My Sega Genesis came with 2 controllers, so should this. On the other hand, the wireless controllers are very nice. I don't have to worry about my dog snagging the controller when romping by the rack and pulling a $400 game system to its doom. However, I prefer the Sony Playstation and Sega Genesis controllers to the Xbox controller.

Backwards compatible? The Atari 7800 is awesome because it plays 7800 and 2600 games. However, it won't play Xbox 360 games. Sad. I am a fan of backwards compatibility and believe the Atari 7800 was the first game system to offer this back in the 80's. I ran out and bought Halo 1 for the original Xbox (which I'd actually never played) for all of $10 and was thrilled to learn I could play it on my 360 with ease. The 360 downloaded something from the Internet for 10 seconds and then I was up and running. Fantastic.

Now let's talk about the games. Math Gran Prix for the Atari 2600 is the benchmark standard for racing games, how does Forza 2 compete? Well, the graphics are a bit better. So are the physics. Sadly Math Gran Prix does not offer an online option. However the math is very challenging.

Forza 2 is a lot of fun and offers great racing. The car selection isn't as good as what I would like to see, but the cars that are there are fantastic. And it's about time we got a Lamborghini Countach in a racing game, but where's the Lamborghini Jalpa!?

Anyway, I really like the fact I can design logos for the hood of the cars. I'm a geek that way. I'm looking forward to posting some images later of a few designs I'm working on in my spare time (which is not much). I personally think that $60 + tax for a game is very steep (I paid $55 used). You can get Math Gran Prix for about 10 cents online. But it all depends on what you're willing to spend for the latest and greatest technology. I doubt I'll be buying many "new" games because I really don't have much time to play them. However the $5 online classic games are right on.

Cheers to the Xbox 360. In closing, I'm impressed with pretty much everything about the system except the astronomical price of the games and accessories. Probably because when I grew up and bought games they were 1/3 the price of this.

I also think that for this price it should come with an HD-DVD drive. But maybe that's just because I want one. I have not yet jumped on any HD video format just yet. I was thinking of getting a PS3 but the Xbox Live thing, combined with the fact my friends in NYC and Philly are getting 360's, pretty much sold me.

I see myself getting more classics like Ms. Pac Man and Gauntlet from Xbox Live. I also look forward to playing Bioshock and Halo 3 when the time comes. In the meantime, when I'm not working or living my normal life, you can find me on the couch with a glass of good beer like Weltenburger Kloster, a dog at my feet and an Xbox 360 controller in hand playing Robotron 2084 or Forza 2.

Classic Game Room is available HERE.

Westinghouse Film Production Update: 8/22

2007-08-22T16:24:00.000-05:00

Look at the size of that thing! That is an HDcam tape in the background (the big one), a DVCpro tape in the middle and MiniDV in the front. You could hurt someone with that HDcam tape.

I have spent the last two days digitizing HDcam high definition tapes into the editing system for the Westinghouse film. For those of you who don't know about the Westinghouse documentary, here is the official website: www.WestinghouseFilm.com

We have a great deal of footage that came straight off 16mm film prints for the documentary. It was all transferred to HDcam in NYC a few weeks back. To name a few of the subjects: 1964 World's Fair, industrial films and turn of the century footage.

Some of my favorite shots are street scenes from the late 1890's and early 1900's that look as if you are standing there (and looking through black and white eyes). There's a lot of footage of Thomas Edison and subways and trains. It's pretty remarkable how clear and amazing they look.

Pictured above is the HDcam deck that I rented for a day to do all the work. The Sony J-H3. My plan now is to replace all of the standard definition (rough) footage from the film and replace it with the crystal clear HD shots.

These are the hard drives that digitize and play back the HD footage. Pictured in this shot are about 1.8 terabytes of drive space, striped for HD use. They say Avid on them because they're left over from our old Avid Nitris editing system. I have since moved on to Adobe Premier Pro. Each has their advantage, but one thing remains the same. You need a ton of drive space to make a 2-hour high definition film. All in all I use about 10 terabytes of drive space when you take my backup drives into account. Can you imagine that 10 years ago?

Westinghouse is already available for pre-order on Amazon.com HERE. It will be released on April 8, 2008.

Classic Game Room Reunion!

2007-08-20T08:31:00.001-05:00

Classic Game Room hosts David Crosson and Mark Bussler, circa August 2007.

I was able to meet up with Dave in NYC a few weeks ago and catch up. It had been about 2 years or so since we hung out and it was great to see him again and BS. We talked about movies and video games, shared our thoughts on the Xbox 360, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, PS3 and whatnot. Dave pretty much sold me on finally getting a 360 for the Xbox Live feature alone. Oh ok.... twist my arm. I may finally get a new console system. I still want Blu Ray too. Damned format war.

Dave is doing very well and was bouncing off the walls with his usual excitement for living. He has changed careers completely (from video game reviewing) and maybe... just maybe.... someday, maybe... the Game Room might return... But as mentioned in the commentary on the film, we don't live in the same city anymore and we both have other professions and activities that consume our lives. But we'll see what happens with the Classic Game Room film being released on August 28th. If it sells like hotcakes in a hotcake festival on hotcake day, then maybe the studio will really want another one. I like hotcakes.

I think that given the right project we'd be happy to work together again. Perhaps on another Classic Game Room film, since we're both still into classic games. Or maybe a ninja movie, since we both fear and respect ninjas.

GOOD REVIEWS ARE POURING IN!

You never know how a film is going to be received and it's always a shock to learn how viewers react to what you've worked on for months. Do they like the pacing, story, editing, subject, plot, technical qualities, etc...? Or do they simply throw the dvd out the window and watch "E.T." for the 1000th time?

So far the Classic Game Room reviews have been excellent. I've been impressed that the reviewers have taken the time to dig into the disc and really appreciated what we were going for originally, as well as how it was mixed with the retrospective documentary and finished.

As a few people noted, Dave wasn't involved with the documentary, which I certainly would have preferred. But as I mentioned earlier, when my shooting budget for this project was about the cost of a PS3 there's not a lot I could do out of state. All travel was nixed.

In fact, if you've been reading my blog, you know I actually hijacked my Westinghouse documentary film crew and reshot the Game Room documentary scenes in HD with a steadicam. On used tape no less.

In any event, check out the reviews. Dave is as thrilled as I am that people remember out show years later and maybe someday the Game Room will Strike Back. Or Return of the Game Room. Whatever. It just won't have damned Ewoks.

REVIEWS:

DVD Talk Review

DVD Times Review

Blogcritics.org Review

NationalGameDepot Review

Videgamecritic.net Review

ReelTalkReviews.com Review

Westinghouse Production Update: 8/16

2007-08-16T12:58:00.000-05:00

This past week I have been busy working with the DVCproHD master tapes of the Westinghouse documentary. These tapes contain the actual HD master footage that was shot for the film of the Westinghouse monument in Schenley Park, the George Westinghouse Museum collections, scenery and interviews.

The tapes are then fed into the editing system with this Panasonic AJ-HD1200A DVCproHD deck through an SDI cable. All in all it looks fantastic. I'm biased of course, but I know that everyone involved did a great job and it looks solid.

Next week I'll have a Sony HDcam deck in here to capture the high definition footage of Westinghouse industrial films, Westinghouse at the 1964 World's Fair and many other exciting Westinghouse related productions transferred from the 16mm film prints.

The Westinghouse DVD is already available for pre-order on Amazon.com HERE.

The pending Westinghouse Blu-Ray release is also available on Amazon.com HERE. I'll keep everyone posted of new information as it comes. In the meantime, with release dates pending, I guess I'd better finish this thing....

Videogamecritic.net reviews Classic Game Room

2007-08-08T14:14:00.000-05:00

The VideogameCritic.net website recently reviewed Classic Game Room. A highlight from their review:

"The shows are edited to great comedic effect, making good use of inappropriate music and goofy graphics. You'll see many squirrel heads superimposed over the bodies of people, and for me, that in of itself is worth the price of admission. The 2007 documentary that ties the shows together is actually more entertaining that the shows themselves, employing a hodgepodge of disjointed stock footage and bizarre music to give the show a "larger than life" feel."

Read the full review HERE.

However, they said we were bad actors and were predictable. Our acting was bad, I'll agree there. That was pretty much our intent. However, I'm not sure what was predictable... for instance, we set out to starve SeaMan, but in the end it was depriving him of oxygen that eventually got him. I never saw that one coming. Completely unpredictable!

Thank you to www.Videogamecritic.net for the objective review of our objectionable review show.

Also, the Classic Game Room DVD Trailer was the #1 Recently Featured video on the YouTube Gadgets and Games section. This is the 2nd CGR promo video to be selected for that honor in a few weeks, I think there must be a Classic Game Room fan on the YouTube staff.

I am 100% involved in a new production but I have managed to squeeze out one last YouTube promo which will be up over the next week or so. I'll keep you posted, it'll probably be the final one. All my time is being devoted to my next film at the moment.

Review Update 8/6: Classic Game Room

2007-08-06T14:18:00.000-05:00

The first review of Classic Game Room is in! And it's good! Thank you to Betty Jo Tucker over at ReelTalkReviews.com for taking the time to watch the film and for writing a positive review. Read it here. Then make sure you all click the 5 star rating and tell your friends. These aren't the droids you're looking for.

Thank you again, Betty Jo, for being a strong supporter of independent films. She's reviewed my films for the past several years now and will even be interviewing me on her Internet radio show on August 28th at 4pm Eastern Time. The website for her blogtalk radio program is HERE.

For those who don't know, Classic Game Room is a comedy documentary about the rise and fall of the turn of the century Internet television show, THE GAME ROOM. If you like classic video games, Atari, Sega Genesis, NES and enjoy frothy, hoppy beverages (aka beer), then you may very well enjoy Classic Game Room. Cheers.

DVD will be released on August 28th. You can buy it here.

Photographs: England Trip Day 9, Lake District

2007-08-04T13:30:00.000-05:00

Photos from my ongoing blog saga of our trip to England back in May. These photos are from the 9th day when we hiked hills and crags around Keswick in the Lake District. The photo above is of Derwentwater (lake) as seen from Castle Crag. We walked up there that morning and took some photos of the scenery.

I'm king of the world! Or at least I am king of my own, made-up reality. Anyway, Keswick was one of our favorite towns in all of England and the weather was perfect. After our morning hike we stayed on top of Castle Crag for an hour or so and then wandered back down to town. Next we made our way to Castlerigg Stone Circle.

On the map it looked like a short walk. It wasn't. We walked for about 45 minutes to an hour to get there. It was a nice walk but the real kicker was that it was uphill the entire way. The map didn't show that! Regardless, it was a great hike and I highly recommend it. The scenery was fantastic and made me want to hike more! One thing that was cool was watching those peaks in the distance, which are about 2000 feet tall, and seeing these little groups of "real" hikers climbing to the tops. I imagine the views from up there are stunning.

Castlerigg Stone Circle was another highlight of our trip. When people mention stone circles they always think of Stonehenge. We went to Avebury on our last trip to the UK and really enjoyed the fact we could walk around the stones and touch them. We were glad that Castlerigg was similar in that respect.

ROCK! Me and my new pal, Mr. Stone. We must have lounged around Castlerigg for a few hours, the view is quite nice. You are surrounded by hills and fields and rolling clouds casting shadows on the peaks. My wife fell asleep in the field and I took pictures for a while. It was sad to leave but we were getting hungry.

We made it back to town and enjoyed another evening in Keswick's vast array of pubs sampling different local beers. Their local brand is Jennings and the Cocker Hoop was my favorite. Northern English beer is some of the best in the world.

Production Update: Westinghouse 8/2

2007-08-02T18:31:00.000-05:00

What you are looking at is the opening shot of the new Westinghouse documentary film that I am producing. Actually two versions of the opening shot. The smaller one in the bottom left is the standard def cut of the film superimposed onto the HD edit of the film.

I have a 2 hour cut of the film with holding narration completed. That means my narration which eventually gets re-recorded by the professional narrator. I'm remaking the entire film in HD and cleaning up all the footage and photos. I took this shot with my cell phone so it doesn't show the clarity of the screen. That photograph is actually from the Westinghouse exhibit at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. Also known as the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition to elebrate the 100th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 (they were one year late... again!).

I have not gotten official word yet from the distribution company on the release date of the film (which will be in spring of 2008) or the possible (cross your fingers) Blu-Ray disc release. It will be nice to see the film with all of the detail that I am putting into it. You can make out the detail in the plaster molding and W's around the light bulbs in the opening shot.

I don't even have Blu-Ray yet. I have not yet gotten my PS3 but I hope to soon. I'm still angered by the format war and the lack of PS3 games. Not like I have time to play them anyway. However, as prices subside, and with software titles like Blade Runner on the horizon, I'm going to have to jump on that bandwagon.

More Westinghouse film information will be posted here as well as on the official site www.WestinghouseFilm.com

Production Update: Westinghouse 7/31/07

2007-07-31T22:18:00.001-05:00

Holy cow! Look at the drama, excitement and glamour of being an indie documentary filmmaker!

Let me tell you how it is in this high profile, celebrity business. The gossip magazines and cable shows don't do it justice.

I lead an elaborate life of excess. It's true. Just today I was thinking of drag racing Escalades, snorting lines of coke off my diamond encrusted gold counter tops or running my illegal slug fighting operation... but instead I chose to stare all day at my computer as it crunched numbers. I was sleepy after a 128 hour bender dancing at night clubs and hopping in and out of jail.

This is really wild. Today I documentd, by hand, every shot and file name in my new documentary film to keep it organized and backed up in hard copy. I was also rebuilding it from scratch in High-Def after I'd made all of my preliminary editing decisions.

Where is the glamour and excitement in this? Where is the the celebrity reality show when you need it? Seriously, this was extreme. I wrote it all with a blue pen too. In your face people who like red pens! EXTREME!!!!

Check this out. It is a 1 terabyte hard drive. I go through these things faster than Crocket and Tubbs bust bad guys. Did I say bad guys? I mean misunderstood businessmen.

This hard drive should be full of phone numbers, a-list party schedules and the financial statements from my illegal slug fighting operation. It is not though. It is full of historical photographs, rare footage from the 19th century and hand written letters from very intelligent people who worked hard to make America a better place.

Bah humbug! I'm off to hit some trendy party somewhere. Who cares about smart, hard working people like George Westinghouse when you can see models fall of the bar into a pile of extreme vodka mix drinks?

Being a documentary filmmaker is extreme. Really. I'm being serious. It is. $20 on the yellow slug.

Mark's Update, Game Room and Westinghouse

2007-07-29T18:53:00.000-05:00

The key to being a successful blogger is to update your blog frequently to keep readers coming back frequently. Which means I'm a pretty lousy blogger. I can barely keep up with one post a month this summer. I'm hoping to change the layout of my blog to seperate it into sections for photographs, film pictures and interview updates. This will hopefully give it a cleaner look and organize it by subject matter.

Let's get the current film news out of the way first.

Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show is coming to DVD on August 28th. A few of the press copies came and went, reviewer response has been good and I've been doing a few interviews for the film. More interviews are lined up and I will post them as they are published.

I will make a list of all interviews for Classic Game Room and my other documentaries this week. I've recently done a few Internet radio programs and those can be listened to anywhere, anytime from PC Talk Radio, ReelTalkReviews.com and Calling All Pets.

I was interviewed by one of my favorite websites, Sega-16.com, a few weeks ago. I'm looking forward to linking to it when it is posted.

Above is a great shot of our dog, Stella, launching herself off of our patio in my direction. She loves to take flying leaps into the yard and covers about 8 feet soaring in the air. Which for a dog her size is very fun to watch.

Westinghouse is my next HD documentary film about George Westinghouse, his battle with Thomas Edison and the Westinghouse legacy. I have been working on it since January and it is nearing final editing now. The Website just went live and can be viewed at www.WestinghouseFilm.com

I will start to post production photos over the next few weeks once I create my new site layout. It is getting to be confusing reading about classic video games, Westinghouse, Gettysburg and Stella in the same post.....

Westinghouse will most likely be released on DVD in spring of 2008. There has even been some discussion of a high definition release, possibly blu-ray. But nothing concrete. I'd like to see it released in HD if I have it my way. The archival footage and prints in the film are absolutely stunning and look best in HD.

The picture below was taken with a Canon Digital Rebel XTi w/ the 300mm zoom lens. You can see Stella's Chow Chow blue patches on her tongue. She's a Chow/German Shepherd mix.

So keep an eye out for exciting new changes to my blog and the list of promotional events for Classic Game Room, Johnstown Flood, Expo: Magic of the White City and Horses of Gettysburg. I will also have a section devoted to my photography and whatever other random nonsense I feel like writing about.

I vow to work harder not to be such a lousy blogger.

Trip Day 8, Keswick & Lake District

2007-07-02T16:04:00.000-05:00

Here it is in July and I'm still writing the update of my two weeks in the U.K. from back in May.

Visiting the U.K. is just similar enough to be familiar and just different enough to be different from the USA. For one thing, I can't think of any place in the states that looks or feels quite like the Lake District.

We were standing at the edge of Derwentwater Lake, at Keswick, when taking this photo. Day 8 of our trip was a long day. Total travel time from Stirling to Keswick: 6 hours. Total cost of 2 beers in Edinburgh train station: $20. Good beers though. We had to ride a bus for a while as tracks were under construction. Boo.

Keswick (pictured above) was a beautiful, quaint town on the edge of Derwentwater. This was probably our favorite town of this trip. I love any place where we go to a pub and look down only to see a dog at our feet. And the people were very friendly and happy to talk about dogs or beer or whatever. Great town.

Keswick and the Lake District are full of rolling hills, rocky crags and sheep farms. As the weather was perfect for our entire visit this made for a few days of fantastic photography and walking. My wife loves sheep so she was in wool heaven.

Our first day in the Lake District was spent walking around Keswick and Derwentwater. There's no shortage of relaxed, well stocked pubs in Keswick with good beer on tap. And dogs, did I mention there were dogs everywhere? We missed our dog, Stella.

We liked the lake though.

Lensbaby 2.0 and Stella Pictures

2007-06-28T20:09:00.000-05:00

A break from vacation photos for a day. We finally got a new Lensbaby 2.0 lens for our Canon EOS Rebel XTi. Which is by far the most affordable way to get cool pictures.

It is a fully manual lens. In fact it doesn't even have focus on it. Well it sort of does, you have to bend the lens in and out like an accordion to get focus on a subject. Which is really tricky, but then you can blur the rest of the photo out depending on the angle that you are holding it.

Above is a nice shot of our dog, Stella, with her Sunday morning paper. The lens is pretty tricky to use at first, especially when shooting subjects a few feet away because you have a very shallow depth of field. I like to get focus on her right eye. Considering she is usually moving this can be tough. I shot about 500 pictures to get the three on this page in perfect focus on her eye.

We ordered the macro lens attachment ($32!) for the Lensbaby so we'll be taking all kinds of cool photos soon. Here's a good shot I took in our front yard after a rain with our normal 17-85mm lens a few days ago.

Sluggish. I'll be posting more vacation photos soon, been busy. Ni!

Although I have not been writing much about it, work has been progressing steadily on the George Westinghouse Film. It is in post production now and music is being composed. I'll have more photos and information on that coming soon.

Trip Day 7, Doune Castle and Wallace Monument

2007-06-26T06:52:00.001-05:00

Day 7 of our trip was one of my favorites for we went to Camelot! Rather, we went to Doune Castle, where they filmed Monty Python and The Holy Grail!

It's only a model.

Seriously, I was so excited when I learned we were able to take a short bus ride there from Stirling when planning our trip. I visited the ScotlandTheMovie.com website because I was intent on seeing at least some filming locations from two of my favorite movies, Monty Python and The Holy Grail and HIGHLANDER. Regrettably we couldn't fit any Highlander locations into the trip... "Another time MacLeod!"

"There can be only one."

Damn right, these are the stairs that John Cleese (Sir Lancelot) ran up to save Terry Jones' character, Prince Herbert, from the tower. You know the scene of which I speak. That's me racing up the stairs to tour the castle.

Look familiar? Just a hint: they built stairs on the right side for the movie.

Doune Castle was a surprise because it was the best castle I could have imagined visiting, even without the Monty Python connection. Let me explain. We took a bus (#59) to Doune, walked through the town to the castle and entered the gate and hallway that John Cleese runs through when attacking the wedding party..

You can barely see her, but my wife is clacking two halves of a coconut shell together by the steps. The book store in the castle was featured in the DVD special features of The Holy Grail where they said visitors could borrow coconuts and run around. Heck yeah we did it! We purchased tickets and asked to borrow coconuts, which they let us borrow, and clacked out the hallway into the center courtyard.

Castle Anthrax.

One of the greatest things about Doune Castle is that they let you explore on your own. No forced tours. No crappy signs with crappy cartoons. No bastardized commercialization. It was really great! It was as I'd imagined a castle would be (from movies of course). Solid stone construction, many rooms, spiral staircases and nooks and crannies. And it was way bigger than I thought it would be.

We brought our video iPod with us and reenacted scenes in all the locations from the movie. That's right, we watched the movie in the exact spot where they filmed the movie. We're dorks.

"What are you doing in England?"
"Mind your business!"

After having a great time we took the bus back to Stirling and went to the William Wallace Monument. I like the movie Braveheart, but to be honest it pales in comparison to Highlander. I was very, very upset there was not a Connor MacLeod monument anywhere in Scotland.

Look how big this thing is! The monument sits on top of a hill which is a hike to the top... but nothing too difficult. I found it amusing that they offer a bus to the monument that says "The easy way to the top". Very American I thought. What would Wallace think of these tourists who can't even put forth the effort to hike 10 minutes to his monument?

A statue to honor the Quickening.

This monument is a huge tower and the view is commanding. There is a museum on the inside where they have the William Wallace sword.

A view from the top. This was one of my favorite and most memorable days of our vacation. As I am a movie buff and enjoy history this just couldn't have gotten much better. Oh wait, yes it did....

Trip Day 6, Stirling, Scotland

2007-06-13T06:25:00.000-05:00

On the sixth day of our trip we took the train heading north from Durham to Scotland! And what a train ride it was.

We road the GNER (Great North East Railway) which snaked along the Northwest coast and offered many amazing views of sheep, small towns and the North Sea. I shot pictures the entire ride for the most part.

I regret that we did not have a chance to stop at this town called Berwick-Upon-Tweed which looked very nice from the train.

We changed trains in Edinburgh and headed to Stirling. Most people wonder why we chose Stirling over Edinburgh for our two day excursion into Scotland. The decision was made based on the prices in Edinburgh and the fact that Stirling is near Doune (more on Doune next post). I also wanted to see Stirling Castle and the William Wallace monument and sword.

Upon arriving in Stirling we hiked up to the Castle and were greeted with some amazing vistas of Scotland! This is a shot of the wall of the castle and surrounding countryside.

It is very green and rainy in Scotland. The weather changed every 10 seconds.

Above is the statue to Robert the Bruce. Aye.

Although it seemed like most of the castle was being renovated while we were there we enjoyed learning about its history and seeing the details throughout.

The castle is just enormous and as I mentioned provides some amazing views. I never even had a chance to get a photo from the ground in front of it, we just didn't have time to walk that far.

After spending some time there we wanted to get some good Scottish food like fresh Salmon, but were told that everyone there eats Chinese or Italian. I ever saw an "American" steakhouse... which we did not go to. Instead we found a nice pub and enjoyed cheddar and chutney sandwiches.

My beer report of Scotland is favorable! I had some McEwan's on tap and really liked it. Scottish beer has a unique toasty flavor that you don't find many other places.

Trip Day 5, Durham

2007-06-04T06:50:00.001-05:00

You can click on these photos to see full size versions. Photos are not to be reproduced without my permission.

On the fifth day or our trip we ventured North from Masham on the train and arrived in Durham. It was about this time that I realized that I had not packed nearly enough warm clothes for our trip and that wearing shorts was not going to be an option. I bought a new sweater for the low price of 15 pounds! Which converts to $30. We basically doubled the price of everything because of the value of the pound vs. the dollar which SUCKS. It's a good thing all we ate was pub food.

That night I had a "gammon steak and fried egg". Mmmm... pork.

My wife wanted to see Durham Cathedral, one of the oldest cathedrals in England. We walked through town and through the hordes of drunk college students only to find out that we could not take pictures inside of Durham Cathedral. We were a bit dismayed at this since we love photographing cathedrals. Anyway, it was very impressive inside and worth seeing.

It was a wet and dreary day (like every day in Pittsburgh) but we climbed the tower anyway. Upon reaching the top we were greeted with sheets of ice cold rain and wind. The view might have been nice had i been able to see more than 5 feet in front of me. We trundled down the 300+ steps through another tiny stairway made for 13th century mini-people and went to dinner. My wife snapped off this nice picture from the tower showing where the previous photo was taken from:

After dinner we decided to try some nightlife. We hit a few pubs and called it another successful day of touring. When travelling I tend to find that any college town can be a bit crowded and irritating, especially when compared to the nice small town atmosphere of Masham. But we made the best of it by hitting a college bar that served Samuel Smith on tap! This was one of my favorite beers of the trip, a very smooth and hoppy bitter.

Durham Cathedral is regarded as one of the most impressive Norman buildings in Europe. It is perched high upon a hill next to a castle (now a university building) on the bend of a river. I found the best spot to enjoy it all was away from the busy center of town. I recommend walking along the river to get the best view.

Onward to Scotland for day 6!

Trip Day 4, Masham and Theakston's Brewery Tour

2007-05-30T15:59:00.000-05:00

It's a happy place...

On the 4th day of our journey we bode York a fond farewell, enjoyed a full English breakfast, walked the walls one more time and made our way to Masham.

Masham is a Beautiful small town not far from York (you can Google Map it) in the Yorkshire Dales region as they call it. We wish we'd have spent more days in that area but regrettably did not plan the time. An article in Beer Advocate magazine said "You know you love beer when: You plan vacations around trips to breweries". Guilty! We stayed the night at the Garden House B&B and highly recommend it for anyone looking to travel to Masham or visit Theakson's. You can travel by train from York to North Allerton and then call LadyBird taxi service to come pick you up.

I had every intention on visiting the Theakston's Brewery while I was in England. Back when I was in London in 2005 we just happened to duck into a pub called the Green Man and French Horn while it was pouring. They had several beers that I had not tried on tap, one of them was called Old Peculier. Now this beer was one of the best beers I've ever had. Completely unique... rich, sweet and creamy but not too sweet... with something special about it. I had three of them, had a great time in the pub and walked straight into a lamp post afterwards.

Above is a picture of me from 2005 at the Green Man and French Horn. Cheers! Ever since then I've wanted to visit the Theakston's brewery and we did! It was great! My only regret is we took the last tour of the day and did not get to spend as much time in their fine bar afterwards as we would have liked. Check out their bar below.

The tour was fun because the guide was personable and entertaining. Being that Theakston's is a small, independent brewery you get a real sense of the craft and care that is put into their beer. I'm not just blowing sunshine up their ass, I've been to major "corporate" breweries before that "brew" billions of gallons of beer each year much like you might mix a pitcher of Cool-Aid. However, when you visit one of these independent breweries like Theakston's or Samuel Smith you see first hand the old fashioned gravity system used to make the beer from start to finish, from top to bottom.

I saw the beer fermenting in legendary Yorkshire Squares made of slate. Mmmm... who knows, maybe there's Old Peculier in there?

After the tour we both sampled 2 half pints of beer and the even better surprise was the Old Peculier that was served on cask in their pub was the freshest, creamiest and best Old Peculier that I've ever had. I enjoyed the fine balance of the unique sweet taste with the taste of the alcohol that they pull off. It is a strong beer and tastes like it, but that's part of the charm. Their Theakson's Bitter is also an excellent beer and one of the best bitters we had on our trip.

Later that evening we dined at the King's Head Hotel that served Old Peculier on cask.

A special thanks to Simon Theakston who posted the following comment on my blog earlier:

Mark,

I'm delighted that you enjoyed tasting our beers whilst visiting our brewery in Masham recently. I very much look forward to welcoming you once again in the very near future.

Kindest regards

Simon Theakston

Mr. Theakston, we'd be there tonight if we could! Thank you to everyone at Theakston's and Sue and George Furby at the Garden House for making our visit to Masham a very memorable one. Onward to day 5 in Durham!

Pictures of town and Theakston's above taken with Canon Digital Rebel XTi w/ 17-85mm IS lens. Interior shots (with exception of the really rich bar shot) taken with Canon Powershot SD500. Photos Copyright © 2007 Mark Bussler are not to be reproduced without my permission.

Trip Day 3, York in Northern England

2007-05-30T15:44:00.000-05:00

Photo above is Yorkminster Cathedral. Look how small the people are! Click all images on this post for larger image.

On the third day of our trip to England we woke up and walked the walls of York. York is a beautiful town in the North of England that retains much of its Roman/Norman character and is very well preserved. Tight streets lined with neat shops and restaurants weave through the unique city that comes surrounded with walls that are still mostly intact. The walls are very well preserved and were actually expanded in the 1890's for walking. You can see in the picture below the Norman wall built on top of the ancient Roman wall. Photos taken with Canon XTi Digital Rebel with 17-85mm IS lens. Click to bring up bigger image.

This was our second time visiting York and we were happy to spend more time in the mighty Yorkminster. You could easily spend a week in there looking at the architecture and details. Some of the finest stained glass in all of Europe is fully intact in York. (next two shots photographed with 300mm IS lens)

View from inside and outside one of their massive stained glass windows.

We paid the extra few pounds and walked to the top of the tower. Now I'm a fairly big guy compared to the people who built this thing hundreds of years ago, so climbing the hundreds of little steps in the circular staircase to the top wasn't my favorite part of the trip. But the view was spectacular.

A photograph inside Yorkminster. What is really amazing about this kind of cathedral is that it was built before machines, power tools and computers. I doubt that it could be built today with the same kind of attention to detail.

We also took our second "free walking tour" of the city. Free tours are offered once or twice a day (Check the Tourist Information in York for details) and I highly recommend them. You learn about the walls, the stories, the history and cathedral. We also took a ghost walk in the evening!!! Although I saw no ghosts.

York is full of great pubs and eating establishments. We enjoyed the Old White Swan and Ye Olde Starre Inn while we were in town. And of course the King's Arms by the river (The pub that floods!). They have a brick bar, sturdy beams and a lack of carpeting. There is a sign on the wall showing how high the water rose each time it was flooded. In 2000 it would have been completely over the bar!

Not only are the people there friendly but they serve all kinds of Samuel Smith beers on tap. Samuel Smith is one of my favorite beers. It is brewed not far away from York in a small town called Tadcaster. I visited their brewery back in 2005 and had a great time.

Excellent! In the picture above I'm holding a pint of Samuel Smith Bitter in one hand and Pure Brewed Lager in the other. I also sampled the Samuel Smith Alpine Lager but preferred the Pure Brewed. At a different pub I tried their wheat beer which I really enjoyed. Ironically it tasted a lot like Penn Brewery Weisen which is brewed in Pittsburgh and consistently wins national awards.

Above is Emperor Constantine! Or at least a statue of him. No photos are to be reproduced without permission. All photos Copyright © 2007 Mark Bussler.

Trip Day 1&2 - Pittsburgh to York

2007-05-28T22:08:00.000-05:00

The first two days of our U.K. trip with no sleep combined to make one day. One very, very long day. We woke up in the morning and headed off to the Pittsburgh airport where we boarded our Southwest airlines flight to Philadelphia!

Generally I don’t say anything negative on my blog. I tend to follow the rule that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. So I won’t say a thing about the Philadelphia airport.

Kudos to Southwest for being a great airline. Even on the relatively short flight from Pittsburgh to Philly they make it enjoyable with friendly staff and pilots who tell jokes.

After a short layover in the town of fantastic cheesesteaks (although you can't get any of the good ones at the airport!) we boarded our British Airways flight to Heathrow in England.

BA has also proved to be a great airline with good customer service. Typically I can’t stand long flights. This time I was armed with my iPod, a few episodes of Star Trek, some g&t’s and the little airplane map thingy on the screen. I like this feature because it seems like the video game airplane can make it over the ocean safely. And it did!

Fly airplane, fly! If I will it hard enough, it goes where I want it to.

The new iPod has enough Futurama, Star Trek and Brisco County Jr. installed on it to keep me entertained for hours. I found some software online from Cucusoft and ripped my DVDs to it (DVD to iPod converter).

After landing in Heathrow and standing in the immigration line until the end of time we caught a train to York. I didn’t sleep a wink on the plane of course (couldn’t take my eye off the screen with the animated airplane) so I tried to catch a few z’s on train.

Upon arriving at York, completely exhausted and begging to take a nap, my wife (who is tougher than I am) dragged me out and forced me to go have fun. I solved this problem of no sleep by going to my favorite pub in York, The King’s Arms, for a few well deserved Samuel Smith bitters. We caught a meal after that and enjoyed the rest of the day walking the walls and taking in York.

The King's Arms in York is known as the "Pub that Floods". It has flooded many times in the past few decades and is made of solid rock for the most part. They have no carpets (wisely) and a beautiful bar. I'll post more pictures of it on day 3.

Pictured above is Yorkminster Cathedral. York is a beautiful city with so much to see. Yorkminster Cathedral is simply amazing and these pictures hardly do it justice. It is very old and it is very big. We don’t have these kind of things in the States.

To end the day we picked another pub at random to grab a beer.

End day 1&2!

Back from the U.K.!

2007-05-28T13:36:00.000-05:00

Bollocks! We're back from our 2 week trip of England and Scotland. My wife and I had planned for nearly a year to return to the U.K. and see more of the country. We had been there in 2005 and really enjoyed the country, people, history, food and beer. Most people think we're crazy but we love cellar temperature cask pulled ales, fish and chips and cottage pie with mushy peas. Yum!

We practically circled England and even made our way into Scotland for a few days. Since my film production is pretty much confined to editing at the moment, and that's usually not the most exciting thing to blog about, I'll be using my blog to let friends, family and readers know the day by day account of our fantastic trip.

Above is a shot of me at St. Ives on the very Southwest tip of England.

Here's the overview of our trip. Starting in Pittsburgh we bounced from Philadelphia to Heathrow Airport outside of London and went straight to York (one of our favorite cities on Earth!). We then visited Masham, Durham, Stirling, Doune, Keswick in the Lake District, Penzance, St. Ives, Canterbury, Heathrow to Philadelphia and finally back to Pittsburgh.

We both love photography and planned to photodocument our entire trip every step of the way. Above is a photo of my wife using our Canon Digital Rebel XTi on top of Castle Crag overlooking Derwentwater Lake in the Lake District. We're both interested in history, architecture and fine brewing so we saw many cathedrals, castles and visited a few breweries on our trip. And a "few" pubs.

There is a nice picture of me sitting at the bar at the Theakston's Brewery in Masham. As everyone knows I love beer and my favorite beer on earth comes from the North of England in the Yorkshire region. There's just something magical in the water up there. I was fortunate to visit the Samuel Smith's Brewery for my 30th birthday in Tadcaster a few years ago. Visiting Theakston's this trip was a real treat. Old Peculier is one of the best beers ever made... although I think I'm holding a sample half pint of Theakston's XB in that photo. Their Theakston's Bitter is excellent and was one of the best bitters that we enjoyed during our trip.

Here's a great shot of me sitting in Doune Castle in Scotland. That was one of my favorite days because not only was Doune Castle beautiful, well preserved and a lot of fun to tour without any bastardized commercialism or forced tours... but they also filmed Monty Python and the Holy Grail there! They even let visitors borrow coconuts to clack around the castle (which I did and I have video).

You may notice the location where I'm sitting from the scene where Michael Palin's character walks into the room full of ladies in Castle Anthrax. I had our video iPod with us to make sure we were at all the correct spots.

I'll start with day 1&2 on my next blog post. I'll combine those days because we stayed up for 2 days straight when traveling over there. We photographed the entire trip with both cameras, our Canon XTi and Canon PowerShot SD500. I'll be posting small and some enlarged versions of our photographs from the big camera. None of the photographs on this blog are permitted to be used anywhere or reproduced without my permission. However I hope that you enjoy them and let us know what you think!Cheers!

Westinghouse Film Update May 8, 2007

2007-05-08T21:26:00.000-05:00

Work has been proceeding at a very steady pace for the past few months on the upcoming film about George Westinghouse. I am the writer, producer and director of the film so I get to see it every single day. All day, every day. I have air brakes and friction draft gears and alternating current generators coming out of my ears. Any day now I'll be drilling for natural gas in my back yard... but my wife refuses to let me put a derrick there. I don't think our dog would be too thrilled either.

I do not have a release date as of yet for the DVD or HDTV broadcast but hope to in the next few months. The feature length documentary film will be internationally distributed by Inecom Entertainment Company. Those who are familiar with Mr. Westinghouse will be glad to know that I have been working with the George Westinghouse Museum and Ed Reis on the project.

All of the High Definition production and post-production work is being done in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. An enormous collection of still photos, 16mm film, old Westinghouse archival footage and never-before seen footage has been collected. It looks great. I'm biased, but trust me it looks great.

The script is written, footage is shot and I'm editing the film which is why I have no exciting production photos to show at the moment. I'm happy with the script because it gives viewers of all interest levels an entertaining ride through his life, his achievments, his legacy, his personality and his competition with Thomas Edison and the Battle of the Currents. And much more... (like Elektro the moto-man and Sparko!)

Stay tuned for more Westinghouse film related information and production news.

Dumbest Bird Ever

2007-05-04T07:16:00.000-05:00

This dumb-ass bird has been repeatedly checking itself out and then flying into our living room window for a week now. I thought it was funny and wanted to share it with everyone. That and I wanted to mock him. Maybe he can clean the window when he's done or at least buy us some double pane windows.

Shot with Canon Rebel XTi w/ 300mm IS Zoom Lens.

WW1 - American Legacy in GI Film Festival

2007-04-27T06:08:00.000-05:00

WORLD WAR 1 - AMERICAN LEGACY SELECTED AS FINALIST
IN BEST DOCUMENTARY CATEGORY AT GI FILM FESTIVAL.

World War 1 – American Legacy has been selected as a finalist in the Best Documentary category at the upcoming GI Film Festival held Memorial Day Weekend. The film will screen at the festival held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC. on Monday, May 28th at 8:00 a.m.

"The mission of the GI Film Festival is simple - to celebrate the successes and sacrifices of the American Armed Forces through the medium of film," said GI Film Festival President Brandon Millett. "From the American Revolution through the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, our men and women in uniform have given life and limb in defense of freedom. They deserve our respect and our undying gratitude. And that is exactly what we plan to show them this Memorial Day weekend."

Producer/Director Mark Bussler said, "I am honored that World War 1 – American Legacy has been selected for the GI Film Festival. The fascinating stories of the American men and women who served in the Great War is not something that is common knowledge anymore. These brave soldiers, nurses and pilots served by the millions to end the conflict in 1918 and in the process changed American culture forever. In less than a year nearly 50,000 Americans were killed in action and that is something that should not be forgotten."

The GI Film Festival's Hollywood Advisory Committee includes Academy Award winning Actor Ernest Borgnine (From Here to Eternity, McHale's Navy), Actor Chuck Norris (Delta Force, Missing in Action), Academy Award nominated Director John Milius (Apocalypse Now, Red Dawn), Director/Screenwriter Ron Maxwell (Gettysburg, Gods and Generals), Director John Dahl (The Great Raid), Executive Producer Lou Reda (Vietnam: Homecoming) and Dr. Ted Baehr, publisher of Movieguide. For more information about the festival, visit www.gifilmfestival.com.

World War 1 – American Legacy vividly tells the many forgotten stories of the men and women who served in the Great War, reminding Americans of their impact on our country that can still be felt today. Filmed in high definition and full of period music, photographs and monuments, the film includes rare images that have never been seen before on screen, bringing the extreme detail of the Great War to life.

Horses of Gettysburg Radio Interview

2007-04-13T15:53:00.000-05:00

You can hear me talk horses on Saturday, April 21st. I was interviewed by Patricia McConnell and Larry Meiller on the nationally syndicated radio show, Calling All Pets. We talked about my recent film, Horses of Gettysburg and about horses in the Civil War. You can view their website here at Calling All Pets.

The shot above was taken just before recording the interview. The interview was conducted at WQED in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Calling All Pets is based in Wisconsin so we did it over an ISDN studio line. It was a good interview... I think. Maybe? I guess you will have to be the judge of that. They were both very nice and it is always fun to talk about filmmaking and about my experiences working on Horses of Gettysburg. I produced and directed the film which was released in May of 2006. After the initial airing I believe the interview should be posted on their website.

The interview will air on Saturday, April 21st on 90-some stations nationally. You can see if your town can get the show and what time it is HERE.

Horses of Gettysburg is available as a 2-DVD box set from your favorite retailer. It contains the two-hour director's cut of the film that was shot in High Definition. It also includes two different commentaries, "making of" shorts and a few interviews with Ronald F. Maxwell, the director of Gettysburg and Gods and Generals (and also the excellent narrator of Horses of Gettysburg!)

Ronald F. Maxwell and Mark Bussler at a Horses of Gettysburg DVD signing in Leesburg, Virginia, June 2006.

www.HorsesOfGettysburg.com

Westinghouse at the World's Fairs

2007-04-04T16:50:00.000-05:00

This week I am working on the Westinghouse script and edit full time. As I've said before in my blog, my next documentary film is on George Westinghouse and his legacy. I am still fairly early on in the production cycle so I have no idea when this will be released yet. It is being filmed in High Definition and features tons of "never before seen on screen" pictures and motion picture footage from the George Westinghouse Museum archives and private collections. The following images on this blog are from the Library of Congress or Inecom Entertainment Archives.

The primary focus of the film is the genius and good nature of George Westinghouse. He is considered by many to be America's greatest inventor and America's greatest industrialist. He invented, pioneered or collaborated on everything from the air brake to alternating current electric power, natural gas distribution, railroad switching and interlocking and the marine turbine engine. He went head to head with Thomas Edison in the Battle of the Currents and won. He invented air springs for automobiles and founded dozens of companies, many of which are still around. And through all of this he was a good and decent human being who didn't exploit his workers, ruin their lives for his gain or rip off his shareholders... we could all use a role model like him today.

Another part of the film is extremely interesting and recounts Westinghouse's participation in World's Fairs, starting with the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. In fact we have some photographs of the Westinghouse exhibit there where air brakes were on display. Does the item in the following picture look familiar?

Westinghouse Electric made a dramatic performance at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago where they won the contract to power the fair with alternating current electricity, beating out Edison's direct current electricity. This is covered in my film, Expo: Magic of the White City (which was released on DVD in 2005 and broadcast on television in 2006) but will be shown in much greater detail in the Westinghouse documentary. Including shots in and about the various Westinghouse exhibits that I don't think have ever been published anywhere.

Pictured above is the 1904 fair. And Westinghouse was there again, in force, at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. This fair was to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803... one year late. Of course the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 was to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus discovering the Americas in 1492... it was also one year late.

Although there were some other fairs it wasn't until 1933 at the Century of Progress Exhibition in Chicago that Westinghouse pulled out all the stops and made another amazing demonstration of electric power and mechanical design. To contrast the "White City" of the Columbian Expo, this fair was colorful and designed in an art-deco manner. The Westinghouse mushroom lamps are something to see. The company paid homage to fairs of the past and to their founder, George Westinghouse, who died years earlier in 1914.

Another unique show was put on at the 1936 Great Lakes Exhibition in Cleveland. I’d never even heard of this fair, but the HD pictures are incredible. Westinghouse again displayed its line of electric washing machines, dryers, stoves, vacuums and water heaters. Westinghouse also celebrated their 50th anniversary Golden Jubilee there.

The 1939 World’s Fair in New York is a rather famous one for many great reasons. It’s theme was “The World of Tomorrow!” and featured the Perisphere, the Lagoon of Nations, the Futurama (maybe Leela and Bender were there!), Futuretown, Elektro the Moto-Man, Sparko, Nimatron, the 1939 Time Capsule and the Battle of the Centuries dishwasher contest with the 1937 Miss Missouri, Helen Bennett. The stories and photos from 1939 and 1940 are amazing, as are the unpublished photos of Elektro and the behind the scenes assembly of the Lagoon of Nations.

That’s all for today. This is just the tip of the iceberg with this film. Its going to be something really “swell” as they would have put it in 1939. I’m also working with 1964 World’s Fair footage in 16mm film format but that will be a different post.

PS3 vs. Xbox360 vs. Sega Genesis

2007-04-01T06:33:00.000-05:00

I've been an enthusiastic casual video gamer for the majority of my life. I find them fun, the stories are fun, the action is exciting and I like to relax by doing something mentally stimulating but NOT TOO mentally stimulating....

As I've been working on Classic Game Room recently I recorded the commentary track on the film where I give my opinions on classic video games vs. modern video games.

So this got me thinking... I've seen some pretty cool games available for Xbox360 and the PS3... my friend has the 360 and I've played it and marvelled at the HD graphics and cool games...

I tallied up the price for getting each game system, purchasing one or two games, any accessories I might need.

I had to find answers for the following questions: Is there an online package? Which system do I want? Do I want to get involved in the hideous Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD format war (Nooo!!!) and how much time do I really have to even play a brand new video game system?

The total cost of EACH new system came to somewhere between $500-$800 a piece, and I decided that I don't have time to play it that much and.... well, so screw it!

I went to ebay, dropped $100 and bought a huge stack of Sega Genesis and PS1 games and hooked my Genesis up to our HDTV.

I recalled that one of my all time favorite game genres that I've neglected recently is the "single spaceship fighting against impossible odds" genre. As I learned just recently this has been nicknamed the SHMUP video game genre, short for "shoot 'em up". I guess I've been out of it for a while. We reviewed of a few of these back in the days we were making Game Room but I just haven't kept up!

Here's some of the great games I purchased for about $5 and $2 respectively, Thunder Force V for PS1 and Lightning Force for the Genesis (also known as Thunder Force IV). Anyway, I did some research online one night when trying to figure out how to hook up component video cables to my Sega and came across two great websites:

www.Sega-16.com dedicated to all things Sega Genesis, Sega CD and 32x

ClassicGaming.com which has a nice section dedicated to Shmup games.

I ended up not getting component cables regrettably. There is an article on Sega-16 on how to do it, but I am temporarily using the composite video cable plug. I found it online for $8. Composite doesn't look great, but it sure beats the RF adapter.

I will eventually have my Genesis modified with an S-Video connection from these guys at Old School Gamer. I'll let everyone know how that looks when its done.

There's the composite cable coming out of the back of my Sega Genesis (v1) and I'm using the stereo plug in the front to run into my pre-amp for stereo sound.

You can barely make it out in my jumble of wires, its a yellow RCA, it goes into there and gets fed to the TV. My Atari 7800 ProSystem is also running into there via the VCR.

The moral of the story is this: When big companies want you to get involved in a format war where the consumer is the loser, go buy used stuff and continue to use the equipment you've already paid for.

And as I said before, I don't have the time to get into a game that takes 80 hours to win or days to master. But I do have the time to play a couple rounds of Thunder Force III, Gradius V and Shinobi. You can pick up those games, play for 20-30 minutes, get a nice game fix and get on with your life.

Now I'm a happy gamer once again and it only cost me about $110 once all is said and done. I probably could have just downloaded emulators for free but I really enjoy playing on the real game systems in the comfort of my home theater.

ALL HAIL CLASSIC GAME ROOM

As I mentioned in the previous post, my newest film has been completed. Classic Game Room - The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show.

The trailer can be seen HERE! It can also be seen on YouTube.

I'm moving full time into my next film on George Westinghouse vs. Thomas Edison. An exciting documentary about the Battle of the Currents, world's fairs, Elektro and all kinds of Westinghouse related stories.

I finished writing the script recently and am now starting to cut the film together with archival 16mm film from old Westinghouse promotional movies. I'm working with full color 16mm film from the 1964 World's Fair in New York and also a massive collection of photographs from. Additionally some modern HD footage that we shot. More on that soon. In the meantime this weekend...

Classic Game Room Available for Pre-Order!

2007-03-28T06:14:00.001-05:00

The big day has been announced. The DVD "Classic Game Room - The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show" will be unleashed on AUGUST 28, 2007.

In fact it was already brought to my attention that it is available for pre-order on Amazon.com HERE and will be at all major online stores soon. It takes a while to get all the info out there, but the good news is that the DVD is NOT region encoded. I notice that 50% of my readers are from outside the United States. (we call you guys foreigners!)

VIEW THE TRAILER!

The official website is www.ClassicGameRoom.net

Tell your friends. Email the trailer around. Make it the 1 billion view online sensation everyone is talking about. The Classic Game Room needs your support because if you want the CGR to come back big time... the DVD has to move! Now I'm pretty biased, but I assure you that this film is a fun ride full of laughs.

Classic Game Room Explodes Online

2007-03-19T21:40:00.000-05:00

Finally, another Classic Game Room related post! I've been very busy writing and dealing with numerous computer related issues over the past few weeks. Computers are the enemy. Anyway, to make a long story short, the last thing I've wanted to do recently is look at ANOTHER computer when I get home. Instead I'd rather grill or watch Battlestar Galactica (the 1978 version) or walk Stella the Wonderdog with the Mrs.

Speaking of which, Stella the Wonderdog is now an online sensation.

I've been enjoying working on Classic Game Room so much that it got me back into classic gaming after a brief hiatus away from my old-school consoles. In fact, in an upcoming post I'll show how I hooked my Sega Genesis up to my HDTV.

I thought it would be fun to introduce new fans to Classic Game Room and thought Stella would like to help out with some new episodes. And apparently it works, lots of new gamers are discovering the Classic Game Room on YouTube. Hopefully the battle hardened, original fans from the 90's and 2k are also happy to see some of the classics up there. The following video is what happens when Stella has to defend Puppyland from alien invaders in the first original, new review in 7 years:

Stella the Wonderdog reviews Defender for the Atari 2600! I cut this together on a smaller editing system, so its not as sharp as I might like. I'm hoping to put it on an upcoming DVD with the real, uncompressed video and proper, crisp picture quality and color correction. I shot it on a Sony Handycam in Digital 8 with a wide angle lens converter (with the exception of her running down the stairs which was a pickup on my Canon powershot, but I'll reshoot that for the DVD)

Another video game review with Stella is in the works shot on the Canon XL1, look for it in a week or so. Its even better than the first... perhaps? And her third and fourth are also in my head and will get made if I can find the time. If the Classic Game Room DVD does well I can make lots of these and put them on DVD with 5.1 surround sound and we'll start reviewing Genesis games again.

The Classic Game Room film release date is coming soon. Editing is complete and its a lot of fun. We're making the DVD now. It takes forever to get all the details together and coordinate with distribution. But its coming!!!! www.ClassicGameRoom.net

The photos of Stella were shot with a Canon Rebel XTi with the 70-300mm IS lens in room lighting.

New Classic Game Room Package and DVD Specs

2007-03-06T16:00:00.000-05:00

Short of an actual release date, which is coming very soon, here is the updated, final Classic Game Room packaging for my new film "Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show"

We decided to change it to something that really matched the attitude of the show... a giant beer and a video game controller. Who's going to argue with that?

The photographs were taken last week with my Canon Rebel XTi. The glass is a sold, 1970's beer mug that I adopted as a hand-me-down from my parents. Its a small glass but worked well because it didn't tower over the game controller pad. The pad is also mine, its an aftermarket generic game controller for the old school gaming systems.

I've been a bit slow posting on my blog as of late, been very busy with writing Westinghouse (my next HD documentary on George Westinghouse) and finishing all the technical details on Classic Game Room. And now the film is done, done, done.

It ended up being 100 minutes of solid, fast paced, humorous action. The DVD details (which could change but not likely) are as follows:

100 minute film, transfer made directly from the editing system.
4x3 aspect ratio as it was originally shot
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo

Special Features:
Feature length commentary track with Director, Mark Bussler
3 video blogs
Classic Game Room trailer
Trailers for Expo: Magic of the White City, World War 1 - American Legacy and Horses of Gettysburg

I just recorded the commentary track yesterday which was fun. Went into depth on some of our original filming stories and techniques. I then compared them to the new footage in the film and my new filming techniques. Also some good thoughts on old vs. new video games and which are more fun. And much, much more.

The comedy documentary is a mixed bag of footage but it really works. The original episodes were shot in Betacam SP and DVCpro. Some footage back in the day was shot on Hi-8 and Digital 8. My student film is in there which was shot on Super 8. There's a 16mm Japanese film that I use in editing, some ancient 16mm film from the early 1900's. The interviews were shot on Betacam SP, the new footage was shot in high definition on DVCpro HD with Varicam on a Steadicam. Some new footage was shot on MiniDV. I think the only thing we're missing is Super 35mm or 70mm film... which sadly was out of my budget.

I personally designed the DVD menus and selected the music so they match the style of the film exactly.

There are some new promotional clips on YouTube that can be viewed now, including a new short that I filmed last weekend just for fun. More release information to come as well as new details on the Westinghouse script and production.

Video Blog 3: A look at finishing the Classic Game Room edit.

Puppy Reviews Defender for Atari 2600: An experimental short film with my dog where she does a game review in Classic Game Room style.

Writing Haze and Dean's Diner

2007-02-27T21:06:00.000-05:00

I've been slow to post a new blog update in a while. Maybe its the weather. Or maybe its the fact I'm in the middle of writing my new film about George Westinghouse and have been pretty much "writing'd" out by the end of the day.

All is going well though. I'm working on making the film informative and entertaining at the same time. George Westinghouse was an interesting man who did some pretty exciting things. There are a lot of amazing pictures and I've got to weave all this stuff together into a good documentary film. So after writing for 4-8 hours a day I can't think about history or anything else complicated anymore....

...which is why this week's blog posts are dedicated to my home state of Pennsylvania and all the awesome stuff in it. Starting with Dean's Diner in Blairsville.

This place is about an hour and a half north of Pittsburgh on Rt. 22. It's one of the best diners in the world and I highly recommend going there and indulging in their burgers, cole slaw, fries and pies. You can also buy a green sweatshirt while you're there.

At Dean's Diner (and most other quality diners) you always start your meal off with a nice hot cup of Joe. And they give you a placemat with their menu and prices and a slew of ads. So you have something to read while drinking your coffee. I'm not even being sarcastic, I love these placemats. I have one somewhere with an instructional diagram on how to eat a lobster from when we were in Cape Cod.

Pictured above is the Hamburger Deluxe. It tastes as good as it looks. And Dean's Diner is world famous for its cole slaw. When you order the platter you get a small cup of it, but you can also order a larger portion. Search online, you'll see other people raving about this stuff. No other cole slaw in the world gets me excited about cole slaw. I'll talk for hours about reubens or pancakes or beer, but here I'm talking up cole slaw. Its that good.

That's one happy diner right there. Armed with a Hamburger Deluxe and cup of coffee (note I'm wearing a Yuengling t-shirt) I'm ready to write away. Nobody does old school eating and drinking better than Pennsylvania.

See you soon with my next blog post where I take a group of guys from Philadelphia on a pub crawl through Pittsburgh. Its a "Keystone State" adventure you won't want to miss.

Next week I hope to be back into some production with more photos and updates on the upcoming films like Westinghouse and Classic Game Room.

New Game Room Vblog

2007-02-21T08:08:00.000-05:00

Slow on production news this week as I've been busy working on the script for my documentary film on George Westinghouse. However big news on the video blog front! My 2nd Classic Game Room video blog is up showing some behind the scenes action in the editing suite.

This clip shows some outtakes and editing work for my upcoming film on our cancelled 1999-2000 video game review show, Classic Game Room, which was the FIRST online classic video game review show. Cancelled in its prime.... The comedy documentary film is called Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show. The official website is:

www.ClassicGameRoom.net

In other news I posted a video of the official Classic Game Room mascot on YouTube and she took the world by storm earning over 1800 views in under 48 hours. My experiment was to see if a cute puppy video would get a lot of hits... and you know what? It does.

The following is our German Shepherd/Chow Chow mix, Stella the Wonderdog!

New Classic Game Room material and Stella the Wonderdog material may appear on YouTube soon... The Classic Game Room DVD release date is also coming soon.

Westinghouse Editing Begins

2007-02-17T08:48:00.000-05:00

Amid all the Classic Game Room hooplah this week on YouTube and on my blog, I took some time off that film and begin editing my documentary film on George Westinghouse.

...And yet Stella continues to wait patiently for food and/or the return of the Classic Game Room. Actually we were taunting her with a piece of lunchmeat for this photo and her ears were trembling she was so excited. This dog just loves sliced ham and turkey.

Anyway, the editing on the Classic Game Room is complete for the 1st draft of the film. I always take a week or two away from a project before I complete it, just so I'm not looking at it EVERY SINGLE DAY OVER AND OVER AND OVER... you get the idea.

I finished filming at The George Westinghouse Museum and began working with my footage this week on the editing system. Pulling from my notes and interview with Ed Reis (The executive director) I continued to write the film and edit visuals at the same time. My steadicam shots of the George Westinghouse Monument in Schenley Park turned out really well, as did the shots of the Daniel Chester French bust of Mr. Westinghouse. Below is a shot of us filming the monument.

The shadow is from the statue... not one of us!

The Westinghouse film is going to be very exciting, starting at the beginning of his life and going clear through the present. Covering some cool things like Elektro and Sparko, The Westinghouse Air Brakes, Battle of the Currents, The Westinghouse Electric Car, World's Fairs, Westinghouse Electric, Bertha and Benjamin Lamme, Niagara Falls power generation, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison and much, much more. I was working with some original sketches of Westinghouse appliances the other day from the 30's, the real drawings that were used to make the iconic refridgerators and washing machines that we all know today.

Thank you for the blog comment Liam, enjoyed the drawing. And thank you to all the YouTubers who have supported Classic Game Room. I promose the Classic Game Room film will not disappoint!! In response to my "Valentine's Day" Classic Game Room posting I've seen these awesome responses:

Liam said: Hey Mark!
Many thanks for the public valentines day present. ...I look forward to HOPEFULLY brand new future game room episodes.

kolibiri said:
Wow, even better than I was expecting the show to be. Awesome video, I look forward to more :)

robotbling said:
happy valentine's day indeed, lol

chiguy23 said:
great stuff, please put more of these episodes on youtube.

Sashanein said:
Hah, funny that you chose this episode. It was one of the two or three where you gave me a shoutout. (edited out of this one of course). Love this episode to death!

and my favorite... karry299 said:
With reviews like this one - its for a greater good that you guys got "cancelled".

More info to come on Westinghouse. And keep an eye out for new video blog material at my YouTube channel here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGameRoom

Classic Game Room Episode of Contra on YouTube

2007-02-14T22:29:00.000-05:00

The first full Classic Game Room episode has been posted on YouTube. We originally recorded it 7 years ago!

As a Valentine's Day present to the Classic Game Room fans I posted our legendary review of CONTRA from back in March of 2000. A lot of people on YouTube have been asking about the show after seeing the DVD promos for the upcoming film.

Regrettably, for a variety of the reasons, the original Classic Game Room episodes came down from their website. Many of the episodes are locked into the deal with the upcoming feature length documentary film that I am producing.... called "Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show." Trust me, they look great in the film.

However, I wanted people who were not familiar with the show to get a taste of what Classic Game Room was all about, so I was able to put Contra back online from the original tape. So far people seem pleased. Check out the game review:

I made it a "Valentine's Day Special" and fully intended to get it up first thing in the morning but then we got hit with a terriffic snow and ice storm which caused all kinds of problems and schedule conflicts... but I got it up later in the day. I don't mind snow storms at all to be honest, I find them very pretty. And its the one day out of the year I get to use the "all wheel drive" function on my SUV which is awesome.

I took this photo from my office while working on the new film on George Westinghouse. Its a "treecicle". More blog posts to come soon.

Upcoming Horses of Gettysburg Radio Interview

2007-02-13T11:12:00.000-05:00

Exciting news, I will be interviewed about my film, Horses of Gettysburg, on KWRE-AM 730 out of Warrenton, MO. The Interview will air on Thursday, February 22nd at 9:30 am Central Time (10:30 am Eastern Time).

Their website can be viewed at http://www.kwre.com/livewire.html

Horses of Gettysburg is a film produced in High Definition about the horses and mules who served in the Battle of Gettysburg and in the American Civil War.

The official site: www.HorsesOfGettysburg.com

The trailer for Horses of Gettysburg is available on YouTube:

I am planning on making a video blog post soon about Horses of Gettysburg, stay tuned!

New Classic Game Room Video Blog

2007-02-11T08:39:00.000-05:00

Just a few days ago I uploaded a new "video blog" onto YouTube showing the new editing system that I am editing Classic Game Room on, Edit-Station-1. It was the first new material from Classic Game Room in 7 years and rocketed up to #4 on the top rated video game shorts on YouTube!! You can view it here:

I was so excited that without any real promotion or campaign to announce this new short that we achieved about 500 views and numerous 5 star ratings in 24 hours. Then my wife pulled up a video of a Japanese kitten climbing out of a shoe that had 2,000,000 views which kind of stole my thunder.... However, seeing the popularity of kittens and puppies on YouTube perhaps Classic Game Room needs a puppy mascot?

(picture to come)

Inecom Entertainment Company will be distributing the film called Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show. It is a feature length comedic documentary film about the rise and fall (hence the title) of the Game Room which ran from 1999-2000 and got wiped out in the dot-com bust.

You can view the original promo that I made for Classic Game Room below. It was made to judge whether or not there was any interest in releasing Classic Game Room on DVD and as it turns out... there is! So get ready, Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show is coming.

Thank you to all the Game Room fans for spreading the word online! You know who you are (and you're probably at home playing old school Nintendo right now.) I plan to make new video blogs about Classic Game Room and my other films as well. Subscribe to my YouTube channel and you will be automatically notified when new stuff goes online.

Susbcribe to TheGameRoom by clicking HERE.

Also, this is my first blog post with my new computer, thank you Dan for building it for me. I moved from a Celeron processor up to a Core 2 Duo 6600 and it was like trading in my Yugo for a Lamborghini Jalpa. Anyone else remember the episode of Miami Vice with Phil Collins where the Ferrari Daytona was in a car chase against a Jalpa? Yeah... that was awesome.

Horses of Gettysburg to air on HDTV in 85% of U.S.

2007-02-09T07:05:00.000-05:00

In exciting news this week, my film Horses of Gettysburg is going to be broadcast on Television this summer to nearly 85% of the United States population!

Horses of Gettysburg will be distributed to public television stations nationwide by American Public Television (APT). Beginning in June 2007, the special will air in both standard and high definition formats on up to 243 stations reaching 84% of households in the United States (check local listings for dates/times in your area). Narrated by Ronald F. Maxwell, director of Gettysburg and Gods and Generals, the feature documentary is presented by Penn State Public Broadcasting (PSPB).

Filmed in high-definition with charging horses, period photographs and battlefield panoramas with no "talking heads," this cinematic documentary tells the story of the estimated 72,000 horses and mules that fought at the Battle of Gettysburg and uncovers the strategies employed to ensure that the millions of animals in service with the North and South remained healthy and well-trained for action.

Horses of Gettysburg will air as a 56 minute High Definition program. The "director's cut" of the film is 2 hours long and available on DVD now at you favorite retailer.

I was talking to a program manager recently who asked me "what's in the director's cut that isn't in the tv version, what did you cut out?" I said "I cut out the shower scene". He laughed so I think he knew I was joking.

The full version of the film on DVD comes in a great box set with the 2 hour cut of the film (anamorphic transfer from the HD master), 2 commentary tracks, and a 2nd disc which is 3-hours chock full of special features. A behind the scenes making of Horses of Gettysburg, a short on horses as the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, 2 interviews with Ronald F. Maxwell (Director of Gettysburg and Gods and Generals), an interview with Doug Sloan a professional horse wrangler and more.

The DVD is distributed by Inecom Entertainment Company out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

You can read the Inecom Blog announcing the pickup: INECOM BLOG

Horses of Gettysburg is one of my favorite films that I've produced. You might think "but Mark, don't you like all your work?". Well, let me tell you, after working on a film for 8-12 months straight on a computer without a break I often need a year or two away from them before I can watch them again.

However Horses of Gettysburg was such a pleasant experience to produce. I had a lot of fun working with the script, the horses and narrator Ronald F. Maxwell. I was very happy with the visuals from the film, the sunsets, the monuments, the horses charging through open fields and down streams.

Above - Scene of us filming with Panasonic Varicam in Gettysburg, PA.

It is a collection of great stories of people and animals under fire. The cimematography is top notch, the narration is tremendous and I'm totally biased of course. I dig it. But I've never heard or seen a negative comment about Horses of Gettysburg. Check out the 5 star ratings on Amazon.com HERE.

To see the film in HD keep an eye out for the HD Television schedule at www.HorsesOfGettysburg.com.

We filmed Horses of Gettysburg throughout May 2005 and November 2005. In May it was about 100 degrees outside and humid. But everyone did a great job, including the horses who were very hot and sweaty by the time we were done. We all drank a LOT of water and Gatorade that day. Being an independent film crew we don't get air conditioned trailers and shrimp with cocktail sauce. Its pizza, water and lots of hard work. Cheers to everyone involved. We filmed with Nickel the mule too!

Me teaching Nickel his lines. Him ignoring me.

That's all for now. My next film is a little different... Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show.

A new Video Blog for Classic Game Room was just posted on YouTube HERE.

Writing Begins on Westinghouse!

2007-02-06T21:19:00.000-05:00

Writing began on my new George Westinghouse documentary film today!

Have a cup of George! Inventor, industrialist, businessman, patriot and all around good guy.

What could be more fitting than a piping hot mug o' tea when starting a new script. "Earl Grey, hot". Taking a break from editing today I sat down with my notes and photographs and began penning the framework for my documentary film on George Westinghouse and his life and legacy.

I'm working with the George Westinghouse Museum on the film and have been immersed in material, never-before-seen on film photographs and Westinghouse footage. There will be many very, very rare shots of George Westinghouse in the Civil War, with his wife Marguerite and at work. Being that he did not like to be photographed this will add great visual impact to the film.

See the blank screen? I didn't get very far today except to outline the direction of the script. It was a nice day to hide inside by the warm, warming glow of the computer monitor and stereo system. It's cold out here in Pittsburgh.

It's Friggin' Freezing Mr. Westinghouse! But thanks to George's pioneering involvement in AC Power and natural gas we're able to stay warm inside. The alternating current that powered the electric lights at the Columbian Exposition in 1893 also powered my stereo blasting Ministry this morning. All thanks to George Westinghouse.

Its not often that the Allegheny River freezes up, I braved the cold for this picture.

There will be lots of exciting people featured in the documentary film who were in one way or another involved with Westinghouse the man and company. Including Nikola Tesla, Bertha Lamme, Benjamin Lamme, Elektro the "World's Most Famous Robot", Sparko (the world's most awesome robot dog), Thomas Edison, Henry Clay Frick who lived down the street, Albert Einstein, William Stanley and many more.

Westinghouse first used AC power generators at Niagara Falls to power Buffalo, NY. He invented the air brake, railroad frog, and numerous other products for the railroad industry. He held patents on hundreds of other inventions. He won the battle of the currents against Thomas Edison to electrify the 1893 World's Fair. There are so many interesting details going into the film to illustrate his unique story that I really haven't organized them all yet.

I'll be illustrating the film with rare photos, footage and diagrams from the 1893 World's Fair, the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, the 1904 World's Fair, the 1933 Century of Progress Fair in Chicago, the 1936 Great Lakes Exhibition and the 1964 World's Fair. Time capsules, robots and Westinghouse Electric appliances will jump from your screen...including the Westinghouse Roaster that everyone in the world seems to own.

It should be a very exciting film. No release date has been set but we're looking at 2007. The film will be internationally distributed by Inecom Entertainment Company out of Pittsburgh. It is shot and photographed in High Definition and edited on the Matrox Axio LE editing system. More production photos to come.

Its like Ice Planet Hoth out here.

In non-Westinghouse related news another episode of Captain Bucknell has been posted on my comics blog, MarkBusslerComics.Blogspot.com.

Mark Bussler's Comics Now Online

2007-02-04T19:08:00.000-05:00

Long before I was a documentary filmmaker I was a budding cartoonist. I had visions of drawing comic books and comic strips and making a living that way. Then I graduated from college, went to work in the Internet explosion and one thing led to another and I ended up as a digital filmmaker.

These days I no longer draw comics because directing, editing and photography take up most of my creative time. However I still love comic book art and remain proud of the work that I produced back in the day. I decided that I will post all of my comic work online at my new blog dedicated to my artwork: Mark Bussler Comics

I am starting with the entire Captain Bucknell series, my comic strip that ran in the Bucknellian newspaper at Bucknell University from 1996-1997. I'll post a new episode once or twice a week.

Below is the link to Captain Bucknell #1. Originally published in early 1996. Click on the Picture to read the comic at Mark Bussler Comics.

The blog that you are now reading will remain dedicated to my filmmaking projects like Expo: Magic of the White City, Classic Game Room and work in progress like the film on George Westinghouse that I have been producing this year.

So bookmark Mark Bussler Comics or subscribe to the RSS feed and read ahoy! I'll be posting new comics every week from my archive collection!

More news and a video blog on Classic Game Room coming this week as well as new Westinghouse information. Stay tuned.

Classic Game Room Editing Nearly Complete

2007-02-02T14:22:00.000-05:00

Good news for Game Room fans (and all video game fans). Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show is nearly complete! The entire film is cut together, mixed, polished and ready to be viewed. I'm fine tuning the details at the moment.

Holy crap, its Yars' Revenge!! That's right, the long, lost Game Room review of Yars' Revenge is in full effect on the DVD. Its a very entertaining episode thanks to the animated scene at the beginning of the film which for the first time gives a close up look at the Yars' enemy... THE QUOTILE. I'll post a very rare shot of the Quotile here.... they seldom come out during the daylight hours unless there's a Headbanger's Ball marathon or Lita Ford concert. Their mortal enemy is the Yar!

Saucy! The comic book that Yars' Revenge came with was called the Quotile Ultimatum and provided me ammunition to create an awesome Classic Game Room episode. You can read the full comic book here... but what this comic book fails to show you is how devious and cunning the Quotile really are... And how the Yar politicians and weapons contractors actually started the war by building the Zorlon cannon to line their own pockets.

Above is a close up look at the editing system and our un-aired episode of Yars' Revenge!! We reviewed it and didn't even post it online in 2000.... primarily because we got cancelled first.

GREAT NEWS next week! I'll be posting a video blog and some new clips from Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show. Its a documentary, but the funniest one you will ever see. Assuming you like Atari, beer and Nintendo of course.

A release date and the new updated packaging will be online soon. The new packaging is just like the old packaging except with a NES controller with a blinged out Game Room logo. Tru dat.

A behind the scene shot with the steadicam that we filmed a few weeks ago in HD... Stay tuned. More on Classic Game Room next week... so much more. In the meantime, here's another look at the video game reviews featured on the DVD.

Duck Hunt for NES
X-Men for Sega Genesis
Joust for Playstation
Sega GT for Dreamcast
Frogger for Atari 2600
SeaMan for Dreamcast
Missile Command for Playstation
Perfect Dark for N64
Yars' Revenge for Atari 2600
Alien for Atari 2600

Great War Monuments in London

2007-01-29T21:48:00.000-05:00

Here's a sight no Brit wants to see...

Arrhhg! Americans!

My wife and I invaded... I mean, visited England back in October of 2005. At that time I knew that I would be working on World War 1 - American Legacy and decided to seek out some Great War Monuments while I was in London. I did not know as much then as I do now about the war or England's involvement, but the statues in London were very moving.

I did not have my Canon XTi back then with the wide angle lens, but this is a snapshot I took with my Canon Powershot of the famous Cenotaph in the center of London inscribed with "The Glorious Dead" honoring those who died in World War I.

Me standing in front of another impressive monument to those in the Great War. Inscribed on this massive state are the words "IN PROUD REMEMBRANCE OF THE FORTY NINE THOUSAND & SEVENTY SIX OF ALL RANKS OF THE ROYAL REGIMENT OF ARTILLERY WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR KING AND COUNTRY IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1919" You can read a bit about it HERE.

I can only imagine how many more statues and monuments we missed because we had not done any research on them prior to our visit, we merely kept an eye out for Great War monuments while walking London. This next photo is one of the most amazing things that we saw because I never imagined that I would see damage from WW1 in a major city, its just not something you see over here. But as my wife and I were looking at Cleopatra's Needle on the Thames I read the plaque on the Sphinx next to it:

Since then I've read many WW1 books and have seen the movies like All Quiet on the Western Front and read Charley's War . When working on my film I read through the war years of Leslie's and Harpers Weekly, the English newspapers, the French L'Illustration magazines and gazed at the pictures in German books. I have come to some understanding of what England, Germany and France went through in that war. To actually see just a little fragment of it, in 2005, was something else.

I believe strongly that as Americans it is our duty to learn about the history of our country and the world at large and view the direction that we as a country are headed with an educated viewpoint... I'll leave that up to you of course. Learning about the Great War years is an important part of that.

Now back to the fun stuff.... All work and no play makes Mark a dull boy.

After touring London for a few days the weather decided to really punish us Americans by pouring bucket loads of rain on us. However, we're from Pittsburgh. We're used to lousy weather. Regardless, I rarely need an excuse to duck into a warm pub but rain gave us the perfect opportunity to leap into the Green Man and French Horn somewhere near Trafalgar Square. There was no Green Man or French Horn to be found...

Now this is what I call a PUB!

It was an amazing experience visiting England. Here in the 'states we think stuff that dates back to 1890 is pretty old. In England we visited cathedrals, castles and buildings that dated back to the 10th century and earlier. Much of what we saw was built way before The United States even existed. Its quite an experience for Americans like us and one that we're looking forward to experiencing again. Seeing the Cathedral in York was worth the trip alone. So was pulling my own pint of cask conditioned ale at the Samuel Smith Brewery in Tadcaster.

Cheers to England! I had 3 of these and then walked straight into a phone pole. Mmmm... Old Peculier... one of my favorites (right up there with Samuel Smith, more on that later)

New WW1 Reviews, Westinghouse Update and Game Room

2007-01-26T07:08:00.000-05:00

Hello, a cornucopia of blogging news this morning as it is 5 degrees outside and I'm huddled by the warming glow of my computer monitor with the family dog curled at my feet, a hot cup of coffee at my side and the soothing sounds of Alice in Chains blasting from the stereo.

"When did winter get here, Stella!?"

Its been a busy week this week filming the documentary film on George Westinghouse. Its shaping up to be a visually spectacular film about the life and legacy of one of America's greatest inventors, industrialists and engineers. There's a huge part of the film dedicated to the rivalry between Westinghouse and Thomas Edison.

The Westinghouse vs. Edison competition came to a head at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair where Westinghouse won the conract to illuminate the fair with his AC Power over Edison's DC power. A little AC/DC anyone?

The Westinghouse Airbrake Company is now known as WABTEC and continues to make brakes for trains and other industrial products.

WORLD WAR 1 - AMERICAN LEGACY NEWS

My most most recent film, World War 1 - American Legacy , narrated by David Carradine, was released on December 5th, 2006. The reviews of the DVD have been pouring in over the past two months and have been outstanding. I was a bit concerned at first that nobody had much interest in WW1 but as it turns out that isn't the case. Some new reviews were passed across my email this week, I'll post an excerpt from one:

DVD Verdict, a well respected DVD review site, said the following:

"...Through original still photographs, artwork, and music of the period, we're given a look at the sights and sounds of the war as America entered the conflict. But this isn't just an overview of the war itself but, rather, an in-depth analysis of many notable persons who served in the war and had a hand in shaping American culture, style, and sensibilities. Therefore, we're given an opportunity to learn more about the writings of E.E. Cummings, Ernest Hemingway, and Alan Seeger and how the war sparked their need to disclose how the war impacted them and those who served alongside. Then we get acquainted with the unrivaled abilities of New York City's "Harlem's Hellfighters," the most accomplished division in the battle that was initially scorned because of it's all-black troops but was ultimately given a full hero's welcome upon its return. The documentary also goes on to credit the work of the Red Cross nurses and the invaluable "Hello Girls" who would man the battalion switchboards and, more subtly, remind the "boys" of their "gals" who were counting on them to return back home. There's even an appropriate salute to the contributions of various animals including horses, mules, dogs, and carrier pigeons, each offering vital service to the overall effort. It's a well-rounded documentary that, thanks to writer Brian Connelly's commitment to the tone, never preaches or gives in to any measure of political or cultural bias. This is one of the best fact-driven documentaries I've seen in a very long time.

What makes this particular documentary even more compelling is the method in which it's delivered, using high-definition technology to provide crisp details in every image and artifact it presents. Although this is a standard definition disc (not an actual HD DVD formatted offering), the high-def filming still manages to deliver an image quality that's better than most SD releases you'll see today. More affecting is the excellent DTS 5.1 digital surround track that is precisely mixed to put you dead center in the soundstage. You'll enjoy a perfectly balanced mix that maintains clarity of Carradine's narration in the front center channel and then works to deliver ambient effects—some subtle, some staggering—from all surround channels. Amidst this is the excellent new score from composer Gene Ort that perfectly permeates your viewing area to help transport into the documentary's realm."

Review by Judge Dennis Prince.

You can read the full review HERE.

Thank you Dennis for taking the time to watch the film and appreciate the detail that we put into it. If you want to read more about the work that we put into the audio mixing you can read that on my blog post HERE.

Other World War 1 - American Legacy Reviews:

DVD Talk Review
ReelTalkReviews.com Review

CLASSIC GAME ROOM: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE INTERNET'S GREATEST VIDEO GAME REVIEW SHOW NEWS

The documentary that I am currently in post production on now is called Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show. This is VERY, VERY different than World War 1 - American Legacy of course... it is good to take a break from serious historical work for a few months and get back into some humorous work. Although if you like Classic Game Room you'll probably like World War 1 American Lecacy . Good stories make good films even if the style is completely different.

I recently had a reader blog post on my site for Classic Game Room that I'll put on the main page and answer!

"Hi Mark,
Im an old fan of the game room, I used to watch it all the time. I especially loved the reviews you did for the sega genesis on streets of rage and x-men. (Your classic power of throwing beer bottles cracked me;)

Are there any plans at all in bringing back the game room? Also is there any where I can watch the old reviews?

Many thanks for the good old days and I hope all is going well for you both now.

Regards,

Liam"

Thank you Liam! I am still amazed at how many people were actually watching our show, The Game Room, back in the day! Even more amazing is that anyone remembers it, but that's all part of the upcoming DVD.

Things are going well for both of us. I talked to Dave a few weeks ago before the new year and he's back in New Jersey and writing for a living. He sounded quite happy. I believe he still retains the mutant poweres of POTTYMOUTH and can spew bad words at a moment's notice. My beer bottle throwing arm is still powerful and sure. It just throws better bottles of beer these days like Hoegaarden, Sam Adams and Theakston's Old Peculiar instead of Natty Light.

As far as the future of Game Room it is not clear at this time. We would like to bring out all the episodes on DVD over time but obviously want to see reaction to the first set of 10 episodes in the documentary film. And I assure you, this is unlike ANY documentary you have ever seen. The Game Room does not disappoint. At this time there is no place to view them online.

I was just in the studio on monday recording my voice and digitally altering into a deep "Unicron-style" growl for the Yar's Revenge video game review. The GR animation sequences are nearly complete, the music is mixed and its all hilarious. I'm a little biased of course but if you're reading this far in my blog you'll probably be entertained.

That's all for today and the weekend...

Stella is a huge Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale fan.

Classic Game Room Reshoot in HD

2007-01-21T10:32:00.000-05:00

As I am nearly finished with my new documentary film, Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show, I decided to reshoot a key scene in the film.

The "reminiscence" scene about the fall of the Game Room is a moving and touching scene filled with tears and heartache. How could society let a bunch of beer swilling video game review show hosts down....? Its a tragic tale that tugs at the heartstrings.

Originally this scene, filmed in Schenley Park overlooking Pittsburgh, was filmed on Betacam SP format. You can see those shots on an earlier blog post HERE.

But the weather wasn't very good, I edited the footage into the documentary and didn't care for the handheld style as much as I thought I would, and I generally felt it could have been better. So we reshot it in High Definition on the Panasonic Varicam with a steadicam!

I did not have any room in the Game Room budget to do this of course, but as luck would have it I was filming for my George Westinghouse documentary with a Varicam and Steadicam. Once we finished filming the George Westinghouse monument - also in Schenley Park - the sun was beginning to set and the swing location was just a few hundred yards away. The weather was just perfect, clear skies, no rain, very cold. All good shooting conditions. And I had a Varicam and steadicam at my disposal as well as two terrific DP's!

So Jay, Rich and I trundled up the hill and refilmed the entire Game Room scene just as I had edited it (so I knew exactly what shots to get) and this time had steadicam "dolly" style movements, shots into the sun, silhouettes and HD footage. This is complete overkill for Classic Game Room of course, since it is a mixed bag of footage to begin with, but I was very pleased to add this high level of production value where it fits. Its makes a sarcastic touching scene even more sarcastic and touching. Now when viewers learn about how the Game Room was stomped into the ground by a failed internet business model they'll be entertained with stunning photography.

The above shot is the last image we got that day, after a long day of filming the George Westinghouse documentary. Jay is shooting with the Varicam on the ground propped up by a sandbag to get my low angle shot through the swingset into the city of Pittsburgh at dusk. From what I saw in the monitor this is as good as any shot that we've filmed for the other films like Horses of Gettysburg or Expo: Magic of the White City.

The downside is, as Rich said after shooting it, "Man, now you're going to have to reshoot the entire documentary". Which I can't do, actually a good chunk of the humor in Classic Game Room is the low-budget nature of the show and what we had to do to even make it on $50 an episode (like lighting toy cars on fire).

The footage was all originally shot in 4x3 aspect ratio so this HD footage I recently shot will either be letterboxed or cropped to 4x3 to match... which is painful but that's the way it is. Just imagine, would an entire documentary about beer drinking and Atari video games be even better in HD? Well, not on my budget!

I'm nearly done editing the film. I think it came together very well and tells the humorous tale of the rise and fall of Classic Game Room. The shot below is the monster editing system that Classic Game Room is being edited on in standard definition. Adobe Premier Pro with Matrox Axio LE, dual Xeon processors and tons of horsepower. The George Westinghouse documentary will also be edited on this system in HD.

Location Scouting for new Documentary

2007-01-16T22:37:00.000-05:00

It was a busy day today, I went out location scouting for a new documentary. I'm not releasing any information on this new film yet except to say that it is going to be a historical film about a great American. We are filming it in High Definition soon which means I had to venture outside the editing suite today and wear my director's hat. Actually it was a knit hat because it was cold.

Here's a picture of Oakland just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The building in the distance is the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh, a very cool building. Off to the right is Carnegie Mellon University. And off to the left is Phipps Conservatory, which is where I filmed a number of botanical shots for my film, Expo: Magic of the White City a few years ago. I believe Phipps Conservatory was constructed in late 1893, just a few month's after the Chicago World's Fair. It looks very similar to the Horticulture Building at the Columbian Exposition in fact. Someone at Phipps told me they have 2 trees FROM the fair. I'm not sure if that's true or not but it makes for a neat story.

The Cathedral of Learning at Pitt looks like it would be right at home in Ghostbusters. Incidentally it makes a surprise appearance in my Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show documentary. It appears in clips from my student film, Loco Ninja, my Super 8 martial arts movie about a Ninja who wins at beer pong and then decapitates his opponent. Its a great film and should have won many awards.

Panthers!? Watch out for Panthers! The woods of Pennsylvania used to be teeming with them back in the 1700's during the days of the Whiskey Rebellion and George Washington. There is some beautiful statuary in Oakland if you walk around. You can also visit the Original Hot Dog Shop and stock up on double fried french fries and some cold malt liquor.

This is a monument to George Westinghouse that was erected in 1930. George Westinghouse was a Union soldier, industrialist, inventor and a resident of Pittsburgh. A very, very interesting man who helped change the world and our country... did I say what my new documentary was about yet?

The classic Westinghouse vs. Edison rivalry heated up at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 when Westinghouse won the contract to light the fair with AC Power, thus beating out Edison's DC power. This is honored on the monument with this surprising image of the Administration Building at the World's Fair flanked by the two fountains in the Court of Honor. I'm pretty down with my 1893 World's Fair knowledge after working for nearly 3 years on Expo: Magic of the White City. Its truly fascinating and not just because I made a film about it.

I'm also always surprised with how many ties my hometown of Pittsburgh has with the fair like Westinghouse. George Ferris lived in Pittsburgh. He invented the Ferris Wheel which debuted at the fair to compete with the Eiffel Tower. Above is another shot of the Westinghouse memorial in Schenley Park. You can see the Ferris Wheel on the front of our packaging on Amazon.com HERE.

More production news and photos to come. To hold over the rabid Classic Game Room fans here's a shot of the new Adobe Premier Pro editing system back up on dual screens and the 36" monitor.

Space Invaders!? Shag Carpet!? It must be Classic Game Room.

Official Classic Game Room Packaging

2007-01-14T18:19:00.001-05:00

Behold the packaging for my upcoming documentary film, Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show!

Please let us know what you like or dislike about the packaging and anything else GR related. Classic Game Room can be emailed directly at TheGameRoom (at) Verizon (dot) net. The release date is not yet set but it will be in 2007.

The official website is now live where you'll soon be learning where to pre-order the documentary film about my failed Internet TV show experiences and our original, objective game reviews. The address will be www.ClassicGameRoom.net but I don't believe its all hooked up just yet, so you can see the website from the Inecom Entertainment Company distribution page here:

Official Classic Game Room Website

The documentary film will have a 2 hour running time and I assure you it MOVES along with ten episodes, interviews, outtakes, behind the scenes footage, un-used footage from 2000, etc... Its highly entertaining. At least I think so. I also think Army of Darkness is entertaining. In fact I believe it to be one of the best movies ever made.

Classic Game Room has absolutely no affiliation, relationship, similarity to or reason to even be mentioned in the same sentence with Army of Darkness. However the Game Room Squirrel does because Game Room Squirrel is a force to be reckoned with and appears on Classic Game Room.

On producion news I recently moved from Apple Final Cut to Adobe Premier Pro for final editing, I couldn't quite get into using a Mac interface. I can see why other people like it but I move much faster on a PC. "Final" editing begins next week on our new souped up PC with Premier Pro. Mac lovers, please don't throw your iPods at me. Unless they're well packaged and I can sell them later.

I've posted this before but the original Classic Game Room video game reviews appearing on the 1st DVD will be:

Duck Hunt for NES
X-Men for Sega Genesis
Joust for Playstation
Sega GT for Dreamcast
Frogger for Atari 2600
SeaMan for Dreamcast
Missile Command for Playstation
Perfect Dark for N64
Yar's Revenge for Atari 2600
Alien for Atari 2600

If the first DVD does well enough there are other DVDs in the works. The first Classic Game Room film just scratches the surface. There is a jumbo mass of game reviews, material and stories that we have recently unearthed from Classic Game Room Laboratory. More information and technical drawings of Classic Game Room Laboratory coming soon.

The video game reviews to appear on the 2nd Classic Game Room DVD are:

Contra for the Nintendo Entertainment System
The Empire Strikes Back for Atari 2600
Bionic Commando for the Nintendo Entertainment System
Draconus for the Sega Dreamcast
Pong for the Sony Playstation (previously un-aired!!)
Omega Boost for Sony Playstation
Streets of Rage for Sega Genesis
Kasumi Ninja for Atari Jaguar
Ecco the Dolphin for Sega Dreamcast
Ninja Golf for Atari 7800
Virtua Striker 2 for Sega Dreamcast

This all depends on YOUR support of course, so spread the word aboutClassic Game Room and tell your friends to visit our website and drop us a line telling us how much you want to see us review Bionic Commando.

A preview of Classic Game Room can be seen on YouTube HERE. A new preview will be appearing sometime in the next few weeks.

ROAR!!! Classic Game Room is ill!! More info to come soon...

Expo: Magic of the White City Release Recap

2007-01-10T14:28:00.000-05:00

On September 13, 2005, Expo: Magic of the White City narrated by Gene Wilder was released on DVD. It has since been broadcast on PBS HD nationwide as well as standard definition television and received dozens of great reviews from all over the country.

"A dazzling trip back to another time."
- Bill Diehl, ABC Radio Network

We had a release "weekend" in Chicago where the fair took place, only we were 112 years late! Expo: Magic of the White City is a fun documentary film that I produced and directed about the World's Fair of 1893, which is also known as the Columbian Exposition. It was held to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus discovering America (one year late of course) and debuted many of America's greatest inventions like the Ferris Wheel and Cracker Jack and set the stage for AC Power to be our power of choice. Gene Wilder narrates the film and gives an entertaining tour of the fair, of life in 1893 and the dramatic events that happened at the World's Columbian Exposition.

Chicago as seen from the Navy Pier. It was an exciting few days in Chicago as I had several radio interviews and television interviews. We toured the city, met lots of people and ate tons of good food. I've been to Chicago before but this was the most time I've spent there and everyone was very nice to us and showed us a great time.

On release day we showed Expo: Magic of the White City to an audience at the Museum of Science and Industry in Jackson Park in Chicago. This was especially fitting because the museum is housed in the only remaining building from the World's Fair, originally called the Palace of Fine Arts. Constructed in 1892 & 1893 the Palace of Fine Arts (aka Gallery of Fine Arts) was unique in that it was the only building constructed for the fair that was built to be permanent in order to get insurance for all of the irreplaceable artwork held inside. Most of the buildings at the fair were quickly constructed and covered with "staff" to make them look like marble. The Palace of Fine Arts was made of brick, iron and real building materials.

The one thing that I remember clearly from our screening day is that it was unseasonably hot for September. I was wearing a suit (which I never, ever, ever do) and was unbearably overheated. My natural habitat is 40 degrees and raining, good Pittsburgh weather.

However the screening was successful in that 200+ people seemed to enjoy it, stayed through the entire film and did not throw any tomatoes or rotten fruit at me afterwards during a Q&A session. It was a great time. Thank you again to The Museum of Science and Industry and everyone who helped to set up the event, manage the event, hand out popcorn and help run the projecting equipment. This was the rare chance for viewers to see what the film looks like in its native HDCAM 1080i High Definition format on a huge screen. I think it looks amazing and detailed but I'm somewhat biased. You can clearly make out peoples' hats, shoes, bags and eyes in high definition.

There's a picture of me doing a radio interview in Chicago on WGN 720. I really enjoy doing radio interviews because it reminds me of the radio show that I used to host in college on WVBU 90.5 FM at Bucknell University. I frequently angered a lot of people for doing things like shredding J-Crew catalogs on air, playing Mr. Bungle or giving fake news stories... which I did not do on WGN 720.

A special thanks to Rick Kogan who bought me a beer at the Billy Goat. That was a good beer too... in fact I think I had 2 of them. Billy Dark i believe. If you ever come Pittsburgh I'll buy you a Penn Weisen.

You can read some good reviews of Expo here to see what other people are saying:

Review of Expo at FulvueDrive-in.com HERE
Review of Expo at ReelTalkReviews.com HERE
Review of Expo at DVDTalk.com HERE
Review of Expo at DigitalBits.com HERE

And of course a big thank you to all the Amazon.com customers who gave us high marks. Its always good to see people enjoying a film that we spent 2-3 years working on. Expo: Magic of the White City at Amazon.com

EXPO: Magic of the White City was filmed in Chicago, Illinois and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was 100% produced, filmed & edited in America.

World War 1 - American Legacy Reviews

2007-01-08T09:18:00.000-05:00

Sometimes when I'm in the middle of production on one film (Classic Game Room) and in pre-production on several others I completely forget that I just had a film released a few weeks ago.

World War 1 - American Legacy narrated by David Carradine was unleashed to the world on December 5th, 2006. I just got word of two terrific new reviews and want to thank Paul Mavis at DVDtalk.com. Additionally I would like to thank Naval-History.net for their review.

DVDtalk said: From Inecom Entertainment comes World War 1: American Legacy, a wonderful documentary from their Minutes of History series. Utilizing spectacular black and white stills, paintings, propaganda posters, and newspaper clippings, World War 1: American Legacy bypasses a traditional chronological, straightforward history lesson on The Great War, to give the viewer a more impressionistic feel for the conflict, highlighting stories of influential people who impacted events in the War to End all Wars. Narrated by David Carradine, World War 1: American Legacy is a marvelous introduction to this increasingly forgotten conflict.

Read the full DVDtalk.com review HERE.

Naval-History.net said: "Powerful, balanced, brilliant use of stills, truly excellent, David Carradine's commentary strikes the right note."

Betty Jo Tucker at ReelTalkReviews.com reviewed the film a few weeks ago, you can read her review HERE. Thank you for your continuing support of independent filmmaking Betty Jo!!

I don't have any production stills for WW1 American Legacy because the majority of the film is edited with period artwork, newspapers, photographs and drawings. Most of the work was done on the computer in editing. I wrote a blog post on our sound design and you can read that HERE.

Jay and I filmed some beautiful scenes of Pittsburgh's collection of Great War monuments and they are something to be seen in person. Pictured above is the monument on Butler Street & Penn Avenue overlooking downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, one of the most striking monuments I have ever seen. You can read my blog post on the Father Duffy monument at Times Square in New York City, HERE.

Thank you again to all those who took the time to watch the film and reviewed it for others to see. I appreciate it greatly. If you are interested in purchasing a copy of the DVD it is available HERE at Amazon.com and most other online retailers.

Filming Complete for Game Room Documentary

2007-01-04T21:16:00.000-05:00

Filming was completed today for Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show. My new documentary film is about the rise and fall (hence the title) of the video game review show that I co-hosted in 1999 and 2000. By the way, I am sitting on the little hill where we filmed Duck Hunt/People Hunt for the NES and X-Men for the Sega Genesis.

Me pondering life, Game Room and wonderfulness on "Duck Hunt Hill".... We filmed a lengthy interview today about my recollections on the 75 episode series, production details and how it eventually came to a sudden end (along with the rest of its website company, FromUSAlive.com). Ironically I started my career with Game Room and now primarily make historical documentary films.

Jay filming the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from Schenley Park, where we filmed the "sad retrospective" scenes in the film. All of the Classic Game Room episodes were filmed in 4x3 video on Betacam SP or DVCpro. I decided to keep a similar format for this doc instead of shooting in HD. There were also budgetary concerns and Game Room is no stranger to tight budgets. Our original budgets were $50 per episode, but that's also what made them so good. When you have no money you just have to get creative... by the way, Jay and I are filming in 2 weeks on a new High Def. historical film, more info on that coming soon.

Jay is an excellent director of photography and we have worked together on several of my previous high definition films Expo: Magic of the White City, Horses of Gettysburg, and World War 1 - American Legacy . Even though Classic Game Room is very different from the other films, top quality production value is a must.

There's nothing quite like a playground slide for a moment of quiet reflection. I slid down it about 6 times and it was fun.

If the people on this plane had looked down they would have seen Classic Game Room being filmed! I love my 300mm lens.

More fun with the big 300mm IS lens, downtown Pittsburgh. You may recognize the building on the right from Dogma and the pointy topped building on the left from Inspector Gadget.

You can still hear the cars from the Sega GT episode! More Classic Game Room information to come soon along with DVD packaging and the release date. Stay tuned! The official website will be up soon as well.

Video Game Show to debut on LASERDISC

2007-01-02T21:50:00.000-05:00

News break! My new documentary film, Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show will be coming out on LASERDISC in 2007.

For those who don't remember Game Room, it was an Internet TV Video Game Review Show back in 1999 and 2000 that I co-hosted and co-directed with David Crosson. We produced 75 episodes and were cancelled with the Internet bubble burst. New production filming on the Classic Game Room documentary begins on Thursday to tell the story of its dramatic rise and fall and rise again. Expect pictures, packaging and artwork to appear soon.

LASERDISC!? As a producer and director I'm a very technical guy. I can reason that if a dual layer DVD can hold somewhere around 4 hours of superb video and multiple audio tracks then LASERDISC must be way better because they are so much bigger.

The LASERDISC release of Classic Game Room will be better than DVD in many ways. It will cost $59 and come in a monster sized fold out case with big, glossy pictures. This will not fit into your DVD rack, however it'll be right at home with your Van Halen and Duran Duran LP collection.

LASERDISC also has other advantages. For instance, when you are enjoying Classic Game Room on your LASERDISC player....

...you will only need one yellow wire for the video and a red and white wire for the audio. This is much simpler than worrying about all the confusion with DVI, HDMI or Firewire. Less time worrying about technical problems means more time enjoying frosty beverages while watching Classic Game Room. And there's no confounded animated menus to waste your time!

We at Classic Game Room are health conscious. The 2-Hour Game Room documentary will come on 2 LASERDISCS in CLV format with 3 sides, so you'll have to get up from your couch and flip the disc twice and also replace it once. This will provide exercise for our viewers who otherwise might just sit on their couch for the full 2 hours. This also avoids the irritating DVD layer change.

And last but not least, LASERDISCS use freaking laser beams!!! How cool is that!?

We'll look for reviews of Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show on LD format from our boys (& girls) over at Fulvuedrive-In.com. I'm sure everyone wants to stop worrying about about whether Blu-Ray or HD-DVD is the format of the future and just enjoy a good movie on LASERDISC or a good game of LASERTAG!

A very special thanks to Nicholas Sheffo at FulvueDruve-In.com for the link back to this site & the support and reviews. Merci, amigo!!

The Classic Game Room episodes that will be on the DVD...er, LASERDISC are:
Duck Hunt for NES
X-Men for Sega Genesis
Joust for Playstation
Sega GT for Dreamcast
Frogger for Atari 2600
SeaMan for Dreamcast
Missile Command for Playstation
Perfect Dark for N64
Yar's Revenge for Atari 2600
Alien for Atari 2600

A preview is available HERE.

In response to a few emails I've already gotten from friends, YES, Classic Game Room is coming out on DVD.

2007, its like the future and stuff

2007-01-01T23:32:00.000-05:00

2007 is here and when I was a kid I figured we'd all be living in space ships and traveling to the moon for random road trips. I'd be driving a DeLorean that could go back in time and rock out to Van Halen on cassette tapes. Not so much. The modern era is more like a repeat of the Lyndon B. Johnson years if you ask me. Except now I can rock out to Van Halen on iTunes.

I enjoyed the star studded, exciting new years eve of an independent documentary filmmaker. My wife and I cooked dinner and did nothing. It was awesome. We enjoyed our first new years with our dog, Stella.

I've been doing a lot of photography recently with a new camera and gearing up for filming this winter and spring. I'm breaking in some brand new lenses to be used on some upcoming documentary films (much more info on these coming soon). So lucky for Stella I've been taking thousands of pictures of her.

The camera I'm using for still photo work both professionally and for fun is the Canon Rebel XTi digital SLR. These shots are taken with the EFS 17-85mm IS lens.

She was laying in a patch of open sunlight and clearly became annoyed after about 200 shots and demanded food.

On new year's eve day we went out to the dog park and gave her a chance to stretch her legs, run around the park, play with other dogs and get covered in mud. We all had a great time and I spent some time with my 70-300mm IS zoom lens. I need to tweak my settings a bit but I got some pretty neat shots, she's a fast dog, much faster on her feet than most of the monuments and statues that I usually photograph.

Once she hits 88mph she goes back in time to 1984 and rocks.

She really enjoys play time with other dogs.

At the dog park I was shooting at about 300mm full zoom and had a heck of a time keeping her in the frame. Of course it was much easier when she wasn't running. I caught part of a coat in this shot but its a nice snapshot of the dogs.

Stella is a 1 year old German Shepherd/Chow Chow mix from the Western Pennsylvania Human Society. You can see the black and red spotted tongue in these pictures which is very unique.

In production news, Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show begins filming this week. Photos to come of the production shoot. New documentary information is on the horizon with an exciting new High Definition historical film that I will be producing and directing over the next few months. I'm sure there will be many photos of Stella in the coming year as well since she's a never ending source of lively entertainment.

To Bleep or not to Bleep

2006-12-29T23:01:00.000-05:00

To bleep or not to bleep, that is the question...

As I work on Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show I go through stacks of master tapes. Master tapes can mean the master edits, which are the complete edited shows. Or the master recording tapes which are the actual tapes used to record me and Dave in the studio which were then mixed with the game footage in post-production to make the master edit.

One of our old slogans was "Game Room: We kill more dolphins before 7am than most people do all day!". The fact is, I've never harmed a dolphin. I've never even insulted one. Actually I rather like dolphins. They're much nicer than many people I've met.

So, getting back to the story, I've got dozens of tapes of these master recording sessions with Dave and I giving our professional on-camera Game Room reviews of video games. These are great to watch in their raw, un-edited form, namely because Dave's outtakes are hilarious. But the takes that we ended up using in the edited Game Roome episodes are there in crystal clear video with uncompressed audio. So you can hear every subtle nuance of my conjested, dull performance and Dave's thick New Jersey accent.

However something caught my ear... as I was listening to the original recording of the Alien episode I heard "F#$@ this!" and "F*#@ that!" and "F@#& you!" etc... over and over. I forgot that I had bleeped all that for the production episodes we aired online.

The Apple G5. The G stands for "Gandalf"!

To let out a little known secret, we only "bleeped" the swear words because we thought it was funny. Actually we bleeped some and left others in. We also mis-bleeped words so they came out like "F-ckBLEEP you Sh-tBLEEPa$$BLEEPho!". Very mature, I know.

I still think they're funnier bleeped, so I may re-bleep the master tapes. I don't think hearing me swear is terribly exciting. I do it most mornings after I realize I forgot to make the coffee the night before. The Game Room humor is what I'm going for... and that certain high-brow level of sophistication we always managed to achieve in our show.

The Game Room dvd is progressing well. I'm getting to be a pro at Final Cut on the G5. I replaced the Macintosh mouse with my trusty Microsoft mouse and am much happier. I hated the Mac mouse. Most of the film is cut together, the new Yar's Revenge episode is awesome and we're shooting the interviews and new footage next week. A release date and packaging will be announced soon.

Stella waiting patiently for the new Game Room DVD. See you in 2007 with all kinds of information on Game Room and other documentary film projects. As for me, I'm gonna party like its 1989.

Adventures on the Editing System

2006-12-27T19:15:00.000-05:00

Its Adventures on the Editing System Day today! But since I don't have any good pictures from today I'll be illustrating the story with pictures of my dog and her 1st Xmas with us.

She is so cute! (I'll be sure to write that in puffy paint later) She loves cheese, water, shredding tissues, long walks along the beach (of the Allegheny River) and Pedigree Breath Freshener dog treats.

I pretty much spend all my day on the editing system. I actually started out editing and found it to be one of the most enjoyable parts of filmmaking. Directing is the glamorous part but only takes about 1% of the time on a feature documentary. The other 99% is usually spent editing. I'm not including pre-production or producing because that's real work and who really want to talk about that.... that's phone calls and organization... I'm already getting a headache.

My past 4 films have all been edited in High Definition on an Avid Nitris DS Editor in 1080i. Considered the Lamborghini Countach of editing systems this was a bad-ass machine in its time. Gettysburg and Stories of Valor (2004), Expo: Magic of the White City (2005), Horses of Gettysburg (2006) and most recently, World War 1 - American Legacy (2006), were all edited in HD on that system. I use a Sony 32" CRT HDTV widescreen monitor for HD work.

Prior to getting the Lambo I was editing on a Media 100 back around 2001 and 2002. Johnstown Flood was edited on a Media 100. Its a pretty straight forward editing system that was fairly reliable for the most part. Nothing too exciting to tell. In fact I still use it for rough cutting.

We recently parted with our Avid. Today was an exciting day because for the first time I started to edit on an Apple Final Cut on a G5. Now keep in mind I've never never liked Mac, always loathed them with passion and was so embarrassed when I bought an iPod that I couldn't sleep for week. I feel like I was working with training wheels today. The commands were all different, the mouse was weird and it smelled nice. I'm still unsure how to close windows, copy, paste and generally do anything. I stumbled around on it for a while rebuilding the rough cut of Classic Game Room and fully expect to be up to speed by Friday. I'm not sure what to think of it yet. Its very different from the Avid but very similar in many ways as well. I'll keep y'nz posted. If it can win me over it can do anything.

Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show will be edited in Final Cut. From what I can tell the quality will be great, given that the source material was all shot in 4x3 Betacam SP and DVCpro. I'm also working with some old Super 8 footage and 16mm footage. I am remastering all the video where I have master tapes, remastering all the audio, music and sound and filming all new footage for interviews and new material. So if you liked Game Room back in the day on the computer over a 2800 baud modem you'll love this!

Good dog!! Stella is a 1 year old German Shepherd/Chow Chow mix from the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society. Dogs are rad.

You can see the Classic Game Room trailer HERE.

Audio Mixing for World War 1

2006-12-21T14:57:00.000-05:00

World War 1 - American Legacy was released on December 5th, 2006. Nearly a year of pre-production, production, directing, editing and finishing went into the film. Tens of thousands of photographs and newspapers and drawings were collected. Monuments were filmed, period songs were recorded and eyeballs were strained during weeks of editing. All in all it was a challenging film to produce but I think it gives a very interesting and entertaining look at World War 1 and the American men and women who served in "The Great War".

This film has one of the most robust audio mixes that I've had in my recent films and drops you right into the middle of the war. The music is fantastic and rich. The original score was composed by Gene Ort of GMP Music in Michigan. I used a lot of period 1917-1918 vintage 78's and Edison Cylinders as well. David Carradine's voice thunders through the mix so you can hear every detail of his performance and follow the exciting stories of Father Duffy, Joyce Kilmer, The Lafayette Escadrille, Nurses in the War, The Harlem Hell Fighters and more.

The DVD offers the mix in DTS surround sound and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound for those home theater buffs out there. A stunning transfer straight off the HD editing system as well.

Here's a shot of our mixing session on 5 Mackie HR824 monitors with Digital Performer on the Apple G5. Gene also mixed the film and we polished the mix at his studio in Niles, Michigan back in September. Not only was it fun to see the final audio mix come together, but I also got to spend some time in Niles, Michican.

I really enjoy getting out and walking around a cool small town. I'm also very proud to have worked with an all-American crew on my film. Everything was done in the United States, which is fitting for a film about America in WW1 I think.

Niles has the best riverfront park that I have ever seen and I hiked it two days in a row. I cannot remember the name of the river at this time, but the park has benches all over the place so people can sit and relax, a great walking and biking path, a skate park and some other cool stuff.

There was a great bar in Niles called the Golden Nugget! I loved this place, this was a straight up BAR. Check out how awesome this place is. They did not have spitoons though or a place to tie my horse, "Nissan Pathfinder".

I had a roast beef sandwich there that was out of this world. I also sampled some local Michigan brewed beer called Bells. They have a number of varieties, but the one I enjoyed the most was called Two Hearted Ale. I highly recommend it. And when I found it on tap at the Golden Nugget they didn't serve it in some wimpy 12 oz glass. They kept it real. I should have put a penny down for scale but this thing is the size of a truck tire.

More news coming soon on Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review show, a documentary film on the classic video game reviews broadcast on the Internet back in the day. More production photos on the Civil War Documentary series that I've been working on and this particular World War 1 documentary.

Cheers!

Upcoming Projects: Winters of War and Game Room

2006-12-20T12:40:00.000-05:00

After completing World War 1 - American Legacy in October I've been working in pre-production on three upcoming films. To quote Professor Farnsworth "Good news everyone!"... especially fans of our Civil War Minutes documentary series and fans of The Game Room! Two films which could not be more different.

Civil War Minutes V is in production now with the working title Winters of War. The film is about the Civil War veterans who forged the modern United States of America after being involved and influenced by the conflict. The fourth film in the series was Horses of Gettysburg which has been very well received, this fifth film in the series is from the same writers and crew.

Presidents like Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Chester Arthur, Benjamin Harrison and William McKinley. Men who built the country like Grenville Dodge and the workers on the Transcontinental Railroad, Andrew Carnegie, George Westinghouse, Washington Roebling who engineered the Brooklyn Bridge and Brigadier General Charles Stone who built the base for the Statue of Libterty. The stories of dozens of other veterans like Adolphus Greeley, Wyatt Earp and Jesse James are in the film too, as well as those who did not officially serve in the war yet participated in it like Clara Barton, Winslow Homer, Mark Twain and Walt Whitman.

I am working with hours of stunning High Definition footage that we filmed on the battlefield of Gettysburg during and after a snowstorm, giving a very unique look to the film and showing the Pennsylvania battlefield like most people have never seen it.

It was very, very cold in early January, 2005 when I filmed this shot. I usually like cold weather, but this was so cold and windy that it still hurts just thinking about it.

Cannons on the Pickett's Charge location at Gettysburg. It looks amazing in HD, this picture hardly does it justice. But I'm working on the rough cut of the film with downconverted footage which explains the timecode on the screen. Winters of War will be distributed by Inecom Entertainment Company and should be released in late 2007.

The 2nd film I am currently editing is Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show. This is a fun documentary on the rise and fall of The Game Room which was a game review show back in 1999 and 2000 that I co-hosted and co-directed with David Crosson.

The story of the show mirrors the boom and burst of the Internet business model as our success looked so promising in early 2000... Anyway, I won't give it all away. But we did produce about 75 episodes back in those days wayyyyyy before YouTube and this DVD (the first of many!) is slated to contain 11 classic episodes along with our dramatic story, interviews, outtakes, new footage and the remastered episodes from the master tapes. I expect it to be released in 2007, also from Inecom.

The DVD will also include the never-before-seen review and episode of Yars' Revenge for the Atari 2600.

The episodes I am planning to include on the DVD are:

Duck Hunt for the Nintendo Entertainment System
X-Men for the Sega Genesis
Joust for the Sony Playstation
Sega GT for the Sega Dreamcast
Frogger for the Atari 2600
Missile Command for the Sony Playstation
SeaMan for the Sega Dreamcast
Perfect Dark for the N64
Contra for the Nintendo Entertainment System
Yars' Revenge for the Atari 2600
Alien for the Atari 2600

A trailer for Classic Game Room can be seen HERE.

The third project I'm working on has not been disclosed yet, but it is a historical film and very cool. More details on these films to be posted in the future.

Horses of Gettysburg and Visit to Leesburg, VA

2006-12-18T12:07:00.000-05:00

It has been an exciting year for my documentary film on horses in the civil war, Horses of Gettysburg. Many people thought I was crazy when I proposed this idea years ago. After spending so much time in Gettysburg working on Civil War documentaries I became very interested in the statues and monuments. What really caught my eye were the equestrian statues like General Hancock on horseback or General Lee on Traveller. I thought it would be a great idea to learn about the horses and their role in the Battle of Gettysburg and in the Civil War as a whole. You can buy the film at just about any online retailer and many stores nationwide. You can get it at Amazon or Deepdiscountdvd for instance.

Writers Michael Kraus and David Neville penned stories ranging from General Custer vs. J.E.B. Stuart on the East Cavalry Field to the slaughter of the horses in front of the Trostle Barn to general information on the million or so horses involved in the Civil War. And estimated 5000 horses and mules were killed during the battle of Gettysburg alone. The estimates for horses killed or wounded during the war are staggering. There is a beautiful monument in Middleburg, Virginia that honors them.

I was fortunate enough to visit Middleburg and Leesburg, Virginia in the early summer of 2006. I took this picture of the statue and wished I had used it in this film but did not learn about it until after production had wrapped.

The film is narrated by Ronald F. Maxwell, director of the movies Gettysburg and Gods and Generals, among others. To celebrate the release of the film we had a DVD signing at the Leesburg Bookstore in town. Clips from the film were shown at the Tally Ho Theater down the street followed by a Q&A which I really enjoyed.

The Tally Ho Theater with an ominous sunset the night before the screening.

My wife and I standing on a streetcorner in Leesburg. I like small towns and said that if you can tell the quality of a town by the quality of its sidewalks that Leesburg must be second to none. The residents of Leesburg did not disagree.

One of my early films, Shot to Pieces, depicted the Battle of Ball's Bluff. So this bar was a fitting place to visit. I'll post some more detail about that film soon.

Leesburg is a beautiful town in Northern Virginia and everyone was very friendly, excited about horses and a lot of fun. I'm glad that we were able to celebrate the DVD release there in the heart of "horse country". Especially considering we were Yankees from Pennsylvania!

Horses of Gettysburg groupies! Thank you to everyone in Leesburg and all of those who showed up for the events surrounding the release of our film.

Horses of Gettysburg was filmed in 720p High Definition with the Panasonic Varicam. Editing was done in 1080i High Definition and the dvd was a direct, digital transfer and looks stunning. I'll have more information on the production of the film in a later post.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed the film, two of my favorite review sites in particular enjoyed it.

Thank you Betty Jo Tucker at ReelTalkReviews for your review of the film HERE.

Thank you Nicholas Sheffo and Nate Goss at FulvueDrive-In for your review of the film HERE.

More information on Horses of Gettysburg and my other documentaries will be coming soon so stay tuned. My wife snapped the following shot on the Pennsylvania Turnpike on the way home from Leesburg. Dear PennDot, these are my toll dollars at work.

By the way, May 2nd, 2006 was declared Horses of Gettysburg Day in Pittsburgh!!!

Classic Game Room - The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show

2006-12-15T17:25:00.000-05:00

I've been working on a new documentary today. No, not a Civil War or World War 1 documentary, but a documentary on my cancelled video game review show, THE GAME ROOM.

The working title of the new film is Classic Game Room - The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show.

It was a great show, and oddly enough its actually a really interesting story on how we went from that to producing documentary films.

We started the show in late 1999 on the Internet and it ran until October 2000. These were the days way before YouTube. We reviewed new and classic games, everything from the Playstation to the Atari 2600. Including such classics as The Empire Strikes Back, Bionic Commando, Contra and Xevious.

I just wanted to let everyone know that the DVD is in production and keeps the spirit of The Game Room alive. And that's all I have the time for today.

Father Duffy 69th NY & the Double Shack Burger

2006-12-14T22:02:00.000-05:00

World War 1 - American Legacy features the story of Father Duffy from New York's 69th Infantry, the Fighting Irish. My wife and I shot the pictures of the Father Duffy statue in Times Square in New York City this past May 2006 along with the painting of Charles Whittlesey of Lost Battalion fame in the Williams Club a few blocks away.

I often wonder if he would have liked all the commercialism surrounding him?

Me in front of impressive Father Duffy statue. The next time you are in Times Square make sure to take a moment to read his statue.

The Empire State building photographed from somewhere nearby. Framed so nicely by a monster robotic arm.

I've grilled some great burgers in my day but none as good as the Double Shack Burger from the Shake Shack. Thank you to Christian, Rocco and Tara for taking us out on the town. Makes filming all more fun.

Manhattan as viewed from my friends' patio in Jersey City. I've enjoyed many trips watching the little boats circle the Island and Statue of Liberty nearby. If you've never been to NYC you should go. And hit the Shake Shack while you're there.

Hope to see you again soon, NYC.

World War 1 - American Legacy release and other news

2006-12-13T14:13:00.000-05:00

My newest documentary film, World War 1 - American Legacy, was released on December 5th, 2006 from Inecom Entertainment Company. The official website can be seen at www.GreatWarFilm.com. It is a 2 hour documentary film narrated by David Carradine about the American men and women who served in the Great War.

For the technical gurus: We filmed the live footage of WW1 statues in high definition on DVCproHD with the Panasonic Varicam. Still pictures were captured in HD and come from a variety of period sources like the French L'illustration magazines and personal photographs. The DVD is produced from a direct digital transfer in anamorphic widescreen with DTS and Dolby Digital surround sound. The DVD is available nationally and at all major online retailers like Amazon.com.

You can view the 100 second trailer for the 2 hour documentary film here.

A very special thank you to Betty Jo Tucker and everyone at www.ReelTalkReviews.com for the following review of the film and for the interview opportunity:

ReelTalk review of World War 1 - American Legacy here.

Betty Jo Tucker interview with Mark Bussler here.

GAME ROOM update.

There has been a recent surge in interest in the Classic Game Room episodes that I produced for the Internet way back in 1999 and 2000. We are in the planning stages to release the episodes on DVD from the master tapes. These were originally filmed in 4x3 on Betacam SP and DVCpro with a variety of camera equipment and game review systems like Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Genesis, Atari Jaguar, Sony Playstation and N64.

The trailer for Classic Game Room is on YouTube HERE.

I will keep everyone posted about the Classic Game Room DVD details as they become more clear. More documentary film information is forthcoming.

...And it Begins...

2006-12-13T14:01:00.001-05:00

The blog of documentary filmmaker Mark Bussler will appear... Information on films and The Game Room coming soon.