New Blog Site

I don't know if you've had a chance to check it out, but our ministry website is finally up and running.


It's interesting... the first three people to register were from Kansas City - Kansas, Bristol - New Brunswick and Mariager - Denmark. We're already an international ministry.

Also, since the new site has it's own blog, this will be the last time I will be posting to this blog site.

Those of you who are subscribed to this blog need to know that to continue receiving notification of posts on the new blog you will need to subscribe to that one. You can find the new blog here... http://muddyrivermedia.org/blogs/muddy-river-media

You should see an email subscription box at the bottom left of the page... just enter your email address and then follow the directions.

Thanks for each and every one of you who have been praying and supporting us as we worked towards launching this website. We hope that you will continue to pray for us in the coming months and years.

Going Live!

FINALLY!

After months of waiting... encountering roadblocks... navigating obstacles...

...we are ready to launch the Muddy River Media website!

Last week we have numerous churches help us beta test the site, and now we're ready to let the whole world in. Sometime today, April 8th, you should be able to go to our web address, http://muddyrivermedia.org/ and see the site for yourself.

I cannot speak highly enough of our web developer, Bob Christenson, of Mustardseed Media. After the experience with our previous developer, working with Bob was a dream. Very professional, and creative, yet very passionate about what Muddy River Media was trying to accomplish. We know it was a God thing that we ended up having a partnership with Bob.

Brad Pitt Body Double Hockey Pool

Well... the 2007-08 Brad Pitt Body Double regular season hockey pool has finished up and the weiner... ahhh... I mean, winner, is...

...drum roll please...

Cary "legs" Sawatsky

Take a look at the final standings below.

Standings		Total
1. Cary "legs" Sawatsky		1355.00
2. Ben "nice guy" Fogarty		1334.00
3. Brandon "the wall" Craib		1325.00
4. Craig "mutton" MacKinnon		1312.00
5. Mark "commish" Fogarty		1308.00
6. Stephen "bruin" Fatouros		1304.00
7. John "numbers" Napier		1302.00
8. Lisa "shifty" Wile		1280.00
9. Matt "bacon" Earle		1260.00
10. Melissa "elbows" Fogarty		1259.00
11. Ruth "crazy" Campbell		1255.00
12. Neil "drugs" MacKinnon		1250.00
13. Brian "brains" Coleman		1248.00
14. Paul "fluffy" Wile		1246.00
15. David "hot stuff" Craib		1244.00
16. Jon "preacher" McLeod		1239.00
17. Guy "lafleur" Campbell		1238.00
18. Leanne "ma" MacKinnon		1236.00
19. Zach "the body" Wile		1235.00
20. Rachel "rontgen" Miller		1234.00
21. Jason "sandman" Biech		1230.00
22. Irene "the dream" Baltas		1229.00
23. Jordan "circuits" Ellis		1228.00
24. Paul "Scooter" MacKinnon		1227.00
25. Steve "Night Train" Lane		1226.00
26. Matthew "doctor" Clarke		1222.00
27. Shaun "big daddy" Brown		1221.00
28. Kevin "the boss" Fogarty		1218.00
29. Joe "habs fan" Fogarty		1214.00
30. Amy "true north" Brown		1182.00
31. Rudy "da parrot" Fogarty		1167.00
32. Brianna "the straw" Craib		1159.00
33. Gary "guitar" Miller		1149.00

I finished in 5th place... not to bad... definitely better then Gary "guitar" Miller who managed to take a firm hold on last place. In fact, you will notice that my parrot, Rudy, beat Gary just by flinging dice from his beak.

Melissa was glad to finish in the top 10, although it was a bitter pill because she led the pool for quite a stretch.

But, to be honest, the regular season only means so much (you hearing this Cary?) it's the playoffs that real matter. So, we are going to be hosting the 2008 Brad Pitt Body Double Hockey Playoff Pool. If you are at all interested in putting a team in, you need to email me asap at MarkFogarty(at)Navnet(dot)net and I will email you the Pool Sheet. Deadline for submissions is 8:00 Atlantic Time on Wednesday, April 9th

There is no cost, and no prizes other then bragging rights. And we all know that bragging is an entirely healthy character trait.

Post Production

I thought I would show you another example of some post production work that is often done on videos.

Below you will see two images of the same footage. The top image is before any post-production work in Adobe After Effects, the other is after. The sky was so blown out white... we felt it needed some blue. Keep in mind that this is being done for every video frame of that shot, which is 29.97 fames per second.

Before

After

In another shot from the video, the lady (who is Ardith Somers by the way) is struggling to hold a map up to read while the wind blows it around. This means our sky treatment had to be smart enough to colour the sky, but not the map being held up to the sky.

All in all, I'm fairly please, considering the conditions we were filming in, and the deadline we were dealing with.

Free Novocaine!

Well, it has been a busy day. Got word from our developer that we were ready to beta test the site. We had hoped to do that a couple days ago but one of the last custom designed modules being installed, in the words of the developer, broke the site.

So, we had to wait for a reworked version of the module.

On top of that, we filmed a video this morning... outdoors... in the stinkin' cold wind. We had tried to film it yesterday but the wind was too strong, so we decided to put it off until today.

Good choice... today was windier and MUCH colder.

By the end of it my hands were numb and I felt like I had been to the dentist because I couldn't feel my lips at all.

Good times.

Beta Testing has Begun!

Well... we have begun beta testing the website today. There are still some tweaks and things that need to be done to the site, but everything is in place for users to register and begin downloading resources.

We have a number of churches in Canada, United States, Australia and Europe who have graciously agreed to help us kick the tires on the site. Depending on how smooth that process goes, we should be able to go live within the next week.

Let me share a comment from one of our beta testers...

"The site is very easy to navigate. I was downloading in minutes!"

That is music to my ears because that is how we want the site to be... easy to find your resources and easy to get them.

Stay tuned as we get ready to go live to the entire world!

Mist

Last week I filmed and edited a short video clip that some of you may have seen a version of this past weekend at StoneRidge Fellowship.

I could just as well used the verses from Luke 12:19-21...

And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."

But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'

"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."

It's like a lot of people who seem to be blissfully unaware of anything remotely eternal, just sailing along, when all of sudden... WHAM! Hit by a bus!

I'm reminded of that little rhythm...

Life is Short

Death is Sure

Sin the Cause

Christ the Cure