McCartney Multimedia Newsletter

Welcome to Volume 9 Edition of the McCartney Newsletter.

In these times of turmoil and unrest it is good to know that some things never change, like the McCartney Newsletter. Seriously though, our hearts go out to the people in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain and especially Libya. The dominoes are falling and there's no going back. The fear now is what and who will fill the void. We can only hope for someone with morals and character to emerge from the chaos to give new generations renewed hope, because in the age of Twitter and Facebook, nothing will remain hidden!
On a lighter note, we actually had one of friends spend his vacation in Egypt during the time (you guessed it!) all hell broke loose.

So here are some of the highlights and happenings from the past busy few weeks at McCartney:

Antonis Karydis inventor of MATIvision Spherical Video technology was in town in January to follow up with various studio heads on the success of the MUSE concerts at Wembley Stadium in London. Recent Grammy® winners MUSE decided to share some of the incredible "I was there" footage with their fans a Christmas present and their comment wall literally exploded within minutes. You too can see the amazing footage which puts you right on stage with Matt Bellamy and the boys by clicking here.

We also met with Nigel Lythgoe and 19 Entertainment group, ueber producer Kim Cooper at Fox (Avatar, Titanic, Speed etc.), and in March he is on his way to Canadian Music Week in Toronto as well as SXSW in Texas. Watch this space for announcements of the new MATIvision App and Facebook integration.

Projects in production at McCartney Multimedia:
The Cotsen Family Office - print brochure and web site, Ironhawk Technologies - hand drawn and animated vector sequences for marketing materials, Rialto School District - new web site with CMS for the School District to keep the pages up to date, Nevada Film 2011 - new web site back end for processing listings, ads, payments and front end design, Musical Legends, LLC, - new web site for showcasing their copyright restoration services and expertise, The Ocean Nation Foundation - new web site for Cassandra Denver's environmental non-profit, Selectracks - new web site and management system for their music library, scoring, composition, studio and production services, DirectTv Star Jack Jackels Jewelry Collection - new front end design, logo design and e-commerce system for one-of-a-kind- jewels from this master gemologist and Conquest Payment Systems - new web site for showcasing their innovative proprietary technology for managing, processing and tracking secure online credit card transactions. Phew! We weren't kidding when we told you we were busy.

Recently Ruth was invited to be a judge for an Israeli World Music Talent contest at SIR Sound stages in Hollywood. The music ranged from world ethnic to eclectic to Pop. It was truly a hard choice because all the performers were very talented. The grand prize is a record contract with Geffen Records. Ruth and a panel of other experts judged the finale performances. The show will be airing in Israel sometime in June. Produced by Tal Herzberg. We'll keep you posted when you can see it online.

Picture with Derek Rath (left) Ruth and Richard Horowitz (right)

As a member of BAFTA, Ruth and I were cordially invited to a screening of "The Rite", starring Sir Anthony Hopkins. I must say, if you like Sir Anthony Hopkins (from his Hannibal days), you will enjoy this movie. Newcomer Colin O'Donoghue's performance was impressive. Overall the acting, directing, cinematography, lighting and especially the sound/foley was outstanding!

Inspired by true events, "The Rite" follows skeptical seminary student Michael Kovak (Colin O'Donoghue), who reluctantly attends exorcism school at the Vatican. While in Rome, he meets an unorthodox priest, Father Lucas (Sir Anthony Hopkins), who introduces him to the darker side of his faith.

Yes, besides all the turmoil in the Middle East, we have one brave Aussie family flying to Egypt for a little vacation, just before (you guessed it) all hell breaks loose! Here's an excerpt:

DATELINE PARIS - Thursday 27th January.

We leave for Cairo, Egypt. We are on a 9-day visit, including 5 of them on a boat going up the Nile.

Flying Egypt Air from Charles de Gaulle airport, there is no alcohol on board. Our tour representative ACHMED picks us up at the airport. Austin and AP are beside themselves suppressing laughter because all they can think of is the Jeff Dunham puppet character ACHMED THE DEAD TERRORIST (If you haven't heard of him yet, YouTube it). Turns out perhaps to be not quite as funny now.

We drive for 45 minutes on a massive ring road to MENA HOUSE, the iconic Colonial hotel south of downtown Cairo. Achmed, (who AP and Austin just have to call Jeff) tells us in the car on the way that there is a ‘peaceful’ demonstration planned for the next day after prayers. To be on the safe side we aren’t allowed into downtown Cairo.

Checking in and turning on TV, we discover that this ‘peaceful demonstration’ is actually about overthrowing Mubarak. Nevertheless, the hotel is beyond fabulous so we launch into dinner and bar activities, confident that none of this pesky demonstration stuff will affect us in any way. While we sleep, all mobile phones and Internet in Egypt are suspended.

Read the entire story here...

Well, here we are. After starting the project for real in February 2010, a lot has happened and I am finally at the stage where the project is ready for mastering.
Over the last 12 months, in every spare moment, I've been slaving away on this project that started rather harmlessly with my partner Marino De Silva saying: 'Come on Marts, let's lay down some tracks', it's come a long way.

19,567 files later, I'm looking at what seemed an insurmountable body of musical work and one that is finally coming to its natural conclusion.

Now it's time for me to step away from it and let the brilliant Niko Bolas put his finishing touches on it at his new mix studio in the iconic Capitol Records Tower.

FIG in Santa Monica

Recently we went to FIG restaurant in Santa Monica for Ruth's birthday celebration. We were early and we were in luck. Turns out, at the moment, FIG has a Tuesday through Thursday "Happy Hour" from 5-6 PM. Everything was half price. When I say everything, that includes Appetizers, Entrees and Drinks! Ruth met with wonderful chef Raymond Garcia (picture) and thanked him for the wonderful assortment of food. I highly recommend the "Schnitzel" since I haven't had a good one since the Schatzi days! So, if you want to meet someone for Happy Hour or a romantic early dinner for 2 in Santa Monica, FIG is a must! So hurry, 'coz we don't know how long this deal will last!

McCartney Studios recently shot and produced the Music Video for "Ruby Rocks" the title track of Marino De Silva's new album: "Voodoo Charm". After a hard day's work of directing, video and photography, the cast and crew were cordially invited by Marino and Janet De Silva to a little late night snack at our local hang "Cantalini's", here in Playa Del Rey.
We shot a 12-hour day and wound up with 1-1/2 hours of footage that took 4 days to edit to bring it down to 3 minutes!

The suits made us say that. So... you've been warned and if still want to click the link, just make sure the kids are in bed! Enjoy!

Tech Tip

SCREENFLOW

In a multimedia company you're only as good as your tools. One tool I can't live without, is SCREENFLOW. It's a program designed to record anything you do on your desktop. I use it mainly for informational, educational and instructive content, like "How To" videos for our programmers and graphics people. No matter what happens on your desktop, you can capture it and export it to a movie. It's not cheap ($99), but it will certainly speed up your workflow!

Here are some of the features:

• Record desktop, video and audio simultaneously
• Full screen HD capture
• Keynote and PowerPoint support
• Highlight areas of the screen (mouse, foreground window)
• Optimized for top quality and speed
• Powerful edit:
◊ Drag and drop media to timeline
◊ Trim clips in timeline, adjust speed of clips
◊ Add advanced effects and transition
• High quality QT and WMV (using Flip4Mac) export
• Export to YouTube

Network News

Dieter Bockmeier (Ruth's ex husband), filmmaker from Electric Avenue Films in Munich was in town for a couple of weeks, and shot footage for Geist CD video.

Dieter shot the "One World - Realm without Borders", video in Marina del Rey. We were lucky with the weather and the almost crowdless beach.
Everything was shot in about 3 hours and is now being edited for the Music Video "One World" which will be released on the "GEIST" album, currently being mastered at Capitol Records by Niko Bolas.

Thank you Dieter for all your hard work. Martin and Marino.

Ruth and Angie spent a delightful afternoon at Marina Veterinary in the Playa, ably run by Dr. Rachel Jones, who was happy that her Dad, Quincy, turned up for the event. He had just got off a flight from New York, but was very gracious posing for photos with all the hard working kids who help keep our kitties healthy.

Dr. Rachel Jones - Marina Vet Staff and Quincy Jones

Aussie wunderkind Callan McAuliffe opens in Spielberg's I Am Number Four, Oleta Adams is coming to Catalina Bar and Grill in Hollywood in March - book tickets here, Mark Eads joins the team as GM at Dolphin Bay on Shell Beach, Mike Moroney joins the team at 1st Avenue Film in NYC,

Toy Story 3 won the Oscar for "Animated Feature Film". From our extended family of composers, Andreas Slavik and Gary Arnold wrote the music for the TV commercials for Disney on Ice Tour version of this movie, under the auspices of Dan Korobkin of CueMX.

Arlington singer/songwriter Heather McCready sits down with Matt Meinke to dicuss her music, local appearance in Winnsboro, and her campaign for mental health awareness. (Originally aired Feb. 24, 2011) Listen here.

A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.

If you don't pay your exorcist, you get repossessed.

What is the definition of a Will? It is a dead give away.

In a Democracy, your vote counts. In Feudalism, your Count votes.

Special thanks to Bob and Sharon Harroun-Peirce for their recent swanky Valentine's party, which featured a fantastic and HUGE Paella
(see photo by Ruth).

• 1/2 pint of olive oil
• 10 mussels
• 10 clams
• 2 oz boneless pork, diced
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 6 oz onions, chopped fine
• 1 medium tomato, skinned, seeded and chopped
• 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
• 1 small green bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
• 1 small yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
• 32 oz skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 24 oz lobster claws
• 24 oz arborio or short grain rice
• 3 cups (48 fl. oz) chicken broth
• 1/4 teaspoon saffron or turmeric
• 2 chorizo sausages, cooked and cut into chunks
• 10 uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 4 oz peas
• 4 tablespoon capers
• Lemon wedges, to garnish

Scrub and debeard the mussels and clams, discarding any that don't close when tapped sharply. Set aside.
Heat 1/4 cup (2fl. oz) of the olive oil in a skillet. Add the pork, and brown all sides. Mix in the garlic, onions, tomato, and bell peppers, stirring constantly until cooked. Set aside.
In another skillet, heat a further 1/4 cup (2 fl. oz) olive oil and cook the chicken until browned on all sides. Season with salt, pepper, paprika, rosemary, thyme, and cumin. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside.
In the same skillet, cook the lobster claws overt high heat for several minutes until its shell turns pink. Set the skillet aside.
Preheat the oven to 200 F. Heat 4 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet, and saute the rice until it is translucent. Pour in the chicken broth, and combine well. Add the pork mixture, stirring constantly. Sprinkle in the saffron and continue to stir until well mixed.
Transfer the rice into a paella pan. Mix in the lobster claws, chicken, chorizo sausages, mussels, clams, shrimp, peas, and capers, combining well. Bake the paella, uncovered, and on the lowest oven shelf, for around 25 minutes, or until all the liquid has been absorbed.
Discard any mussels and clams that have failed to open.
Serve the paella straight from the pan, garnished with lemon wedges.

Jonas and the Massive attraction

24th January. Superstar Jonas returned from Australia to spend a couple of days with us before returning to Toronto for more gigs.
From Jonas: jtomalty: BIG THANKS!!! MILLES MERCIES!!! Because of you, our fans, our fellow rockers, we have 2 SINGLES IN THE TOP 40!!!... http://fb.me/tSBTfhxd
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Juno-nominated rock singer Jonas is thrilled to introduce his new band Jonas & The Massive Attraction, featuring long time guitarist/band leader Corey Diabo, J.S. Baciu (Bass) and Martin Lavallee (Drums). Their highly anticipated new album Big Slice was released in Canada on September 14, 2010 on Big Slice Records/Select Distribution and cracked the Top 15 nationally on Soundscan in the first week of sales. The title track and first single “Big Slice” went out to rock radio in June and hit Top 10 nationally in December on the Mediabase Active Rock Charts. The song peaked at # 7 in January 2011 alongside some of the biggest international names in rock (Ozzy Osbourne, Kings of Leon, Three Days Grace).