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Month: February 2018

Ep 129 – Full Sail University’s Hall of Fame, Mango’s, and Mardi Gras

In this huge episode, Ken and Ed give trip reports from Mango’s, Universal Orlando’s Mardi Gras, and Toothsome’s. Quick hits in the news include exclusive details on the Cowgirls closure, the CEO of IAAPA resigning, and the latest on how Florida’s Tourist Development Tax is being used.

In Hour Two Ken stops by the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Full Sail University where he interviews the school CEO and all of the inductees in attendance, including Orlando’s very own Film Commissioner.

Recording Date– February 16, 2018, in Studio B at WPRK (Full Sail interviews recorded February 15 at Full Sail University)

Show Notes

Cowgirls closes for good at I-Drive 360

Paul Nolan leaves IAAPA, joins accesso

Florida House approves TDT money for roads, pedestrian improvements Source 1 | Source 2

Opening Date for Toy Story Land – June 30th, 2018

 

Full Sail Hall of Fame

Link

The inductees to be honored during Full Sail University’s 9th Annual Hall of Fame Week are:

Bob Cowan

  • Current Title: Front of House Engineer, Monitor Engineer & Production Manager
  • Industry Credits: Bob Cowan has worked in the live sound industry for over 20 years and serves as Front of House Engineer or Monitor Engineer and Production Manager on tour for some of the most notable artists in the industry including Metallica, where he has mixed shows with the band on all seven continents including Antarctica.
  • Additional artists Bob has worked with include: Melissa Etheridge, Slash, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Ringo Starr, George Benson, Natalie Cole, Enrique Iglesias, Blues Traveler, INXS, Shania Twain, Sammy Hagar, Frankie Beverly & Maze, Tokio Hotel, Phil Lesh, David Sanborn, Marcus Miller, Lords of Acid, Michael Bolton, Crushing Day, Sophie B Hawkins, Megadeth and more.
  • 1994 Graduate (Recording Arts)

 

Fernando Delgado, C.A.S

  • Current Title: Production Sound Supervisor/Mixer, & Owner at Stickman Sound
  • Industry Credits: Fernando Delgado is the owner of Stickman Sound, Inc. in Las Vegas where he works in a variety of production genres such as live sports/entertainment, reality television, motion pictures and commercials on projects and with brands including: Coldplay in VR, FOX Sports coverage of Mayweather vs. McGregor, Top Gear America, The Ultimate Fighter, Kickboxer Retaliation, Show Dogs, Under Armour and Nike.
  • Most recently Fernando has been working with Flight Line Films mixing Blue Origin rocket launches along with a variety of VR projects.
  • Previously, Fernando has received an Emmy award in the category of Outstanding Achievement in Live Audio for his work with HBO’s Boxing.
  • 1997 Graduate (Recording Arts)

 

Sheena Fowler

  • Current Title: Orlando Film Commissioner and Senior Director of Marketing and Communications, Orlando Economic Partnership
  • Industry Credits: As the Orlando Film Commissioner Sheena works closely with productions seeking the unique backdrops and premiere production facilities that Central Florida has to offer supporting the workforce and businesses that make up Central Florida’s entertainment production ecosystem. Key productions include Tomorrowland, Paper Towns, Sisters, The InBetweeners, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Real Rob, and countless national commercial campaigns.
  • In her role as Senior Director of Marketing and Communications she manages public relations and content creation, promoting the region as a top business location.
  • Her prior experience includes production work with Warner Bros., HBO Boxing, CNN’s Captain Planet Foundation, Go Film, Transition Productions, iNEXTv.com and WMFE (Orlando’s PBS affiliate).
  • Sheena also has a background in Public Relations serving Orlando’s Downtown Arts District tied to organization, promotion and implementation of special events including the Gibson GuitarTown Foundation Auction.
  • Sheena is a past-president of Women in Film & Television – FL and the immediate past-vice president of Film Florida.
  • Sheena was named to the Orlando Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” list, which recognizes young leaders who have played a key role in shaping the Central Florida Community.
  • 2006 & 2007 Graduate (Film & Entertainment Business)

Brett Novak

  • Current Title: Director, Editor and Visual Effects Artist
  • Industry Credits: Upon graduating from Full Sail’s Digital Arts & Design program, Brett moved to Los Angeles where he landed work as a Visual Effects Artist on some of the biggest music video projects for the likes of Beyoncé, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears and Lady Gaga, to name a few.
  • Brett’s work led him to a Lead Visual Effects Artist position with the Bandito Brothers, and later he branched out to pursue his own brand of video production.
  • Brett’s short films have received over 25 million views online, several of which broadcast daily on TV channels in the U.S. and around the world, and has been featured in major outlets including: Rolling Stone, Huffington Post, VICE, and the BBC.
  • His career has led him to film in over 25 countries, and has garnered awards at numerous international film festivals in categories including Best Short Picture, Best VFX and Best Editing.
  • Brett has directed commercial work for brands and companies including: Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen, Google, Mattel and Warner Brothers.
  • 2007 Graduate (Digital Arts and Design)

 

Grant Shonkwiler

  • Current Title: Owner, Shonkventures & Executive Director, Game Developers Foundation
  • Industry Credits: Grant Shonkwiler landed his first position in the video game industry with AMI Entertainment/MegaTouch Games as a game programmer immediately after graduation. Soon after his start he moved up to Lead Designer and after 3 years with the company he had shipped well over 50 titles.
  • In 2011, Grant made the leap to id Software as a Technical Producer and worked on “Rage”, working on the Multiplayer Team. After “Rage” he started working on the “Doom” franchise as a Producer for the Artificial Intelligence, Combat, Character and Narrative teams.
  • Grant’s career continued to skyrocket as he accepted a Producer role with Epic Games in 2014 and an opportunity to work on “Fortnite” in addition to being a Lead Producer for one of the prototype teams on a project that eventually became “Battle Breakers.”
  • In late 2016 Grant ventured out on his own starting a Production Consulting company called Shonkventures and has recently taken on an Executive Director role with the Game Developers Foundation, helping those interested in getting into the video game industry.
  • 2008 Graduate (Game Design & Development)

 

Tremaine Williams

  • Current Title: Engineer & Producer
  • Industry Credits: Shortly after graduation Tremaine Williams began his career as an intern at the renowned Santa Monica, CA based Hidden Beach Recordings.
  • During his internship Tremaine became a voting member of The Recording Academy where he met the legendary production team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, which led to Tremaine landing a job as their in-house engineer/programmer earning him credits on projects with artists including Usher, Janet Jackson, 50 Cent, Jill Scott, Boyz II Men and Chaka Khan.
  • After a few years of studio engineering, Tremaine joined the touring team of multi-GRAMMY award-winning artist Mariah Carey as a stage manager, keyboard technician and programmer.
  • In between touring, he also earned television show credits producing music for hit television shows Empire (commercial), Keeping Up with the Kardashians, MTV’s Real World and served as a Pro Tools operator for BET’s Sunday Best, Comic View and Apollo Live.
  • Tremaine earned his first credits as a film composer for The Last Fall (2012), Sound Designer for 9 RIDES (2017) and serves as a Governor for the Los Angeles Chapter of The Recording Academy.
  • Tremaine is currently on tour with multi-GRAMMY award-winning artist Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic World Tour 2017.
  • 2004 Graduate (Recording Arts)
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4DX Review – Black Panther

This is a *mostly* spoiler-free review of Black Panther in 4DX format. This isn’t designed to a be a review of the movie as much is it’s a review of the 4DX experience for this movie.

Calling Black Panther a blockbuster is to downplay just how huge this movie is. Ushering in a new era for Marvel films it brings a unique African inspired sci-fi aesthetic that’s both refreshing and captivating. The film starts with some classic hip-hop music and here we experience the first of many unique ways to make the 4DX effects shine. The vibrations in the seats are set perfectly to the beat, making it seem like the bass is much higher than the volume was. This vibration to the beat continues with drums during a few key scenes. Having the chairs ‘bump’ to the music enhanced the music in ways that the no sound system alone can.

Another well-used effect was the leg ticklers. This effect, which is typically used as a scare tactic, was used during both crash scenes and ones where the character on the screen is sliding down a hill. The effect was timed perfectly and made much more sense in these scenes than in nearly any that I’ve experienced it in before.

With the film set in Africa, there were plenty of large vistas where the camera flew over fields, skylines, and mountains. With each of these, the fans were used. There were a few times where it felt unneeded since the vistas were on screen for such short amounts of time but those times can be easily overlooked since it was used just right so many other times.

After more than a dozen films viewed in the 4DX format Black Panther comes in a strong third for me, just behind Guardians of the Galaxy and Blade Runner 2049 (which are tied for first place for me). Black Panther comes in just above the live action Beauty and the Beast. One of the few effects lacking in Black Panther is scents, which Beauty and the Beast used so well, making this more of a tie between the two. The other effect not used in Black Panther is no snow effects, an odd choice since there are scenes that take place in snow-covered landscapes. The lack of these two effects, both of which could’ve been used in the film, are the only reason why this film isn’t tied for first place with Blade Runner 2049 and Guardians 2.

Smoke effects are used just once in the film and at a minimum in that scene. There were many other scenes where smoke could’ve enhanced the film, but it wasn’t.

Some effects, like the air cannons in the seats, where used in nearly every action scene but even in high use they held their power working to enhance the scenes exactly as intended. Other effects, like the water, were used in fewer scenes but still were perfect. A fight scene in the water, similar to one found in Ghost in the Shell, was enhanced with water effects but unlike Ghost in the Shell, which left viewers pretty wet (though nothing like the non-stop water effects found in Kong which made me feel like I was on a water ride), here the water was turned down but still kept the impact of the effect.

Overall, Black Panther was an incredible film enhanced perfectly by 4DX. It’s a great first introduction to 4DX, even though a few of the effects weren’t used. As I said in Maze Runner’s 4DX review, the experience “shines best in science fiction films,” and that proves true Black Panther more than nearly anything I’ve seen.

-Review Summary-

  • Use of 4DX Effects- 4 out of 4
  • Movie Overall- 4 out of 4

 

Other 4DX Reviews

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Ep 128 – Viva la Mexico

In this Mexico focused special episode Ken and Ed take the first hour to discuss all the latest news, including the latest on SeaWorld Orlando’s Sesame Street plans, the rumors on the return of Ringling Brothers, and the retail tenants of Margaritaville.

Hour Two is filled with news and reports from one of Orlando’s biggest competitors, Mexico! An exclusive interview with officials from Mexico’s new resort Amikoo gives never before shared details on what this massive complex will include. Then Robert calls in and gives a trip report from his recent vacation at one of Mexico’s all-inclusive resorts.

Recording– Feb 9, 2018, in Studio B at WPRK 91.5 Winter Park, FL

Show Notes

New details on SeaWorld Orlando’s Sesame Street

BGT closes Jungala but has a great summer concert line-up

Margaritaville Resort Retail Village, Sunset Walk, lists the retail tenants

Epcot might be getting a new name

Vivo planned for Universal Studios Hollywood

 

Amikoo Resort

Travel and Leisure

Dreamworks replaced by new IP

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Ep 127- Skywalking Adventure’s Brian Saeger

Brian Saeger of Skywalking Adventure calls in to chat with Ed and Ken about recent news from Disney and Universal. The guys talk about rumors of projects in the works and projects being canned. Ken also gives updates on O-Town West, the future of the Church St. Exchange building, Florida’s attempted law to ban orca breeding, and the latest on gambling in the state.

Recording Date– Feb 2, 2018 in Studio B at WPRK 

Show Notes

Skywalking Adventure Stories

Other News-

O-Town West proposed for Palm Parkway

Church St Exchange gets new owners, new hope

ofo bikes coming to Orlando

Orca breeding bill fails in Florida legislature

Gaming in Florida Links-

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/political-pulse/os-gambling-legislature-20180131-story.html#nt=oft02a-10li3

https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2018/00840

http://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/01/30/this-proposal-will-prevent-slot-machine-expansion-in-tampa-bay/

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