It’s backup day … even if you didn’t update your Final Cut Pro X to 10.0.3 you should still backup.

It’s less than a week before the first SuperMeet of 2012. This Thursday the San Francisco SuperMeet will take place right in the middle of the days of MacWorld, or iWorld or whatever it is called. There’s the usual smattering of raffle prizes from software to hard drives to I/O devices to camera accessories. It’s over $33,000 at this point. The lineup looks pretty good thus far with the dude who is the DP for the Saturday Night Live film unit, a dude who worked as both a Director of Photography and on site editor for A&E’s Taken, Jesse the guy who made the hilarious “Fotoshop,” Philip the fella who loves to talk about the future of post-production and a dude from DigitalFilm Tree who will be debuting a new mobile app. That’s the lineup thus far as there may be more added. Grab some tickets here.

There’s also some very interesting looking SuperMeet Workshops presented by Adobe, Blackmagic Design, Canon and Light Iron. Here’s all the info you need about the SuperMeet Workshops:

• Where? - Mission Bay Conference Center (William J. Rutter Center)- UCSF
  1675 Owens Street
  San Francisco, CA 94158
  Phone: 866.431.UCSF
  http://www.acc-missionbayconferencecenter.com/gallery/
• When? - Friday, January 27, 2012 (Onsight registration begins at 9:00AM. Workshops begin at 10:00AM and will be held throughout the day. Times are subject to change.
• How Much? - $10.00 per workshop. They are listed, along with registration here.
• What – Workshops will be presented by Adobe, Blackmagic Design, Canon and Light Iron. You may choose a maximum of 3 workshops.
• Any raffle prizes? - Maybe
• Who should attend? – Everyone who wants to learn more about the craft of editing, digital filmmaking, finishing and Digital Cinema.

I wish I was going to be there. Have fun!

Some Mac users have been dipping their toes in the PC waters at their facility.

If you haven’t heard big reality tv producers Bunim/Murray are moving from Final Cut Pro to Media Composer. And there’s more detail to that story here.

Here’s a great blog about Autodesk Smoke.

This is a nice Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 wishlist with some 5.5 gripes. And it appears CS6 will ship in the first half of 2012.

Painting video frames in Photoshop can come in very handy.

Apparently you can get the full Sorenson Squeeze 8 with an Avid Media Composer purchase.

Goody. More words that sitting in front of the computer all day is killing you.

This post that hypothesizes that Final Cut Pro X is better than the rest because it is faster than the rest has some epic discussion in the comments.

And this post debunks that idea that FCPX is so much faster than other NLEs. If you want even more then a COW discussion about that post is further reading.

For those curious about 4K workflow this Dragon Tattoo article is a great read.

This is a fun discussion of the jump cut.

Here’s a list of some free filmmaking ebooks.

Are DSLRs really a dying breed?

Are you keeping up with who is in and out of SOPA?

There are simple rules for a creator’s life.

So maybe kids today can hear audio quality above and beyond crappy mp3s through ear buds.

There’s a new rule that documentary features must get a review in the LA Times or NY Times to quality for the Oscars.

Kickstarter keeps growing and growing.

There’s a cloud-based video editor going out of beta. But who really cares since automatic video editing is where it’s all headed anyway.

These long exposure shots of fireflies are just gorgeous.

Links from Twitter:

askmrvideo [Phoronix] Avidemux 2.5.6 Video Editor Brings Many Changes: Avidemux 2.5.6 Video Editor Brings Many Changes. Pos… bit.ly/vwPk8v

digitalreb Interesting thread on how the different settings in the Import dialog affect how Avid remaps a clip’s levels: community.avid.com/forums/p/90299…

BKMeditor Smoke Basics: Working with Source Clips wp.me/pYRXU-1b A detailed explanation of the Editdesk.

indiewire Netflix, Piracy and the IRS: The Top 10 Filmmaker Toolkit Articles of 2011 ow.ly/1gs58L

videoguys Tech trends you’ll see in 2012 soc.li/C7PaARS

CPDaily Creating a new demo reel for 2012? Check out these 20 tips for making a successful reel: ow.ly/8dlpj

boxee How Much Is Your Cable Habit REALLY Costing You? b0x.ee/uWCDPL via @Gothamist

girlgamy The 10 Best Productivity Apps of 2011 tnw.to/1COoX by @HarrisonWeber on @TNWapps

Company3 Here are some time-saving touchscreen shortcuts that some of you iPhone/iPad experts might not know. ow.ly/8bIYs

wingrove Tangent devices confirm pricing for element panels.. $695 to $1195us ea with bundle price of $3,495us for all 4 bit.ly/q4W26M

josephnasto This is awesome! – Before They Were Famous: The Short Films of Well Known Directors bit.ly/tAd3rT

ilmgeek Found out 2 weeks ago that a clean lion install doesn’t have QuickTime 7. Turns out you CAN get an installer: support.apple.com/kb/DL923

slashfilm Q&A: How Do I Know If My IMAX Theatre is Real 70mm IMAX or lieMAX (Digital IMAX)? bit.ly/tuvQ0L

Just_CoS_ Jan Harlan writes Stanley Kubrick about Steadicam. History in the making – Letters of Note: It’s just terrific ow.ly/85nvB

PostMasters876 We have Updated our workflow structure with a few minor changes. Download here –> db.tt/UWnFZTQ – Happy Editing.

Finally, sit back and enjoy this trip around the world:

Time is Nothing // Around The World Time Lapse from Kien Lam on Vimeo.

It’s a brand new year so make regular backups one of your New Year’s Resolutions (if you aren’t doing it already). This Macworld article is a good place to get started.

This is very out of character for me, not because I don’t like to follow and discuss politics (because I do) but because I’ve really never pushed any particular candidate for any office via any blogs or social media or anything like that. It’s fun to talk about them and debate but I feel a person should look at the candidate and the facts and make up their own mind. I’m a rabid independent and personally think that our two party system is a large part of the problem with politics in America. An issue is rarely red or blue, left or right, almost always falling somewhere in the middle. I’ve also never given a dime to a political candidate until this year when I gave a small amount to Buddy Roemer.

I became aware of Buddy Roemer running for the GOP nomination when I worked on an early edit for the video embedded above. It was then that I learned of one of Buddy’s main issues is fighting special interests and the money that controls Washington D.C. I honestly believe that one of the biggest problems this country has is that our elected leaders and the entire political system is, for the most part, bought and paid for by big corporate and private donors, lobbyists and special interests and the revolving door of elected officials who turn around to later lobby colleagues they used to work with. It’s a very sad situation. I don’t know if Buddy Roemer has any chance of winning the GOP nomination but his message is an important one that needs to be heard now more than ever. I would live to see him gain more support if for no other reason that him being able to participate in some of the 2012 debates. I think he would it would be good for the political discussion in this country to have someone hammer home the ideas of Washington D.C. corruption and special interest influence on a national debate stage. Seeing the reaction of the other GOP candidates would make it worthwhile. They are apparently close to getting matching funds and need a few more dollars in Tennessee and Alabama. I gave a few bucks and if you like his message then feel free to give as well. He’s only taking up to $100 from individuals to fund his campaign.

I’m sure I risk some people unsubscribing from this rss feed or unfollowing on Twitter but that’s a risk one takes when talking politics. I’ll repeat, I’m neither a Republican or a Democrat, but I am very concerned about special interest influences in Washington D.C. and the general corruption that seems to have a strong hold on our Congress. Buddy seems like the only person willing to address those topics head on and I would love to see him bring this issue front and center (or as front and center as he can bring it) during the 2012 election.

Here’s some holiday gift ideas from both myself and Prolost as well as gifts for DPs.

Avid Media Composer 6 is now out in the world. Read about it here and here.

There’s a new Avid Assistant Editor’s handbook available.

Shane Ross has started looking at Premiere Pro over on his blog.

We’re still looking for those Thunderbolt products. As are others.

Here’s an introduction to SpeedGrade from Adobe.

A theatre that will encourage texting and cell phone use?

60 (yes 60) feature requests for Final Cut Pro X.

The Jack of All Trades discussion is always one worth having these days.

Here’s the top After Effects feature requests.

The hypocrites in Hollywood like to bit torrent too.

And again, is the Mac Pro dead?

Uh oh. The record industry is starting to sue wedding videographers for using copyrighted music.

This question is often asked. Is the traditional post house dead?

Tom Cruise did do his on stunts on the big Mission Impossible building.

Roger Ebert has a nice list of his favorite films of the year.

An amazing set of Polaroid photos that documented a life.

That was 20 years of footage the Pearl Jam Twenty editors had to sort through.

Yes this is a promo for Google but it a great recap of the year that was.

2011 is almost over. Do one last backup before the end of the year. If you haven’t noticed the recent increase in hard drive prices then be aware as hard drive prices might impact backup and archiving for the near future.

Avid Media Composer 6 is launching in the next few days. Check out an early review. And the Avid webcast announcing MC6 is available online.

Freddylinks is still the best place ever for all Avid info.

We should all think about doing work we can be proud of.

If the future there might be No more jump cuts? Or use the Avid technique today.

Hurry to get your free DaVinci Lite training before it’s gone.

So is the 35mm depth of field adapter dead?

Loiloscope is in version 2 of an alternative video editor but it’s for PC only. Of we can let some website do a lot of the work for us to create a “video slideshow.”

If you missed this timeline comparison I did between FCP and Premiere Pro then check it out.

AJA has new Kona drivers out.

TUAW pointed out the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test app.

I was honored to be on this list of 10 video editing and post twitter users.

It’s fun to read about other’s experience in the 48 hour film project.

Here’s a Kubrick interview from 1966.

Links from Twitter:

DaufCam: A great example of crop factors by Phil Hollandfb.me/A3xE3gdq

clipwrap ClipWrap 2.4.4 – now with metadata parsing, better avid DNxHD support, and much more divergentmedia.com/clipwrap/trial

Digistorians Media 100 keeps on trucking, Read this v.2 review, by Michael Hanish tvtechnology.com/article/124884

MediaComposer @howardberry When MC 6 becomes available later this month, take advantage of your complimentary student upgrade here:bit.ly/vrlEPA

dvice ’The Matrix’ bullet-time comes to pro surfing: whoa bit.ly/uNS2GZ

olacolorist: Took a break to show you very quickly how I do multicam editing in FCP7 using an iPad. youtube.com/watch?v=JCpKMM…

zacuto All three episodes of the Great Camera Shootout 2011 are now available for download on Vimeo: ow.ly/7b4ti!

kev_mon Batch Renaming Clips for Adobe Premiere Pro in Adobe Bridgebit.ly/uyhEBa

wienotfilms How can someone not want a #GoPro after watching this?youtu.be/GUEZCxBcM78 The #editing job on it was masterful, btw!

CriterionCorner this article on THE TREE OF LIFE’S editing process is the best thing you’ll read or re-read all day: is.gd/Y5oyie

jessicaebelhar all of my pix from the horrific #indycar crash in #vegasthat took dan wheldon’s life: bit.ly/qatYiF

BitesBlog The Chick-fil-A Conundrum: How to Reconcile Tasty Chicken with Distasteful Politics goo.gl/fb/kst62

It’s November, if you haven’t backed up as of yet in 2011 your time is running out!

It’s less than a week away from the next SuperMeet, this time in Boston at Stuart Street Playhouse (Radisson Hotel Boston, 200 Stuart Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116). It happens this Thursday, October 27. If you follow the SuperMeets, held around the world at this point, then they are always billed as the biggest and best yet but this particular second Boston SuperMeet might just be the best lineup yet. If you’re interested in feature films then the top of the bill is an appearance by Walter Murch. This will be Murch’s “FIRST public appearance by Oscar and BAFTA Award-winning editor Walter Murch since the launch of Final Cut Pro X” so I’m sure everyone will be on pins and needles to hear his thoughts on the new software. Prediction: He likes the underlying technology but thinks FCPX isn’t quite ready for everyone as of yet. Also on the bill is a presentation from Avid by ANDREW WEISBLUM, A.C.E., editor of both Black Swan and The Wrestler among other fine films. In addition to the feature editors there will be demos from Autodesk and DaVinci.

Those tech demos translate into the prizes as well as there’s going to be a full version of Autodesk Smoke for Mac in the “world famous raffle.” That’s a $14,995 value that’s second only the the full Resolve control surface that was given away at NAB 2011! Other raffles prizes include Avid Media Composer, an Avid Artist Color control surface, a number of goodies from Blackmagic Design, a Sidekick HD ProRes recorder and various things from Adobe, NVIDIA and other software galore. Grab your tickets soon in case this one sells out.