NAB 2008 - Las Vegas, NV

I just spent 6 days in Vegas for NAB, what a trip, where to start?

The Show

6 days of intense tech geekage. It will probably take another week for me to go through all my notes, and digest it. On that note this overview will be a bit brief.

Digital Tech Guru Workshops - Saturday and Sunday
Two-day workshop geared toward anyone "expected to keep everything running smoothly at the facility"
Overall I thought the sessions were quite informative. Though I do think some were a bit too broad and basic for what I considered to be the target audience. There were even a few sessions, though fairly in depth, that really should have been longer to cover the detail. I guess I expected really in-depth discussion of the topics. These details seemed to come about best in the Q&A sections.

Each day also featured a keynote speaker. Saturday: Steve Mirrione, and Sunday: Jay Cassidy.
While both are editors and didn't speak to the tech crowd; both were great sessions and very inspirational. I mean there is a reason I work in the video/post tech world, and not corporate IT. Now I really want to see "Into the Wild"

Overall I think it was a very productive and informative 2 days, my brain got a pretty good workout. I also made some contacts, that could be helpful in the future, and isn't networking what this thing is about?

Exhibits - Mon - Thurs

Let's start with HUUGE!!!
I really spent every day, fairly non stop talking in depth to vendors. From san solutions, asset management, and render farm solutions, to video cards, global networking, and format compression and convertors; and everything in between. By each days end my head was spinning, and my throat was sore from talking.
And of course there's RED, really cool stuff. New prototype cameras, new workflows, and more third-party support, most notably AJA, and even Telestream.

RED SCARLET Prototype

RED EPIC Prototype

RED on a remote controlled Helicopter!!

Final words on the show; informative, overwhelming, inspiring, worth every minute.

Las Vegas - The City

One word - Weird. And that's from someone who's lived in NYC for 16 years. There's good weird, bad weird, and just plain weird, weird. And it's really hard to pinpoint why?
After my first day, I thought man it's like being dropped into a foreign country, there's lots of Americans. The scary kind. I think that would have to be my worst critique; Las Vegas is pretty much every bad example of American excess you could think of, huge and wasteful, and everyone wants to live up that. As I overheard one person say, "When in Vegas everyone acts like they have money" whether they have it or not. Take a city full of average janes and joes, trying to live up to some faux glamorous lifestyle; supercharged with excess, gambling and sex, and of course the DBQ (Douche Bag Quotient) goes through the roof. It's like being dropped into Time Square on New Years Eve, except 24 hrs a day 7 days a week. Every where you turn, there's bad hair, bad fashion, bad jewelry, and jesus christ; cleavage gone mad. It's like Halloween; come to Vegas, and everyone breaks out the push up bra, opens a few more buttons and becomes slutty Jane. Don't get me wrong, I'm generally a fan, but like spandex there's some people that just shouldn't participate.

Then there's the gambling. I'll just start by stating straight up, I don't get it. To each his own, but I just don't get it. I tried, I probably even came out a little a head, at one point I one $53, but if I never get to push another max bet button I'd be perfectly happy. So basically I spent a week surrounded by culture I just don't understand, it was interesting to watch. The old lady with a walker, and a cigarette, standing at the slots at 1am. The scattered stragglers still going at 7am, drink in hand. It's too bad the casino's wouldn't let a camera crew in, because that would make one hell of a documentary.

All that sounds, pretty critical, but I still had a lot of fun. I mean you can drink on the street. After a couple days, you get used to all the craziness, kinda, sorta, or maybe it's just numb. Then it's like watching a big sociological experiment buzz around you. And thankfully my colleague, and pal Devon, was along for reality checks. In the end, I'm definitely glad I've seen it, but I'm also glad I went for a work trip, because it is definitely not a place I would go for a vacation.

Now for the pictures. Surprisingly it took a couple days for me to take any pictures. Then it dawned on me, what are two subjects you usually don't see in most of my photos? Shiny stuff, and people, and well that's pretty much all there is in Vegas. So I went into tourist mode, and snapped these.

D-Train Sips wine on the Strip. Somewhere there might be a fancy hotel missing a wine glass, whoops. Thanks, Autodesk.

What the Hell is going on here?

What the Hell is going on here? Well, at least we can drink on the street.

ART?
How could that have gotten there?
Cool Sky
I believe this speaks for itself.

We also took a trip down to the Old Strip. A little grungier, but a lower DBQ.
Of course I always go for the dive.

Of course, still strange. This was behind the bar at the Main Street Station Casino.
And the beers were only $3. Back on the strip you pay that for a bottle of water.

I guess it's a conservation effort.
Slot Graveyard - The End