Super Blue Blood Moon Photography Outing

On January 31, 2018, Nebraska had the chance to see the Super Blue Blood Moon just before dawn.  This title breaks down like this

1. Super Moon: The full moon is near its closest point to the Earth along its orbit making it a percent or so larger.
2. Blood Moon: The moon will be in a full lunar eclipse causing the moon to have a reddish hue.
3. Blue Moon: This is the 2nd full moon in 1 Calendar Month.

I set out to try to record this event, something that hasn't been seen in North America in over 150 years.  Unfortunately, the clouds played havoc on my plans, but I was able to get some shots as you'll see in the video below.

First Year Review of a YouTuber

Well, it's been just over a year since Flarecorp Media was founded! Happy Birthday to us! Woo! It's been really enjoyable and we've gained 61 subscribers in the first year! Hello to all of you and thank you!

The video below explains most of it (it's certainly long enough to not leave much out), but I started this YouTube Channel as an outlet for my video creative endeavors. I've been fascinated by videos and movies since i was 10 and used to steal my parents' camcorder to make little home videos.  If there was a video camera in the area, I'd walk in front of it and steal the show.  It's just always struck a chord with me.

So after years of playing around, including some serious attempts on my storm chasing website, Unreal Weather, I decided to give it a go.  I was happy seeing the quality I could produce with the Drone Christmas Lights video in December 2016, I figured I'd learned enough to at least not put out completely amateur looking stuff. 

Along the way, I've been on a journey finding out what I like to make videos of and refining my technique. I've given myself until the end of 2018 to just have fun with it, regardless of subscribers and build up a library of videos of the best quality I can make.  After that, I'll decide if I want to put more effort into it as a real business or just continue having fun.

Thank you for being here for the first year. There's some good stuff planned already for the next year. Please subscribe on YouTube so you don't miss out on it. I also put out bonus content on Facebook, so like that page to see all of that.

I'm taking a short 2 week break to recharge my batteries and catch up on somethings, but at the end of January, I'll be right back to work making videos.

Have a Happy New Year!

Peanut Butter Star Cookies

In this episode of Cuisine a la Pierre, Pierre shows you how to make his famous Peanut Butter Star Cookies for Santa in hopes of getting a new whisk for Christmas.

Download the recipe here: Peanut Butter Star Cookies

Christmas in the Old Market

This is a peaceful video the beautiful lights in Omaha, NE set to "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear". This is one of my favorite videos that I've made.  I was so happy with how it turned out that it motivated me to start Flarecorp Media. So this was the first official video.  We're now 32 videos in 1 year later. Thanks for enjoying our content. 

This is a re-upload of the video because I realized I didn't have a watermark on the original (I didn't think I needed them when I first uploaded it).

Cuisine a la Pierre - Holiday Spiced Wine

Need the perfect adult beverage to serve at your next party, but are you sick of egg nog? Try this warming Spiced Wine recipe to help your holiday spirits. 
5 minutes to prepare and ready to server in 30 minutes.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 750 ml Bottle of Dry Red Wine

• 1/3 Cup Light Brown Sugar (or Honey)

• 4 Whole Cloves

• 4 Allspice Berries

• 1 Pinch of Ground Ginger

• 2 Sticks of Cinnamon

• 1 Orange

• 1/4 Cup of Brandy (optional)

Steps

1. Put the Cloves and Allspice in a tea bag. If you don't have a tea bag, you'll need to strain these out before serving.

2. Slice the Orange into 1/2 inch circles.

3. Combine all the ingredients into a Crock-Pot or pot on the stove. Cover and heat on low. If you heat it too much, the alcohol will evaporate out.

4. After about 30 minutes, when it is warm, remove the tea bag and set the Crock-Pot to the lowest setting.

5. Server with one of the orange slices in each glass and an extra cinnamon stick if you like.

Download this recipe here: Pierre’s Holiday Spiced Wine

Google Pixel Buds

UPDATE January 8, 2018

I was using the Pixel Buds again today and noticed that Google Play Music was now very quiet. I thought to myself 'Oh, did they go to the extreme the other way now?'  I had to turn the volume up nearly all the way on my phone. I check to see if my ears were plugged. It was still really quiet. Then I found out that in an update that I never saw be installed on either Android, Google Play Music or the Google Assistant, they have changed the behavior of the volume controls on the Pixel Buds. 

Now, instead of mirroring the volume levels between the Phone and the Buds, each acts independently of the other, which is exactly what I asked for and described with the LG headphones in the video.  You can now set the volume close to where you want it on the phone and then adjust the volume by small increments on the Buds themselves. 

This completely fixes the volume issues that I listed as my biggest complain and makes these much more pleasurable to use.  The only real complaint I have now is the comfort with my piercing. Otherwise, I can recommend these much more readily now and they are worth trying out.

See the video at the bottom

I wanted these to be good. I read all the reviews about how lackluster they were. Many people criticized them for the translation not being great. I knew it was just using the Google Translate app on your phone so it would wouldn’t be any different in terms of quality.  Some complained about how hard it was to wrap the cables. That sounds like nitpicking. Still others talked about the fact that there is a cable connecting the 2 buds instead of being completely wireless. In my experience, only the Apple AirPods have managed to solve the connectivity problem of going completely wireless, so if a cable makes them work better, so be it.

No, I wanted to know how they would do as a pair of cable buds for exercising and day to day music use.  I wanted to use them as just a pair of Bluetooth headphones. If the assistant is great, then all the better. I’ve been using Bluetooth headphones every day for the past 7 years. I’ve tried multiple brands and have fallen in love with the LG on neck headphones, even if they are a little clunky. Their only drawback is you can’t exercise with them, hence my search for some lightweight cable buds.

Unfortunately, the Pixel Buds by Google are not the perfect solution to my problem. Right out of the box I had issues getting them to connect to my Pixel 2 XL. Using the new Apple styled ‘open your headphone box near your phone to pair’ feature took multiple tries before I finally got the notification to appear. When I finally did, I was so surprised that I held the talk button down on the headphones and proceeded to crash the Google app.

After trying again for 30 minutes, I had to resort to the internet to find out that I could hold the hidden connect button down for 3 seconds to enter pairing mode and get it to try to connect again.  Setup from there was pretty easy using a step by step walk through. 
 

Once the headphones are connected, Google Assistant on your phone will give you an option to adjust the Buds settings in the future, so that’s pretty handy. The assistant in the headphones also gives you lots of subtle prompts and hints at how she can help you which is a plus.

 The sound signature is passable, if a little veiled on the high notes. It's hard to accurately judge them given their loudness (more on that later). I’ve gotten used to the sound signature of the LG headphones, but the Buds had a good enough range for me with good mids, no tinny high sounds and enough bass to notice it. I’m not a fan of big bass as it hurts my ears anyway.  These are good enough for exercising and occasional use.  I listen to symphonic rock so anything that accentuates female vocals and violins is good to me.  My go to testing tracks for all headphones is 'Faster' and 'Paradise' by Within Temptation. (Note, YouTube compresses these so listen in your actual music streaming service on high quality if you want to hear them at their best.)

It’s easy enough to change the volume with a swipe, pause with a tap or talk to the assistant with a finger hold. None of these are overly loud to my ear when touching the headphone.  You can also have the assistant read out notifications with a double tap. Neat!

It is also easy to wrap the cables into the case, once you learn that you have to pull the ear loops to as big as they can go to get the white plastic piece out of the way so you can close it.

The range was the best of any Bluetooth headphones I’ve owned. In my office, I was able to go about 25 feet away from my phone without any drop outs. This is in an office full of Apple products so there are literally hundreds of Bluetooth devices, mice, keyboards, headphones, etc all vying for air space so 25 feet is good.

The little ear loops are actually kind of convenient. They are soft enough that I can just jam them into my ear and hold the Buds securely. I have no fear that these things are going to fall out.

They are big, it’s not obvious when you have them in correctly. There’s just a little bit of silicon, but not enough to be considered cushiony. On top of all of that, I have the special case of having my tragus pierced and these gigantic buds put so much pressure on it that my ear started hurting.

Lastly and worst of all is the volume. Playing music from Google Music is unbelievably loud. (Fixed. See the update at the top of this post) If I turn the Buds and the Phone down to their lowest volume, it is too quiet. If I turn the phone up just the tiniest bit, they headphones become loud enough that I’m worried about damaging my hearing. Reset them back to their lowest level and use the buds to go up a notch and it is even louder.

YouTube doesn’t seem to suffer from this problem though because it has a quieter noise floor so the volume increases are much more granular, but in high quality music from Google’s own music service, it is ridiculously loud.  I’ve found a help thread discussing this on Google’s help site, but no response has come yet from Google as of this writing.

With the volume turned way down to facilitate music listening, when the assistant chimes in to talk, it is too quiet to hear what she is saying.

I set out to find some suitable cable buds for music listening and to keep out of the way while exercising, with no preconceived conclusion about how the “Special Features” worked.  And in terms of my criteria for good Bluetooth headphones, the Google Pixel Buds fall short in that metric.

See more about the built in Google Assistant and why I decided to keep these despite their flaws in the video below. You can pick up a pair of your own here: https://store.google.com/product/google_pixel_buds

Seattle Trip Vlog

It's Travel Vlog time again! The Kayak Trip vlog went pretty well so we thought we'd try it again with a trip to Seattle, WA. Best of all, it's 4 parts; one for each day!

Special thanks to Seth Burkey for joining in the video and for his assistance. Check out his awesome photography work at http://sethburkeyphotography.com/

Day 1

We flew out from Omaha, NE at 5:45 in the morning with a layover in Salt Lake City, UT before continuing on to Seattle, WA. We stayed at a nice AirB&B (which you'll see on the Day 4). The first day was just about getting out for a few pictures, drinks and checking out the town. It turned into more of an adventure than we had planned when our bus drove right past us and we had to resort to.... alternative transportation.

Day 1 Video

Day 1 Photos

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Day 2

Today was our more structured day. We got tickets to Bill Spiedel's Underground Tour and also to the Smith Tower.  Both were a lot of fun. The Underground Tour had a lot of laughs and unbelievable stories detailing the original history of Seattle.  Smith Tower had a very nice hands on museum type feel with a great Tap Room and view at the top.

After our history lessons, we thought it would be great to get some pictures of the Seattle skyline and found a ferry that would take us just across the bay.  It was well worth the trip because the pictures and video we got were spectacular, not to mention it was an amazing rush to ride on the front of a Water Taxi doing 30 knots!

Day 2 Video

Day 2 Photos

Coming soon

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Day 3

On Day 3 we did some shopping because my shoes were about ready to get a hole in them. Then we checked out the world famous Pike Place Fish Market before hitting up our favorite pizza joint, MOD Pizza again.

Then it was off to get ready for the concert. Seth went as a werewolf and Jason went as a Vampire. There weren't as many people dressed up as we had expected. One of the whole reasons we picked this band on Halloween, was because we thought it would be a bit more of a spectacle.  The concert was pretty good. Not the best either of us had been to, but entertaining none the less.

Day 3 Video

Day 3 Photos

Coming Soon

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Day 4

On the last day we tried to go down to the boats that we'd seen every day on our walk to the coffee shop in the morning, but we were thwarted again by the Seattle Public Transit system.  After waiting 30 minutes for a bus, we witnessed someone tap their card on a sensor on a pole by the bus stop. He then proceeded to get onto the back of a bus without needing to tap the card in the bus.  It also turned on a notification light on the pole. So we thought we would try it, however, we didn't realize that this was only for a certain bus, so when we tapped it, the bus we'd been waiting for kept right on driving.

We then decided to start walking following a Google Maps route, but after 20 minutes we encountered a locked fence and couldn't go any further. At that point we were ready to just go pack up and head to the airport for a few drinks before flying home.

Day 4 Video

Day 4 Photos

Coming soon

Cuisine a la Pierre - Chili Soup - Halloween Special!

This is a recipe that screams Halloween for Pierre. His mother used to make it before he and his friends would go to Haunted Houses every year.  It has some great flavor, is customizable and should only take 15 minutes to prepare.  It tastes great on the stove, but even better after simmering in a Crockpot all day.

Recipe

 Ingredients
- 1 lb Ground Beef
- 46 oz can Tomato Juice
- 14.5 oz can Stewed Tomatoes
- 15 oz can Dark Red Kidney Beans
- 15.5 oz can Chili Style Beans In Chili Gravy
Seasonings (To Taste, but start with)
- 4 Tbsp Dry Onion Flakes
- 1 Tbsp Dry Minced Garlic
- 1 Tbsp Chili Powder
- 10 - 20 dashes of Hot Sauce
- 1 Tbsp Sugar
- Salt and Pepper
Steps
1. Brown Ground beef. Sprinkle in 1/4 of Onions and Garlic while browning.
2. Rinse and drain beef. Break up beef into small pieces.
3. Combine all ingredients into large pot or Crockpot and heat.
4. Sometime before serving, using the edge of a sharp spoon, cut the stewed tomatoes into smaller pieces.
5. Season to taste. Note that seasonings take about 20 minutes to release their flavor after being added to the pot. The longer you cook this, the better it will taste.
6. Serve. We recommend serving with Sour cream, Cheese, Crackers, Garlic Bread or Cinnamon Rolls.

Download this recipe here: Pierre's Chili Soup Recipe

Kayaking Trip - Vlog

I got into kayaking over the summer. During the 100 degree days, it was pretty great to climb onto my sit-on-top kayak and have the lake water splash up and around me to cool off while working on my tan. My friend Seth used it as an excuse to finally get a kayak as well.

After lapping the local lakes several times over the months, we decided it was time to try a river trek. The route we took, found here, was to take us from North Bend, NE to Plattsmouth, NE for a total of 71 miles.

The plan was to go down river and take pictures along the route, but as anyone from Nebraska can tell you, the Platte is not the type of river where you can stop paddling for a bit and pull out your camera.  It is almost always necessary to make course corrections to go around hidden sand bars.  If you're unfortunate enough to get stuck on one, you're lucky if you can get out in 2 minutes of hard paddling and really unlucky if it takes you 5 or forces you to climb out of your kayak.

So, needless to say, we didn't get a whole lot of pictures taken, but I was able to record enough video to make this vlog for you to enjoy.  I've never done a vlog on this page before so hopefully its low production values are good enough. 

If you have any questions about the trip, leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer them.

A special thanks to Seth Burkey for lending some video and photos to this. You can check out his awesome work here:  http://sethburkeyphotography.com/

Some of the equipment used on the trip:
Nikon Coolpix w300 Underwater Camera - http://amzn.to/2yLWq3k
Nikon Coolpix a900 Digital Camera - http://amzn.to/2yaM5Ra
Jetboil Flash Cooking System - http://amzn.to/2yyOzF8

Below is our trip as recorded with the GPS in my Nikon w300.  You can play around with it and see it in a bigger window here.  It was taken with 1 minute intervals between GPS logs.

Etubby Microphone Suspension Arm

In a constant fight with my microphone picking up every mouse movement and keyboard press, I finally decided to upgrade to a microphone arm for my Blue Yeti microphone. I went with the Etubby Upgraded Microphone Arm because it specifically said it could handle the weight of the heavy Yeti and it had 4.5+ stars on Amazon reviews.

The arm itself is fine and very solid despite it's light and petite feeling frame. The issue I've run into is that it doesn't mount well onto a plastic table. The base keeps denting into the plastic and the wooden lip around my wood desk is too small to attach it to.  If I can think of a better mounting system, I'll make sure to update this post and share it on our Facebook and Twitter accounts.

You can buy the Etubby Upgraded Microphone Suspension Boom Scissor Arm here: http://amzn.to/2eYqgME