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WordPress Meet up in Raleigh for help?

I went to a WordPress meet up. Here’s my notes from it.

  • Has to be more than an interest
  • Have to make the community to be goal oriented in the interest
  • Learning community allows failure but coming back to get support each other
  • Accounts for sharing your albums you bought for give away or something.. or make it a portal?
  • Paid groups == selling a solution
  • Mission vision and values
  • What is the purpose of MTHU?

I’m stuck in a hobby scene, how do I provide value for people who are just taking this as a hobby while still making money.

Posted 06 April 2019 † jdriselvato § Blogging ‡ Comments Off on WordPress Meet up in Raleigh for help? °

2017 wrap up

Quickly, I wanted to outline the major points of my 2017. Although I accomplished a lot this year, I feel like I wasted more time than I want to in the future.

Job Update

The first part of the year I had the opportunity to move to a new country and found a new job that’ll allow me to stay here indefinitely. I’ll be creating a new team here and managing development and staying hands on with manufacturing.

The first 5 months of this journey abroad including going through an accelerator  program learning the ins and out of manufacturing as well as getting our idea to prototype. I had a chance to work with industrial designers and manufacturing personnel.

Film Making Update

While I was so spending all day at this accelerator my nights were taken up by a film project. I spent 5 whole months just about every day behind a camera filming my first feature film. I met a local expat who directed his script with an amazing group of people and was fortunate to be part of the entire process. I hope to see the film out in the US in 2018.

Photography Update

After 6 hard working months, I took my first of many vacations (really weekend trips) in this foreign land. I went to Yangshuo, Foshan, Hong Kong, Macao, and other locations I can’t remember at this time. Traveling hasn’t been one of my biggest interests but I’m grateful for all the moments I’ve create this year because of it.

During my time in Yangshuo, I had this crazy idea to create a picture book of all the doors that caught my eye. As part of 2017, I’ve added author to my list of.. random things about me. Although I’m not publishing this book in retail, I am publishing the book online. You can find it here for free (PDF):

[DOWNLOAD]

Music Update

I still have 4 days of 2017 and there’s still one more accomplishment I wanted to do. I brought my harmonica abroad and told myself, I’m going to make some kind of album out of using it. I haven’t started but I think I can accomplish it given one day this weekend. We’ll see.

EDIT: I did it, free to listen and download on bandcamp

Final Thoughts

With all the good I accomplished this year, I still feel like I wasted a lot of time. I work late often at past 2pm most nights due to working across different timezones and this causes me to wake up late for my own set schedule. I waste hours in bed that I’ll never get back and I want to change that. So for 2018, I don’t want to waste time that doesn’t need to be wasted laying in bed looking at my phone or oversleeping.

Interesting year.

Posted 29 December 2017 † jdriselvato § Blogging § Music ‡ Comments Off on 2017 wrap up °

Doors of Yangshuo – self published book (FREE PDF)

August of this year, I had my first overseas vacation in a beautiful land called Yangshuo, China. Through my time their over a couple of a couple weeks, I became interested in all the different doors I saw scattered across the land. This picture books is a collection of the doors found in Yangshuo.

 

[Download]

 

Feel free to use any of the photos for personal use but give me credit. Commercial used? Email me at jdriselvato (at) gmail (dot) com

Posted 27 December 2017 † jdriselvato § Blogging ‡ Comments Off on Doors of Yangshuo – self published book (FREE PDF) °

Summers Brighter now

June has been really awesome. Something inside woke up and said this summer take full advantage of it.

To start things off, I was able to pull together a team from Raleigh to film a short film for the Asheville 48 hour film festival. It was literally all of our first time truly going through the steps of creating a film. In the frustration of creating a 4-7 minute film in 48 hours I never thought finding a location to film would be our biggest challenge. Unfortunately getting chain hotels and bars to get the property manager to sign a release form for filming on location is practically impossible with 12 hour notice. We lucked out when the filming location Gods granted us with the ability to film at the bar Ben’s Tune Up. Now the final product is pretty rough around the edges but we went out there and got it done. I’m proud of that. You can view the film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auvlK_Vy4Nc

In addition to trying film out we have another first, my brother got me into fishing. It’s something I briefly did as a kid but as an adult I really appreciate the meditative aspects of it. Thus far with the season I’ve invested in a tackle box, rod and some how caught 2 “dinky” brims. As of this posts, my brother and I are tied for 2 fish caught.

Finally, and really the reason why I wanted to write this post, I just got home from my first… my kind of music… concert in probably 2-3 years. For some reason after I turned ~21 and got my first high paying job I kind of lost touch with punk/hardcore music. I still listened to the old stuff but stopped really investing in the music. Instead I some how got into folk music. In any case tonight I saw Modern Baseball at the Cats Cradle. I forgot how communal the pushing and shoving of a pit is. Just like fishing, it’s some how therapeutic to be out there with a crowd enjoying the same music you love. High-fiving and saying what a night it was, is something I miss. Being 24 now I some how thought I was too old to be out there any more.

Posted 01 July 2016 † jdriselvato § Uncategorized ‡ Comments Off on Summers Brighter now °

iOS 5-9 LaunchImage generator (Released Open Sourced)

It’s been a while since the last time I built a tool for myself. As the iOS version gets higher the more Launch Images designers need to create for us developers. Well if you’re like me and you don’t have a designer on hand it can be a pain to get test flight users using your app. Why? Because Apple requires you to have launch images and app icons before you can even get a build up. So instead of waiting on my designer I created a quick script that generates solid colored images quick with python.

If this is something you’d want to us or built upon, I’ve released it on github (open sourced):

https://github.com/jdriselvato/iOS-9-LaunchImage-Generator

Here’s an example of the output:

It’s funny, you know how in interviews they usually ask what was a problem you had and how did you solve it? Usually I talk about programatic issue I had. I finally can say this was a problem I had and this is how I fixed it.

Posted 24 March 2016 † jdriselvato § Programming ‡ Comments Off on iOS 5-9 LaunchImage generator (Released Open Sourced) °

What I Learned This Month (March, 2016)

In working progress!

I learn a lot about a lot of different topics each day and I never write it down or help keep track of things I find important. So I’m going to try writing a “What I Learned This Month” each month. So welcome to the first one!

Programming

  1. Larval 5 – I’m starting to get into Laravel more then the simple set up. I was very much a Codeigniter fan boy but Laravel is really starting to gain traction. There’s more Laravel jobs out there Codeigniter on Linkedin in my area. So better start brushing up on it and get on the Laravel Hype Train. Now Hype can some times be bad but going through the Laravel from Scratch series is awesome. I’m starting to fall in love again with Web.
  2. Gulp JS – In the Laravel from Scratch it briefly touched on Gulp JS as Laravel extends it with Elixir. Gulp is an awesome tool to automating all those CSS and JS conversions you’d want on production, for example minifying, bundling or other repetitive tasks required. It even allows you to refresh your web-browser every time you save your source code. It’s a top 10 for sure for web-developers. Here’s a decent article on Gulp to give you a fuller understanding.
  3. NPM is the Composer of JS. I’ve used Composer before for PHP package management, it makes managing PHP dependencies a breeze so it’s a no brainer to not have one for JS.
  4. Elixir – So Gulp is super easy to use with the terminal (once you get it install correctly). Simply run gulp, it runs your gulpfile.js and it outputs what it completed. Laravel extends it by adding convince methods to a lot of gulp abilities. I wanted minified compiled sass and I don’t want to mess with browser caching while developing; so here’s what it looks like: 
    elixir(function(mix) {
 mix.sass('app.scss')
 .version('css/app.css');
});
  5. Gulp Watch – just when you thought life couldn’t get any easier there’s Gulp Watch available. Instead of constantly running the gulp command every single time you want to update your CSS/JS, gulp has a built in 
    gulp watch

    command. This allows gulp to watch these files you run automated scripts on and when you make changes it automatically updates. That way you can simply switch to the browser after each save and blam! updated CSS! You’ll even get a nice notification saying so on OS X.

Posted 15 March 2016 † jdriselvato § Blogging § Programming § Science § Tutorial ‡ Comments Off on What I Learned This Month (March, 2016) °

Pokemon Moon & Sun Announced! (at least TMs)

Just when everyone was getting super hyped about Pokemon Go and the possible Pokemon Z, Nintendo surprises us all with Pokemon Moon and Pokemon Sun! Both Names that I truly think fits perfectly in the Pokemon world. Looking at both logos I’m actually more excited about this then Pokemon X.

Now all that’s been leaked os far is the trade mark and logos. So lets hope for some screenshots and a demo coming soon!

Man 20 years of Pokemon and I’ve been with you since the first game in 1998. Being six years old getting a clear purple color GB an then Pokemon Blue was amazing. I’m glad I was born in the period of the Gameboy. I’m also glad I can still celebrate such an amazing series. Let’s just hope this release isn’t Nintendo’s going away parting gift for Pokemon. Rumors have been said that the game may feature a tournament like style theme connecting all generations into one game. In any case, can’t wait to see what Nintendo and Game Freak bring us! Whoooo Pokemon MOON AND SUN!

Posted 25 February 2016 † jdriselvato § Blogging ‡ Comments Off on Pokemon Moon & Sun Announced! (at least TMs) °

How to install backups from ETH to PS2 (HDL Dump GUI + OPL)

As the years go by, it gets harder and harder to use older home-brew tools. This is totally the case for the PS2 scene as most of it’s tools are from 2008. I just bought from japan “Initial D: Special Stage” last week and it finally came in the mail. Well to my surprise, with Free McBoot and all of it’s ELFs you can’t run Japanese games from the disc on an American PS2. So where does that leave us?

If you have a Ps2 specific hard drive + the Ethernet port installed into your PS2 you can use a few tools to rip backup of your legally owned games straight to the hard drive for play with HDLoader. So I’m going to show you how to do that since the data to actually get this working is scattered all over the place. Also, I won’t be hosting any of these files but I will tell you the exact versions I am using. Just google em, they are out there.

TOOLS/Apps will need:

  •  HDL Dump GUI V2.3 – Window/Linux Application
  • Ethernet cable to connect PS2 to PC
  • Open PS2 Loader 0.93 Beta
  • Window or Linux OS (I used windows 10)
  • Free MCBoot or some way to load the PS2 apps
  • HDLoader – for after you install the game you can play it.

PART 1: Setting up Open PS2 Loader (OPL)

I won’t go into details about how to install Open PS2 Loader or how to run it, it’s expected you have that figured out.

First boot up OPL and go to settings. Make sure your settings look like this:

OPL Settings

Specifically:

  • Enable Delete and Rename actions – ON
  • ETH device start mode – Manual

Next we’ll set up the Network Configuration. Make your Network Settings look like this (we are still in OPL):

For PS2 Network Settings:

  • PS2 IP: 192.168.10.10
  • PS2 Netmask: 255.255.255.0
  • PS2_Gateway: 192.168.10.64

For PC Network Settings:

  • PC IP:  192. 168.10.64

After this, select “Save changes”, this is important. Now if you saved, you should see Run HDL Server under “Save Changes”. Select it and the PS2 will now start the server. You know the server is working because it’ll show this screen (HDL SERVER Running.. Press [O] to stop):

Open Ps2 Loader Server Loading

Open Ps2 Loader Server Loading

Part 2: Setting up your PC (Windows 10)

Connect your Ethernet cable to the PS2 Ethernet port and to your PC. Next turn off your computers Wi-Fi and make sure it’s only connection is to the PS2.

Next we’ll need to config your computer’s IP. This is important because without this step the PS2 won’t talk to the Computer. So to do that load your Network connections, right click “Local Area Connection” and Select “Properties“.

Next find in the “Networking” tab the item “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” select it. Then select “Properties“. A screen with various fields should be seen (below):

IMG_8685

IMG_8686

Now select “Use the following IP Address” button and enter the following:

  • IP Address: 192. 168.10.64
  • Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
  • Default Gateway: 19.168.10.10

Then press OK to save it. This is important that these numbers are exact.

IMPORTANT: Now after you do this, you’re computer should ask you if you’d like to “Make This PC discoverable”, you want to enable this. Without this your firewall will never let you talk to the PS2. That’s it for configuring the PC

PART3: Setting up HDL Dump GUI 2.3

Now that we’ve configured both the PS2 and PC we can load up HDL Dump on your PC.

IMPORTANT: Make sure the HDL Server is running on your PS2 at this point.

Now set your PS2 Ip in HDL Dump to: 192.168.10.10 and press connect. If you’ve done all the above steps correctly you should be able to connect to your PS2 and see this screen:

HDL Dump

HDL Dump

You also can see your hard-drive’s total space at this point. That’s how you know you’ve connected!

Now under the “actions” section, select your CD drive with the PS2 game you want to copy to the hard-drive. Name it if you want and press “Install” at the bottom. This install might take a few minutes as most games are about 3-4Gigs.

Here’s the screen you’ll see while it installs.

HDL Dump Installing

HDL Dump Installing

After it installs, tell HDL Dump to disconnect and then your PS2 will turn off.

IMG_8689

To play your new installed game use HD Loader and your game should be seen in the HDLoader list if it installed correctly!

HDLoader List OF Games

HDLoader List OF Games

Finished!

Hopefully everything worked out for you! I’m off to play Initial D now 😛

Posted 20 February 2016 † jdriselvato § Blogging ‡ Comments Off on How to install backups from ETH to PS2 (HDL Dump GUI + OPL) °

GT Racer is not based on Lucas Ordonez but it validates the idea!

To help inspire scenes for my screenplay, GT Racer, I play a lot of Gran Turismo 3 on the Playstation 2. The bulk of the plot is about a character, Alex, and his journey from Simulator racing to Driving professional Rally. It helps me to get into the mood of writing this screenplay by taking a few races every day. Well today I was getting really frustrated at my inability race at the professional level. So I googled “How to Drive properly in GT3” and came upon an article about how Gran Turismo Experts are not allow to race in real life because… Well they are too fast. Crazy huh?

So in that article I also found out about Lucas Ordonez, a spanish GT expert who actually went from gamer to professional racer for Nismo! What are the chances someone actually experienced what I thought would make an amazing plot for a short film. In any case I think if anything it helps validate my idea as a plausible story.

In any case, turns out keeping your hands at 9 and 3 and keeping both break and peddle as smooth as possible is how you can increase your skill. So I put it to the test and I actually finished a race in the fastest time yet. So any hand over hand motions are really not making my turns any better. I need to learn how to gage both speed, breaking distance and turning better. If your interested in more here’s the video I watched to learn this… from Lucas himself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1MQFchpmuc

I don’t know when GT Racer will be finished because I’m now working on Earth X but stick around for more details about both screenplays soon!

Posted 18 February 2016 † jdriselvato § Blogging ‡ Comments Off on GT Racer is not based on Lucas Ordonez but it validates the idea! °

Creating a Character Tree for Steven from Earth X

I’m working on a screenplay about how a new technology is accidentally activated on Earth. I’ve been writing an introduction to the script over the weekend but today I ran into a video on how to build a character using Character Trees. This is my first attempt at a Character Tree but I know finishing one for the main character, Steven, will create a better plot, believable dialog and better underlining story.

So below is a table I put together for Steven. It contains 7 fields that each make up a part of the character.

 CROWN

  • Just a guy who has always been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
  • If he didn’t drop out of school, get caught up in drama and could keep a job he might be able to pull out alright.

 LEFT CHEEK

  • Will fight to ensure his own safety (mental or physical)
  • Doesn’t let people talk bad about him

 RIGHT CHEEK

  • Always tries to do the right thing in his mind but never seems to work out for him

 THROAT

  • Slouches due to lack of confidence
  • Only has a few decent looking clothes
  • Speaks in broken slagged english most of the time

 HEART

  • Take a life more seriously
  • Better friends/girlfriend
  • A full time job

 GROIN

  • Smokes when Stressed
  • Needs to make money to get by
  • Wishes he could start life all over

 FEET

  • Average height
  • Average looking

This was actually a really good exercise because I knew I wanted Steven to be a burn out but I didn’t really mold a character yet. I think the most helpful was the Right Cheek (the Ethics and Soul) and the Crown (Who are they). I’ll probably revise this again but here’s the first attempt at a Character Tree.

If this interests you and you’d like to create your own Character Tree, here’s the example I used as a guideline. Thanks RocketJump for creating the Film School and providing these resources.

Posted 17 February 2016 † jdriselvato § Blogging ‡ Comments Off on Creating a Character Tree for Steven from Earth X °