Today was one of the coolest experiences of my professional life, and I didn’t realize it until it was over

[Guest]

I just got back home from LA where I was for a cinema technology conference. It’s attended by most of the major equipment manufacturers like Dolby, Barco, Christie, QSC, as well as vendors, service companies, and exhibitors. There also also many folks who work on the tech side of Hollywood who stop in.

 

I ended up spending most of the day talking to an older man who was having trouble getting around, so I just figured I’d help him out with opening doors and such and waking with him so he didn’t feel like he was the last one in to each seminar or event.

 

He tells me all these incredible stories of his career working in Hollywood and eventually at Apple doing all sorts of sound stuff. Really fascinating insights. We eventually exchange contact info as he wanted to send me the first 1/3rd of the book he is working on regarding cinema design, so I finally catch his last name.

 

Naturally, I look him up on Google to see what else he might have worked on. Turns out it was this guy, the inventor of the THX standard at Lucasfilm.

[Xbob42]

So he's the ass responsible for blowing my eardrums out before every movie!

[Keyser_Soze]

Just like in the movies.

[Ghost_MH]

That's actually wildly cool. Just the chance to casually chat with someone like him sounds amazing.

[Guest]

@stepeehe is also an LG OLED guy ❤️

[Guest]

21 minutes ago, Ghost_MH said:

That's actually wildly cool. Just the chance to casually chat with someone like him sounds amazing.

Yeah, not often you get to just chat about stuff with a person who is a legit expert in their field. I also ate lunch with Loan Allen, who was basically the other half of development with Ray Dolby from the 60s up through the launch of Dolby Digital 5.1. Legends.

[stepee]

That’s rad af, don’t forget to send him the link to sign up for d1p

[Keyser_Soze]

18 minutes ago, stepee said:

That’s rad af, don’t forget to send him the link to sign up for d1p

 

Maybe @sblfilms can succeed where @Commissar SFLUFAN failed when he tried to get Dr. Cornel West to post here.

[best3444]

Very cool. I hate the saying that everyone is created equal. It's complete and utter bullshit. Some people are just amazing and born for certain things. Glad you had an opportunity to soak in some of his knowledge and treated him well, too. 

[Keyser_Soze]

44 minutes ago, best3444 said:

Very cool. I hate the saying that everyone is created equal. It's complete and utter bullshit.

 

The truth in that saying certainly wasn't very self evident

[Biggie]

Honestly I’m not impressed. 

[best3444]

19 minutes ago, Biggie said:

Honestly I’m not impressed. 

 

[silentbob]

Very cool. I do have a question for him, when you get the chance. The thing that still sticks in my head from my projection days. Did he have any say on naming the equipment or the manuals for them. Still remember that Dolby sent folks into theatres to make sure their Dolby EX units would be working for Attack of the Clones. The manuals were called the R2-Unit manuals and never stopped thinking of that. 
 

 

My cool story was that my trainer helped build/create the very first IMAX theatre in Toronto.