We have all had the deal with it, the covid blues. It’s that feeling of being restricted. You can’t meet up with friends or go out, and party or do any of the usual things that an active social life brings.
Todd Ruiz works for Coconuts Publications. He is the managing editor for Bangkok, Yangon, and Singapore. You would think that would be enough to keep him more than busy but Todd is a man who likes to stay active. He tells us that growing up in California his time with his dad was all about creating things, sawing, hammering, etc…
So when the covid pandemic forced the cancellation of the plans for a quaint Airbnb, Todd turned his attention to another idea.
As he tells it, “It’s more like the idea happened to me at the depths of the pandemic, trying to want to linger on. But couldn’t see friends, couldn’t go out. We had plans to do an Airbnb. But about a year and a half ago in Bangkok, we didn’t have COVID, but also there were no tourists. So we decided to sort of shift gears. And actually, the first thing I did is I had always been wanting a project to work with my hands so I turned this place into a woodshop and I’d really wanted to build a classic arcade cabinet, a gaming machine.”
So I bought some saws. I looked at some YouTube videos, I downloaded some plans, and I got to work. And then and then after three months that had turned into three machines and then COVID still hadn’t ended. So I thought, Okay, I’ll make some cool neon LED lights. So I learn how to do that. And sort of the pandemic never ended and the projects never ended until I sort of recreated my middle aged Gen-X sci fi eighties neuroses into the kind of place that I would want to hang out. And I hope that when the pandemic ended I’d be able to bring my friends into they and have a good time. Yeah.
Al: So kind of a wannabe Blade Runner vibe. Todd: Blade Runner is probably the closest thing I have to a religion.
But but yeah, through a mix of look, I mean, I grew up I grew up in arcades. And I grew up in Southern California in a very middleclass environment where every weekend was projects with dad where there was sign wood or working on car engines. So I guess I had sort of a overconfidence and a lot of YouTube videos, but you at least have some background in woodworking.
To hear the rest of Todd’s interview, please click on the video. Or even better, watch it on your VR Headset.
The video was shot on the Canon R5 with the 5.2mm Dual Fisheye Lens and using the Rode Go II Wireless to capture the audio. I shot this in Canon RAW 8K video and used MistikaVR to process the video file. Next I used Premeire Pro to edit using a few tricks since MistikaVR does not process the audio from Canon RAW. Stay tuned to find out more tips for shooting with this amazing camera.
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Recommended MicroSD Card for use with the Fusion 360 camera
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