• Splice Community: Craftsman on their Craft - BlackMagic Design quietly launched a new website a few weeks ago. It's dedicated to filmmakers and the people who toil on those films. Other than a small logo, you'd have no idea this site is supported by BM. Two projects I had the pleasure of working on are currently featured on their website: Lilith by Sridhar Reddy and Cargo by Yan Vizinberg (with Alexis Van Hurkman as Supervising Colorist and myself as his second). Surf the site and then visit back every Tuesday as it gets refreshed with new profiles. ( splicecommunity.com)

• [Podcast] Interview with Klein Instruments: Calibrating your monitor - Klein makes very high-end probes to help us accurately profile our reference displays. Colorist, and friend of the Tao, Tom Parish talks with Luhr Jensen, CEO and owner of Klein Instruments. (tomparish.com)

• The Art of Colour Grading: A short primer - This is an oldie. But if you're new to this newsletter, just getting started in color grading or as a refresher - it is a fast, easy read with good info you should know. (digitalproductionme.com)

• How to choose the perfect color palette  - This is aimed primarily at print designers, but there is good color information in the article for us to think about. (blog.lynda.com)

• DIY DCP Creation - How do you turn a short film into a Digital Cinema Package? This video shows you how—using OpenDCP. Lots of background info, not just a software walk-through.  (chrisjonesblog.com)

• [iApp] Resolve Collect - Would you like to copy source files used in a DaVinci Resolve project to a single destination? There's an app for that. Colorist Nikolai Waldman's Resolve Collect 1.1 is now available at the Mac App Store. (itunes.apple.com via @niwa)

• [Video] After Effects: Color Grading a VFX shot - Color Grading with After Effects always demos so painfully. BUT it is an effective way to demo basic color grading concepts for those new to the craft since there aren't many shortcuts. The good stuff begins at approx. 2:14 and then again at about 7:30. (youtube.com)

• [Video] Adobe: Dynamic Link and Color Finesse - Colorist Jesse Borkowski shows you how to use Adobe Dynamic Link to connect an edited sequence from Premiere Pro to After Effects for working between programs. He uses AE's Color Finesse to get the job done.... which makes me smile, since I really used to enjoy using Color Finesse before moving on to Final Touch (which became Appe Color). (youtube.com via @jesseborkowski)

• [Video] Learn How to Read Scopes - Larry Jordan shows you how to read scopes in Adobe Premiere Pro CS6. As someone who teaches this all the time, it's always fascinating to see how someone else does it. Larry does a good job. (youtube.com)

• [Review] Photoshop, ShmotoShop: Pixemlator 2.2 - Oliver Peters reviews Pixelmator, a paint, design and graphics application built specifically around core OS X technologies which competes against Photoshop ( digitalfilms.wordpress.com)

• Why Studios Must End Their Mega-Budget Obsession - They said it would be like this. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas' prediction about the fate of Hollywood seems to be coming true. Costly misfires of mega budget films are piling up. (variety.com)

• The Summer of Doom - This article is again about Hollywood's massive #fails this summer. But it's in this newsletter for the last paragraph: Joss Whedon calling for 'new universes, new icons' just before revealing his next project. Put your coffee cup down before reading it. (guardian.co.uk)

• Now Streaming: 24 Oscar Nominated Documentaries - On Netflix. (indiewire.com )

• Why Do So Many Netflix Movies Suck? - Apparently, we're getting what we ask for.  (motherboard.vice.com)

• Magic Lantern: Another Miracle 5D Hack - The Canon 5D is getting a second wind with these new hacks coming from those Magic Lantern dudes. This post is a good update on the latest developments, in case you've been spending June and July at the beach. (redsharknews.com)

• Blade Runner: A Lesson In Lighting - Inspired by the classic film, Blade Runner, a couple of filmmakers reverse engineer and recreate the lighting from a scene in the movie. (nofilmschool.com)

• [Review] Lumos 300MK: Is it The Worlds Most Accurate LCD Movie Light? - With a CRI of 98? Just maybe. But it's got some serious UI problems. (redsharknews.com )

• Buy a Brand New 150-year-old lens - A novel Kickstarter campaign puts the focus on the Lomography Petzval Portrait Lens. Raising money to build the classic lens for Canon and Nikon DSLRs.  Lens' could be available by December. (kickstarter.com)

• Avid 7: Core Training - From Team Ripple Training. (rippletraining.com)

• Tao of Color 3-Day Workshop: Grade A Film, Learn DaVinci Resolve - Intensive workshops offered by the Publisher of this newsletter. Put theory into action grading a real-life project. And we'll be moving to Resove 10 just as soon as it's released. Hitting multiple cities in North America. Click through to find your nearest city. (fmctraining.com | TaoOfColor.com for additional details)

• Southeast Creative Summit: Make your plans now. The Tao and MixingLight will be doing a half-dozen workshops on color grading plus a few on business. The overall agenda is much broader than our craft, from pre- through post- production. Some very interesting workshops. Save $100 with the code: tao2013  (southeastcreativesummit.com)

• Glas - Last week's Newsletter incorrectly identified the Academy Award winning filmmaker Bert Haanstra as being Dutch. He was, in fact, Danish. If you have to ask (as I did) the internet says there's a difference. (via @moralescalvo)

• [Video] What if Superman punched you? With all his might? - If you stick with it... a funny look at the physics of Superman putting fist to face at nearly the speed of light. Hint: It's not at all like the comics. (youtube.com)

• Thumbs and Ammo - 'Reel' guys with a can-do attitude. Or - What Hollywood would be like without any guns. ( thumbsandammo.blogspot.co.uk)

• The Box That Built the Modern World - Not fun. Not funny. Just fascinating. (nautil.us)

• [NSFK] Hug Your Editor Today -  Or find this message on your computer. ( starwipemyass.tumblr.com)

• Up for Auction: James Bond's Lotus Esprit Submarine  - Bought blindly for a $100 in an abandoned storage locker in 1989, this iconic car is about to go to auction. (dailymail.co.uk)

• Wi-Fi Visualizations - A great series of images showing what WiFi would look like if we could see it. I love the use of colors in here. Also - an interesting technology story. (businessinsider.com via @AlphaDogsPost)

• Going Old School - If you long for the days with the sound of typewriters clacking away, now you can turn your laptop into a noisy typewriter. Free software that plays old-style typewriter sounds when you use your keyboard. Mac only. (fffff.at)

• [Video] Father of Going Old School - Meet 97-year-old Hal Lasko. Back in the day he worked as a graphic artist when everything was done by hand. Long after he retired, Lasko's family introduced him to the computer and Microsoft Paint. Now, his vision severely limited, he's known as the The Pixel Painter. Fun? Funny? I say: Heart-warming. If this were a newscast, it'd be the last item. (vimeo.com)

• New Nexus 7: What does Google Mean by 30% More Colors? - Pithy post about the state of the current Nexus 7 color reproduction and what the next generation is promising. (dot-color.com via @IAmColorist)

• Chromecast: $35 WiFi Stream FOB - While we're talking Google, how about this little device that allows you stream from your computer to any TV / Receiver with an HDMI connection? Click to page 2 of the story to, um, get to the story. (redsharknews.com)

• $99 Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Cage - I was torn... does this go here under 'Gear Heads' or up above under 'Weekend Warriors'? This camera is going to give us fits as we try to classify it... (newsshooter.com) 

• NVIDIA Launches Fastest GPU Yet -  Ahead, warp factor 6. Yes, the link is a press release. But I thought you'd want to see the details (no pricing). ( provideocoalition.com)

• Update on the Production of BlackMagic 4K and Pocket Cameras - (videogear.co.uk)

• Experts Take Notes - I've been told taking notes increases the risk you'll miss something important... you're better off focusing on the moment and taking notes later. But there are some interesting note-taking ideas in here that could have me rethinking that advice. (casnocha.com)

• 7 ways to boost your creativity - Best line: Every McCartney needs a Lennon. Second best line: Stay Connected (and lose the earbuds). ( fastcocreate.com)

• How to stay awesomely creatively well into your 80s - "Sacks mentions his father, who lived to be 94 and said his 80s were one of the most creative decades of his life." ( fastcompany.com)

• Look and Ye Shall Find - As promised in the Publisher notes up top, here's your challenge to win a free book: In 2013 Tao HQ lost their most precious, 17-year-old mascot and canine and dedicated a Newsletter to him. Hit us up in Twitter @patinhofer with his name AND correctly, precisely name his breed (which is NOT stated in that edition). The first three correct answers WILL get a current Alexis Van Hurkman book in August. ( The timing of the Tweets will be determined as displayed in the @patinhofer feed on Twitter's website. And no direct messages will be accepted - they must be public Tweets. BOTH parts of the answer must be correct.)

• [Video] Comedian John Cleese On Creativity - The 5 factors that you can arrange to make our lives more creative.  Put on a pot of coffee for this one. It tips in at over 30 minutes. Long, but very, very good. Long-time readers will recognize this... worth revisiting for our new readers. (youtube.com)

• What Inspires Me - A bit of encouragement from everyone's favorite British billionaire, Sir Richard Branson. (linkedin.com)

There is no stronger love than the love of a man for the grade of his offline.

• [Video] Mirror City: Timelapse Meets Inception - Filmmaker Michael Shainblum set out to create a video that was completely out of the norm. It took 5 years to capture the visual time-lapse of Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, Las Vegas and Los Angeles on Canon DSLRs. Michael did color correction and color grading in Lightroom. He used After Effects and QuickTime Pro to export the images into video files, and edited in Premiere Pro. A Vimeo Staff Pick. (vimeo.com via @shainblum)

• Warp Drive: Who's Laughing Now? - Interesting story about advances being made in theoretical physics and that faster-than-light drives may actually be possible. All they need to do is figure out how to turn the drive on... and then off again. It's always the little things, isn't it? (nytimes.com)

• [Video] The Pitch Dropped! - What's worse than watching paint dry? Watching black tar drip. Once. Every decade. Finally, after 69 years it was captured... and is on the internet! (theatlantic.com)