Grip

A nifty CD ripping tool for *NIX, uses GTK+.

It's great for automating the CD-to-MP3 ripping process. Basic usage can be surprisingly simple: Just stick a CD into the drive, it reads CD information from CDDB (or FreeDB by default), then select all tracks you want to turn into MP3s and click "Rip+Encode".

I previously didn't use this, but now I do - because they now have Ogg Vorbis support in, so it's not limited to producing MP3s... Also, it does ripping and encoding at the same time, something that is pretty hard to do in Rexx (Yes, the script I used previously for this stuff was a Rexx script =)

Well, one thing about it bugs me: With this CD-R drive I have now, it's not safe at all to switch CDs when the program is running - otherwise it keeps hanging the machine for minutes AFTER the program has been kill -9'd... Quit, change CD, start program - and don't even think of inserting CD when the program is running!

I have also been told it supports ID3v2 now (but personally I don't need that... =)

from the IATSE website:

The old movie set axiom "if no one else will do it, a grip will," is indicative of just how misunderstood (and sometimes maligned) the motion picture studio grip position can be, even among the other craft workers. Far from being a measure of the job's value, the adage is more a testament to how diverse a package of skills the grip brings to the table. A typical work day might find the grip department called upon to use carpentry skills to build a camera platform, lighting knowledge to position "cutters and flags" to shield and/or diminish the density of a gaffer's lighting plan, mechanical knowledge to operate remote control camera crane arms and lifters, and a steady, experienced set of hands to ensure heavy mechanized equipment like camera dollies or car/truck mounts are where they are supposed to be during a DP's shot. Added to that long list of skills the Local 80 worker must possess, would also be food preparation and service duties, as the 350 plus craft service members, of former Local 727, recently merged into Local 80's domain.

-- from an article on the various crafts written by David Geffner (www.iatse.lm.com/backlot.html)

My grip experience:

The two main jobs a grip does on the set is rigging and modulating/shading lights. Rigging can involve a number of activities, from building a grid from which to hang lights to attaching "baby plates" used to attach lighting units to walls and ceilings. Rigging done in advance of film crew arriving is called pre-rigging. A rigging grip is one who specializes in rigging and pre-rigging. Lighting modulation is what I call any lighting control not attached to the light itself. If it's attached to the light (i.e., barndoors), it's the responsibility of the electricians. If it's not, it's the responsibilty of the grip department. Controlling the light may involve blocking spill with flags, cutting the intensity with nets (if a wire scrim is being used to cut the intensity, it's supposedly the electrician's job because it's part of the light unit), and softening the raw light with various forms of diffusion.

It is in the area of lighting control and modulation that grip work is often the most creatively satisfying, IMHO. Beyond a technical understanding of his or her tools and of the properties of light, a good grip has deeper understanding, a grokking if you will, of the qualities of light. What is ironic is that when a grip does his job well, his art is (and should be) unnoticed by the general public.

Exterior Day scenes are often called Grip Days, since usually a single massive nuclear lighting source is used instead of electrically powered lights. Grips use large 12' by 12' and larger silks, nets and reflectors stretched on aluminum frames to modulate and/or bounce the light from this huge source. Grips use smaller (usually 4' by 4') reflectors called shiny boards to redirect this light.

Grips come in two and three fingered varieties. The two fingered style is used mostly by women because they give more flexibility of movement while changing direction on one bar via an eagle grip, twisting in mid-air between the bars or doing a 360 degree turnwhile doing a handstand. The finger holes are made at the ring and middle fingers.

The three fingered grip is used most often on the high bar by men, because they have more contact with the bar (and hence more rips due to friction) and have fewer turns that involve holding on to the bar while twisting. The index finger is used as the third finger hole.

Grips can rip or split in half if the movement is too stressful. Often that results in a large rip on the hand with bleeding and extreme pain. Nadia Comaneci's grip split during her 1976 Olympics bar routine (but didn't tell anyone), and Andreea Raducan's ripped during the World's (where so much bleeding was involved it couldn't be overlooked). Most of the time though, it's just a major pain in the ass.

Grips are always well covered with gym chalk and water or spit until the gymnast acheives the desired consistency.

Grip (?), n. [L. gryps, gryphus. See Griffin, Grype.] (Zoöl.)

The griffin. [Obs.]

© Webster 1913

Grip, n. [Cf. AS. grip furrow, hitch, D. greb.]

A small ditch or furrow. Ray.

© Webster 1913

Grip, v. t.

To trench; to drain.

© Webster 1913

Grip, n. [AS. gripe. Cf. Grip, v. t., Gripe, v. t.]

1.

An energetic or tenacious grasp; a holding fast; strength in grasping.

2.

A peculiar mode of clasping the hand, by which members of a secret association recognize or greet, one another; as, a masonic grip.

3.

That by which anything is grasped; a handle or gripe; as, the grip of a sword.

4.

A device for grasping or holding fast to something.

© Webster 1913

Grip, v. t. [From Grip a grasp; or P. gripper to seize; -- of German origin. See Gripe, v. t.]

To give a grip to; to grasp; to gripe.

© Webster 1913

Grip, n.

1.

Specif., an apparatus attached to a car for clutching a traction cable.

2.

A gripsack; a hand bag; a satchel. [Colloq.]

3. (Med.)

The influenza; grippe.

© Webster 1913