Bexel is upgrading its lighting inventory with the addition of 300 brand-new Litepanels® Astra 6X LED panels. The new lights will be key components in Bexel’s ongoing support of customers who require turnkey lighting solutions in any location at outdoor sporting venues.
“The new Astra 6X panels are not only brighter, but they offer the versatility sports broadcasters need to light the announce booth or just about any location for an on-camera shot or interview — the football sideline, the locker room, the basketball courtside, the baseball dugout, or in the pits for NASCAR,” said Lee Estroff, VP, account development at Bexel. “Litepanels lights have been in our inventory for more than five years, and their quality and reliability have made them highly popular with our clients. We’re making this major investment in the Astra 6X to keep our lighting inventory on the leading edge and give our customers the brightness and flexibility they need for any venue and in all types of conditions.”
As announced at the 2017 NAB Show, the next-generation Litepanels Astra 6X LED panel is 50 percent brighter than the first-generation Astra light and six times brighter than Litepanels’ original 1 x 1 panel, which broke new ground in the lighting industry when it was first introduced. Even with its greater intensity, the Astra 6X draws less power than its predecessor, which allows for longer battery run time. In addition to delivering higher-quality color rendering, the panels can be powered by professional camera batteries, making them ideal for productions looking to save power and reduce costs.
Bexel’s new inventory of Astra 6X lights will arrive just as the company’s sports-broadcasting clients gear up for the college and pro football seasons and head into baseball playoffs.
“As always, Pat Grosswendt and the Litepanels team provided outstanding expertise in helping us design this new Astra 6X lighting solution,” Estroff added. “With their help, we were able to figure out a configuration for on-location sports broadcasting that reduces the number of lighting banks needed for the same output, which therefore reduces rental and shipping costs for our customers. Litepanels is a valued and trusted partner.”
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More