Somewhere in the Far Frozen North, some rather suspicious white bearded elf (and I am white bearded and I am suspicious but I ain't no elf) is warming up a bunch of magical reindeer and kicking the skids on his sled
Mr Claus is topping up his windshield wiper and getting ready for a bit of a Christmas Eve flight.
Well so am I. But instead of a sled, Collette and I will strapped into a white metal tube, not proprelled by deer, but by a couple of screaming jet engines
Posting this from the Air Tranist lounge at Pearson International Airport. Such a jolly festive place, what with the screaming babies and the tourists and the 40 dollar sandwhiches and the body cavity searches at Customs .. OK, some of that may have been slightly exaggerated
But the truth is, we are waiting for our flight to wing us to an equally less Christmas like place, the country of Panama. Well OK, they celebrate Christmas there but they don't have no snow nor ice nor howling wind .. And yeh, that's why we're going
They don't have our families either and we will miss that. No, really we will, for once that was not sarcasm. But one of us actually works for a living, deals with all kinds of levels of stress and just needs some down time ... preferably in the ocean, with some sort of adult beverage in hand
As we packed for this trip we estimated that at least a third of our weight would be camera gear. Collette is taking her two Nikon bodies, four lenses, a tripod, a monopod as well as her little Nikon underwater cam. I'm taking my Sony Handycam and my newest toy, a GoPro "sports" cam, a tiny little thing that you strap into various enclosures, including a waterproof one. It comes with a wide variety straps and attachments that allow you to take it with you in virtually any situation. It is shock proof, let us find out if it is Victor proof.
So many images will be taken and eventually processed, I will probably blog a couple of times, though I'm unsure of the connectivity in Panama.
We will miss all of you. Really we will. I will have a rum and a beer for each of you .. god I love having big families.
Monday, December 24, 2012
Monday, December 17, 2012
TRAGIC
Something tragic happened at a school in Connecticut.
Something this is very difficult for me to process. To be honest, that act is something I'm not really prepared to think about at this time. I don't want to dismiss it or ignore it but at this point it's a terrible event about which we know little when you come down to it. This will take time
Another tragedy occurred. On the day of the shooting I turned on my TV, it was set to CNN and there were children, children who had been in the school while their friends and classmates and teachers were being slaughtered, some of them had just exited the school, and they were being interviewed
There was a reporter, an adult, with a mic in the face of these very young kids who had just had something horrible happen to them and they were being asked questions: Who was he, did you see him, do you know which children have been killed ...
What the fuck.
North American media is ruled by ratings and profit. Our lives our ruled by immedicacy; Facebook, emails, Yahoo, all flying at the speed of light. All available right there, right that second, when we want it. Media sees that as competition. They want to put out the story right there, right that second, when they think we want it.
Even if the story is nascent, even if we really don't know what the story is; get it out get it out there fill up the space that may be filled by another source
So let's get a kid who may not be able to properly process what has happened for a long time, and let's put the event in crystal clear focus for them, so that a percieved void in a viewer's life may be filled. "Did you see the gun, did you see a body, do you know you were almost killed"
And no adult seemed to think about it, no one said "Hey, leave the kid alone, this just happened" I saw an adult hand on a child's shoulder as the little girl was asked to elaborate on this horrible event
Tragic
Something this is very difficult for me to process. To be honest, that act is something I'm not really prepared to think about at this time. I don't want to dismiss it or ignore it but at this point it's a terrible event about which we know little when you come down to it. This will take time
Another tragedy occurred. On the day of the shooting I turned on my TV, it was set to CNN and there were children, children who had been in the school while their friends and classmates and teachers were being slaughtered, some of them had just exited the school, and they were being interviewed
There was a reporter, an adult, with a mic in the face of these very young kids who had just had something horrible happen to them and they were being asked questions: Who was he, did you see him, do you know which children have been killed ...
What the fuck.
North American media is ruled by ratings and profit. Our lives our ruled by immedicacy; Facebook, emails, Yahoo, all flying at the speed of light. All available right there, right that second, when we want it. Media sees that as competition. They want to put out the story right there, right that second, when they think we want it.
Even if the story is nascent, even if we really don't know what the story is; get it out get it out there fill up the space that may be filled by another source
So let's get a kid who may not be able to properly process what has happened for a long time, and let's put the event in crystal clear focus for them, so that a percieved void in a viewer's life may be filled. "Did you see the gun, did you see a body, do you know you were almost killed"
And no adult seemed to think about it, no one said "Hey, leave the kid alone, this just happened" I saw an adult hand on a child's shoulder as the little girl was asked to elaborate on this horrible event
Tragic
Friday, December 14, 2012
THE CRUELEST POST I'VE EVER WRITTEN ... OR IS IT
The internet is a wonderful thing. I use it many times a day. It's a great place to find information, to solicit opinions, and to gaze for way too long at videos of border collies forming sentences but herding sheep who've had letters painted on them ...
That may just be me
The internet is instant. You see something, you post a response and blam there it is. What one has to bear in mind, of course, is that what you've just seen/heard is also instant, the person who posted it may have done so as an immediate reaction to something, without full consideration of the facts.
This brings me to the case of Jacinta Saladanha. This is the nurse who fell for a prank phone call from some DJ's about the health status of the Dutchess of Cambridge. That story surfaced very quickly and people jumped on it just as quickly
Oh how cruel people howled, how awful are these DJs to case this woman to take her life. They are evil, putting this poor woman in such a position ...
Um, hit the pause, drink some camomile tea to swallow down your outrage and think about this. My first response to this story, knowing only that headline was: What the fuck ... she killed herself over a prank phone call.
Then I learned that all she did was transfer a call to another nurse who then disclosed the information. As far as I know that nurse, who violated a confidence is alive and kicking.
Oh and yeh, Mrs Saldanha was married with children, now left behind.
Now more news has emerged: She left notes behind, including detailed funeral arrangements and a letter critical of the hospital and its staff.
So, cruel evil hospital putting this woman in a position to ..
To what? Not be able to gain a grip? Yup that right there is the cruel part of this post. And why the lightspeed nature of the internet can cause us all to lose a grip
People responded to this story, I'm not sure how much they actually thought about it. Why did this woman take her life. Was it actually due to strictly to this one event? Not likely. I'm making assumptions here but surely there were other things going on in this woman's life, this happened so quickly, one wonders if this event was a trigger pulled on a chamber full of misery.
The initial outrage around this story, which centered on the phone prank, was in my opinion very misplaced. These happens all the time. They also happened to the other nurse, the one who actually betrayed a confidence and she seems fine.
The outrage here should be more about the person who took her life and who has now left a wound in the life of those who loved her, a wound that will never properly heal. It is tragic when someone kills themselves but once that act has been commited, the tragedy shifts to the ones they've left behind
When I was in high school there was a guy whose initials were D.K., his last name was very similar to mine. In our "home room" classes in high school they sat us in alphabetical order so I was often seated right behind him. Yeh, we talked.
D was a good guy, easy going, even temprered, good humored; a decent student but not driven by ambition. He didn't care if he was the quarterback or the valedictorian, he had dreams of course but he was not consumed by him. He had a younger brother, G; he was the true golden boy. Top athlete, top student, chick magnet, he was blond and I really did think I saw a light coming off of him ... OK those were my drug experimentation days but still
One day D came home from school and found his younger brother hanging in the garage. G had killed himself. It came out of nowhere. It was totally unexpected. And it changed D's life forever. I have not seen him in a long time but I recall years ago, on a visit to my home town, I flagged down a cab and the driver was D. We chatted an bit and it was clear that, some 15 years after high school, D had not really moved on. G had taken his own life but he had essentially stopped D's life
So it's tragic that Jacintha Salandha took her own life. But the tragedy how it will affect her husband, her children. We are focussed on why she did it; we really don't know. I strongly suspect more information will come out but I honestly don't know if D or his family ever really found out why G killed himself.
Suicide is the ultimate selfish act. You are in pain, you are shattered, you've gone down a path that leads to darkness and you've forgotten the way back. You are in pain and you just need that pain to end. You are in a place where you feel only your pain, see only your darkness, you have ceased to see the ones around you; the ones who love you, who need you, who will be shattered when you're gone
Did a prank phone call cause this woman to kill herself? Her family may be asking that question now. But as time goes on that will diminish, what will be left behind is the void, there will be guild "Why didn't we see this coming, why didn't we know she was in so much pain" These are questions that will alter a life, and perhaps ruin it
That is the real tragedy here. Lives have been ruined, may continue to be ruined. Was that from a phone call, or from a selfish decision.
A prank can hurt people's feeling, it can be cruel. But leaving your loved ones to live on with nothing but doubt and sadness and guilt ... that is cruelty on another level,
That may just be me
The internet is instant. You see something, you post a response and blam there it is. What one has to bear in mind, of course, is that what you've just seen/heard is also instant, the person who posted it may have done so as an immediate reaction to something, without full consideration of the facts.
This brings me to the case of Jacinta Saladanha. This is the nurse who fell for a prank phone call from some DJ's about the health status of the Dutchess of Cambridge. That story surfaced very quickly and people jumped on it just as quickly
Oh how cruel people howled, how awful are these DJs to case this woman to take her life. They are evil, putting this poor woman in such a position ...
Um, hit the pause, drink some camomile tea to swallow down your outrage and think about this. My first response to this story, knowing only that headline was: What the fuck ... she killed herself over a prank phone call.
Then I learned that all she did was transfer a call to another nurse who then disclosed the information. As far as I know that nurse, who violated a confidence is alive and kicking.
Oh and yeh, Mrs Saldanha was married with children, now left behind.
Now more news has emerged: She left notes behind, including detailed funeral arrangements and a letter critical of the hospital and its staff.
So, cruel evil hospital putting this woman in a position to ..
To what? Not be able to gain a grip? Yup that right there is the cruel part of this post. And why the lightspeed nature of the internet can cause us all to lose a grip
People responded to this story, I'm not sure how much they actually thought about it. Why did this woman take her life. Was it actually due to strictly to this one event? Not likely. I'm making assumptions here but surely there were other things going on in this woman's life, this happened so quickly, one wonders if this event was a trigger pulled on a chamber full of misery.
The initial outrage around this story, which centered on the phone prank, was in my opinion very misplaced. These happens all the time. They also happened to the other nurse, the one who actually betrayed a confidence and she seems fine.
The outrage here should be more about the person who took her life and who has now left a wound in the life of those who loved her, a wound that will never properly heal. It is tragic when someone kills themselves but once that act has been commited, the tragedy shifts to the ones they've left behind
When I was in high school there was a guy whose initials were D.K., his last name was very similar to mine. In our "home room" classes in high school they sat us in alphabetical order so I was often seated right behind him. Yeh, we talked.
D was a good guy, easy going, even temprered, good humored; a decent student but not driven by ambition. He didn't care if he was the quarterback or the valedictorian, he had dreams of course but he was not consumed by him. He had a younger brother, G; he was the true golden boy. Top athlete, top student, chick magnet, he was blond and I really did think I saw a light coming off of him ... OK those were my drug experimentation days but still
One day D came home from school and found his younger brother hanging in the garage. G had killed himself. It came out of nowhere. It was totally unexpected. And it changed D's life forever. I have not seen him in a long time but I recall years ago, on a visit to my home town, I flagged down a cab and the driver was D. We chatted an bit and it was clear that, some 15 years after high school, D had not really moved on. G had taken his own life but he had essentially stopped D's life
So it's tragic that Jacintha Salandha took her own life. But the tragedy how it will affect her husband, her children. We are focussed on why she did it; we really don't know. I strongly suspect more information will come out but I honestly don't know if D or his family ever really found out why G killed himself.
Suicide is the ultimate selfish act. You are in pain, you are shattered, you've gone down a path that leads to darkness and you've forgotten the way back. You are in pain and you just need that pain to end. You are in a place where you feel only your pain, see only your darkness, you have ceased to see the ones around you; the ones who love you, who need you, who will be shattered when you're gone
Did a prank phone call cause this woman to kill herself? Her family may be asking that question now. But as time goes on that will diminish, what will be left behind is the void, there will be guild "Why didn't we see this coming, why didn't we know she was in so much pain" These are questions that will alter a life, and perhaps ruin it
That is the real tragedy here. Lives have been ruined, may continue to be ruined. Was that from a phone call, or from a selfish decision.
A prank can hurt people's feeling, it can be cruel. But leaving your loved ones to live on with nothing but doubt and sadness and guilt ... that is cruelty on another level,
Saturday, December 8, 2012
SELLING WINTER BY THE SONG
Canada has winters. You may have heard of them: Darkness, cold, snow, seasonal depression disorder. Bad things, these winters. Bad bad.
Luckily I live in Toronto, where lately our winters have more resembled spring; ok a cool less sunny kind of spring, not a Tiffany spring but a Wal Mart Spring.
What I'm saying, of course, is that we have mild winters. Winter usually doesn't start until after Christmas. Still, that doesn't stop us from celebrating winter. We had the Cavalcade of Lights earlier and his weekend we had the Winter Market. Ah, now that is the Toronto way, celebrate the season by enticing people to shop.
Which holidays do you celebrate? Which ones are on sale.
The Winter Market is held at the Distillery District, one of our favorite places to visit, a former .. you guessed it .. distillery first established in the 1800's. With it's cobblestone lanes and red brick buildings and Victorian people-worked-here-till-they-died-charm, it has some how avoided Toronto's condo destruction wave and is used for public events, restaurants and shops.
They did a nice job festooning the site with thousands of lights, a christmas tree maze, carousel and ferris wheel, dozens of vendors housed in little cabins and the obligatory giant Christmas tree
Of course there were Beer Gardens, which in Canada means a patio and in Toronto means patio's with tree-like heaters and in one case wood burning fire places. There were also carollers. Carollers are like mimes, who sing. How bad is that, singing mimes. At least they had better outfits
But they did have the most adorable Elves, three girls who seemed to spout out of nowhere with spontaneous and rissable dancing.
Luckily the carollers were not the only musical entertainment that the cutie elves could dance to. Royal Wood is a local musician with an unfortunate name (seriously, is this his porn name) but some lovely music. He's won a lot of awards for his songwriting but seems largely unknown .. because he can actually play an instrument, he can actually sing live and is not known to wear belly shirts or dance as if he's riding a horse. I've included a brief clip of his performance in the video below
So with the dancing elves, some skilled live music and of course some cocoa it was a perfectly lovely spring .. I mean .. winter evening.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
LIGHTEN UP LEONARD
The poet stands in the middle of stage. He is tall and thin and dressed in a dark suit and a fedora; he is the epitome of an antiquated word: Dapper. The word suits him as more than just a physical description. For he is an old man, clothed in history, most of it public. He is, after all, a poet, and it his vocation to make the personal public, to let what is inside of him out and he has been doing it for a very long time.
The poet is very still, one hand raised closed to his face, his feet close together, head slightly bowed so that his face is shaded by his fedora. He begins to speak in a voice that voice, a voice more famous than the suit, than the face, than the name of the man; a raspy voice a learned voice a raw voice a cultured voice a passionate voice a measured voice .. the poet's voice.
Music comes to the poet's voice, other voices join in the, the voices of women, women singing, orange lights sweep across the stage, the poet sways to the music and we are taken we are taken away, we are taken to some place, to some other place.
We are taken to the world of Leonard Cohen.
The poet on the stage.
Leonard Cohen is 78 years old. Last night in Toronto he performed a three hour show with a 20 minute intermission. He literally danced off the stage. He made a joke that he has not toured in 15 years but hopes to be turning for two more years; when he turns 80 he wants to take up smoking.
I have been a Cohen fan since I first heard the album The Songs of Leonard Cohen sometime in the early 1970's. I had never read his printed poetry at that time but the lyrics of that album had a powerful influence on me; along with Margaret Atwood, Cohen was probably the poet who shaped my own early attempts at poetry.
We saw Cohen perform once before, in 1992, supporting the album The Future. I remembered it as one of the best live shows I'd ever seen. Last night I experienced deja vu; this old man gave me the best show I've seen in a couple of years.
The band was superb, including two virtuosos: Alexandru Bublitchi on violin and Javier Mas, who's flamenco guitar and mandolin playing was as fine as I've ever heard.
I've often said that if you are a female singer, you want to sing with Cohen. He doesn't have backup singers, he has co singers. Some of them, like Jennifer Warren, have used their association with Leonard to launch their own careers.
Last night Cohen was accompanied by three women: Sharon Robson is a singer and songwriter in her own right and collaborated with Cohen on his album 10 New Songs. She gave us a moment of pure transcentendel bliss as she soloed the song Alexandra Leaving, a perfectly beautiful song based upon some ancient poetry.
Cohen at one point referred to his singers as "these angels" and that certainly applied to the Webb Sisters, who not only have spine tingling voices, but are adept instrumentalists.
Cohen's work is rich and complex and often thought of as "dark". And while he never shies away from those deeper areas of the human heart, I've always appreciated his sense of humour. In one of several asides, Leonard talked about "what's with all this melancholy and darkness, I get up in the morning and stumble down the stairs and look at myself in the mirror and say, Leonard, lighten up"
Not only did Leonard lighten himself up, he lifted us up, giving us one of those experiences you can only receive from a live performance. Through his poetry and his artistry and his overwhelming desire to please the audience, Leonard lifted us, he transported us, he brought us into his world, the world of the poet.
The poet is very still, one hand raised closed to his face, his feet close together, head slightly bowed so that his face is shaded by his fedora. He begins to speak in a voice that voice, a voice more famous than the suit, than the face, than the name of the man; a raspy voice a learned voice a raw voice a cultured voice a passionate voice a measured voice .. the poet's voice.
Music comes to the poet's voice, other voices join in the, the voices of women, women singing, orange lights sweep across the stage, the poet sways to the music and we are taken we are taken away, we are taken to some place, to some other place.
We are taken to the world of Leonard Cohen.
The poet on the stage.
Leonard Cohen is 78 years old. Last night in Toronto he performed a three hour show with a 20 minute intermission. He literally danced off the stage. He made a joke that he has not toured in 15 years but hopes to be turning for two more years; when he turns 80 he wants to take up smoking.
I have been a Cohen fan since I first heard the album The Songs of Leonard Cohen sometime in the early 1970's. I had never read his printed poetry at that time but the lyrics of that album had a powerful influence on me; along with Margaret Atwood, Cohen was probably the poet who shaped my own early attempts at poetry.
We saw Cohen perform once before, in 1992, supporting the album The Future. I remembered it as one of the best live shows I'd ever seen. Last night I experienced deja vu; this old man gave me the best show I've seen in a couple of years.
The band was superb, including two virtuosos: Alexandru Bublitchi on violin and Javier Mas, who's flamenco guitar and mandolin playing was as fine as I've ever heard.
I've often said that if you are a female singer, you want to sing with Cohen. He doesn't have backup singers, he has co singers. Some of them, like Jennifer Warren, have used their association with Leonard to launch their own careers.
Last night Cohen was accompanied by three women: Sharon Robson is a singer and songwriter in her own right and collaborated with Cohen on his album 10 New Songs. She gave us a moment of pure transcentendel bliss as she soloed the song Alexandra Leaving, a perfectly beautiful song based upon some ancient poetry.
Cohen at one point referred to his singers as "these angels" and that certainly applied to the Webb Sisters, who not only have spine tingling voices, but are adept instrumentalists.
Cohen's work is rich and complex and often thought of as "dark". And while he never shies away from those deeper areas of the human heart, I've always appreciated his sense of humour. In one of several asides, Leonard talked about "what's with all this melancholy and darkness, I get up in the morning and stumble down the stairs and look at myself in the mirror and say, Leonard, lighten up"
Not only did Leonard lighten himself up, he lifted us up, giving us one of those experiences you can only receive from a live performance. Through his poetry and his artistry and his overwhelming desire to please the audience, Leonard lifted us, he transported us, he brought us into his world, the world of the poet.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
SHADES OF GREY .. NO NOT THOSE SHADES OF GREY ...
Boy I love football! I really really do! Especially the CFL, the Canadian Football League! Golly gosh it's so exciting! So when the Grey Cup game was to be played here in Toronto I was so excited! And when the Toronto Argo's earned the right to play in it was I oh so super excited! And when they won oh my goodness I was so tingly! And when they were to have a parade and rally down town I had to go ...
And if you believed any of that you may immediately check yourself into the nearest psychiatric institute for a reality check .. after you leave me all your earthly possessions.
I do not care for football, of any kind, be it play with a spherical ball or a round one. But I do follow other sports and I recall how when the Jays were a contending baseball team, and won the World Series it really did seem to energize the city
This past week, before the Grey Cup Game Sunday, I happened to be downtown on other missions and experienced some of the parties and rallies around the event. There were a lot of people in the city, from all across the country and the atmosphere seemed mostly excited and engaging.
It was the kind of activity we see during Pride Week and the Indy Race and other annual events. And Hell, it's been a long time since we've celebrated a major baseball win and I am probably safe in saying it will be a long time before we celebrate anything for the Raptors ..
The even was a good thing for the city. Certainly our hospitality industry, hotels and bars and cabs etc, received a boost during the November doldrums. So when they announced the parade and rally Tuesday to celebrate the win, I decided to pop down to check it out.
Here's the video. Music by Alex Clare
And if you believed any of that you may immediately check yourself into the nearest psychiatric institute for a reality check .. after you leave me all your earthly possessions.
I do not care for football, of any kind, be it play with a spherical ball or a round one. But I do follow other sports and I recall how when the Jays were a contending baseball team, and won the World Series it really did seem to energize the city
This past week, before the Grey Cup Game Sunday, I happened to be downtown on other missions and experienced some of the parties and rallies around the event. There were a lot of people in the city, from all across the country and the atmosphere seemed mostly excited and engaging.
It was the kind of activity we see during Pride Week and the Indy Race and other annual events. And Hell, it's been a long time since we've celebrated a major baseball win and I am probably safe in saying it will be a long time before we celebrate anything for the Raptors ..
The even was a good thing for the city. Certainly our hospitality industry, hotels and bars and cabs etc, received a boost during the November doldrums. So when they announced the parade and rally Tuesday to celebrate the win, I decided to pop down to check it out.
Here's the video. Music by Alex Clare
Saturday, November 24, 2012
WINGS ABOVE TORONTO
I live in a city.
Somewhere, as you enter it, there are signs that proudly declare the population to be over 3 million people. That's Toronto. Then there's the GTA, the Greater Toronto Area .. greater than what I am not certain .. and the population number seems to swell. Four million, six million .. just a fuck of a lot of people.
When we think of big cities we usually think of tall towers of steel and glass, ribbons of concrete highways, streetlights blinking over lifeless streets.
But of course that is not true. Nature ain't no pussy, she don't go down so easy. Given even the meanest opportunity, Nature and Life is gonna bust on out. Why I'm suddenly writing like a broken down lame ass white rapper, I have no idea ..
But case in point: This past Sunday I went out on my front porch to get the newspaper, raised my head and was met by the unflinching gaze of a red tail hawk.
He was right on my front lawn, just a couple of feet away from the road, in the middle of Toronto, just blocks away from some of the busiest highways in Ontario if not all of Canada. He did not seem to mind. He had found himself something worth all the distractions, a roadkill squirrel, what the hawk would call "free buffet"
When we were in New York City last March, we had witnessed another redtail hawk feasting on some urban squirrel. But that had been in Central Park, essentially an urban forest and not totally surprising. And although Toronto has its share of green belts, and my own neighbourhood has many parks, I just don't think of it as being an urban forest
But there is indeed a great deal of wildlife around here; I see wild rabbits all the time. Terra sees them too, but only when they're moving. If a rabbit freezes, my border collie walks right on by them. I've seen foxes as well, walking right down the middle of the street, and Toronto has a very active, robust populations of coyotes, a family of which located in a ravine park just minutes away from here
At any rate I took advantage of this opportunity to see something as beautiful as this hawk. Collette quickly joined me, quickly firing away with her 400 mm lens .. yup I have lens envy
I put together a little video including stills and some video I shot with the D7000. This was an inpromptu shoot, so I didn't have time to dig out a monopod or my shooting brace and my hand held skills with the Nikon still have a way to go ..
So shut up. Enjoy the video.
Somewhere, as you enter it, there are signs that proudly declare the population to be over 3 million people. That's Toronto. Then there's the GTA, the Greater Toronto Area .. greater than what I am not certain .. and the population number seems to swell. Four million, six million .. just a fuck of a lot of people.
When we think of big cities we usually think of tall towers of steel and glass, ribbons of concrete highways, streetlights blinking over lifeless streets.
But of course that is not true. Nature ain't no pussy, she don't go down so easy. Given even the meanest opportunity, Nature and Life is gonna bust on out. Why I'm suddenly writing like a broken down lame ass white rapper, I have no idea ..
But case in point: This past Sunday I went out on my front porch to get the newspaper, raised my head and was met by the unflinching gaze of a red tail hawk.
He was right on my front lawn, just a couple of feet away from the road, in the middle of Toronto, just blocks away from some of the busiest highways in Ontario if not all of Canada. He did not seem to mind. He had found himself something worth all the distractions, a roadkill squirrel, what the hawk would call "free buffet"
When we were in New York City last March, we had witnessed another redtail hawk feasting on some urban squirrel. But that had been in Central Park, essentially an urban forest and not totally surprising. And although Toronto has its share of green belts, and my own neighbourhood has many parks, I just don't think of it as being an urban forest
But there is indeed a great deal of wildlife around here; I see wild rabbits all the time. Terra sees them too, but only when they're moving. If a rabbit freezes, my border collie walks right on by them. I've seen foxes as well, walking right down the middle of the street, and Toronto has a very active, robust populations of coyotes, a family of which located in a ravine park just minutes away from here
At any rate I took advantage of this opportunity to see something as beautiful as this hawk. Collette quickly joined me, quickly firing away with her 400 mm lens .. yup I have lens envy
I put together a little video including stills and some video I shot with the D7000. This was an inpromptu shoot, so I didn't have time to dig out a monopod or my shooting brace and my hand held skills with the Nikon still have a way to go ..
So shut up. Enjoy the video.
Monday, November 19, 2012
TORONTO WINTER WOOFSTOCK 2012
This past Sunday was a rare day for Toronto in November, mostly sunny and mild, temps in the double digits. A perfect day to put on your walking shoes, grabbing a leash, hooking up your dog and ... go inside?
Well it makes some degree of sense if "inside" refers to Winter Woofstock. Woofstock is a huge and popular dog expo that takes place in Toronto (and other cities) twice a year. In the summer it is held here in the St Lawrence Market district outside. In the fall/winter it occurs inside, in this case the Direct Energy Centre at the CNE grounds.
Hey this is Toronto, we do winter, we just do it inside.
As usual I did not take Terra to Winter Woofstock. This dog spends most of her days out in the yard and when she goes out with me it usually involves high speed long distance ball and/or frisbee chasing. Being in an extremely crowded space, kept on leash, surrounded by hundreds of dogs with whom she could not interact, well I would just get those big brown border collie eyes telling me "Really? This is it?"
But Woofstock is a good place to find bargains on all those doggie essentials: Poop bags, flashy collars for dark winter nights, a new name tag, treats. And if you are other dog owners: Dolce Cabana dog boots, real fur trimmed capes, blingy collars and that doggie essential, strap on sunglasses
Sigh
There are also dog trick contests, fashion shows, best groomed shows .... Terra reads over my shoulder and comments "When do we get to the frisbee part? There should be frisbees? Right? Frisbees? There are frisbees? Right? Frisbees? Right? Frisbees?"
You see my issue here. Anyway, I mostly go to take advantage of a lot of venders in one place offering discounts, like any trade show. And of course I love being surrounded by dogs. The owners I could do without; dragging poor doggie behind them, totally oblivious as the human moves up and down the aisles in full shopping-as-zombie mode.
I will give credit to the show's staff, the place was remarkablly clean and good smelling considering the number of dogs present. And somehow in the short time that I was there, there weren't any major fights .. and I don't mean between the dogs, I mean between a few overdressed dog owners scrapping over the very last jar of Organic Raw Human Grade Crap For Your Dog
Here's the video
Well it makes some degree of sense if "inside" refers to Winter Woofstock. Woofstock is a huge and popular dog expo that takes place in Toronto (and other cities) twice a year. In the summer it is held here in the St Lawrence Market district outside. In the fall/winter it occurs inside, in this case the Direct Energy Centre at the CNE grounds.
Hey this is Toronto, we do winter, we just do it inside.
As usual I did not take Terra to Winter Woofstock. This dog spends most of her days out in the yard and when she goes out with me it usually involves high speed long distance ball and/or frisbee chasing. Being in an extremely crowded space, kept on leash, surrounded by hundreds of dogs with whom she could not interact, well I would just get those big brown border collie eyes telling me "Really? This is it?"
But Woofstock is a good place to find bargains on all those doggie essentials: Poop bags, flashy collars for dark winter nights, a new name tag, treats. And if you are other dog owners: Dolce Cabana dog boots, real fur trimmed capes, blingy collars and that doggie essential, strap on sunglasses
Sigh
There are also dog trick contests, fashion shows, best groomed shows .... Terra reads over my shoulder and comments "When do we get to the frisbee part? There should be frisbees? Right? Frisbees? There are frisbees? Right? Frisbees? Right? Frisbees?"
You see my issue here. Anyway, I mostly go to take advantage of a lot of venders in one place offering discounts, like any trade show. And of course I love being surrounded by dogs. The owners I could do without; dragging poor doggie behind them, totally oblivious as the human moves up and down the aisles in full shopping-as-zombie mode.
I will give credit to the show's staff, the place was remarkablly clean and good smelling considering the number of dogs present. And somehow in the short time that I was there, there weren't any major fights .. and I don't mean between the dogs, I mean between a few overdressed dog owners scrapping over the very last jar of Organic Raw Human Grade Crap For Your Dog
Here's the video
IS THAT A GIANT TREE IN YOUR CITY HALL OR ARE JUST HAPPY TO SEE ME
This Saturday evening past, Collette and I attended an annual Toronto sign of the season ... No, not sniping overburdened Russian trophy wives in Yorkdale malll; no, not watching Mayor Rob Ford fill up his Cadillac's gas tank with egg nog; no, not hunting drunken elves in the provincial Parliament ...
We attended the Cavalcade of Lights at City Hall. I originally misread the description and was disappointed when thousands of festive lights did not come crashing down the twin towers of City Hall ...
Oh wait, I get it, Cavalcade, not Avalanche of Lights .. I see.
Anyway, I've never before been to this event. They throw a party in Nathan Phillips Square in front of City Hall. This year the Grey Cup is in Toronto so they drained the skating room and lined it with astroturf; I think it was the prototype for a brand new sport, Ice FootPuck.
They string lights all around the square and they bring in this tree; it's a mutant tree, a giant tree, the sasquatch of trees, the Chewbacca of trees, it was brought in by a giant building crane and a troupe of Special Forces Ents.
It's a big fucking tree.
They tried to build a sense of excitement leading up to the big event, the actual lighting of Tree Mullet (hey, this is a Canadian tree), with a show featuring a bunch of incredibly generic and moderately talented singers, every one of them billed as "Canada's next superstar" Really? We can only have one superstar? So will all these singers get down on the artificial gridiron and throw down with mic sharpened mic stands and shuriken head sets? Will it be a battle royal until the last one standing is declared The Superstar? There can be only one!
Um, that didn't happen of course. Les sigh.
Having never attended this event I wasn't quite certain to expect. They had this giant tree, Tree Hockey Hair, and it was festooned with thousands of lights, so I was kind of expecting to see the lights coming on in succession, maybe starting at the bottom and climbing up to the top. I mean, this isn't too much to ask for, we have the technology. We built the CN Tower, we have new subway trains, Tim Horton engineered how to put jelly inside of a donut ...
What we got instead were the lights coming on. One moment they were off, the next moment they were on. It was sort of eerie, it was like someone flipped on a switch ...
Oh stop whining Kellar. Here's the video
We attended the Cavalcade of Lights at City Hall. I originally misread the description and was disappointed when thousands of festive lights did not come crashing down the twin towers of City Hall ...
Oh wait, I get it, Cavalcade, not Avalanche of Lights .. I see.
Anyway, I've never before been to this event. They throw a party in Nathan Phillips Square in front of City Hall. This year the Grey Cup is in Toronto so they drained the skating room and lined it with astroturf; I think it was the prototype for a brand new sport, Ice FootPuck.
They string lights all around the square and they bring in this tree; it's a mutant tree, a giant tree, the sasquatch of trees, the Chewbacca of trees, it was brought in by a giant building crane and a troupe of Special Forces Ents.
It's a big fucking tree.
They tried to build a sense of excitement leading up to the big event, the actual lighting of Tree Mullet (hey, this is a Canadian tree), with a show featuring a bunch of incredibly generic and moderately talented singers, every one of them billed as "Canada's next superstar" Really? We can only have one superstar? So will all these singers get down on the artificial gridiron and throw down with mic sharpened mic stands and shuriken head sets? Will it be a battle royal until the last one standing is declared The Superstar? There can be only one!
Um, that didn't happen of course. Les sigh.
Having never attended this event I wasn't quite certain to expect. They had this giant tree, Tree Hockey Hair, and it was festooned with thousands of lights, so I was kind of expecting to see the lights coming on in succession, maybe starting at the bottom and climbing up to the top. I mean, this isn't too much to ask for, we have the technology. We built the CN Tower, we have new subway trains, Tim Horton engineered how to put jelly inside of a donut ...
What we got instead were the lights coming on. One moment they were off, the next moment they were on. It was sort of eerie, it was like someone flipped on a switch ...
Oh stop whining Kellar. Here's the video
Saturday, November 17, 2012
RATE THIS POST A SEVEN
What is it with the number seven. Or movies and the number seven. Or me and movies that feature with the number seven. Or me and seven.
Let's explain.
I have written here many time on one of all time favorite movies, Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai.
It, of course, inspired another one of my all time fave movies, John Sturges' iconic The Magnificent Seven.
Seven Samurai also inspired an anime series of which I'm quite proud, that shares the same name.
Recently I read a graphic novel out of Europe entitled Seven Psychopaths.
You may have heard of a recent movie of the same name but the comic and that movie share nothing but the name
Then, of course, there was the incredibly contrived serial killer as super being movie Seven
And, in a delightfully wonky way, the underated and but more creatively contrived movie, Lucky Number Slevin
So perhaps you are wondering ... where the hell is he going with all this. Quite frankly, I'm wondering the same thing myself. Not to put too fine a point on it .. what the fuck is up with Seven?
Because, of course, the list is not at all finished. Another contrived movie bobs up, Brad Pitt's Seven Years in Tibet. Recently we watched a spooky little suspense movie called The Vanishing on Seventh Street, though that does not strictly adhere to the true piety of the Number Seven. Mostly because the seven appears as the street name. The old film noir The Seventh Victim maintains said piety due strictly to numerical signifigence
What the hell am I talking about? Well I wonder that every day but today more than usual. Seriously, what the hell is up with this number in movies.
The Seven Year Itch, Seven Pounds, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, The Seventh Seal (no this is not about marine mammals that sound like a traffic jam), Seven Days in May, The Seven Faces of Doctor Lao and a title that almost makes my head burst, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers ...
What the hell. Why? Why why why
Why were there seven samurai? Well the pragmatic answer, plot wise, had to do with that was the number of warriors who protect the village for that amount of rice .. fair enough. But why did the writers decide that seven would be the limit?
Brad Pitt's Seven is simple to delineate: The killer was illustrating the Seven Deadly Sins. But why are there seven sins in the first place.
Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven are such iconic movies that one can assume that latter screenwriters were inspired by and/or capitalized these earlier movies.
But where the hell does this seven come from. Yes I understand that there is a superstition associated with the number but I don't believe it's cross cultural.
I could have done some actual research on this but I don't know if it's worth the bother. It's just something I've noticed.
If it requires further contemplation, I'll write six more posts on the topic.
Let's explain.
I have written here many time on one of all time favorite movies, Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai.
It, of course, inspired another one of my all time fave movies, John Sturges' iconic The Magnificent Seven.
Seven Samurai also inspired an anime series of which I'm quite proud, that shares the same name.
Recently I read a graphic novel out of Europe entitled Seven Psychopaths.
You may have heard of a recent movie of the same name but the comic and that movie share nothing but the name
Then, of course, there was the incredibly contrived serial killer as super being movie Seven
And, in a delightfully wonky way, the underated and but more creatively contrived movie, Lucky Number Slevin
So perhaps you are wondering ... where the hell is he going with all this. Quite frankly, I'm wondering the same thing myself. Not to put too fine a point on it .. what the fuck is up with Seven?
Because, of course, the list is not at all finished. Another contrived movie bobs up, Brad Pitt's Seven Years in Tibet. Recently we watched a spooky little suspense movie called The Vanishing on Seventh Street, though that does not strictly adhere to the true piety of the Number Seven. Mostly because the seven appears as the street name. The old film noir The Seventh Victim maintains said piety due strictly to numerical signifigence
What the hell am I talking about? Well I wonder that every day but today more than usual. Seriously, what the hell is up with this number in movies.
The Seven Year Itch, Seven Pounds, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, The Seventh Seal (no this is not about marine mammals that sound like a traffic jam), Seven Days in May, The Seven Faces of Doctor Lao and a title that almost makes my head burst, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers ...
What the hell. Why? Why why why
Why were there seven samurai? Well the pragmatic answer, plot wise, had to do with that was the number of warriors who protect the village for that amount of rice .. fair enough. But why did the writers decide that seven would be the limit?
Brad Pitt's Seven is simple to delineate: The killer was illustrating the Seven Deadly Sins. But why are there seven sins in the first place.
Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven are such iconic movies that one can assume that latter screenwriters were inspired by and/or capitalized these earlier movies.
But where the hell does this seven come from. Yes I understand that there is a superstition associated with the number but I don't believe it's cross cultural.
I could have done some actual research on this but I don't know if it's worth the bother. It's just something I've noticed.
If it requires further contemplation, I'll write six more posts on the topic.
Monday, November 5, 2012
SISTER ACT THE MUSICAL: A LITTLE SONG, A LITTLE DANCE, A LITTLE ROSARY DOWN YOUR PANTS
There are a few caveats that I have to follow in my life: Beware of video games based on movies, don't buy wine you see advertised on TV and be leery of stage musicals based on TV or movies. Like most caveats these are wise rules to live by but also like most caveats, there are exceptions.
I enjoyed the video game Tron Legacy, I like the wine Piat D'Or which was once heavily advertised on TV and damnit, I liked Sister Act the Musical, currently running at the Ed Mirvish Theatre in downtown Toronto.
This is a musical comedy based upon the movie with Whoopi Goldberg. As we entered the theatre I couldn't conjure up any strong memories from the movie but I do remember liking it. It was a comedy, it featured Whoopi at the height of her abilities but I couldn't really recall any music from it.
So I took my seat with a bit of trepidation, I do enjoy musical comedy (and yes as a straight man I can willingly say that but please note that as I type this I'm skinning out a wolverine that I caught with my bare hands while running naked through the forest ... and that did not sound the least bit gay) but I had this image of something forced; I know the movie was not a traditional musical, it was a comedy that featured some songs. How would that translate into a full on musical theatre piece? The answer: Pretty damn well
Firstly, this play is indeed a comedy and it's damn funny. The humour comes from several points of inspiration: The traditions of the Roman Catholic church clashing with the secular world, the fashion of the play's temporal setting, 1978 (god, not one of our finest visual eras, I guess that's why there was so much pot available then) the basic tenets of romantic comedy filtered through that time period and much more.
The book, by Cheri and Bill Steinkellner, is not afraid to swing it's comedic portals broadly open and with a fine and brave Toronto cast, it resulted in a lot of flat out belly laughs. There are a few "themes" in the story of dramatic interest but it never forgets that it's a comedy. Yes, a "feel good" comedy that is prevented from careening into a treacle abyss by a few moments of sharp satire
The book follows the basic plot from what I recall from the movie: A Phillidelphia dico-diva-wannabe witnesses a gangland slaying and has to go into witness protection: That being as a nun in a failing Roman Catholic inner city church.
Our Donna Summer-wannabe is Michelle, portrayed in this production by Ta'rea Campbell. Ms Campbell gives the role everything that you could want: She inhabits perfectly Michelle's late 70's "sista" sensability, she can be tough as well as vunerable, sassy as well as still and has a voice that would be perfectly at home on any late 70's disco or soul recording ... and perfectly at home on the stage where she can shake the rafters one moment, and bring us up close and personal the next
She is equally matched by the entire cast. Everyone fearlessly plunges into the broad comedy and everyone has a voice perfectly suited to their role. Hollis Resnik, as Mother Superior has a lilting, expressive soprano that illicits memory of past singing nuns and tempers her performance with strength and dignity, even as Michelle pushes her faith to extremes
One of the things I love so much about theatre, and any live performance for that matter, is those moments that catch us by surprise; when a song or a line of dialogue is married with a performance that, although we may see it coming, works so perfectly it takes us beyond what was expected. In Sister Act that moment was provided to me by Lael Van Keuren.
Lael plays Sister Mary Robert (all of the nuns have the first name Mary which as you can imagine springs off some pretty funny material) the convent's initiate, a young woman still deciding if she should take the vows to become a nun. She first comes across as shy and tentative and you just know she is going to have a "break out" moment; she does and although I saw it coming, it still took me up, it elevated me. Her song The Life I Never Led is written to be poingnant and Lael delivers it a voice that is clean, controlled and has such effortless power, I could have listened to it all night
As I said, Sister Act is a "feel good" musical so there are very few surprises, everything works out in the end. Perhaps that destination is a bit hackneyed and predictable, but the journey makes it all worth while.
I enjoyed the video game Tron Legacy, I like the wine Piat D'Or which was once heavily advertised on TV and damnit, I liked Sister Act the Musical, currently running at the Ed Mirvish Theatre in downtown Toronto.
This is a musical comedy based upon the movie with Whoopi Goldberg. As we entered the theatre I couldn't conjure up any strong memories from the movie but I do remember liking it. It was a comedy, it featured Whoopi at the height of her abilities but I couldn't really recall any music from it.
So I took my seat with a bit of trepidation, I do enjoy musical comedy (and yes as a straight man I can willingly say that but please note that as I type this I'm skinning out a wolverine that I caught with my bare hands while running naked through the forest ... and that did not sound the least bit gay) but I had this image of something forced; I know the movie was not a traditional musical, it was a comedy that featured some songs. How would that translate into a full on musical theatre piece? The answer: Pretty damn well
Firstly, this play is indeed a comedy and it's damn funny. The humour comes from several points of inspiration: The traditions of the Roman Catholic church clashing with the secular world, the fashion of the play's temporal setting, 1978 (god, not one of our finest visual eras, I guess that's why there was so much pot available then) the basic tenets of romantic comedy filtered through that time period and much more.
The book, by Cheri and Bill Steinkellner, is not afraid to swing it's comedic portals broadly open and with a fine and brave Toronto cast, it resulted in a lot of flat out belly laughs. There are a few "themes" in the story of dramatic interest but it never forgets that it's a comedy. Yes, a "feel good" comedy that is prevented from careening into a treacle abyss by a few moments of sharp satire
The book follows the basic plot from what I recall from the movie: A Phillidelphia dico-diva-wannabe witnesses a gangland slaying and has to go into witness protection: That being as a nun in a failing Roman Catholic inner city church.
Our Donna Summer-wannabe is Michelle, portrayed in this production by Ta'rea Campbell. Ms Campbell gives the role everything that you could want: She inhabits perfectly Michelle's late 70's "sista" sensability, she can be tough as well as vunerable, sassy as well as still and has a voice that would be perfectly at home on any late 70's disco or soul recording ... and perfectly at home on the stage where she can shake the rafters one moment, and bring us up close and personal the next
She is equally matched by the entire cast. Everyone fearlessly plunges into the broad comedy and everyone has a voice perfectly suited to their role. Hollis Resnik, as Mother Superior has a lilting, expressive soprano that illicits memory of past singing nuns and tempers her performance with strength and dignity, even as Michelle pushes her faith to extremes
One of the things I love so much about theatre, and any live performance for that matter, is those moments that catch us by surprise; when a song or a line of dialogue is married with a performance that, although we may see it coming, works so perfectly it takes us beyond what was expected. In Sister Act that moment was provided to me by Lael Van Keuren.
Lael plays Sister Mary Robert (all of the nuns have the first name Mary which as you can imagine springs off some pretty funny material) the convent's initiate, a young woman still deciding if she should take the vows to become a nun. She first comes across as shy and tentative and you just know she is going to have a "break out" moment; she does and although I saw it coming, it still took me up, it elevated me. Her song The Life I Never Led is written to be poingnant and Lael delivers it a voice that is clean, controlled and has such effortless power, I could have listened to it all night
As I said, Sister Act is a "feel good" musical so there are very few surprises, everything works out in the end. Perhaps that destination is a bit hackneyed and predictable, but the journey makes it all worth while.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
OPEN YOUR BACK DOOR
"Shut the front door" had become a popular expletive ... it replaces something else
But I say it now in it's literal form: Shut the front door and open your back door
It's Fall here in Ontario and many people are jumping in cars and heading to the north or the west or the east to find the colours and the smell and the feeling ... when you can open up your own back door and find those very things
Leaves glinting yellow and red in the sunlight, piled on patio stones; water pooled in overturned lawn furniture or a forgotten toy; vines, almost naked of leaves, clinging to the bricks of the house as if seeking warmth
Stand on the patio with a cup of coffee and watch the dog rolling in the leaves, the mutter of cold soft rain against the drain spout: Autumn is out there
You don't have to go far to find it
But I say it now in it's literal form: Shut the front door and open your back door
It's Fall here in Ontario and many people are jumping in cars and heading to the north or the west or the east to find the colours and the smell and the feeling ... when you can open up your own back door and find those very things
Leaves glinting yellow and red in the sunlight, piled on patio stones; water pooled in overturned lawn furniture or a forgotten toy; vines, almost naked of leaves, clinging to the bricks of the house as if seeking warmth
Stand on the patio with a cup of coffee and watch the dog rolling in the leaves, the mutter of cold soft rain against the drain spout: Autumn is out there
You don't have to go far to find it
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
ST LAWRENCE MARKET NEIGHBOURHOOD: NIKON D7000 SECOND TEST
An unusually beautiful Fall day: Sunny and warm and dry. A perfect opportunity to go out shooting with our new Nikon D7000
I had actually taken the camera downtown once before but as the old school newsmen say: There was nothing to report. The results were pretty dire; I had issues with focus as well as exposure.
This time I was certain I understood my mistakes so I decided to go down to St Lawrence Market ... and of course I picked the one day of the week the actual market itself is not open. Still, it is a very pretty neighbourhood down there that includes the Flatiron Building, parks with fountain and the market building itself
The results were more successful; at least I acquired footage I can actually show. Focus issues were solved, both auto and manual. The Nikon has a continuous focus mode but I doubt very much that I will ever use it. It is very much like old camcorder autfocus, constantly seeking and adjusting as you move the cam. Now this is not an issue for a still camera (and this, after all, a still camera) because you would stop, wait for the focus to settle then snap your pic. But shooting video you do not want the lens constantly adjusting as you pan. But the other focus modes worked well enough.
One of the complaints I've read about the D7000 is that you cannot adjust exposure while you are in Live Mode, that is shooting video. You have to exit Live Mode (stop recording) adjust the exposure, then start recording again.
I have a technical response to the that: Bullshit
In the Menu I set the Movie Mode to Manual and then in both Full Auto or Aperture Priority, the two settings I most used, I was able to adjust exposure on the fly as I was recording, a nice feature indeed.
Movement in the camera is an issue. Again, this is a still camera so there is no electronic stabilization in the camera as I have in both my XL1 and my Sony handycam. I was using a little L bracket that screws to the bottom of the came and gives me a handle as well as a monopod; this rig helped but when I hand hold the camera it is extremely difficult to get a steady shot.
Overall I'm pleased with the image quality. I played a little with exposure but pretty much just shot "as is". I know there is more that I can do. There are Scene settings and Shooting Sets still to be experimented with but I was curious to see what the cam could do as if I was shooting with my other HD cam.
The one advantage to the Nikon is the 24 fps shooting speed; in some scenes this gave a more "movie like" feel but in the bright sunlight it was not so terribly different from what I'd get with my Sony. The other advantage to the 7000 is that I shoot with Nikkor lenses and that is defintiely (and here comes a complex technical term) yummy. The 50 mm 1.8 lens is razor sharp and with both lenses (I mostly shot with a 18 - 200 mm zoom) the colour was rich and deep. And I was able to achieve a depth of focus that the Sony cannot match.
I use the Sony as a "run and gun" video cam because of its very small size. It is a great cam to just whip out (steady now let's keep this post PG) set your shot, hit record all in a few seconds. Not so much with the Nikon. It has to be steadied, focusseed, DOF adjusted then record.
Then there is zooming. Recording while zooming in and out is something overused in video (and I am guilty of that) but it is something I like to use. I think of it as a "reveal"; start in tight on some object, like a window pane then pull out to reveal some Gothic building. The Sony has a very smooth motorized zoom that with a difference in pressure in your fingers you can easily adjust the speed of the zoom
None of Collette's lenses have motorized zoom, it is actually something rare on still cams, there really isn't need for it. So I felt very old school, when I used to shoot with tube cameras that recorded to separate video decks and you had to zoom manually; sometimes old school should be called "no school" apparantly
Overall I was pleased with the results. I see the Nikon's potential. There is a lot more I can do to improve and change the image quality. Is it a good field camera or something best ustilized in film making where you have time to set up each shot ... we'll see
In the mean time, you can see the St Lawrence Market video
I had actually taken the camera downtown once before but as the old school newsmen say: There was nothing to report. The results were pretty dire; I had issues with focus as well as exposure.
This time I was certain I understood my mistakes so I decided to go down to St Lawrence Market ... and of course I picked the one day of the week the actual market itself is not open. Still, it is a very pretty neighbourhood down there that includes the Flatiron Building, parks with fountain and the market building itself
The results were more successful; at least I acquired footage I can actually show. Focus issues were solved, both auto and manual. The Nikon has a continuous focus mode but I doubt very much that I will ever use it. It is very much like old camcorder autfocus, constantly seeking and adjusting as you move the cam. Now this is not an issue for a still camera (and this, after all, a still camera) because you would stop, wait for the focus to settle then snap your pic. But shooting video you do not want the lens constantly adjusting as you pan. But the other focus modes worked well enough.
One of the complaints I've read about the D7000 is that you cannot adjust exposure while you are in Live Mode, that is shooting video. You have to exit Live Mode (stop recording) adjust the exposure, then start recording again.
I have a technical response to the that: Bullshit
In the Menu I set the Movie Mode to Manual and then in both Full Auto or Aperture Priority, the two settings I most used, I was able to adjust exposure on the fly as I was recording, a nice feature indeed.
Movement in the camera is an issue. Again, this is a still camera so there is no electronic stabilization in the camera as I have in both my XL1 and my Sony handycam. I was using a little L bracket that screws to the bottom of the came and gives me a handle as well as a monopod; this rig helped but when I hand hold the camera it is extremely difficult to get a steady shot.
Overall I'm pleased with the image quality. I played a little with exposure but pretty much just shot "as is". I know there is more that I can do. There are Scene settings and Shooting Sets still to be experimented with but I was curious to see what the cam could do as if I was shooting with my other HD cam.
The one advantage to the Nikon is the 24 fps shooting speed; in some scenes this gave a more "movie like" feel but in the bright sunlight it was not so terribly different from what I'd get with my Sony. The other advantage to the 7000 is that I shoot with Nikkor lenses and that is defintiely (and here comes a complex technical term) yummy. The 50 mm 1.8 lens is razor sharp and with both lenses (I mostly shot with a 18 - 200 mm zoom) the colour was rich and deep. And I was able to achieve a depth of focus that the Sony cannot match.
I use the Sony as a "run and gun" video cam because of its very small size. It is a great cam to just whip out (steady now let's keep this post PG) set your shot, hit record all in a few seconds. Not so much with the Nikon. It has to be steadied, focusseed, DOF adjusted then record.
Then there is zooming. Recording while zooming in and out is something overused in video (and I am guilty of that) but it is something I like to use. I think of it as a "reveal"; start in tight on some object, like a window pane then pull out to reveal some Gothic building. The Sony has a very smooth motorized zoom that with a difference in pressure in your fingers you can easily adjust the speed of the zoom
None of Collette's lenses have motorized zoom, it is actually something rare on still cams, there really isn't need for it. So I felt very old school, when I used to shoot with tube cameras that recorded to separate video decks and you had to zoom manually; sometimes old school should be called "no school" apparantly
Overall I was pleased with the results. I see the Nikon's potential. There is a lot more I can do to improve and change the image quality. Is it a good field camera or something best ustilized in film making where you have time to set up each shot ... we'll see
In the mean time, you can see the St Lawrence Market video
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
FIRST TEST: NIKON D7000
As I mentioned in my last post, Collette and I recently purchased a new camera. The Nikon D7000 is a Digital SLR, a still camera like Collette's D80 but with a significant difference; it also shoots video.
The 7000 records HD video in full 1080 p as well as 720 p, the former at 24 fps only, the latter at 24 and 30. FPS refers to frames per second; both my Standard Def Canon XL1 and my HD Sony handycam shoot video at 30 fps. Film is recorded at 24 fps and this is often seen as a superior, more "movie" like video frame rate.
There are of course camcorders that record at 24 fps but DSLRs like the 7000 are said to have other advantages; image sensor size, lens quality, shutter speed, exposure, and something called Dynamic Range, what us old timers would refer to as gamma or contrast.
Now I have my opportunity to find out for myself. A trip to my local dog park in search of some lost dog tags .. and no, not the military variety .. gave me the opportunity to give the camera its first video test.
For this test I used Collette's 18 - 200 mm lens
Some things were quickly evident; the range of option on the Nikon surpass anything my currrent cams, even my beloved XL1, can give me. The Nikon gives you many options; several customizable white balance settings, over 30 Auto Focus settings, several depth of field settings on auto or semi auto modes and of course, manual whatever the hell you want.
Sometimes more can be a tad confusing. In the video below you will see good and bad examples of depth of field; the dog on the picnic table at 50 seconds bad, the dog in show pose at 1 minute 47 seconds good. What can I say, there's a learning curve.
I fiddled around with the various settings and modes; autofocus, manual focus, aperture priority etc. A couple of the shots came out darker than intended and I had to touch them up in post. Again, it's all about learning. This camera has a lot of options, many of which I am unfamiliar with, eventually they will come more quickly and smoothly. Even on this first shoot I was leaving the full auto mode in the dust but that is not at all surprising.
Handling the D7000 is also a learning curve. This is, at its heart, a still camera, not a video camera and then needs between the two in terms of handling, are different. Some DSLR models have adjustable swing out monitors, this one does not, I was feeling that lack today; I have a penchant for low angle shots (low) and a flip up monitor is lovely but it's nothing I can't work around.
Stablilization is going to be a factor. I shot with my L bracket; it screws into the bottom of the cam and gives me a little handle, this was helpful but you'll still see the camera shake, even when not zoomed in. At the Exposure camera show I demoed the Steadicam Merlin, a relatively small glidecam that you can operate with one hand. The thing was a dream, and I will be dreaming of the 800 dollar price tag for some time. There are other more affordable solutions out there and I'll be looking into them.
One of my concerns about DSLRs is the storage; I love having the freedom of shooting as much as I like and not worrying about running out of storage space. Like all DSLRs, the 7000 records to memory cards. One of the things I like about this cam is that it has two slots. Currently I have two Grade 10 32 GB cards in the cam. I should be able to put about 3 hours of video on each; I have a third card so ideally I can go out on a shoot with 9 hours potential, that may satisfy even me
Overall, I came away happy; the dynamic range is there, the frame rate is there, and the lens quality is there. I hope to very soon take it to a "real world" kind of situation where I will have to be able to record footage on the run, fairly quickly.
The camera will be up to the task, let's see if I can say the same about myself. Well I will the say the same about myself but then, I tend to be delusional.
The 7000 records HD video in full 1080 p as well as 720 p, the former at 24 fps only, the latter at 24 and 30. FPS refers to frames per second; both my Standard Def Canon XL1 and my HD Sony handycam shoot video at 30 fps. Film is recorded at 24 fps and this is often seen as a superior, more "movie" like video frame rate.
There are of course camcorders that record at 24 fps but DSLRs like the 7000 are said to have other advantages; image sensor size, lens quality, shutter speed, exposure, and something called Dynamic Range, what us old timers would refer to as gamma or contrast.
Now I have my opportunity to find out for myself. A trip to my local dog park in search of some lost dog tags .. and no, not the military variety .. gave me the opportunity to give the camera its first video test.
For this test I used Collette's 18 - 200 mm lens
Some things were quickly evident; the range of option on the Nikon surpass anything my currrent cams, even my beloved XL1, can give me. The Nikon gives you many options; several customizable white balance settings, over 30 Auto Focus settings, several depth of field settings on auto or semi auto modes and of course, manual whatever the hell you want.
Sometimes more can be a tad confusing. In the video below you will see good and bad examples of depth of field; the dog on the picnic table at 50 seconds bad, the dog in show pose at 1 minute 47 seconds good. What can I say, there's a learning curve.
I fiddled around with the various settings and modes; autofocus, manual focus, aperture priority etc. A couple of the shots came out darker than intended and I had to touch them up in post. Again, it's all about learning. This camera has a lot of options, many of which I am unfamiliar with, eventually they will come more quickly and smoothly. Even on this first shoot I was leaving the full auto mode in the dust but that is not at all surprising.
Handling the D7000 is also a learning curve. This is, at its heart, a still camera, not a video camera and then needs between the two in terms of handling, are different. Some DSLR models have adjustable swing out monitors, this one does not, I was feeling that lack today; I have a penchant for low angle shots (low) and a flip up monitor is lovely but it's nothing I can't work around.
Stablilization is going to be a factor. I shot with my L bracket; it screws into the bottom of the cam and gives me a little handle, this was helpful but you'll still see the camera shake, even when not zoomed in. At the Exposure camera show I demoed the Steadicam Merlin, a relatively small glidecam that you can operate with one hand. The thing was a dream, and I will be dreaming of the 800 dollar price tag for some time. There are other more affordable solutions out there and I'll be looking into them.
One of my concerns about DSLRs is the storage; I love having the freedom of shooting as much as I like and not worrying about running out of storage space. Like all DSLRs, the 7000 records to memory cards. One of the things I like about this cam is that it has two slots. Currently I have two Grade 10 32 GB cards in the cam. I should be able to put about 3 hours of video on each; I have a third card so ideally I can go out on a shoot with 9 hours potential, that may satisfy even me
Overall, I came away happy; the dynamic range is there, the frame rate is there, and the lens quality is there. I hope to very soon take it to a "real world" kind of situation where I will have to be able to record footage on the run, fairly quickly.
The camera will be up to the task, let's see if I can say the same about myself. Well I will the say the same about myself but then, I tend to be delusional.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
WHAT'S MINE IS YOURS AND WHAT'S YOURS IS MINE
A funny thing happened to me on my way to the Video & Photo show ...
Well first things first. Exposure is a video and photography trade show that happens in a few Canadian cites and of course I attended the one here in Toronto.
I've been to this show before. Trades like this are a great place to see a lot of different gear, and the vendors, under one roof. There are addresses and demo's and new products .. oh my!
It really is a great opportunity to try out new gear, demoed by company reps who are often of course more informed than some high school grade working for a percentage in some retail store. I got a demo of the Steadicam Merlin, a small camera stabilizer well outside my price range but oh oh oh oh so beautiful and liquid and cam-glidey ...
Sorry, I may need a moment.
Anyway ... I do often buy stuff at these shows. On average, on new products, you can save between 30 and 50 bucks. There are often used and open box deals at better rates and many tables filled with the crap the store hasn't sold in 5 years for a few bucks.
This show is video as well as photo so I often go shopping for Collette as well as myself.
Which leads us to the explaination of this post. Collette's shopping list for this show included some new photo editing software, a remote control shutter release, maybe some picture frames. Well she got some of that ... and a bit more
Collette has had her beloved Nikon D80 for many years ago and lately has been bumping up against some limitations as she becomes more serious about her photography. I always try to keep an eye open for a new camera for her, one with more up to date bells and whistles.
I have also been curious about exploring video creation on a DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera; I appreciate the image quality of these cams but have had some issues with things like media storage, audio, clip limitations etc. Many folks sing the praises of certain Canon models and I own a Canon dedicated video cam but Collette has several high quality Nikon lenses so that was something I need to consider ...
The Nikon D7000 is a camera that addresses both Collette and mine's needs ... and they happened to be on sale at the show. So I bought one, along with a big fat memory card for the video and a 1.8 50 mm fixed focal lens, one of the few that Collette does not already own.
It features a larger sensor than the D90, two card slots, a wider range of focus zones, ability to write in more versions of RAW and a huge range of new photo features. On my side, it shoots in full 1080p HD video at 24 fps as well as three other video settings, an external audio input, ability to shoot video in autofocus and many others.
As to the audio issue, the one thing I know about DSLRs is that you don't want to use their built in mics for much so I took advantage on the deals at the show and bought a Rode shotgun mic. I've worked with several audio pro's and it seems that every one of them had a Rode somethingorother in their kits so that's a good enough reccomendation for me
Damn, the mic looks enormous in that pic. Is that a black dirigible in your pocket or are you just excited to see me...
Anyway.
Here's the deal on all of this. Collette needed a new camera. She knows she wants to take advantages of all the new and improved features. I'm curious about shooting video with a DSLR but haven't been convinced enough to buy one for myself. So this is Collette's camera and I'm going to use it as well.
So Collette is going to share this with me ..
Collette .. sharing ...
I should be afraid, very afraid.
OK now it's time for a little distraction. I took my palmcorder to the show, I shot a little video, so let's not waste it, here's a very quick video of the show, complete with cheesy effects.
Well first things first. Exposure is a video and photography trade show that happens in a few Canadian cites and of course I attended the one here in Toronto.
I've been to this show before. Trades like this are a great place to see a lot of different gear, and the vendors, under one roof. There are addresses and demo's and new products .. oh my!
It really is a great opportunity to try out new gear, demoed by company reps who are often of course more informed than some high school grade working for a percentage in some retail store. I got a demo of the Steadicam Merlin, a small camera stabilizer well outside my price range but oh oh oh oh so beautiful and liquid and cam-glidey ...
Sorry, I may need a moment.
Anyway ... I do often buy stuff at these shows. On average, on new products, you can save between 30 and 50 bucks. There are often used and open box deals at better rates and many tables filled with the crap the store hasn't sold in 5 years for a few bucks.
This show is video as well as photo so I often go shopping for Collette as well as myself.
Which leads us to the explaination of this post. Collette's shopping list for this show included some new photo editing software, a remote control shutter release, maybe some picture frames. Well she got some of that ... and a bit more
Collette has had her beloved Nikon D80 for many years ago and lately has been bumping up against some limitations as she becomes more serious about her photography. I always try to keep an eye open for a new camera for her, one with more up to date bells and whistles.
I have also been curious about exploring video creation on a DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera; I appreciate the image quality of these cams but have had some issues with things like media storage, audio, clip limitations etc. Many folks sing the praises of certain Canon models and I own a Canon dedicated video cam but Collette has several high quality Nikon lenses so that was something I need to consider ...
The Nikon D7000 is a camera that addresses both Collette and mine's needs ... and they happened to be on sale at the show. So I bought one, along with a big fat memory card for the video and a 1.8 50 mm fixed focal lens, one of the few that Collette does not already own.
It features a larger sensor than the D90, two card slots, a wider range of focus zones, ability to write in more versions of RAW and a huge range of new photo features. On my side, it shoots in full 1080p HD video at 24 fps as well as three other video settings, an external audio input, ability to shoot video in autofocus and many others.
As to the audio issue, the one thing I know about DSLRs is that you don't want to use their built in mics for much so I took advantage on the deals at the show and bought a Rode shotgun mic. I've worked with several audio pro's and it seems that every one of them had a Rode somethingorother in their kits so that's a good enough reccomendation for me
Damn, the mic looks enormous in that pic. Is that a black dirigible in your pocket or are you just excited to see me...
Anyway.
Here's the deal on all of this. Collette needed a new camera. She knows she wants to take advantages of all the new and improved features. I'm curious about shooting video with a DSLR but haven't been convinced enough to buy one for myself. So this is Collette's camera and I'm going to use it as well.
So Collette is going to share this with me ..
Collette .. sharing ...
I should be afraid, very afraid.
OK now it's time for a little distraction. I took my palmcorder to the show, I shot a little video, so let's not waste it, here's a very quick video of the show, complete with cheesy effects.
WHAT IS A CITY
What is a city.
Is it the concrete, or the people who drive on the concrete walk on the concrete draw images on the concrete
Is it the glass, or the building made from the glass the people watching their reflections in the glass watching other people through the glass
Is it the brick, or the feet that step on the brick the wheels that sigh across the brick the birds that search for seeds in the bricks
Is the city the buildings or those who built them or those who use them ...
What is a city
Recently events in my city have had me a bit disheartened. From lack of vision when it comes to Toronto's waterfront, to total confusion about how to develop our transit, to interesting neighbourhoods being destroyed to make ways for the private homes of the rich
I know my city is not unique, many cities, particularly large cities have these issues. We think of cities sometimes for their buildings, for the brick and mortar ... at the same time we may think of a city for its people.
When you think of New York City you may think of the Empire State Building but you may also think about some colorful character you met on the subway
Toronto is the CN Tower but it's also the doorman standing outside of the King Edward Hotel who, even in the bitter cold of winter, smiles at you and tips his hat.
I grew up in a city that reveres its past and I now live in a city that seems to think the past can be replaced by another billion dollar condo building.
A city is the past, the present, the future, the lack of a future, a city is defined moment to moment by everyone who lives in it, dreams in it, passes through it, is born in it, who dies in it.
We are the city. The city is us.
This is my city. This is your city. This is our city.
This city.
Is it the concrete, or the people who drive on the concrete walk on the concrete draw images on the concrete
Is it the glass, or the building made from the glass the people watching their reflections in the glass watching other people through the glass
Is it the brick, or the feet that step on the brick the wheels that sigh across the brick the birds that search for seeds in the bricks
Is the city the buildings or those who built them or those who use them ...
What is a city
Recently events in my city have had me a bit disheartened. From lack of vision when it comes to Toronto's waterfront, to total confusion about how to develop our transit, to interesting neighbourhoods being destroyed to make ways for the private homes of the rich
I know my city is not unique, many cities, particularly large cities have these issues. We think of cities sometimes for their buildings, for the brick and mortar ... at the same time we may think of a city for its people.
When you think of New York City you may think of the Empire State Building but you may also think about some colorful character you met on the subway
Toronto is the CN Tower but it's also the doorman standing outside of the King Edward Hotel who, even in the bitter cold of winter, smiles at you and tips his hat.
I grew up in a city that reveres its past and I now live in a city that seems to think the past can be replaced by another billion dollar condo building.
A city is the past, the present, the future, the lack of a future, a city is defined moment to moment by everyone who lives in it, dreams in it, passes through it, is born in it, who dies in it.
We are the city. The city is us.
This is my city. This is your city. This is our city.
This city.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
THE COLOURS OF THANKSGIVING
A pink sky at sunset, red leaves twisting in air, water sparkling blues as the sun hits it, ancient rock rippled with colour from ages of transition; this is autumn on the Georgian Bay.
For our annual Thanksgiving sojourn to Nares Inlet, Collette and I were able to squeeze in an extra day for the visit. That meant more time for the family and more time for me to explore the bush with my intrepid explorer and amateur (very amateur) animal tracker Miss Terra. They say dogs have a limited perceived colour spectrum, well so do I but we were still able to enjoy the fall colours
There are many critters in the bush around Springhaven Lodge and if you are patient and quiet you may be able to entice one of them to come right up to you ... or just have her daddy bring her into your cabin.
We had excellent weather over all. At one point Terra and I got caught in a brief rain and sleet storm; I'm not sure she even noticed. With the inlet right outside our door and many bogs and culverts along on the road, she spent very little of the weekend actually dry. All worth it of course when you can wake up, step out onto your porch and see the inlet, still as dark glass and wreathed with early morning mist.
A big part of this weekend is always gathering together as many people as possible (this year it was over 50) loading them into boats and going out to a rock island in the Georgian Bay to nosh, have a few beers, explore and play a silly game just for the fun of it. So many people and so many boats, one wonders if it showed up and was flagged on certain NSA satellite feeds. One wonders what the analysts made of this floating shoe box .. what we all like to call the house boat
Once we moored on the island I demonstrated my enthusiasm for the upcoming Aquaman movie by doing an impression of the aquatic superhero ... well, something similar. No need to dwell on that, let's move on
Ahem
It was a cool yet sunny day and the infamous north offshore wind was fairly sedate, making it a perfect idea to crack a few beers, share some food, tell some tales and explore this island that is like the expression of Canadian Shield machismo, thrust up as it is from the cold deep waters of the Bay
All in all a good day and a great weekend but it's always nice to fold up the plastic tables, load up the boats and head home. By the end, even Terra was tired, and that is always saying something.
So while she's napping and I'm wringing out my jeans, enjoy the video.
For our annual Thanksgiving sojourn to Nares Inlet, Collette and I were able to squeeze in an extra day for the visit. That meant more time for the family and more time for me to explore the bush with my intrepid explorer and amateur (very amateur) animal tracker Miss Terra. They say dogs have a limited perceived colour spectrum, well so do I but we were still able to enjoy the fall colours
There are many critters in the bush around Springhaven Lodge and if you are patient and quiet you may be able to entice one of them to come right up to you ... or just have her daddy bring her into your cabin.
We had excellent weather over all. At one point Terra and I got caught in a brief rain and sleet storm; I'm not sure she even noticed. With the inlet right outside our door and many bogs and culverts along on the road, she spent very little of the weekend actually dry. All worth it of course when you can wake up, step out onto your porch and see the inlet, still as dark glass and wreathed with early morning mist.
A big part of this weekend is always gathering together as many people as possible (this year it was over 50) loading them into boats and going out to a rock island in the Georgian Bay to nosh, have a few beers, explore and play a silly game just for the fun of it. So many people and so many boats, one wonders if it showed up and was flagged on certain NSA satellite feeds. One wonders what the analysts made of this floating shoe box .. what we all like to call the house boat
Once we moored on the island I demonstrated my enthusiasm for the upcoming Aquaman movie by doing an impression of the aquatic superhero ... well, something similar. No need to dwell on that, let's move on
Ahem
It was a cool yet sunny day and the infamous north offshore wind was fairly sedate, making it a perfect idea to crack a few beers, share some food, tell some tales and explore this island that is like the expression of Canadian Shield machismo, thrust up as it is from the cold deep waters of the Bay
All in all a good day and a great weekend but it's always nice to fold up the plastic tables, load up the boats and head home. By the end, even Terra was tired, and that is always saying something.
So while she's napping and I'm wringing out my jeans, enjoy the video.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
A TRAGEDY ON KING STREET - EDIT
I love the theatre. That being live theatre. I love it all, really comedy and tragedy and farce and even musicals. Actually some of my favorite live theatre pieces have been musicals; I am dubious now about musicals on film but can more wholly accept them on the stage.
One of the things that Collette and I have always enjoyed about living in Toronto is its theatre scene. We watched the revival of it: From the (what once was) The Pantages and the Wintergarden on Yonge St to the Royal Alexandra on King St we have been lucky enough to have benefitted from the revival of Toronto's theatre culture.
One of the most exciting moments was the construction of the Princess of Wales Theatre by the Mirvishes, right down from the Royal Alex which they also own. The Princess is a beautiful theatre; wonderful acoustics, comfy seats and perfectly laid out sightlines. The Royal Alex is a lovely old theatre that oozes history and charm but it is not the most comfortable place to watch a show. The Princess is.
Or was. Or won't be.
I learned today that that stretch of King St, currently known as the Theatre District will soon be obliterated. Including the Princess of Wales. In its place ... condo's. Gigantic towering private residences designed by architect Frank Gehry. Mr Gehry is a renowned architect who has designed buildings all over the world, including the recent revamping here of the Art Gallery of Ontario.
The buildings will be huge, as high as 85 stories and as evident by Mr Gehry's past projects, they will not be subtle. The Theatre District will change. Not only will the Princess of Wales disappear but so will the attendent restaurants, bars, shops and services. Even those who have never seen a stage play benefited from the revitalization of the King St strip, it was a place locals and tourists alike responded well to.
What will it be now. A very rich building for rich people. A monstrous (if not monstrosity) development unlike anything in that area.
Toronto is suffering the same pains as many big cities; our population is swelling, more and more people all the time, most of whom are not rich or wealthy and many of whom who barely qualify as middle class, they make up this city but it seems that this is not their city.
It began, as it often does, with our waterfront. For years we heard plan after plan, study after study, model after model (all paid for of course by tax payer dollars) that featured parks and trails and grass and more boardwalks; mostly what we have gotten are hulking private residences that literally cut off the sun and make me feel that, when I want to walk my dog down to the water, I need to show some kind of ID ...
So now the dichotomy of class and income as expressed by architecture is making its way north of the waterfront.
Mr Mirvish is a business man. The Princess of Wales was never a public institution, as were none of the attending businesses. I get that, they get to do what the want with their money. But they were things that could be enjoyed by the public. Now we will be getting some sort of high tech over designed fortress.
In the past when I walked along King St I could enjoy the sun on my face, watch people enjoying a beer on a patio, make note of new shows coming .. now I'm afraid I'll be walking in the cold shadow of someone else's wealth, someone else's need to own the sky.
Business men have no obligation to consider the emotional health of the residents of a city. But shouldn't someone?
A sad day. And in an intentional theatrical pun, a Tragic day indeed.
ADDENDUM: At a press conference today Mr Mirvish declared that "I'm not building condo's, I'm building scluptures" Oh he also mentioned that he had no interest in maintaining theatres that are not constantly full. And although "he" built up the King Str strip through investing in theatre, it will now be self maintaining ... somehow without the theatre and in its place a gigantic block devouring structure that will have an art gallery, a campus of the Ontario Art College and, lest we forget, the vast majority of the space dedicated to private residence.
Mirvish thinks that this is where Toronto to go. Well, it's been going there for some time, with condo's blocking the waterfront, the gentrification of once funky neighbourhoods, local landmarks and historical structures demolished for more places to live for rich people.
He thinks we can become more like New York City. Two points: NYC has many times our population, so many people that the sheer volume can defeat the kind of remoteness and gentrification projects like this represent. And if we had a Central Park, we do not have politicians with enough balls to prevent it from becoming yet another gigantic condo
High Park, watch your back
One of the things that Collette and I have always enjoyed about living in Toronto is its theatre scene. We watched the revival of it: From the (what once was) The Pantages and the Wintergarden on Yonge St to the Royal Alexandra on King St we have been lucky enough to have benefitted from the revival of Toronto's theatre culture.
One of the most exciting moments was the construction of the Princess of Wales Theatre by the Mirvishes, right down from the Royal Alex which they also own. The Princess is a beautiful theatre; wonderful acoustics, comfy seats and perfectly laid out sightlines. The Royal Alex is a lovely old theatre that oozes history and charm but it is not the most comfortable place to watch a show. The Princess is.
Or was. Or won't be.
I learned today that that stretch of King St, currently known as the Theatre District will soon be obliterated. Including the Princess of Wales. In its place ... condo's. Gigantic towering private residences designed by architect Frank Gehry. Mr Gehry is a renowned architect who has designed buildings all over the world, including the recent revamping here of the Art Gallery of Ontario.
The buildings will be huge, as high as 85 stories and as evident by Mr Gehry's past projects, they will not be subtle. The Theatre District will change. Not only will the Princess of Wales disappear but so will the attendent restaurants, bars, shops and services. Even those who have never seen a stage play benefited from the revitalization of the King St strip, it was a place locals and tourists alike responded well to.
What will it be now. A very rich building for rich people. A monstrous (if not monstrosity) development unlike anything in that area.
Toronto is suffering the same pains as many big cities; our population is swelling, more and more people all the time, most of whom are not rich or wealthy and many of whom who barely qualify as middle class, they make up this city but it seems that this is not their city.
It began, as it often does, with our waterfront. For years we heard plan after plan, study after study, model after model (all paid for of course by tax payer dollars) that featured parks and trails and grass and more boardwalks; mostly what we have gotten are hulking private residences that literally cut off the sun and make me feel that, when I want to walk my dog down to the water, I need to show some kind of ID ...
So now the dichotomy of class and income as expressed by architecture is making its way north of the waterfront.
Mr Mirvish is a business man. The Princess of Wales was never a public institution, as were none of the attending businesses. I get that, they get to do what the want with their money. But they were things that could be enjoyed by the public. Now we will be getting some sort of high tech over designed fortress.
In the past when I walked along King St I could enjoy the sun on my face, watch people enjoying a beer on a patio, make note of new shows coming .. now I'm afraid I'll be walking in the cold shadow of someone else's wealth, someone else's need to own the sky.
Business men have no obligation to consider the emotional health of the residents of a city. But shouldn't someone?
A sad day. And in an intentional theatrical pun, a Tragic day indeed.
ADDENDUM: At a press conference today Mr Mirvish declared that "I'm not building condo's, I'm building scluptures" Oh he also mentioned that he had no interest in maintaining theatres that are not constantly full. And although "he" built up the King Str strip through investing in theatre, it will now be self maintaining ... somehow without the theatre and in its place a gigantic block devouring structure that will have an art gallery, a campus of the Ontario Art College and, lest we forget, the vast majority of the space dedicated to private residence.
Mirvish thinks that this is where Toronto to go. Well, it's been going there for some time, with condo's blocking the waterfront, the gentrification of once funky neighbourhoods, local landmarks and historical structures demolished for more places to live for rich people.
He thinks we can become more like New York City. Two points: NYC has many times our population, so many people that the sheer volume can defeat the kind of remoteness and gentrification projects like this represent. And if we had a Central Park, we do not have politicians with enough balls to prevent it from becoming yet another gigantic condo
High Park, watch your back
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
CIRQUE DE SOLEIL AMALUNA: AMAZEMENT BEYOND
We often watch events that celebrate the potential of the human body and the spirit that propels it. The Olympics was one such event. Another was one Collette and I attended over the weekend: Amaluna by Cirque de Soleil.
The show is loosely based on Shakespeare's The Tempest and while a lot of the elements were there (Prospero, Caliban, the storm) it really doesn't matter. There is a story here, recurring characters and conflict all packaged in state of the art lighting, colourful costumes and live music but really, you don't go to a show like this for the story. Well, I don't. I go for the performers and the stunts and yes, to see what humans are able to do.
We were informed as we entered the huge tent that hosts the show, that 70 per cent of Amaluna's performers are females, the highest ratio of any Cirque show. And although were there some remarkable performances by men ... on a tightrope, on a climbing pole and an energetic group of acrobats who used a teeter totter in a way never attempted on any playground .. well not attempted more than once, without the presence of an ambulance .. some of the truly special moments in the shows did indeed come from women.
The vocalists and most of the band were women and in they became part of the show, some as characters, others just prowling the stage at given moments, a pair of women with their guitars slung low on their hips. It's a classical magic distraction of course; as we watched the band sets were being changed or apparatus rigged. That's all part of it, the sate was semi circular and most of the changes were done right before our eyes but there was always something else to watch
A group of women provided us with our own Olympics moment. Dressed in striking red and assuming postures of fierceness, these acrobats used a series of uneven bars, displaying strength grace and courage in a way I've never seen at a strict athletic event
In Las Vegas, Cirque de Soleil has a famous show called Eau that features huge tanks of water in which the performers, well, perform. Well we had our tiny version of that show. The tank in Amaluna is smaller but no less spectacular
The performer, the main female character, is an acrobat and contortionist and apparently half fish. We were in awe of the balancing she did on the rim of the tank, contorting her body into forms that I haven't seen maintained by a human since I stopped doing hallucinegetic drugs.
She would hurl herself down into the tank where the water was not especially deep, forming her body to the shape of the bowl, seemingly boneless and as fluid as the water in which she played.
One of the male performers, her love interest in the story also played in the water. While not quite as fluid as he love, he was still graceful. He displayed equal grace and strength in one of the story's most moving moments as he climbed and flowed around his pole, literally going up into the heavens to rescue his girl
One of the show's most remarkable moments, and the act that received the only standing ovation during the performance was, in comparison to all of the above, almost still. A woman in a long lame dress came out on the stage to stand barefoot amidst a pile of curved stick of various sizes. Standing quite still she balanced on one foot and used the other to pick up a stick, using this method, she began to assemble the sticks, balancing one against the other, using only their shapes to keep them together
It was a remarkable study in control, restraint and a physicality that wasn't as apparent as some of the other athletes. The music here was very soft, very restrained. The woman was on mic and you could hear her breathing, the engine that allowed her to keep her core still as she manipulated the sticks,
At the end she had assembled this amazing structure that was at leas six feet long and several feet wide. She held it up before taking one stick, the smallest stick, showing us the fragility of her structure as it fell to pieces on to the stage
There is an old theatrical concept called Pirandello, named after an Italian writer, a concept of which I am so fond I've named my video production company after it. It basically says that "I'm going to manipulate you, I'm going to make you cry, I'm going to force events to that result but I'm going to do it in such a way that by the end, when you cry, you'll have forgotten that I made you do it." It's manipulation and it's surprise and it's what Cirque and any good live event can give us: The right to be delighted even when we expected to be so
Sitting down before the show began I knew that I would see human being perform feats that would astound me. And I was astounded. In ways I couldn't anticipate. I knew it would happen and when it did, it was as if I never thought it could be done.
The show is loosely based on Shakespeare's The Tempest and while a lot of the elements were there (Prospero, Caliban, the storm) it really doesn't matter. There is a story here, recurring characters and conflict all packaged in state of the art lighting, colourful costumes and live music but really, you don't go to a show like this for the story. Well, I don't. I go for the performers and the stunts and yes, to see what humans are able to do.
We were informed as we entered the huge tent that hosts the show, that 70 per cent of Amaluna's performers are females, the highest ratio of any Cirque show. And although were there some remarkable performances by men ... on a tightrope, on a climbing pole and an energetic group of acrobats who used a teeter totter in a way never attempted on any playground .. well not attempted more than once, without the presence of an ambulance .. some of the truly special moments in the shows did indeed come from women.
The vocalists and most of the band were women and in they became part of the show, some as characters, others just prowling the stage at given moments, a pair of women with their guitars slung low on their hips. It's a classical magic distraction of course; as we watched the band sets were being changed or apparatus rigged. That's all part of it, the sate was semi circular and most of the changes were done right before our eyes but there was always something else to watch
A group of women provided us with our own Olympics moment. Dressed in striking red and assuming postures of fierceness, these acrobats used a series of uneven bars, displaying strength grace and courage in a way I've never seen at a strict athletic event
In Las Vegas, Cirque de Soleil has a famous show called Eau that features huge tanks of water in which the performers, well, perform. Well we had our tiny version of that show. The tank in Amaluna is smaller but no less spectacular
The performer, the main female character, is an acrobat and contortionist and apparently half fish. We were in awe of the balancing she did on the rim of the tank, contorting her body into forms that I haven't seen maintained by a human since I stopped doing hallucinegetic drugs.
She would hurl herself down into the tank where the water was not especially deep, forming her body to the shape of the bowl, seemingly boneless and as fluid as the water in which she played.
One of the male performers, her love interest in the story also played in the water. While not quite as fluid as he love, he was still graceful. He displayed equal grace and strength in one of the story's most moving moments as he climbed and flowed around his pole, literally going up into the heavens to rescue his girl
One of the show's most remarkable moments, and the act that received the only standing ovation during the performance was, in comparison to all of the above, almost still. A woman in a long lame dress came out on the stage to stand barefoot amidst a pile of curved stick of various sizes. Standing quite still she balanced on one foot and used the other to pick up a stick, using this method, she began to assemble the sticks, balancing one against the other, using only their shapes to keep them together
It was a remarkable study in control, restraint and a physicality that wasn't as apparent as some of the other athletes. The music here was very soft, very restrained. The woman was on mic and you could hear her breathing, the engine that allowed her to keep her core still as she manipulated the sticks,
At the end she had assembled this amazing structure that was at leas six feet long and several feet wide. She held it up before taking one stick, the smallest stick, showing us the fragility of her structure as it fell to pieces on to the stage
There is an old theatrical concept called Pirandello, named after an Italian writer, a concept of which I am so fond I've named my video production company after it. It basically says that "I'm going to manipulate you, I'm going to make you cry, I'm going to force events to that result but I'm going to do it in such a way that by the end, when you cry, you'll have forgotten that I made you do it." It's manipulation and it's surprise and it's what Cirque and any good live event can give us: The right to be delighted even when we expected to be so
Sitting down before the show began I knew that I would see human being perform feats that would astound me. And I was astounded. In ways I couldn't anticipate. I knew it would happen and when it did, it was as if I never thought it could be done.
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