It's Christmas in May ...
And Santa's Workshop is not at the North Pole, it's at the International Centre out by the airport in Toronto
The Media Photography and Media Show is one of my yearly (or nearly so) convention treks Cameras and lights and wireless lav packs oh my!
Actually one of the things I was hoping to pick up at the show this year was indeed a wireless mic kit to go with my new Sony NX cam. I've been on several websites, including Henry's Camera which sponsors this show, as found a Sure combo wireless kit with both a lav (lapel mic) and handeld. I've seen prices vary from 300 to as low as 140
So at the show I go to the Sure booth .. not only did the two represenatives of the company had to fumble through a bunch of catalogues to find the kit (um, I an fumble all on my own thank you) they came up with a price of 800 bucks ...
I didn't pay to get into the show. You get what you pay for they say
I did pick up a Sevenoak steadicam type cam stabilizer, more on that later
But here's a little video with some of the highlights of the show
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Thursday, May 22, 2014
URBAN MYTHS DECODED: THE STICK EATER
There are many strange things out there my friends
Beasties, monsters, genetic backwaters
Yeti, Nessie, Ogo Pogo .. are any of them real?
We continue in our quest to decode urban myths. In this edition we explore the legend of the strange, rarely seen beast known as the Stick Eater
Myth or reality?
You decide
DISCLAIMER: All the content of this video is verified as authentic and true except for all the things that have been made up
Beasties, monsters, genetic backwaters
Yeti, Nessie, Ogo Pogo .. are any of them real?
We continue in our quest to decode urban myths. In this edition we explore the legend of the strange, rarely seen beast known as the Stick Eater
Myth or reality?
You decide
DISCLAIMER: All the content of this video is verified as authentic and true except for all the things that have been made up
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
YOU KNOW YOU'RE GETTING OLDER WHEN ...
The May long weekend as passed. May two four. May twofer
Remember when you called it that, May twofer. Remember what that meant to you?
Yeh man, long weekend, a twofer of beer ... or wine or whiskey or tequilla .. the latter of which could lead to a two day stay in a hospital .. or jail cell but what the fuck .. IT'S THE LONG WEEKEND
Camping, drinking, barfing, boating, barfing, partying, barfing, BBQ, bar... you get the idea
Call the fam, call the friends, everyone chip in, rent a van, find a hotel/campsite/improperlymaintainedhouse ... party IT'S THE LONG WEEKEND
Times have changed my friends
This May Twofer it was .. Great, let's mow the lawn, buy a Weedeater, rake up the leaves, take the dog for an extra long walk, have a BBQ and cue up the last three episodes of Game of Thrones
Yeh .. it's, um, the Long Weekend
Party on dudes
Remember when you called it that, May twofer. Remember what that meant to you?
Yeh man, long weekend, a twofer of beer ... or wine or whiskey or tequilla .. the latter of which could lead to a two day stay in a hospital .. or jail cell but what the fuck .. IT'S THE LONG WEEKEND
Camping, drinking, barfing, boating, barfing, partying, barfing, BBQ, bar... you get the idea
Call the fam, call the friends, everyone chip in, rent a van, find a hotel/campsite/improperlymaintainedhouse ... party IT'S THE LONG WEEKEND
Times have changed my friends
This May Twofer it was .. Great, let's mow the lawn, buy a Weedeater, rake up the leaves, take the dog for an extra long walk, have a BBQ and cue up the last three episodes of Game of Thrones
Yeh .. it's, um, the Long Weekend
Party on dudes
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
BORDER COLLIE WEATHER
Rain stings my face.
Back in the trees, I could not feel it; it's not a heavy rain, it's an early spring rain and this spring that means cold and sharp and it clings to my beard. I bow my head, pull up my hood and move forward into the low rolling hills of the ravine.
Terra breaks out of the trees behind me. She pauses there on the crest of the hill, just as I had. Her eyes narrow in the rain but her muzzle raises up almost of its own volition it seems and I can see her nostrils flare as she fills her mind and her body with the scents all around her.
The ears come up, just for a second pricked in the classic Border Collie way but that is not her way and after a moment the ears lay back down. I've gotten about 20 feet ahead of her and of course, that will not do. The head lowers just a bit, her long lanky body surges forward, the muscles moving under her glossy black fur like the current of a deep cold dark river.
She is at my side in seconds; she slows, not quite pausing and tilts her head just enough to let me know that she is looking at me. I move my hand in a practised way and I quietly say "Go ahead little girl."
And she goes.
Due to the weather, the big park is empty. Green rolling hills fringed with elm trees and willows and poplars. I know that there is a street just beyond those trees, that overpasses arch above us but I can ignore that.
Terra is moving ahead of me, not full out running but moving swiftly, tail up and curled with its distinctive crook in the end, her nose down, running it through the wet grass.
She is scenting, or trying to scent. Border collies are not scent dogs, they are sight dogs. When Terra wants something she "asks with here eyes" which means usually laying down on her belly and staring at the object she desires ... and I mean staring. Eyes locked on, body incredibly still, I swear her breathing changes; this is entire focus this is concentration, this is a dog saying "You idiot it's there, it's right there, that thing, right there!"
But now she is moving through the high grass, the wetness clinging to the long feathered fur on the backs of her legs, he nose down, head swinging. She is not a scent dog. Up north one winter I found deer tracks, fairly fresh, in the snow and I put her nose right in them; off she went, following the scent, till she got to the point where the deer tracks went right. Terra went left.
But she is just casting now, curious, picking up scents of other dogs, squirrels, raccoons maybe. There are coyotes in this ravine. I'm not sure what she would do if she scented them, run like hell probably. She's a smart dog.
We come to a part where the ravine becomes quite steep, the wooded slope rising up at a very sharp angle to a height of about 30 or 40 feet. She goes to where the wall of the ravine begins to rise; she stops, turns only her head to look at me, mouth open tongue lolling eyes bright. I quietly say "Go ahead little girl."
And she goes.
She flies straight up, very fast, easily leaping over logs, flowing under branches, fearless; she's scented a squirrel and she begins to bark, still running, moving fast, totally happy in that moment,
I continue along the trail, heading back into thicker trees as Terra runs the ravine, sometimes barking sometimes quiet, intense and focussed at one moment then completely hyper and loud and explosive in the next.
I lose sight of her from time to time in the trees but I know she knows where I am. She is my border collie and I am her master, her leader, her shepherd if you will. She always knows where I am.
The rain is getting heavier now, soaking through my hoodie. I shove my hands into my pockets, hunching my shoulders. Terra comes bounding down the wall of the ravine at full speed, her fur soaked through, her normally full tail looking rat like.
She is smiling. She is happy. She comes barreling along the trail, mud spattering and sticking to her fur. She skids to a halt right in front of me, the mouth open her eyes gleaming. She tilts here head as if to say "Where to next"
When I had Hayley and Terra together we had a "dog park friend" a lady from England who also had two border collies. She had grown up with the breed. One day we were in the park with our four days, a day much like this one, with low clouds and cold blowing rain and an empty ravine. We were miserable us two humans but the four border collies were ranging ahead of us; quiet and swift and feeling the roll of the hills, their noses in their wind, eyes slitted against the cold hard rain.
The lady stopped me with her hand and had me watch the dogs for a moment. "Look at them. They love this. This is border collie weather."
So now she is at my feet, looking up at me as if to ask "Where to next"
I pull the hood tighter around my head, feeling the sting of the rain and I say to her "Go ahead little girl"
And we go
Back in the trees, I could not feel it; it's not a heavy rain, it's an early spring rain and this spring that means cold and sharp and it clings to my beard. I bow my head, pull up my hood and move forward into the low rolling hills of the ravine.
Terra breaks out of the trees behind me. She pauses there on the crest of the hill, just as I had. Her eyes narrow in the rain but her muzzle raises up almost of its own volition it seems and I can see her nostrils flare as she fills her mind and her body with the scents all around her.
The ears come up, just for a second pricked in the classic Border Collie way but that is not her way and after a moment the ears lay back down. I've gotten about 20 feet ahead of her and of course, that will not do. The head lowers just a bit, her long lanky body surges forward, the muscles moving under her glossy black fur like the current of a deep cold dark river.
She is at my side in seconds; she slows, not quite pausing and tilts her head just enough to let me know that she is looking at me. I move my hand in a practised way and I quietly say "Go ahead little girl."
And she goes.
Due to the weather, the big park is empty. Green rolling hills fringed with elm trees and willows and poplars. I know that there is a street just beyond those trees, that overpasses arch above us but I can ignore that.
Terra is moving ahead of me, not full out running but moving swiftly, tail up and curled with its distinctive crook in the end, her nose down, running it through the wet grass.
She is scenting, or trying to scent. Border collies are not scent dogs, they are sight dogs. When Terra wants something she "asks with here eyes" which means usually laying down on her belly and staring at the object she desires ... and I mean staring. Eyes locked on, body incredibly still, I swear her breathing changes; this is entire focus this is concentration, this is a dog saying "You idiot it's there, it's right there, that thing, right there!"
But now she is moving through the high grass, the wetness clinging to the long feathered fur on the backs of her legs, he nose down, head swinging. She is not a scent dog. Up north one winter I found deer tracks, fairly fresh, in the snow and I put her nose right in them; off she went, following the scent, till she got to the point where the deer tracks went right. Terra went left.
But she is just casting now, curious, picking up scents of other dogs, squirrels, raccoons maybe. There are coyotes in this ravine. I'm not sure what she would do if she scented them, run like hell probably. She's a smart dog.
We come to a part where the ravine becomes quite steep, the wooded slope rising up at a very sharp angle to a height of about 30 or 40 feet. She goes to where the wall of the ravine begins to rise; she stops, turns only her head to look at me, mouth open tongue lolling eyes bright. I quietly say "Go ahead little girl."
And she goes.
She flies straight up, very fast, easily leaping over logs, flowing under branches, fearless; she's scented a squirrel and she begins to bark, still running, moving fast, totally happy in that moment,
I continue along the trail, heading back into thicker trees as Terra runs the ravine, sometimes barking sometimes quiet, intense and focussed at one moment then completely hyper and loud and explosive in the next.
I lose sight of her from time to time in the trees but I know she knows where I am. She is my border collie and I am her master, her leader, her shepherd if you will. She always knows where I am.
The rain is getting heavier now, soaking through my hoodie. I shove my hands into my pockets, hunching my shoulders. Terra comes bounding down the wall of the ravine at full speed, her fur soaked through, her normally full tail looking rat like.
She is smiling. She is happy. She comes barreling along the trail, mud spattering and sticking to her fur. She skids to a halt right in front of me, the mouth open her eyes gleaming. She tilts here head as if to say "Where to next"
When I had Hayley and Terra together we had a "dog park friend" a lady from England who also had two border collies. She had grown up with the breed. One day we were in the park with our four days, a day much like this one, with low clouds and cold blowing rain and an empty ravine. We were miserable us two humans but the four border collies were ranging ahead of us; quiet and swift and feeling the roll of the hills, their noses in their wind, eyes slitted against the cold hard rain.
The lady stopped me with her hand and had me watch the dogs for a moment. "Look at them. They love this. This is border collie weather."
So now she is at my feet, looking up at me as if to ask "Where to next"
I pull the hood tighter around my head, feeling the sting of the rain and I say to her "Go ahead little girl"
And we go
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
DONALD STERLING HAS WORMS IN HIS HEAD BUT THEY ARE HIS WORMS: REPOST
THIS IS A REPOST. IN THE ORIGINAL POST I WAS CONFUSING THE NAMES OF TWO OF THE STORY'S PRINCIPLES, STERLING AND SILVER BUT THINK ABOUT THAT ... STERLING SILVER .. COINCIDENCE?
Donald Stering is a bigot
The owner of the LA Clippers NBA team is a scared old man who got himself a little trophy arm candy and apparently spends his days living in fear of said eye candy actually finding a man more virile and interesting than himself ... a big fear as it seems that would be a very deep pool
Sterling has probably been a bigot his entire life, that's how it works. He is a very old man and he will be a bigot until the day he dies
You can't change that. Not now, not at this stage of his life. Bigots do not have the acuity of mind to be able to change it, they are scared people and their fear over rides anything else.
Donald Sterling's thoughts are repellent and ignorant but they're his thoughts. And now he's being punished for them
He's being punished for his thoughts. Think about that
Sterling expressed these racist thoughts during a phone conversation with this girlfriend, the aforementioned eye candy. Although the woman claims that Silver understood that their private conversations were being recorded I think it's more likely that the old bigot thought that he was having a private talk with a person with whom he was intimate
Unlike like former Cincinnati Reds owner Marg Schott, who made her proclamation of "that Hitler he had some great ideas" in a setting (I think it was a restaurant) where many people could overhear, Sterling thought he was having a one on one conversation in private places
The fact that this private conversation became public seems out of Sterling's control, I don't think he intended it He's been a bigot a long time, he owns a team in a pro sports league where the majority of players are black men, even if he does not agree with the consequences of making such statements public, he knows the danger therein
And danger there is. For expressing his opinion, no matter how dumb ass and pathetic, he has been banned for life for being around the team he owns and the NBA will try to take said team away from him
Sterling is not being "punished" for discriminatory hiring practices in the NBA (the coach of his team is the great Doc Rivers who happens to be black and the majority of the players are black) or for making racist comments about NBA players or black people in general in an NBA forum or an interview etc
Clearly the NBA has been embarressed by this incident This man is an owner, an owner of a team in a high profile city (imagine if it was the Lakers, he'd probably be hung by now) and the newly appointed NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, is a white man .. again. So what we have here is spin doctory in the direction of political correctness
Political correctness is insidious, it tries, through force of institution, to change our thinking to correct our thinking, to bring people's thinking into whatever stream of expression they deem acceptable. Gosh that sure sounds like thought control to me
Donald Sterling is a bigot. He is sad and pathetic. He has a mind full of worms. After all this he still will have a mind full of worms. Many many many people do. They also will still maintain this mindset. But now perhaps they will learn that the worms in their head can be eaten by the worms in the heads of certain other people
You think bad, stop thinking bad, think like us. Or we will spank you
When I meet a person and they spout racist drivel at me I stop speaking to them. I dismiss them, I cut them out of my life. That is not punishment for them, it's relief for myself. I have no right to punish anyone else and I know it won't make a damn bit of difference.
I may not like the worms in their heads but it's their head They have the right to fill it with whatever shit they deem. I have to accept that. If I don't, what happens if someone doesn't like the worms in my own head ....
I think the person who believes they have the right to dig around in anyone else's head has the biggest darkest nastiest worms of all
Donald Stering is a bigot
The owner of the LA Clippers NBA team is a scared old man who got himself a little trophy arm candy and apparently spends his days living in fear of said eye candy actually finding a man more virile and interesting than himself ... a big fear as it seems that would be a very deep pool
Sterling has probably been a bigot his entire life, that's how it works. He is a very old man and he will be a bigot until the day he dies
You can't change that. Not now, not at this stage of his life. Bigots do not have the acuity of mind to be able to change it, they are scared people and their fear over rides anything else.
Donald Sterling's thoughts are repellent and ignorant but they're his thoughts. And now he's being punished for them
He's being punished for his thoughts. Think about that
Sterling expressed these racist thoughts during a phone conversation with this girlfriend, the aforementioned eye candy. Although the woman claims that Silver understood that their private conversations were being recorded I think it's more likely that the old bigot thought that he was having a private talk with a person with whom he was intimate
Unlike like former Cincinnati Reds owner Marg Schott, who made her proclamation of "that Hitler he had some great ideas" in a setting (I think it was a restaurant) where many people could overhear, Sterling thought he was having a one on one conversation in private places
The fact that this private conversation became public seems out of Sterling's control, I don't think he intended it He's been a bigot a long time, he owns a team in a pro sports league where the majority of players are black men, even if he does not agree with the consequences of making such statements public, he knows the danger therein
And danger there is. For expressing his opinion, no matter how dumb ass and pathetic, he has been banned for life for being around the team he owns and the NBA will try to take said team away from him
Sterling is not being "punished" for discriminatory hiring practices in the NBA (the coach of his team is the great Doc Rivers who happens to be black and the majority of the players are black) or for making racist comments about NBA players or black people in general in an NBA forum or an interview etc
Clearly the NBA has been embarressed by this incident This man is an owner, an owner of a team in a high profile city (imagine if it was the Lakers, he'd probably be hung by now) and the newly appointed NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, is a white man .. again. So what we have here is spin doctory in the direction of political correctness
Political correctness is insidious, it tries, through force of institution, to change our thinking to correct our thinking, to bring people's thinking into whatever stream of expression they deem acceptable. Gosh that sure sounds like thought control to me
Donald Sterling is a bigot. He is sad and pathetic. He has a mind full of worms. After all this he still will have a mind full of worms. Many many many people do. They also will still maintain this mindset. But now perhaps they will learn that the worms in their head can be eaten by the worms in the heads of certain other people
You think bad, stop thinking bad, think like us. Or we will spank you
When I meet a person and they spout racist drivel at me I stop speaking to them. I dismiss them, I cut them out of my life. That is not punishment for them, it's relief for myself. I have no right to punish anyone else and I know it won't make a damn bit of difference.
I may not like the worms in their heads but it's their head They have the right to fill it with whatever shit they deem. I have to accept that. If I don't, what happens if someone doesn't like the worms in my own head ....
I think the person who believes they have the right to dig around in anyone else's head has the biggest darkest nastiest worms of all
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
NOAH: THEY DON'T MAKE THE BIBLE LIKE THAT USED TO DO
So, since Christmas, Collette and I have watched two biblical epics this year ... and that's more than we've watched in the last ten years or so
During the Christmas break we decided to clear about 10 hrs from our schedule and watch a remastered Blu Ray version of Ben Hur. OK, it didn't take 10 hours to watch it, we paused it to make popcorn
Now I'm sure if this movie actually qualifies as a biblical epic. It tells the story of Judah Ben Hur, an Israeli noble during the time of the Roman occupation and the rise and subsequent persecution of the christians. Hur, played by Charleton Heston, finds himself on the wrong side of both these events and in one of the movie's pivotal scenes has a personal interaction with Christ
During the Christmas break we decided to clear about 10 hrs from our schedule and watch a remastered Blu Ray version of Ben Hur. OK, it didn't take 10 hours to watch it, we paused it to make popcorn
Now I'm sure if this movie actually qualifies as a biblical epic. It tells the story of Judah Ben Hur, an Israeli noble during the time of the Roman occupation and the rise and subsequent persecution of the christians. Hur, played by Charleton Heston, finds himself on the wrong side of both these events and in one of the movie's pivotal scenes has a personal interaction with Christ
More recently Collete and I went to the theatre and watched an unabashed biblical epic, Noah, starring Russel Crowe
Noah tells the story of ... wait for it .. Noah and the Great Flood and the Ark. Yeh, consider that a spoiler.
Noah is a very Old Testament movie, filled with violence and chaos and magic and implied incest. The world of Noah is chaotic, it's a world created by a deity and then abandoned by said deity because humans were acting, well, like humans and kind of not paying attention to the big invisible dude in the sky
We all know what happens then. Yup, go get your snorkel and your floaties
The movie is kind of packaged as a visual spectacle and it has some of that. The scenes where the animals make their own way to the Ark and the initial moments of the Flood are handled extremely well. But there are also some visual moments that seem jarringly inadequate; important characters in the story are a group of angels who have been cast down to earth by their creator (yeh this guy is cranky what can we said) and quite frankly, their depiction seems like something you'd see produced in a high school media class. Actually, they reminded me a lot of Ray Harryhausen stop motion work from some of his minor B movies back in the day
Yes that thing pictured above is a Fallen Angel, one of the Watchers who help Noah build the ark. Yes, it's a rock monster.
Noah tries to tackle some of the issues that his story floats upon: The question of who gets to live and who gets to drown; the obsession of a single man that on one hand allows him to save his family and all the animals on the other planet and on the other hand gives him license to put said family in some very personal danger
Ben Hur is a story built upon the back of some very big events: The Roman occupation and enslavement of an entire culture and the coming of the Messiah. The movie starts out with a very old school, very heavy handed telling of the birth of Christ. It is onerous and clumsily staged and sort of reminded me of those old NFB documentaries we were shown in school
I almost stopped watching the movie right there but once we get past that, we are brought into the store of Ben Hur and his friend the Roman Centurion and his family who are put into some very real personal danger. What makes this movie work is that we are told about these momentous events by following a man and his love and regret and growth, Heston's incredibly dedicated performance and a script that allows him to grow, keeps us in the story
Noah works best when it keeps us following the characters and their growth. There are some absolutely stunning performances in the movie from Crow (one of the best things he's done) to Anthony Hopkins as Methuselah, to Emma Watson in one of the best things she's ever done
Ray Winstone plays the movie's counterpoint to Noah. He is a king, an ungodly (literally) king who challenges Noah's right to the land, his right to the Ark and his right to select who is to live and who is to die. The king is big and gruff and menacing and expresses himself largely through a series of grunts .. a perfect Ray Winstone character
In some respects this character is presented as a villain. We know this because he likes to hunt, kill and eat animals (sometimes without the need to cook them) and this behavior seems to shock the Noah family. I think Vegans and/or PETA influenced this script. That is not the only reason why I kind of emphasized with the king; Noah is so fucking sanctimonious that I really hoped Ray would cut off his body parts and use them as movie snacks
In Ben Hur, once we get past that awkward pretentious opening, the story concentrates its strong characters and their reactions to all these big events that have gotten a hold of them. Noah has a lot of preaching to do and it does so in the same kind of awkward, NFB inspired set pieces as the opening of Hur but it keeps doing so, all the way through the movie
Trust me, these scenes are squirmingly awful
Ben Hur stood up quite well decades after its initial release It's an old school movie to be sure but the performances are powerful and the story telling straight forward and compelling. Noah has some very effective moments but the film making is, quite honestly, wonky. Hey, I like wonky. I adore the movie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou but that film is wonky beginning to end. Noah kind of morphs in and out of its wonkiness, it's as if the prime director and the second unit director really never met each other .. or read the same script
Noah is a movie you may want to catch some time in whatever format you watch movies at home. The performances really are great. But it does not benefit from a "big screen" showing. Though it's always pleasant to hear Ray Winstone grunt in Dolby sound surround
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
THE NEWEST WEDDING DESTINATION
Ok this one is strictly for the Game of Thrones fans
Westeros is a place of magic and beauty and gosh, they do enjoy their weddings ...
Currently Lord Tyrion is struggling, as Master of Purse, to balance the kingdom's budget.
Well, I was I have a degree in Advertising and I was in the wedding business for years so I came up with a way to help out the Imp and Westeros
So I came up with a little "pitch" video
Westeros is a place of magic and beauty and gosh, they do enjoy their weddings ...
Currently Lord Tyrion is struggling, as Master of Purse, to balance the kingdom's budget.
Well, I was I have a degree in Advertising and I was in the wedding business for years so I came up with a way to help out the Imp and Westeros
So I came up with a little "pitch" video
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