Category: History

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From my film vault

I was doing some spring cleaning this weekend. One box had a VHS tape that had a video transfer of a couple of old Super 8 movies I did more than 20 years ago. One I did for fun in 1983 and the other was my final project for a film production class I had in college back in 1990. I replaced the titled cards, sprinkled in some sound effects, added some royalty free music, and uploaded them to my YouTube Channel.

The video transfers are bad. It looks like the place where I had it done just pointed a video camera at a screen while they projected the movie so there is a lot of jitter and the title cards are pretty much unreadable. The picture quality is also poor.

I was able to fix some not so great editing I did on the 2nd the film. If I remember I was crushed for time so I did the edits quickly without making sure the pacing was right so one scene would run too long before a cut to another where the actor was standing around before I said action. Editing it digitally helped tighten those edits so the pacing looks better today.

The Pepsi Chaser (1983)

The Guide (1990)

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Health care reform passed – This is just the start

I have HCR hangover and we still have another bar to hit. The Stupak agreement is another example of Christian privilege that violates my religious rights and a woman’s right to her body. I hope that the price was enough and that we keep working on shaping the reform into what it should be including a viable Public Option that ends the monopoly practices of the health insurance industry.

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Weekend Ear Candy – In the air tonight – Phil Collins

It’s late one summer evening and I’m lying in a lean-to tent during a camp out weekend with my Scout troop back in 1982 I think. I am alone in the tent since I was so “popular” every one wanted to bunk with me. My only real friend was my small transistor radio. And a storm was moving toward the camp.

The sky flashed with lightening and low rumbles of thunder shook the ground as the storm drew closer.

I HATED thunderstorms so I turned on the radio and laid it on my ear to muffle the storm. “In the air tonight” came on and at just the time it seemed to sync with the storm noise and actually made it more enjoyable – it added a freaky twist to the song and the storm. Now when I hear the song it transfers back to that time and place.

In the air tonight – Phil Collins

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Why do we need to make up Olympic Stars?

Saw an article today commenting that the injury to Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn “means [NBC] could suddenly be without its most bankable star.” But I question the need to create stars before they participate in the games.

NBC badly needs stars to emerge out of these games. It has already said it will lose money on the Olympics for the first time ever, the result of a too-generous bid to televise the Vancouver Games and false expectations that advertising prices would continue to rise. NBC also needs prime-time success to divert attention from its sagging prime-time lineup and late-night executive bungling.

Injury could deprive NBC of top star

Sure there are favorites going into the games but what if they fail to perform as expected. NBC wastes hours of video and “personal stories” covering a few “faces” as if we need an excuse to root for the team. I know they have hours to fill but it would be better to see more action rather than canned video of some “star” bagging groceries at home.

I get enjoyment out of “stars” who emerge from their performance in an unexpected way. The Turin 2006 men’s curling team comes to mind or Rulon Gardner the Greco-Roman wrestling gold medalist who came out of no where to win at the 2000 Summer games.

The best example is the 1980 men’s hockey team that beat the USSR. The slow burn of excitement is now a classic.

Sometimes I think focusing on a few “stars” causes more pressure than need be at the Olympics and just seems forced.

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