k-town

first thing: it's freaking cold in kelowna.

second thing: i'm having a blast filming the good ladyhawk dudes. they are sincerely nice guys who like to fart infront of each other and ban the use of the phrase "it's all good"

also, it doesn't feel like work at all. it's about a 15 hour day for us since we gotta get up early to download tapes onto our computer in the morning and then get to the recording space by 11am, leave around 10:30pm, then stay up until about midnight to transfer more tape, and debrief.

we ended up using two Canon XL1s instead of the A1s because the rental place didn't get their A1s in time. at first we thought it would be cool because the XL1s are twice the price of the A1s but they're also twice the weight and bulk. they are waaay too heavy for doc filming.

but i gotta run, i'm stealing some wifi from a computer store (i'm parked directly infront of the store).

off to kelowna

okay kids, we're off to kelowna this morning-ish for the ladyhawk doc. here's a list of the more interesting items we're bringing:
/our computer (so we can download footage)
/our own blankets and pillows
/lots of fleece (it's 4 degrees there, brrrrrr)
/two rented HD cameras with tripods, fig rig
/energy bars and red bull-type drinks
/70 minidv tapes
/patience for 6 and 4 year olds (we're staying with rob's sister and her kids have historically made me mental)

time to go pickup the HD cameras. take care of vancouver while we're gone.

lunar new year party

the dumplings were eaten as fast as i could make them. thank goodness i made some backup. we had filmmaker friends, friends from my work and other good friends. there were 3 kids total that came. one 4 year old brought me a homemade red lantern that i taped to the buzzer intercom to let people know which buzzer to press.

the biggest compliment was when ken said our place looked like a chinese brothel. nice, ken. nice.

the first guest arrived at 3:10pm and the last guest left at 10:20pm.
200 dumplings were consumed.

thank you to everyone who showed up. it was a blast. well, it certainly looked like a blast from my perch in the kitchen.

twas the night before the party

well, just yesterday. here's the scoop:

1/ the second large burner on the stove doesn't work AND the switch for the right side of the stove top burnt out. freak out time. i decide to put on my DIY home fix-it hat and go to the appliance place and pickup a new element socket and switch. see first picture above. i get behind the stove, unscrew the entire back plate, unhook all the connectors and put in the new switch.

2/ busy working on the audio post-production on ken's latest PSA. at one point both rob and ken are on their respective laptops in the livingroom. see second picture. somehow i convince ken that my sound work doesn't need a lot of tweaking. luckily, he hadn't slept in like 2 days and couldn't tell.

preparations

sunday afternoon was spent making some pork dumplings. here they are in neat little rows right before i put them into the freezer. these will be 'backup' dumplings in case i run out on saturday.

i hope you all can make it. it'll be swell.

:::: __ ...

in other news, we found out at work that one of our coworker's son (24yr old) passed away after a vehicle accident. it was pretty quiet around the proverbial office cooler after that.

i'm gonna visit my dad and my brother and his family tonight. i'll give my nephew a big hug since my family isn't a huggy bunch.

oh my fuck

let me set this up:
due to a restructuring of the bedroom, my head now lies 3 inches away from the shared wall with my neighbour's livingroom wall. i'd like to fire the architect that dreamed up this little arrangement.

for the past 2 nights, at precisely 2:30am, i've been awakened by the sound of my neighbour's low-based music/video game.

on saturday night, he was definitely listening to some first nations drumming special on the tube. i've heard/seen him in his car listening to the drumming at full blast.

then, last night, it sounded more like a car that was revving then pausing, then revving up again.

the sound (aka noise) would go on for an hour.

as i was half awake and half asleep, i envisioned myself writing a little note to the neighbour saying:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
hi there.
i live next door to you. unfortunately, we live in a crappy building where the architect decided to put my bedroom wall against your livingroom wall. poor planning, i say.

you've been a great neighbour since you moved in last year. your kids are sweet and your wife seems lovely.

however, for the past 2 nights, i've been awakened at 2:30am by the sound of someone watching tv or listening to music. now, i can tell that the sound is turned down and i'm appreciative. thank you. but because the building was cheaply built, i was still able to hear the noise.

would i be able to kindly ask you to turn it down just a bit more?

appreciatively yours,
#111
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

we've all been there, haven't we?

holy shite, i'm done with the wedding video

it is finished.

just borrowing a little quote from everyone's favourite personal saviour to announce that: hell, yes, the wedding video is complete.
finito.
over, and out.

in fact, i can't even go back and touch anything up because rob just trashed all the files (except for a few that we need for samples).

here's a smattering of factoids on this project:
300 GB of memory
80 hours of editing for me
40 hours of editing for rob
18 miniDV tapes
18 hours (7am-11:30pm) of coverage on the wedding day
4 months of editing
4 hours of a "long" version of the wedding
several aspect ratio problems
2 cameras
1 one hour highlights video edit
1 dead pixel on 1 camera
1 tear-filled evening for me

YES, i am celebrating with a glass of gewurztraminer given to us from ken t.

time to bring on the other projects.

PS - we've got our fav graphic/web designer working on a wedding video website for us. it should be done in a month's time.