Jul 7, 2007

Friday Scenes

At times I find myself being fascinated by the simplest things. Moments of essentially little consequence, that only in the right frame of mind seem to trigger reflection or inspire me to think out a scene for a screenplay I haven't written yet. I doubt that this is uncommon as we all have moments that are conveniently entertaining, but I've discovered that the more I can absorb these moments the happier and more self assured I become.

For instance, today I was at Walmart and overheard someone say 'I have no idea where my car is, I parked somewhere out in the boonies'. I started to laugh because I refer to the 'boonies' all the time, and until hearing this other guy say it I thought to myself that I have no idea what that means. I guess it's just slang for the middle of nowhere, but still, boonies? When did that catch on and where did i pick it up? Pointless, I know, but there are a lot of dumb sayings that I've embraced over the years.

Also, today the temperature reached a new record high in Regina, beating a previous high from the 1920s. It was 37 degrees Celsius, the kind of hot and humid weather that makes you feel like you just got out of the shower and can't seem to dry off. The dorms are pretty good, I have AC in my room. My one roommate though, or person who also has a dorm here (roommate sounds like we know each other) insists on opening the windows on a daily basis (which leaves me following behind to close them). His reasoning for this could be to let out the smell of his cooking or maybe he likes fresh air, but all I can think about is that the work it took to cool off the place is lost in 5 minutes. Not to mention all the energy it wastes. Plus, how does 37 degrees feel good unless you're on a quest to turn your shoebox of a room into a personal sauna?

My history in residence is full of stories like this that both irritate and entertain (after the fact). There is enough material here for numerous seasons of a residence based sitcom. I'm a white guy in College West (the dorms) which puts me in the minority to a largely Asian population (especially during the summer when most Canadians have gone back to live with their parents or whatever). The cultural differences can be vast. Although, what I may justify as cultural differences is more likely the general stupidity of a select few.

I've learned to deal with residence life so when it came to the open windows on one of the hottest days of the year, I was once again cheerfully shocked as opposed to angry. In contrast, I've experienced everything from the routine loud music and roommates, to people using the toilet as a garbage disposal, cutting their hair in the kitchen and leaving it, and cooking food that smells like the sewer backed up. It's far from glamorous, but it's the kind of fodder and abuse that breeds creativity. No doubt, building character in numerous ways too. Any how, I've left a note on the windows, hopefully we can save some AC now.

The cherry on top of the day was getting a Slurpee (or technically a froster) at macs. With it being so incredibly hot, the machines were overworked and some of the Slurpees were pretty runny. A kid came up, maybe 8 or 9, and as he turned the lever to fill his cup a rush of liquid just sprayed all over him (clearly inexperienced). Noticing the obvious shock of the kid, and trying to hold back laughter myself I turned and said what anybody in that situation would say, 'that sucks'. Probably actually cooled himself off anyway, so, lucky kid. Not that I thrive on the bad experiences of others or anything, but it's the hiccups that keep things interesting.

Sometimes it doesn't take much to make a good day.

Jul 1, 2007

Bloggin Fireworks!

Well, it's now been one month that I've been keeping this blog. If you've visited regularly you'll have noticed that the look has been changing quite a bit, but maybe I'll settle on something eventually. The best part of all though is that Editing Luke has actually done what I hoped it would in motivating me. The Buick to the Future short films were half inspired by the desire to share new work on here, and with over 1400 hits to the site in June, and well over 1000 combined views of the videos I've posted, I'd say things are off to a good start. Plus, with a host of comments posted and sent through email it's been great for getting feedback and staying in touch. Needless to say, I look forward to further developing the content on this blog and sharing it with you. Thanks for checking in.

Also, Happy Canada Day! Which in my view has always been about relaxing and fireworks. Especially, fireworks. For the first time I'm in Regina for the summer, catching up by taking some electives in summer school. It's been interesting not being at home, but overall it hasn't been overly different. It's just like an extended April or September that I'd experience during the school year. I'm looking forward to seeing what the fireworks will be like here though. 


Back in Medicine Hat, Alberta I'd be sitting across from the giant teepee (it sounds weird if you don't know it, but it's the largest in the world!) and watching the fireworks shoot up over the valley. Here I'll be somewhere around Wascana Lake to see them go up around the Legislative Building. 

My plan is to video tape the fireworks and put them into a short video that I'll share in this post later, but for now, I'll share a video that I filmed back in the Hat in 2004. This firework display has to be one of the best the city has ever put on, and with a population of only 60,000 people it had surpassed my expectations completely (I remember 2005 and 2006 weren't as good). Anyway, I've artsied it up a bit and made it a bit more energetic, but enjoy the display (on video and in person tonight) and check back to see how Regina compares.

Medicine Hat Canada Day Fireworks 2004 - The Big Bang

This portion of the post has obviously been added after the fireworks tonight, because here they are . . . kind of. What can I say about the Regina fireworks? They had their moments, it was relatively exciting, and it was nice to be in the company of so many other people. They weren't quite as spectacular as I'd hoped though (see the Med Hat Fireworks vid above and you'll see the expectations I was hoping to surpass). 

Still, I don't really have any complaints as I had a good time anyway. I decided to do something different with this video though seeing as the display wasn't quite as grand. When shooting fireworks (which has actually happened quite a few times over the years) I like to zoom in and blur some of the fireworks to create a neat colour and light effect. I thought it would be neat to play with this with the Regina footage to create a firework kaleidoscope of sorts. Or maybe it's more cosmic looking. It was an interesting enough experiment, and I'm happy with the results. What do you think?

Regina Canada Day Fireworks 2007 - Cosmic Kaleidoscope