DVD Intro Video

With the initial transfer project now nearing completion (you remember; the super 8 film to DVD project), and the second stage of archiving those same DVDs set to begin, the only job left for me to do was to create a short pictorial presentation that could act as a sort of greeting card for the entire series.

It had to be something that would run less than 30 seconds and start up immediately upon being inserted into the DVD player. Something bright and cheery that would precede the official menu page and the long list of ultra cool bonus features.

What I settled on was just to rehash some of the exact same photos I'd used in a recent blog report ("Anything Will Do") and then try to add some 'splice appropriate' music to back it all up.

Midnight Roller Hockey

There was a time back in the 70s when driving over to North Vancouver to play hockey on roller skates in the earliest minutes of the morning (just after midnight) in a big rented rink in the middle of winter sounded quite appealing. Roller skating at 2AM when most regular folk are at home in bed sleeping seemed like a big hoot n'holler for us youngish Blazer types for some strange reason.

I don't remember exactly how many times we arranged these 'graveyard shift' games back in our heyday (every two weeks comes to mind) but each episode was an adventure. I recall how Don simply HAD to catch the end of a late night TV show (The Onedin Line?) before finally heading out for the rink; leaving us to worry that he'd be late for the 12:30AM kick off. (You certainly couldn't get from 35th Avenue in Vancouver to Stardust in North Van in less than 30 minutes THESE days!)

Either Laine or George provided some of the camerawork for this hockey video. I don't think either of them actually suited up with stick and skates, but they'd occasionally come along to watch - and then join us for a post game meal somewhere (Copper Kettle?) around 3AM.

In the 1980s, when VHS tape was in fashion, I managed to record a few midnight roller hockey games out in Richmond against brudder in law Mike and his co-horts. And while the Blazers always won those '80s games, they never had quite the same thrill and romance that the '70s games did. Why's that I wonder? Novelty worn off? Old age kicking in? When I get around to transferring the remaining 200 feet of roller hockey action, we'll return again to this subject for further analysis. So keep your ticket stub.

Blog Time Limits

I intended to focus the main body of today's video on the old roller hockey playing days of the mid 70s. Plenty o'footage exists of the Blazer gang trying to stay upright with sticks and skates during the early morning hours at Stardust Roller Rink in North Vancouver.

However, after first editing a batch of OTHER (unrelated) scenes (Billy adding crackers to his tea/Don flossing his teeth) into the beginning of this latest collection, I suddenly discovered that I had more than enough material to fill the strict time requirements that 'Blogger Industries' demand. Which meant that all the sporty hockey footage (including Doug almost being boarded into the parking lot) would have to wait around for another time and place.

The brothers (Doug and Rob) are featured prominently in this latest edition, and a few more discarded bits from the 1974 Vernon trip with Don & Bart have been rescued. It's very much another rag-tag affair today (notice all the car driving scenes) but that's basically the way we do things around here at the head offices of 'No Relevant Point'. And I suppose there's no secret now on what exactly our NEXT video blog entry will be about.

Anything Will Do

Here's an easy assignment. Slap down a peppy tune or two; toss in some old faded pictures; and call it a blog entry. No need to use the most interesting pictures; or even ones that are focused properly. Naa, anything will do. As long as there's a few snaps from the olden days on Quebec Street, it's A-OK with my viewers.

Frankly, I wouldn't put up with it myself. If I was a regular visitor to this place I'd make a stink about it. I'd leave a nasty comment in the comments section. How dare the webmaster think he can simply upload any old photos and then expect us all to just eat it up, no questions asked. Oh sure, I might make the effort to watch the thing once or twice, but I wouldn't enjoy it, I'll tell you that much right now.

Missing In Action; The Lost Footage

Apparently I took my movie camera with me to Long Beach back in 1975 (with Don and Dan) and returned home a few days later having only used the camera to capture ONE TINY SCENE lasting 5 seconds in duration. I find this a little hard to swallow. Even harder to believe, is the fact that it wasn't me that shot those precious 5 seconds of footage. I'm clearly the person seen waving from the shoreline IN FRONT of the camera during that one snippet. (Snippet included below).

Now, there's no way I could have contained myself to a paltry 5 seconds of film making while on vacation. It's frustrating to think that a roll or two of super 8 film from that trip may have been lost or misplaced over the years. Did I even receive all my rolls back from the Kodak processing plant at the time? Were any rolls lost in the mail? After more than 3 decades, it's probably a little too late to start making enquiries.

The same concern has been nagging me about two other holiday films that SHOULD be in my collection - but are not. One was a 1974 trip to Manning Park and the other was a 1973 summer's day at Spanish Banks (both with Doug and Paul). Not to mention a few scenes of Laine & Iris on the block in 1974; and more of Dan and Bartholomew in Seattle in 1980. While I haven't completely finished the transferring project, I'm well aware of just what's next on the transfer treadmill. And the films I've just mentioned are NOT among the reels currently waiting their turn in line.

However, not all is lost. Here's a short collection of images spanning the middle years of the 1970s that were not misplaced or mismanaged.

Searching For Meaning In A 'Super 8-less' World

For today's film session, we will MOSTLY leave the middle 1970s behind us and try to embrace the new and scary world of the late 1970s. A time of massive social change in Blazerville - full of historic firsts and the uprooting of long established and comforting routines. Some of the Blazers will begin a journey that requires them to turn their backs on the ancestral homeland in search of a new life far from the familiar stomping grounds of their youth. And for me... portable VHS cameras are on the horizon.

As we watch the footage unfolding, it becomes painfully obvious that the changes were a little too difficult to completely embrace on the first attempt. We continue to find scattered images of an earlier period with Don, Hanklin and Paul popping up during the course of this video. The past is still fresh in our minds and difficult to ignore. It's two steps forward and one step back. And since those three members (just mentioned) of the golden era were now no longer a 'going concern' in Blazerville after the watershed year of 1975 (in fact Hanklin and Paul vanished from the landscape for the next 30 years) we must face the fact that a large portion of the past will simply always be seeping into the present whether we like it or not.

British Tourists 1979

Before going ahead and presenting Jon in England with the full 2-hour definitive DVD documentary of his 1979 vacation here in Vancouver, I've decided to upload a short preview on this blog/stage to show him exactly how the transfer process from super 8 film has been successfully completed with agreeable results. Of course it'll look even better viewed on a 40-inch Sony Bravia TV rather than on this tiny Blogger screen provided below.

The problem I had in compiling this sampling was that I kept discovering old deleted Blazer scenes scattered amongst the travel footage on the same DVD. Mostly out takes from the sloppy 1975 feature: 'Get Lost' starring Dan, Don, Doug and Paul. Those discarded scenes from Alice Lake may have had nothing at all to do with Jon's visit to Vancouver 4 years later, but I still felt they deserved a brief showing of their own here - as a sort of double bill. (I've got so many DVDs to go thru, I don't have time to split them all up!)

So while this entry might be titled 'British Tourists', the portion of the video it refers to is very limited. It's actually more of another hodge podge collection. And them's the kind o'videos we likes watchin' best round here anyhoo.