Comparison Shopping

Same spot.  Then...



... and now...

January 2019

Looking south towards the West's front stairway - a stairway which, of course, is no longer there.

New Towers On All Sides

March 2018

Progress Of A Sort

Animation Cessation

Thank heaven, we've come to the conclusion of our documentary series on the animation class that I attended in the summer of 1991 at Capilano College.  Don't know how much more I could have suffered of this.

If you've been watching along with us this month - revisiting the less than inspiring (boring) layout course in 5 abbreviated video segments (selected from a much longer master video) - you should begin to understand the less than satisfied mood that prevailed upon the majority of our team as we prepared to cross the invisible finish line and enter the doom and gloom of the working world.

Knowing that I would personally not be interested in strolling any further along this dreadful animation path in any manner, I was, perhaps, in a lighter frame of mind than the rest of my classmates - which is never more evident as when we see them all huddled together in a team meeting (minus the instructor) near the end of this chapter, discussing the barren landscape of future employment possibilities, while I flitter about the room like a moth - without care or concern other than to videotape their collective apprehension with a steady hand.

Inanimate. adj. lifeless, comotose.

I'll be glad when we're finished with the uploading of all these old animation class videos from 1991.  To tell you the truth, I'm starting to notice one of my eyelids twitching, and there's a few stress-inducing flashbacks creeping into my sleep.  The realization that this type of work was NOT something I wanted to do anymore came so early into the course that I simply have to ask myself once again: 'why did you bother signing up for this nonsense in the first place?'

As I've reported earlier, it's the other students, stuck in the same situation, that gave this experience any ray of light.  I'm a little surprised to note, that in the 22 years since we wrapped it all up, there has never been any hint of a casual class reunion.  It's quite possible that the majority of them have felt the same as I have about everything and they'd rather just leave it resting in the graveyard of the mind.  And if it wasn't for the rediscovery of these dusty 8mm video tapes down in the storage room, it could have remained there.

Animation Hesitation

With this latest video installment of 'The Animation Degradation', we can quickly see that by the third month of attendance, things had definitely begun to take a turn for the chaotic over in good Sir Jerry's classroom.  I had to hunt long and hard thru my collection of video tapes from that summer before coming across any actual scenes of instruction and learning.  (See rare picture above!)  For the most part, it was just 12 weeks of recess with a few short breaks for lessons.

Yes, there was always a healthy dose of humour and hijinks from the majority of the students during our earlier, more serious classes - back when the dream was still alive - but this later footage will clearly show how the train had now left the tracks and the mad scramble for lifeboats was underway.

Looking back, I still find it hard to believe that each of us received an official certificate proclaiming our successful completion of this animation layout course (yes, even me) when in fact, I still couldn't tell you the difference between 'storyboard slugging' and a 3-field pan.  Not that you'd ever need to know the difference.

Much Too Late To Animate

What I had first imagined as a 3-part documentary series for this blog - showcasing the animation class I attended at Capilano College more than 20 years ago - might, on second estimate, take 5 or 6 or 7 parts to wrap up.  But we'll see if there's any need to devote that much time and effort on what still remains in my mind as an unpleasant, sour, rather pointless 3-month period in the summer of 1991.

On this second episode (of 5 or 6 or 7) some fella named Emmanuel takes over both the narration duties and player introductions and does a fine job describing the situation we all found ourselves in.  Like passengers in a lifeboat after having watched our cruise ship sink, we were now directionless, confused and listing.  Only lighthearted acts of distraction from the other castaways could save us from abandoning all hope of ever working in the industry.  Although personally, I had already given up on that idea by this point in the proceedings.

Contemplating Animating

We were stuck in a classroom for most of the summer of 1991 - attempting to learn the subtle shades of animation layout.  'What the heck am I doing here' was a common refrain at the time as I recall.  Enjoy the experience I did not.  And it wasn't too far into the process that I decided I'd rather let it all pass me by like a stage play - than participate and complete all the pointless assignments.  Such was my disappointment in the strict, ultra technical approach to animation layout.

Yes, looking back, it was a strange chapter in my timeline.  I could have done without the whole shebang ever happening, to be honest, except that it DID end up serving two purposes.  #1: it convinced me that the deadly dull occupation of animation layout (and animation in general) would NEVER be the life for me.  Thanks to this sampling of the job, I would never again wistfully wonder if I had been missing out on something special.  And #2: after the final lesson drifted off into the setting sun, I was able to count two new friends (Rob/Jason) that would add many a'good time in the years to follow.  Two blokes that I would never have met without joining the service as I did.

The retrospective video that I recorded in that summer of '91 at Capilano College will need at least three parts (episodes) to spit it all out.  But we can start the review today with this quick opening entry where a few of the main characters will enter, stage left.  Special treat:  Three short, rough cartoons - hastily constructed during a single group visit to a working animation studio - from Jason, Rob and Eddy are featured at the tail end of this first episode.

Old Xmas Album Reissue

Harry (of Harry and The Days Off) would often tell me how, as each December rolled around year after year, he would make the effort to bring out of hiding, perhaps from a secret closet next to the fridge or from under the outside welcome doormat, the lone recording of Christmas songs (on the modern CD format yet) that our little pop/rock postie band (featuring Don, Eddy and Harry) released to the unsuspecting fellow workers of our postal station more than 20 years ago.

So it seemed to me a proper and timely opportunity here and now, to assist him in his moment of warm nostalgia by uploading a short video celebrating that one-and-only long ago live concert of ours - performed in front of a captive audience at the Youville Senior's residence in 1990 - with Harry in complete command of the microphone as the cassette tapes rolled.

A Bottle Of Gun Lake

The small bottle seen in the opening of this video - the star of the show in fact - is still safely stored away somewhere (with its contents unemptied) in my vast downstairs warehouse of collectibles - now approaching exactly three decades (30 years!) since the official sealing of the cap.  A moment that can now be watched with nostalgic yearning in the official video supplied in this post.

Having friends that could provide access to a summer cottage out in 'the heart of BC' wilderness during our younger summer years was a real treat-and-a-half.  And one I never took for granted when accepting the 5 or 6 invitations that were eventually tossed my way during the years 1977 to 1984.  While some of my earlier visual reports from the lake might have been a tad more polished, they were all of the lowly super-8 film category and remain as silent as all get out.  Lacking in the wistful sounds of splashing water and rolling thunder and birds a'plenty a'tweeting.  Not like THIS video!

This effort (below) was the one and only time I managed to drag along my bulky VHS video tape machine (a modern marvel at the time) which included the wonderful world of sound.  Unfortunately, before I could drag it along for any subsequent vacations, the owners of the cabin up-and-sold the property forcing us all to vacate the lakeside retreat and never look back.  Except of course for the holidays of yesteryear captured on film and video.  This is in fact a recording of that last ever Gun Lake visit of mine back in 1984 - and of the little glass bottle that would go down in history.

Phil's First Egg'amuffin

Jon's brother Phil made the big decision back in September of 1985.  To relocate himself from the south of England to the west of Canada.  Not just for a wee holiday and a few souvenirs.  No sir, this was for good!  He planned to stick around long term; or at least as long as things didn't turn sour.  Dang right it was a big deal at the time.  That's one of those life altering decisions that always seems to roll around much more often in our youthful days, and not so much in our non-youthful days.

And I don't suppose Phil knew for positive what the immediate future held in store for him on that rainy, late summer's day, but it's clear from our video recording (supplied below) that at least it held a quick egg mcmuffin breakfast at a McDonald's restaurant (Phil's first ever) and then a trip down to Stanley Park with Sandy and Eddy to watch some beluga whales fight for survival.

Except for what I've captured here on tape, I have no other memory of that day with Phil.  I certainly don't remember what we chatted about in the car on our way to and from the park.  It's as if that portion of my life never existed.  Or never had a scene written to insert there.  While I don't doubt that I lived through those minutes in a state of awareness, and don't doubt that we all made humorous contributions to a lively conversation while transporting ourselves across the city, there remains not one iota of information - not a smidgen - that survives the 27 years since it happened.  But should we expect such amazing recall for all the days of our lives?  It may be worth a discussion.  Probably not.

Non Traditional Xmas Card #8

As usual at this time of year, at this particular blog station, another non-traditional salute to the Christmas season is offered up with no intention of offending the religious minded among us - but at the same time, keeping true to my own opinions on the subject.

A Three Transfer Trip

I think the main reason we're being fed a steady diet of 'newer stuff' on this blog (rather than the older, much more priceless 1970s super 8 film footage) is because those old films from the 70s take too long to transfer across from the DVDs (that in turn had been transferred over from film reels) and onto little digital tapes that can fit inside my camcorder in order to be finally transfered again into my iMac computer for editing. We need to transfer 3 times on this journey. It's a long bus trip.

Instead of all that transferring nonsense (and since I only seem to think of adding a blog entry on the last day of the month lately) I find it much easier/quicker to dip into the rather large pool of 1990-2011 camcorder footage that is also stockpiled and waiting to see the light of day on the NRP (and needs no further transferring to reach the computer) in order to complete my once-a-month submission mandate.

These visual offerings (below) were all shot during a hectic day in the month of August - today is ALSO August - but these visuals fall one complete year short of reaching the awesome '20 years ago' mark. The word awesome is used here, because I just can't believe how fast time keeps flying. All this stuff seems like it should be about 6 years old to me - at the max.

Beating Deadlines

It's a good thing that the month of July contains 31 days. We probably wouldn't have made our required once-a-month quota of video submissions if it didn't. And today's offering - though far from memorable - arrives on the NRP blogerama with just minutes to spare before the deadline.

And that's really the only reason we've hoisted up this old salute to the back yard bbq anyway - just to fulfill our crazy mandate of a video a month. Who can hope to keep up a frantic pace like that, I ask you? But sure enough, if I didn't provide these bland flickering pictures on a timely basis, my viewers would be quick to complain.

High quality standards are not required here; people just want to see familiar faces and moving lights. All I can recall about the actual footage we're about to run is that it was shot in the summer of 1991. Back when there were still lots of kids around. A rather recent event when you compare it to our regular diet of mid '70s filler.

The Two Day Disney Plan

I went looking for this particular vacation video on this particular blog recently and was ultimately unfulfilled in that particular search.

So now, with the final hours ticking down to signify what could be my very first unuploaded (new word) month in the history of NRP (a full month without adding a new video) I can remedy the situation immediately with this (almost) forgotten and eventually misplaced effort from the long lost autumn of 1986.

Better than nothing is still my mantra regarding hurried projects like this. While the editing/music/choice of subject COULD have been a little more interesting for my viewers, at least there's SOMEthing here in order to put my stamp on the fast fading month of June 2011.

As for the girl onscreen... I haven't seen her since 1992. Twenny years ago, next year.

Far From See-Worthy

Rather than toss this next video out (or "delete it" as the modern kids of today would say) I'm going to hoist it up here on the blog for all to witness. Even though it's clearly far from see-worthy.

But as is the case with all these old super-8 films, the ultra rareness and 'one of a kind'ness that oozes from each frame of these long ago days of the 1970s or 80s is often enough by itself to garner at least a single viewing on this stage. Minimal effort was put into the editing and musical choice for this presentation (yet again). And as stated a'fore in a previous entry, it's merely a case of having something/anything uploaded to the blog in order to keep the monthly index chapters going (see index chapters to the right) that makes a submission like this possible in the first place. I suppose the question should be raised: what would become of our NRP blog if we decided that some of these old film segments did not meet the lowest acceptable level of quality before being added into the mix? I think it would obviously mean the end of the blog. Nuff said.

'You Can't Take That Away'

The end of the month is upon us once again and I haven't yet fulfilled my contractual obligation to the Blogger community - which as you know by now is the promise to offer up a monthly video of some description originating from the far distant past. Usually from the 70s.

We're only transporting ourselves back in time 31 years with today's production. Revisiting the summer of 1980 to be exact - which compared to all the stuff we've watched from 1974 and 1975 is much more recent, comparatively speaking. The main character in this film had a real passion for living that impressed this cameraman to no end at the time. I'm still impressed all these years later. She'd be well over the age of 50 these days and I can only assume (and hope) that she went on to live a satisfying and rewarding life in the decades after this film was shot. Unfortunately I have no updates to offer our readers in this regard. Heather had a zest for life - a way of making anyone that came in contact with her feel upbeat and 'alive'. "Truly alive... and you can't take that away" as the old Mac McAnally song sez.  Someday we'll add that song to a video.  But not today.

Project Competition

A viewer wrote in recently to ask: "pray tell what exactly is the project of higher value that you are working on that is superseding any further uploads to this NRP webstation?" I took pleasure from this investigative query because it seemed to indicate that there are NRP audience members out there (have you received your membership card yet?) that actually obtain a moment or two of entertainment while watching these ancient super 8 films that make up the bulk of our program diet.

In reply, I wrote: "My full attention to the NRP blog-o-rama has been interrupted over the past few months while a different retro project receives possibly more attention than it deserves. I refer to the vast library of musical tracks that were recorded in the mid-80s and 90s by the weak but prolific pop band, The Midhrifs starring Harry B. on lead vocals and myself on lead keyboards." A sample of which has been offered in this (and the previous) blog upload.