Sunnier Climes

A brief but welcome vacation to sunnier climes over the past few weeks has interrupted the regular pace of uploads here on the big C - CGUL radio. But not all the time away from the computer was wasted on sun tanning and shopping. No.

A short video highlighting the joys of train travel was produced during this same period and is currently available here in the slot below. Featuring Harry - the lead singer of our pop band in his first non-singing role, riding the Coast Starlight Amtrak down to California. You remember Harry and the Coast Starlight?

Nobody's Gonna Notice

It's possible that some of today's footage has already seen the light of blog at some point. Honestly, there's been so much old film added to the NRP blog over the past few years that we've long passed the point of remembering every little tidbit that's been uploaded. And I'd hate to think we missed anything just because we assumed in error that it had already been shown.

So this is a quick return to Gun Lake (I think). There were a total of SIX different trips up to this location by my super 8 cameras between the years 1977 and 1984 and I'm a'thinking that this first visit to the lake has not been given the blog treatment as of yet. And if some of it already has, oh well big deal. It's not as if someone is actually going to take the time to complain about it. And what would they complain about anyway? A few movie clips might have been repeated on a blog during a 3 year time span? Nobody's gonna notice. Nobody's gonna care.

Softball - Off The Beaten Path?

Today's posting might be the furthest we'll stray from the usual dining options served up in bulk here on: 'No Relevant Point'. While yes, it appears to be yet another short video segment from the long distant past, this meal will have nothing to do with the old Blazerville gang (or the tearing down of familiar structures found within Blazerville) and everything to do with softball.

Gad, softball. Is there anything more dull and pointless and boring to watch? Honestly. I had to trim this overblown romp in the park down from a mind-numbing 45 minutes to what we're left with here... a mind-numbing 4 minutes. And it was a painful editing job lemme tells ya. I don't even see most of these players anymore (it's been like, 20 years) so I can't even tease these people about how young they used to look. And I'm sorry to report that at least two of my former teammates have already died in the meantime. Plus at least another two couples have divorced - and I think we can blame the softball for that.

Perhaps in the same sense that EVERYTHING is part of the great tapestry of life, we can allow a limited number of these 'dull as dishwater' softball videos to show up on our NRP blog now and then. I certainly hope so, because unfortunately there's a boat load more of 'em sitting around in the storage room.

Saved From Banishment

We've had two straight postings here on the giant NRP Blog featuring nothing but Don's old Zambezi Bioscope films from the mid-70s; and we certainly want to thank him for the opportunity of reacquainting ourselves with those. But you must have known that we'd eventually return to the total nonsense films that this blog is better known for. And today is no exception as we have rescued some chopped off bits and pieces of a film that ran on this blog late last year.

After 'streamlining' (editing) the short but kooky 1976 film: 'The Bomb' starring Bart Woods, I was left with some remaining bits of unrelated footage that - for some reason - I'd attached to the tail end of that BOMB posting. No need to toss the unrelated footage out with the bath water. I've decided instead to go ahead and give these orphaned super 8 snippets a video posting of their own on a day just like today.

This is stuff we've already had to sit through once already months ago - now being saved from total banishment and the strong breeze of time. And yes, after viewing, you might agree that perhaps it wouldn't have been such a terrible thing if they HAD been banished and discarded after all.

Why Did They Do What They Did? (Edited)

It was never really answered as far as I could tell - the question that the title of this old super 8 movie from the shelves of Zambezi Bioscope Productions asks. As I recall, Don had the weirdo title picked out long before he had decided on any plot for a motion picture. Eventually, the two ideas collided and the following movie was the result.

Now if you're lucky, you might be able to find the complete, fully intact, unedited version of this mammoth sized production somewhere else on the web; perhaps on some other blogspot, but the day will never come when any homemade 17-minute movie is uploaded to 'No Relevant Point'. We'd have to be stark raving mad before that kinda nonsense would be allowed. FIVE minute nonsense, maybe. But not 15. And 20 is RIGHT OUT! So what we're about to see here is my drastically streamlined edition of Don's original 1975 effort. We make no apologies. All sales are final.

During a recent, in-person interview with the actual director of this film (Mr. Zambezi himself) I was disappointed to learn that THIS is the crowning glory of his film endeavors. THIS is the top carving on the Zambezi totem pole. I'm sad, not because the feature itself isn't impressive (it is) but because there are no further hidden gems like it in the storage vaults waiting to be uncovered. This is it for the great Zambezi Bioscope Company - as far as contributing to the local Blazerville film community goes. There's just nothing left in the tank.

Sigh. But at least we have what we have here - a peaceful salute to a lazy Autumn Sunday afternoon playing a card game with 'the boys'. We gots potato chips, we gots cola, we gots a dead body buried in the back yard. Another typical day in Blazerville.

Youthful Enthusiasm In Blazerville

Try as we might to adhere to the mandate of our official blog title ('No Relevant Point') we continue to confound ourselves by actually presenting an endless stream of quite relevant material to our small group of viewers.

And once again, for today's program, we've uploaded a rather relevant entry after managing to dig up rare 1970s super 8 scenes from Blazerville's second oldest movie studio: 'Zambezi Bioscope Productions'. I believe that this will be the first film footage uploaded to this stage that was NOT shot with one of my own cameras.

And a tantalizing collection of visual snippets we have here. Full of youthful enthusiasm for life on the streets of Blazerville - and apparently inside my own basement suite. In the credits for the two films we are watching, cameraman/director Don has listed me as his assistant.

However, the only assistance I can recall offering Don during the making of these films was that I would keep out of sight and off screen during his principle shooting. I suppose he could also be referring to the fact that it was out the passenger window of my Dudge Dart that he shot many tracking scenes of a rain-drenched Darcy cycling beside us up Little Mountain.

Variety Pack O' Memories

More of those oddly familiar faces from the past. More of those names that have been blown into the foggy mountains of forgetfulness. I'm not sure I can explain what we're about to see in this episode; I barely remember filming any of it. Nothing predates 1984 is all I'm sure of. Well maybe one scene is from 1983; but who can be sure.

And yes; normally I would keep my camera (and myself) stationed in one place long enough to capture a full and comprehensive record of whatever individual event I was attending. But after watching some of these scattered and mixed up moments from more than a dozen different locations, it's easy to conclude that perhaps I only filmed a few short seconds from each outing before wrapping things up and moving on to the next setting. But you'd be wrong with that conclusion.

I kinda like this variety-pack style of reporting. It also serves to indicate to our viewers just how much recorded nonsense we still have to endure in our future blog entries.