Washing The Little Blue Car

The little blue car still looms large in the memory. An impulsive purchase I made back in my youthful money-spending days. Devotion to said little blue car was such that there didn't seem to be anything unusual to me about video-taping one of the many times it was being washed back in 1983.

And so we did. We video taped the car being washed. Like it was a news event or something important. And because of that decision (to video tape) we are now all gathered here today 26 years later watching the little blue car get washed. And yes, it's as dull as it sounds, so I've also added a few scenes of Sandy and I taking the newly washed little blue car off for a ride up Little Mountain (on a cold, dismal day) and then over to see the niece and nephew at their home in East Vancouver. The little blue car made it to both destinations without stalling or losing a door handle. As a bonus, I'll even toss in a short scene of brother-in-law Mike being interviewed on the local CBC TV channel during that same winter of 1983. And let's not forget that all of these recorded events took place only a few short months before Sandy and I jetted off to visit Jonny in England that Spring.

It may have been the least reliable of all the cars I've owned over the past 40 years (which it was) but heck; the little blue TR6 remains the fave.

Rag Tag Remnants

A hastily tossed together collection of old (and new) video clips and film segments - released at this time and place ONLY to satisfy my overdue urge to clean out a long-waiting iMovie project working area.

What we have here are many of the unused bits and pieces of earlier uploads that ended up with no real purpose or theme or reason to keep living; no reason to be hanging around as long as they have been; except perhaps to be finally jumbled into one showing and presented here and now 'as is'.

With so many 'better/more interesting' clips waiting for their turn in the sun, there's no need to hang onto THESE ragtag remnants of unfinished thoughts any longer. I'll just fling them all into this one clump and then quickly erase the lot... thereby opening up much needed memory space in my computer for all the other old video stuff soon to be coming along.

History Will Be Made

A quickly made parody of the national TV commercials that were so popular during the NHL playoffs last year, using our own senior sports enthusiast, DOUG in the lead role.

We're using a different sport for our commercial, but at least we're using the same music. It works for me. Doug should be tickled pink to learn that we managed to dig up priceless old footage from one of his all-star performances on the ballfield back in 1989 to incorporate into this piece.

The Moving Flowers

It was kinda big at the time. As in big deal. Jonny was a'flyin over from England t'visit all of us local yokel types. That's a long flight. I'll bet his arms were tired. This all happened back in the summer of 1988, but thanks to the magic of decaying VHS tape, we can all relive those long boring moments of waiting around in the airport for him to arrive over and over again.

Look - that's Jon's brother Phil standing next to his soon to be wife Shelina. That's why Jon was making the trip over here - to attend their wedding. And that's my galfriend at the time (Linda) snapping a photo or two and adding just the right amount of charm and Canadian humour for such a tense and monumental occasion.

Battery power being what it was back in the mid '80s for VHS cameras, I was unable to shoot both the waiting around for, AND the actual arrival of, Jon from England. But not to fret - after 3 weeks of recharging the battery, I managed to capture a few minutes of Jon saying goodbye on VHS tape during his final hours in our city. That's where the moving flowers come in.

Oldifying

Part family video; and part police line-up with this one. Lots of the sister's kids being kids when they were kidlike - paired with slow mo comparisons of the classic and up to date Blazers Bunch (at least 4 of the BB).

The most interesting part of this production is probably the short section that appears at the front end of the reel. Right off the top. Before we've even sat down. Don't arrive late or you'll miss a chance to play the role of a time traveler. (I prefer the H. G. Wells story.) We've jammed some classic old footage of four Blazer members, up tight against some modern day camcorder footage of those same four Blazers (glad I stayed out of it) that was captured during a recent Blazer reunion in the Kitsilano area. (Missing: Evert/Dougie).

More than 30 years have elapsed between the earlier and later Blazer shots, but... who could tell! I mean! Really! Even after all that time, it's clear to see that not even the most minor change in appearance is evident on the mugs of our favorite neighborhood gang. It's like they haven't aged a week since 1975. Like they're still teenagers. Like the passage of time has ceased to proceed in a normal fashion and has instead halted any progress related to oldifying! At least that's what it says here in the press release.

Stuck In The Real World

And now, a poor excuse for a rock music video. A practice punt. A first attempt. Which may or may not lead to a more polished redo at a future date - depending on the progress of our other 'cooler' songs currently on the drawing board.

In amongst the hustle and bustle of a major west coast city, we were supposed to witness Harry dodging the crowds and the traffic while at the same time managing to provide a seamless lip-sync to the popular teen track of the day: "Stuck In The Real World". That's what the plans originally called for.

But apparently, Harry don't wanna play that game, he don't. Harry has seemed unusually shy and standoffish about doing this project from the beginning. In fact, he hasn't been his normal 'I'll do anything for a laugh" self for quite a while now. Dunno why really. Maybe we can trace it back to his retirement last fall. Maybe he wants to retire from singing too. There's other factors no doubt, but with his almost invisible participation in the shooting of this video, the viewer may find that the experience suffers. Not so much for the lack of scenes with Harry singing - as for the lack of ANYBODY singing. The song cries out for a 'host' to guide us through the lyrics and push the storyline forward.

Oh well. No big deal. Just another project to fill a retired summer afternoon is how I see's it. Better efforts to come.

Summer In Disney's Lands

Our video post today is very much related to the previous video post, which, as you must recall, covered the train journey down to California with cohort Harry. Well. After a short stay in Santa Barbara, I waved goodbye to said cohort Harry and pushed on further south for a planned meeting with my sister's family in Anaheim (Disneyland). The fun never stops when you're retired, lemme tell ya.

I shot a full two hours of video tape in Disneyland, but we won't be forced to sit through all that malarky here. Don't be silly. After compiling a 50 minute-long edited DVD for those family members that actually appear on screen; a separate, severely edited version (10 minutes) was then hoisted up to the Facebook website.

With perhaps a minor tweak or two, the same 10-minute Facebook version of the events can also be found here on this page - probably directly beneath these words - because I am aware of the fact that some of our NRP viewers are not affiliated in any way with the trendy new world of Facebook.