Alley Cats (The Insanitation Plea)

Gosh this is awful. This was not my idea of a good idea. Easily the creepiest home movie in my vast collection of creepy movies, this back alley adventure was the brainchild of Mike - who also saw fit to grab the starring role in this foul mess for himself; not that anyone else had even the slightest interest.

I blame the existence of this film on the fact that Blazer Don (of Zambezi Bioscope Productions) had recently moved away to Australia (1975). Never to return. As a consequence, I was left without a competitive focus; the personal drive to compete. Since quality standards were no longer needed, anything was acceptable. If Mike wanted to make a dumb movie about garbage, by all means let's shoot that sucker!

With the prestigious Philum Festival just a dim memory of a bygone era at the time of this filming, I figured my efforts were highly unlikely to be seen by more than just the two or three actors involved. So who cares, right? Gee, thanks Don, I'm off the hook with this one. It's all your fault.

Kids Is Kids (Revised)

It's a travel film. It's a Blazerville film. Stop, you're both right. It's two mints in one. Just when it looks like we're stuck watching an old vacation film of Hawaii (with palm trees and rolling surf)... boom; the channel is switched to some recently uncovered footage of the old Blazer community instead. All without warning; all without advance notice. Someone really should complain.

You might recognize a long clip in here of Selina and her sister Emma (both nervous and preparing themselves for a 'photo op') from a previous posting on this blogorama many months ago. The decision to rerun the clip again is one that I fully endorse in my role as official blog owner/operator. And I guess if there was a theme of any kind to sum up this dusty old patchwork quilt of a video from the 70s, it could be... kids. Yeah. Kids. Lots of scenes in here with kids (of all ages) is the point being made.

Minor alteration of scenes completed 4/19/09.

Return To England

Contrary to what the above subject heading might indicate, this video does NOT capture a second voyage across the pond to Great Britain. This is just a return to the same video collection; more stale footage from the first and only visit Sandy and I made over to Jon's homeland back in what used to be known as 1983. But it's totally different footage from what we've already been subjected to on this blog. There's more little Rebecca on screen for one thing, and that's kinda fun.

I try not to think about how many days/months/years have gone by since this particular super 8 film was shot. It doesn't SEEM like anything nearing 3 decades - but it is. And if that's how fast we can race through 26 years of our alloted lifespan, then what the heck, I'll be in my 80s when we cover the same amount of ground again. Clearly my precious 'blog video uploading' time is fast slipping away.

Updating The Blogamathingy

Very little super 8 film can be found within our video below. There might be a tiny section of Kodachrome 40 in here, but mostly we'll be looking at old VHS tapes from the mid to late 80s. I have stacks of old cartridges piled up somewhere, but dang if I can find anything since the 'big move' in 2003. They'll probably turn up eventually; I just haven't got the time to search all my storage areas for them right now. Heck, I don't even have the time to update this blogamathingy on a regular basis.

Well, at least I didn't have to roam too far to collect the scenes for this episode. Even though many years and seasons separate each portion, they were all conveniently gathered onto one tape; as if I'd planned to compile them into a single presentation at one point. Maybe they were meant to be included on an England bound video a few decades ago that was never sent. I wouldn't doubt it. But who knows, who cares. I just know I don't have the time to think about it right now.

Road To Lillooet

A quick but short video entry here - while we wait for more classic movie films to be processed down at the local drug store on Elm Street.

I had not personally seen this particular bit of VHS tape in many years. It only briefly captures the horror and anguish of driving the 70 miles of unpaved roadway that runs from Lillooet to Gun Lake. Actually, this is just a small portion of the returning part of that trek, but might give the viewer an idea of what the other 69 miles are like.

The 'forever captured' afternoon we see here, hails from August in the summer of 1984 when Sandy and I drove up to Gun Lake to blow a week's vacation with Kim and Doug at her grandfather's cabin.

Unfit For Public Consumption

We've reached the end of another 400' roll of super 8 film from the distant 1970s and there's precious little meat left to chew on at this stage. I dunno - have we already seen most of the bits and pieces from the attached video in our previous 100 blog postings? It's possible; I've long ago stopped checking.

After this entry, we might have to begin running some of the secondary footage that wasn't deemed quite good enough for public consumption during our first year of operation. Perhaps, if you've been with us from the very start, you've already come to the conclusion that all the crummy stuff was being uploaded FIRST - and the better films had yet to make their initial appearance on this blog. Well, you'd be wrong on that assumption, Einstein.

A few scenes within this video were altered or exchanged on 21/2/09.

Expect The Unexpected

I always expect to find the unexpected when compiling these short video chapters from my long forgotten youth of the 1970s. I'm always hoping to find a tiny snippet or two that will provide visual proof of something I've completely forgotten about; completely lost the memory cells for. A discovery of that unscripted style HAS actually happened on previous occasions with these blog film reels, but unfortunately it didn't happen anywhere in the selection we have on our plate today.

The scenes here with Sandy and me strolling around the downtown core, were shot in 1984 with the full intention of being mailed across the pond to Jonny in England as some sorta documentary gift. If anything has surprised me during today's video, it's the discovery that these city scenes are still in my possession and that they never managed to make the trip to Cornwall as was planned. I can only hope that a promise to the man was never made in the first place; telling him that they were coming when they obviously never would be.

It's always nice to flash back and see the cosy old neighborhood in its heyday, or the niece and nephew as little kids again or my Blazer buddies enjoying the prime of their lives with, as yet, no knowledge of the brick wall they would soon be running into at full speed in the not too distant future.