Missed Connections

This is a short documentary about illustrator Sophie Blackall and her Missed Connections blog.



You don't have to be a die-hard romantic to have a missed connection story but those of us who are more sensibility than sense are just that more susceptible to concocting these fantasies. Take me for example.

Unknown day, 2009
Vancouver Art Gallery
I first noticed you because you were staring intently at the painting, your face mere inches away from the canvas. I thought I was the only one who had cultivated this odd viewing style. We crossed paths on the second floor and I looked up hoping to catch your eye. Are you an artist? You're certainly one of the best-dressed ones I've ever seen.

Be Fearless

Picture by niknokniknoknik
I love photos where people are captured suspended in mid-flight. I've always believed and tried to live a life where decisions are not motivated by fear. So photos of people flying or leaping into the unknown space really resonate with me. The ironic thing is I've never taken a picture of myself in this precarious pose.
These are some of my favourite photos I've collected over the years.

This photo is taken by SJ Wood.
Every child dreams about flying, don't they? I know I did.

Flying on or at the back of horse? Even better! Picture by Li Wei.

And then kids grow up, and some remember their dream of flying and actually do it in a leap of faith. This stunning capture is by Christopher M.

Most of us forget about our desire to fly, except the artists among us. Pictures by Daniel Gordon.

So we need to remind ourselves each and every day: be fearless and take that leap of faith.
Picture by niknokniknoknik

Warlord

For the primal beast that lies inside each and every one of us.



"Inspired by William Golding's Lord of the Flies, as well as by Akira Kurosawa's samurai films and the comic book epic-ness of things like Conan, Beastmaster, etc. Mostly, inspiration came from the Japanese taiko drumming group Kodo."

A diss to the healing powers of coffee

"If nothing else it put an end (save on Larry King Live and the outer reaches of the cable channels) to the Michael Jackson coverage." Globe and Mail columnist Rex Murphy on the beer summit.

Tired of Twitter? Me too.

I've grown tired of Twitter. But not in the kind of way that someone grows tired when the shine fades from a new toy.

Twitter still remains a welcome distraction from the mundane drone of the workday, putting it in the same league as MSN IM and YouTube videos of cats doing cute things. It still provides the instant gratification of knowing about something before the news hits the other 5 billion people on the planet, even though that "something" is as mundane as what Jon and Kate are up to, or is the latest Bachelorette really going to marry the man who was worthy enough to receive the final rose.

I realized, as I read tweet after tweet about the same recycled piece of news, that more isn't necessarily better when it comes to Twitter. Being on top of current pop culture has not improved my life in any way, nor has it provided me with any significant value. In fact, it has given me the impression that originality is truly dead--everything seems to be one recycled idea after another, and everything bleeds into everything else. Which in my case is a bad thing. The one thing I crave now, more than ever is originality. In the days before Internet (yes, I was around), I hardly ever had to say to myself: This sounds so familiar, where have I seen it before? Because of Twitter, nothing is a secret, nothing is hidden, everything is out in the open, and I am beginning to hate it the same way I hate reading spoilers. I love surprises, and I miss them terribly. On the other hand, Twitter has proven we are more alike than we care to admit (now where have I heard that before...)

Reading about what your friends are up to on their Twitter feed is also like what I think long-distance relationships are like: you never see these human beings as much as you used to yet you know about the minutia of their lives, at least only the events that they're comfortable sharing in the spotlight of the Internet. It is this superficiality that's driving me away from Twitter. Am I alone in this perception?
Or have I encountered some weird late 30-something speedbump in life that is making me question the very glue that's holding our whole social web fabric together?

Behind the Scenes at my Worldwide Photo Walk

About every half hour, someone would come up to my friend and ask him about the photographers. "Why are there so many?" they would ask, over and over again. There were exactly 50 of us, surprisingly an equal number of men and women with about $800+++ worth of photographic gear hanging around their necks. Our walk leader, David duChemin and his partner-in-crime Dave Delnea, surprised us with an impromptu shooting session with models. Man, was I excited! While everyone was shooting quietly, I was the first one to shout out some directions to the model. Both Daves, both professional photographers in their own rights, also imparted some shooting and lighting tips to us. It was a fun day to be a photographer.

Worldwide Photo Walk, Vancouver, BC

The Arwen Syndrome

Fellow blogger Darren Barefoot posed this question: is Bonnie Wright the right actor for the role of Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter's love interest in the later films?

"She’s pretty plain, in both performance and appearance. In light of the international cadre of Hogwarts honeys giving him the doe eyes, one finds oneself asking what Harry sees in Ginny. The producers might be forgiven, as they probably cast her in 1999 or 2000. According to Wikipedia, only three or four books had been published, so they may not have had much insight into Ginny’s importance to the later films."

I too felt the same way about how Ginny and Harry hooked up in the latest HP film. It felt odd, rushed, shallow, and far-fetched. And wasn't Harry once ga-ga over Cho over a period of two films? The filmmakers are asking a lot of the audience, especially ones who have not read the books: could Harry develop real serious feelings for Ginny over the course of half a movie?

When the first movie of The Lord of the Rings trilogy came out, many fans questioned why Arwen was deliberately written into the story. After all, Arwen was only a minor character in the Tolkien novels. But Fran Walsh and Phillippa Boyens, the smart screenwriters that they are, realized in order to create any emotional impact in the last movie, the audience had to believe the two lovers had overcome a tough and rocky road to get there. Hence the "fabricated" storylines and scenes, which by the way are the ones I always go to when I rewatch the trilogy.

If the Harry and Ginny relationship were portrayed differently in the films, I think Darren and those like him would think differently of the Ginny character. Yes, it doesn't help that the movies were made while the books were being written. Only JK Rowling knew for sure how it would all end. Or did she? If the screenplays were allowed to stray from the books, if the screenwriter Steve Kloves had allowed the relationship to mature over the course of the last 3 films (The Half-Blood Prince, The Deathly Hallows Part I and II), if Ginny were given more scenes with Harry in the first 5 films... it's almost as if Rowling herself wasn't sure Harry and Ginny would end up together.

I'm sure there will be other attempts to adapt a literary series into movies. There will be other Arwen syndromes. Authors have to give screenwriters more license to play with the characters if they want to see an entertaining and thoughtful adaptation. Screenwriters too have to remind themselves to build the story around the protagonist's most important relationship.

Oh, and will someone please explain to me what Hermione sees in Ron?

Spell Check This!

Update:
I came across this earlier video made by the 2010 director Dennis Liu about Microsoft Office for Mac.



Goodbye Clippy!
Microsoft, you've impressed me with this fake trailer to promote the upcoming release of Office 2010. It almost reminds me of ... no ... Apple?

Unfortunately, I refuse to install Silverlight to review the new Office features. But for those of you who don't mind, go on over to www.office2010themovie.com.