Busy Week

It’s been a busy week. One of those weeks where you don’t have time to do much, but at the end of the week, you ask yourself—well, what did I actually accomplish? The only thing I can say for sure is, I DIDN’T have time to write on the old web page. Fear not, after another week or so, I should return to my regular blogging schedule… and also get to all the stuff I’ve been too busy to get to.

Wow, this post is lackluster. I’ll try to spice it up with a blurry photo and story of the bear I saw last weekend in Waterton:

Bear

This bear was down in the town-site very close to Cameron Falls. Park Rangers surrounded it and kept noisy tourists (and photographers) at a distance.

Suddenly we heard a loud bang and the bear started running. Then lots more bangs and pops (and some might say explosions) as the rangers made more noise to scare the bear away from the town.

One lady we talked to afterward said the bear came running up the trail very close to where she and her grand daughter were and the excitement was enough to bring the little girl to tears.

Nobody was hurt, and the bear was just a little scared. It left town without further incident.

A Glimpse

I just looked in the fridge and discovered the leftovers that I planned to eat yesterday were still there. Putting two and two together, I quickly realized that my rather slender girlfriend and I FORGOT TO EAT SUPPER LAST NIGHT! At least the movie was good— I think.

Platform

Platform

Just for fun, the motion graphics fans out there might enjoy the stop action magic of Platform from motiongrapher.com.

“Smith & Foulkes used a Canon Digital SLR camera linked up to a laptop allowing them to capture frames and play them back checking the shots as they went along. By shooting digitally Smith & Foulkes ended up with a much larger image size to work with when compared with the normal 35mm motion picture frame. These frames were then taken into After Effects and Photoshop for a clean-up where people and rigs from shots were removed. A final grade was then added in Flame.”

Wikiback

I just finished installing a new wiki for anyone interested in the phenomena of backmasking. It’s called Wikiback. It’s the first wiki I’ve ever setup, but I’m hoping it will be a benefit to those looking for more information.

It hasn’t got a lot on it yet, but anyone interested in adding backmasking information is welcome to edit it.

Update: I decided to delete wikiback from my website because the code was too hard to maintain and was being constantly edited by spam bots.

Indiana Jones is Back

Queue the John Williams theme song, finally a movie from a franchise worth watching is under way.

The Man with the Hat is Back

Indiana Jones

For the first time since 1989, Harrison Ford dons the familiar costume on Thursday, June 21, 2007, as the upcoming Indiana Jones adventure begins production under the direction of Steven Spielberg. The new Indiana Jones movie is set in the 1950s and stars Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, John Hurt, Ray Winstone and Jim Broadbent. The Lucasfilm Ltd. production will be released by Paramount Pictures worldwide on May 22, 2008.

Please make it a good one Mr. Spielberg.

The Bridge

The Golden Gate

More people choose to end their lives at the Golden Gate bridge than other other place in the world. A couple of years ago I read an article about this fact in the New Yorker titled, Jumpers by Tad Friend.

The article inspired director Eric Steel to film the Golden Gate Bridge for a year. His film crew caught 23 suicides, missed one and also recorded a man saving a girl from jumping by grabbing her jacket and physically pulling her off the edge of the bridge. They also captured a failed attempt when a boy survived his jump and was kept afloat by a Bay Area seal until the coast guard arrived to rescue him.

The camera crew vigilantly called the bridge authorities when they observed clear signs of someone about to jump. In doing so, they foiled six near suicides.

Steel took criticism for the film after he lied about his intentions in order to get permission, saying it was a documentary about a day in the life of the Golden Gate Bridge.

The film is called, The Bridge (trailer). It first aired in September 2006 and was released on DVD June 12th, 2007.

San Francisco columnist Violet Blue gives a very interesting review of the film and includes a Q & A mp3 with director Eric Steel.

Previously: Golden Gate Bridge: Suicide Magnet and If People Played More Boardgames.

A few notes on a Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier after the jump:
Continue reading “The Bridge”

Robert Tourtelot: A Real Live Denny Crane

Viewers of the popular David E. Kelley show Boston Legal will be familiar with the outrageous behavior of William Shatner’s character Denny Crane. What they may not be familiar with, is the real life version of Denny, Mr. Robert Tourtelot, a “jack of all trades” lawyer from Southern California.

Recently Tourtelot contacted Travis Corcoran, owner of the How-To DVD rental service, “Smart-Flix”, and accused him of breaking the law. When Corcoran questioned lawyer Tourtelot on which law, exactly, he had broken, Tourlelot responded, that it wasn’t his job to educate Corcoran and that he should get his own attorney for that.

Shortly thereafter, the story gets VERY interesting, with Tourtelot doing everything from short-jokes and name calling, to challenging Corcoran to a fight and even threatening to call in the FBI.

[Tourtelot:] Dear Mr. Corcoran: I am in receipt of your e-mail to my client, Mr. XXX. I note your comments about me. I have a proposition for you. I will pay your way to California if you will agree to come and meet me in a gym, the address of which the limo driver who meets your flight will have.

Oh yes, the deal only includes a one-way ticket, as I do not believe you will be needing the return portion! Ciao, and have a good day. RHT

[Corcoran:] Are you proposing a boxing or MMA match?

I accept. I’ll pay my own way back, of course.

Any weekend in June works for me.

Please mail the airline ticket (departing from Logan Airport, in Boston) to the address I previously supplied.

I look forward to our bout (I usually do heavy bag work in my training sessions, but I’ll make sure to add some speed bag work to the mix over the next few weeks).

Shall we specify the same $1,000 wager that you suggested to Mr. XXX in your bet about my height?

[Tourtelot:] Plain and simple, pal. A street fight.! By the way, do you have a Black Belt also?

[Corcoran:] Please send the plane ticket.

If the Boston Legal writers happen upon this story, they should totally write it into their script because I can totally imagine Denny Crane doing all of this.

For comedy relief, check out The Robert Tourtelot saga.

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