Getting into radio, I came up with my best impression of Don LaFontaine[wiki], but it never quite worked until I was able to take that element and combine it with the Dragonball Z[wiki] announcer to come up with something of my own. That makes this news a little more noteworthy to me.
Don LaFontaine, the voiceover king whose “In a world …” phrase on movie trailers was much copied — and much parodied — has died, according to media reports. He was 68. [cnn]
Movie previews might never be the same. All fifteen minutes of them.
We’re back from a (on, off, on, off, and then back on again) trip to Osoyoos for the recent long weekend. While it was great to spend time with some family and get out of town for a few days, it was painful to have barely a cloud in the sky and 40km/hr winds barreling down on the town. Made getting out and enjoying the desert climate a little tough. Even if you could handle the “breeze”, it would get a little tiring of debris blowing around, and that would be in the form of leaves, your towel, or plastic patio furniture.
The part that sucked the most was driving there and having a rainstorm dump enough water to cause some flash flooding on Highway 1 between Chilliwack and Hope. That made the 3.5 hour drive into 7.5.
Still, it was good to get away and disconnect for a few days. Plenty to eat and drink, and I even got to catch a few baseball games on TV.
And wouldn’t you know it, the day we leave was the best, most amazing weather of the entire long weekend. We were able to get in a little beach time before departure, but what a kick in the teeth. Thanks a lot, summer. I stick up for you and this is how you treat us? Yeah, see ya next year.
I’ve been having a little fun with Mixwit in the past week or so. It’s pretty fun to search the site and make your own mix tapes, albeit virtual, but the quality isn’t half bad.
I figured I’d try sharing one because you can embed them in a blog post. This is a true mix, just seeing what I can find and putting this together. Check it out and enjoy this while you work.
If I had a dime for every time I’ve heard someone snicker when I say something about blogging, then you know that I could quit my day job and live a nice, wealthy life. That’s why the argument of blogging versus journalism tends to fall into areas of white noise to me, mostly because I’ve been taught, by journalism professors, to not care anymore.
Still, there are those days when it gets me thinking, and it is more to the fact when journalists are the ones who are raising a stink over the legitimacy of this new medium. Such is the case that you can get more details on from a post that Raul made a few days ago.
It takes me back to the short time where I was once a journalism student. Wavering in and out of studies that would give me a better grasp on an educational background in broadcasting, I found myself surrounded by professors who saw print as the only worthwhile medium that one should dedicate themselves to in the realm of media.
Now, before I start to say anything negative, there is absolute truth in the need to develop a solid background in writing, and working in radio for as long as I have, I can assure you that there are folks who have missed this step in their career ladder in broadcasting. Point number one in your journey into TV or radio should be to learn how to write, and then you can focus on looking or sounding good doing it. Some improv acting wouldn’t hurt as well, but I digress. Continue reading “Is blogging killing journalism?”
I pass by the site for the Olympic Village for the Vancouver 2010 winter games on a near daily basis. The progress in the area has been interesting to watch, and everyone who rides the bus over the Cambie Bridge tends to crane their neck or look out the corner of their eye as the bus passes by. If anything, the shear amount of workers and machinery is impressive that you have to gander a little bit.
So to update on the last post I made about this, here’s a more recent photo from just the other day, followed by some from early months.
August 25, 2008
May 26, 2008
January 15, 2008
That’s a lot of concrete in nearly nine months. Only 533 days until the opening ceremonies for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.
If there is one thing in Vancouver that beckons every visitor more than anything, it’s probably Grouse Mountain[wiki].
After nearly three years of living here, I have finally braved the gondola ride and the heavy tourist crowds to ascend to the top of the mountain. Well, at least we ventured around the lodge and a few of the nearby trails, but we finally made it up there for the first time. Yes, even Rebecca has never been up there.
The original intent of this visit was to enjoy a wonderful invitation by the folks who run Grouse Mountain to see what’s up there as well as take a ride on their newest attraction, ziplining.
As you can see, it was just a tad rainy on this past Sunday that we were there. Our thought at the bottom was that we would book our zipline time and hope for better weather up top, but our wishes didn’t come true. We’ll have to do a makeup trip another time, more so when you can see the end of the zipline or at least further than fifty feet ahead of you while traveling at 50km per hour.
One thing that this experience has done for me is drive my urge to do the Grouse Grind. I’ve wanted to do it since the day Rebecca told me all about it, but the intimidation of not knowing how to get there always prevented me. Truth be told, you can take a Seabus from Waterfront Station and hop a #236 Grouse Mountain bus on the other side to get there in about 45 minutes[googlemaps]. Hike up, take the mandatory gondola ride down for $15 $5!, and you’ve done the grind.
The lodge has a fair share of amenities at the top, and I’m told that the nachos are to die for. Not something I would be the most keen on after a hopeful 45 minute hustle up the side of a mountain, but they do intrigue me.
Probably the biggest highlight of the day for me were the grizzly bears. There are two, full sized bears in captivity within an easy walk from the lodge. Abandoned at birth, they are being cared for in a very respectable area, complete with a nice swimming hole and lots of trees.
Nature never seems to grow old in terms of my personal fascination. Grouse Mountain, even on a cold and wet day, was a thrilling experience. Water never hurts anyone, but I can’t wait to experience it when I can really take in the beauty on a clearer day.
The folks at CommonCraft have done it again. This time, they have made a quick video about one of my favorite tools for reading information on the web, Google Reader. I’ll let them explain it to you.
I currently have 253 subscriptions in Google Reader. I can’t say that I read each and everything that passes through, but there are certain RSS feeds that I do pay closer attention to than others.
Do you ever open up a newspaper and scan the headlines? Then perhaps you read the byline to get a little more behind the story, and only then do you decide to actually read the rest of it. There are many times when I use it in that capacity, especially when it comes to various feeds from news organizations that crank out a lot of items in just a few hours.
This is how I keep on top of things, even if it’s just a quick glance.
When the opening ceremonies kick off for the Olympics, I get excited. It doesn’t matter if it’s the summer or winter version of the games. I simply love the Olympics.
When the closing ceremonies come about, I get a little sad. Two weeks straight of competition seems to have gone by in a blur. It only lasts a few days until you realize that the next games will come about in two years, so it all works out in the end.
Perhaps there was something a little extra to these games in Beijing, but my level of interest has certainly gone up from previous games. I think it’s because of my realization of how incredible the human body can be in particular events. Continue reading “Thoughts on the Beijing Olympics”
Henry sent me a link to this story, and I completely forgot about it until reading this. And when you read the entire article, you can make sense of why in terms of the time line of historical events.
Long story short, this is a great story of two kids who faced each other in the Little League World Series in August of 2001. Cerda was the smallest and youngest player for the losing team, and Almonte was the dominant and menacing pitcher for the winning team, only to be found guilty of breaking the most elemental rule of little league baseball. He was 14, two years beyond the allowed age limit of 12.
Like I said, I forgot about this until now, but what a rebound for Cerda, going to my Cubs no less. What a dream.
With that dig on bloggers, I thought that I would point out something that struck me funny about McCain, being the hockey fan that I am.
If the need arises and the range is close, Mark Salter will edit John McCain in midsentence. After 19 years at each other’s side, neither man gives it a second thought. When a writer for The New Yorker was interviewing them last year about their latest best-selling book, the talk turned to hockey and the Arizona senator’s admiration for Wayne Gretzky[wiki], who coaches the Phoenix Coyotes. “Wayne Gretzky is one of the all-time best American athletes!” McCain proclaimed. But even before his boss finished speaking, Salter had spotted a slip-up: the hockey legend is from Ontario. “Yes,” Salter interjected, “Gretzky is one of the best American athletes … from Canada!” [newsweek]
We’re in the home stretch for the 2008 U.S. presidential elections, and this will be my first time to vote in a federal election as a U.S. citizen and a permanent resident of Canada.
I’m trying to get everything in order to get my voting out of the country lined up so I don’t miss the boat. If you are one of these such people, be sure to check out the Federal Voting Assistance Program. The site is dedicated to folks like myself to get information about how to get your absentee ballet by the time the elections hit in November.
With Obama choosing Biden as his running mate, the end is in sight for this battle. And as a blogger, I hope I can put out the message to those U.S. citizens around the world to pickup on your opportunity to help shape the future of the world, no matter who it is that you would rather see win.
This would include third, fourth, or fifth parties. In fact, if you have someone you’d rather write in, I say go for it. I once had a buddy put down Trent Reznor[wiki] for president with Henry Rollins[wiki] as VP.
What a glorious world that would have been.
The point is that you have the right to vote. That power is your voice to say how you want things to be ran, and this applies to any country with some form of democracy. With the possibilities of a Canadian election on the horizon, this notion has greater baring than just my home country.
To go along with the spirit of the elections, CommonCraft produced another great video about the elections, putting the whole process into plain English of how the U.S. president gets elected.
