Eejit.

Yup, that's me out of my depth again.  We had a last minute hitch with one of our performers, so I stepped in.  Normally, Lynn would have covered it, but she'd already been on for the 18th.

Lynn and I had fun, but we were both uncomfortably covering what we would call the other's job.  Though I think it's good for us both to see the other side, it's not easy to let someone sit where you would sit, and then watch them struggle.   In a way, however, it helps you realize what you do know and, as we're both struggling at the same time, we try to be as respectful as we can to each other...well as respectful as a couple that have been married for 10 years can be. {notsomuch}

In the video, I'm most unfair to Sir James Dewar.  Clearly he was a brilliant scientist and just lacked business knowledge or abilities.  Without the internet, how many of us would truly know of the potential value of patents?  And how many would know how to even go about getting one?  And I say this as someone who actually has a patent in their name.

Having written this, I suddenly realized something.  I generally refer to it as my patent, but I was essentially a student working for British Telecom at that time and so everything I did was owned by them.  However, something to do with US and Canadian law meant I had to be paid materially for the patent and so I was paid one US dollar and one Canadian dollar.   Valuable indeed these patents!  Hmm, maybe I was as business savvy as Sir Dewar.  Who's the eejit?

Extreme Whack-job.

QUIK from Colin Kennedy on Vimeo.

I hate this video. Mostly because of the hopes I had.  I thought I'd love it and then I just couldn't get around the fact that if I was walking or driving around LA when he did this, I'd definitely wish to punch him in the face.   I know, this is an extreme reaction and for that I apologize.   I haven't hit anyone since high school, so even though I'd have wanted to, I wouldn't have done it.  There is some background to this reaction though.

When I was very young, under 12, I had a lot of accidents.  I broke a leg, got concussion, stitches and when my parents decided we should move house they did test hospital runs to see which routes were fastest.  Some of my accidents were inspired by the TV series 'The Fall Guy.'  I was young and stupid, but by age 12 my accidents stopped.  I'd figured out what caused the most idiotic accidents and I just stopped doing those things.

 I bought both my boys skateboards the moment they first asked for them.  I had one as a kid and loved it - I didn't even have that many horrific accidents on it. ;-)  I'd normally share good videos with my boys, but they aren't getting to watch Austyn's video.  Doing skateboard tricks on the sidewalk / pavement with side streets, pedestrians and traffic is bonehead stupid.  Like Jackass, but without the humor.

There's a behind the scenes video too.  I watched it hoping that there'd be clearly shut off streets and everything possible done to make it safe and warn innocent pedestrians.  But no, just spotters with walkie talkies.  And worse, Austyn moans about how difficult it was to make and is shown throwing his board away in disgust when messes up his stunts.  Petulant child behavior that I detest.

It reminds me of laughing at how heartless one of my friends had been to a cyclist.  My friend was walking across a side street when the cyclist was traveling at high speed down the main road.  The cyclist wanted to whip into the side street that my friend was crossing, but he was going way too fast.  He braked badly, lost what little control he had, and tumbled to the ground.  It was all so fast my friend was kind of rooted to the spot, braced and awaiting the impact of the cyclist.  Luckily for my friend the cyclist came to a rest just inches in front of my friend.  And then my friend, merely stepped over the bleeding cyclist, and walked away as if nothing had happened.  He was sooo angry at the cyclist, he couldn't speak to him and refused to even acknowledge him.

So am I over reacting?  Am I just old and soft now that I am a father?  I don't think so.  After all, I bought my sons skateboards and bikes, and I've even taken my 9 year old karting on 45mph karts.  I encourage taking risks, tease them when they bemoan their little scrapes and tell them to get back on that bike after a fall.  But to do skateboard tricks through a crowded city, crossing side streets and loading bays at a speed you can't stop from... Nope, that's the idiotic sort of thing I'd have done when I was pretending to be Colt Seavers.

 Let me know what you think... or just send me links to some better videos...

Scary Debuts.

My video is out.  Our secret is out too.  Quite early on, in the the start up of ThisDayToday.com, we realized we needed to speed up the process of filming the pieces.  Alfred
Molina is our current record holder having shot the most pieces in one session, but not everyone has his control and memory retention.

So when on a job, I looked closely at a professional teleprompter being used to help some local actors create an instructional video for Japanese doctors...a tricky gig where all the crew struggled to stay focused, as everything was in Japanese and the director was in Japan watching via Skype.  The teleprompter just looked like a piece of glass at 45 degrees, with monitor underneath it.  So I did some research and that is all that's really needed in a studio situation - it's more tricky in bright sunlight etc.

With some left over plywood in the garage, less than $20 for a new picture frame and an old flat-ish screen monitor, I had everything I needed.  As soon as we started using it, we become so much more productive.  We've always striven to pack in the material to keep the videos short, and the teleprompter helps with the precision needed.  And as the performers get used to it, it becomes a guide not a master.  It's funny though, Mr Molina has continued to show his metal and still remains our record holder - recently we shot 12 pieces with him in one session !

Then it struck me.  Who invented the teleprompter?  We should cover that.  Who should write and perform it?... and that's where it went wrong.  Of course, I should write and perform it.  After all, I was that one who built the thing.   Only one snag.  I don't perform.  I guess you could say I write, in that I write this blog, but it's not the really the same thing.  It scared me.  I felt embarrassed.  I've never wanted to perform.  But none the less,  I had to do it.  We shot it on June 5th - that's a long time to get nervous.

On the very day my video went out, my eldest son Fergus started at a new school.  When we arrived in the US almost 4 years ago, Fergus spent a miserable 6 weeks at a local school, that ended with his teachers losing him in a public park.  I know, total incompetence!  He never went back to that school.   So we were all more than a little scared about the new school.  Fergus was clearly nervous, but he rose to the challenge.  He's managed to keep an open mind, stay positive and he's already made a new friend.  He even seems to like his new teacher... that'll change! ;-)

They say, "What scares you, makes you stronger."  Be strong my friends.