ColourManagement-NorthernVoice2010

Welcome!

What’s the recipe for a Blogger Night at the Opera?  A table of laptops, black coffee and a Twitter photo booth at the ready.  Mix in eager blogger participants (myself, Tris Hussey, Gus Fosarolli and Kelsey Dundon) and you get the clicking of keys on laptops before the show and – even more frantically – during the intermission.

Thanks to Ling Chan and John Biehler, my wife Marilyn and I were able to attend this Blogger Night At the Opera, which turned out to be a very enjoyable experience for both of us.  Sitting at the table in the lobby pre-show for the opening night of The Marriage of Figaro at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre felt a little like “bloggers on parade”, but it was very social as well.  Plenty of friendly people dropping by to see what we were up to, with lots of questions about both the blogging world and that thing called the iPad that I happened to be working with (thx for the insight, Tris :p).

Having no opera experience whatsoever, I had no idea what I was in for.  I did the usual Wikipedia lookup beforehand, and at least understood that I was going to see a comedic opera by Mozart.  After we were settled in at the table, Terry Harper (Director of Production) came around and introduced himself before taking us on our backstage tour.  It was a treat to be able to go behind the curtain and see the sets up close.  An amazing amount of detail is visible everywhere, from props to backdrops.  We learned a few interesting bits as well, like the fact that the complete set – costumes and all – was rented from Alberta.  We also learned sticky floors are preferred by the actors, and are achieved with a mop and  mixture of Coca-Cola and water.

Backstage

So for those of you that are opera-unaware like me, there are a few things to know.  First, don’t worry about not knowing the language the opera is performed in.  Thanks to “surtitles“, which are displayed above the stage, an English interpretation lets you follow what’s going on.  Second, while being up close to the performers is a treat, if you sit very close (as we were fortunate enough to do) the surtitles end up being miles above your head.  It’s critical that you get very skilled very quickly at looking up, looking back at the stage, looking up, looking back at the stage.  I’m sure this is secretly done to amuse the performers as they play ’spot the newbies’ when looking out at us.

While I normally would prefer sitting up close like this during a live concert, I would recommend sitting further back in this case.  I think for those of us that haven’t been to an opera before, or haven’t been much, sitting back far enough to see both the entire stage and the surtitles at once without taking your eyes completely off the performance would be beneficial.  Fight the urge to buy the best, and give the close seats to those that know the language or the opera well and can take it in seamlessly.

I was told The Marriage Of Figaro is a great “first opera” and I for one am glad I was initiated by it.  It was very enjoyable from start to finish. The story was well written and well accompanied, but the best entertainment came from the performers themselves.  All of the players were very skilled vocally, as expected, but they also seemed right at home doing physical comedy.  It was a great combination overall, and the 3+ hour length went by surprisingly quickly.   It was also great to see the Vancouver area so well represented, with many of the cast members hailing from the Lower Mainland (including the Count, Countess and Marcellina).  I also noticed that the packed house was full of all ages – good to see the variety and the interest for opera being so high.

Figaro

The night ended with an after-party behind the stage where we got to mix & mingle with the cast & crew.  It gave us another opportunity to show our appreciation for a great night.  Thanks again to Ling and John for this opportunity, and I’m sure that another opera is in my future.  Madama Butterfly…let’s see… a Japanese tragedy by Puccini, performed in Italian with English surtitles.  Sounds perfect.

PS Apparently all of the images are being displayed at all Blenz locations on the Blenz Media Network. The rotation is as follows:

April 20 – 21: Aaron MacFarlane & Michael Lawrence (Best Series & Best Theme Interpretation)
April 22 – 23: Jason Strelaeff & Philip Wu (Best Creative & Best Aesthetic)
April 24 – 26: Peter Lowery & Peter Andersen (Themes 1 & 2)
April 27 – 28: Elizabeth Peña & Tyler Branston (Themes 3 & 4)
April 29 – 30: Jonathan Evans & Elizabeth Peña (Themes 5 & 6)
May 1 – 3: Bruce Entus & Daniel Jackson (Themes 7 & 8)
May 4 – 5: Lauren Keogh & Michael Lawrence (Themes 9 & 10)
May 6 – 7: Ian Kerr & Phil Wu (Themes 11 & 12)

UPDATE: the showing has been extended to May 14th by request from the Lookout. Great news – not too late to go check it out!

I’ll be back, really. I just need a few more spare hours ;).

Flickr SXSW 2009 Set

Thanks and see you next year!

I recently had the pleasure of visiting Yosemite to take part in a small photography workshop and had a great time, meeting many people and (of course) seeing amazing sights.  Dave Wyman and Ken Rockwell were the hosts, providing instruction and locations over a 3 day period.  This was my first “official” workshop, having done many photowalks – both organized and not – over the last few years.

I flew to SFO and then drove a rented Ford Escape for the 4.5 hour journey to Yosemite. Trip there was easy enough, although I didn’t get into the park until dark and there was a fair amount of roadwork going on which confused the GPS. I Eventually found Yosemite Lodge, though, and was able to bump into Dave to find out where to meet & when, etc. for the next day.

Day 1 began at 7:30am at Curry Village and was a busy day, heading first to Stoneman Meadow (views of Half Dome and more), a nearby creek and bridges (beautiful reflections in the calm of early morning) before heading out to the Girls Club and Ansel Adams Gallery.  Ken gave a good talk on the fundamentals of shooting landscape photography, going over exposure, color balance, lighting and more.  Ken is an excellent speaker and teacher, with the most important message being “just get out and shoot”.

After Ken’s talk, we headed to the Ansel Adams Gallery and the nearby cemetary, taking numerous pictures along the way.  It was great to mingle with the crowd and compare shots, angles, etc. to see how everyone approached their photography.

The afternoon was spent at El Capitan Meadow, Valley View, Tunnel View, Fern Springs (Yosemite’s smallest waterfall – OK Dave that’s reaching…;)) and the Bridalveil Falls parking lot to see the rainbow that Dave promised, which did show up even though the water was sparse.  We ended the day at the Yosemite Chapel, running a road block and meeting a family of deer to boot.  A bunch of us headed back to Curry Village for pizza and beverages (beer for Dave & I, chocolate milk for Ken).

Day 2 was, for the most part, about driving and finding gas… OK not really but it felt that way.  We started the day heading down to the Merced River for some early morning reflections of Half Dome in the water, and began a slow hike looping around to the Supervisor’s Cabin.  Lots of great views along the way.  After breakfast we headed out to the Foresta Barns, a brief drive outside the park.  Afterwards we continued to drive to Mariposa and the giant Sequoias – right about here is where our car (myself and 3 others) decided gas was a priority, especially since the gas station at our meeting place was closed for renovations.  No problem, an hour out of the way to Oakhurst and we made it back to the Sequoias in time to meet up with everyone else.  Good thing I filled up, too, because after the trees we headed up to Glacier Point, about a 20 mile drive from the Park entrance.  This was the highlight of the day for me, as it (and Washburn Point just before it) offered amazing views of the valley and a straight-on look at Half Dome.  Worth the drive, to say the least.  The day ended with a nice dinner with new friends from California and a late night of viewing pics in Lightroom.

Day 3, the last day (already?) was only scheduled for the morning, but we did manage to see a lot.  We met at the Ahwahnee Hotel for breakfast (the “ritzy” place of Yosemite) and then wandered around the area for new photo ops.  A few of us walked back to the Lodge (at least 3km, I’d say) and met up there for final goodbyes and exchanges of info.  I gave out a few Moo cards to people, I hope they manage to get to my site and read this ;).

As my flight was booked for the next day, I went back to my room for a few hours to relax and then met up with Jay and his wife, plus a very nice couple from Florida (OK guys I need spelling on your names….) for dinner.  Called it a night fairly early to get up at 6 to start heading back to SFO and home.  Long drive but nice weather, then a 3 hour+ wait at the airport for a delayed flight back home.

I have finally managed to upload images to Flickr and Smugmug, so please have a look and leave any comments or questions.  I hope to do more of these in the future.  Thanks again to Dave & Ken – next stop Vancouver, OK guys…? 

PS I have created a group on Flickr called “Autumn Light In Yosemite 2008” for anyone that is on Flickr to post their pictures to.  To use it, join the group (an option on this page) and then upload your pictures as normal.  Select one of your pictures that you would like to submit to the group and select “Send To Group” in your toolbar on the Flickr Page and choose the “Autumn Light in Yosemite 2008″ group.  Optionally, you can also add the tag “AutumnLightInYosemite2008″ as another way of pooling all of these shots together.  Searching for that phrase (no spaces) will return all pictures in Flickr with that tag. E-mail or leave me a comment here if you have any questions at all.

Sorry for the flash pic, but I didn’t get home to see this until the sun started to go down, and I didn’t want to miss the status update.  As you can see from above, we have forms now and the rebar is ready to be placed.  I expect the crew will be back tomorrow to finish up forming and if we go to plan the pour will happen next week.  We’re still looking for things to be done in October and I’ll continue to update you guys.

Renovating is hell.

In order for them to spin it, though, they’ve announced it as a “limited time offer” that expires August 31st.  Honestly I think the (much) more expensive plans will fade into the darkness and this one or one like it will be the real plans for the future.  Rogers couldn’t just change their plans, though.  That’d make them look…well…WRONG.  Funny that.

I was on the phone with Rogers CSR last night for close to an hour discussing options on upgrades etc. and of course this did not come up – but then he probably had no idea it was coming.  What he did tell me, though, is that based on my family plan and the fact that Marilyn had bought a Motorola phone about 6 months ago I am actually not in the Hardware Tier that would allow me to pay the advertised rate for the iPhone.  Apparently the $199/$299 rates are for new customers - you know, the ones that flip from Telco to Telco.  Another brilliant display of customer retention.  To make it even more ridiculous – I’m shortening the conversation considerably – if I pay my current bill now instead the of automatic payment in 2 weeks I would somehow magically then be in the proper hardware tier for the advertised price.  I kid you not.  It never ceases to amaze me how companies try so hard to get new customers yet make their loyal subscribers bend over and take one to get anything.   But that’s another battle to come.

Ironically, a story was leaked yesterday that both Bell and Telus will be charging for incoming SMS messages soon.  $50 says it was a Rogers zealot that leaked it – great attempt at deflection, guys.  But it’s not entirely ridiculous, imho.  That charge is only put through if you do not have a Text Messaging plan of any kind on your line.  Most people that expect SMS messages have a plan of some kind, so they won’t really notice any difference.  Others, tho, can still receive SMS messages – unless the Telcos offer the option to block them.  Clearly, if it’s a spam SMS there’s no way people should have to pay for it, so good luck Bellus on enforcing a charge in that situation.  Rogers, of course, has publicly stated that they’ll never charge for incoming SMS.  You know, because they’re so sweet to their base.

So yes, I’ll be getting a new iPhone with this data plan - hopefully one for Marilyn as well but if not then she’s OK with data + existing iPhone.  Now to try to navigate the no-doubt big line-ups on Friday morning.  Wish me luck.

Finally!  For those that don’t know the drawn-out saga, it has been about 2 years since this idea first began in our brains.  Truth be told, we always wanted some kind of usable garage at our house (there is currently a very narrow single car “closet” attached to the side).  At first we had thought we could build a detached unit, but there was not enough room.  At the end of the planning, a two-car garage became a two-storey addition to the back east end of our home.  Huge job, considering it’s basically a box with a roof.  But we’ll get a nice double garage as well as usable space above it, so hopefully all worth it in the end.  But what a saga so far.

First pass was to get the City of Poco Board to grant us a variance.  As it turns out, our home is zoned perpendicular to its address.  With the lot being essentially wide, not deep, the zoning was actually for the street around the corner from our home, even though our address was at the front of our house.  This turned out to be in our favour, as building the extension would no doubt have been turned down as too close to the rear-lot line.  But thanks to the wacky zoning, our rear-lot line is actually our side-lot line, allowing us to extend much further “backward”.  Long story short, the variance was actually for the side of our home closest to the lane, and for maybe 3 feet.  The Board passed us rather easily so we figured we were well on our way.  That was about 14 months ago.

Then came the permit applications.  HUGE hassle, frankly, and according to our Contractor and Engineer much more difficult than anything they’d ever encountered before.  After MANY back and forths, redrawn and re-submitted plans and even a face-to-face meeting we finally got our Permit late last year.  I won’t get into the details, but our engineer was literally coloring in walls on the plan to appease the City of Poco.  Advice: NEVER build in Poco unless you do it in the dark under a big tarp.

So after winter delays and countless other delays (weather, overbooking by our Contractor, etc.) he finally showed up this morning with a crew and a small digger.  The plan now is to dig the hole, prepare it with gravel and forms, then pour the foundation.  After that I’m guessing we wait a bit then start to actually build.  We hope to be done before the end of August – I’ll keep you posted on the progress, in words and pictures.