e|g

Mt. Washington

Cool article on Mt. Washington in winter.

Erik and the Bird

You may have seen this photo before. It's been circulating for a couple of years. When I see stuff like this, I can't help but wonder: what is going on in this picture?

Let me set the scene for you. Erik and I were visiting Grandma and Grandpa in Gloucester when we heard a thump on the living room window. Grandpa went outside to investigate.

The rest of us followed. It was a stunned, but alive, juvenile robin that had crashed into the glass.

So Long, Ashburnham

Before my mother and step-father moved away from Ashburnham a couple of years ago, I asked Erik and Craig to take a walk with me in the woods behind the house.

Sox vs Reds

Les Nessman here with the Red Sox update. They are not doing as well 
as you'd expect. Down 3-1 in the top of the seventh, Manny struck out 
and Lowell flied out to left field. Masterson has given up two home 
runs. Keep those fingers crossed.

Baby if you've ever wondered. Wondered whatever became of me.

I'm at Great America Ballpark in Cinccinnati. Those tickets are for Fridays game if we can get our Nascar work done in time, but even if we get to the park late, we will still get to see some great Baseball! Right now the Reds are being shutdown by former World Series losers, the St. Louis Cardinals. Missing their big time slugger Albert Pujols the Cards still managed to put up a 5 spot in the top of the first powered by 2 monster home runs. The first coming from center fielder Rick Ankiel a three run shot bringing in Ludwick and Miles who both walked, the second, a 2 run shot by first baseman Duncan bringing in Troy Glaus who also walked. We're now in the bottom of the fourth and the Reds starting pitcher has already thrown 74 pitches (mostly balls)

Sent from Erik's iPhone

Raising Arizona

I've wanted to go to Arizona for a long time and a couple of weeks ago I made it there with a stop in Las Vegas. We had a wonderful vacation and did a lot of exploring. I'm not sure how many miles Erik drove, but here's a rough sketch of the route.

I just started putting together the album, but here are some highlights:

Business casualtimes at NAB in Las Vegas...

Excessive natural beauty at the Grand Canyon...

Strolling around Flagstaff with Hannah (and Daisy and Sophie)...

The Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix with Uncle Joe and Auntie Nancy...

Hiking in the Superstitions with Virge and Brooke...

Just a lot of good plain fun with Uncle Fred and Auntie Doreen...

Critical Mass-hole

I finally made it out for a ride with New Haven's monthly Critical Mass ride! I had a blast cruising on my single speed beach cruiser.

Here's how we snaked our way around the city. It didn't feel like 8 miles! A fun way to see the city close up and to explore places you might not usually go when in a car or even on foot!

There was well over 200 in our laid back Peloton as we sometimes filled up 2 full lanes of a street with a group that stretched out close to a half mile. Something like this can sometimes irritate over zealous motorists and occasionally an otherwise peaceful ride can become interesting. Check out some of the clips on Youtube! I got to meet some former acquaintances as well as some new people on the ride and at the accompanying BBQ that was hosted on the front lawn of a nice old Victorian home on the corner of Orange and Bishop. I also ended up with a pretty cool free T-Shirt compliments of my friend Carl's friend Mike, his girlfriend Julie and Julie's brother who printed the shirts at a shop he works at in Hyannis on Cape Cod. I also

Forget the Prius! Go Vegetarian!

In a groundbreaking 2006 report, the United Nations (U.N.) said that raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined. Senior U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization official Henning Steinfeld reported that the meat industry is “one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems.”

you can get the full UN report (pdf) here:


*********************************************************
More From a University of Chicago new office.

*********************************************************

see also: www.goveg.com if you care to do something about it.

A New Frontier?

2006 Sports Emmy Award Nominations

The nominations were announced today. The piece I worked on with my Producer buddy Martin Khodabakhshian is in the running. Editor Tom Beers assisted by laying down the rough cut and nicely compositing some elements to make it look like Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers were coming out of an elevator on a spaceship. If you haven't seen it, take a look.

Martin gets major credit for this production! He came up with the whole concept of getting all these athletes into all the masks and executing an even greater challenge... Convincing them to do it. It was really an honor to get to put this together. It had everything in place before coming into the edit room. A quote by the guy who edited Eternal Sunshine of A Spotless Mind I read in a trade magazine recently... "Cutting great footage is easy, it's cutting bad footage that's a challenge."
Paul Zucker

That is soooo true. We can always spend time and money making bad footage look better, but it's more effective and rewarding to spend our time making great footage look its best.

Working with people like Martin, who can pre-visualize and then follow through is such a treat.

Read his write up that he sent in with the submission.

RICHARD HAMILTON'S MASKS

      What do Darth Vader, Spiderman, Randy Moss, Napoleon Dynamite and a horse all have in common?  Absolutely nothing…and almost everything.  Especially, if you're the Detroit Pistons' Richard Hamilton.  And who would have known that the NBA star's father was legendary Czechoslovakian NHL Goalie Dominik Hasek?  And why in the world would Hamilton's teammate Lindsey Hunter, don a Hannibal Lecter mask, and want to eat your liver?!  Intrigued?  Just wait, it gets better.

      Though completely healed from his injuries sustained throughout his career, Richard Hamilton, who goes by "Rip," wears a clear, protective mask to keep from breaking his nose for a fourth time.  But when Rip's transparent shield comes off, a series of new game faces take shape with the help of some other familiar, well… faces.

      In an era where professional athletes are often scrutinized for not showing their human side and taking themselves too seriously, this piece definitely bucks that trend.  Who knew you could get some high-profile celebrities on-camera to put on a bunch of masks, and not hide behind them?  Where else have you ever seen Stormtroopers from one of the most popular films in history, Star Wars, laugh at their notorious leader Darth Vader and get away with it?  Did I mention Richard Nixon makes a cameo with a Werewolf?

      Once this piece is over, you want to watch it again.  The shoots are effective.  The music moves you.  The edits are precise with purpose.  The story-telling is packed with surprises.  This feature takes a tale about a simple, see-through mask, and turns it into one memorable masquerade.  Even some of pro basketball's toughest, bad boys opened up for this feature.  Put it this way, Hamilton's teammate Lindsey Hunter put on a horse head and neighed like Seabiscuit.  Enough said.