清風滿山吹(聖山)

【曲名】：清風滿山吹(聖山)

咱台灣人真的是一個快樂、勤儉的民族，數百年來‧無論時代是多艱苦，咱都會互相相挺、互相照應，在逆境中一步一步向目標前進。


2008年12月21日，我和大地文教基金會同修遊聖山，這座山蘊涵一個堅定的信仰、堅持的理念，一個台灣人內心最熱切的宿願→台灣建國。

聖山的建設，幾乎是咱台灣人精神的寫照：快樂、勤儉、互相相挺、照應，在逆境中一步一步向目標前進。

坐在聖山的草皮，清風滿山吹，帶給自己心靈的祥和，咱心中的願望，在咱的堅持下，一定會一步一步達成。



http://www.twango.com/media/eds3343.public/eds3343.10077
包子丸

小西園掌中劇團

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This is produced by Taiwan Council for Culture Affairs, and authorized to YushanTv for noncommercial use. Copyrights obey the rule of Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike. 本片由台灣文建會授予本台無償播出,導循CC授權,不得作為任何商業用途。

更多台灣文化展演

Happy New Years Eve

Today Harry and I were invited to a friends for a New Years Eve party. Neither Harry or I are into big groups of people or parties but we thought it would be fun. But at the last minute I wasn't feeling so hot and Harry was having some tooth pain so we decided to stay home and celebrate the new year with just the two of us and Daisy. It was a quiet but nice night.

Happy New Years.. 2009 is going to ROCK!!!!

Star Trek The Tour

Today I started working on editing together some of the video from our wonderful three trip to Long Beach for Star Trek The Tour back in February 08. We took over three hours of video and watching it now brings back such great memories. Harry and I are such geeks.. we had such a wonderful time. If you want to see the videos you can go to my You tube video page and watch them there.. I have a few up now but plan on putting up more as I get them done...

someday...

i will learn enough to take pictures like my big bro.

oh, and someday... i will have the opportunity to travel to all sorts of amazing sights too...

(i recommend screens 1 and 2 for the pure in heart).

小人物大國民－－徐蘭香

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更多客家人的故事

Episode Five of The Guild

The Guild episode five is up on MS video.. check it out here.

Being Sick and needing Serenity

I've been sick on and off the past few weeks.. it's a cold that just won't leave. Well today it was at it's worse and I was feeling horrible. So I decided to rest on the couch in front of our new 60" big screen TV and watch one of my all time favorite movies Serenity. If you don't know it is, look it up online. It's a movie made from one of the best yet very short lived TV series called Firefly. It's from the wonderful mind of Joss Whedon.

It was exactly what the doctor ordered.. I relaxed, sat back and watched a fantasic movie.

I hope I feel better soon....

Red terror in Ma's government

影片轉貼語法
<embed height="480" width="640" flashvars="height=480&width=640&file=http://tda.228.net.tw/228/sea/china_police.flv" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://tda.228.net.tw/228/mediaplayer.swf"></embed>

製片：白賊九
翻譯：Wendy W. Yang、禪定

延伸閱讀：
Returned Mail from Freedom House
台灣戒嚴?!
【Video】『台灣危機 全民總動員』紅色戒嚴紀錄片（完整版）

點我帶回家

台灣 荷蘭 鄭家軍

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更多台灣歷史

Re-Digitizing The Guild

After the lose of my hard drive I had to start re-digitizing the 50+ hours of footage I shot for The Guild BTS. It's a slow process but I should be done in a week or so and I can start cutting together some cool BTS pieces for the DVD. Wish me luck that my drive doesn't crash again.

Dr. Horrible DVD

Today I was finally able to sit down and watch the Dr. Horrible DVD extras and listen to the commentary and I LOVED IT.

First of all if you don't know what this is you can go here and watch it for free.

If you are a Joss Whedon fan then you already know how AWESOME this show is. But what is extra special about this DVD is there is a commentary track that's called Commentary: The Musical and cast and crew sing their commentary while the show is playing.. it's totally cool. There is also a "regular" commentary which is also very fun. There are few BTS pieces and a very cool Evil League of Evil section where fans sent in videos of their characters. Some of them were so cool and interesting.

I know you can watch this show online for free.. but it's worth every penny of the $9.99 to buy the DVD and support such a cool and innovated project.

More Guildie Stuff

Success.. I was finally able to get the three Guild videos uploaded to my You Tube channel. The picture quality is okay but the more important part is listening to the singing. Later in the day I uploaded the videos directly to watchtheguild.com website and the picture quality was 100 times better, you can see them here. All in all I think the videos turned out pretty good... even the one that has me singing on it.

proud new owner.

while it may not be the latest and greatest... it's the perfect starter camera for this new photographer.



watch out world... the bennions are out to conquer the world... and will be there to document every bit of it.

小人物大國民－－陳全鴻

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振翅飛翔的雞爸爸

如果有一天，所有行動能力都被剥奪時，這是上帝賦予的挑戰，也是生命堅強的展現。
他熬過一生中最暗的時期，
在家人與朋友的鼓勵下重新站起來，
每一天都是有尊嚴又充滿希望的開始。

客家好戲，優質劇典－－戀戀山城 (3/4)

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更多客家故事

a sweet boy.

this is sean. nephew #2. so sweet and so tender. he's always asking for hugs. the mellow genes that never made it into jared's dna were bottled up and given to sean. he is easily amused and laughs uncontrollably.

a crazy monkey.

(i'm not strangling him. i'm tickling.)

this is my nephew jared. everyone thinks they have the cutest nephew/neice. i won't argue with anyone... but i'm just throwing this out there... he's pretty cute. he loves dinosaurs, scary monsters, and most of all pirates.

he's a crazy monkey, but i love him. lucy said he didn't go to sleep until 11 o'clock last night because he couldn't quit talking about his aunt aubry. isn't that just sweet enough to melt your heart...

the handbag that got away.

fashion valley added a million new stores since i was home last... including some of my favs - anthropologie, henri bendel AND michael kors. not to mention its already killer nordstrom (puts fashion place mall to shame) and bloomingdale's.

not only did i hit up the new and improved mall, my mom and i earned our black belts at the trifecta of bargain shops... loehmann's, the rack, and off 5th. originally $175... marked down to $40... with an additional 50% off. black belt, for sure.

it was practically a dream come true.

however...

i walked away from this sweet beauty

... and it was on sale. what was i thinking?! should i go back? i should go back. yes, i should go back. michael and i just celebrated our 3 year anniversary of being together ... and i just turned my back on him. i'm a jerk. don't i know a good thing when it's looking me in the face?

Guildie Stuff

Today I worked on getting The Guild mini wrap party karaoke videos up on you tube for all too see. First of all the clips were too long, you tube has a limit of 10 minutes now so I had to cut them up. I also wanted to have a high enough picture quality but the file couldn't be over 1gig. After lots of attempts and staying up till after 2am I finally gave up and went to bed.. I vowed to work on it the next day.

Dr. Horrible DVD and CD

Today I got my Dr. Horrible Sing Along Blog DVD and CD from Amazon.. I can't wait to sit down and watch/listen to Commentary the Musical and watch all the extras.. The Hammer is my Penis...

alma 7: 10-12

merry christmas, friends!



hope the day was as great as mine... full of family (especially sweet nephews!), good food, and presents galore!

... and of course, a moment to ponder what it's really all about.

now, onto the after christmas sales! loehmann's, sephora, and anthro, oh my! will it be the annual michael kors? or is 2009 the year of marc jacobs?

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone...

Today Harry, Daisy and I went to my mom and step dads and had Christmas breakfast and opened gifts. Besides my mom and stepdad, my grand mother was there as well as my brother and sister-in-law. Mom and Chuck got me my new podcasting microphone and audio usb mixer... it's very cool.

Around 3pm we headed over to my Dad, who lives with my brother and sister-in-law and we opened a ton of presents and then had a very yummy Christmas Turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

It was a long but fun day.. everyone had a very merry Christmas.

台灣詩人一百影音計畫--陳芳明(上)

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Gift Exchange

Merry Christmas Eve..

Tonight Harry and I exchanged gifts for each other. There weren't many gifts to exchange since our big gift to ourselves was our 60" Big Screen TV.. which we love. We got additional DVD's and clothes. We also opened the gifts that Harry's family had sent up for Xmas. They got us this awesome pet vaccum, Harry Potter A History book, Friends Seasons DVD and a flood light for outback. We videotaped the whole thing so Harry can show his family later. All in all it was a quiet night.

祝玉山電視台所有公民記者 山友與觀眾聖誕快樂

感謝山友阿mei製作

The Guild Episode 4 & Gag Reel

They posted The Guild episode 4 and a gag reel from the first three episode up on MS Video. http://is.gd/9Zjj . I did a BT S piece for this episode but I'm not sure when they are going to post that.. I'll keep you all updated.

玉山賀歲大片：客家好戲，優質劇典－－戀戀舊山線

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第一集　青梅竹馬　山線三友

第二集　生氣難過　但，還是成全

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冷風那ㄟ吹袂離

【曲名】：冷風那ㄟ吹袂離

風架冷，想起咱台灣的命運，
你會心疼嗎？

什麼時候，在咱們的國家，不能拿自己的旗子，
你會心疼嗎？
什麼時候，咱們警察變成公安，棍棒打向自己人民，
你會心疼嗎？
什麼時候，失業、裁員、減薪的陰影，會籠罩在你我身邊，
你會心疼嗎？
什麼時候，咱們要提心吊膽，害怕咱們的台灣被人出賣‧
你會心疼嗎？
什麼時候，咱們台灣人，開店播放台灣歌，會被強迫關店？
你會心疼嗎？


如果，咱們台灣的未來，只剩下黑暗見不到光明，
你會心疼嗎？
你會心疼嗎？

http://www.twango.com/media/eds3343.public/eds3343.10076

包子丸

Please Don't Divorce Campaign

My friend Chris sent me this link. It's a photo campaign for folks to post pictures of you, your spouse, husband, wife, kids, family holding signs asking "people" not to divorce my mom's or dad's. There are some amazing pictures and my heart swells with pride to be part of such a loving community. Check it out here.

2009, please.

not to discount christmas, or any holiday cheer between now and then, but can it puh-lease be 2009 already? my wall calendar awaits.

for once in my life... november's artwork isn't all brown and cornucopia-y.

a sweet present.

i was given this little delectable on saturday night.

i recommend them all. next on the list: mediterranean mint.

154.

... the number of spools of ribbon i bought on saturday morning at the american crafts warehouse sale.

i've googled it... there's no such thing as a 12 step program for ribbon abuse.

台灣生態系列: 台灣動物百科--小白鷺

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更多台灣生態故事

12.25(四) 聖誕節公義和平燭光祈禱會

親愛的會員與朋友：聖誕恭喜，新年快樂﹗

一年一度的聖誕節是慶祝『和平之君』耶穌基督的降誕，祂要為世人帶來具有公義的真和平，因之本會自2006年起就與台灣基督長老教會台北地區的教會共同舉辦『聖誕節公義和平燭光祈禱會』。

今年5月20日馬政府上任以來，台灣的人權與自由已大幅倒退，惡質媒體的傷害更嚴重，而且台灣主權也在淪喪中，際此危機重重之時，野草莓學運帶給我們一絲新希望，但主張和平非暴力的達賴喇嘛又被拒於國門之外 …，這些危機需要我們更多祈禱與關切，因之今年聖誕節公義和平燭光祈禱會，期望大家踴躍來參加。

◆ 時間：12月25日(週四) 下午7:30-9:20

◆ 地點：中山基督長老教會禮拜堂 (台北市林森北路62號，與長安東路交會口)

◆ 祈禱主要事項：（短講及祈禱）

1. 人權保障：李勝雄律師

2. 媒體改革：盧世祥執行長 (新聞公害防治協會)

3. 維護台灣主權：蔡丁貴會長 (台灣教授協會)

4. 圖博(西藏)之自由與自治：周美里會長暨凱度頓珠先生 (圖博流亡政府國會議員)

5. 野草莓學運疼台灣：學生代表

6. 2007年9月15日澳洲雪梨支持台灣入聯遊行影視 Show (王俐力醫師)

◆ 獻唱：雅歌合唱團 (為台灣及世界的公義和平歌唱)

每項短講後，先由參加會眾一起同聲祈禱，並由一位牧長帶領祈禱。

台灣聯合國協進會理事長 羅榮光暨全體理監事 上2008年12月16日

※請中南部或國外會員電請台北地區親友參加，也能自己在家中點亮蠟燭為公義和平永在人間懇切祈禱

※ 欲參加請用傳真：02-27090658 或電話：02-27099787 告知協進會辦公室

白色世代－白色恐怖口述訪談心得分享

轉型正義工作坊第四場
講題：白色世代－白色恐怖口述訪談心得分享
主講人：曹欽榮、林世煜與他們的組員

簡介：

轉型正義的推動，可以視為一種社會重建的工程，南非「真相與和解委員會」在媒體之前進行聽證會的方式，是一種全社會同時進行的洗禮，也是全國人民同時參與的社會重建。

我國對於白色恐怖的真相調查，一直只有相對少數的人參加，也只能對受害者進行口述採訪，更不可能透過媒體傳達給民眾。

但我們可以呼籲，有志青年可以個別的、對活過白色恐怖世代的長輩，進行各自的口述記錄。從一家一戶一姓一族一村一里作起，細部的，微觀的推動轉型正義社會工程。

2008 年民間真相與和解促進會成員分別負責訓練、帶領7組學生（約30多人）進行全台灣白色恐怖百位受難者的結構性採訪，從對比觀點下來看這次採訪所帶來的課題：宏觀/微觀、群體/個人、菁英/大眾、本省/外省、男性/女性、世代對話，這次口訪有什麼特殊性？本次工作坊將由曹欽榮、林世煜與組員和大家分享“白色世代－我們土地上的生命故事”。


講者介紹：

曹欽榮
從1996年參與規劃/經營/設計台北228紀念館3年，2001年開始帶領綠島人權紀念園區規劃團隊，陸續採訪白色恐怖受難者超過150人以上。他從紀念館與觀眾溝通的觀點出發，認為紀念館與其他博物館最大不同的地方，就是每日開門的紀念館肩負著轉型期歷史正義的任務－傳遞歷史真相的認識、促進社會和解的溝通；而這一切都要從與近代歷史事件的人物主體對話開始，口訪成為邁向歷史真相不可或缺的途徑。現在是台灣民間真相與和解促進會的理事。

林世煜 ／ Michael Lin
台灣威權時代反對運動的一員。曾參與《八十年代》，《深耕》，《自由時代》系列雜誌，和多次選舉運動。

「陳文成博士紀念基金會」長期志工，2000年政黨輪替後，著力於白色恐怖時代的口述採訪及真相調查；協助基金會團隊投入「綠島人權紀念園區」的規劃；中、英、日文版《人權之路》編印，及紀錄片《青春祭》，《白色見證》，《火線任務》，《我的人權之旅》的製作；並籌辦「人權之路─青年體驗營」。

現任「台灣民間真相與和解促進會」及「台灣部落格協會」理事
相關著作：《白色封印》
部落格：《寫給台灣的情書》：http://blog.roodo.com/michaelcarolina

時間：2008/12/26（五）19：30-21：30
地點：台大社會科學院電化教室(綜合大樓二樓）

主辦單位：台灣民間真相與和解促進會
協辦單位：台灣大學人權研究中心

歡迎參加！

我以青春為你護航 - 綠島人權之路青年體驗營活動紀錄片

今年五月和九月，有兩批年輕人和白色恐怖政治受難者長輩一起來到綠島，見證那段最幽暗的歷史。年輕人聽著長輩說著不可置信的故事，也試著用自己的青春包容那段過去。

片長：23min 攝影：李立偉/周馥儀 剪輯：李立偉

相關頁面與出處：
2009人權之路青年體驗營第三梯
人權之路青年體驗營 (2008.9.綠島)
人權之路青年體驗營紀錄片：我以青春為你護航
[紀錄片] 我以青春為你護航

世界人權宣言六十週年DVD短片

A計畫導演：陳育青
內容：〈世界人權宣言〉第2條──「人人皆得享受本宣言所載之一切權利與自由，不分種族、膚色、性別、語言、宗教、政見或他種主張、國籍或門第、財產、出生或他種身分。且不得因一人所隸國家或地區之政治、行政或國際地位之不同而有所區別，無論該地區係獨立、託管、非自治或受其他主權上之限制。用「手演員」表現出台灣因被排除於聯合國之外所受到的國際地位歧視


為了紀念聯合國通過〈世界人權宣言〉六十週年，闡揚宣言的內容，並且鼓勵青年投入捍衛 人權的行列，國際特赦組織的亞太青年網絡（Asia Pacific Youth Network）發起了一項非常有趣又有意義的活動──由亞太地區各分會共同創作一支世界人權宣言DVD短片，於今年12月10日「世界人權日」當天全球同步發表。

這部跨國創作的短片，不但其創作過程本身即可動員亞太各國的青年志工參與，未來更將成為人權 教育的輔助教材。

這個短片創作的計畫，是由亞太各國分會號召國內的青年志工，針對〈世界人權宣言〉的三 十項條文，分別攝製一支一分鐘左右的短片，再由亞太青年網絡匯整編集成一部DVD。 在這項計畫中，台灣分會分配到三個條文，即第2條、第14條和第23條。

觀賞完整影片

DVD Screeners

One of the reasons I joined the PGA (Producer's Guild of America) was to get DVD screeners during the award season. Here is what I have gotten so far. The Tale of Despereaux, The Reader, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Milk, Madagascar 2, The Dark Knight, The Wrestler, Gran Torin, Changeling, The Visitor, Rachel Getting Married, Kung Fu Panda, Wall-E, Frost/Nixon, Slumdog Millionaire, Defiance, Bolt, Doubt and Revolutionary Road.

台灣動物百科--螢火蟲

Watch 台灣動物百科--螢火蟲 in Entertainment Videos  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
本片由許鴻龍老師授權無償播出,不得作為任何商業用途.

更多台灣生態故事

It's all about the Jeep

Today I got up super early 6:30am and dropped off the Jeep to the jeep dealer and then went to the car rental place to pick up my rent-a-car. While there the dealer called and informed me what the problem was. Beside they fact that my dash cluster is bad (which I already knew and it would cost $1200 to fix) there was a bad sensor throttle and to replace it would cost about $260.00. Which was better then the $700 I spent a few months ago and the $2000 I spent a year ago fixing this jeep. Many ask why I keep putting money into this thing and I tell them that I'm still paying on it and I have no choice. Having a jeep is great but I was warned that they could become a money pit.. and that is becoming very true as of late. The good thing is my car would be ready by 10:30am but I was already at work and rented a car so I am going to pick it up tomorrow morning.

The Tales of Despereaux

Today for TV night we watched The Tales of Despereaux. I had gotten the DVD screener that day. This movie is based on a best selling Children's novel.

The movie is cute but there is something missing and I can't put my finger on it. It's not a blockbuster type of movie. The characters are very well done and endearing and I liked the story, but it was just missing something. I enjoyed the way the story was told.. following four different charactera then all coming together at the end. I didn't love it but I will defiantly watch it again, as it's a very cute movie.

A Sad Day for Us Trekkies

Majel Barrett Roddenberry, the widow of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, has died. She was 76. Roddenberry, an actress who appeared in numerous "Star Trek" TV shows and movies, died Thursday of leukemia at her home in Bel-Air, Calif.

At Roddenberry's side were family friends and her only son, Eugene Roddenberry Jr. Gene Roddenberry died in 1991.

Her romance with Roddenberry earned her the title "The First Lady of Star Trek." A fixture in the "Star Trek" franchise, her roles included Nurse Christine Chapel in the original "Star Trek," Lwaxana Troi in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (Pictured Above) and the voice of the USS Enterprise computer in almost every spin-off of the 1966 cult series. She recently reprised the voice role in the upcoming "Star Trek" film directed by J.J. Abrams.

She was a very kind and sweet lady and always very warm and loving to her fans. This is truly a sad day for us Trekkies.

Could it get any worse.

I must have angered the Gods.. first my 1 TB drive crashes and is broken and I lose a ton of material then when I get in my car this morning and my check engine light comes on and my car starts having some acceleration issues and sounds like wants to die. I manage to get to work and of course it's another crazy day. I finally have some down time and I call the jeep dealer and make an appointment to have my jeep looked at tomorrow morning. I also book a rent a car for a few days not knowing how long the repairs will take. Can't wait for this day to be over... I'm saying that alot lately.

台灣動物百科--青背山雀

Watch 台灣動物百物--青背山雀 in Entertainment Videos | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

本片由許鴻龍老師授權無償播出,不得作為任何商業用途.

更多台灣生態故事

咱的台中咱的夢-專訪許世楷伉儷

影音/後製: 海洋之聲

第一段


第二段


全程影音




聯播/技術支援: 海洋之聲

線上收聽

專訪許世楷、盧千惠伉儷

(台灣是台灣人的國家)


這是一本有訪談、有論述、有回憶的好書。許世楷夫婦為何走上台獨路？且一生矢志不渝；台灣是台灣人的國家，但有部分人未能認同，怎麼辦？從李登輝到陳水扁，台灣意識已漸風行，馬英九一上台卻走回頭路，值此關鍵時刻，有識之士如何力挽狂瀾。


題目：台灣是台灣人的國家
時間：２００８年１２月１８日（週四）下午八時至十時
地點：台中市文心路四段９５５號６樓之２
電台：海洋之聲　ＦＭ 95.9
電話：０４－２２４２４４９８
節目：咱的台中咱的夢
形式：訪談並接受現場CALL IN
訪問人：陳彥斌　

訪問大綱：

一、＜台灣是台灣人的國家＞是一本什麼樣的書？
二、辭去駐日代表後都在忙什麼？
三、回首半世紀，為何矢志走上台獨路？
四、對台獨老前輩王育德、廖文毅等的印象。
五、認同台灣是國家，台灣人最欠缺的是什麼？
六、對蘇安生判兩個月可易科罰金的看法？
七、馬英九一再傾中，台灣要如何成為獨立國家？
八、其他

相關連結：
許世楷、盧千惠伉儷《台灣是台灣人的國家》新書出版座談
玉山社　許世楷 盧千惠 伉儷《台灣是台灣人的國家》新書出版座談

Crazy Day then Crash

Today I had to get up early so I could pack up all of the Christmas stuff we were shipping to Harry's family in Austria and then I had to take it to the post office and ship it off. When I got to the post office I was happy to see that it wasn't too crowded. Only took me about 15 minutes to get to the desk. The box weighted 19 pounds and they told me that there was no guarantee that it would get there by Xmas.. on btw it cost $90 bucks to ship.

I get to work a little late because of the post office and as soon as I get in it's run, run, run.. none stop. I don't think I actually sat down and turned on my computer until around noon. The rest of the day was busy, busy, busy.

Later that night when I was working on The Ready Room podcast my knee hit a cord that was attached to my new 1TB hard drive and it feel about a foot to the carpet. When I picked it up I noticed it was making some rather strange noises and sure enough the drive is damaged and I'm not sure I'll be able to get anything off it. If that is the case I lost 50+ hours of BTS of The Guild that I had digitized and a ton of personal stuff that I had backed up from my computer hard drive. I'm hoping I can at least get the material off the drive.. but things don't look good.

I just want this day to end.

Shooting Katy Perry @ MuchMusic

Photographed Katy Perry @ MuchMusic yesterday.
Some shoots go like clockwork, others are a struggle. This one had some glitches, which is very unusual for shooting at Much.


This is the second time I've photographed her recently. At Fashion Cares she was very relaxed and cooperative with the media. Yesterday she was distracted, skittish and not very forthcoming for most of the media op. I guess she came all the way up to Toronto for the minus seven degree weather.

We were informed she would be available right off the top of the show when she was being interviewed, but that didn't happen. Neither did the concert segment.

After several delays the publicist finally gets her lined up with the MuchMusic sign in the background for a quicky headshot. Just as we start to shoot the room lights (which were our only illumination on her) go off because they are back from commercial break and all we have is Katy silouhetted against the backlit sign. All the studio lights are aimed the other way. She does a 10 sec. smirk for each photographer then takes off for the green room like that's it. Photo shoot over.

There is no question of using a flash in this circumstance. You're not allowed to use flash in the studio. The lighting that had been on her went out because the show was once again live to air. Using a flash would have resulted in security removing me from the premises.

When you see a broadcast of this sort at home it is one continuous feed. But live in the studio there are short bursts of live taping interspersed with long minutes when the house lights come up and everyone sits around bored waiting for something to happen while they run a pre-taped segment. Usually it's during these off-air moments that media are allowed to shoot set up photos (we're also allowed to shoot the interviews or live performances most the time, but this wasn't the case for Katy Perry)

As well, with an audience in place and many tech people scattered throughout the studio (it's a smallish studio too) photographers don't usually show up with bags and a ton of equipment.
Standard for this assignment would be something in the range of a 24-70 2.8 on one body and a 70-200mm 2.8 on another. I'm using the Digital Zuiko 12-60 2.8 (24-120mm equiv.) on the E3, and the 50-200mm 2.8 (100-400mm equiv.) on the E510.
No bag. No flash. This allows for much easier movement and you don't have to annoy them by putting bags down on the floor or work surfaces. Sometimes photogs don't even show up with coats on (nowhere to put them so you end up wearing it in a very hot lit studio environment). It was a chilly trip from the carpark last night.

After our debacle in the dark the woman from Reuters, the guy from Getty and I gather around in a circle to compare and all we have is ... well, nothing really. Just a silouhette of her with a bit of rim lighting and minimal detail in the shadow areas.

So the publicist assures us we'll be able to shoot Katy when she comes back from the green room, but she just blows right past us without stopping when that moment arrives.
So the new plan is to do her next commercial break... which becomes next commercial break ... which becomes just before she does her last live song - as in, just before she leaves the building.

This actually works out, but the lighting is set for the opposite direction from where she is standing, so the single overhead light we're stuck with does nothing but render her make-up grossly overdone. However this time she does spend a little longer giving each photographer (there were six in all) a look.

The problem with the second sequence, which should have been our best shot, was they were set up to do her live singing performance and we were positioned opposite to the key lighting for a complimentary look.
Such is life when you are shooting in the middle of a live TV broadcast.

Also, MuchMusic used to have two studios side by side. The one across the hall from yesterday’s was always a lot better from a lighting stand point. I did Rihanna and Elisha Cuthbert in there and it was just superb. But now E-Talk has that studio (gotta keep Ben Mulroney looking good I suppose :)

So the last sequence where the exposure is good doesn't do her justice, and has a very busy background with the studio audience back there. Thus I decided to try rescuing the grossly under-exposed JPEG from the first sequence.

This required a few trips through Neat Image noise removal program, some radical curves and selective levels adjustments, a little bit of fill lighting applied, and just a bit of light cloning. Surprisingly, banding wasn't as bad as some less under exposed images I've worked on in the past. I expected the backlit sign to blow out completely but it held up fairly well.

In the end we got the photo above, which, while not perfect, is a hundred percent more useable than I ever expected considering what I started with.
Heck, If I was using the new Olympus E30 I could say I actually did it intentionally with one of those fancy art effects filters. You know, the 'Heroic PhotoShop Intervention Filter'

Olympus E3 camera with 12-60mm f2.8 lens.

Photo copyright Torontowide.com. All rights reserved.

上揚唱片重新錄製《台灣》《戀戀北迴線》

上揚唱片成立將近四十年的時間，為台灣第一家國際唱片公司，可說是唱片業的先驅。我們致力於國內優秀藝術家作品發揚的工作，多年來出版了作曲家系列如馬水龍、屈文中、江文也、譚盾與音樂家系列湯慧茹、邱玉蘭、葉樹涵及胡乃元等人之創作或演奏作品，獲得各界一致的肯定。我們建立了最完整的四百年來台灣歌謠發展資料，將許多台灣本土歌謠及創作歌曲，加以管弦樂化，賦予台灣歌謠新的色彩與生命力。

我們默默地為台灣音樂付出與貢獻，卻因為政治活動成為新聞的頭條，是我們所始料未及的是事情，我們只想將全世界最好聽的音樂帶給台灣，並且將台灣的音樂讓全世界都聽到，我們不是任何政黨的鬥爭的工具，我們只想服務所有的愛樂者，讓我們用音樂美化人生，用愛與關懷化解一切的仇恨。

歌頌台灣鐵路風光的《戀戀北迴線》

在事件發生當晚，背景音樂播放的是黃麒嘉的詞曲創作《戀戀北迴線》，這是一首描寫台灣寶島風景的好山好水，從金瓜石、三貂嶺、福隆、基隆河、龜山島、礁溪、宜蘭、蘇澳、花蓮、太魯閣、一路唱到了台東，將北迴線最經典的景點都出現在這首歌中，原本是一首歌頌台灣美麗風景的歌曲，卻被當作煽動群眾情緒的「歪歌」，而引發了一連串的始料未及的事件…。為了紀念這次的事件，上揚唱片特別將這首詞曲優美的歌曲從新以管弦樂團演奏，並請到了詹宏達老師製作，優美的合聲加入氣勢磅礡的管弦樂團伴奏。

讓我們以音樂及影像記錄台灣之美
傾聽來自我們土地芬芳的自由呼喊
台灣之歌 影音典藏版 CD+DVD 現在上市
購買請至 上揚唱片，台灣e店

每個時代都有屬於自己的故事、自己的歌，國家文化總會為了鼓勵音樂界人才，在2003與2005年所徵選多首「台灣之歌」優勝歌曲，上揚唱片精選其中作品兩首重新錄製及三首描述台灣田園風光與歌頌台灣子民打拼奮鬥精神的歌曲，並且以管弦樂團重新編曲演奏，展現精緻優美的交響詩篇，讓台灣本土音樂更具國際性。搭配上獨唱、合唱，展現新時代台語歌曲的經典作品。

在家庭劇院十分普及的台灣，在家中唱卡拉OK已經是相當普遍的休閒娛樂，為了發現台灣語言之美，也讓大家一起唱歌學台語。特別將《台灣》與《戀戀北迴線》製作成為伴唱及伴奏DVD，維持著上揚唱片一貫的高品質，在影像部分請來專門製播古典音樂的綠洲傳播擔任製作，使音樂更加地壯闊華麗，絕對能成為發燒友典藏的必備盤。

延伸閱讀：
神奇的上揚唱片
去他的警察違法 - 警察闖入上揚唱片，強制停播台灣之歌
我的老東家-上揚唱片
談上揚唱片事件：事關「是非」，無關「藍綠」
重回上揚唱片行，讓我們聽聽「台灣」！
專訪上揚唱片行談『1104上揚唱片事件始末』

菊花對警棍【街頭228影像展】邀請函

「228」與「街頭」始終是密切相關的，不論在發生的當時，或是日後進行平反與推進民主運動的淑世過程，「街頭228」始終扮演著醞釀、激發台灣人民持續追求公理、正義與和平的關鍵力量。而源起於二次世界大戰的「報導攝影」，則不慍不火地記錄了這長期以來不屈不撓的堅毅過程。有人說，數位時代的來臨瓦解了早期攝影撼動社會的力量，然而，在『街頭，淑世，228』這個主題中，我們將告訴您：「報導攝影」結合「數位時代」，將掀起21世紀新一波的社會改革新浪潮。

此次展覽與「228之友」講座活動結合，將課程與展覽融入其培訓中，邀請本次展覽策畫人邱萬興以「報導攝影的實踐力量：『菊花對警棍-街頭，淑世，228』影像解讀與導賞」為題，及多位在媒體、社會、宗教、歷史等不同專業領域的學者、社會工作者與228之友互相分享交流，展覽舉辦地點在台灣基督長老教會台南市太平境教會，時間自12月10日至12月21日，講座時間則為12月20日，地點在國家台灣文學館，歡迎大家蒞臨參觀，並踴躍參加「228之友」講座活動。

主辦單位：台灣基督教長老教會、財團法人二二八事件紀念基金會
展覽地點：台南市太平境馬雅各紀念教會(台南市公園路6號)
展覽時間：2008.12.10(三)-2008.12.21(日)


講座預告：
地點：國家台灣文學館第一會議室(台南市中正路1號)
時間：2008/12.20(六) 13:30-17:30pm
流程：

洽詢電話：228基金會 02-23610028*210楊凱茹、*211陳雅惠、*208林小雲

It's all about The Guild

Today was all about The Guild. First of all The Guild released it's 2008 Christmas special which was FANTASTIC. Not only did I capture a tone of BTS footage I was also set decorator and helped with setting up the Christmas stuff behind the actors.. it was a lot of fun.

And then Felicia Day updated her Blog with a post about me and other fellow volunteers for Season Two of The Guild. She said some very sweet things about me. You can read it here.

And lastly, they have started to post BTS photos that I have taken on set while shooting the second season of The Guild.. you can see them here.

挺台灣的店－－台南市集品蝦仁飯

Watch 台南市集品蝦仁飯Travel Videos  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com



蝦仁飯、肉絲飯都是台南人的發明，再來一碗蝦仁鴨蛋湯，兩道小菜，營養豐富，一餐大致就解決了。在台南吃食，我很少吃大魚大肉，生活回歸簡樸，十分愜意。

　

延伸閱讀:

更多台南的故事



營業地址：台南市中西區海安路一段107號

營業電話：06-2263929

inspired by miss.

that's right friends... the hoff. i'm posting about david hasselhoff.

while sitting in the phoenix airport a couple weeks ago, miss jen enlightened me to the billy squier video.

that got a good thing going... and this is one of the many wonders that resulted from the all out youtube search. i'm pretty sure the family sitting across from us at the gate (yeah, the one coming back from a week at disneyland, who's flight was delayed, then delayed again, then cancelled...) were absolutely irritated with our fun and games.




(and for anyone that wants a copy of the "i heart the hoff" workbook - including crossword puzzles, connect the dots, "hoffcessories", etc. - let me know. i'll be sure to send it right over.)

The Guild, Stargate and Sickness

Today I woke up still not feeling so hot. It's the kind of sick where it doesn't knock you on your butt so you're able to still do things.. you just feel like crap when doing them.

In the afternoon I finished editing The Guild Wrap Party Highlight Video. I think it turned out pretty good. It runs for 18 + minutes. Now I just have to figure out how to output it so the file size is fairly small and the picture quality is fairly good... wish me luck.

My friend Rico from the Treks in Sci Fi forums posted a very cool Amazon.com deal. They had all 10 seasons of Stargate SG1 on DVD boxset on sale for only $99. I watched this series on and off over the years but it's an on going story and once you fall behind it's hard to catch up. And I have always wanted to start watching this series so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to buy all ten seasons for such a great price... and though I really shouldn't have .. I bought the boxset. :)

a holiday baking marathon.

'tis the season!

for years and years, my mom and i had a marathon baking day of holiday treats for all our friends and neighbors. but since moving away, i'm left to do it alone (something tells me my mom retired the tradition after i left...)

i love to do it... from the baking to the pretty packaging and sweet ribbons. the only problems is, i feel the constant need to out-do myself every year. so this year, i turned to my friend martha for my next brilliant idea: ice box cookies. go ahead... steal the idea... they're fun to make. and you better believe i'm going to keep practicing. martha's are just so freaking perfect. someday...

my well contained kitchen chaos...

i made and colored the dough on friday night... and put them in the ice box (go figure...) for the night. i woke up on saturday, bright eyed and anxious at 7:30 am... ready to bake...

they were even cute just sitting on the cookie sheet...


the finished product!


ice box cookies weren't enough... so i threw in a few homemade oreos...

and in the packaging they go...



signed and sealed... ready for delivery!

now, what to make next year...

【影音】地景．攝影．書寫－路寒袖

source: 台灣大地文教基金會



保持時時紀錄的好習慣，就是紀錄記憶
不只是個人的紀錄史，也是整理過去、幫台灣做紀錄

照片分為三大類：
歐洲的城市
高雄的美景
玉山的狀況

照像有時要靠上帝打光

更多擠爆會場的精彩演講，請聽錄音檔


「地景．攝影．書寫」演講簡報檔（作者：路寒袖，語法）

20081213

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

全程錄影檔 (共12段 連續播放)
source: 海洋之聲




延伸閱讀：
大地照片走廊－地景．攝影．書寫－路寒袖（陸續新增中）
大地點播站（mp3）
Stickam 錄影檔（第1段、第2段）
《2008飛揚台灣系列講座》地景．攝影．書寫－路寒袖（含新聞稿）

A Cough, Shopping and Dinner

Today I woke up with a sore throat and a bad cough. The cold that was going around finale caught up to me. I feel horrible but we must continue to go Christmas shopping.

Harry and I went of the Fallbrook mall and managed to shop a few hours before we had to get to our friends John and Moises' place for Christmas dinner.

Every year John and Moises have us over for a home made Christmas dinner along with a few friends. This year beside John, Moises, Harry and I were Tom, Ervin, Bruce and Matthew. Moises always makes a wonderful dinner every year and this year was no different. This time around we did your traditional Turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Moises is a wonderful chief and we look forward to having dinner with them every year.. you could ask for any more.. Good food with good company.

挺台灣的店--台南市明智土產牛肉湯

Watch 台南市明智土產牛肉湯Travel Videos  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com



台南的牛肉湯是台南人飽足元氣或夜消的重要餐點，台南善化有牛墟，土產牛肉未經冷凍，色澤鮮紅，富含高蛋白，食後美容養顏，壯陽補元。



食後到隔壁的娃娃魚茶坊，喝一杯綠茶多酚，心涼脾肚開，不亦不快哉！



這兩家店都是挺台灣的店，特予介紹。



地址：台南市東門路二段271號



電話：06 2356786

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Xmas and the Guild

Today was a busy day. Got up early so I could start making some Christmas presents for some friends. Every year I like to make a personal gift for family and friends. Being so busy as of late I got a late start and I'm very behind.

In the afternoon I went to my Brothers to visit Dad, brother and sister-in-law. Got to see the sonogram of my new niece/nephew. Only the size of an egg but it was still cool. Harry stayed home to work on his family DVD that he does every year so it was just me which was kind of weird since Harry and I have been together we have always visited my family together. Dad and I went Xmas shopping as I realized that I had many more family members to buy for. We then had some lunch and I headed home.

Once I was home I started to work on The Guild Wrap Party Highlight video. I knew folks were excited to see it so I wanted to get it done ASAP. It was tough as there were alot of people who sang and I knew I had to keep the video fairly short because it was going to be posted on You Tube. I got a good start on it.

台灣外台布袋戲風雲錄

Online Videos by Veoh.com
This is produced by Taiwan Council for Culture Affairs, and authorized to YushanTv for noncommercial use. Copyrights obey the rule of Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike.

本片由台灣文建會授予本台無償播出,導循CC授權,不得作為任何商業用途。


本片為由文建會策劃，傳統藝術中心主辦的「2001年外台布袋戲匯演」活動精華剪輯與介紹，演出團體涵蓋北、中、南地區及不同表演流派，而且對布袋戲藝術執著、有企圖心的十個掌中劇團，演出團體及劇目分別為：亦宛然掌中劇團《大鬧水晶宮》、小西園掌中劇團《悟空三鬧》、真快樂掌中劇團《楊本縣過台灣》、新興閣掌中劇團《大戰南陽關》、五洲園掌中劇團《七國軍師》、明興閣掌中劇團《長板坡—趙子龍救主》、隆興閣掌中劇團《五爪金鷹》、國興閣掌中劇團《玉筆鈴聲世外稀》、全世界掌中劇團《南俠翻山虎》、大台員掌中劇團《大俠百草翁》。從本片可略知台灣外台布袋戲的發展風貌。

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BSG and Office Lights

Today a new mini web series for Battlestar Galactica started today. There are going to be 10 episodes. Episode One Right off the bat they outed one of the semi-regular characters as being gay which I thought was very cool and it was done so matter of fact which I liked. I look forward to seeing where this goes and I can't wait for BSG to start back up in Jan. 09.

I also finished putting up my office lights.. now my office is decked out from floor to ceiling in Christmas. I love it.

These were bad enough to bring my posting back from the dead

So as I'm sure you can tell, I haven't been posting here a lot lately. I've been busy at work, and haven't really come across many new tattoos that are worth mentioning. However, I got an email a few days ago that seriously shook me up. Check out these terrible tattoos, all by the same artist working out of a "pro" shop.


Was the kanji there already, and the rest of the tattoo worked around it? Or was it all designed in one piece? Why is the kanji overlapping with the star? What is that weird black V at the top? It's all a total mystery, and it's all TERRIBLE.


This just makes me think of a pile of pubes, I'm sorry.


...... I don't even know what to say about this. It's not as terrible as the others but it just seems so... sad.

小人物大國民--魏德松

Online Videos by Veoh.com

This is prouduced by the Council for Hakka Affairs of Taiwan, and authorized to YushanTv for noncommercial use. Copyrights obey the rule of Creative Commons Attibution-ShareAlike. 本片為客委會授權本台無償播出，不得作為任何商業用途． 環保藝術家的曲折人生魏德松 一位不同於玻璃容器作為創作的元素，真正結了環保與藝術的價值，膩予玻璃藝術新的意義，對於流浪狗那份無微不至的關心與照顧，令人動容於他的悲憫之情，這是一位用盡生命歷練，力行環保與創作的藝術家．

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the way to my heart.

seems like every season is concert season... winter 2009 being no exception. i can't wait for all this quality* entertainment to come to slc!

lenka - january 22 at kilby court

adele - january 23 at murray theater

donovan frankenreiter - march 9 at the depot

brett dennen - april 4 at murray theater

BRITNEY SPEARS! - april 14 at esa

*i have pretty respectable taste in music... but lately i've caught a lot of flack for my attendance at the new kids on the block concert. but, really... nkotb come to town after 15 years... it's a THING. you go. you do it. you endulge your childhood nostalgia. you go because tickets are $20 and they haven't been to slc in 15 years. you just do it. it's a THING. (you also go because donnie's hot).

so... when britney spears announced her world tour (on her birthday and immediately following her uninterrupted mtv documentary), i didn't hesitate for a second. it's a THING. you do it. you go. tickets aren't $20, but you still do it. it's entertainment. it's not so much a childhood things as it is a high school dance thing... but you do it. besides, someone's got to support sean preston and jayden james... because we all know k-fed isn't doing them any favors.

A Special Guild Shoot

Today was a very special Guild shoot and I was so looking forward to it. I had planned to take a half-day and film this shoot in the morning and come to work mid day. Well things didn't work out as planned. First of all the shoot was way down in Orange and would have take 3 plus hours to get down there by 9am and then it would take hours to get back and if I wanted to work at 1pm I would only be able to stay for an hour or so. Also there was a meeting I had to go to at 11am and since this job pays the bills I couldn't go to this shoot. But I did pass on my camera and tapes to my friend Jared (Gaffer for the Guild) and they said they would get someone to take some footage for me.. so I'll still be able to do a cool BTS about this very special and cool shoot day.

A Shocking Experience

Today I decorated my office at work. I put up all my Xmas items and started to hang lights. I was using a staple gun to hang the lights. As I finished putting up about 400 lights and I was stapling my last staple I hit the cord and put a staple right through the middle and the next thing I knew there was a loud pop and a flash of bright blue light then all 400 lights went out. I short-circuited all five stands and now every light is dead.. luckily I did not get hurt but now I have to go to Target and pick up 400 more lights and try again.

Tuna Grande Take Two

Well since my first set of photos of cast and crew with the large can of Tuna went over so well I took more photos of the crew with the big can of Tuna on the final shoot day for The Guild second season. Here is the link to the photos.

【Video】落實建國的行動力－淨山活動

source: 台灣大地文教基金會
新聞報導 - 大地之聲　海洋之聲　護台聯盟
作者 Aries
2008/12/11, Thursday


楊醫師最近撰寫的短文「聖山運動就是建國運動 」，把人性描寫、刻畫得很生動

有許多人認為把228信仰放在心中則可
但是人性的現實與生活怠惰會隨著時間與無奈而淡化信仰的決心
終而一事無成

所以
身體力行
才是真正落實建國的行動力




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我和這塊土地真是不熟...
可以驕傲的跟子孫說「這是恁祖嬤親手建設的」
聖山運動就是建國運動
瞭解大地．小額捐款．按月奉獻

小人物大國民--廖賢德

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This is produced by Council for Hakka affairs of Taiwan, and authorized to Yushan TV for noncommercial use. Copyrithts obey the rule of Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike.
本片由客家委員會授權無償播出，不得作為任何商業行為．

一座不起眼的四樓建築，保存著珍貴的客家與泰雅族文物．
二十多年來的堅持不曾改變，
沒有豐厚的數入，卻有一顆滿足與熱誠的心．
為了後代子孩而努保存今日的樣貎，
蓋一個”泰雅青年文化會館”，
是他為自己許下的六十歲心願，
他是自詡為”泰雅媳婦”的客家子弟－－廖賢德．

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Big Screen TV

Well today our Big Screen 60" TV was delivered. Of course I couldn't wait to get home and open it up. Though it is a Xmas gift for Harry and I from Harry and I there was no way we were going to wait till Christmas to open it.

When I got home I was surprised on how big the box was and after some moving around of furniture I was able to open it and remove it from the box.

It was beautiful, I knew I wasn't going to be able to hook it up HD 1080i because I needed an HDMI cable but I did want to hook it up to my cable. And though it was just 480i the first thing we watched was a MASH episode and OMG the colors were unbelievable. We played around with the screen sizes, as there are about six different ones. I plan on hooking it up HD this weekend when I get the cable but this TV is huge and the colors are beautiful. Both Harry and I are very happy with our Xmas present.

a sweet tech thing...

gmail "themes".

my second sweet thing post about technology! what a nerd.

but, do you see how sweet this is?? gmail can transform from plain ol' plain ol' into something so sweet! for the gmail-ites who haven't discovered this sweet feautre yet, google says it's slowly unrolling the themes for all their users... so if you don't see it under your settings tool, check back often... it will be there before too long.

happy e mailing!

台灣動物百科--赤腹山雀

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本片由許鴻龍老師授權無償播出,不得作為任何商業用途.

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tale of a party planner. v 2.0

last saturday was the company holiday party... and who better to plan the party for 100 engineers and their spouses than the token NON-ENGINEERS?

appetizers, dinner, games, prizes, dancing, n' all. while most people were leaving, we were still dancing the night away. the wait staff even joined our dance party. i overheard one of them say, "this was the most enjoyable crew of people... they're so fun! i wonder what they do for a living...?" which may be the highest compliment paid to an engineer...

the party planners. mo, ama, and meeeee...

Closing our Ebay Store

Well after a year and a few months Harry and I decided to close our EBay Store "Federation Outpost". For a year we did okay, didn't make a ton of money but enough to continue it but the past few months we haven't even made enough to cover the costs so it was time to shut it down. Who know if I decide to sell off more of my toys we might re-open it but for now it's best to close it.

Guild Mini Wrap Party

Tonight The Guild cast and crew went out to Dimples (Karaoke Bar) to celebrate the end of the The Guild season two shoot. They are planning a bigger and final wrap party in January when we are actually done with all the editing. But for tonight we all went out for drinks and singing. It was a blast, it's funny seeing folks who you work with let their hair down and rock on with the singing. Everyone had a great time and I have video to prove it. Felicia is going to post some of the video on The Guild You Tube channel soon. And I even got up there twice and sang with several others.. and I didn't have a drop of alcohol, because I was driving. it was a fun night.

The Final Guild Shoot

Today is the final Guild shoot for season two. Of course I had to work but I felt it was important to be there at least half the day as I have been with this gang since the beginning. So I worked from 9am to 3:30pm and then drove over to the location of the final shoot. I managed go hang out and shot a bit more BTS for another four hours before Sean Becker said, "That's a Wrap " for the final time.

It was kind of bitter sweet, on one hand this has taken alot of my weekends and time away from Harry but on the other hand it was great being part of something that I love. I'm a fanboy and always will be. This has been the best experience working with some of the nicest and most talented people in the industry. This wasn't a job for me, I volunteered my time and services because I wanted to be part of something special. Of course my part has just begun. I now have 50 hours of footage to go through and come up with some really cool BTS pieces for DVD.

I may not see everyone on a weekly bases as before but I have made many friends and hope to continue with the friendship once this is over.. and of course there is always SEASON THREE.

台灣動物百科--綠鏽眼

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Tuna Grande

While on this weekends shoot with The Guild we found this 4 1/2 pound can of Tuna. So of course me being me I had to take a photo of everyone holding the giant can of tuna.. above is Felicia Day. I took tons of pictures of cast and crew with the giant can of tuna.. you can see them on my facebook page. Click Her

Extra, Extra.. I'm an Extra

This weekend (December 6 & 7) shoot was alot of fun. It was for the final few episodes of the second season of The Guild. I had missed Friday so I was really looking forward to this weekend. This was an extra speical weekend as it would be our final shoot weekend and we had alot of extras on set. And another cool thing was I got to be one of the extras as well. So I think by the time this season is over I will have appeared in four episodes. I hate being in front of the camera, that's why I work in post, but I have to say it's fun being an extra.

This was a full weekend, I interviewed extras/fans for a BTS piece, I appeared on camera and meet some really cool Guildies.

Pole Dancing the Wrong Way

It was a long fun weekend and the last hour of the shoot on Sunday I found myself running sideways filming BTS stuff trying to stay behind the camera so I wouldn't ruin the shoot. Well on the second take I was running full out and the next thing I knew I was lying on my back.

What happened was when I was running sideways and so focused on keeping behind the camera I didn't notice the hard metal pole in my path and I ran right into it with my head. The force of the hit knocked me off my feet and the next thing I knew I was lying on my back and having Felicia Day and the crew rush over to me.

Of course I jumped up quickly and shook it off. Felicia kept telling me to sit down but I was okay. I had a headache and was more embarassed then anything.

On a good note my video camera that I was holding was fine, but on a bad note my still camera that was in my pocket was damaged beyond repair.

And another good thing was I was recording the entire time.. I can't wait to see that footage.

Christmas Light Blow Out

Up at 7am on a very cold morning before the Guild shoot fixing the lights on the roof as the entire roof "Merry Christmas" were out. Luckily it was the first strand in the line and once I replaced it the entire worked again.. so now my house is once again decked out in Christmas lights.

Recent Events

It's been a while since my last post. Time to catch up with recent concerts and shows.

Virgin Unite: Lady GaGa @ Circa Nightclub

Virgin Unite is a charitable organization affiliated worldwide with Richard Branson’s group of companies that specializes in throwing swank, celebrity-fuelled evenings so people can party away, while contributing to the worthy cause of fighting Youth Homelessness.

The celebrity headline act for the evening’s concert was Lady GaGa, the singer behind last summer’s most infectious dance hit, and opening act was the 15 yr. old wunderkind who goes by the stage name of Shiloh, also with a current radio hit.

With the kind assistance of the club’s lighting crew I was able to position myself perfectly behind the lighting board for a photo that would frame the performer with the crowd’s hands, capturing the energy of the night’s performance.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, the Circa nightclub is an interesting environment with four floors of stylized nooks and lounges surrounding a large floor to ceiling central performance space.

A fun evening for a good cause.

TSO Afterworks Series - Holst’s The Planets

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra have started a new series aimed at the busy professional.

It’s called the AfterWorks Series, and the basic premise is that each of the three concerts in the series has an early start time of 6:30 PM with the aim of having patrons out of the hall by 8:00 PM at concert’s end.

This leaves you with either time for dinner afterwards, or an early journey home. The concerts have no intermission.

We went to the first of the series, Holst’s The Planets on a Wed. night and I think they are onto something here.

The standard start time of 8:00 is often a bit awkward, offering inadequate time for dinner before, or a late light snack afterwards as your only alternatives.
And with the busy lives we lead these days there is often homework to be supervised at home, or shopping and errands that need doing.

The early start and end times of this series takes a bit of the stress out allowing an enjoyable concert experience that can fit in with a busy lifestyle.

For The Planets the TO was in fine form delivering an impassioned performance of this classic piece that ostensibly assigns a movement to each planetary body in our solar system, but, arguably, the composition is really about the arc of life, from birth to death.

The orchestra showcased a huge dynamic range and precise, nuanced playing throughout.

Future concerts in the Afterworks Series will be; Mozart’’s Jupiter Symphony w/ Peter Oundjian conducting on Jan. 14, then Prokofiev and Ravel w/ Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducting on Mar. 25

National Ballet’s The Nutcracker

A holiday classic, and an absolute must for the young aspiring ballet star in your family (and what little girl doesn’t want to be a ballerina?)

The Nutcracker is a stunning, lavish enchantment that brings a child’s fantasies to life with a rich, creative production that makes it an experience for the entire family. I know people who go every year as a Christmas family tradition.

And every year various celebrities from the sports and entertainment worlds are given the opportunity to be part of the production as the ‘cannon dolls’.

For the opening night I photographed Dan Levy and Jessi Cruikshank, hosts of MTV‘s The AfterShow, hamming it up as the slightly inept cannon crew.

A treat for children of all ages, The Nutcracker runs until Dec. 28 at The Four Seasons Centre For the Performing Arts, Queen and University

COCC’s Dickens Of A Christmas

The Canadian Childen’s Opera Company presents their annual opera based on the Dickens classic tale of Ebenezer Scrooge’s encounter with the ghosts of Christmas, and his conversion to the spirit of the season.

Staged at Harbourfront’s Enwave Theatre, always a warm and intimate venue that is perfectly suited to the larger ensemble numbers in the show, this production has it’s uneven moments but these are nicely offset by the charm of the youth performers who really give it their best.

The opera moves briskly along with the straight forward telling of a tale that needs no further embellishments.

A nice start to the Christmas season.

Tarragon Theatre: Moliere

A romp through the theatre world of France’s King Louis XIV, The Sun King, this play highlights the creative rivalry of the leading playwright’s of their day, Moliere and Jean Baptiste Racine, contrasting their diametrically opposing personalities.

Moliere’s lusty, bon vivant exuberance starkly contrasts with Jean Baptiste Racine’s tightly wound, obsession with tragedy and melodrama. Life is serious business in Racine’s world.

Throw in an scheming Machivelian Archbishop Prifixe, who may remind people of a certain current Prime Minister, and the play quickly achieves a undertone of menace as the dark forces of these two major manipulators move to squelch the light and laughter of Moliere’s world in service to their own personal ambitions and nation state manoeuvring.

It’s a cleverly produced production with simple yet effective staging that, with a simple swivel of a large proscenium arc allows for glimpses of the on-stage theatrics from both the audience and backstage views, as well as doing double duty to move the play ahead chronologically.

The performances are uniformly terrific, especially Richard McMillan as the lead character Moliere and Julian Richings as the Archbishop.

Pacing never lags, the humour can be broad and coarse in keeping with the era, but there are many subtle asides and ironic moments echoing our own recently perogued society.

This a hugely entertaining play with a stellar cast, even attracting the attention of film director Atom Egoyan, who was among the opening night crowd.

Moliere may not be seasonal fare, but it may just the thing when ’seasonal’ is beginning to wear.

Moliere continues until Dec. 28 at Tarragon Theatre’s MainSpace.



ROM’s Mysteries of Ancient Ukraine

Ukraine's First Lady, Mrs. Kateryna Yushchenko opened the ROM's new Mysteries of Ancient Ukraine: The Remarkable Trypilian Culture exhibition last week and there was quite the media zoo following her around the narrow display space, everyone trying to get the First Lady in the frame.

I've done this before in galleries (last time was the Govenor General and a Danish Prince) The key is not to get stuck in the pack. You pick a spot ahead of the entourage. This gives you the shot as they approach, puts you right up front for the talk about the display. Shoot a couple frames then duck out and move to the next spot on the tour. If you stay too long you'll end up at the tail end and have a marvelous view of the twenty other photographers in front of you for the rest of the morning.

But owing to the distorted perspective of the ultra wide angle 9-18mm, where things look further away than they really are, I think I accidentally got a little too close a few times.

On this shot I was literally shooting over the shoulder, almost touching him in fact, of the exhibit's curator as he was talking to her. I think the two well built fellows in the background who looked to be her security detail thought it was verging on too close as well. At 100 percent you can see they are both watching me intently.

Apparently National Geographic is coming up to shoot the exhibit. It's a very interesting glimpse into a little-known culture that thrived 7,000 - 5,000 years ago, then inexplicably disappeared. In their time the Trypilian societies built the largest human settlements anywhere in the world.

Mysteries Of The Ukraine runs until March 22 at the ROM’s 3rd floor Centre Block
Olympus E510 w Zuiko 9-18mm, existing light @ 1600 ISO

Canstage: It’s A Wonderful Life

In a small 50’s era radio station actors are bringing this classic story to life - which was actually produced as a radio broadcast before the movie version was released.

The play follows the production of It’s A Wonderful Life as a radio drama showing the behnd the scenes effects and personalities necessary for mounting such a production.

Adding authenticity are radio commercial breaks performed by the actors that evoke a Norman Rockwell era of innocence and a boundless future.

It’s A Wonderful Life presents to the audience a play within a play situation where one can watch the radio drama unfold on stage, or ocassionally sit back, close one’s eyes and listen to a very convincing radio play.

I found the second half a little long - although, who’s going to edit a classic like this?

And I wish they had explored the relationships between the actors off-mic more. There are some intriguing things going on by the front door during breaks in the action, but the characters personal lives are never delved into.

However, at the play’s conclusion the opening night audience gave it one of the most instantaneous, and emphatic standing ovations I’ve ever seen in a Toronto theatre, so suffice to say these small niggles didn’t hamper anyone else’s enjoyment of the production.

An interesting and unique treat for the holiday season. And Canstage are offering a special $25 for any ticket in the house deal on Mon.Dec. 8. The offer is available for just 25 hours on that day.
It’s A Wonderful Life runs until Dec. 20 at the Bluma Appel Theatre.



Adeona Productions: Someone To Watch Over Me

Okay. If you’re really sick of the holiday hoopla, here is your ultimate anti-seasonal injection.

This play is grim.

Grim staging, a stone cellar and single overhead bulb suffices for the entire length of the piece. Grim dialogue, three western hostages await their fate chained to a wall amid menacing overtones of violence and cultural clashes of hostility.

And grim monotony throughout. Not a criticism, it’s just a realistic depiction of the prisoner’s daily routine.

Deprived of sensory input or stimulation, the audience watches a slow madness creep into the character’s personalities as their fates play out over the 90 minute duration.
Director Tegan Shohet, a woman who’s real life gig includes serving with the International Criminal Court in the Hague, has done a good job exploring the monochrome existence of these ordinary lives held captive in a violent and unpredictable scenario.

R.H. Thomson is particularly outstanding, imbuing his character with a vivid back story through a lean, economical performance.

At one point in the second act the play veers dangerously close to ‘Actors Studio held prisoner’ territory, but at the play’s end people stood so quickly I swear a few shot right out of their trousers trying to keep up.

Well done, and well worth seeing, but … did I mention it was a wee bit grim?

Someone To Watch Over Me continues at Berkeley Street Theatre until Dec. 13

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