Canon can.

During the past year I've managed to somehow be involved in the destruction of a couple of digital camera's.  One of such breakages I can probably accept responsibility for: it was in a pushchair that  once folded resulted in the crushing of the LCD screen of 'camera 1'.

Now this was purely accidental (I had no idea it was residing in said pushchair) so I cannot fully be at fault here surely?  'Camera 2' stopped working a few weeks back.  It went from taking vivid snaps of friends and family to taking multi coloured 'murals' of images best described as abstract.

Now theses camera's 'were' (they're both unusable now) used heavily on a daily basis (my girlfriend uses them as part of her job working with children) so we certainly got out moneys worth during their brief, yet wholesome life.  I'd actually pulled the first damaged camera apart in a [currently] aborted attempt to fix it like some eccentric scientist.  If I could perhaps find somewhere that sells replacement screens I may in fact be able to rescue it, but so far my searches (mainly online) have proved fruitless.

Anyway, it's now sat in a salad bag on top of my microwave in around 50 pieces.  God knows if I can reanimate it but should I get a replacement part then I'll certainly give it a go.  I've been told that a local company (real camera company in the Northern Quarter) may be able to help so I'll take the salad bag in some time this week and see if there's anything I can do.

In the meantime we've just purchased a second hand DSLR on ebay.  Now these camera's were pretty pricey (the kit came to around £1000) at the time and given that they are still a very decent camera, we were happy with the price we got it for.  Compared to the point and shoot compacts this is a bit of a beast (although for a DSLR it's a handy size and weight).  The camera, the Canon EOS 300D, came with a lens attached as part of a kit and it's possible to add different types of lens as you go on (although these do not come cheap the camera is more than capable of producing startling images).

My girlfriend might take a bit of convincing that this was a much better purchase than the compact digi cameras – afterall, you can fit those in your pocket/purse/handbag.  Not really possible with these larger camera's...hardly stealth like.  However, I'll guarantee the images they produce are worth the pay off in size and accessibility...once I get to grips with the more technical elements of it.  It's possible to pick a auto program and go ahead and shoot, but for more refined and creative moments then it's worth understanding some, at least, of the fundamental elements of photography.

I sometimes use an old 35mm SLR which I love to bits.  The images are much more 'filmic' and 'cinematic' than the new digital point and shoots.  Whether this DSLR replaces that much loved piece of equipment, only time will tell.  

Impending trip to Barcelona.

In less than a weeks time we all, as a family, fly out to Barcelona.  This will be the first time in a while we've been out of the UK for our summer hols: we usually traverse the two thousand odd miles (the journey down feels that long) to Cornwall come August.  Looking at the prices for a place down there (especially leaving it this late) it became apparent that this year (especially considering the price of petrol) that we might be better off flying 'abroad' in 2008.

So this weekend we fly off to the Catalan capital...and I can't wait.

Aside from the abundance of cultural offerings and the beautiful, almost organic looking architecture (courtesy of Antoni Gaudi) I think my body is about due some sun rays.  I half expect to awake from this poor UK summer we're enduring as a gollum type creature, cursing the rain god for all it's worth.

I might jump onto one of those shopping channels and buy myself a set of UV lights and place them  on every ceiling in the house.  It's been warm enough (but that clammy, humid warmth rather than the sharp energy giving heat donated, occasionally, by 'sun ra'.  Whatever have we done to upset her?

Anyhow...the cases are out and ready to be packed, although to be fair I usually pass this job over to the missus: I really have little idea when it comes to packing for trips away.  I just can't get my head around the concept.  Pair of shorts (which will I'll be wearing on the trip anyhow); sandals; a few t shirts; a 'nice evening shirt'; pair of jeans (possibly); underwear; pair of 'denim keks'; toiletries – and that's it – I can fit all that in an American 'fanny pack'.

Oops...forgot about the kids.  There you go see...awful at this packing game.  I'd have them pack a bathing costume each, a weeks worth of clothes and have done.  Travelling with kids on budget airlines it makes sense (financially and physically) to take less luggage – extra weight and luggage incurs what can be a fairly substantial fee (which is how most of these airlines make up for the initial cheap cost of the ticket).

I've planned a bit of an itinerary for our visit, certainly wishing to revisit Girona and hit the town of Sitges (and it's beaches) fitting this in with the myriad attractions within the city itself.

I'll report back with pictures on my return.

Say adios for now.

More film preparations...

Over the next two weeks I hope to have found a couple of actors/actresses for a short (medium sized as it happens) film myself and a friend are making.  It looks like we now have a director and between us we should have enough crew.  The script (I am told) is nearing completion and hopefully within a month it should be a lot closer to the finished article (scripts can be torturous to get spot on and it's imperative that it is polished and polished until it's ready).

Meanwhile I'm working on a short synopsis and trailer, or in this case 'teaser' as nothing as yet has been shot.  This short 30 second (or thereabouts) spot will then be incorporated within a website to drum up interests both from those to be involved in the film and hopefully investors and distributors.

In the meantime I shall be out and about camera in tow shooting a few segments for this 'flick'.  Fortunately we have a few 'Gothic' buildings in Manchester (I'm following a brief here) so I should 

get some decent footage to splice together over a short, teasing edit.  We are also on the look out for a 'small' actress to play the role of a 'mysterious' creature seen throughout the movie – for some of the web footage (for the teaser) I'll ask my daughter if she wouldn't mind playing the role for a few shots.  I wish I had a costume department in house...sadly it will be left to me and a some dodgy needlework.  For a mask (the face is hidden under a hood – for  that 'neither man nor creature' look) I'm thinking of a pair of black tights over the head: not that unlike the old version of armed robbers.  Hopefully it will not take too much bargaining for my daughter to agree to this – I'll bribe her with a trip to see the new Batman film at the imax cinema.

Of course I'll need to somehow procure the tights in question: I'll rummage through my girlfriends lingerie draw later on today (not unheard of) otherwise it's a trip to the local Asian market stall for good priced clothes wear.

I'll be posting pics on updates...

The other element of this I'm involved in is the music.  As it's origins of the story are from the middle east I'll be looking to emulate (but not entirely plagiarise) the spirit of the regions music.

I'm settling around the old Persian/Iranian region a music mainly made up of monophonic instruments and using micro tones/quarter tones...I'm slowly getting my head around this.  It would be good to find a local singer who is familiar or even specialises in vocals for this country.  I may have a good contact on that front.  Would certainly lend a little authenticity to the soundtrack.

So things are hotting up – I'll try my best to get something online over the next month and will of course provide a link here.

Thinking of Seattle.

I'm assuming it's an over indulgence of episodes of 'Frasier' (set in Seattle but filmed in LA) and the over subscribed Starbucks coffee shops sat on every street in my own city, but of late I've a desire to go and visit Seattle.  It's even over taken my wish to visit New York  (which I still haven't got round to).  I've visited San Francisco a number of times and absolutely loved the place, so perhaps I could  combine a visit there with a trip to Seattle?  They're not that far away from each other in US terms at least.

It's also, like Manchester, set in the North West of the country, perhaps has a similar level precipitation (or at least perceived precipitation) and share a love of music.

The setting looks perfect for me: a large city scape (despite certain cities in the UK building high we don't have any skylines to write home about); surrounded by beautiful looking mountain ranges; perched on the pacific ocean and a large lake; close to wonderful countryside (and hence attractive for the outdoor pursuits); only 96 miles from Canada (more on Canada another time).  

It's one of the most educated cities in the States and akin to San Francisco, a little more European looking than other large US cities.  Being so close to the sea also means they have a thriving 'fish scene' within the city (Pike Place Market in this case) – having fresh fish on tap and all the drama which goes on with fish markets ticks one of the boxes for a perfect city.  I'd also like the fact that within a short while I can be out of the city and into the great outdoors proper, with mountain bike pursuits, hiking, boating and at certain times of the year, snowboarding and skiing – not something you can pull off in our own Lake District.  Within the city limits is a huge park called Discovery Park where you can walk for miles along the shore over beaches and come into contact with marine mammals and birds before hitting a large forest area.

With a decent enough transport system (although like most US cities still reliant on the car) and a not too large area (unlike the sprawling LA) and a good restaurant scene (including a decent sized Chinatown although this is also known as International District and contains many different cultures from all around the world) I could see myself enjoying Seattle...living there permanently is a whole different kettle of fish given the States tough immigration laws. 

Still a visit has to be on the cards during the next couple of years in which case I'll report back.

City too hot...

I've a feeling my previous dalliance with a sun dance has gone a little too far: a victim of it's own success if you will.

It's absolutely tilted in the wrong direction now – the heat is stifling and I'd guess sales of fans have hit the roof?  In fact I mosied on by a couple of local electrical stores at the weekend and guess which implement dominated the window displays?  Correct – the 'Fern Cotton' free range sowing machine...but in second place (and by some considerable distance over the runners up) were the selection of fans.

I attempted to turn on a cheap heater/fan we purchased in the winter when the boiler broke down – works ok heating up a cold house but is almost useless as a fan.  It blows a fine stream of cool breeze much like a six month old baby would blow a raspberry.  Not sure I trust it anyway- it cost less than a decent takeaway for two in some far flung land I've never heard of.  We had a decent fan but I can't for the life of me locate it.  It wasn't need at all last year but summer has returned with a vengeance and we just aren't (as usual) prepared for it.  I've half thought about knocking some window shutters into the bricks outside to recreate that Mediterranean villa look (but in inner city Manchester).  As I work for the most part from home I don't have the luxury of 'air con' and it's probably a ridiculous  apparatus for anyone to place in their home in the UK anyway...but at the moment I covet one like nothing else.   The blinds are shut, the curtains drawn but still I cannot shake off the heat – the sweat occasionally dripping onto my keyboard forcing grammatical errors (yes more so than usual).

Perhaps I can fill the kids paddling pool up later and dive into that (should I be able to fit).  I'm sure that will be a sight for the neighbours, sore eyes?

Shame it isn't the weekend then the only thing to do under these circumstances is fire up the bbq, grab some ale and stick on some classic Studio One reggae sounds...well that's my plan for the weekend sorted should I not perish in the heat before then.  Ironic really as I was only recently bemoaning the fact that our summer was a complete and utter washout.

Sack Mask Kid

Finally got round to seeing the Orphanage last night following it's release on DVD (having children it's difficult to get to see films at the cinema).  Billed as a horror/thriller it does indeed cause the hairs on the back of your neck to stand up and your spine chilled by some invisible force.  This is far removed from the Eli Roth new wave horror currently saturating the horror market and more akin to 'The Others' and 'The Sixth Sense' although I felt this was superior to both of those.

This is one of those 'gets under your skin' type horrors: not so much blood and gore but psychological terror running most of the way through the film.

A decent horror for me is when it's finished and your senses are heightened by what you've just seen, therefore you don't want to hang around in the dark room downstairs you just want to climb inside the sack and dream of 'nice things' like fairy cakes, posh salad and, erm, the chuckle brothers.

Directed by first timer Juan Antonio Bayona, this is an intelligent stab at the scare movie genre.  It's no surprise that Guillermo del Toro was involved in this movie (Executive producing) as the style is similar to his Pans Labyrinthine film.  The Japanese have made great strides in horror cinema of late but the Spanish are coming up with gems like this (and the aforementioned Pans...).  

Without giving too much of the plot away, the film revolves round an old Orphanage revisited (after the opening scenes) a few decades later when one of the children returns as a grown women to live there (and take in disadvantaged children).  Shortly afterwards her own child (who 'plays' with imaginary/dead children) goes missing, whilst the mother is being terrorised by a child wearing  frankly disturbing mask wear.

It's a good enough film to stay with you long after it has finished: part of the reason for me was a  parent I now tend to pick up on the relationship aspects more than I used to (I felt a similar, sickly unease with the Japanese film 'Dark Water').  Best watched in an old Victorian school/orphanage/hospital for maximum effect.

Certainly recommended but I'll also be keeping an eye out for future films from  Juan Antonio Bayona and of course  Guillermo del Toro (soon to be working on the two Hobbit films).

Sun Dance

I've recently viewed a healthy portion of Sun Dance festival endorsed films – for the most part cracking independents: the Irish film 'Once' was the last such Sun Dance endorsed (actually winning the World Cinema Audience award) film I viewed – I really enjoyed it, the music and the naturalistic acting made it quite a moving experience.

But it's another type of sun dance I'm talking about today...during our p*** poor summer I think most of us were getting to the end of our tether with the weather (did I mention my poetry skills?)...so I decided to do something about it.  I researched then performed a native American Sun Dance in my back garden one evening last week (in the rain I'll add).  I set to work on a repetitive drum loop (using logic pro) and set this to over 30 minutes downloading it onto an iPod so as to not scare the neighbours with 'crazy, incessant rhythmic beats'.  A genuine sun dance (still performed in the United States and Canada) goes on for hours, but as we had a film to watch later in the evening I performed an abridged version.  Again a true Native American Sun Dance could involved the piercing of my breast area tied to a tree the culmination of which would see the skewered flesh torn  off.  I just wasn't in the mood to be honest so instead pierced those blister bits you get on the bottom of your fingers, palm side with needles and a bit of string.  A good 30 minutes later (and worn out from the non stop dancing) the needles were broken free from my hands and I called it a day.

I always wanted a life on the plains of America pre Columbus – I guess I was influence by Kevin Costner's 'Dances With Wolves'.  Like the aborigines of Australia, these seemed to me a people very connected to the earth and the spiritual side of life.  Pre modern world (industrial & digital) they could probably have lived on as they were for many millenniums, without any sign of technology (which of course makes our own lives ultimately slaves to the machines...).

And by god did that dance work?  We've had a heatwave ever since then – friends have congratulated me on my good work, although if I'm honest, I could do with a spot of rain and cool breeze...it's almost stifling now isn't it?