Category Archives: Local Goodness

Beautiful GWS vid, Katee Sackhoff, and elsewhere in the news [I read stuff]

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Wherein I read things, laugh [or not], and pass them on to you…

It’s….magnificent!
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Via: Shark Diver

Katee Sackhoff Talks RIDDICK; Reveals the Wild Story on How She Got Cast:

Question: You recently signed on to do the next Riddick movie. Was there a specific draw for you with that?

KATEE SACKHOFF: The draw there is selfish. I grew up watching science fiction and action movies. I love it. I absolutely love it! I’m a huge fan of Vin [Diesel]. I’m a huge fan of the first two movies. I don’t even know how much I can say. They’re so buried in secrecy, over there at the David Twohy camp. But, selfishly, it’s what makes me tick. It’s what I enjoy doing. It’s fun. I’ve been all over the map with my films, in the last year, and the next three or four that I have planned, so I’m excited to go blow some shit up.
…
I got the job because I showed up. I truly believe that. When I was driving home that night, at 2 o’clock in the morning, I called my mom and said, “I do believe I just got that job because I showed up.” As far as acting goes, you get to a certain point where I think everyone can do the job and it comes down to a level of commitment. I think sometimes all you have to do is show up.

[collider.com/13 jan 2012]

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Wolverine: Have you seen Canada’s most elusive creature?

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Globe and Mail BRUCE KIRKBY 9 dec 2011

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Last week, Nikki Heim trudged through early-season snow in Banff National Park, collecting memory cards from cameras monitoring the 41 experimental underpasses and overpasses traversing the Trans-Canada Highway – the largest complex of wildlife-crossing structures in the world. Continue reading →

Fart pads, Ovarian Cancer detection, Canadian coins, and a drive across the US [I read stuff]

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Wherein I read things, laugh, and pass them on to you…

Would You Use A Fart Neutralizing Pad?:

subtle_butt_fart_pads_091911_m OK, so we’ve all had the burning sensation in our stomachs and bowels when you know you’ve got to let a big fart go, and it’s definitely going to be smelly. But instead of doing a butt-clenched duck walk to the nearest restroom—trying to will the fart back to the safe territory of your upper stomach (I can’t be the only one who tries to do this), or actually busting out a lighter to burn off the methane after you’ve let one rip—maybe try Subtle Butt: Disposable Gas Neutralizers. These ingenious carbon pads filter odors from flatulence, but the side of the pad that touches the skin is treated with an antimicrobial. These Subtle Butt fart filters are a good idea, but only if you know ahead of time that you’re going to consume gassy foods. I can’t see anyone sticking one of these into their pants or underwear on a daily basis just in case. Also, what about a fart that’s as loud as it is smelly? I guess a strategic cough could hide the sound. But all this still begs the question, would you use a fart neutralizing pad? [Solutions That Stick]

[thefrisky.com Annika Harris 19 sept 2011]

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Highlander, Wolverine, and a Tiger Shark rescue! [I read stuff]

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Wherein I read things, laugh, and pass them on to you…

Highlander reboot loses director:

Bad timing has caused Justin Lin to step down from the helm of relaunching the popular fantasy franchise. Summit’s remake of the original Highlander film, a property which spawned a huge franchise including a long-running television series, has been in development hell for over three years with only one name tied solidly to it: Director Justin Lin. This week, Summit decided – likely because their Twilight franchise is coming to an end – that production on Highlander needed to move into the next phase. This comes at a bad time for Lin who has already agreed to direct the next Fast and Furious film (as if we need another) and is currently in talks to direct the Terminator reboot. This is all too much for the up and coming director, so he’s chosen to step down from the helm of Highlander, though he will stay on as a producer.

[tgdaily.com]

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Beautiful Vancouver morning

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Getting up super early has some advantages. No one around for one, but here, it’s this weird colour of the sky over the sea that only lasts for a short time in the morning. Rare to catch it, but well worth it.

Click to embiggen!

Another nice thing about going for a walk down here this early? Rabbits. Tons of rabbits. Most of them were pretty still for us but then again, there weren’t any dogs about, so they didn’t all dash off to the warren they’ve got under the big bramble patch. Spotted this big black bunny first, and then they were everywhere, but I only bothered taking a picture of this one. Some more pics from the walk:

Playing with early anniversary presents!

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This year, the wedding anniversary falls on a Friday but there wasn’t a hope in hell that the better half and I would have the time then, so Monday was our date :)

And for that day, I got a shiny new camera! For years I’ve loved the IDEA of having a camera because I see all kinds of things I’d love to take pictures of but I have this problem taking a decent picture. My hands shake. Not enough to stop me doing most stuff and mostly no one would ever notice, but on film? Yep. Big old shaky hands that make every pic look like a still from Reefer Madness. But now, I have a LITTLE camera (which means less shaking in the first place) that cancels out my shakes. So, nice shots again!

One of the things I really like having the camera for is that I get to play with the shots I take.

This one was an interesting enough shot on its own – The Arts Club Theatre on Granville Island. All of Granville Island is pretty cool anyway, but the older building especially so, and this is one of them. It would have been simple to just make the whole thing sepia, but it was not only too easy, but didn’t have enough variation for me. Levels have been tinkered with to cast that underhang in shadow while making the whitespace brighter. Contrast kicked it up a notch. It’s been slightly desaturated and selective colour enhanced some of the more rustic shades. Lastly, 2 gradient maps, one in black and white and one in a stack of roughly 5 shades of brown and gold, were layered over it with different effect, followed by a light grain and lastly – sharpened.

Yes, yes, I like my new toy!

I read stuff

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Wherein I read things, laugh, and pass them on to you…

•READ: Serial Killer Barbie: Art Project of the Day: Mariel Clayton’s macabre doll dioramas place Barbie in several compromising Dexter-esque crime scenes. [Frisky]

•READ: Vancouver Gigapixel Panorama Project: [14 Jan 2011] Local photographic services company Gigapixel has created a series of panoramic views of the city of Vancouver utilizing advanced photo-technology that allows the user to zoom in to see incredibly fine detail from miles away. Using this tool, you can zoom in on any point across the city and see enough detail to pick out street signs on the other side of town, Christmas trees in high-rise windows – even skiers on Grouse Mountain. To see how this technology works, zoom in using the slider in the image below, and move the focal point of the image using the directional tool.
All images and functionality courtesy of Ronnie Miranda at www.gigapixel.com, Canadian distributors of the Gigapan EPIC Imaging System.

•READ: Ridley Scott Abandons Alien Prequel: [15 Jan 2011] “With Ridley Scott and 20th Century Fox announcing that the much-vaunted 3D Alien prequel has now mutated into an original SF film project called Prometheus, starring Noomi Rapace, the author of this article recalls his 2007 interview with the late Dan O’Bannon, who presumably is happy about the news, wherever he is. Asked what he’d like to see happen to the xenomorph franchise, the Alien co-creator said: ‘I’d like to see it stop. A horror movie’s a fragile thing, and once you’ve gotten past the original, it isn’t scary anymore. So you do a bunch of sequels to a horror movie, all they do is drain any remaining impact out of the original…it’s not as effective as it would have been if you had just left it alone.’”

•READ: Ridley Scott’s Alien Prequel is dead, but out of its ashes rises a brand new alien: [14 Jan 2011] The Alien prequel is dead. But Ridley Scott and Damon Lindelof are salvaging the script’s carcass by reconstructing the original premise into a new film titled Prometheus. Noomi Rapace will still star, and “strands of Alien‘s DNA” will remain. [THR]