The Chief Coast2Coast longboarding gang made it to Venice Beach yesterday. YEAH!! Here's the video of their arrival. Alex's proud mom, Claire Hoban, is dressed in the oversized Kermit outfit (why, I don't know!):
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
So Much Going On...
...so little time to write. (I guess that's a good thing!)
Today's the day, I believe, when my nephew Alex Squadrito--a member of the Chief Coast2Coast crew--makes it to the group's west coast destination: Venice Beach, CA. Well over a month ago four "kids" straight out of college embarked on a cross country skateboarding adventure in an effort to raise awareness and money for wounded special ops soldiers overseas. The 3200+ mile long venture is a tribute to the father of Shayne Carlson (the leader of the Coast2Coast crew), William "Chief" Carlson, who has killed in Afghanistan in 2003.
Starting off in their college town of Wilmington, North Carolina on June 17th, Shayne, my nephew Alex, Erin Rhodes and Kris Wahl hit the interstates in an attempt to board/skate/[fill in appropriate verb here!] a minimum of 40 - 50 miles a day. Their goal: reach the beach by July 25th. So they're two days off...who's countin' anyways?! Shayne was interviewed last week on ESPN's First Take. Here is a video of his appearance:
An interesting related article on the growing phenomenon of longboarding appeared in The Times last week.
My sister Claire, mother of Alex, flew out to California this morning and plans to meet them as they roll to the finish. Congratulations one and all! Nice going! Now take a much needed dip in the Pacific!!!
***
In order to catch up, I may post another topic very soon. (Then again, maybe I won't! We'll see.)
-Marty
Today's the day, I believe, when my nephew Alex Squadrito--a member of the Chief Coast2Coast crew--makes it to the group's west coast destination: Venice Beach, CA. Well over a month ago four "kids" straight out of college embarked on a cross country skateboarding adventure in an effort to raise awareness and money for wounded special ops soldiers overseas. The 3200+ mile long venture is a tribute to the father of Shayne Carlson (the leader of the Coast2Coast crew), William "Chief" Carlson, who has killed in Afghanistan in 2003.
Starting off in their college town of Wilmington, North Carolina on June 17th, Shayne, my nephew Alex, Erin Rhodes and Kris Wahl hit the interstates in an attempt to board/skate/[fill in appropriate verb here!] a minimum of 40 - 50 miles a day. Their goal: reach the beach by July 25th. So they're two days off...who's countin' anyways?! Shayne was interviewed last week on ESPN's First Take. Here is a video of his appearance:
An interesting related article on the growing phenomenon of longboarding appeared in The Times last week.
My sister Claire, mother of Alex, flew out to California this morning and plans to meet them as they roll to the finish. Congratulations one and all! Nice going! Now take a much needed dip in the Pacific!!!
***
In order to catch up, I may post another topic very soon. (Then again, maybe I won't! We'll see.)
-Marty
Monday, July 19, 2010
SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM!! (Sing It Like The Pythons Would!!!)
Every so often The Hun School's email server gets slathered with spam emails. Looks like I've done quite a bit of online shopping this summer!!!
And for those of you who remain clueless to the reference in the title of today's post, here's a little ditty brought to you by those funny men from England:
Sunday, July 18, 2010
...spent their weekends on the Jersey Shore.
Friday through Sunday found the Hobans of W.C. in sunny Sea Isle City, having a wonderful time at Tom & Geri's new home in Townsends Inlet. (You can still see the water tower, though the view is a couple stories higher!)
The vidage below features Anna and cousin MJ from Delaware. WARNING: the footage you're about to view falls TOTALLY under the "home movie" category that only parents and grandparents would enjoy! Nevertheless...enjoy it one and all!! (Thank you Tom and Geri for a great weekend!!!
-Marty, Angela and Anna
The vidage below features Anna and cousin MJ from Delaware. WARNING: the footage you're about to view falls TOTALLY under the "home movie" category that only parents and grandparents would enjoy! Nevertheless...enjoy it one and all!! (Thank you Tom and Geri for a great weekend!!!
-Marty, Angela and Anna
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Late Night Screening
One of the pleasures of summer vacation (my heartfelt apologies go to all you 9 to 5ers still toiling day to day!) is staying up WAAAAAY past my usual bedtime to kick back and see what late night TV gems catch my eye. Flicking through the mostly brain numbing garbage that basic cable has to offer, I got lucky last night when I landed on a commercial-free screening on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) of the 1958 western "The Big Country". I'm not a fan of the western genre, but with this movie's top notch cast, including Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Charlton Heston and Burl Ives, and direction by the great William Wyler, I thought this choice for nighttime viewing would be a pretty solid source of entertainment. And indeed it was. Check out the trailer, if you'd like.
Now, this blog is not a movie review site. In fact, I'm not so sure what the purpose of this blog is anyway except to document a few things I do over the course of the summer. So I'm not going to get into too much film analysis (that is what my day job is...when I have a day job!), however a few comments do need to be made with regard to "The Big Country":
Firstly, if you haven't seen it before, do so. There's a reason it consistently gets four stars on any number of movie review sites. As I mentioned, I'm no fan of westerns and what I characterize as the genre's use of historic American emblems turned cliche: horses, horizons, hoosegows and hold ups, just to name a few, gets real tiresome, real fast. In my experience this is a dangerous, sleep-inducing combination that makes my head nod, my lids flutter and my sleep apnea gurgle aloud--an a cappella groan that drowns out any cowboy themed music playing over the end credits.
However, with these visual tropes aside, the story of "The Big Country" stands above many other westerns due to the complex relationships between the multi-dimensional characters who inhabit the tale. There are no straight down the middle good guys and bad guys in this film. Each character is a study in human complexity. The dynamic interplay between each character's strengths and weaknesses builds as the players stumble through their celluloid existences...much like we do in our own lives, with, unfortunately, less cinematic flare! Peck's acting is a study in "less is more". Heston is at his all-time best. And Burl Ives eats up any scene he's in. The granddaddy of all "party crashers" character won Ives the Best Supporting Actor Award that year. (And here I thought he just played a '70s animated snowman!!) Check out Ives's performance as Rufus Hannassey (fast forward up to minute 7:00).
Watching this movie reminded me of a more recent western favorite--Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven", a film many in the industry have said is the last of the great western films. My favorite scene (and the favorite of many others on the web) is the "Helluva Thing" scene--the prototypical western scene (remember: horses, horizons, etc.). But it is so simply acted, so powerfully written and so beautifully paced. It's one of the reasons the film would lasso four Oscars in 1992 including Eastwood's own "share of the loot"--two statues for Best Director and Best Film. Sorry to take it out of context, but I found the clip on Youtube, so here 'tis:
A helluva scene and a helluva movie. I recommend "Unforgiven", as well, for your own late night viewing!!
And there you have it! Perhaps my only movie review for the summer. (But certainly not my only movie!!!)
-Marty
Now, this blog is not a movie review site. In fact, I'm not so sure what the purpose of this blog is anyway except to document a few things I do over the course of the summer. So I'm not going to get into too much film analysis (that is what my day job is...when I have a day job!), however a few comments do need to be made with regard to "The Big Country":
Firstly, if you haven't seen it before, do so. There's a reason it consistently gets four stars on any number of movie review sites. As I mentioned, I'm no fan of westerns and what I characterize as the genre's use of historic American emblems turned cliche: horses, horizons, hoosegows and hold ups, just to name a few, gets real tiresome, real fast. In my experience this is a dangerous, sleep-inducing combination that makes my head nod, my lids flutter and my sleep apnea gurgle aloud--an a cappella groan that drowns out any cowboy themed music playing over the end credits.
However, with these visual tropes aside, the story of "The Big Country" stands above many other westerns due to the complex relationships between the multi-dimensional characters who inhabit the tale. There are no straight down the middle good guys and bad guys in this film. Each character is a study in human complexity. The dynamic interplay between each character's strengths and weaknesses builds as the players stumble through their celluloid existences...much like we do in our own lives, with, unfortunately, less cinematic flare! Peck's acting is a study in "less is more". Heston is at his all-time best. And Burl Ives eats up any scene he's in. The granddaddy of all "party crashers" character won Ives the Best Supporting Actor Award that year. (And here I thought he just played a '70s animated snowman!!) Check out Ives's performance as Rufus Hannassey (fast forward up to minute 7:00).
Watching this movie reminded me of a more recent western favorite--Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven", a film many in the industry have said is the last of the great western films. My favorite scene (and the favorite of many others on the web) is the "Helluva Thing" scene--the prototypical western scene (remember: horses, horizons, etc.). But it is so simply acted, so powerfully written and so beautifully paced. It's one of the reasons the film would lasso four Oscars in 1992 including Eastwood's own "share of the loot"--two statues for Best Director and Best Film. Sorry to take it out of context, but I found the clip on Youtube, so here 'tis:
A helluva scene and a helluva movie. I recommend "Unforgiven", as well, for your own late night viewing!!
And there you have it! Perhaps my only movie review for the summer. (But certainly not my only movie!!!)
-Marty
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
WOW! Dinosaurs in 3D...Without the Glasses!!
Yesterday 'the fam' took a short trip up the PA turnpike to Reading to take in the final performance of "Walking With Dinosaurs" at the Sovereign Center. After watching a PBS series on the behind the scenes magic that brings dinosaurs back from the Jurassic period (sans the Dino DNA engineering), I checked the web to find any upcoming area performances. Plenty of shows at the Wachovia Center, but a few seats at the Reading appearances were up for the taking as well.
To my utter delight (after being turned off by the exorbitant ticket prices for the Philadelphia shows, as well as dealing with Ticketmaster online) I snagged tickets for yesterday's 5 pm show by calling the Sovereign Center directly. Though they normally only do group sales over the phone, for some reason this very helpful woman on the other end of the line sold me three tickets, no extra service fees, etc for less than half of what it would have cost for the exact same show in Philadelphia. On top of that great deal, the venue was perfect!! Plenty of parking around the Center (again, at half the price of what you'll be charged down in South Philly) and a smaller venue that gets you up close and personal with T Rex and pals! Great family fun. Check out the highlight video below before the lawyers snag it off my site!!! (That reminds me...who wins in this match up: Dino vs. lawyer? Let's go to the tape!)
BTW: This video was also shot using the Flip UltraHD camera. Not too shabby.
To my utter delight (after being turned off by the exorbitant ticket prices for the Philadelphia shows, as well as dealing with Ticketmaster online) I snagged tickets for yesterday's 5 pm show by calling the Sovereign Center directly. Though they normally only do group sales over the phone, for some reason this very helpful woman on the other end of the line sold me three tickets, no extra service fees, etc for less than half of what it would have cost for the exact same show in Philadelphia. On top of that great deal, the venue was perfect!! Plenty of parking around the Center (again, at half the price of what you'll be charged down in South Philly) and a smaller venue that gets you up close and personal with T Rex and pals! Great family fun. Check out the highlight video below before the lawyers snag it off my site!!! (That reminds me...who wins in this match up: Dino vs. lawyer? Let's go to the tape!)
Walking with the Dinosaurs from Marty Hoban on Vimeo.
BTW: This video was also shot using the Flip UltraHD camera. Not too shabby.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Flip This!
Today I put to good use--or at least performed a good demo/experiment--a new digital video camera (one of fifteen purchased for my video production class at Hun): the Flip Ultra HD. This handy little cam is not new, however it is the next generation in "necessary" technology for the video class I teach. These cameras, if they meet my [high] standards and perform well, will be the first tapeless cameras to be used in the introductory video classes.
One of the continuing themes of the video production class, as time marches on, is the ever changing nature of technology in our world. No better example exists for the aphorism "smaller, faster, cheaper" than this $150 camera, the size of a cell phone, that can shoot two hours of high definition, full frame video. Try that fifteen, or ten or even five years ago my little homebody hobbyist or high school video amateur!!
Let the Experiment Be Made!!
Below, is a sequence shot at the Allen Lane Train Station in the Mount Airy Section of Philadelphia. The tressle/pedestrian overpass has been under construction since the fall of 2009 and should be completed by this coming fall. This $7+ million dollar undertaking is well documented on the Philadelphia Neighborhoods blog. Check it out to learn more about this ongoing neighborhood revitalization project.
I chose the bridge as my first "test subject" because its design seemed to call out for high def shooting. (Plus there are many fond memories I have of this station stop along the R8 Line from my youth as a Mount Airyite...particularly ones of me getting the hell outta that neighborhood and into Center City ;)!! Here's a very brief glimpse of the construction project:
I was really happy with the ease of use and the image quality from this camera. There isn't much that can go wrong in the [hopefully steady!] hands of a high schooler with a point and shoot video product of this caliber. For early-in-the-school-year projects, this is a perfect device!! Simple operation. Easy interface to transfer footage directly to a computer. Quicktime format imports directly into Final Cut editing program. Can't wait to get this camera into the hands of the kids and see how much easier the technical end of production will be for them during the first few weeks of the course.
Later in the day I shot some footage of my daughter at another "old haunt of mine" using the same Flip Utra HD camera. Here she is, feeding the ducks and geese at Valley Green. Great color, wonderful resolution, perhaps a bit 'sketchy' on the frame rate (but what do you want for a camera with no manual controls for shutter speed, focus, exposure.) A keeper, at least in my book!
-Marty
One of the continuing themes of the video production class, as time marches on, is the ever changing nature of technology in our world. No better example exists for the aphorism "smaller, faster, cheaper" than this $150 camera, the size of a cell phone, that can shoot two hours of high definition, full frame video. Try that fifteen, or ten or even five years ago my little homebody hobbyist or high school video amateur!!
Let the Experiment Be Made!!
Below, is a sequence shot at the Allen Lane Train Station in the Mount Airy Section of Philadelphia. The tressle/pedestrian overpass has been under construction since the fall of 2009 and should be completed by this coming fall. This $7+ million dollar undertaking is well documented on the Philadelphia Neighborhoods blog. Check it out to learn more about this ongoing neighborhood revitalization project.
I chose the bridge as my first "test subject" because its design seemed to call out for high def shooting. (Plus there are many fond memories I have of this station stop along the R8 Line from my youth as a Mount Airyite...particularly ones of me getting the hell outta that neighborhood and into Center City ;)!! Here's a very brief glimpse of the construction project:
I was really happy with the ease of use and the image quality from this camera. There isn't much that can go wrong in the [hopefully steady!] hands of a high schooler with a point and shoot video product of this caliber. For early-in-the-school-year projects, this is a perfect device!! Simple operation. Easy interface to transfer footage directly to a computer. Quicktime format imports directly into Final Cut editing program. Can't wait to get this camera into the hands of the kids and see how much easier the technical end of production will be for them during the first few weeks of the course.
Later in the day I shot some footage of my daughter at another "old haunt of mine" using the same Flip Utra HD camera. Here she is, feeding the ducks and geese at Valley Green. Great color, wonderful resolution, perhaps a bit 'sketchy' on the frame rate (but what do you want for a camera with no manual controls for shutter speed, focus, exposure.) A keeper, at least in my book!
-Marty
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Happy 234th, U.S.A!!!
This is a partially completed shutter project. The other side is still in the making. I'll post a picture of that when it is completed. (Hint: The British are coming!!) Happy 4th of July!!
-Marty
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