Aram and Amir's wedding

This is my latest wedding highlight reel. The videographers were Geoff Livingston and Rob Leslie. All of us are contractors working for Urban Wedding. Music is Ageless Beauty by The Stars.

I did the editing; the invisible job. It can also be one of the most frustrating jobs, and requires a good deal of concentration, patience, problem solving, and coffee. This is especially true with wedding footage since there are no re-shoots.

I have noticed that Microsoft has ads up on the television showing a family instantly making a video of the dad acting like an idiot, complete with motion effects and cut to music. It gives the impression that an editor just presses a magic button and instantly everything is available over the internet. 

I would like to point out that this is virtually impossible - and if it is realistic, I need to find a new job. 

Be kind to editors. They have a great deal of power and can be very moody while working. 

my christmas gift

Carrie got me the above tickets for Christmas. It was a tight budget this year for reasons that I will go into as soon as the issue in question resolves itself. So it was a surprise to get tickets to anything. 

Demetri Martin is one of my favourite funny people. He is terribly clever and a bit of a smart ass. My kind of person.

He also did something I've always admired, but rarely been able to do myself. Demetri went to Yale and then New York University law school where he did quite well, but suddenly dropped out in his last year to pursue comedy, something he wasn't immediately good at.

To me that is true courage, and despite all the new age advice about following your bliss, it is a rare thing to find someone who does follow their bliss and does it well. We can't all follow our bliss otherwise there would be too many firefighters, princess' and cowboys/girls. 

Or more accurately, we can't all make a living following our bliss. 

Stand up comedy seems very scary to me. I grew up on listening to the best comics of the day courtesy of the Edmonton public library vinyl collection and my parent's stereo. I don't know that I'd still even chuckle at most of those jokes, but I realized quickly the value of creating laughter seemingly out of nowhere. 

It is much harder to create laughter than tears. 

Back to Demetri Martin. He did have an opening act that deserves mention: Levi MacDougall who was a writer on Demetri's sadly cancelled television program Important Things with Demetri Martin. I really liked him too. 

Comedy Central Debuts "Important Things With Demetri Martin" on 2/11 from Demetri Martin

This show won't be on tv anymore cause some jerk cancelled it. But Demetri is writing books now. So that is something to look forward to if you can read. I can read.

nelson the seagull

Nelson the Seagull is a pretty cool name for a seagull and for a band or in this case, a café. It is near the office I work at right now and whenever I feel like a really good cup of coffee with a friend, this is my first suggestion. 

If you find yourself in Vancouver and read this blog, feel free to ask me out for a coffee. I've never been known to say no to coffee.

active pass

I've been playing with my iPhone too much lately. Fun as it is, I've been spoiled by the fine Canon cameras I get to play with at work. Still, not bad for something I swore I would never use - camera phones that is. 

I seem to be eating my words often in modern times. 

Bored to Death 2009 - 2011

It may seem somewhat odd to grieve the end of a television program, but I am. I lament the loss of Bored to Death more than the loss of Steve Jobs (sorry nearly everyone else who seemed oddly moved by the death of a creative visionary and bully).

There will be no final epilogue for my heroes Jonathan, George and most especially, Ray. That is beyond sad to me. It is tragic.

Stories need a beginning, a middle and an end; not a cancellation.

If you think I'm over reacting, imagine reading your child a bed time story, suddenly stoping three chapters into it and then ripping the book to shreds. 

I don't think you'd do that. 

I had nothing to do with the making of the above video. The montage was made by somebody with time on their hands, the footage is from my late, beloved teevee program, and the music is by Jason Schwartzman's band, Coconut Records.

coffee on the east side

a new year

I don't have any comments about this year yet. It's been a quiet and enjoyable first day.

Buddha's blue period

Polaroid film is still being made, at least for the moment. When everything else is pixels and algorithms and must be viewed on a phone or computer screen, analog media is real and tangible. It's just not so cheap or predictable.

This was a mistake and instead of the black overexposed polaroid I expected, it turned blue. My friend Jeremy who has no time for rules said we should throw it in the freezer. 

I haven't been blogging lately

Been too busy with other people's precious memories.

sometimes I make pretty things

I shot this along with my colleague and friend Brian Ceci.

And then I edited together.

The music is by Bon Iver and is called Calgary.

Catholic wedding ceremonies are long.