thoughts on the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour 2018

Banff Centre for Arts and CreativityThis past weekend I sat in too-narrow auditorium seats at a local high school with several hundred other people and watched short “adventure” films that were a part of the annual week-long Banff Centre Mountain Film & Book Festival this past fall.

This was my second year attending the local event, and it was as enjoyable as last year’s. Below are some trailers in no particular order of the films I saw and especially enjoyed.

DreamRide 2 – Promo Clip (Long) from Banff Mountain Film Festival on Vimeo.

Edges – Promo Clip (Long) from Banff Mountain Film Festival on Vimeo.

The Frozen Road (Trailer) from Ben Page Films on Vimeo.

Imagination: Tom Wallisch – Promo Clip (Long) from Banff Mountain Film Festival on Vimeo.

La Casita Wip Trailer from Afuera Producciones on Vimeo.

My Irnik Teaser from François Lebeau on Vimeo.

Planet Earth II – Mountain Ibex – Promo Clip (Long) from Banff Mountain Film Festival on Vimeo.

Stumped – Promo Clip (Long) from Banff Mountain Film Festival on Vimeo.

Where The Wild Things Play – Promo Clip (Long) from Banff Mountain Film Festival on Vimeo.

it’s cold here

This morning, I walked past a young man who was wearing shorts and talking on his cell phone. I was bundled up in my winter gear and still feeling the bite of the below-freezing temperature, and walking as fast as I could to get indoors. As I passed him, I heard him say, “yeah, it’s cold here.”

Dude. It’s almost December and you’re at the North 47th parallel. Of course it’s cold here! Put on a pair of pants, fer cryin’ out loud!

also… a contest

If my review hasn’t turned you off completely, or if you’d just like a free DVD, here’s your chance. The first person to post in the comments the name of the state where James T. Kirk will be born in 226 years from this Thursday will get my review copy of the DVD. It’s just … Continue reading “also… a contest”

If my review hasn’t turned you off completely, or if you’d just like a free DVD, here’s your chance. The first person to post in the comments the name of the state where James T. Kirk will be born in 226 years from this Thursday will get my review copy of the DVD. It’s just like the regular one, except the bar code has a hole punched through it.

update on Ekua Essoun

Hey! I just noticed that Ekua Essoun has raised the $800 she needs for her business. If any of you invested in it because I wrote a little about it on International Women’s Day, thank you.

Hey! I just noticed that Ekua Essoun has raised the $800 she needs for her business. If any of you invested in it because I wrote a little about it on International Women’s Day, thank you.

women!

Today is International Women’s Day. I still haven’t decided on what I’ll be doing to celebrate. Update: I took Dinah‘s lead and invested some money in Ekua Essoun, a Ghanaian entrepreneur who is seeking start-up money for a produce business.

Today is International Women’s Day. I still haven’t decided on what I’ll be doing to celebrate.

Update: I took Dinah‘s lead and invested some money in Ekua Essoun, a Ghanaian entrepreneur who is seeking start-up money for a produce business.

leases and love

Wow. Hm. “I’ve been thinking about leases and love. I wonder how many relationships end because the lease is up? I mean literally. For N and I it came down to, the lease is up at the end of June, do we sign up for another year together? The answer was no. I don’t think … Continue reading “leases and love”

Wow. Hm.

“I’ve been thinking about leases and love. I wonder how many relationships end because the lease is up? I mean literally. For N and I it came down to, the lease is up at the end of June, do we sign up for another year together? The answer was no. I don’t think either of us were one hundred percent certain that we wouldn’t have been able to make another year work, but the chances were slim. And if we were going to lose each other, we didn’t want to lose our security deposit too.” -from A Year In Pictures Following The Break-Up

gmail coolness

I have recently switched my personal emailing entirely over to my Gmail account. In the past year, I’ve been using it for Where’s George hit notifications, Geocaching.com messages, and new BookCrossing messages and journal entry notifications. I continued to use my SpamCop webmail account for other personal emailing. However, when it came time to renew … Continue reading “gmail coolness”

I have recently switched my personal emailing entirely over to my Gmail account. In the past year, I’ve been using it for Where’s George hit notifications, Geocaching.com messages, and new BookCrossing messages and journal entry notifications. I continued to use my SpamCop webmail account for other personal emailing. However, when it came time to renew my account ($30/yr), I decided that it was time to move on. I’ve found that changing my email address every few years keeps the spam down. Even with the excellent spam filters, I was getting 10-15 spam messages a day sent to my SpamCop account, some of which were not filtered to the Held Mail folder. In the past 15 days that I’ve been using Gmail exclusively for all of my non-work emailing, I’ve been very happy with it. It’s managing threads of conversations much better than any email system I’ve used in the past. And, since it’s a relatively new account, I have gotten maybe fifteen spam messages in the past year. Not bad.

This past year, I received permission to set up a book exchange bookshelf in the group study area in the library. It’s not exactly an OBCZ, but it functions as such. I set up a separate account on BookCrossing and started registering books left there using that account rather than my regular one. I had been using my work email for that account, but I felt a bit uncomfortable about it. Also, I suspected that sometimes private messages and journal entry notifications were not getting through the campus email filters. I thought about setting up a Gmail account for that, but the idea of having to check yet another email account did not appeal to me. Then I realized I could just have everything forwarded from the library BookCrossing email account to my regular Gmail account. Brilliant! In no time I had the second account set up and forwarding messages. Thank you, Google!

get your geek on

TV Guide Online is running a Star Trek poll and Wil Wheaton would be very happy if you could help keep Wesley Crusher from being voted the most annoying character. I know, it’s hard to believe it, especially when we consider that Wesley was given lines such as, “We’re from Starfleet! We don’t lie!” and … Continue reading “get your geek on”

TV Guide Online is running a Star Trek poll and Wil Wheaton would be very happy if you could help keep Wesley Crusher from being voted the most annoying character.

I know, it’s hard to believe it, especially when we consider that Wesley was given lines such as, “We’re from Starfleet! We don’t lie!” and “I feel strange, but also good!” and the ever-popular “Course laid in, sir.” But it’s true. And so very, very sad.

Not that I care about this sort of thing . . . but actually, I do. I’m really tired of wearing that “Annoying Character” albatross around my neck, and if Wesley is voted most annoying in TV Guide’s big old Farewell to Star Trek issue, I don’t think I’ll ever hear the end of it.

Oh, and if you’re not already reading Wil’s blog then you’re missing out on some great writing.

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