Author: Bob Harrison

I really had no idea that I wanted to make films…though it must have been simmering somewhere in my unconscious as it tuns out I do own a camera capable of the 24p frame rate apparently used in film work. I bought the camera to take to Mexico, then never did. It’s been sitting around waiting to get used ever since. I guess I’d best go write a script and shoot it. The camera is a Canon VIXIA HF100.

This has, of course, sort of come about after going to JP Chan’s wonderful “Don’t Quit Your Day Job” film workshop held recently at HIFF. You can read about it in an earlier post.
Lynette, the Galfromdownunder, that irrepressible Bike Friday enthusiast commented on my video but for some reason YouTube wouldn’t allow. Here ’tis:

Cool bananas! What can I say-it’s not about the fold-it’s ALL about the Fold! Great that you two met and got together. Internet is amazing. Just got back from the BF Club of Japan weekend and who should roll up on his BF as we were leaving but Adam Clark who lives in Japan, saw the YAK and BF events calendar posting and happened to be 1 km away… More JP riding no hands on a Friday http://www.galfromdownunder.com/movies/tacentury – the Japanese folks really enjoyed watching you last night!
Lynette Chiang aka Galfromdownunder | www.galfromdownunder.com
Check out my Traffic Cone Bag™ | www.galfromdownunder.com/trafficconebag
Bike Friday Customer Evangelist | www.bikefriday.com

So now what…go write a script…that at least, is free. Maybe I can actually get one done and filmed in Las Vegas – starring my sister??? Hmmm….Bambi LaFleur!
Get to work!

My iPhone 2G seems to be on its way out. It’s been acting up a bit lately, taking longer and longer to do things. It may be that I’ve got too many apps, or perhaps it’s that I really haven’t sync’d it since my desktop computer died. Add to that failing battery life and I’ve got a problem. I’m not due for an upgrade till December sometime and even then it doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to afford a new phone so…
What’s a boy to do?
Well I may have an old phone around somewhere. I can’t find it at the moment, but I know I was going to lend it to someone about six months ago, so it’s around. But it doesn’t have cool, iPhone-like, voicemail. Enter Google Voice.
It seems they’ve just started to allow you to port your own phone number over to GV. That’s great, but I want both my GV number and my “real” number. And voila! They allow that sort of too.
I now have switched my iPhone voicemail over to GV. That means I know longer get to use the cool data driven iPhone version; I get to use the cool data driven GV version. I’m testing it out now.
If you have GV (or a GV invite) you can give it a try too. The non-GV number version doesn’t have as many features, but hey, I remember a time before cell phones. Here’s a link to Google’s page on GV vs non-GV numbers.

Aloha!

What a day it turned out to be! After early morning rains the weather turned around and it was a gorgeous day. I ended up riding from Honolulu to Kailua by going out around Makapuu. Here’s the view I got to see this morning. Superb.

It turns out I was riding about the same time as the local Heavy Breathers group and met up with them at Makapuu where they were regrouping. I know a couple of them so it was nice to catch up. I’d considered turning around so that I could make it to the workshop at HIFF (Hawaii International Film Festival) but decided it would be much more fun to continue on to Kailua (about 30 miles from home) and grab a bus. So off to Kailua I went where I stopped for coffee and a chat with a friend.
Then it was on the bus over the Pali. Once over I got off a the first stop (Waiokanaka Rd) and road downhill the rest of the way into town. I’d just put on Kool Stop brake pads and this was a good workout for them. Wow. They are sweet. They do a great job stopping me and that’s saying a lot. If you watch YouTube link you’ll see why I need good brakes.
I got to Dole Canneries around 1pm and realized I didn’t have a lock with me. What to do? As it turns out no one minded if I folded up my NWT took it into the workshop.
JP was great. He a very, very talented filmmaker and a very personable guy. I’ve been involved in theatre off and on most of my life and I can tell you talent doesn’t always go hand in hand with a great personality. In JP it does.
I got a lot out of the workshop actually. I came to realize I had everything I needed to make films on no budget. I may try my hand at.
In the mean time I produced and directed and costarred in this short film of…me meeting JP and saying hi to Lynette. 🙂

Well that’s my day. What did everyone else do? 🙂
Aloha!

Tomorrow I’m planning on riding out to Waimanalo (or thereabouts) with someone I met on the BFClubHI list. So it was important for me to break out the NWT today. It’s not been that long since I rode it, but it’s always worth going over and doing a bit of lubrication, a bit of tightening, and a bit of whatnot.
It’s the whatnot I’m talking about here.
A month or so ago the Alfred E. Bike shop had a daily special on Kool Stop Mountain Pads (salmon compound). The have these daily specials pretty much every weekday and it’s very easy to sign up.
I’d heard that Kool Stops are great so I thought, “why not?”
Today, since I had my Friday on the stand I figured why not. As it turns out my current pads had some life left, but I’d have had to swap them out sooner rather than later. It’s a good thing.
I then took a wee ride around the block to test them and they seem quite nice…at least they don’t squeal. On the other hand, I might have installed them well. The set I replaced didn’t squeal either.
We’ll find out tomorrow if they really are all they cracked up to be…I’m hoping yes!
Aloha!

Let me tell you a little story…
If you are one of the two people besides myself who looked at this blog you know I’m a Bike Friday rider. I’ve got a New World Tourist and would love a Tikit to go along with it. Here I am with my BF at Makapuʻu.

Bike Friday is a great company (not just my opinion) and goes way out of its way to foster a sense of community amongst its patrons. There are BF Clubs in all sorts of places, including Hawai&#699i.
I tried to “join” last year when I bought my BF but unfortunately, and this is no reflection on the company (they don’t “run” the clubs) I never received a response. As it turns out the then current leader had moved back to the mainland. I pointed this out to BF and lo and behold another leader was chosen through the mysterious process of “volunteerism.”
Unfortunately a query to the new leader yielded no response either. Again I let BF know about this and…
…wait for it…
…I was asked to step up the plate as the current “leader” (I prefer servant for my own reasons…not in a bad way though – service is a wonderful thing…seriously).
This is what happens when you complain about the coffee. They hand you a coffee pot.
I suggested that it go to someone more qualified and the answer I got was that while there may be many, many more qualified folks, I’m the one complaining. 🙂
Anyway, if you’ve arrived here because you are associated with the BF Club Hawaiʻi or are my friend Robin from California (the only reader I actually know about), that’s the story of how I came to be on the BF Hawaiʻi Club page.
I hope to be useful and serve well. If you are BF Club type you’ll note I’ve added the image you see in this posts and put up some links. I’m not the moderator of the group (yet I suppose), so we’ll see what’s what soon. Since there hasn’t been much action the list, I suspect we can all wait. 🙂
Aloha!

I really, really, really enjoyed Blast. I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting, but it was a lot better than that.
Basically it’s a movie about an experiment to send a telescope of sorts to the edge of space via balloon and catch submillimeter light coming from star forming regions of space. That’s the premise. What it turned out to be about, for me that is, is a film about the people involved in the science, their relationships with each other, their work, and the world around them. And, it was a movie about family; the filmmaker is the brother of the team leader.
And I must say that Paul, the filmmaker, looks quite a bit like his brother the scientist. I’ve got to hand to this family, the Devlins, they are a talented bunch.
I’m not a film critic so let me finish by saying a I enjoyed the film a lot. Go see it.
Now I’ve got to dig up SlamNation and Power Trip, Paul’s other films. I’ve found SlamNation at Amazon at least…

Aloha!

I’m off to see Blast the Movie tonight at HIFF, the Hawaii International Film Festival. I recall seeing something about the movie a while ago, even considered trying to bring it here at some sort of campus showing and now…here ’tis.

I’ll be back with a review once I’ve seen it.
Aloha!

One of my favorite bike sites is EcoVelo. Every day there are new useful and interesting tidbits of information. But mostly there are the images.
I just found, on EcoVelo of course, a new way of seeing their images…Flickriver. It seems to be a way of scrolling all the images in an account. I’m still figuring it out, but thought I’d mention it here so I don’t forget!
Aloha!

I finally broke down and put my B-17 on my beater…what a difference!

Sent from my iPhone

Posted via email from statrix’s posterous

It seems today is October 15th. That, in itself, isn’t surprising. That it turns out to be “Blog Action Day” is, at least to me. The topic of discussion today is ‘Climate Change,’ something we should all be concerned with.
Living in Hawaii I guess we have a special relationship with the environment many places do not have. We live on islands and any change to the climate that raises or lowers sea levels is of immediate concern. We aren’t in the dire straits some places are, but it will be a major concern if levels keep rising.
So what do I do?
Well I ride a bike everywhere. Is it that much? Let’s see…here’s an article from the League of American Bicyclists on the topic. It points out:

Motor vehicle emissions represent 31 percent of total carbon dioxide, 81 percent of carbon monoxide, and 49 percent of nitrogen oxides released in the U.S. (The Green Commuter, a publication of the Clean Air Council). A short, four-mile round trip by bicycle keeps about 15 pounds of pollutants out of the air we breathe. (WorldWatch Institute).

Am I especially virtuous? No. I’ve just never owned a car. Do I do this because I want to be especially green? Actually no. I’d just rather spend my money on things besides a car. But don’t get me wrong, I’m quite pleased that I am part of the solution. But again, it doesn’t make me especially virtuous. I’m from New York City originally and not owning a car just makes sense in some places. That’s one, Honolulu is another, at least for me.
Anyway, that’s my contribution for the day!
Aloha!