Tropical Shores

I'm not sure if it really  comes through on the blog, but I'm pretty happy with the vibrancy and composition of this photo, which I shot in 2008 while Sylvia and I were flying over Hawaii in a helicopter on our honeymoon. 

Number 9

Sylvia and I married each other 9 years ago today; 8 years ago today we posed for this photo at Germaine's Luau on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. This image represents the tiniest fraction of the great memories we've built together, and I look forward to many more! 

Tiny Waikiki

Tilt-shifted Waikiki, originally shot when Sylvia and I took a helicopter tour around Oahu in 2008. 

Leet Beeks

I shot this photo of a bird on the shores of Waikiki back in 2008. A little image manipulation and bam, an incomprehensible work of (?) art. Needless to say, this was heavily inspired by Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and the Jimmy Olsen "This Robot is Trained to Smash Your Camera" meme.

Flames of the Luau

This probably would have turned out better with a tripod, but I think it's still a pretty cool effect. Long exposure of a fire dancer at Germaine's Luau in Hawaii, 2008.

When You're Hot, You're Hot

Whew! It's a scorcher in Alberta's capital today - enough heat to knock out power at the corner of 124th street and Jasper Avenue and to incapacitate my afternoon bus right at that very intersection. Dead bus + no traffic lights = cranky commuters, whether on public transit or private vehicles.

Fortunately another bus rescued the two dozen or so sweaty riders belched from the doors of our fallen carriage, and despite what seemed an interminable delay escaping the gridlock on the west end of Jasper, I made it to West Edmonton Mall in time to catch a transfer home. (Normally I walk from WEM to our condo, but today I was worried I'd catch heat stroke, as I so often have in the past.)

As a creature of the north, I still find Alberta's hot summer days uncomfortable, even many years after I should have acclimatized. Since my body refuses to accept that it doesn't live in northern Manitoba anymore, I've had to take precautions such as drinking lots of water and staying in cool basements or air-conditioned offices.

How Many Times Has Earl Suffered Heat Stroke? (not a comprehensive list)

"I'll certainly be cool enough next to this fountain!"

1. Namao air show circa 1988 and again circa 1990 (rendered unto incoherence to the nervous glances of friends, skin tone: Afterburner Glow)
2. Las Vegas 2004 ("Boy, you look like a boiled lobster!" exclaimed one helpful southerner; incapacitated for one day, skin tone: Three-Cherry Jackpot)
3. Honolulu 2008 while listening to a Barack Obama campaign speech (skin tone: Republican Rage)
4. Mexico 2012 while touring Chitzen Itza (rescued by helpful Mayans and Germans, skin tone: Abashed Tourist)
5. Nelson, B.C. circa 1973 (vomited up pink ice cream, saved by parents, skin tone: Tantrum Toddler) 

Stay frosty out there.

"Hey now, someone tell that Canadian kid to put on some sunscreen."

The Last Last Resort

ABC broadcast the last episode of Last Resort last night, and as I predicted back in May, it lasted a mere half-season. Last night's finale concluded the series' major narrative threads, though the abbreviated season clearly left writers scrambling to tie up all the loose ends. Most importantly, Captain Marcus Cole, played by the remarkable Andre Braugher, went out cackling like a maniac with his sunglasses on, refusing to compromise his principles right to the final curtain call.

It's a shame that Last Resort came to a premature end; it was gutsy and ambitious, casting the United States as the villain, depicting its immoral use of nuclear weapons and ominous curtailment of civil liberties while also featuring a very flawed cast of protagonists, most especially the this-close-to-unhinged Marcus Cole. (Sean and I took to calling this show Frank Has Nukes, after Braugher's best-known character, Detective Frank Pembleton from Homicide: Life on the Streets.) Network television is awash in cop shows, medical dramas, sitcoms and so-called "reality" shows; it's nice when the powers-that-be take a chance and try something different. It's too bad there aren't enough viewers to support even somewhat iconoclastic programming.

IGN has an interesting interview about where the series may have gone had it continued.

Earl and Sylvia on a submarine in Hawaii in 2008.

Miniature Plantation

I've blogged before about tilt-shift photography, and in the past I used a web application to mimic the effect. Tonight I tried Photoshop to ape the technique, which requires blurring the top and bottom portions of the photo to make the picture look as though it's a miniature set, like the landscape of a model train. I think it's a rather charming technique, but choosing the right photo is critical. This one, which I took from a helicopter while celebrating our first wedding anniversary in Hawaii, would probably work better if we'd hovered at a slightly lower altitude to make the pedestrians visible. The cars and the maze look delightfully toy-ish, however.

Waikiki Lights

Sylvia and I honeymooned in Hawaii back in 2008. I took a few minutes one night to photograph the busy street outside our Waikiki hotel, setting a long exposure to capture the flickering torches and whizzing traffic. I think this turned out fairly well.

Northern Chopper

Leaf Rapids had (and possibly still has) a helipad. As a boy I was fascinated by this blank expanse of concrete, a small island of man in the middle of northern Manitoba's vast boreal forest. Only rarely did a chopper ever touch down; this one seems to be from the Northwest Territories, judging by the barely visible logo on the cockpit. It would appear that this model can land on water, if those big grey cylinders are pontoons - a handy ability given the thousands of lakes and rivers in the area.

Despite its small size, Leaf Rapids was rich in opportunities to explore. I wandered to the helipad often during my adventures, imagining that UFOs or Federation shuttlecraft might also pay visits to our isolated community.

Only years later did I ever ride in a helicopter: once in the early 2000s for an aerial photo of Hole's Greenhouses (thanks Bruce!) and once in 2008 in Hawaii, when Sylvia and I took a helicopter tour of the island.

Worth every penny.

Bird of Paradise

Though we've had a blissfully mild winter in Canada, I still yearn for green grass, blooming plants and warm sunshine. Photos help remind me that warmer days will return eventually, particularly this shot of a bird of paradise, photographed in 2008 while I visited Pearl Harbor.

Honolulu Zoom

Inspired by the rapid in-and-out zoom shot from the opening credits of the original Hawaii Five-O, I shot this as Sylvia and I prepared to depart Honolulu. The technique is pretty simple: steady your camera, choose a long exposure, and zoom out while the shutter is open. Fun!

Fire Dancer

To celebrate our honeymoon in 2008, Sylvia and I attended a luau in Honolulu. I judged the food merely passable, but I was very impressed with the show, which featured traditional Polynesian music and dance. I crept up to the edge of the stage and took a couple dozen long-exposure shots of the dancers; this is probably the best of them. Without a tripod, it's tough to capture the kind of blur you want without everything turning to mush.

Diamond Head

Sylvia and I travelled to Honolulu in 2008, and while out on a boat I photographed Diamond Head, the famous volcanic cone. Before this trip, I'd always been a little skeptical about Hawaii; judging only by advertising and popular culture, it had always seemed like an over hyped tourist trap to me. But once we landed, I realized immediately how beautiful the place really is. Our hotel featured an open-air restaurant overlooking the beach, and I loved sipping virgin strawberry daquiris while alternating between reading a book and watching the waves and the people, shore birds skittering around my feet and across my table.

Next time, I think we'll try Maui.

Pearl Panorama

For our first anniversary, Sylvia and I went to Hawaii. Here's a panorama I shot of Pearl Harbor, with the memorial visible way in the distance. Click to embiggen!

Hawaii Five Oh-Oh

Earl outside Steve McGarrett's original office in Honolulu, 2008

While watching the new Hawaii Five-O, it occured to me that the reimagined show's title has no internally consistent reason for existing. Allow me to explain. 

The original show was so named for the (fictional) state police department of the 50th state, Hawaii; hence, "Hawaii Five-O," shorthand within the universe of the show for the 50th and final state police department of the United States. Presumably in this universe, a show about the state police of Alaska (if indeed they have state police) would be named Alaska Four-9. While Hawaii does not, in reality, have a state police force, the show was so popular that in the real world, police officers of any geographic location came to be referred to as "five-o."

If the new show were a mere continuation of the old - that is, if the characters were new and the adventures of Steve McGarret and Danno and Kono and all the rest were acknowledged to exist in the past of the new show's fictional universe, the title would still make sense. The old show was Hawaii Five-O; the new show is Hawaii Five-O.

But the new show's characters all have the same names as characters in the old show. So there are new actors playing McGarrett, Kono, Danno and Chin Ho. Presumably in this universe there was never a television show called Hawaii Five-O; otherwise, the new Kono, McGarrett et al. would presumably be amazed that four people with the names of famous characters of the seventies were brought together to work in similar circumstances, namely serving as police officers in Hawaii.

"Say, McGarrett, isn't it weird that you and I and Kono and Chin Ho all have the same names as the guys from that old tv show?"

"Yeah, it's weird. But it's not THAT huge a coincidence, because the real Kono is a girl, and the dude on the show was a guy."

"Oh yeah, that's true."

Since this conversation never occurs, we can infer that the original Hawaii Five-O (the television show, that is) does not exist in the world of the new show. But even worse, there's no reference to a state police force in the new show; the characters just work on some kind of "task force." They can't call themselves "Hawaii Five-O" because there is no 50th state police force in the world of the show. But since the original TV series didn't exist in the world of this show, nor can they call themselves "five-o" colloquially, because the reason for the catchphrase - the original show - doesn't exist in the world of these new characters.

Of course you could argue that television show titles exist outside the narrative. But Hawaii Five-O's title was uniquely derived to highlight a crucial aspect of the fictional world it created: there exists a state police force in Hawaii, and these are their adventures.

I think we should get Steve McGarrett on this case immediately.