Red Earth

What ichor flows through these plastic veins?
Yellow putrescence  mocking dreary rituals of life

A bilious thread of bubbling rot
Corrupting the vital web of community

 Its strands quivering silently, then suddenly alight in damning flame

 Plastic paradise erupting in terrible, jubilant sacrifice

The many-limbed and mindless mob cheering its own bloody baptism

These figurines of folly

Their bulwarks naught but ashes

Of a better, kinder age.

More Special Effects on the Cheap

Yesterday I shared some of my haphazard attempts to create film special effects. My old friend Jeff Pitts was there to help on that day in the fall of 1987; here he is waving a sparkler around and somehow, miraculously, failing to get hurt. (Jeff's suffered many accidental injuries in his life, a lamentable fact his friends nonetheless mock him roundly for.)

It almost looks like Jeff has some kind of strange super-power here...projecting a ring of electrical energy from his mind.

Beware Jeff's power - his sparkling lights!

And just because I missed it yesterday, here's another shot of the Enterprise.

Special Effects on the Cheap

Back in 1987, budding moviemakers didn't have access to Photoshop of AfterEffects. We had to make do with plastic model kits, sparklers and some trick photography. Here the USS Enterprise fires off a photon torpedo at an unseen foe, accomplished by sticking a sparkler into the model, lighting it, and taking a snapshot with a long exposure time.

Kind of a shame I didn't take the time to disguise the walls of my bedroom with construction paper or something.

The Enterprise and a Klingon D7 exchange torpedoes.

A torpedo approaches the Enterprise from the starboard. Actually, these look more like the energy bolts Vejur used in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. All in all, I think these turned out reasonably well considering I had no photography skills and no budget.

Images of Mom

Mom worked hard all her life to make sure that Sean and I would enjoy happiness. Now she and Dad are both healthy and happily retired. For all this, I consider myself very fortunate indeed. I hate to resort to cliche, but words are truly inadequate to express my love and appreciation, so in lieu of inadequate language, I simply present some of my favourite images of Mom.

Thanks, Mom.

Democracy Marches On

Monday's election results were pretty discouraging for Liberals, but the provincial party has been working hard to renew itself for some time now. Today I travelled to Red Deer for the Alberta Liberal Party Board of Directors meeting to represent the constituency of Edmonton-Meadowlark. This is the first time I've attended a meeting of this sort as a board member - really a proxy, since our constituency president couldn't make it.

You really feel the weight of responsibility on your shoulders when you suddenly realize that your voice and your vote matter on a very real and immediate level. At the meeting, directors were asked to vote on rules for the upcoming Alberta Liberal leadership race, and as might be expected, there was some spirited - but very polite - debate about some of the details, such as timing of the race, entry fees and so on. I spoke up on a couple of issues and probably annoyed some folks, but that's democracy - everyone has a duty to speak out for what they believe in.

It was a particular thrill for me to officially move that David Swann act as interim leader until the race is concluded. That motion passed unanimously. Over the last few months David has done an admirable job of holding the government accountable for its failures to manage public health care properly, and I admire his spirit and commitment.

In the weeks to come, the various Alberta Liberal leadership candidates will start reaching out to woo supporters and explain their vision for a better province. I'll be watching with interest. 

Four More from Singapore

Here I am at the most southerly point in Asia, on Singapore's Sentosa Island resort. After some amusing pantomime, a couple of cute Japanese girls kindly took this shot for me.

This is the fearsome guardian of Sentosa, bursting out of the fountain like an avenging spirit. Oddly enough, none of the visitors seemed startled at all.

This is a rear view of another of Singapore's astounding creatures, the Merlion. I entered the creature's very maw (albeit via a staircase inside the statue).

And here's the Merlion at night, during a spectacular lightshow and fireworks display.

A Little More from Singapore

A kindly old British couple took this photo while I was visiting the Singapore Zoo.

You can get quite close to the animals at the Singapore Zoo, including these alligators, shot without the benefit of a telephoto lens. Frankly I'm surprised I overcame my natural risk aversion to get this shot...I must have been feeling particularly adventurous.

It took all of my will to avoid touching this just to see what would happen.

It seems as though every zoo in the world needs a flock or a gaggle or whatever of flamingos.

My trip to Singapore included my first - and to date, my only - tropical Christmas. The holiday is a big deal in Singapore, though in a secular rather than a religious sense. The decorations in the city's shopping district were quite impressive.

...if a little commercial.

Here I am relaxing at the world-famous Raffles Hotel. Since I don't drink, I didn't order a Singapore Sling.

Parvesh and her family were wonderful hosts, preparing some of the finest dishes I've ever sampled. The food really was fantastic.

Singaporeans have a dark, twisted sense of humour that I heartily endorse.

A Glimpse of Singapore

In late December 1996/early January 1997, I spent three weeks in Singapore, visiting my old U of A friend Parvesh. While my eyesight continues to recover from Monday's dog reaction, here's a quick glimpse of some of the sights my unimpaired vision enjoyed on that trip.

It's a Rhino Party! Kind of wish these guys had won the election instead of the Tories, but what can you do? I shot these fellows grazing at the Singapore Zoo, an open-concept zoo in which many of the animals roamed about unrestrained by cages. Small moats and ditches kept them from wandering among the visitors...well, except for one squawking peacock who jabbed me in the rear end repeatedly with his beak, much to the amusement of a group of Japanese tourists. Sadly, I don't have any photos of the incident, although the Japanese certainly do judging by the amount of shutter action I heard.

Here are a pair of orangutans. One seems to be shading itself with leaves.

A breathtaking lagoon. My pictures really don't do the place justice. I wanted to dive into the green-blue waters and just float away forever.

This was the first time I'd seen a pineapple growing in the wild. For some reason I'd always imagined them falling from trees, like coconuts. Perhaps I've watched too much Gilligan's Island.

Show Me the Mileage

My eye is still rather itchy and the Patanol eyedrops the doctor prescribed are making my eyes sensitive to light, so my blog posts will be short and sweet for the next few days. Today I'll merely mention how excited I am that my friend Dustin has finished his iPhone app, Show Me the Mileage, now approved and on sale at the App Store. Only rarely do I ever get reimbursed for driving places, but it does happen from time to time, and Dustin's app looks like it might come in handy. Heck, at $1.99, how can you go wrong?

Congratulations, Dustin! You're the only person I know to have gotten an app published. Astounding!

Hazards of the Campaign Trail

Before I came in to work this morning, I spent a half-hour handing out Mary MacDonald campaign literature at the Grandin LRT station. While chatting with a couple of voters, I petted their large, friendly poodle - something I usually avoid because of my allergies. But when you're on the campaign trail, shunning beloved pets can create a bad impression. So I gave the dog's head a couple of pats, handed over a flyer to its owners and moved on to the next person.

Just before nine a.m., my right eye started to swell up like a balloon. You can't tell from the photo, but the white of my eye has swollen so much that its surface is higher than that of my iris. I could barely see, so Kim drove me to a clinic. The doctor froze my eye and prescribed some anti-allergen eyedrops, which I'm to try if the swelling doesn't go down by the end of the day. In the meantime, I'm to apply a cold compress, which is making work a little awkward.

I haven't had an allergic reaction this bad since I was 11 or 12, when a tiny puppy sent me to the emergency room in Nipawin, Saskatchewan. After a half-hour in the same room with that dog, I couldn't breathe except by sucking in air with all the strength in my lungs through a nearly-closed windpipe. Fortunately the nurse on duty knew just what to do, and jabbed a needle in my butt filled with some kind of elixir that immediately opened up my airway. I'll never forget how glorious that first breath after the shot felt: it was full of the thrill of being alive.

Today's reaction is a minor annoyance compared to that scary experience. Still, I guess it's a reminder that I shouldn't forget that my childhood allergies remain. So if you see me on another campaign and I avoid your dog or cat, please don't take offense!

Nor should anyone forget to vote today. Whatever happens, it looks like this could be one of the most fascinating election results in years, and we all have a role to play in making history of one sort or another. If there's one thing no one should be allergic to, it's the ballot box.

A Devilish Disguise

Young Sean tries out a surprisingly effective Halloween costume.