CaptainOrange

Leora and Anwyn were recently in a production of... I think it was "Ursula and the Eels." Of course, as a proud father, I wanted to take photos of my beautiful children. Then my children said, "could you take some pictures of the other cast members, for Facebook... and the year book?" Flattered, how could I say no? Then they revealed that there were more than 100 teenagers in two separate casts and that they were in their starring roles on opposing nights :( So, Wendy and I had to go twice (fortunately it was pretty good for a high school musical) and wound up with about 1400 photos of the show. The girls and I managed to narrow that down to just 400 and my favourites amount to 116. Still too many to expect you to peruse. I thought that maybe in Blog form, I could show off just few enough that I won't drive you all away ;) Flotsam and Jetsam  The first night we saw was Anwyn's big night. She played Jetsam, one of the two pesky electric eels (loved th...

I have been playing around some more with the Pringles macro tube that I made at the beginning of May. As you noticed from the pictures in my last post , it was a bit unwieldily. Focus was nearly impossible and my tripod was not up to the task. I made some modifications. I may go into painful detail later. For now, I will say that I devised a system to dynamically set the magnification and added a limited degree of focal control. Then, I had some fun chasing bugs. The ones that can't move anymore are way easier to work with. Macro albums here  (misc incl. bugs) and here  (flowers and yard) I've been a little moody lately, which is why you haven't heard from me. I've also been reading a photographer's blog who gives great advice for using light (but particularly on camera flash). I put my mood together with the learning and got some cool shots using a combination of the sun and my new flash. It was all in the name of a greater personal project that I'm w...

I have volunteered with  Saskatoon Summer Players since we moved back to Saskatoon, 8 1/2 years ago. Since then, I have done West Side Story, Pirates of Penzance, Kiss Me Kate, Cinderella, and been M.C. for The Broadway Bash on 3 occasions. They should not be confused with Gateway Players (now defunct) with whom I performed in Becket: or the Honour of God, The Mouse Trap, And Then There Were None and a privately produced version of Monkey Business. Last year I decided to try and take more of a leadership role with SSP and I allowed myself to be nominated to the board of directors. I've been acting as Secretary since then. The "on paper" commitment is one meeting per month and a second one in November for the AGM and I keep and distribute the minutes. As happens with me occasionally, things have managed to get out of control. Summer Players has been attempting a restructuring during this last year for a number of reasons that I won't go into. The result is that t...

We had a mostly fun drive from Ottawa to Waterloo -- we did have to go through Toronto, after all. It was pretty uneventful, but we did stop to have a picnic lunch at a small resort village where we feed some gulls. The place we stopped was quaint and quiet. There was an entire beach made entirely of the best skipping rocks ever. Wendy was sick or I think I would have stayed until my arm was spaghetti. Don On The Job The other reason to move on was the facilities. The place we ate was equipped only with a port-a-potty. Let me tell you, I don't think "Don" was on the job -- despite the assurance. I think I might have been nervous if he was there anyway. We arrived without incident and commenced with the visiting. Anwyn was in the second day of being sick, but recovered with all speed when there was an infant to hold. Max Gutoski (2 1/2 mos) I was amazed at how great the girls were with their new cousin, Max. Gus and Greta's first son will soon be 3 month's old and...

My eyes struggle to open. I've been up a little too late... again. What's my excuse lately? Let's recap on my sleep excuses -- starting from the beginning of summer: -- Cinderella (-- no, not the band, but a fine selection in video... land) Perhaps not the band, after all, but rather the play that I was in. You may have heard me talking/whining about it? I didn't post my show pictures? Well you should really trust me when I say that if you weren't in the show, you probably don't have a strong interest in seeing them. Since there may be those of you who don't listen, or who have lots of time on their hands to sift through pictures of people that they haven't met... here is the link to the album . -- Erin, Colin, James and Brad helped me and Wen and the girls build a fence. It was... educational. Jodi and Brad were my scapegoats for the next couple of weeks. Jodi kept me out to all hours playing pool and even when Brad wasn't directly keeping me...

From Cinderella-Mik's Piks Pippin, our new cat, certainly has her work cut out for her... One thing certain is that this fellow was of no help whatsoever! From Cinderella-Mik's Piks In case you have been under a rock, our show goes up tonight and runs for 10 days (with Canada day off). If you think this show isn't for you, think again. Princess, pumpkin, punctuality, ... er ... posture?!? And don't forget True Love :) Oh, the other 'P' word. Price. Tickets run about $40 (ouch!)

My sister-in-law, Teela, came to visit recently and with her came a marvelous young child. You will all be jealous to know that his name is Merlin! If you can't make up your own name, at least use one with a bit of flash. Anyway, it was a terrific visit. Merlin is nearly 8 months and loves to wake up early in the morning. Since he was visiting over reading week (when we might have been tempted to sleep in), it was kind of him to make sure that no one in our house frittered away a moment of the day. Merlin's favorite activities seem to include eating when someone other than his mother is feeding him and sleeping when someone other than his mother is holding him. If he had one wish it would be for world peace (and he looks dynamite in a one piece swimsuit, too). During an overlapping interval, Greta came to visit along with her new boyfriend, Anthony. They are buying a house together, but it's way too early to talk about marriage. With all four of the sisters in town, it was ...

Most of you are now painfully aware that my fine wife gave me the perfect gift for Christmas. For those of you not in the know, that gift was a Playstation 3. Peace on Earth was actually my #1 pick, but she said Vin and James already went in together on it. I wonder when it will show up? In the mean time, my birthday rolled around and lo-and-behold, what should show up in Saskatoon on the very day? You guessed it -- Rock Band for the PS3. It is now quite clear, I suspect, why there have been no updates to my blog for the last month. MotorStorm - there was a brief time when this was my only 'action' game. In the first couple of weeks, I have managed to get about 75% of the way through the solo game. Eye of Judgment - It's a card game that the PS3 moderates for you, or competes against you via the camera. It is just as geeky as it sounds. I've put about $25 into booster packs of cards, and not played since Jodi and Brad left shortly after the New Year. Kyro, sounds like y...

The sweetness of summer is upon the land. I have finished my role in the musical and somehow everything feels like it has changed while I was busy. Maybe Gandalf will suddenly come back today? Things were looking pretty grim as the end of rehearsals approached. Everyone in the production could feel it. Things were not working the way we wanted, time was dreadfully short and tension was the highest I have witnessed in a show. I was trying to stay up-beat, but even my optimistic nature was hard pressed to keep on the orange-coloured glasses. However, tension and I are done for a time and so I will simply tell you that the show was great. We could have used a week in the theatre to get ready instead of the two days we had. Consequently we were still getting up to speed on the first few nights of performance. After that it was terrific. Each show built on the last, getting better and better. I kept thinking that we had peaked, but I was wrong. Right to the end we continued to put out mo...

"Where is the life that late I lead? Where is it now? Totally dead!" It's not my character in the play, but damn is it ever appropriate. I don't know what happened to the days where I was concerned about too much time on the computer. I haven't hit my "Stumble Upon" button in longer than I care to think of. I don't read any international news, no tech, no comics and I can hardly claim to keep up with the several blogs that I have an interest in. I'm dizzy. Not enough sleep. Last night I was up until 2:45am telling Wendy all about the night's rehearsal (we ONLY went until 10:15pm, though I had coffee with a cast member until 11) and the various political dealings between various of the cast and crew. Woke at 7am this morning and forced down some coffee. I will start work in only a few moments (8:15am) and will do so until 5pm. By 5:30 I will be at the studio to help move the last of the set pieces to the theatre. Then we start rehearsal at 7 ...

My Quest goals have been bouncing around in my head. I finally realized that if there will be a theme to this year for me it will be just that. Marathons. Rehearsing for Kiss Me Kate is a lot like training for a marathon. It's really more time than you want to spend, but you know you have no choice if you want to succeed. After it is finished I will be doing pursuing that ever elusive goal of walking clear around the city in one go -- clocking in around 60km, it will be more than a marathons worth in distance and stamina. Later in the summer, I hope to run my own personal marathon along the riverbank. I hope to beat my 4h 56min time of several years ago. I believe I also mentioned earlier, wanting to do a solid 24-hour stint in an attempt to write a (potentially) Quest themed play. Finally, I am working on what can only be described as my mammoth Multimedia Miktacular, Miktacular. My statement of beliefs and feelings on the Quest as a way of life. This one has been on the back-burn...

After a teriffic audition, I have officially been cast as The Pirate King in GIlbert and sullivan's Pirates of Penzance Still have some scheduling to discuss with the director before I can be full steam ahead on this one, but it is looking good. QT was quiet last eve. James and I played a magnetic varient of connect-4. The board has randomizable magnets beneath each of the board squares and the player pieces also contain magnets which flip-flop depending on their placement on the board. Vin arrived and, as if by magic, a variety of teas (spicey and not so) were served... following which,we moved to Magettigan's for beverages, desserts and wireless internet madness. Conversation fluctuated between the PSP and roleplaying.