Mood: Excited

Outlook: comme-ci comme-ca

Sunshine returns to Vancouver
Today, it is glorious sunshine in Vancouver after a week of steady rain. I think the trick was my totemic relinquishing of my umbrella Thursday, which resulted in my being drenched. So today, the weather gods have answered my brave defiance of the rain to bring the spring sunshine.

The comeback win in game 1 against the Wild
Vancouver's winning ways continued last night as they defeated the Minnesota Wild 4-3. This was yet another way the Canucks found to win in the face of adversity. The Wild played their game for much of game 1, stifling the Canucks with their conservative, stifling defence. Almost all five skaters would come back into the Minnesota zone, blanketing any Canuck foray. In the second period, the Canucks outshot the Wild 16-4 but most of these were from the outside. In the third, the Wild broke it open with two goals, showing that they were able to score with their dangerous duo of Gaborik and Walz. However, down 3-1, the Canucks shifted gears again, coming back with a goal by Naslund and then tying it on a desperate scramble with less than two seconds remaining in regulation time after Matt Cooke scooped in a rebound. It only took them three minutes for Minnesota native but Vancouver Canuck Trent Klatt to tip in a point shot to win it in overtime. This really shows Vancouver's quality as a team able to face a much different opponent and still persevere. Game two tomorrow.

Recording a voice over for "Returning"
Last evening I was at my friend Keith's ("Fidgital") doing the voice over for "Returning". Since I never really planned to have an actual actor do the voice over, having to do it myself, properly, was a good experience. With Keith's coaching I think I nailed it, except that .. it was me. Not the voice I really wanted. And being me, I have a slight lisp and I mumble. Hopefully not all of that is apparent when I release an audio version sometime this weekend.

YMDB - Your Movie Database
A bunch of people I know have been making public their personal favourite films ranked from 1-20 (as well as their least favourite) through this neat ranking site. Here's mine >>

"Cog" - that awesome Honda Accord ad
I made a Clipstream version of it for easy emailing >>

My sad sad playoff pool
The surprising opening round of the NHL playoffs that has seen the Leafs, Red Wings and Colorado ousted has laid low my chances of success in my pool. As you can see from my pool picks, more than half of my players are now golfing (not that they did much for me). My only real hope of gaining some respectability is if Philly and New Jersey go far. Unfortunately, all my western teams are eliminated.

Bring on the Minnesota Wild
The Canucks completed their triumph over early setbacks and the St. Louis Blues a few hours ago, winning game seven in convincing fashion 4-1. It was a solid win from the mid-first period onward after the Blues had jumped to an early 1-0 lead and mounted early pressure. But Vancouver goalie Dan Cloutier met the challenge, keeping the Canucks in the game until Henrik Sedin tied it on a mistake by Blues captain Al Macinnis. From then on the Canucks never looked back, taking the body to the Blues and coming into their zone in waves. Veteran former captain Trevor Linden was awesome all night as was the Big Line. The evening was capped off by news that the upstart Minnesota Wild had defeated the Colorado Avalanche in overtime 3-2. The next series will be a new challenge, as the Wild played the Canucks well all season, but for now, celebration for Vancouver fans. It's now past midnight and I can still hear fans racing around in cars honking horns.

Anticipating Game 7
Tonight is the biggest game of the season for the Vancouver Canucks. They have fought back from a 3-1 series deficit to give themselves the chance to gain the next round with a win tonight against the the St. Louis Blues. In a little over six hours I will either by leaping about in my apartment in exhilaration or sunk into my couch in despondency.

Recent Encodes

"The Hulk" trailer and the "Underworld" teaser These two movie trailers are my most interesting encodes recently. Both for the Clipstream demo pages. The third is a spec email directed at Northrop Grumman.
Click on the images to see larger versions.

Filming "Returning" in the UBC Research Forest
Sunday I spent with friends Dylan, Cory and Adri filming my continuous shot submission to the DVDA challenge posed by R/Kain Blaze. As I said before, the Research Forest is a tremendous location if you want a spiritual, moody, treed background. The shot went very well, with the main issue being timing. Trying to come under the 5 minute limit was difficult but we persevered. Click on the image above to see a nice shot. I will post more shots of Dylan Couper's great photography as soon as I can. If you want to read the script for "Returning" it is here >>

Canucks force game seven
While I was filming "Returning" in the UBC Research Forest I was missing out on a whale of a game as the Canucks came up with a clutch win, defeating the Blues 4-3 to even the series at 3-3 and forcing game seven. I fondly remember game seven comebacks for the Canucks who have done it three times in their history and I believe I've seen them all. Of course I was watching when Pavel Bure scored that momentous goal in the overtime game seven game against the Flames in '94, the year the Canucks made it to the finals for another great game seven where they fell short against the Rangers. If they can make this game seven match the excitement of the others I remember, then it will have been a good playoffs.

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