Reporters Are Stupid

2008.04.23 - Wednesday

Some Montreal media challenge police seizure of images of hockey riot

I can't believe that these people are thinking logically. At the very least, I can understand a certain knee jerk reaction from super-Liberals against any kind of police seizure of anything, but I can't believe they've thought it through and come to this conclusion logically. First of all, it's not really a "seizure", as far as I can tell. The police aren't asking for the media's only copies, and they aren't restricting anyone's ability to cover or broadcast this information. They simply want it for investigative purposes. People are committing crimes on camera. Are these reporters suggesting that if someone had been murdered on camera, they wouldn't turn over the footage for use in prosecution out of some misguided and ignorant sense of constitutional protection? How many times have police officers themselves had the book thrown at them because of actions which were caught on news cameras?

Oh right, I'm sure "that was different".

Brain-dead

2008.04.20 - Sunday

Posted by CaptainStoner on the Trek Today forums:

Contrary to popular opinions, I think the TNG films fizzled out largely due to oversaturation than the quality of the stories. INS and NEM were fairly consistent with FC, and with the series at large, and the major nitpicks are consistent with the series as well. There was just so much Star Trek at that time. I also think the Two Towers was a factor in Nemesis numbers.

When people make fun of Star Trek fans, this is who they're talking about. Anyone who thinks "Nemesis" is good would clearly watch, and pay for, anything bearing the Star Trek label, regardless of quality. The franchise doesn't need these people. These are the people who stand up at convention panels and praise the writing in "Spock's Brain", "Shades of Grey", "Profit and Lace", or "Threshold", just for the chance to get their photo taken with the people responsible for shoveling us that garbage.

I refuse to believe that a thinking, rational person could honestly believe what was written in that post. It's impossible.

Vancouver Canucks Off-season

2008.04.14 - Monday

Vancouver Canucks General Manager Dave Nonis was fired this afternoon. That's step one. I've been avoiding a post about the Canucks' miserable play down the stretch and their subsequent failure to make the playoffs for the second time in three years in order to calm down and think about it. I guess I've been too interested in watching some of the great hockey games that are making this year's post-season a real delight despite Vancouver's absence.

Obviously the Canucks and their fans are grateful to Nonis for pulling off the trade which brought us Roberto Luongo, as well as with rebuilding, to some degree, our supply of decent prospects. Still, the team missed the playoffs after a trade deadline in which Nonis mostly stood pat, despite the team's glaring lack of scoring punch. Unforgivable. Yet here he was today going after another Swedish prospect who had even fewer points in the Swedish Elite League at 23 years old than Daniel Sedin had at 19 years old. Get a freakin' brain, dude!

Naslund has to go. No more Swedish captains. How many NHL teams who've had them must crumble down the stretch, or collapse in the playoffs, before NHL General Managers realize that while they may be skilled hockey players, leadership in the NHL is sorely lacking. Leadership is what wins Stanley Cups, not a lazer wrist shot from the slot or the ability to stick-handle through cones. Guts, determination, passion, honour; words which may not be engraved on the greatest trophy in all of sport but which are plainly visible to anyone who stands in its presence. Stanley Cup winning teams are led by warriors. Men of iron will and steady character, able to lead by example, and if necessary, put entire teams of hockey players, each with a lifetime of training, onto their backs and show them the way forward. Markus Naslund is not one of these men. Daniel Alfredsson is not one of these men. Mats Sundin is not one of these men. Olympic Gold is one thing. It takes something else entirely to captain a Stanley Cup champion.

When it came out recently that Dave Nonis was close to signing another Swedish prospect, I believe the owner lost patience with the "three year plan". So, down comes the axe and Nonis is out. The coach, Alain Vingault, can't be far behind. New GM's almost always want to choose their own coach, after all. Vingault has done a good job, but not without flaws. His defensive style of hockey is certainly boring, which is easy to overlook if the team is winning, and easy to blame when it's not. His preferential treatment of certain players was at times ridiculous. With a handful of minutes to do in the crucial game against the Oilers, a game which would keep Vancouver in the playoff race or relegate them to the golf course, Vingault continued to play Cowan, Ritchie, Isbister, et al. Despite having perhaps two goals between them all season, there they are on the ice, deciding the Canucks' season. A coach should send messages to his underperforming star players in the middle of the season, not in a do-or-die game of survival for the team's playoff hopes. Win with your best, lose with your best.

Personally, I believe the Sedins need a new example. Naslund has been the captain for perhaps their entire NHL careers, so it's no wonder that they seem incapable of performing under pressure or of manufacturing even the slightest sense of urgency in their games. Bring in some players who will show those guys how it's done, because they are certainly talented. Still, they can not be expected to be an NHL team's top scorers. They simply aren't that type of player, and the sooner people realize that the better. They're first line players with a good sniper, or they give you excellent second line offense. Work with that, not with what you might be hoping to see from them.

Salo or Ohlund are going to have to go. We've got too much salary tied up in defensemen to realistically rebuild our forward lines, even with Naslund's six million dollars being freed up. Kevin Bieksa never should have gotten such a ridiculously high-paying contract with only 60 games of NHL experience, but it's there now and it can't be helped. Keep Edler and Bourdon up with the team, they can handle it and they're cheap. Most of the rest of the defense is good, and you want to allow for an injury or two.

I could be persuaded to keep Morrison for less money. He won't get much elsewhere given his performance over the last two years, so if he wants to stay he's a good second line centre. Kesler, Burrows, Raymond, Shannon and even guys like Pettinger and Hansen have been pleasant surprises and should be kept. Fourth liners are a dime a dozen, so whatever. Luongo is God, duh. Sanford is good but I doubt he'll want to stay with his limited playtime. Speaking of which, Luongo should play at least 10 fewer games. He won't like it, but it'll be good for him, and the team should be able to stomach that. Everyone else except Jersey does.

There's my post-season analysis of the Canucks. I was dead on about getting rid of Bertuzzi and Cloutier two years ago, and I bet I'm dead on this time. In fact, I bet I even said "get rid of Naslund" back then, too. Funny how that works out. I can't wait to see who the new GM will be, and possibly the new coach. I think that come October, Canucks' fans are going to be excited to see their new team on the ice. This is Canada, and this is hockey. You lose, you're gone. Deal with it.

Small Gallery Update

2008.04.13 - Sunday

I've made a small update to the gallery; just a few stills. A lot of the shots I've done recently don't really lend themselves to being stills. Most of the time that's because the animation has too much movement and doesn't present a nice looking still at any given frame. That's what the demo reel is for. Of course, not everything fits nicely into the reel either, but it's just not possible to show off every shot that's worked on.

Demo Reel

2008.04.06 - Sunday

Finally, after at least a year of intentions, I've cut a demo reel for 2008. The "Demo Reel" link on the left navigation bar is active for the first time since I created this version of my website around three years ago. I doubt I'll get around to updating my reel once a year, unless I run into a string of relatively short jobs, but right now I don't see that happening. It's just one of those things I've been meaning to do, and now it's finally crossed off the list.

Take a look and let me know what you think. I may still do a couple of tweaks, as there are one or two shots who's order I may change or which may get swapped out. Still, it's about as finished as a reel ever is, I suppose. I'm pretty happy with the music choice and the way it came together. I may even stick with ACDC's "Fire Your Guns" for the next reel. Choosing music is always one of the biggest pains when it comes to demo reels. It was also fun, in a way, to finally have enough good shots that I simply can't use them all. I've always had to pad my previous demo reels with stuff I wasn't completely happy with, but that feeling is starting to go away. A demo reel should never get longer and longer just because you've been working for several years. In fact, this reel is the shortest one I've done so far, and I think it helps to keep things fast and to the point.

I still feel like there's too much space stuff, but at the end of the day those are some of my best shots, and your best stuff is what you have to use. Besides, as you all know, sci-fi is a passion for me, so it's not as if I'm horribly bothered. Eventually I expect to have more of a balance. I'll have to wait and see what I end up working on in the next few years. Until then, enjoy this edition. I have a feeling it will be there for a while.