Glass half empty or half full?

I mentioned that I found one of our long classic films, PSYCHO KILLER HERMIT GUY, but looks like I got my hopes up a little too soon.  When I first put in the tape I started watching it and since it was Reefer Madness 2 I just fast forwarded through it and when it came to PKHG I just kept going to see what else was on the tape.

When I went to record PKHG to DVD I found out that there was only really half a movie as there was no sound.  The audio was screwed up on the tape for PKHG and the Son of a Gun footage that followed it.  And that totally sucks!  The good news is that since I had a copy, chances are there is another copy out there.  Willie will be checking his tapes in hopes he has a copy.

Since we have the video it can still be salvaged, we just need to add in all the dialogue, sound effects, and back ground noise.  In other words it will be a lot of work.  The video (the quality is terrible btw) itself doesn't need actually need that much work, just a few edits and maybe one effect shot added.  So we might be looking to re-record all the dialogue for the movie and yes that includes you Cam, don't be a jerk about it.  We will probably just end up going over the top with it, but we'll see what happens.

Christmas in July

Okay, its August, but really it's almost September.  Anyway, since I came back from Cranbrook I had only bought the very essentials in terms of food and was running dangerously low on snacks.  Things were so dire I had break out my secret stash of Gingerbread Oreos!

I bought these way back in January at Target when I found them randomly stashed in one of the food aisles.  This was even before they had announced they were closing.

36 cents for a package of Gingerbread Oreos is the best damn money I've ever spent.  I searched all over Target looking for more, but I could only find the one package.  No other stores had them in stock at the time, so this was rare and I've been keeping them hidden away for a special occasion.  

Being hungry and having nothing to eat counts as a special occasion and they are still awesome tasting.  Hopefully this fall they'll be back.  Don't they usually start rolling out the Christmas stuff near the end of September?

Hidden Treasure

As I was digging through boxes last week in Cranbrook and getting rid of stuff to be exchanged for other stuff I came across a VHS tape in a clear case labelled, "CRAPOLA FILMS".  I brought it back to Calgary with the hopes that it would have Marionette Massacre and Psycho Killer Hermit Guy on it.  I almost forgot about it until Cody texted me and I told him about it.  Then I almost forgot about it again, but then tonight popped in the VCR which was still hooked up from when we watched Repossessed.

The bad news is that there is no Marionette Massacre, but there is good news!  PSYCHO KILLER HERMIT GUY good news!  Looks like there is a final cut on the tape with titles, credits and music.  I actually didn't watch it as I was just fast forwarding through it to make sure it was all there.  Still makes me wonder what happened to the original raw footage.  It must on the lost 8mm tape along with Marionette Massacre.  I'm just happy we have found something.  The VHS tape also had all the Reefer Madness 2 stuff, Son of a Gun and about 10 seconds of Steele O'Neil.   Friday night or Saturday I will get it transferred over to DVD.   Then Cody will take about a month to make it presentable, then you'll finally get to see it.  Excited?

Trade ya for it

Take a look at the picture below and guess how much that stuff cost me?

If you somehow managed to zoom in and enhance and saw the price tag on the record, good for you, but that's not even close.  Try again...nope...not that either...give up?  It was FREE!  Okay, technically on the CD on the bottom left corner was free because it was CJSW give away and free to begin with, but I still didn't pay for the other stuff.

When I was back in Cranbrook I dug out some stuff that I wanted to get rid of, but I didn't want to give it to the thrift store.  I knew I could profit from it somehow if I tried hard enough.  I brought a box of stuff back to Calgary and took it into Phoenix Comics because they buy old comics and toys.  There was like one good thing, a couple cheap yet cool things and some lame crap like some Star Wars Episode I trading cards.  Martin still gave me $50 in store credit which is more than I thought I'd get for it, so I was totally happy.  I got the Nirvana LP, three comics, a DVD plus $10 credit leftover for next time.  Not bad!  I knew that junk in my boxes would pay off eventually.

Now that I think about it, all I did was exchange stuff for different stuff, so I'm beginning to wonder if it was more of a lateral move then a step up.  Oh well, at least it wasn't a step down!

F##kin' cyborgs

On Saturday there was a gigantic garage sale in Kimberley, but it was too out of the way.  I thought I'd just end up going to the Farmer's Market in Cranbrook instead, but once I got in my car and started driving I was all, "Screw that." and skipped it.  I got back to Calgary yesterday and was back at work today.  Boo.  That week off went by WAY too fast, I don't know what the hell happened.  I didn't even do anything!  

After work and after dinner tonight, it was movie time.  I dug this DVD out of a box when I in Cranbrook and it has been way to long since I've watched it. 

Also, if you see Cody wish him a happy birthday, and its a big one!

???

Another day of my vacation has passed and again I haven't done much.  My vacation is practically over and it seems like it just started!  Today I just went to the bank, then went to the other bank and went to the Salvation Army and Hospital Aux, but didn't even find anything.

In the afternoon I went digging through my many boxes and found a few items I plan on getting rid of.  I still have tons of crap, but I guess if every time I come home I can get rid of a couple things it eventually thin it out.  Some of my boxes are still full, but there are others that are half full or three quarters full, so eventually I'll have to start condensing stuff.  As always it's fun to see the crap I've got stashed away.

Old school Gen 13 screen saver on disk, actually three disks!  I wish I could use it.

Playstation lid stickers!  The Thrill Kill one must be worth a fortune since it was never actually released in North America.

More Playstation stickers, but this time for your memory cards.  The stickers were stuck in with a bunch of old game level walkthroughs(RE, Syphon Filter, others) that I had ripped from magazines and then put in a binding.

Enough with the stickers, time for the games.  I'm pretty sure Cam got me this one?  I vaguely remember some driving around and being able to shoot, so in other words, it was just like the show.

Don't tell anyone, but this ball was stolen from the Burger King ball pit.

Platzl, that word just looks weird.

So far it feels like I haven't even done anything and my vacation is almost over, which sucks..  Sunday and Monday was just moving stuff and getting ready for the big moving day on Tuesday.  Except on Tuesday we sat around most of the day waiting for all the paperwork to go through, which didn't get done until 3:30 pm.  With the all the stuff moved, I actually did something today.

We went up Kimberley today, hung around the Platzl, put money in the Happy Hans cuckoo
 clock(see Instagram), went to the thrift store, and ate lunch.  I went to the candy store in the Platzl and while I didn't buy anything, but they had lots of things I wanted to eat.  The best looking stuff was the chocolates they make in store.

A building in the Platzl with an outdoor climbing wall located on the second floor.  I wonder what the insurance on that is?  I wonder if its insured at all?

Just down from the Hospital Auxiliary in Kimberley are a couple of restaurants, the first one is Heart Beet, a vegetarian bistro which sounds gross, but I give them points for the name.  The other one is the Burrito Grill where we had lunch, and actually wasn't too bad.  I just had a regular size burrito which was huge, bigger than the mucho size burrito at Mucho Burrito.  Although, I have to give to Mucho in terms of flavour.  Also, the Kimberley place had no tacos.  It doesn't look like much from the outside, but it was okay, I'd eat there again, but probably get a smaller burrito as I couldn't even finish my regular size.

Wednesday nights in Cranbrook they have a Farmer's Market with live music down in Rotary Park, so I went to check that out.  The market sucked as there were only like six tables with nothing good.  I still ended up buying a Trail Smoke Eaters pin though.  Even though wasn't much to buy there was still quite a lot of people there, probably to listen to the old dudes playing rock'n'roll on the stage.  Even though I'm heading back on Saturday I hope to hit up the Saturday Farmer's Market when all the good stuff is there.

Top Gun

Okay, I finally finished Avery's video!  I thought I had it done Monday night, but after I rendered it for some reason that I don't understand, none of the music and sound effects worked.  The video was fine, the audio on the video was fine, but none of the audio I added to it worked.  I don't know, I'm no Cody with this editing stuff.  In the end I just took the rendered video and went back and had to add all the sound effects(lots of gun shots) and two pieces of music all over again.  I'm sure I could tighten it up a bit, but sometimes you just gotta give up.  



Make sure you check it out and actually "like" it.  He was asking me why his DIY bike video had no likes.   It's all Cam's fault for not making any rad guitar jams for it.

Update

I'd thought I better update you on what I did today.  I didn't do much.  Moved some stuff from Julie and Matt's and thats about it.  Then Avery was nagging me about making another video.

He wanted to make a Call of Duty video, so we filmed for about 20 minutes and I edited for about 20 minutes then I rendered a rough draft in 20 minutes and I'll be damned if we didn't make a Call of Duty video.  I'm surprised by how close we nailed it for having no script or even an idea of what we were filming.  The video may be done tomorrow, but I'd like to get a microphone to record some dialogue to add to the film.  I'd even like to film a couple pick up shots to make some scenes smoother if that's possible. It's clocking in at around 3 minutes and 20 seconds right now of non-stop action.

Oh, by the way...

I forgot to mention I'm back in Cranbrook for the week!   It will be a pretty boring vacation as I will be helping my sister move and sitting around doing nothing, but as long as I'm not at work.  I drove back today and it was boring as usual.  It was rainy and cold in Calgary and still cool once I got back to Cranbrook.  That's always nice when you don't have A/C.  It also has been hazy ever since Hwy 22 with all the fires.  Either that or my glasses are really dirty.

I'll try to find something interesting to write about while I'm back, but since this is Cranbrook that could be a challenge.  Don't forget to check out my Instagram as I've already put a video of Connor doing cat stuff.

Top Gunz

Last week Cody went to Bianca Amor's and bought some stuff and brought back a flyer which I looked through at my discretion.  They had some air soft type guns that I've seen there before, but since Avery seems to be into the Nerf type guns I decided I'd go get the "sniper" rifle.  

Once I got to Bianca Amor's I found a bunch of other guns...sweet sweet guns.  These guns don't shoot but are Lego type kits and look super awesome.

I bought this one for Cody because his birthday is coming up and it's a big one.  His birthday that is.  It's a Desert Eagle and according to the back you can actually pull the slide back and pull out the clip.  It also comes with a display stand.

I almost bought this one for myself, but I didn't and then regretted it the second I pulled out of the parking lot.

My other choice for Cody's gun.  I spent too much time trying to figure out what to get.

This AK-47 also comes with a bi-pod.  I wish the box listed the dimensions or scale.

Ssssniper!  Honestly, I wanted to buy all the guns!  Luckily, MY birthday is coming up soon.  Thank you China for making these knock off Lego weapons.  You are the best.  

There were two separate families of kids there and they were going nuts over the "air soft" guns and the "Lego" guns.  Some kid wanted the AK-47, but his dad was like "You just spent $100 at the Lego store yesterday!"  Hey, kids love Lego and guns, so put the two together and it sells itself.  I think the kid comprised on one of the "Lego" pistols.

I couldn't spend all my money on Chinese Lego guns, I still had to get the M14 shadow sniper.  The M14 shoots both soft gel pellets and darts.  I'll have to hide the gel shots from Avery and he'll be stuck with just the darts.  You can only chamber one dart at time, so less chance of damage with a slow firing rate.  It can shoot up to 50 feet though!

But aiming for the balls is okay!

Informational?

When I was back in Cranbrook last month Avery found out I had a YouTube account and wanted me to make videos with him to put on there.  There was a Nerf gun demo video(I shot him in the face!) and a lacrosse video all of which I deleted off my phone because I had no space left on it.  I did save a bike video and told him I was waiting for my friend (Cam) to make some music for it.  I forgot about it and I guess Cam did too, but unfortunately Avery didn't.  I quickly slapped something together and put it on YouTube and e-mailed the link to my sister.  Check it out you.  Also, not sure what happened with aspect ratio, but whatever man.

Willie!

So I've been doing a whole lot of extra nothing lately, hence the lack of updates.  Just working or uh...not working.  Been trying to watch some DVDs as they are really piling up on me.  Recently I've watched Camp Nowhere, Zoom: Academy for Heroes, Minority Report, Combat Academy,  Volunteers and Scooby-Doo! and KISS: Rock and Roll Mystery.

I also forced Cody to watch that VHS of Repossessed I bought at the Hospital Aux in Cranbrook.  I had to hook up the VCR and everything, so it was a real chore.  I can't believe people still watch VHS, but I suppose they might look better on an old school TV.  Not so much on my TV.

I also forced Cody to watch Minions today in eye popping 3D.  Cody was right about it before, it was full of kids.  I wasn't sure it would be since it has been out a while.  Kinda felt like a creep, but whatever.

Also, the other day I was driving somewhere and I saw a lady walking two dogs...and a parrot!  She had a big green parrot sitting on her shoulder pirate style as she was walking the dogs down the side walk.  Definitely not something you see everyday.

Also picked up these dorks.  I like Willie's plunger as it's actually rubber!

I was at Dollarama the other day and bought this drink mix.  It smells exactly like Jolly Ranchers!  It tastes pretty much like you expect it would.

I think that's about it for random stuff crammed into a post.  I'll work on something a little more interesting for the weekend.