The Toimes ®

Episode 67: Rich Benjamin video highlights, stirring up the old guys on TV talk

2012-06-01T11:16:00.000-04:00

I just put this Reel together for Rich Benjamin, a young American Author and social commentator.
He really gets a rise out of them..(whoopdidoo...)

Video by New York Video Service

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Episode 66: A Marriage Proposal to rival all marriage Proposals: Isaac's Lip-Dub Proposal

2012-05-26T11:23:00.002-04:00

Isaac's Lip-Dub Proposal is awesome:

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Episode 65: Manhattan Subway, an indication of Humanity

2012-05-22T12:25:00.003-04:00

Is Manhattan the most successfully integrated society on earth?

Ladies on the Subway

I took this hurried shot with my phone as the A train reached Columbus Circle yesterday.

New Yorkers are so accustomed to living side-by-side and face-to-face with people from such vastly different cultures, colors and beliefs that they stop noticing how successfully and peacefully they are doing it in comparison to other cities in other corners of the world.
We're not perfect, but we're heading in the right direction.
Tolerance, understanding and inclusion overshadow the segregation and fear that pervades most societies.
What do you think?

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Episode 64: Big Documentary plans, Vietnam in November

2012-05-10T17:18:00.002-04:00

We're making a documentary in Vietnam in November:

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/purfumeriver

In April 1975, Vietnam's greatest artist, Le Thanh Nhon, gathered his family and escaped the war, on a leaky boat to Australia.

Three months before his death in 2002, he wrote to his old artist friends sharing his wish that the statues he had sculpted during his life be taken out of private collections and be displayed for the enjoyment of all by the "Mist of the Perfume River", in the city of Hue, a place he loved, a place that loved him.

Every evening, at sunset, he and his artist friends had walked down to the Perfume River where they drank, talked about art, poetry and music and celebrated life.

Le Thanh Nhon's vision was for his legacy of art to be available to the people of his country and its visitors.

This monumental and historical task has been thirty eight years in the making.

Le Thanh Nhon's son Hung Le returns to Vietnam on the tenth anniversary of his father’s passing to view the statues and sit with his father’s old artists friends to talk, and find out how they accomplished this feat and to see the legacy his father has left behind in Vietnam and witness how his father and his art have been embraced by the ancient city of Hue, now a world heritage site.

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BLURB:
Stand-up Comedian and author Hung Le, has an amazing story to tell about his father who is the most famous artist of Vietnam.

His sculptures left behind in Vietnam have been recovered from private collections and are being displayed in public.

War refugee, Hung Le Comic returns as prodigal son to Vietnam for the festival surrounding the 10th anniversary of his father's death to join his father's old friends to talk about the legacy of an artist lost.

More to come!
Meanwhile, this is our protagonist, and an idea of what we can expect from him:

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Scuba Videos to watch at the office.... (try not to look guilty )

2012-05-08T10:14:00.003-04:00

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Episode 63: Hanging out at the Airport, people watching

2012-05-03T16:38:00.000-04:00

I've been on 7 trips so far this year.

Lots of time spent in airports. It's so easy to just lapse into your computer and tune out. People act differently in airports, and it's interesting to pay attention for a while. We're a funny species:

Music by Hayden Chisholm

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Zvi Zeitlin, violinist legend dies at the age of 90

2012-05-03T11:57:00.001-04:00

Zvi Zeitlin has died, aged 90.
He taught violin and performed at the highest level, bringing joy to hundreds of thousands of people. I met him at the Music Academy of the West about 20 years ago.

Imagine being able to play like this at the age of 90!

Wiki: Zvi Zeitlin (born 21 February 1923, died 2 May 2012[1]) was a Russian-born American classical violinist and teacher. He had a distinguished international soloist, who gave important early performances of the Schoenberg violin concerto. He was also the dedicatee of a concerto by the American composer, Gunter Schuller. He taught for 45 years at the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music.

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Episode 62: This video has 30,000,000 views : Drama, live commercial for TNT

2012-05-01T12:16:00.001-04:00

It's a pretty simple concept , but so beautifully executed.

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Episode 61: Igudesman and Joo at Carnegie Hall, a review, Billy Joel, Joshua Bell

2012-04-18T00:28:00.002-04:00

Joshua Bell sat conspicuously at the end of my row near the front of carnegie Hall.
My wife had heard that there would be surprise guests at this auspicious Carnegie Hall debut. I was pleasantly surprised when the first guest appeared, and shocked when the second arrived... more later.

Igudesman and Joo: the next big musical comedy duo

I think one of my favorite moments was when Igudesman followed "it's always been my dream to play in Carnegie Hall" with: "etcetera etcetera"

On-stage tension is always good comic fodder, and Joo's musical coaching from behind the keyboard shot so superbly out of what rapidly became.. a patronization bazooka at at his bemused eye-acting, violinist colleague ... with a perfect recapitulation of the same during an encore in which the weapon was now aimed at the gracious guest #1: Joshua Bell.. ahh it was beautiful on so many levels. Thanks for that guys. And what a good sport was Josh...

Here's a similar encounter from an earlier concert that Igudesman inflicted upon Gidon Kremer:

Joo's Karate Piano playing was golden material, and I would have loved to have had more development of the idea. There's so much more material to look forward to from him with the Asian characters that, no doubt, will come into play over the next decade. Chopsticks, dog in restaurant scenarios, immigration, gongs... (can you tell I've done this before?? the Como quartet had not one but two Asians in it for a few years...)

The shocker:
As Billy Joel marched furiously on stage to stop the debacle that had begun as one of his own massacred tunes, the Carnegie Hall audience went into uproar, and as he joined them in a trio on his own special Steinway wheeled out ceremoniously, the two-some enjoyed a tiny break from the spotlight as we all marveled at the unexpected legend sitting before us with his funny young friends.

These guys are going to go far. Billy knows it, Joshua knows it and youtube knows it. Let's hope the comedy stays smart.

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RueLaLa Invite Code for fashion shoppers

2012-04-14T18:14:00.000-04:00

This invitation code invite for RueLaLa gets you in for Shopping in their Private Boutiques which is all about premier brands and private sale pricing.

RueLaLa says about themselves: "Rue La La is... an exclusive, invitation-only online destination where Members discover premier-brand, private sale Boutiques, each open for a brief window of time. Our focus is a well-edited collection of sought-after offerings from the best brand names in the world. Membership is free but invitation-only".

RueLaLa sizzle reel:

Video by New York Video Service

Episode 60: Underwater Shooting, and why it's hairy

2012-04-12T13:15:00.000-04:00

Shooting on land has some inherent risks, but not many really.

Take it under water and the risk of death, paralysis, injury or just being tired and cold define the outer limits of the job. Stay too long, go too deep, become entangled, disoriented inside a shipwreck... and you're fish food.
Diving doesn't have to be dangerous, it's just when you have a job to do, a job that takes your attention away from the things that your life depends upon: depth, air reserves, people's kicking feet and those stray fishing nets that are very hard to see, even when you are looking for them...

I'll be shooting in Jamaica next Month, a classical music video with choreographed dance sequences, and a 30 second underwater sequence. A big job, and one I should really be taking an assistant with me.
It's exciting and potentially dangerous. Good fodder for avoiding a mid-life-crisis !

Photos by Michael Rothschild

Suspended in the water column

Surfing on a buddy

Gardening gloves make hanging on to the anchor rope safer

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Episode 59: A store front window inspires

2012-04-12T08:57:00.000-04:00

As the Lion Brand Window video steadily passes the 8,000 views mark, I'm editing the next 6 product videos to add to the almost complete list.

Classical is good right?

The marketing department at Lion Brand has quickly embraced social media and is harnessing the force of video to inform, educate and entice its customer base. Pretty smart.

Surprising, though, is the window's effect on New Yorkers. More often than not, people I talk to have seen or heard about the window in downtown Manhattan, and the eyes widen: "amazing, ohhh yeah.."
It's a huge production to get the window completed every season, but that intangible effect is likely strengthening the Company's long life, and worth every dollar and hour spent.

Meanwhile, Lion Brand has rolled out another dozen youtube videos from February's shoot. They get blogged and embedded in other sites. and as the views grow, so do sales.
Here's one:

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Episode 58: Video Production Portfolio Spring Cleaning

2012-04-05T23:36:00.000-04:00

Choosing just two videos from each of eight categories took some ruthlessness, but as a video editor that's not such a long reach. We spend all day cutting back on redundancies, making choices about what best gets the message across.

Making an educated guess about who is looking at the portfolio page is the hard part.

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Episode 57: Balls in the air

2012-04-02T19:52:00.001-04:00

Back from the most outrageous 50th Birthday Party in Curacao, where a dozen friends surprised the birthday boy (a scheme cooked up by his wife), I'm looking through the underwater footage with glee.
A good bunch of divers, each equipped with their sense of fun, made for some most amusing skullduggery underwater causing many flooded masks from laughing.

50th Birthday Party Celebrations ensued on land and under water

Back in New York, relaxed and vitamin D enriched, I was in good form this morning to field a series of voicemails from a famous pianist in Jamaica, West Indies, who wants a large scale music video next Month. Exciting stuff. He wants a small underwater sequence too which of course is right up my alley.

Meantime the LionBrand Yarn product videos are flying out of the pipeline, and the 'store window' video is picking up pace on youtube.

It's going to be a year to remember, I hope I can keep all the balls in the air.

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Episode 56: A visit to the scuba diving destination: Curacao

2012-03-29T22:07:00.002-04:00

A visit to Curacao for a bit of diving and dining has yielded some fun underwater footage

Lunch took an hour to come out of the restaurant's kitchen today; It's just so hard for New Yorkers to adjust to 'island time' incompetence, but the diving really does make up for it.

Curacao is the largest of the ABC islands, occupied by the Dutch since the 1600s.
When you land at the airport, the immigration form asks you if you would recommend Curacao to anyone, but there's no box to tick for "Come on I just got here".

The reef in front of the hotel is so beautiful that a boat is hardly necessary here to see anything else on a short 5 day trip, but we have been ferried out to some special spots each morning.

Outside my door there have been rabbits, Iguanas, and other stuff that seems to end up on the menu at the various restaurants we've tried so far. Tastes a bit like chicken....

Footage should be good. I'll post it when I find time to edit it.

Interested in getting back into scuba diving (how2scuba.com )

Episode 55: LionBrand Window: Van Gogh from Yarn!

2012-03-26T16:24:00.001-04:00

Lion Brand sent me still shots and some video of their famous window transformation.

I set it to some beautiful Dvorak, a string Quartet recorded 15 years ago by my friends in the Binneas Quartet.

Read more in this update

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Episode 54: My awesome big sister - Olympic swimming trials aged 45

2012-03-21T17:02:00.000-04:00

A quick post of a link from an Australian local paper about my big sis swimming qualifying times for the Olympic team trials has inspired hundreds of people!

Having reared two blonde surfer children, Jennie Bucknell aged 45, is somehow managing to swim times that are fast enough to get her into the Olympic Trials for the Australian team.
Dad used to wake up at 4am and drive her miles to the best coach in Melbourne. I have no idea how they both did it. After school... it was back to the pool again. No wonder she retired while she was still a kid.

Now, more than 30 years later, she's breaking records, teaching school kids to swim better, and running a swim team for mothers called "Bucky's Beavers" (I proudly wear the T-shirt on my dive trips, but no-one comments...)

It was one of those Facebook posts that people just kept liking and commenting about.
We love to read about people pushing the limits, breaking with normality, doing what they love and ignoring the conventional limits.

Read another article about her: (Jennie Bucknell article )

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Episode 53: Fashion Show video: from Yarn

2012-03-18T19:44:00.000-04:00

Latest editing work: Vanna White introduces the 2012 Fashion show for LionBrand Yarn highlighting the work of 19 young designers from all over the world. It's quite amazing, take a look:
Editing by Peter Bucknell, New York Video Service LLC

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Episode 52: Scuba Dive Video from Mexico: Brahms style

2012-03-02T21:32:00.000-05:00

A week's filming in Mexican Waters was rewarding: Very calm turtles, nurse sharks and critters....

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Episode 51: Video from Bimini Dive Trip

2012-02-27T11:27:00.002-05:00

Last December we visited the island of Bimini. Michael Feld edited my footage very nicely:

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Episode 50: Say Hello to my Little Friend: Porcupine Fish Video

2012-02-26T10:00:00.000-05:00

While Shooting in Mexico, this little fellow hung around the camera for a while:
A Porcupine Fish
The sun had set, and we were experimenting with the buoyancy of the camera, no lights. This little fellow just sat there!

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Episode 49: Father and Son Team scuba dive video

2012-02-26T04:05:00.002-05:00

While in Mexico, I shot this father and son team during a beautiful drift dive.
The son is 11.
What a lucky kid!

Father and Son Scuba Dive from New York Video Service LLC on Vimeo.
I filmed this Father and Son Team during a beautiful drift dive in Mexico
Shot on Panasonic HVX200 in a Gates housing

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We saw several Nurse sharks during the dive

Episode 48: 4 Yarn Product Videos, featuring Martha Stewart's Glitter Eyelash

2012-02-25T14:54:00.000-05:00

Latest four product videos are up on youtube for LionBrand Yarn.
Using the Panasonic AF100 HD Video Camera, we spent the afternoon filming these features for youtube.
Usually the views go into the thousands and tens of thousands, so it's excellent exposure for the Company's products.

Here's another video: Fishermen's Wool

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Episode 47: Videographer makes the bread

2012-02-23T07:24:00.001-05:00

Underwater videography is not paying the bills.
This week, during a club excursion with Oceanblue, a colleague (temporarily ) handed over his $15,000 rig for me to use during an excursion in Mexican waters. You can really see and feel the difference .... those levers and buttons are finely machined and tested. Even the monitor is well over $2000. Bloody hell.

Weighing 40 lbs on land, the rig miraculously becoming almost weightless in the water, big, and taking some extra effort to push through the water, particularly noticeable when crossing the heavy currents of these Mexican waters.... pausing to play with a baby turtle can take some doing.

I wish I'd had it a week earlier as my team plunged to deeper waters with the larger steel 120 cubic foot tanks from the dive operation: ALDORA Divers, who offer longer and deeper dives.

Lounging on a hammock between dives from the island of Cozumel, I forced myself to read the manual for the new bread maker my wife ordered to make the gluten-free breakfasts a little more pleasant.

Back in New York last night, I pressed the delayed cook timer button on the bread baker, and awoke this morning to the unmistakeable smell of fresh bread, gluten-free.
Rini is happy, so I'm happy.

It was a bit lopsided, but not bad for a first attempt

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Episode 46: Deborah Messing asks me..

2012-02-11T06:51:00.000-05:00

Filming a school play yesterday, she asked me about getting a DVD of the kids on stage.
I immediately thought: "we've met...." "no... it's Deborah Messing from Will and Grace..."
Thankfully I didn't say anything stupid, just stuttered a bit.
She seemed very nice.

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