The Toimes ®

Episode 40: Director in tears, Catzo Opera rehearsal

2012-01-05T07:52:00.003-05:00

Wandering around Catania (Wiki), big video camera under my arm, it's a point and shoot bonanza.
Point the camera at pretty much anything and it's going to be gorgeous if the camera is set right (which takes a bit of doing with the AF100 as the menu is as deep as a coal mine.

I walk past this guy every day

The footage will serve as 'Broll' for the documentary on my wife and her opera singing tales of emotion and drama.

This morning at the opera house, I kept rolling as the director lost his marbles and launched into an Italian tirade of "Catzo this" and "catzato that" at the chorus who sat defiantly on stage, answering
back at will.... all very dramatic, ending with tears from the director. (Gold).

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Episode 39: New Year's Eve in Sicily

2011-12-31T13:41:00.000-05:00

My wife is searching for shoes to wear tonight. We're leaving in 15 minutes to spend a mystery New Year's Eve with ... well I met three of them this afternoon at the Bellini Opera House:
an Albanian Concert Pianist, a Cuban Baritone and a Mezzo from Armenia. I think it will be another evening of 3 languages

The Baritone showed me around the center today. Catania has the most amazing market, and so cheap.
Such a culture shock going from Belgium to Sicily. People are different here, louder, warmer more fun.
But it did take an hour in the mobile phone shop to buy a sim card....

Food is going to be great tonight. I think we are going to a restaurant in the country side...

More Photos Here

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Advertisement : Shrimp on the Barbie

2011-12-29T04:15:00.002-05:00

Paul Hogan, the original....

also: fun video

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Episode 38: 2011's big hit: Martha Stewart Crafts Lion Brand Yarn Knit & Weave Loom Kit Videos

2011-12-28T06:48:00.001-05:00

It's been a big year for video at LionBrand Yarn.

LionBrand is America's oldest manufacturer of craft yarn. It was founded in 1878!!
They found their way to me through word of mouth (always the best form of advertising), and we've had a huge year for video production.

The marketing people at LionBrand understand the value of video, using it to inform their customers and promote their products in a truthful and compelling way, then following through with instructional videos that help everyone get the most out of the products they've bought.

As the introductory video for the Martha Stewart Crafts Lion Brand Yarn Knit & Weave Loom Kit nears the 70,000 views mark, the instructional videos are becoming popular.
Here's the series:
Videos by New York Video Service

Read my 7 Tips for Corporate Video

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Episode 38: How2scuba.Com launched: a site for lapsed certified scuba divers

2011-12-27T09:35:00.003-05:00

I bought the Domain Name: How2Scuba.com

Beware: Deep Diving can cause some head shrinking.

I've always plunged thoughtlessly into water. No concerns, no fears (except for the 12 months following JAWS). There were always fins, masks and snorkels around when I grew up. Swimming goggles (pic)and Marco Polo. An underwater visit with the dolphins in Israel (see video) back in the 90s led to interest in SCUBA.

It didn't take long before I was pushing along a video camera, making friends with turtles, swimming with sharks (video) and meeting a new community of special people who love to take their adventures under the surface.

I've realized over the last few years that a surprisingly high percentage of people are actually certified to dive. Often when I'm talking to new people, and they ask me what I do, they admit to having once been scuba divers themselves "I'm certified but I haven't dove in 5 years"...

Anyway, for all of you lapsed scuba divers, I have put together a site to inspire, remind and inform.
Start on the Scuba video page.

Hope to see you underwater!

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Episode 37: Heading to the opera

2011-12-23T10:39:00.000-05:00

Taking an afternoon break from editing, I curled up with a cup of tea and a camera manual.
My goodness this AF100 camera's menus are deep. The control over the flavors of the image you want to record is quite wonderful. The camera's already been put to work, filming Rini, pre-opera preparations at home...
I've scored a ticket for tonight's Cendrillon performance, which is three hours long (shorter than Carmen) so hopefully the left over jet-lag will keep me on my toes as I'm 6 hours ahead.

After the show 2 nights ago, I joined Rini and her manager with the maestro and a couple of colleagues, one still in her spangly lashes (see photo below). A fascinating bunch. Quite an honor to be around, as I sat there quietly trying to keep up with the 4 languages being tossed around like a small baby.

Eglise Gutiérrez : The Fairy

I'd been in the wings briefly at the final curtain, amazed as always at the very specific energy that happens backstage. Most of the cast are on every night, so they are quite exhausted with a week to go.
Rini, with lots to sing, is supposed to be off every other show, but had to sing back-to-back performances last week as the other Cinderella was ill. That was the night they were filming for broadcast, so good for Rini.

Later that Night:
I Button Holed a tiny camera as I walked in to the opera....

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Episode 36: Opera Star: French Accent judgement..

2011-12-22T06:04:00.000-05:00

When a man writes unjustly about my wife, he takes his life in his hands.

A small but cheap shot at Rini's almost perfect French has angered some powerful players.
The people who work with my wife tend to really love her, and more often than not, they take a moment to tell me so. Her dressers, colleagues, directors... they bear witness to the herculean strength that Rini displays when at work, no matter how she is feeling or what she is dealing with. When someone has a go at her, people jump to her defense.

A critic fired a nasty shot into the back of Rinat Shaham, a tireless artist and courageous performer, criticizing her pronunciation during a performance of Massanet's 'Cendrillon', a well loved story about a down-trodden girl becoming a princess.

The ensuing uproar began building when Rinat replied on the issue on another blog, and another Critic emerged from the shadows to defend her, calling the article:

'xenophobic, possibly racist and intended to hurt. It’s bad reviewing, unamplified and without context.' (read more from Norman Lebrecht in his 'slipped disc' blog)

Rini left her thoughts on Norman's blog, which he republished, becoming a heavily trafficked article about double standards. Comments and emails began flowing.... the 40 or so comments are fun to read..
It's nice to witness an argument and be able to hear each of the voices uninterrupted.

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Episode 35: You want money for an exit row now? Delta Flights pushing limits

2011-12-22T05:12:00.001-05:00

Flying Delta the day after Ten Kinds of Bacon: my first ever 'old fashioned' - on the cocktail specials list at the Indian Road Cafe...

The manager at my favorite cafe in Manhattan had soaked bacon in bourbon for 9 months to bring this recipe to fruition. (Like the worm in the tequila only tasty?), A midnight viewing of my old friend's crooked new apartment before an icy stroll home to finish some blurred packing... some nausea on the way to Kennedy airport should not have surprised me.

Delta tries to screw some more bucks out of its weary customers by charging $80 for exit rows, but none of us are having any of it, and they have to give them back to us at the gate as the flight is so full:

"Yes Doctor Bucknell, there seems to be a window available now, mysteriously, at this last minute...."

Is this how the airline is trying to pay for having USB plugs installed in every seat?
I admit to myself that I am impressed with this new development as I charge an ipod and wash down some paracetamol with a free imported Heineken and curl up in my two empty seats. It's nice to be the pigeon from time to time, and not the statue.

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Episode 34: Chargers and wires, drives and passports 2011 the end is near

2011-12-18T16:49:00.001-05:00

Coming back from travels to a messy home instills dread in my last few days anywhere abroad.
I'm cleaning house like a ponzi accountant..

The three week trip to Brussels and Sicily begins tomorrow night. My downstairs neighbours must be wondering "why all the action upstairs... "

To take editing on the road means not forgetting anything, so the carry-on is slowly filling up with wires, drives, chargers and notes.. and some light camera gear... but no viola. That neglected piece of finely crafted maple must think I'm a bastard for leaving it at home all the time. Lucky it doesn't Bark.
(insert Pun here).

It's a great time of year for the mind to be distracted by alternative scenery, food, language...
The end of a year: time to look back and forgive yourself for not being your best, or maybe give yourself a pat on the back for a year well spent (if you've had beers at the time this is more likely), and time to squeegee the chalk off the board with a wet ... squeegee and blank your conscious.

2012 will be exciting I hope, with a juicy new camera, new computers and a new workflow with the editing.

Maybe it's time to start working on that documentary on my wife...
Time to fly, I'll write if I see anything strange in the airport..

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Episode 33: Walking is the best medicine ("23 and 1/2 hours")

2011-12-17T11:53:00.000-05:00

One computer screen is what most people face all day... I usually have two going...
Editing, posting, emailing.... it takes two computers ...
I was sent a youtube video to watch, which has had 400,000 views in its first 2 weeks up.
The information was a repeat of what I was told not long ago by a nurse:
"Exercise!"
I am always healthy and happy when I'm shooting underwater or running productions on land. There's lots of standing, walking, lifting and carrying when I'm working at the front end of a production....
Anyway, it's a simple message, but this animated video is well researched and to the point. Take a look:

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Episode 32: Bach Shark Video

2011-12-16T22:06:00.000-05:00

While logging some footage from this week's dives in the Bahamas, the shark footage really jumped off the screen.. something about the lighting during that sunset dive that was other-worldly.

But what music to match with it?

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Episode 31: Come here and see my pet shark... video

2011-12-16T16:28:00.000-05:00

"Come here Petie come here"
The local on the dock was preparing Wahu for the restaurant last week during my visit to Bimini.
"Bring your camera"

...... moments later:

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Episode 30: The Vanna White Interviews for LionBrand Yarn

2011-12-15T19:41:00.000-05:00

Vanna White sat with us one morning in November in her Beverly Hills home and chatted about her crocheting habit.

She looks amazing still, those cheekbones love the camera!

Videos by New York Video Service LLC
NYvideo.US

There are 12 Videos in this playlist, they will play automatically

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Episode 29: Subway conversation with a classy woman

2011-12-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

On the 1 train, New York Subway:

Peter: "Where are from?"

Classy Lady in a fur hat: "But I wasn't talking to you"

P: "Oh you must be German"

Lady: "No"

Me: "I'm Australian"

Her: "Oh ! Can you guess where I'm from?"

Me: "Hmmm not Russia"

Her: "No thankfully not"

Me: "But Eastern Block right?"

Her: "Near Russia"

Me: (long pause)

Me:"Poland?"

Her: "Yes!"

Me: "Ah Polish are good. I like Polish"

Her: "Yes Australians don't have prejudice against Polish"

Me: "Good people, the Polish"

Me: "What's the next stop?"

Her: "79th street"

Me: "Oh that's me"

(I extended my hand)

She took her glove off and shook my and warmly and said "My name is Minka"

"Peter"

She: "Nice to meet you"

Me: "Bye bye"

(I walked along the platform smiling)

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Episode 28: Music Video : solo violin!

2011-12-14T16:49:00.001-05:00

"Make the chair a beautiful apple green" is how my video client's edit notes began.
I'm working on a dream sequence that transfers the solo violinist from a shop to a dream sequence in a brickyard... involving a mystery folder, a found key and a junk pile in a warehouse.

Crystalize the imagination of my clients is what I aim to do. It's my company's global goal. So that chair she was asking about glows a beautiful apple green, just for a moment as she enters. I'll post it when it's done. (stay tuned)

Meanwhile final edits of the Vanna White Interviews have been given the green light, so they'll be up on youtube within a week. They a lovely little sound bytes of Vanna and her crochet activities. They are bound to do well on Youtube, and Wheel of Fortune wants to put them on their site. She really is a good chick.

Closing the laptop in a minute to head downtown to take a 'gas planning' class for technical deep diving.. for a change of pace

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Episode 27: Lost in New Jersey... again: a video shoot and a scuba client

2011-12-14T03:51:00.000-05:00

How did I do it before Zipcar?

Loading the camera equipment into the boot of the car, parked precariously unattended next to a hydrant (no choice) I curse my laziness for stopping me from getting to that GPS purchase... I turn down the bass and change the station to classical, clutching a handful of mapquest turn-by-turn: a disaster waiting to happen.

It's the sixth time I've shot video in this Jersey location, but do I remember the way?

After a seamless all-day shoot for one of my favorite clients, we are getting good at this, I ventured even further into New Jersey for a meeting with a scuba client who wants a series of videos. This time Mapquest left me 3 miles away from my meeting with no further instruction. A Jersey laugh on the other end of the phone-call to the scuba shop tells me that Mapquest has raped people often on the way to their shop.

Scuba shops and camera shops are my candy store, so what a great place for a meeting!

Those Jersey street signs that led me back to Manhattan must have been laughing and pointing as they sent me along all the smallest streets with maximum red lights... can't believe I was actually using the compass in the dashboard display to navigate my way home.

Dominican food, all you can eat for $13, alone with a Spanish speaking waitress and the Buena Vista Social club reminding me of a decade ago when I painted a brownstone apartment in Harlem with the cd on repeat... Home to edit til midnight

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Episode 26: Bimini, Hemingway's getaway is changing

2011-12-11T22:02:00.001-05:00

A momentary witness of a place that will change forever, I'm happy to have seen Bimini.

Our dive guide Devito drove us around the island in a golf cart, pulling over to pay his respects to his blind drunk mother-in-law and her staggering amber cohorts, lunch at the Triple A shack where I recognized the hotel merchandise girl working her 2nd job.. and a visit to the best Conch Salad shack on the island.

The aqua blue views from shambled concrete beach houses niggled thoughts of real estate: the proposed ferry service from Florida is going to bring Americans in droves.

Maybe the food will improve, they'll stop serving canned green beans and over-cooked seafood... but the beachfront property will eventually be snapped up by non-locals.

This was a working scuba trip for me (see pics), but there was time for an earful and a sticky beak at the life of the locals on an island in the Bahamas.

A visit to the new hotel compound showed what to dread as I pointed my camera in vain at the bland new world that will overtake Bimini, the land that Hemingway loved.

Back to the rushing New York City on rude, cramped Delta Airlines. These seats must be intended for people without elbows or knees. The airline industry has been ruined by executive decision. You greedy greedy bastards. When will you ever learn that it's not about money?

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Episode 25: Ansil Saunders, boat builder of Bimini, Bahamas

2011-12-10T18:17:00.001-05:00

Martin Luther King enjoyed Bimini back when even fewer black men held power.
MLK, who wrote much of his nobel prize acceptance speech in Bimini, favored the hand crafted wooden bone fishing boats of Ansil Saunders, a God fearing, sausage fingered salt of the earth carpenter, whose boats are so beautiful that some people pay the $40,000 for a boat and keep it inside their house as a piece of art. Seems crazy, but the boats really are that beautiful.

Ansil Saunders, boat builder (picture with boat here: click )

During our visit with him after a morning's scuba diving, he regaled us with his stories of hanging out with Richard Nixon, Ernest Hemingway, and... he wanted to spend time with me in the future to make sure I don't go to hell for my evil life....

So that's my latest claim to fame: Ansil Saunders wants to save me from the devil.

His boats really are quite beautiful, and the island community treasures him as they should.
More Photos here

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Episode 24: Introduction to Bimini's sharks, thoughts of Steve Irwin

2011-12-08T17:07:00.001-05:00

After a stern pre-dive briefing from our Bahamian dive guide aboard our enormous dive boat, built for about 30 passengers, but today with only five... we hit the water.

The Bridge

When a guide beckons you to come over, it's usually worth a look. This time it was a Great Southern Sting Ray measuring five feet across, resting on the bottom. My approach was slow, and managing to get right up to the animal, my video camera's screen was filled with just the animals large eyes looking back at my camera, quizzically. Working around to the pointy end, I thought about Steve Irwin, and the 'barb to the heart' incident....
The guide watched me take off alongside the ray, worried that I was one of those divers who disappears...

Later... that afternoon, we visited the Shark research Lab, and waded out to the pen where they had a couple of juveniles. The staff at the lab tag and track the sharks in the area and are learning more about the sharks every year.

After a water taxi ride, a local was cleaning Wahu on the dock, and motioned me over. After I was sitiing with my feet hanging over the water, video camera at the ready, he tied a fish head to a line and tossed it over... quickly snatched up by a very very large bull shark.... footage to follow. (here it is )
Photos here

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Episode 23: Miami's News Cafe on South Beach, Gianni Versace's last meal

2011-12-08T06:00:00.000-05:00

It's always a small shock to go from a winter scenario, coats and hats, to beach: people walking around outside in their underwear.. The scene at South Beach Miami was G-string city.

A six hour layover in Fort Lauderdale called for a rental car, a venue for lunch and a walk along the beach. They say that Gianni Versace's last meal was at Miami's News Cafe, which is open 24/7.

Their breakfast menu includes 'eggs news' which is a variation on Benedict.

The News Cafe, South Beach Florida

Bimini is the next destination, back on island time for a few days, shooting some footage underwater. There are supposed to be LOTS of sharks here.

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Episode 22: Crowded House Royalty Check

2011-12-07T18:00:00.000-05:00

Next to me, at the Fort Lauderdale airport, a 40-ish woman is listening to Crowded House with the volume so loud that her ear drums must both be calling their congressman.

I remember that I neglected to bank a couple of checks before leaving for Bimini: one for playing Vivaldi, the other is a royalty check for playing on Crowded House's "Woodface" album. It's for $28.
I guess that's what happens when you are young and stupid, or don't know how to negotiate.

Tim and Neil Finn, the brothers from the band, were lovely people, despite their fame. On the morning of the recording, Neil answered the door in his pyjamas, showed me in after realizing who I was and then "make your self at home" disappeared.

The periscope bolted to the ceiling was odd. Less surprising, somehow, was the huge pile of weed nestled in the open belly of a hardback Collected works of Shakespeare.

My memory of the recording is blank except for one surviving image of the entire band looking through the glass pane at me as I trickled violin lines into that expensive microphone.

I wonder what I'll spend the $28 on...

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Episode 21: early morning cab and a flight to Bimini

2011-12-07T06:14:00.000-05:00

Nobody seems to have heard of the island of Bimini. I'm headed there today to shoot underwater for 3 days.

The packing yesterday took some focus while editing. I'm doing the graphics for the Vanna White interviews we shot recently in Beverly Hills, and they have to be jUUUst riGHt.
The packing has to be right too: the life sustaining scuba gear suitcase always weighs in at 50lbs and there's another 40lbs in my carry on which I'm always terrified that they will weigh.... but it's all necessary to get the job done underwater safely.

These early morning flights are a shock to the system. Cab at 4:45am and a long stopover in Florida where I hope I'll be in good enough shape to get some editing done.

I'm due for some vitamin D, but then again, aren't we all due for some?

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Episode 20: Cocktails with Turtle People, wishy-washy video

2011-12-06T08:26:00.001-05:00

The Archive Bar on 36th street NYC has a great big Samsung TV. Perfect for watching the new video produced for the Sea Turtle Conservancy (like ) who were hosting a few of us for cocktails last night.
Nursing the end of a hangover and some sleep deprivation, I stuck to water for the evening despite seeing some single malts being nursed by my colleagues.

This organization has chosen sea turtles as the focus of its conservation efforts because these ancient creatures are among the most important indicators of the health of the world's marine and coastal ecosystems.
The video, though a little wishy-washy in its message and delivery, was beautifully shot in a high performance HD and worth shutting up for to watch for 15 minutes. How the guy sitting next to me could text all the way through it, hardly looking up, was beyond me.

I chatted with a couple of people from the organization about being a bit more 'call to action, finger pointy and hard hitting' in some potential videos for the future. Shorter and more aggressive. Cheaper and more real. Less glammy graphics and more awkward pauses: time to think about what needs to be done.

Our fishing techniques are really sinking the boot into the ecology and are in need of change.
Huffington Post reports in depth: article

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Dog having a blast in the snow video from Youtube

2011-12-05T22:29:00.001-05:00

Just had to post this video:

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Episode 19: Holiday Train show at the New York Botanical Gardens

2011-12-05T13:18:00.001-05:00

My Viola

During the loud and overly dramatic sermon at yesterday's church gig (viola ) I blocked out the pastor's religious guidance by reading the guide for the new AF100 camera... it's a book.. but entertaining

On the way home with my check, (cheque where I come from..) one of my mates invited me to the New York Botanical Gardens "Holiday Train Show"

See More Pictures

After filming the Christmas concert that took place (had to test the focus on the new camera) the cellist and I were transferred to the exhibition where, weirdly enough, we ran into one of Isaac Stern's sons: a conductor, child on shoulders, knows my wife.. small world.

The exhibition, an annual thing, is amazing. The detail!

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