I shot the NH Coliseum implosion today

After a week of major work and hectic political events, some people might enjoy having a nice Saturday morning in which to sleep late and maybe read the paper and have coffee in bed.

I'm obviously not "some people".

Because I happen to think it's a swell idea to wake up at 4:15AM and get dressed, then hop in my chilly car for a nighttime journey to New Haven. To shoot video of the New Haven Coliseum implosion.

In January.

Before dawn.

Yes, it's obvious that I was dropped on my head as a toddler.

Technical Stuff: I used two cameras for the shoot; my Panasonic GS-150 handheld and zoomed in on the lower level, and the Canon GL2 on a tripod set to capture the entire field of view. When I edited the video below, I used the audio from the Panasonic, because the Canon's built-in mic is actually a pretty good directional mic, and it didn't capture everyone's comments and yells as well as the Panny. The Canon mic is great for taping someone speaking, but if you want to capture the ambience and sounds off-screen, the Panasonic does that better.

Anyway, back to the Coliseum and my pathetic teenaged memories. I've loved the New Haven Veteran's Memorial Coliseum since I was a teenager in the '70's...when I've spent many an evening watching a Steve Miller concert, or Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Queen, Foghat, or Jethro Tull. I even saw Abba.

Hey, it was the '70's...we didn't have the musical choices that the kids have today.

So it was a bit sad and nostalgic to see the ol' coliseum come to its end early this morning.

And yet, when I consider the awesome rock shows I've seen there; Ozzy both with and without Black Sabbath; Aerosmith; Stone Temple Pilots; and many, many more...I think, maybe this WAS a fitting end.

It's always better to go out with a BANG than a whimper.

BBC showing of "Blog Wars"

For all my friends across the pond:

Blog Wars on BBC 4
17 January 2007 - BBC4 - 10.30pm
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2006 was the year that blogs bookmarked their place on the political scene. Brook Lapping Productions’ ‘Blog War’ team was there to see it happen.

Blogs are dismissed and heralded in equal measure. Some call them a platform for unpublishable nerds and obsessives. Others say they have renewed American democracy.

Conservative blogs came from nowhere in 2004 to help tilt the Presidential election in favour of George Bush. In 2006 liberal bloggers hit back, landing punches across the country as Bush ‘took a thumping’.

The ‘Blog Wars’ team interviewed the biggest players in the blogosphere and gained intimate access to the hottest primary of the year, where a blog-driven campaign in Connecticut tried to force 18-year incumbent and Washington heavyweight Joe Lieberman off the Democratic ticket.

Executive Producer: Phil Craig
Producer/ Director: James Rogan
Editor: Brett Irwin
Assistant Producer: Will Dixon

17 January 2007
10.30pm
BBC FOUR