Well, Sunday is here and this lovely weekend is just about over. Great weather and great fun. One interesting development today. I turned on my computer and 7 people had voted on my mini-poll. That was unusual because there have only been 7 people vote on it in the last 6 months, so 7 in a day seemed very unusual. I went and checked my site statistics and it turned out I had about 100 hits in one day! Since this blog normally gets about 6 hits a day, I was pretty surprised. When I got the details on the hits it was immediately apparent what had happened. Google and Yahoo search engines have incorporated my recent blog postings into their database. I am currently the number three search result for the query "Ghost in a Jar". So, to all of you "ghost in a jar" fanatics who have wandered here, welcome, and don't be surprised how boring I am.
Last night I had a movie showing on the lake. There were so many things that could go wrong and, sure enough, something did. I spent over an hour and a half transporting all of the equipment to my boat. I finally started it up and pulled out of the dock to go pick up my friend Rob, a fellow 16mm collector. About 200 yards from the dock my engine gave out. Turns out, there is something wrong with my fuel line. I ended up being able to limp the boat across the lake by hand pumping gas into the primer. After all of the work I had gone to at that point, I was still going to have the showing. The wind was up, the lake was choppy, and there were lots of clouds that suggested there might be rain.
I finally limped my boat into a peaceful cove and dropped anchor. My friend Marty went and picked up Rob. I tied my new tripod screen to the front of the boat and raised it. In less the 60 seconds the whole thing almost fell completely over. The metal bar that is extended to raise the screen is most definitely *not* designed for outdoor use. It is now fairly bent and my screen got wrinkled at the same time. Man, what could go wrong next?
Oh, my strereo wouldn't work. So...I had my wife bring out another stereo and I tried getting things assembled. I could still use my tripod screen, so long as I didn't try to raise it too high. Less than ideal, but functional. When it finally got to be dusk, the lake calmed, the sky cleared, and the wind died down. I fired up the multimedia projector and showed a little bit of "The Fox and the Hound" till it became a little bit darker. By that time we had a total of four boats tied up. A boat filled with a couple and all of their kids drove by and joined in the fun. On 16mm I showed "Bugs Bunny Rides Again" and "Bottle Beetle" with Donald Duck. Next I showed a classic episode of "I Love Lucy" titled "Ricky's Temper". After that I showed the first reel of "Pinnochio" for the boatload of kids. It was now fairly late and very dark, so I switched over to "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" on DVD with the multimedia projector. The image was much, much, brighter than the 16mm and, of course, the sound was great. The boat with the young kids went in and our little ones were all asleep. Some of our friends who went to "Rocky Horror" at the Fox the night before missed the beginning of the film and the section that they had cut out. So, we watched the movie up to that point, about the first 40 minutes before the battery gave out.
After this experience I have come to really appreciate the beauty of the 16mm portable projector. I can run it for hours and hours off of battery power with no difficulty. It is fully self-contained what with having nice amplified speakers built in. It is easy to set up and put away and my only criticism is I wish it was brighter. By contrast, setting up a DVD player, multimedia projector, stereo amplifier, and speakers is a major hassle and all combined uses up way too much battery power. In the future I will only be showing 16mm on the boat. I'm never going to try to lug all off that multimedia junk out to the boat again.
Last night I had a movie showing on the lake. There were so many things that could go wrong and, sure enough, something did. I spent over an hour and a half transporting all of the equipment to my boat. I finally started it up and pulled out of the dock to go pick up my friend Rob, a fellow 16mm collector. About 200 yards from the dock my engine gave out. Turns out, there is something wrong with my fuel line. I ended up being able to limp the boat across the lake by hand pumping gas into the primer. After all of the work I had gone to at that point, I was still going to have the showing. The wind was up, the lake was choppy, and there were lots of clouds that suggested there might be rain.
I finally limped my boat into a peaceful cove and dropped anchor. My friend Marty went and picked up Rob. I tied my new tripod screen to the front of the boat and raised it. In less the 60 seconds the whole thing almost fell completely over. The metal bar that is extended to raise the screen is most definitely *not* designed for outdoor use. It is now fairly bent and my screen got wrinkled at the same time. Man, what could go wrong next?
Oh, my strereo wouldn't work. So...I had my wife bring out another stereo and I tried getting things assembled. I could still use my tripod screen, so long as I didn't try to raise it too high. Less than ideal, but functional. When it finally got to be dusk, the lake calmed, the sky cleared, and the wind died down. I fired up the multimedia projector and showed a little bit of "The Fox and the Hound" till it became a little bit darker. By that time we had a total of four boats tied up. A boat filled with a couple and all of their kids drove by and joined in the fun. On 16mm I showed "Bugs Bunny Rides Again" and "Bottle Beetle" with Donald Duck. Next I showed a classic episode of "I Love Lucy" titled "Ricky's Temper". After that I showed the first reel of "Pinnochio" for the boatload of kids. It was now fairly late and very dark, so I switched over to "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" on DVD with the multimedia projector. The image was much, much, brighter than the 16mm and, of course, the sound was great. The boat with the young kids went in and our little ones were all asleep. Some of our friends who went to "Rocky Horror" at the Fox the night before missed the beginning of the film and the section that they had cut out. So, we watched the movie up to that point, about the first 40 minutes before the battery gave out.
After this experience I have come to really appreciate the beauty of the 16mm portable projector. I can run it for hours and hours off of battery power with no difficulty. It is fully self-contained what with having nice amplified speakers built in. It is easy to set up and put away and my only criticism is I wish it was brighter. By contrast, setting up a DVD player, multimedia projector, stereo amplifier, and speakers is a major hassle and all combined uses up way too much battery power. In the future I will only be showing 16mm on the boat. I'm never going to try to lug all off that multimedia junk out to the boat again.
Setting up the movie screen, it's been strapped down at this point but not raised all of the way. The clouds looked lovely but potentially threatening in the distance.
Setting up the movie screen.
My friend Rob Mocca standing in front of the fully extended movie screen. Next to him is little Katie Solomon.
A few seconds later, when the screen began to buckle and fall over in the wind.
The projector is all set up, to the left is a speedboat filled with kids.
Flash photo during movie showing, of course with the flash you can't see the projected image.
To our right is Dianne Brown's pontoon boat with Marty Solomon and our friend Gail..
By the light of the movie screen, here is Jiminy Cricket.
Another shot of the projected film.
Sunday morning cleanup.
Taking the projection screen home in my Alfa.
