Today, Rosa, Lemin and I went to see the new Cirque du Soleil show, Amaluna. It premiered in Montreal two days ago. It was the first time any of us had seen a Cirque du Soleil show. I have wanted to see a show for years.
No photography permitted during the show
Amaluna was performed in a big tent (Le Grand Chapiteau – The Big Top) at Quais du Vieux-Port de Montréal. It was a bitterly cold day in Montréal.
It was warmer inside the tent. There were big heating units attached to the outside of the tent that blew warm air into the tent. The performers, many of whom wear very little, need to stay warm and limber.
The show was wonderful. Before the show starts, performers work their way through the audience, providing some entertainment while everyone takes their seats.
Once the performance began, we were awestruck. The artists were fantastic. Some of the moves were so incredible it was more like stunt work than an artistic performance. The music was played live by an all-girl rock band.
I look forward to seeing more Cirque du Soleil performances.
At each end we’re larger greenhouses (the Main Exhibition Greenhouse and the Fern Greenhouse). The Fern Greenhouse housed hundreds of moths. Some were feeding on orange slices. Most were sleeping, as moths are nocturnal. At the far other end of the was the Main Exhibition Greenhouse containing the butterflies. There were hundreds multi-coloured butterflies flying through the building. I could not get any photos of the butterflies flying, because they darted around too fast and too chaotically. I could only get photos when they were standing on a leaf or branch or eating.
Afterwards, Rosa and Lemin went shopping on Saint Laurent Boulevard. I found a quiet place where I could write.
Today Rosa and I went to the 2011 Capital Pride Parade. This was the 25th year for the parade. It was our first time. I’ve attended the post-parade event at City Hall in the past with friends.
We were not sure about the weather as Ottawa was about to feel the effects of distant Hurricane Irene. The clouds were building and rain was in the forecast. We viewed the parade from Bank and Laurier. There was a viewing area blocked off.
Capital Pride
The parade was much longer than I was expecting – it lasted about 45 to 60 minutes. There were floats and vehicles from all over – city, provincial, and federal governments, school board, firefighters, police and ambulance services, the universities, groups and clubs, sports teams and so forth. Mayor Jim Watson started off the parade, following immediately behind Ms. & Mr. Capital Pride.
It was a warm atmosphere (unlike the actual weather) – everyone was clapping, yelling encouragements and shouting, “Happy Pride Day! We are so happy for you!”
The weather held off until the parade finished and it started to rain as soon as the parade finished as we were walking back to the car. The reports about the event indicate that it had record crowds this year – 50,000.
There is so much to do in Ottawa, and Rosa and I rarely find time to explore this great city. So this summer, we are trying to get out to see more and do more.
We had an early dinner with friends at Santé and then headed off to Gatineau. However, we did not plan how long it would take to get into the parking lot. It took nearly 90 minutes. By the time we finally parked in the dark, the fireworks had already started.
We walked as quickly as we could, using a flashlight to keep us on the path. It was nearly a kilometre from the parking to the seating area for the fireworks, so we missed much of the show. When we did finally arrive, the best locations were taken, and we were behind a stand of trees. We could only really see the fireworks that exploded above the trees. We missed the ground displays. We were also too far from any speakers that were carrying the commentary and music.
I also left my camera in the car. By the time we parked, it was already starting to rain. That put an even bigger damper on the evening.
We will plan better next year, and hope for better weather.
I can feel the emotions, the opening up of the soul to joy. It is one of the most powerful expressions I have experienced of pure joy.
The evening started with a shorter piece by Canadian composerMalcolm Forsyth. It was the world premier of his “A Ballad of Canada”. It was a special performance by the NACO as Malcolm’s daughter Amanda Forsyth is the Principal Cello, and the conductor is her husband (and thus Malcolm’s son-in-law) Pinchas Zukerman. It was an emotional moment, as Malcolm has been ill for some time. At the end of the performance, Malcolm was in one of the box seats and weakly stood up to acknowledge the applause.
NACO standing to take the applause
After the intermission, the “Ode to Joy” began. The symphony is about 65 minutes long in four parts. One of the major innovations of the piece is the use of voice as one of the instruments.
One of my favourite sections is the start of the second movement. I feel it is so openly and energetically joyful. It gives me goose bumps.
The final movement brings in the full chorus. The sound of the wall of vocal power of a chorus full-on song is amazing. One of the four soloists was sopranoArianna Zukerman, daughter of Pinchas Zukerman.
With such emotions and power, I cannot imagine that it was created by someone who at the time was completely deaf. It is heartbreaking to the point of tears that although Beethoven conducted the first public performance, he was unable to hear the standing ovation of the audience at the conclusion.
Sadly, I heard three cell phones go off during the performance at the NAC.
[Updated Oct 3, 2011: Malcolm Forsyth passed away July 5, 2011, just over a month after this concert]
Last month, I decided that I should visit a museum or other interesting site once a month. There are many sights and attractions here in Ottawa that I have never visited. After living here for 13 years, it’s time that I take in all that Ottawa offers.
Before I went there, I wanted to stop in Chinatown to see the new gate that was opened earlier in the week. It was such a beautiful day, I didn’t mind walking around.
The gate looks fantastic. The colours are very rich, and the detail is very intricate.
I walked around Chinatown, then down Bronson and finally back to my car. I left for the museum, using my iPhone to provide directions.
Panorama of the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum
Some of the exhibits are the same as when I was here over a decade ago. The nose of the infamous CF-105 Avro Arrow, the huge BOMARC surface-to-air missile (which was part of the replacement for the cancelled Arrow), the various passenger planes that opened up the remote areas of Canada, and some of the early planes in Canadian history.
I was pleasantly surprised to see a full-scale mock-up of the new F-35 fighter that Canada is apparently purchasing.
I am not an accountant, so I cannot comment financially if it is the correct time to be replacing the older CF-188 Hornet. But I am not sure if this particular plane is right for our military. The combat range is longer than the ‘short-legged’ Hornet, but has only a single engine. Originally Canada only used twin-engine military jets as it offers redundancy over the very remote areas of Canadian territory (or over the ocean that is so critical to Canada). With only a single engine, any engine issue means that the plane has to be ditched (total loss) if it cannot glide to a landing location. I am concerned about the costs (I am assuming that other reasonable alternatives could be cheaper); we are replacing the 80 Hornets with only 65 F-35’s.
F-35 mock-up
The new fighter would provide a significant increase in other respects, such as stealth (the Hornet has very little stealth) and increased range. I think selecting the F-35 was a foregone conclusion many years ago when the Canadian government invested $160 million to be a level-3 participant. I know that eventually the Hornets need to be replaced, and it is important that Canada continue to have an air protection and force projection capability. We need to protect our sovereign territory. Russia in particular is looking to increase its reach into the Arctic region. Interception of Russian bombers is increasing in frequency. So even though at this point in the 21st century we are not faced with large military manoeuvres against a great enemy (we are faced with an insurgency armed with goats), we need to plan for what cannot be foreseen – the world in 2030, not 2010.
Captain Marc Garneau's flight suit
On the upper floor of the museum is the Space section. There are fewer items on display here, as Canada is not really a space-faring nation. But there are uniforms, spacesuits, notebooks and other smaller memorabilia on display. There are more Canadian astronauts that I though, although not all of our astronauts have made it into space.
This was recorded from the NASA Causeway, about 6 miles (9km) from Launch Pad 39A. I recorded it in HD on my GoProHD Motorsport Hero. I set it on a book in front of the crowd (thus the very low angle). As there is no LCD screen, I had to guess if it was pointed in the correct direction and angle. I feel great because I basically nailed it.
The audio on my video was not very good. There was a person next to the camera who was screaming with joy. Far too loudly!
So, to deal with it, I imported the video into iMovie ’09 and added the audio of the NASA Public Affairs Officer (George Diller), and then mixed in raw audio of the awesome crackle of the Solid Rocket Boosters. The NASA copyright statement indicates that the audio and video can be used for non-commercial purposes. Unfortunately, I can no longer figure out which YouTube video I used to get this last audio stream. I will keep searching in order to give the correct credit.
Just before I went to bed last night, I remembered that I had shot a video of the entire Atlantis launch.
Before I traveled down to Florida, I searched the video-sphere for very wide-angle shots of a shuttle launch. I wanted a video that captures what a person would actually see from the causeway. All of the videos I found were zoomed in to track the shuttle (which is great to see). I wanted a non-zoomed video that does not track the launch, but instead shows the entire launch sequence from a fixed zoom.
As a last-minute thought as I was packing, I brought my GoProHD Motorsports Hero, which I had just purchased for in-car camera for racing. Before that, I was thinking about using my Canon 7D to record the video in 1080p HD, but as noted previously that would mean using only 2 megapixels of the 18 megapixels available. The HD Motorsport Hero does 1080p HD video, but is not zoomed. It is designed for in-car video. It has a very wide field of view.
Around T-5 minutes, I took out the HD Hero and snuck up to the security rope. I put down a book I brought for reading, and set up the camera on top. The HD Hero does not have a rear video screen, so I had no way to be sure that it was going to work. I worked out the left and right angle of view, as I could hold my hands at 90-degrees to line it up. But the vertical was complete guesswork.
Once I remembered about the video last night, I connected it up to my MacBook Pro and imported the video.
It was perfect!
It exactly captures what I wanted – the full launch to SRB separation all in one continuous view. It captures how fast the shuttle climbs. The video is not useful after SRB separation, as the camera could not pick up the SSMEs which do not produce a smoke trail.
I will need to crop down the video and clean up the audio, and then I will post the video later in the week.
The day after the launch and I decided to stay in Cocoa Beach with Janice and Richard and relax.
Janice and Richard on their pontoon boat
In the morning, they took me out in their pontoon boat. It was really nice to be out on the water. It reminded me of being back in Nova Scotia. We motored past some really nice homes along the waterways. Along one of the waterways, we saw some dolphins swimming along! It was awesome! I asked Janice if people can swim in the water, but she advised against it because of the alligators. Oh, right. I forgot about that. It’s so strange to live in a place where you are at risk of being eaten.
As we cruised along, we saw a few pelicans, although not as many as Janice and Richard expected. Later, as we were returning home, we came across a grove of trees that were full of brown pelicans. They look so odd roosting like that – perched up on the branches but with big webbed feet.
Once we docked back home, we went out to the beach, eating lunch at Coconuts on the Beach.
Later in the afternoon, I went out on my own to do some more sightseeing. First I drove to the famous Ron Jon Surf Shop. It’s open 24-hours, although I can’t see that there is much business for selling surf boards at 2:43AM.
Janice suggested I go to the Dinosaur Store. I’m not much of a shopper, and don’t have a huge interest in dinosaurs, but it was close to Ron Jon’s so I went. I am very glad I did go. They had many fossils for sale, ranging from recent post-Ice Age artifacts stretching back into the unimaginable past. They had plant, animal and sea creature fossils. After looking around for at least 30 minutes, I finally decided to buy a fossil. It’s a 280 million year old fossil fern. I just stared at it, trying to imagine what it was like then (Permian Period), and then what it would be like in another 280 million years. It occurred to me that humans would not be around then – our species would evolve just as much as we evolved from the animals who would have feasted on this fern.
Flora in the Lori Wilson Park
I bought the fossil because it really made me think. And also as a tool to think about my own life. Work has been so incredibly stressful in the past few months, it occurred to me that no matter what decisions I make, good and bad, none of it will matter in 300 million years. So why should I get so stressed?
Finally, I went to Lori Wilson Park, a maritime hammock. It’s a 32-acre area of what this part of Florida looked like before people started building. It was also very relaxing, and deep in the walking paths it is much cooler than the hot Florida sun on the nearby beach.
It’s all over and I’m in the 4-hour traffic jam leaving the causeway for Cocoa Beach. I’m overwhelmed and even a little melancholy – it all happened so fast did I miss anything?
I woke up at 5:00am. I was nervous about the traffic, so to be cautious, I left 90 minutes before the pick-up time in Titusville. I arrived with time to spare, so I went to a McDonald’s for pancakes. It wasn’t much, but it was all I could take. I was nervous and excited. I stopped and talked with some people who were working a 2-hour shift to keep people off private property with a view of the NASA facility. Miles of the roads through Titusville were lined with tape, parking areas and vendors setting up for the launch day. The radio was reporting they expected 300,000 people to view the launch – double the normal number.
I arrived at the pick-up point early, but there was already a very long line. It moved quickly and in 20 minutes I was on-board the bus.
Traffic to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) was slow. We were dropped off at 8:30am at the Visitors Center and had to be back in another line by 9:30 to board the same bus that would take us to the causeway viewing area. This strange drop-off and pick-up seemed to be so that the KSC Visitors Center security could check everyone before we were bussed to the causeway.
We arrived at the causeway around 11:30 – about 3 hours before launch. I got off the bus and all but ran to the rope to set up my chair. I was getting hungry so I chanced it that no one wold take my chair and ran to buy a hamburger, banana and a drink. I got my food before the 100+ foot line formed behind me.
The next 2.5 hours were spent baking in the Florida sunshine, testing out the lenses I rented from Lens Rentals Canada. When the count picked up at T-5 minutes, the crowd behind me stood up and everyone got very quiet. There were possibly as many as 17,000 people on the causeway and no one was talking.
At T-2 minutes, my heart was pounding – I was so excited.
T-1 minute – Oh My God, this is it.
T-11 seconds and I start the camera, trying to take some good photos without filling the buffer of the camera too soon. The buffer is only 14 full-size RAW photos, and I am shooting full-out at 8-frames per second. I wanted the better quality of the RAW, and the trade off was the small buffer.
T-1, T-0 seconds and the shuttle disappears in the steam cloud from the sound suppression system. I paused shooting for a second to allow the buffer to clear while the shuttle was obscured.
When the vehicle climbed above the cloud, I held down the shutter button again for the most picturesque moments.
I was so engrossed in everything, I could not hear the NASA PA announcing the “Tower Clear” and “Roll Program” or the “Throttle Up” calls. I do remember hearing “Negative Return” – the point where the shuttle can no longer glide back to Kennedy for landing due to the height and velocity attained.
Space Shuttle clearing the tower. T+7 seconds
I was alternating between watching over the camera (watching and experiencing the event) and looking through the eye piece to take pictures. Once the shuttle was far enough away, it made more sense to focus on using the camera with the zoom lens as I could not see as much without binoculars.
It took a number of seconds for the sound to arrive from the launch. It started low, and not so loud. I guess that is because of the sound suppression system and because the thrust was focused at the ground. As the shuttle rose, the sound grew very loud with that crackling and popping noise you hear in good videos, but much stronger. The deep rumble of 7.4 million pounds of thrust lifting a 4.47 million pound (2000 ton) vehicle pounds the air – the forces at work are immense. The flames are so bright, even in the direct Florida sun – much brighter than I expected.
At T+2 minutes, I knew the Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) separation was moments away. I focused again (the lens was hunting a little for focus at this range), and was terrified I would miss it. Take some pictures, look up, take some pictures, look up. I could see the SRB separation with my own eyes, even though they were already at 150,000ft/46km. I could see them flame out and tumble through space; the vehicle was already above the standard definition for the edge of space. After that it was harder to focus the camera as the SSMEs do not produce smoke – only water vapour. All that was visible was the very bright dot of the vehicle accelerating away down-range.
After SRB separation, I was very disappointed that almost everyone around me started to pack up. It was only 2.5 minutes into an 8 minute climb to orbit, and I could still clearly see the bright light from the shuttle as it moved down-range. I could still see the light as the NASA PA announced Atlantis was already 290 km away. When else could one see a vehicle that is 290 km away and over 300,000 feet in altitude? Amazing!
I stayed in place trying to listen for the MECO (main engine cut-off) call, but the noise of everyone folding their chairs meant that I missed that important announcement – that the Atlantis climb was complete. I did hear the External Tank separation call right after MECO. At that point, they make only a minor adjustment to place Atlantis in orbit.
Today was so amazing, and overwhelming. And fleeting. All this preparation work to travel to see about 4 minutes of the climb to orbit.
There is no truly complete way to capture such a moment. Today is something I will treasure always.
