The bliss of “not having...”

When we are in our twenties, thirties, forties and fifties, we always want more. More degrees, more career, more money, more car, more house, more toys. Then as we hit sixty, we start wanting less: Less taxes, less traffic, less pollution, less chronic pain, less noise, less superficial relationships, less stiffness, less cold, less heat.

I could go on and on with that list of items we want less of... Clearly, as we go through the sixties threshold, there's a reversal of desires and needs going on, and it's for the better. To these common trends I'd add that I feel fortunate not to own a second-home, an RV, a plane or a boat. Okay, there's just one thing I'd want more of, and it's time!

Piecing footage out

As a budding videographer, there are good and bad days. The good days are when I get lucky and land that wonderful shot without doing or thinking much. The bad ones are those when nothing seem to be going right. In fact, when these moments happen, there was generally no good plan laid out before hand. Haphazard planning does guarantee bad results, right?

I was in that situation this weekend, and as I am parsing through images today in an effort to create a decent clip, each one reminds me of the moment I shot them, some begin to inspire me, I save a good sequence here, another one there, and my original story board begins to shift based on the character of the data I decide to keep.

I find myself discovering that movie editing is a journey and things begin to gel as they are pieced together. A totally new story can suddenly take place! The footage that I thought was so bad may yield something good in the end, exceeding by far my low expectations. Right, good things do happen...

GS Magic...

Like many, I watched yesterday's suspenseful GS race in Beaver Creek. What a pleasure for the eyes! While the visibility could have been a tad better, the conditions were consistant and gave a fair chance to every participants. I was struck by the excellence of the field and by the zero-tolerance for the tiniest fault in this highly competitive event. The snow was super hard, the margin of error nil, and next to the perfect edge grip came... the “boot-grip,” not a good option at all, as Bennie Raich would attest.

What also made watching that event highly interesting is that the best guy, the 27 year old Ted Ligety, remains the key target, but as always, the field is evolving and making room for new and younger talents, like Fritz Dopfer 24, Marcel Hirscher 23, Giovanni Borsotti 21 and Alexis Pinturault only 20! These new, younger and quite talented racers are no doubt going to make a big dent into a group of already outstanding racers. Too bad there are so few GS events in the season. Time for the FIS to reconsider, deliver us from the drudgery of Super G and give us more Giant Slaloms instead!

Super G anyone?

I've never been a fan of Super G as I always felt it was an unnecessary alpine event. Yesterday's surprising win by Sandro Viletta was another “nail” in the coffin of that bizarre competition. I see it as a bastard child (not a hybrid) between GS and Downhill and it maybe spectacular to some, but highly fickle and unable to render and reward a skier's true abilities.

Skiing is unpredictable enough, between snow quality, weather and visibility, all in changing increments, that the more it can be manageable, the fairer the outcome is likely to be. In slalom, that I'm not a fan of, ever since the introduction of the break-away gates, the multitude of turns increases the chances to exit, straddle or miss a gate, times two runs. Almost same situation in GS (by far, my favorite event, because it's the one all skiers can relate to) where the lesser number and more open gate scheme improves somewhat the odds, but where the right trajectory introduces a tremendous nuance.

Downhill is all about the perfect line and courage, at least on the best courses. Yet, athletes have a couple of opportunities to try the course before the competition, in so doing, fine-tune their approaches and strategies. In contrast, Super G is a bastardized Downhill event with absolutely no chance for the athletes to inspect or test before hand. That's why I don't like it and strongly feel it's totally unnecessary!

Fix it again Toni!

Today, as I was driving up to Deer Valley, a small car was standing, without anyone inside, by the by the side of the highway. We don't see too many cars broken down and left on the roadways these days and this sighting got my attention. It was in fact a new Fiat 500 that had been left by his or her driver and was waiting to be rescued.

I wasn't shocked, just a bit surprised. The last time I had seen cars in that situation was in Bulgaria and they  were Russian-made Volgas. It's not that I'm suggesting that Fiat is a bad automobile, but even now that it owns Chrysler, a Fiat is evidently still a Fiat...

Populist vs. Intellectual

One of Barack Obama's problem is his difficulty in connecting with people; if you prefer, in being warm and fuzzy. You see, unlike Bill Clinton, he isn't a populist and not the kind of man you'd share a beer with and feel totally at ease in his company. I can see a split between the Intellectual-types like him, that tend to look down to the politicians who kisses babies and slap you in the back, and precisely these populist types that have no shame in doing whatever it takes to earn and keep their constituents' esteem.

In that class, you also had Reagan and in France you'd find a Sarkozy or a Berlusconi in Italy, even though the later is more a caricature of the genre. If intellect can get you elected, populism is a better ingredient to stay on the job and get re-elected. This said, considering the lackluster qualities of this year's Republican candidates, it would take an incredible charismatic guy or girl to overcome Obama's intellect!

Let's talk wooden shingles...

I've always loved wooden shingles as a roofing material. Most probably because they were part of my environment growing up in Les Lindarets, a tiny alpine hamlet. Later, the modernistic Avoriaz ski resort adopted them, not just as roofing, but also as siding material, and that time they went for the luxury item, picking cedar shake shingles from British Columbia!

When I moved to America, I rediscovered that material in the East, used mostly as siding material and it's only when I arrived in Park City in the mid 80s that the material was at its peak, mostly used on all rooftops. We've owned two homes with that material and didn't have good experience with them. Since that time, the use of that rustic material has gone down.

Part of it is fire danger, but another reason it seems, is that the material fares poorly in Utah's extremely dry weather. After a while, the shingles bend, warp and twist on the sides most exposed to the elements and need to be replaced. The lack of humidity substantially weakens the wood and makes it vulnerable to drastic change in temperatures so the individual shingle loses its geometric shape and loses its functionality.

Warping might also be associated with the difference that exists between true shake shingles (split) that should last longer, but is more expensive, and the milled shingles that have lost their directional integrity and are free to bend back to any direction they want. That's too bad, because a shingle roof looks so rustic, organic and natural...