"Start every day off with a smile and get it over with." ~W.C. Fields
"Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed." ~Herman Melville
I discovered this amazing video in a Tweet from Mike Bettes. Watch the video fullscreen, on as large a monitor as you have, and turn your speakers up for the full effect.
Music: Canyon and Scars of Courage by Luke Atencio (through TheMusicbed.com, sign-up for licensing here: http://share.mscbd.fm/mikeolbinski)
Gear I use: https://www.amazon.com/shop/mikeolbinski ————————————
Two years in the making. I made the tough decision last year to save everything I shot that spring and combine it with whatever storms I captured in 2019 and make the best possible time-lapse film I could. It was incredibly difficult to sit on that collection of footage for over a year, but I'm glad I did. When you've done a few of these, at some point you gotta work even harder to top yourself and I did my best to make that happen. Even though I've lost all perspective at this point having watched this a million times during editing, I do feel it has some of the best footage I've ever compiled into one of these films. I had such a high bar set and many, many clips did not make the cut.
My storm chaser friends will recognize some memorable supercell/tornado events like Tescott, Tahoka, McCook, Hoisington, Cope, Imperial, Quinter, and Denver City (my personal favorite). I was lucky to be on those days, even though I did miss a few that I would really have loved to have been able to capture.
None of these clips would come alive without the right music and I searched and searched and searched for months until landing on the right tracks back in May. Luke Atencio has such a gift and two of his songs were blended to create the track for this film. Proud and thankful to be a Musicbed Ambassador. They have collected some of the best artists and musicians anywhere, and it’s an honor to be able to use their songs.
I want to thank some people here who helped me along the way. My tour guests from the past two years who came from all over the world and spent their hard-earned money to join me for storm chasing adventures…you all are amazing. Marko Korošec, a friend and epic storm chaser from Slovenia, who helped me with some forecasting last year when I was leading tours by myself and starting to get drained. You saved my butt on a few days.
Brett Wright…who has become a close friend of mine and is one of the best chasers/forecasters I know. Thanks for joining me for the grind of essentially four tours over 38 days this spring. I mean…I never could have done that without you buddy…you have my eternal gratitude. I learned so much.
To all of you watching, who follow me on YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, Twitter and those who support me on Patreon…thank you SO MUCH for all of it. You guys are amazing and your support and kind words over the years has been an incredible motivator. I am humbled and honored.
Finally, to my amazing wife Jina and the kiddos…it was really hard being away, especially this past spring. I made it back more than I thought I would, but it was still grueling and difficult. Thank you Jina for everything you do to help make this happen. And for supporting me no matter what. Even encouraging me when I sometimes feel like quitting. As I always say, and is the absolute truth, I never would be where I am without you.
There is also a special "post-credit" dedication someone who has always pulled for me and been in my corner since the beginning of this journey :) We are both huge Marvel fans so he will definitely get a kick out of that!
Okay, rambling is over….hope you enjoy!
Technical Details:
Everything shot with two Canon 5DSRs and various Canon lenses. A couple lightning sequences with the Sony A7R3
All clips available in 8K Resolution
Processed in Lightroom, LR Timelapse, After Effects and Premiere Pro.
The list: Unpack – Misused word for analyze, consider, assess. Concepts or positions are not packed, so they don’t need to be unpacked.
Tons – Refers to an exaggerated quantity, as in tons of sunshine or tons of work. ‘Lots’ would surely suffice.
Dish – As in to dish out the latest rumor on someone. Let’s go back to ‘talks about’ and leave dishes in the cupboard.
Pre-owned – What is so disgraceful about owning a used car now and then?
Onboarding / Offboarding – Creature from the HR Lagoon. We used to have hiring, training and orientation. Now we need to have an “onboarding” process. Firings, quitting, and retirements are streamlined into “offboarding.”
Nothingburger – Says nothing that ‘nothing’ doesn’t already. I’ll take a quarter-pound of something in mine.
Let that sink in – One could say shocking, profound, or important. Let that sink in.
Let me ask you this – Wholly unnecessary statement. Just ask the question already.
Impactful – A frivolous word groping for something ‘effective’ or ‘influential.’
Covfefe – An impulsive typo, born into a 140-character universe, somehow missed by the autocorrect feature.
Drill Down – Instead of expanding on a statement, we “drill down on it.”
Fake News – Once upon a time stories could be empirically disproved. Now ‘fake news’ is any story you disagree with.
Hot Water Heater – Hot water does not need to be heated. ‘Water heater’ or ‘hot water maker’ will keep us out of hot water.
Gig Economy – Gigs are for musicians and stand-up comedians. Now expanded to imply a sense of freedom and a lifestyle that rejects tradition in a changing economic culture. Runs a risk of sharecropping.
I submitted a word, finally, that drives me crazy when I hear or read it: circle back. Usually some form of business-speak used instead of tabling a topic. I cannot figure out why it’s okay to go in circles, which is generally considered a negative activity.
if i were traveling & had lots of disposable income
There are a lot of architectural styles I love as far as housing goes. What if I could travel and instead of staying at a hotel chain (upscale or not), I could stay in a house designed by one of the architects I love? Like ... what if I could stay here:
Palmer House, Ann Arbor, MI. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. (click to see it big!)
instead of crashing on my sister’s couch when visiting Ann Arbor?
There is a site, PlansMatter, with a listing of more than 30 architecturally significant vacation rental homes. It shows photos, lists the details, pricing, and provides a link to where you can book the property. Worldwide, though most of the houses listed are in North America at the moment.
The site also has a list of hotels with amazing architectural designs. Most currently listed are in Patagonia.
The job I would like is scouting, testing, and photographing new additions for the site. Or a job reviewing them.
Theo Cray is trained to see patterns where others see chaos—he is a computational biologist. When one of his former students is found apparently mauled to death by a bear, things about the case don’t add up. He sees things the cops missed, or refuse to see. It bothers him enough that he starts investigating similar events and is able to discover the victims’ bodies where no one else could or, if they could, no one ever bothered to look for the victims. He is determined to prove to the cops the deaths were not due to bear attacks, but to a serial killer.
Another novel that just ended. Nothing about what happened following the ending, which was pretty hard to believe as it was. A whole major character just disappears. The statistics, if true, were interesting though sad. The science behind his “discoveries” was interesting as well, if the science is valid. I haven’t had time to do any research to see if any of it is even valid. Patterns are my thing, so it might be that it is.
So much of it was far-fetched. I find it hard to believe that all of the cops in Montana are so stupid or corrupt, even the one Theo Cray decided is smart. Even the FBI guy that suddenly appears is an asshole.
It was really easy to figure out who the killer must be—not exactly an original concept (saw it on “Criminal Minds” not so very long ago). It was a compelling read—and I’m glad I chose it as my September First book. But after I finished it the plot holes and “science as magic” aspects of it keep bugging me. I will say I was glad to see the Frog in the Pot of Water myth shot down. And I’m wondering why Theo didn’t end up brain damaged from all of the times he gets beaten up (even a beatdown by a cop he deliberately provoked).
So, it was promising. If the second Naturalist book doesn’t cost much, I may even give it a shot when it’s published. Maybe one of his magic-centered books would be interesting—but I don’t know since I’m not very interested in magic.
We found out in March what hell winter weather, coupled with a half-ass builder, can do to a vacant house. The first set of photos are here, the horror movies are here, and a slideshow with more sad details is here. (All the links open in a new window.)
Scott was up there last weekend to check things over. He said the house looked like an abandoned house in Detroit as far as the landscaping went.
The house, with a lawn reverting to prairie. (click to see it big!)
Now I love a wild lawn (a Freedom Lawn) and wouldn’t have much of a problem with this, but I’m weird. Doesn’t add to the curb appeal to most people. The HOA and the Town of Oscoda do have a problem with this, so Scott found a ticket in the mailbox threatening pretty pricy fines if things weren’t dealt with by the 18th of August (this was on August 19). The birch tree in the yard (which you can see in the slideshow, linked above) finally gave up the struggle and needs to be removed—it’s never been very healthy there. Scott sent Scooter up to deal with the front yard.
The inside looks so much better, believe it or not, though the woodstove needs restoration.
The family room, post-remediation. (click to see it big!)
Definitely needs some restoration—it will be pretty again. It’s a really good stove. (click to see it big!)
This looks like the area below where the pipe broke, in the dining area between the kitchen and the family room. I think that’s a dog butt in the upper right corner! (click to see it big!)
Looking down into the crawlspace—not sure where this is. Notice the great work the plumber did, notching into the joist. A very small example of the botched plumbing job the asshole(s) did when they cut into the joist holding up the second floor, where the joist was nearly cut through to accommodate the waste pipe for the upstairs full bathroom. (click to see it big!)
Another view of what lies below. Not sure where this is. (click to see it big!)
And there you have it. It looks so much better now that it’s been cleaned and demolded (is that a word?) Stay tuned ...
Gambel’s Quail by Mick Thompson, Green Valley, AZ (click to see it big!)
The Audubon website is one of my favorite places to spend time. I love birds, to watch them and to hear them. I even love gulls and pigeons. And I would love to have enough talent, time, and patience to be able to photograph them well.
Since I don’t, I was happy to find “The 2017 Audubon Photography Awards: Top 100” page on Audubon. Visitors can scroll through 100 of the entries into the annual Audubon photography contest, which accepts entries from both professional and amateur photographers. I like that each slide tells the story behind each shot.
And then, when you’re done with that, you can take a look at the 2016 100 top entries.
