Tag Archives: boulder

Boulder International Film Festival NewsTeam wants YOU!

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BCM crews interviewed Oliver Stone on the BIFF red carpet

BCM reporter Brooke Cummings interviewed Oliver Stone on the BIFF red carpet

When I came out of the non-profit world as a fund raiser and event planner, those skills melded quite well in my new life as a movie maker. When I used to run the local public access TV station, Boulder Community Media (BCM), one of the community outreach activities was to provide video production coverage for the Boulder International Film Festival (BIFF) starting in 2006.

BCM is currently recruiting news team member for the upcoming BIFF March 5 to 8 in Downtown Boulder.

BIFF and BCM shared space in a Pearl Street Mall building. We both moved around the corner to a place on 13th and Walnut. During those early years of BIFF, it was Tony Perri and myself doing to video news and then it was myself in 2007.

BCM producer and Blythe Danner at a recent BIFF

BCM producer Alan O’Hashi and Blythe Danner at a recent BIFF

BCM has a part of its nonprofit charter to provide community outreach and educational opportunities for students of all ages. In 2008, BCM expanded it’s coverage by partnering with the University of Colorado broadcast journalism school and that at Fairview High School. BCM now runs six or seven, five person crews each day throughout the BIFF. Quite the growth, considering coverage started out with two people.

The BIFF news production team gives real world experience to students about real world news beats and getting news packages pushed out as soon as possible. The BIFF attracts well known celebrities including Shirley MacClain, James Franco, William H. Macy, Martin Sheen and others and the BIFF news coverage is often the only coverage that gets picked up by the various news services.

BIFF host Ron Bostwick talks with James Franco.

BIFF host Ron Bostwick talks with James Franco.

Be a part of the action – If you’d like to be a part of the BIFF that is largely unseen and very interesting, behind the scenes experience inquire within! For the most part, you do need to have particular expertise and experience with news, but we can always use more Production Assistants willing to learn by observation and diving into a project.

Download the BCM volunteer agreement and email it back to BCM.

The schedule won’t be released until later in February, but we’re getting the word out so you can make plans around classes, work, and other commitments.

BCM uses a “transmedia” approach where we produce news in a variety of forms:

  • Editors – copy editors and video editors
  • Writers – news gathers to go along to events
  • Still Photographers – for all activities
  • Video Photographers – for all activities
  • Producers – if you want to produce, you should also have at least one other skill, have at a minimum a still camera and a strong back to schlepp gear.
  • Social media – update facebook pages, tweet pix and experiences
  • Website updates and maintenance
BCM reporter Bonnie Hoffman on the BIFF red carpet in front of the Boulder Theater the

BCM reporter Bonnie Hoffman on the BIFF red carpet in front of the Boulder Theater.

BCM generally runs at least two crews at any given moment, which means each crew has a producer, a video camera operator, a still camera operator a reporter on camera and a reporter off camera. In most cases, our news crews will be the only ones covering these events, many are newsworthy and your stories, images and video will be pushed out to the wire.

Equipment – BCM will provide video cameras and tape for field work. BCM will have a MacBook Pro with Final Cut 7 available. We are inventorying assets and also let me know what kind of equipment you may be able to provide:

* video cameras etc. (they can be solid state and consumer grade, tripods, lights)
* still cameras (pocket cameras to DSLR cameras – do they have video capabilities)
* lap top computers (pc or mac and editing systems – Premiere, iMovie, FCP, movie maker)

Send an email to BCM if you’d like to be a part of the action. You can also join the BIFF News Team Production Call facebook page to keep up with the latest.

Christmas bliss, yoga and my root chakra

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This Santa Claus is the nexus between Christmas and yoga.

This Santa Claus is the nexus between Christmas and yoga.

The reason I like the Little Yoga Studio is because the teachers tell a story to go along with the day’s class.

Today the teacher, Nafisa, mused that the December holiday season pushes everyone to be extroverts which can be stressful. For introverts like me it was fitting that the day’s practice focused on grounding. It was helpful for me mentally and physically.

Considering last year on Christmas and New Years, I was flat on my back at the Good Samaritan Hospital recovering from emergency surgery, I’m much better.

My robot care givers - monitors that check out how I was doing at any moment.

My robot care givers – monitors that check out how I was doing at any moment.

I really can’t remember what I did on Christmas 2013 since I had undiagnosed sepsis and had no appetite, lost 30 pounds, apparently pretty drugged up.

This December holiday season, a friend of mine, Med, is in rehab at Manor Care in north Boulder and likely there over Christmas and New Years.

I pop in on him whenever I drive by.

From experience, being laid up is lonely and because of societal pressure the holidays seem to be lonelier than all the other lonely days in confinement.

I was at Manor Care in Denver and was in a craft class where we painted Bronco balls.

I was at Manor Care in Denver and was in a craft class where we painted Bronco balls.

I did two weeks time at the Manor Care in Denver after my four-week hospital stint. When I stop by to see Med, there are certain sights and smells that bring back fond memories, which is a little strange to me.

I was finally sprung from there in time for the Super Bowl. Wheel chair and walker restricted.

This Christmas I’m mostly back to health and fully upright. Yoga has helped me regain my strength and balance. I now find myself over-reacting to “symptoms” that I notice in myself. You hear about people who “over-use” the medical care system and now I know why – prevention is the best medicine.

I’m now one of those people.

Fortunately, my doctors are open to consultations using email and phone calls. It’s amazing to me how much they can tell from blood tests. I am grateful for all the health care providers from the CNAs and docs who kept me alive. They barely keep a person kicking, but that’s good enough.

My Coca Cola Santa doll makes an appearance once a year.

My Coca Cola Santa doll makes an appearance once a year.

Even though I prefer to live in the present, I do have some remnants of Christmas past including a stocking made by my mom and a Santa Claus from my dad. He worked for Coca Cola for 40 years and passed Santa dolls around the neighborhood.

Back in the day, Coke was known for the Santa Claus Christmas ads – now culturally incorrect.

He only gets out of the box for a week or so every year and he’s still in pretty good condition.

The Coke tree ornaments in the image are also Coke advertising premiums.

The cat from the angel-cam. The angel was a project of my mom's.

The cat from the angel-cam. The angel was a project of my mom’s.

My mom had craftsy Christmas projects every year. I still have a crocheted angel that hangs atop the tree. She must have starched then ironed it.

Both my parents are gone now and so have the Christmas traditions.

Coming up with new traditions is easier said than done.

Waiting outside The Little Yoga Studio.

Waiting outside The Little Yoga Studio.

For those of you who have your parents still around, spend some time talking about the future and not just about estate planning but more importantly tradition planning.

Before you have family meetings like this, I suggest taking some yoga classes.

Today, looser hips and thighs have made me more  aware of my root chakra – bring on the Christmas havoc!

eGo Car Share service is handy, but for now, I’ll stick with the VW Eurovan

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I don’t know if this car sharing service works in communities other than those with compact borders, but there’s always an eGo Car Share car parked on the corner in my neighborhood.

I’m still not fully confident in my driving – physically and automotive-wise. The Eurovan has had more than it’s share of problems, but I think it is finally getting to the point where I trust it.

The engine blew up in the middle of nowhere outside of Fort Washakie, Wyoming because the instrument panel had a short in it and wasn’t detecting engine temperature – although I could have checked under the hood more often (that was fixed under warranty). Many thanks to Gary Collins who towed the van from Lander.

The exhaust system is rotted out and that will be fixed tomorrow; it’s a manual transmission and I am gaining strength back in my clutch leg / foot and I put new rubber all the way around.

I’ve been exploring different transportation options, leasing from a dealer, selling the Eurovan and buying new; and the eGo Car Share. I haven’t had a new car since the 1970s and I don’t know what got into me that I would investigate one now!

Although I did become more fluent in the car leasing game. The current deals you see offered aren’t the best deals. I will check again at the end of the year for the 24 month lease with nothing down.

Even if I have to put a few hundred into a used vehicle, it’s still less expensive than maintaining a new one. Now that the Eurovan will soon be road worthy and a couple thousand bucks later, it may be worth using the loaner car from time to time.

The eGo Car Share is a local nonprofit company that owns a bunch of cars and trucks that get loaned out to Boulder and Denver users for an hourly rental charge. It must be a franchise of some sort.

At my first glance, the Car Share is best suited for a person who doesn’t own a car and just needs one to run a few errands, haul a load of dirt, etc.

People who don’t drive much already have a small carbon footprint, but for someone like me, it’s probably not the best option since I drive quite a bit in a single – occupancy vehicle.

But at least the Eurovan is bought and paid.

Since I’ve known about the service for some time, I decided to sign up to find out what it is all about.

It’s a simple enrollment process on the internet and once a guy has filled out the forms, taken a quiz about the service, a “fob” is mailed out which is used to lock and unlock the car. Once inside, the key is wired onto the steering column and away you go.

All you have to do is get approved, pay any monthly fees and then reserve a vehicle on line or call their office. If you’re looking for a particular kind of vehicle, say a van or pickup, then accessibility may not be as handy.

If a person doesn’t have a car or at least one that’s all paid off, this is a pretty good option. Included in the $4.50 to 6.95 hourly rate is a $250 deductible insurance plan and vehicle wear and tear. The rent maxes out at $39 to $49/day which is comparable to a car rental place.

You get 50 miles included then $.33 to $.38/mile after that. The person who uses the car when the gas tank gets to be about 1/4 full is responsible for filling up. There’s a credit card in the glove box to cover that cost.

Today, I drove a Honda Fit for a few errands to try out the program. For less than 10 bucks, I went to the office supply store, stopped off for a few groceries and dropped the car off in the Holiday Neighborhood.

How does this compare to renting at, say, Enterprise car rental where I do most of my business.

Depending on the season, an Enterprise intermediate or standard car rents for anywhere between $25 to $50 / day with unlimited mileage. You either buy their insurance or cover the rental under your own policy. Enterprise also has a $10/day weekend rate Friday through Monday during certain times of the year.

Renting a car is definitely cheaper than the Car Share for basically the same deal if a person wants to use it for quick errands around town.

Car Share is not good for driving to work and letting it sit for eight or ten hours, unless your work is near a check in point.

I’ll stay enrolled in the eGo Car Share deal. It’s a good complement to my RTD ECOPass bus pass, my Eurovan and Enterprise car rentals.

For more info, http://carshare.org/