Friday, June 25, 2010

Chasing bears!!

The first episode is now online. Subscribers will have been informed already.
 Production value will increase as we go. Just working within the budget I have.
Made it from Calgary to Birkenstock II, down to Vancouver, over to Kelowna and home all in one piece. Experienced rain, a party, rain, bears, more rain, shitty Vancouver traffic. Yes, I said it. Vancouver traffic is the worst part of that city. Besides the fact that there are many new drivers on the road there it is the road system and its lack of planning that irks me most. For a city that pretends to be so "green" I found myself idling in traffic jams from road ways that are 20 year behind the demand. The Skytrain is not an option as it is limited to where it goes. Bike paths are few in comparison to my home city of Calgary. Odd how the big evil oil city of Calgary is more eco-friendly. We have the most extensive bike path system in North America, green wind energy powering our C-train and roads that are not always plugged at 2 in the afternoon with traffic jams.
Protesting and being proactive are 2 different things folks. Vancouver....get working on it even if it means you may have to cut down a tree or 2 to do it.
You'll see what I mean when you see the video.
Here is the link for it on Youtube
More to come folks, stay safe.
Daryl

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

It has begun...will you be a part?


Hello Planet folks! The first chunk of travel and video has been done and is now in post production. My first webisode for The Planet Tour will be up this week with another to follow soon.
I am working as a one many crew doing the shooting, shot logging, travel and live shows on my own....and loving it!
My editor is frantically piecing it all together (and, I hope, loving it!)

This first leg of the journey was a trip to the west coast of Canada in the beautiful (and sometimes screwy) province of British Columbia. It is the kind of place that makes you want to live there...until you find out all the weird rules and fees (read taxes).
There are many there that pretend to be green yet they allow their city to build poorly designed roads that increase congestion and idling. There are some that encourage eco-friendly transport like bicycles yet their pathway system is far behind places like Calgary, which is often touted as an evil oil city. Odd as Calgary has the most extensive pathway system in North America, a train that runs on wind generated power, sewage treatment plants that put out water cleaner than they took out of the river. In short I feel my city is greener than those that pretend to be green.
Either way, it is always fun to visit the left coast, laugh at their hypocrisy and enjoy the views...while cursing their traffic.

What is on the first episode? Rain, a bear, more rain, a party, a rear tire that almost blew...did I mention rain?

Stopping in the Okanagan Valley on my way back the sky finally found its sun and the heat was too nice to not take advantage of, so I stayed an extra day. Stay tuned some cool video from the bike with my new GoPro Hero cam donated by Fusion Race Cars

The next thing is to do some more modifications to Suzy B. It seems with all the gear I have to pack I am at my limit for storage space. A top case trunk is in the works.
Do you want to be a part of The Planet Tour? Right now we have a limited number of "I helped launch The Planet Tour" T-shirts.
BUY YOUR SHIRT HERE
Payment can be made by PayPal.
Stay safe, share the road and enjoy the planet.
Peace
Daryl



Monday, June 7, 2010

Duck Ass Awards



Are you a Duck Ass? I hope not but I am sure you have seen many. Every group has its rotten apples and I am going to purge them by having a weekly Duck Ass Award in each category. I will be looking for examples of bad drivers and to be fair bad motorcycle riders.
What is a Duck Ass? It’s the back end of a duck of course but the phrase was coined by my beloved mom, Doreen, who passed June 14/2007 after a battle with a rare form of brain cancer. I miss you mom. You were my main inspiration and support when I decided to enter this crazy business of comedy.

 Mom always encouraged humor and taught me to laugh at almost anything. During my early teen years, my dad’s company transferred us to Winnipeg Manitoba and mom was not impressed. She was an Alberta gal and really did not enjoy living in Winnipeg, Manitoba at all. No offense to the ‘peggers out there. We all have our own Edens and for mom, The ‘peg was not it. 

With her distaste against the city and province, anyone who did anything dumb was a (censored-not fit for printing). Of course she could not swear in front of us kids so she substituted with her own phrase “That stupid Manitoba Duck Ass!”. Try it some time, call someone a Duck Ass, its fun and empowering!
The phrase soon caught on with the neighborhood friends and soon it was shortened to “That stupid Duck Ass!” as the world has Duck Asses everywhere. Why be geographically specific? When it was time to move again (dad’s company did that a lot)  the neighbors held a going away party where they presented mom with an actual Manitoba Duck Ass. A real mallard hen’s rear proudly mounted on a plaque. It was a comical hit in our house for many years and was displayed on the wall.

About a decade back mom was going to toss it out during one of her spring cleaning rampages.  I told her I would take it, not wanting to see a family heirloom destroyed. I always thought is was funny on the wall of the den so I moved it to my place. It is a piece of family history after all and now its an award for any stupid driver or any stupid motorcycle rider I see. I will be presenting them with the title of Duck Ass. There will be no trophy for them, why would a Duck Ass deserve a trophy? Instead they will receive their much deserved public humiliation on The Planet Tour Web -TV show along with video of their Duck Ass move that earned them the spotlight.
If you have any recent video clip of a Duck Ass in traffic please contact us thru the website.
I'll be hitting the road soon folks. If you have not yet done so please subscribe to the Web show via the website. There will be prizes, discounts and other rewards for being a Planet Tour member.
Talk to you soon, and watch out for those Duck Asses out there.