Some Orange, Some Thrills, Some Thoughts on New Year's Day

I think more in terms of a brand new start every morning than I do a whole year in advance, and that's a good thing because a little goof yesterday is one I'd rather not believe indicative of the year ahead :)  More about that, about some thrilling bike tricks witnessed in David Lam Park, and about Boyhood, a thought-provoking movie we saw on New Year's Day, after my contribution to Maria's meme, Orange You Glad It's Friday.  For the curious, that meme celebrates a little or a lot of orange in your photographs.  See the orange, take the picture(s), click on the link (above), submit your photo, and visit others to see what oranges they found. Thanks, Maria!

This boat has been moving slowly around False Creek for a few weeks.  Yesterday was clear and sunny, but when I tried to take the photo, there seemed to be quite a mist (or refracted light?).  Still, the orange buoys stood out quite well.

 The cormorants, with their orange bills, rested in their usual spot on the sculpture.  I liked the way the light outlined an "A" shape in this one. 

Some decaying rhododendron (I think) leaves had a rusty tinge to them,

and with the burgundy star-shapes left from the flower, formed an "artsy" image (to me).

A bird with orangey eyebrow sitting on a branch of a plant on the landing of our building is the final official orange entry for today, but there are a few more subtle ones in the rest of the post if you have the time to carry on.

We were walking up the street, preparing to arrive early at a movie called Boyhood (we had ordered on-line tickets almost two weeks earlier), when we saw a group..

of young men gathered in David Lam Park.  They were doing tricks that attracted..

quite a lot of attention and since we were early for the movie, I decided to take a few photos.

In the end, I focused on just one rider.  He practiced the same jump over and over.

This gives you a good idea of the height he had to climb.

I have put a lot of miles on my bike,

but never, in a gazillion years, could I think, even for a moment, of attempting anything.. 

close to what this gentleman was doing.

I sure loved taking the pictures, though :)  The gentleman whose head appears in the bottom portion of the front wheel was loving the entertainment as well.  And for those still thinking about the orange theme, I admit the cycling gloves and street banners are red, but there's a bus approaching with an orange sign peeking through the front wheel.

The rider succeeded perfectly here.  Can you see the smile on the face of the gentleman in the yellow jacket?

Now for the descent.  Such a long way down! 

He circled round and went back for more.

This time, he didn't quite make it,

but no big deal.  He let himself fall off backwards,

with concentration in his face and not the slightest sign of the fear I would have felt.

He landed,

flipped the bike around,

circled back,

and made sure he got the next one perfectly.

I try to imagine, not only the physical talent, but the kind of personality..

able and willing to overcome what must have been quite a challenge at some point..

to reach this skill level. Do you see those shallow steps that he is traveling down?  Even those would be a major challenge for me.  Hats off to you, young man.  I am in awe.

It was at about this point that Bill, who had watched the cyclists too, said, "You have the tickets, right?"  It had been my job to print them out but I had completely forgotten.  By now, we were no longer early, and the rush to print tickets, especially given the fact that I had ignored warnings to replace the printer cartridge, made our trip to the theatre a stressful one to say the least.  Confirmation numbers written out, explanations to the ticket person, and in the end, all was well, but as I said at the beginning of this post, tomorrow was a new day.  Phew!

As for the movie, Bill and I have talked a lot about it today.  This article addresses something of the 12-year process to film the life of a boy from age 6 to age 18.  The director used the same actors from beginning to end so that we saw them (even the adults) aging and/or growing up in front of our eyes.  I am out of time for today, but will come back to some of my thoughts tomorrow.  In the mean time, if you have seen it, I'd love to know your opinion of it.

Oh..  and one more thing.  Thank you ever, ever so much for the wonderful comments in response to yesterday's question about the responsibility of geniuses to behave within the norms of a compassionate society.  Those comments were every bit as interesting as the movie, Mr. Turner, and so I plan to address each one in the next day or two with a comment in response. Many thanks for visiting!