Monday, February 27, 2012

hot fun in winter

The City of Samba from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

This morning I opened the balcony door to check for myself just how cold 20ºF  with 20mph winds would feel. It won't surprise you to learn it felt cold. Just as I was about to go back inside, one of Crow's passenger pigeon friends arrived (no, they're not extinct, just moved to the next dimension over from this one) with a video shot from a bird's eye perspective of Rio de Janeiro's Carnaval.

The first part shows what Rio looks like during the day from the overview he gets  from his hot air balloon lounge seat. If you watch carefully you'll notice a helicopter rescue of some swimmers who went a little too far into the surf. After that comes the real reason for the film and that's the Carnaval Parade that happens in Samba City every year on Fat Tuesday.

Crow asked me to tell you the movie was shot by a genius he met called Jarbas Agnelli, using a tilt shift camera. It's amazing.

I'm fine. Crow's fine. Tudo bem?

23 comments:

  1. Such an interesting video. I trust you're enjoying whatever you're doing.

    Nous allons trés bien, merci.

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  2. Wow, such an immense performance, that Carnaval parade! I'm happy to just watch it on this most excellent video as I'm very crowd averse.

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  3. See, Darth Vader knows how to have fun. A little too much fun, get back to work, there are rebellions to crush.

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  4. Lucky old Crow! That said it's not too cold here in London so I can't complain

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  5. I'm doing fine today sweet susan. I saw a Bluebird this morning on the way to work. It's warm here, the trees are budding, and the birds are singing their musical songs. Rebirth is in the air and it is magical.

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  6. Hi Susan
    Rio looks colourful as does your Halifax city gardens and the amazing humming birds complemented by all of your own great pictures.
    The changing seasons remind us of the abundance of new life but as we become more of a dependant global village our oceans become the depositories for all that fuel and rubbish!! It’s hard to put signs out and warning messages in the oceans and there are few policing the beat!!
    Best wishes

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  7. rob-bear - Like you, mostly waiting for spring. Glad you enjoyed the movie.

    marja-leena - Wasn't the parade incredible? I'm a little crowd averse myself but I think I'd make an exception for that show if I had the opportunity.

    randal - That may be an example of a TAZ - rebels need to have fun too.

    gina - e dia a dia, minha querida ♡

    jams - He's learned how to make the best of his days. Winter's making a last blast around here.

    lib - You really saw a bluebird? I'm impressed. I'm also glad to know you're seeing the first marvels of spring. This is going to be a very good year for you, I just know it.

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  8. lindsay - How very nice to see you again. Yes, the Carnival in Rio was quite wonderful to see, wasn't it?

    As far as the terrible mess that's being made by pollution is concerned, all I can ever think to do is to remind people now and again. Of course, around here, that very much means preaching to the choir but one never knows who else may read.

    Best wishes to you as well.

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  9. well dammit, i do not have the bandwidth to spare just now or else i would love to watch this...some sheer escapism is just what i need.

    thanks for searching me high and low, i will keep you up, it's just i don't know either just now... i spoke before making a total leap into glass of water and it broke.

    thinking it's WP for me, looks easy seems easy and is easy after all the crap i've been trying to do over at the other place. just trying to re-import/export vpm now. was about 90% successful the first time last week and that is saying something and about now, anything is good.

    but then got the goonews that they will also be keeping a copy. it does belong to them, we know. ahem.... xoxoxo

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    1. I'm sorry you weren't able to watch the movie - maybe next time, eh?

      It appears that Typepad isn't working out for you after all. The page I saw looked very nice but I understand that what happens in the background isn't always easy. I was part of a group posting to a WP blog for a while. It was quite easy to use but the site was news oriented and so wasn't set up for artwork.

      We'll see if Blogger looks different tomorrow but meanwhile, I wish you all good things with your search.
      xoxo

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  10. Another great film find susan.. Hollyweird is evident in Rio. What a fabulous parade, what a spectacle!
    We have some snow moving in, but it is heavy and wet with temperatures hovering around freezing, so a slushy mess. Not too many cold spells this year.


    Peace

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    1. Glad you liked it but I think what goes on in Rio during Carnaval goes way beyond Hollywood's fantasies. I heard once it was considered a great time for murdering enemies because everyone wears masks.

      Maybe we'll have a nice long spring to make up for a tedious winter.

      Peace to you too, my friend.

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  11. I can watch that video over and over. It's like watching claymation, but it's real. I'm going to have to share this.

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    1. I hope you did - it was far too good to miss.

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  12. Yes indeed, I saw a Bluebird and I thought oh, a symbol of happiness and of the returning Spring--how lovely. And thank you for your well wishes.

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  13. That was absolutely amazing! I loved, loved, loved it! Thanks for a good start to my day. Tell Crow hello for me.

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  14. I so glad you got to see it Nancy. It's definitely one of the most remarkable examples of tilt-shift video I've ever seen.

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  15. my first response was 'a parade of little lego people!!!' I had to look up Tilt Shift photography.... and didn't understand much of what I read..... but the phrase 'fake miniatures' came up numerous times.... little lego people :0). very cool. the music was also gorgeous. I'm supposed to be doing bookkeeping... back to work... thanks for the break :0)

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    1. To tell you the truth I don't understand any of the technical stuff about tilt shift either but what I have learned is from Ralph at his blog 'Little Bang Theory'. Basically, in standard photography it means being able to maintain focus on something close and far away at the same time.

      Now, back to work :-)

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    2. Susan, most of the so-called "Tilt-Shift Photography" you'll find on Teh Tubes is actually a photo-shop trick of masking and blurring photos to limit focus to a small portion of a photo. The result yields images which look like miniature models. I think this is what gfld found in his/her search for answers to WTF this is about.

      Now, the process of producing these "miniatures" in Photoshop is pretty labor-intensive, and is probably not practicable for a video made by time-lapse photography; I don't know how each of the zillions of frames could be so processed. So I'm guessing these are actually produced with a tilt-shift lens, either tilted or swung for the varying subjects presenting themselves, and left to capture a long series of images. I can well imagine this latter scenario, as the planes of sharp focus transit each frame of this little movie in discernible ways.

      Hats off to its makers for a really entertaining view of Carnival (I want to go!!) and to you for the kind link. ;)

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    3. I knew it couldn't possibly be done in the way you've described setting up your shots, nor do the results look so clear. Thanks so much for the extra info. It would be fun to see that spectacle at first hand, wouldn't it?

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