Alex Bain's Blog

Uncle Michael Teasing Uncle BJ

My Uncle Michael is hilarious. This is footage he filmed and narrated in the 70's. He's really giving his older brother, my Uncle BJ, a hard time about being chubby. BJ takes it incredibly well. Unfortunately for BJ, his high pitched laugh actually makes him sound a little like a dolphin, which will be funnier after you watch the video.

I don't have footage of it, but I'm sure BJ gives it right back to Michael later that day.

Uncle Michael Teasing Uncle BJ from alexander_bain on Vimeo.

[Here's my description of my trip to the Saratoga races with him this past summer]

I'm about to start a project where I archive a lot of old family movies and photos. I'll make the highlights available on this blog. I have a tag in Flickr for any photo produced by scanning, as opposed to digitally captured. I suppose I'll make the best clips from the old movies available on Vimeo with some sort of similar tag.

Alex goes to the Celtics game

My brother asked for Celtics tix for Christmas, and my Dad was able to track down 4 of them, so he took all the Bain men.

The seats were unbelievable. We were so close to the floor, I felt like I needed to be stretched and ready to play.

One of the most fun moments of the event actually took place right before the game. The Celtics big new star, Kevin Garnett, has a hilarious pre-game ritual, and I was about 10 feet away from it. He loads his hands full of the talcum powder that they leave out for the players. He then throws the powder right in the face of the Celts' play-by-play guy. I caught it on video. Check it out.

The Celtics crushed the Magic, and in the process they reminded me how much fun it is to see basketball in person.

Another takeaway from the game. Garnett has this unique blend of intensity and humor that he brings to the team. On the one hand, he screams, and he's focused, and he never breaks a smile. Clearly he cannot be happy with a loss. But he also does silly things like the talcum powder, and the ridiculously elaborate high fives. I guess he can get away with being respected while cracking jokes because his talent for the game is inarguably tremendous. I'd like to be good enough at something that I could be a stern-faced leader figure who occasionally cracks wise.

Garnett applies talc from alexander_bain on Vimeo.

Holiday parties

I love holiday party season. The cookies, the music, the fact that everyone is about to go home and see their family ... It all just puts me in such a good mood.

I caught a great moment from a holiday party last night. We were at my friend Paul's house, and a festive little beer game was taking place, and I happened to be filming during the climactic conclusion:

The moments when I love Fenway

I love watching the Red Sox, but it's not just the team that makes a Sox game so special. It's also the stadium. Fenway has been a home away from home for me since I was a kid. I've been to as many as 33 games in a season (1995), and this year I've been to 26 (of which we won 21). I'm fortunate to get to spend a lot of time at such a beautiful, historic park, and I appreciate every minute I spend there.

I tried to catch a few of the moments that make the stadium special in the last few post-season games. Maybe they don't seem special to you, but they give me goosebumps...

Furio & the Red Dot

All cats are hunters, but Furio hasn't had much opportunity to refine his skills. Here he chases a mischievous Red Dot around the RumpusRoom™:

Furio & the Red Dot from alexander_bain and Vimeo.

HBS Couples weekend in Stratton

I took off for Stratton this weekend with Lisa and 3 other couples from HBS (here's the pics). I hadn't realized how long it had been since my last time on skis (~2 years) until I took to the mountain, but the skills returned quickly.

When we weren't skiing, we played a lot of games (and drank a lot of cocktails). The two biggest hits of the weekend were Apples to Apples, and Nintendo's tennis game for the Wii.

Apples to Apples is a great board game, especially when you have 3 or more couples in a room. There's really no strategy to it, and it facilitates a lot of ridiculous jokes and funny stories the next day. I recommend buying the game to anyone who entertains often.

My Dad bought me the Wii for my b-day last week. Part of me feels a little old to be playing video games, but part of me can't get enough of this thing. It's surprisingly active (3 of the 8 players this weekend complained of sore elbows the day after a marathon gaming session). It also involves just enough coordination that being an athlete helps, but not so much that people of different genders and ability levels can't play together.

As far as the actual skiing goes, I do things a little differently than most people. I neither ski, nor snowboard. I ski board. The skis are called "big feet", they're less than 3 feet long, and they're probably ten years old. I love them. It gives me a little more control going down the mountain, let's me go through trees, and they're super light if you need to climb uphill or traverse flat terrain. Christian and I took turns going off this jump. I ate it the first time, and he stuck the landing, but we didn't get video of his good jump. We got a decent clip of my jump, but I'd rather share Christian's tumble (and my riotous reaction to it).

Christian falls as I insensitively laugh

How you know your cat likes his new toy

Furio went absolutely crazy for this new cat toy.

On a related note, I'm COMPLETELY becoming the cat owner I promised I wouldn't be. I hope it's not too trouble to skip these posts if they're of no interest to you.

Here's what we'll do: I''ll put up a poll where you can vote (anonymously) on whether or not you are already sick of hearing about Furio. If the vote goes against the little fuzz ball, he'll rarely show up on the blog again.

[I do recommend watching the video before you vote though]

I swung out of my shoes, and for once it went ok

I had been having an attrocious round of golf, but I stepped up to the 9th hole, a 273 yard par 4, and just let 'er rip. She started out a bit left, but came around at the end, skipping right in front of the green, rolling and finally coming to rest at the back edge. I was left with a 40 foot eagle putt, which I left 8 feet short. I missed that putt by about three inches, and tapped in for par.

See for yourself:

Great clip from Thanksgiving 2006 on the Cape

I'll post all the pics from Thanksgiving on my Flickr account (and Pixamo) in the next day or two, but in the mean time I wanted to share this adorable footage of my little Cousin Ava (18 months old). She discovered a highly entertaining way to make it down a flight of stairs, and shared it with all of us, receiving a lot of encouragement in the process. Watch how cute she is at the end when she cheers for herself :-)

Cousin Ava descending the steps on Vimeo

Amazing street performer's stunt

On my way out of an embarrassing Boston lost to New York, I saw this street performer getting the crowd excited about a stunt he was about to perform. I got the video rolling on my SD550, and shot the following footage. You may need to watch it more than once to appreciate what the guy pulled off, and this video does not do justice. Note that there are 6 people all lined up in front of him.

Incredible Fenway Street Performer on Vimeo