Yesterday I did the "mom thing" and went as a parent supervisor with a group of grade nine students on a "field trip". We went to the Odyssium, which is Edmonton's version of a science center. There were about 90 fourteen years olds, and 7 adults; but the kids were relatively well behaved (relative to any other group of 90 fourteen year olds), so we made the trip with a minimum of mayhem. While at the Odyssium, we saw two i-max films. The first was "Amazon" about the medicinal plants to be found along the Amazon river. It was amazing. 90 teenagers sat spellbound and facinated (with the odd ooooooooh as the camera went flying down the river, us with it). The second film was Rob's worst nightmare - "Beavers". It followed two beavers as they built their dam, mated and raised their young. There were lots of shots of beavers chomping their way through tree trunks, stripping the branches and carting the trees off to their dam. The commentary included a statement to the effect that two beavers will chew down about 40 trees per year to build and maintain their dams and 'houses'. I could just see Rob sitting beside us and shivering in horror :-) But what I really wanted to know was how they got the pictures of the beavers swimming around their dam and caring for their young in their nest!! It was as if the camera was invisible to the beavers - how do they do that?!

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), November 04, 2003

Answers

By the way, Rob - I do recommend both films... just be prepared to need a comforting cup of hot chocolate after "Beavers" :-)

-- Bumpity (bump@bump.bump), November 04, 2003.

Thanks, Tricia. I have seen some amazing nature footage too---of things like the inner workings of an underground ant hill and the inside of a Bee hive and stuff like that. So I guess it's the same thing---wonder how they do the photography and all!?!?! Maybe Carol knows, she's into photography right?

I don't know if I ever told youz guyz, but the original 'beaver' story I wrote way back when of that beaver that ate Marie's new (and expensive!) sapling was really based on a true incident that happened here.

Right now the beavers have been behaving themselves... but we're having a bit of a problem in this area with the Black bears though ;-)

-- (sonofdust@black.bears), November 04, 2003.

I'm glad you enjoyed the field trip Tricia. Teenagers can really be a lot of fun. I thoroughly enjoyed my kids teen years.

The two films sound great. Nature doco's are one of the few things I still have the patience to sit down and watch (apart from Becker which I like for some obscure reason). Unfortunately I am still a weakling when it comes to nature's gory side, so I skip those bits.

I also have often marvelled at the places they can get a camera. My husband sometimes has to put a tiny video camera on a long cable hundreds of feet down (water) bores to check for cracks in the bore casing. I have also read that you can use an infrared beam or radio signal to trigger a camera to switch on remotely.

Rob, please tell me you are referring to a sporting team called the Black Bears not the actual wild animal. That would be too scary. We don't have any wild bears in Australia, just snakes, spiders and crocs.

-- Carol (c@oz.com), November 06, 2003.

We have wild Black Bears here, and there's been some trouble with them over recent years. More and more development means less habitat for them basically. Mostly they are not at all interested in people, unless there is food around. That's when there's a problem usually.

-- (sonofdust@black.bears), November 06, 2003.

Personally I'd rather have bears than spiders - especially nasty, big spiders. I'm not sure I'll be able to handle the Lord of the Rings 3. Sigh.

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), November 06, 2003.

Quote:

"It followed two beavers as they built their dam, mated and raised their young."

And there was no giggling from the 14 year olds? :-D

Tricia, I'm anxiously awaiting part 3 of LOTR!

-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), November 07, 2003.

Gayla; Mating beavers is a Very Serious matter (trust me on this ;-)

Yep, I am really looking forward to seeing the delusion of LOTR. I went to see the first two parts on the opening day I'm so crazy about it all. And I'll probably do the same for part three. The trilogy has long been a favorite with me, and I always hoped that a movie worthy of the books would be done. I was so happy and excited when I saw the first previews! I nearly jumped out of my seat and yelled 'Finally! They're gonna do it. And do it right'. When I actually saw the first film I was hooked and ended up re-reading the entire 4 stories again (The Hobbit too). Everyone in the theatre stood up and clapped at the end. It was great! Then came the year-long wait for part 2 but that was really good too. And now we're almost there for the last part. Can't wait!

Sorry for jawing so long, but i get excited thinking about seeing the last part the closer it gets!!!

-- (sonofdust@LOTR.part3), November 07, 2003.

I should have known I'd be hanging out with a bunch of LOTR enthusiasts even on line :-D

I'm anxiously awaiting the final movie, too - I think I'll just cover my ears and close my eyes when they get to the giant spider part.

Rob, I started re-reading the series, then decided to wait until I'd seen it all, so as not to ruin my enjoyment of the movies. I stopped about half way through the first book.

Just a snippet for the trivially inclined amongst us - JRT had originally planned to sell LOTR as one book, but his publisher didn't think it would sell in that form. I have to admit, as one book it would be quite intimidating.

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), November 08, 2003.

BTW, Gayla, did I say anything about the kids being spellbound and quiet during Beavers?? There were lots of giggles and pokes and what- not throughout the whole movie. Since the announcer's voice was very quiet, there were several sections where the commentary might as well not have been included. I felt rather sorry for the few retired couples who had chosen that day to go see the film. On the other hand, what do you expect from a group of nearly a hundred 14 year olds? They were extremely quiet and well-behaved for Amazon - I think the sound was better for it, too.

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), November 08, 2003.

Jean is going to see the 3-Ring special on pre-opening night: One price, all three movies, in order, one after the other.

I'll let her give you detales of the event!

-- Robert & Jean Cook (Cooks@home.ga), November 10, 2003.