Aug 08, 1998, 11:40pm

An eight year dream was realized for me last night. I finally got to see the 1964 classic film, Grand Prix.

Ok, maybe I'm being a bit dramatic, but it's true about the year thing. You see, eight years ago, I caught the last 30 minutes of this movie on PBS. I even remember the place, station and time - it was in Ottawa, on that Watertown PBS station we got the feed for, and it was a Sunday night.

Before I saw the last part of that film, I was an "occasional" race fan - the Indy 500, the Daytona 500, and maybe a few other races like the Toronto IndyCar race (Vancouver didn't have one back then). I probably watched because of the crashes more than anything else, and I didn't even know about Formula One racing... I'd heard of the Monaco race of course, but didn't know what it was.

I caught the last few minutes of that film and for the first time got to feel what it was like inside a race car, and see the amazing pressures involved. It made me into a bona fide racing fan.

So the day after I caught the last bit on PBS, I went to my local video store to take out the movie. But there was a small problem - they didn't have it. So I went to another video store, and another, and another. No one had it. I got so frustrated I called up a distributor I found in the phone book asking to buy it. He called me back a few days later and said the movie wasn't even released on video!

Man o man.

Anyone who has seen this movie probably realises it's not your typical "race movie". Lots of in-car filming, right in the heat of the battles, with the film's stars behind the wheels - no blue screening in this film at all. I think that's what did it for me - being right in the middle of the action brought the feel of racing as close to me as I suppose I'll ever get.

So years go by, and my interest in auto racing (specifically open wheel racing, like Formula One and Indycars) goes up exponentially. As my fascination grew, so did the technology used to televise auto racing. For instance, it may seem old hat now, but cameras in cars is a relatively new phenomenon. Did you know that as little as 5 years ago, only one or two F1 cars carried incar cameras and the television producers would have to get permission from the racing team each and every time they wanted to broadcast a live shot from the car? Back in 92 and 93, Indycars didn't have the same restrictions, but the top teams didn't want cameras anywhere near their cars for fear of the added wind drag and added weight, so only the slower cars would carry them.

Today watching an Indycar (I know, it's CHAMP cars now... sigh) race or a Formula One race, we take all this for granted. Seeing a car-nose view going through the famous corkscrew at Monaco or watching the driver's hand twitch on the controls while doing 240 miles an hour on the Michigan straightaway is old hat. Even incar interviews with the drivers while they are racing is becoming quasi normal. We've grown used to it all.

And as I've become used to it, I forgot the exhilaration I got while watching those last minutes of Grand Prix eight years ago. Last year, Jean and I went to an Imax movie that featured Michael and Mario Andretti. It used Imax's special cinematography to put you behind the wheel of an Indycar. It was a cool movie no doubt, and I felt at times like I was behind the wheel, but I'll admit, it wasn't the experience I thought it would be. I guess I've been spoiled by the normal television cameras.

But I've never forgotten the film Grand Prix. I found out a few years ago that Videomatica, a specialty video store here in Vancouver had it on laserdisc. Very, very cool. But everytime I went to rent it (and a VD player) they were either out of players or the movie.

Then a few weeks ago, I was surfing the tv channels and I happened to turn to Bravo! This is a channel I almost never watch. But as I was slowly changing channels, a scene that flashed caught my eye. I turned back to it and there it was - a promo for the movie Grand Prix. They said it was going to be on two Sundays from that date at 9pm!

I freaked. I don't think I've freaked so much about a movie in my life. I guess the long slow anticipation of actually watching the whole film did that. I freaked so much, I told my mom and Jeanette over dinner about the upcoming movie and I prefaced my announcement by saying "I wet my pants watching TV the other day!" Yeah, I said that to my mom....

Obsessive compulsive here? Maybe... but personally I think it's just the long, slow buildup of wanting to see this entire film.

So the two weeks pass slowly, and I'm all set to watch the nearly 3 hour long film. I check the TV guide the day before just to make sure on the time, and MAN am I glad I did... the film was on at 6pm, not the 9pm saw advertised!!! Damn!!! I would have missed it! Blame that on Bravo! which exhibits the typical Toronto mentality of thinking the whole world revolves around them and their time zone. Bravo! was launched as a national station, yet they only advertise their times in Eastern Time Zone, and they don't even say EST or EDT?? Bastards....

So Sunday comes. 5 o'clock comes and I'm waiting not too patiently. 5:20 and I flip to Bravo! just to see if they started early. Nope. 5:30 same thing. 5:45 same thing. 5:50, I have my tape set up and ready to roll (of course I'm taping this!) 6:00 rolls around and the movie starts. Letterbox format! Coooool. Oh. As soon as the credits roll, the letterbox is removed. Sigh. Oh well, small disapointment but I'll live. For the next 2 hours and 47 minutes, I sat immersed in this film. No commercials (one cool thing about Bravo! when they show films).... woooo.

Ok, I am obsessive. But I have to tell you, the filmography was amazing... if it didn't win an Oscar the year it was released, it is a crime. One thing struck me the entire time I watched the movie - it's special effect filming was on par with the Imax film... a film that used technology that was 25 years newer!

It is not your typical fast wheels, speed demon kind of film - no swingin single singer like an Elvis film. The racing scenes are long and occupy about 1/3 to half the movie. Neat but simple visual effects aid in the cinematography. The rest of the movie involves three parallel stories - one about a man who races for the wrong reasons, another about a man getting too old for the game, and having his cold frozen exterior and attitude towards racing and death shattered after he kills two boys when his car crashes. The third person is an American who starts realizing how serious this game is. All in all it was a great storyline and it really lived up to the reputation I heard about it. It was the best auto racing movie made.

Okay, enough about this I suppose. I'm just so happy that I finally got to see the film, got it on tape and now have it to watch whenever I want. Happy Happy, Joy Joy!

I know it's a boring rant for most of you. I just felt the need to talk about how I feel on this, and damnit, it's my site, I can do it if I want. Can't I?

Oh yeah, there's one other thing. I recently caught onto a new site (and new organization) that wants to do something about my main aggravation as a web designer - gently (or forcefully) persuade Netscape and Microsoft to start fully supporting W3C standards for HTML, DHTML, CSS and Javascript. Called the Web Standards Project I fully support their mission, and I signed up as a partner. It's ironic because my upcoming "State of the Net" piece which I've been working on for a few months covers a lot of this stuff.

I really do get aggravated over the discrepancies between Netscape and Internet Explorer when it comes to CSS and DHTML. I've been learning DHTML for a while now, and I learned CSS last year, but I rarely use it for an internet site (I use it more often for Intranet sites because these sites often use a specific browser) because of the incompatibilities. And it's a damned shame because DHTML has a lot of ultra cool and time saving tricks up its sleeve, but coding DHTML is a nightmare because you essentially have to code two pages for every single page you want to display.

I was hoping that the upcoming Netscape 4.5 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 would make 100% W3C Standards (HTML 4.0 and beyond) a priority before adding new features but yet again, proprietary "tricks" take precedence over full compatibility. Sigh. More bullshit from these guys.

WSP states that site developers spend about 25% or more of their billable time just making sure the sites they build will work in both major browsers and I believe it. That means the site your company paid to have built could have cost a lot less if Microsoft and Netscape got on the ball with their version 4 browsers. And the hope it will finally happen with the version 5 browsers is fleeting. Visit The Web Standards Project today, read their stuff, and if you're involved in web design and are fed up, sign up to help, if only as an added name to the growing list of supporters.

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Mixelania

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Burundi and Beyond - NY Times
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St. Petersburg Times
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AP Story on Espresso
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Globe and Mail
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Seattle Times - Clover
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NY Times - How it Works
Background and information for various espresso machines

Time Mag Article
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NY Times
Front page article about consumers getting into specialty coffee.

Washington Monthly
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USA Today - Barista Jam
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Canon EF 24-105 f4 L Lens
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Canon 5D
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Alzo Digital Lights
Some amazing florescent cold lights for product photography

Canon Xsi dSLR
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Canon 40D
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Fujitsu P1610
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28mm f1.8 Lens
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Foodsaver Advanced
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Canon 50mm 1.4
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Canon 10-22mm
Super wide angle (full frame fisheye) zoom for my Canon 20D