Recently Eileen needed some help with creating a video to promote the Canadian Booksellers Association “Independents’ Day” back on October 16th. She wanted to promote her favorite local independent bookstore in North Vancouver.

We are not professional film makers, but I figured that we could pull something together. My equipment was limited to iMovie and Quicktime, my iPhone 4, a tripod, and a couple of dogs as “extras”. After bouncing around a few ideas we came up with the idea of silent film style clip, as it wouldn’t require audio, and some simple Quicktime effects would mask the low-end video recording. In all, I’m really happy with the results especially since we made the whole thing in one evening.

You can see the full version here, or a version tailored for mobile devices here. The silent film concept worked but we needed a twist to make it timeless (you’ll have to watch the video to see what we did).

Sometimes real-life is so much funnier than any comedy troupe could ever make it. Tonight, during the evening news on television, I caught an advertisement for Ford trucks. The pitch-man was Mike Rowe, host of the Discovery Channel program Dirty Jobs.

If you aren’t familiar with Mike or his program, the basic premise is that he tackles those very undesirable jobs. Some examples include cleaning sewers, disposing of dead animals in a factory, or cleaning portable toilets.

Yep, selling American-made vehicles probably is a job nobody else wants to do.

The end of Movember is upon us and I must admit to a certain amount of pride in my newly-discovered ability to grow a decent looking moustache. It isn’t the best facial hair I’ve ever seen but it is way ahead of my original expectations.

Eileen has grown to like the moustache, even trying to convince me I should keep it. Nope. It catches my lunch and that is very, very disturbing. I find myself pulling at it, there is a certain obsessive-compulsive quality to it that I’d rather avoid.

Shaving around it has become a chore as well. I will be clean-shaven once again by this time tomorrow, at least for eleven more months – I’m sure I’ll be participating in Movember 2009.

I got Eileen to take a few pictures throughout the month (posted to my MoSpace page) and I’ve now assembled them into a short video that allows a time-lapse Movember experience.

I’m very grateful to friends and family who donated to the Movember cause. I raised $602.84 and our team at Sophos (Team Mophos) raised a total of $6,929.14. Yay! Thanks everyone!

A number of people at work cornered me at the end of October and coerced me into participating in this year’s Movember charity event. The concept: grow a moustache (no beards allowed) for the month of November, and use it as an excuse to raise money.

The Movember Foundation aims to raise awareness and money for prostate cancer research as well as general men’s health issues.

I’ve never let my facial hair grow, except for maybe not shaving for a day or two over a long weekend. I didn’t have high hopes for an attractive moustache, and I was certain I wouldn’t manage anything quite as bushy as George Parros (NHL player for Anaheim) but I really didn’t know what to expect.

So far I’d say it is going ok. Not great nor bad, just ok. Visit my MoSpace page to track the progress of the moustache, including pictures, and maybe donate to this worthy cause.

Our friend Jamie wrote about it, expecting a lack-luster moustache. Drop by her blog and let her know whether she is right or wrong.

At work I spend a lot of time thinking about and looking at HTTP traffic. So when someone figured out a way to make that funny, I pay attention. This comic is really clever. Be sure to read the page source to squeeze out every bit of funny.