Don't Get Any Ideas!

 

This was J's refrain throughout our viewing of the Banff Film Festival World Tour this evening.  I didn't count how many times she said it, but it was definitely more than twenty.

If I were going to get ideas, there were plenty of excellent suggestions for getting yourself hurt or killed.  Speed Flying (you can actually see the entire film on YouTube) is basically throwing yourself from the top of a mountain with skis and a parasail attached and hoping for the best.  What's funny is how the guys talk about how much easier it is on your body than regular skiing and how they can picture themselves doing it until they're old--as if there were much chance of them actually getting old while participating in such a dangerous sport.  The first item in the credits was a dedication in remembrance of _______.  Wake up and smell the danger, people! 

I guess the film festival is going on ten years now and it must be good every year because you have to buy your tickets not knowing what films they're going to show.  We weren't disappointed. Among my favorites were the one about a woman's search for coastal wolves in western Canada (look for the clip of her laying in the middle of a field while a pack of wolves curiously checks her out).  A film about some unicycle riders who are 'taking it to the next level' (Uni-mountain biking? Why not?)  After that film, the host announced that their unicycles do have special shocks in them and that the audience should NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. 

Did you see the climber who makes a leap from one patch of rock to another, misses and falls?  No, he didn't have a rope.  He's a deep sea climber.  He finds impossible looking overhangs in the water--so you have a nice soft (not) cushion of seawater to 'break' your fall, after which you can get stung by swarms of jelly fish.  Honestly, I don't know what Jess is worried about.  It was seriously impressive though. Some of the holds he was doing would give Spiderman a run for his money.

Other films included footage of high mountain skiers (it's not IF you'll start an avalanche, but when), a climbing photographer and two very well done animations.  The first, Badger, was a humorous meditation on how ground dwelling animals are affected by our mucking about with the planet.  The second, a stunningly animated two-minute piece about the mental challenges of ice climbing.

As if we weren't having enough fun, Jess won a really cool raffle prize that looks to be just my size...

If I don't post for a few days, it's just cause I'm out base jumping.