Nov 4th Norwalk, CT VFTT Beer and "The Alps"

[Chip]

I just wanted to firm this up for anyone interested.

"The Alps" is playing at The Imax in South Norwalk. Apparently Donovan's and New England Brewing Company (d/b/a/ The Brewhouse) have both recently closed . That's the kind of news that compells me to lock myself in my shed with a bag of chips and 6, no, a 12 of Long Trail, but I'll try to keep an open mind here. Let's meet at The Black Bear (just up the block and across the street from the Maritime) at 1pm on 11/4.
If you want to make a quick appearance and head to the Imax early you could see the “Tropical Rainforest” movie at 2pm. The rest of us can catch "The Alps" at 3 or 4pm, depending .

There's a chance a few of us may paddle to and camp on the islands Saturday night, this would only occur if the forecast is brilliant. PM me if you're interested in that option.

 

[cbcbd]

I can't make the event on Sunday, getting together with the family that day.
But I'll probably meet you guys at the island.

 

[Jay H]

cbcbd..Cool, I think we are trying for one of the 4 sites on Grassy. Pretty sure you mentioned one of them has a nice spot on top of a bluff with good scenery. I have the island map at home...

Warren may join us too, he said he may be free after a dentist appt..

Jay

 

[Maria]

Hi there - new member here, though I've known Jay for a while. I'm in Norwalk Sunday morning for work but can join you around 1 to meet up and see the film. Sounds fun and, as much as I've been in Norwalk, haven't checked out the Imax there yet.
Maria

 

[Jay H]

Hey Maria and Chip, I'm looking forward to see what they mean by

Mega-Thrilling at http://www.maritimeaquarium.org/

Oooohhh, big word!

Looks like good weather and I have directions..

Jay

 

[Chip]

Hey Maria and Chip, I'm looking forward to see what they mean by

Mega-Thrilling at http://www.maritimeaquarium.org/

Oooohhh, big word!

Jay

"Mega-Thrilling" is Ad Speak for "We're not getting the turn-out we expected."

Sunday 1pm at Black Bear, 3pm Imax and I'll be home for the second half of the Pats game.

See you Sat, paddling and camping on the islands will be cool.

 

[Bolivia]

No can do

Sounds great but I can't make it as my kids are planning something for my 40th anniversary.

 

[Rob S]

Was nice meeting Chip and Maria. And good to see you again, Jay.

We had a great time sight-seeing around the area. The Four Points (Sheraton) on Main Ave in Norwalk was nice, clean, friendly, and very inexpensive .... only $75 all taxes included. Also on Main, Francesco's is highly recommended if you like Italian at good prices and great service. Further up the road in Wilton, Carla and I spent a good hour shopping at the Outdoor Sport Center. They have TONS of hiking gear, and we spent more $$$ in 1 hour than we did the rest of the weekend!

Oh yeah, the IMAX film "The Alps" was very cool. We enjoyed it mucho. I remember seeing the Eiger Sanction years ago and wishing there was more footage of the mountain itself. The aquarium was pretty good too. Wasn't SeaWorld, but interesting nonetheless. Those sea turtles are huge!

I passed thru CT zillions of times, but never once stayed there and explored. Wow, there are some incredible houses, and we met many friendly people. Now that we've gotten a taste for CT, we are planning to come back and explore Mystic for my ocean-loving wife, and Bear Mountain for the trail-loving me!

 

[Jay H]

Good, I enjoyed the film, I didn't think it too much about John Hardin III, but yeah I guess in a 40 minute IMAX film on the Alps, you kind of want to get as much of the Alps as possible... But the imagery was great and the story was very personal and a poignant one.

I have to dock a few points for either having dirt on one of the projectors or on the film, you could see when they switched reels because one of them had some obvious spots of dirt on the lens or something as I thought the screen had a hole in it until it went away during some of the movie and then came back again...

And instead of Mega-Thrilling, they should advertise it as Mega-Loud!! Certainly didn't need to be as loud as it was. I would give it a 4 out of 5, 1 star docked for the black spots and the ear splitting sound.

Jay

 

[Rob S]

Jay, we didn't find the music too loud whatsoever! Maybe they lowered the volume after the 3pm show??? Our sound was perfect! Queen rocks!

(I thought maybe it was just me that didn't think it was loud ..... having been to probably a hundred or more metal concerts, my perspective may be different than yours ...... but Carla agreed that it wasn't loud at all. They must have lowered it ......)

 

[Jay H]

Not the overall sound but the dynamic range... A couple of scenes were just too loud, like the video of the avalanche. Either turn the overall volume down or limit the dynamic range of those scenes..

Jay

 

[Maria]

Nice to meet all of you too! I also thought the sound was super strident - someone must have said something after our showing.

Besides that liked the film - just thought it a bit strange how they glossed over the final stretch of the climb. I was expecting a bit more footage of when they closed in on the top - usually the most exciting part. One minute they were half-way up, the next they were on the peak.

Maria

 

[Jay H]

I remember when MacGillervery (sp?) tested those IMAX cameras on Mt Washington when they did the Everest IMAX DVD, I think they even had to use some of the film from there as a substitute. I wonder how much of the actual climbing footage is on the actual mtn on the actual climb, sometimes the lower down shots could of been practice runs, attempts, etc... Even summit shots might have been staged after the actual summit reach, since how would the viewer know anything, even if you've been there, it's hard to actually pinpoint the location anyway. Just think about Frederick Cook's fake first ascent of Mt Mt Kinley (Denali) way back when. he took a so-called Summit Shot on a false peak thousands of feet below the real summit and no where near it. It took like 50 years for B. Washburn to precisely prove it's falsehood.

Some of the shots perhaps below the summit perhaps weren't usable or the lighting bad or the location hard to shoot... Or they just cut it for the time limit... (all the IMAX films I've seen have run 40 minutes, not sure why but that's the norm, maybe a weight limitation as the film itself is pretty hefty and they need to carry a lot of it.).

Jay