Creative Fallout and a Day off

A DAY OFF!

I bumped my day off up to Monday last week so that I could get “The Life Antarctic” done on time.  The end result being that I had 7 days in a row of work to slog through until today (my next day off).  It was a long week but I’ve emerged on the other side to enjoy a break.

That being said, working on “The Life Antarctic” was a good time.  Granted it was a little hectic because I basically made it in 36 hours, but it was nice to be creative and work on something.  The end result being that I’m now looking for a new project and I might have to come out of film making retirement when I get stateside (but let’s not get too excited about that.  I’ve still got 6 months to think about it).

So today on my day off I decided to volunteer at the Berg Field Center.  The Berg workers frequently volunteer over at the galley so I figured it would be nice to go hang out with them for a bit.

First of all, if you live here, don’t call it the Berg Field Center.  Call it the BFC.  The BFC is a part of science support.  Specifically, they issue and maintain the gear on the continent.  This includes some ECW gear (a vast majority of this is done at the CDC (clothing distribution center) in Christchurch), tents, sleeping bags, pee bottles (yes, it is what you think it is), and the like.

During the winter, a lot of what they are doing is maintaining gear.  This includes cleaning, sewing and patching holes, and general inventory.

Tents are inspected for rips and tears by the BFC staff.

I spent about an hour today at Berg measuring paracord to 12 feet sections, cutting it, burning the ends and wrapping them into guy line bunches.  I finished about 40 of these little guys in about an hour.

These are wrapped so that the section on  the right will be attached to the tent.  The other end of the cord, on the left, can be pulled and the entire bundle will unravel without any tangles.  It’s pretty nifty.

If/when I get around to editing “The Life Antarctic: Part 2”, you will get to see a little bit more of the BFC.

On that note, tonight one of my buddies Jason and I had a 2 hour creative meeting to develop a new, collaborative video project that we’re both pretty excited about.  So “The Life Antarctic” might end up being just a one-parter and be replaced by this new project.

That’s what’s new at the bottom of the world.

The Life Antarctic with Phil Baur

So I made a movie for a film festival at my old college.

This year was the last year I was eligible and I thought, “What the heck.  I’ll make an Antarctica Documentary.”  So, 4 days before the deadline, I commissioned my pal Ryan to write me a script.  He pulled though and sent me a script.  I switched my day off and basically shot and edited this thing in 36 hours.

The idea is to be a cheesy 70’s adventure documentary a lá Jacques Cousteau.  It is also a nod to Wes Anderson’s “The Like Aquatic with Steve Zissou”/

Here it is:

 

As a sidenote, it didn’t get in the festival.  So that’s a bummer.

McMurdo Greenhouse

So I toured the McMurdo Greenhouse last week.  I went back a couple days ago to snap some pics.  It’s encouraged for us to go in there whenever.  CO2 helps the plants and all that.

Like most buildings down here, there’s an arctic entry (antarctic entry?) for you to hang up your weather gear.  On the inside door, we have a list of rules.

As soon as you walk in this door, the tomato room is on the left and the nursery is on the right.  First, the nursery.

We have small plants in the trays and seedlings in tray to the left.

To the left is the door that leads us to the tomato room.

 

The nursery is straight though the door at the back of the room.  Tomatoes are in the middle, cucumbers on around the rim of the room.  The tomatoes will be trained to climb the strings, once they have reached the top, they will be looped back to the bottom.  They will then zig-zag up and down and circle the middle section.  Same with the cukes on the outside.  To the right is the salad room.

The salad trays.  There are 4 of these, the two that are pictured and there are 2 behind them.  In between the trays is a hammock.

So that’s how we get fresh veggies during the winter.  The frozen food storage locker is really cool also, I’ll see if I can sneak back in there sometime with a camera.  Peace out.

ECW Post Number 2

By popular demand, here’s what the ECW gear looks like all suited up.

Some notes:  I’ve included a photo of what I actually wore today when I was outside.  Also, the Carhart photo is incomplete and I wore a hat because A) I always wear a hat at work so I’m kinda used to it and B) I haven’t showered in a couple days, sue me.

Also, I fully realize that I just published a self-timer fashion post.  I promise that it won’t happen again.

Stranded…..for 171 days

Well.  That, as they say, is that.

Today the last flight left the continent.  The next one will arrive around August 24th.  So now we are in for the long haul.

As part of the last flight leaving, we had a toast at the Chalet.  The Chalet is where the offices of the NSF, USAP, and contrators are located.  I like to call it, the big cheese house (that’s completely made up, I’ve never called it that).

The last flight out toast was, in a word, cold.  It was a gorgeous day, but standing on a patio for 45 minutes gets cold.  Also, it doesn’t help when your drink of choice is literally freezing in your hand.

In the end, it was fairly anticlimactic as we watched the last plane fly away into the sunset.

The plane is the small black line above the mountain on the left. I was using the GoPro which can't zoom. Sue me.

Still cool though.  Also, there was cake.