Craig Crane

Deep Sea Diver arrived toady. Good job I was working from home, otherwise it would have ben a trip down to the sorting office on Saturday and its a real pain in the ass.

I’llhave to post some pics tomorrow of the actual chap, but here is the really cool vintage packaging

Well, what can I say. This dive was great! Andy, Jonny and Helen came down for a dive, picking up from where we left off last summer. The water was warm, everything worked and we left smiling….

The dive site at Selsey really does offer a lot if you are prepared to go looking….

A much better dive compared to the last one a few weeks back.

Water was 14 degrees and the viz was 4-5 meters.

This poor fella (which I beleive is a tope, a member of the shark family) appears to have met a sticky end. Question is, who killed the dead shark?

Time to get out!

So, this is what Analogue April is all about…..

Not to use an MP3 player for an entire month.

I had this idea a while back, and decided that I didnt want to use my trusty old Walkman Proffessional for the jaunt to work… so started to search all my old walkmans I had in the eighties to see if they would turn up on E bay….

So, bar the WMD6c and the TCD3 (my 21st and Eighteenth birthday presents respectivly), everything else was sourced on Ebay. The WMD6C is still better than most high end cassette decks, so I used that to compile the numerous compilation tapes I have been making (something I have not done for many many years). The TCD3 has seen better days and is victim to the knocking sound of a faulty drive. Very common with these units… but this is the wlkman that came to Grado, Italy in 87 for Vacanze con la Danza, and was my main machine all through college…

One of the first purchase were the pair of HS-T06 with built in FM and AM tuner. I actually used these for a test run and it was great listening to the radio on the walk from Waterloo to Soho….. great reception and tape play was none to shabby either, albeit a little bright and noisy.

The prize models are the WMD100 which is in fantastic condition, and the Awia HS-P05 MKII which was mint, in the box and NEW…. and just as I remembered it from working in Dixons in the Whitgift centre Croydon during the XMAS 85 period (when I was 15 and still at St Joes.

The Red Awia HS-P05 MKII is just too nice for words. I loved the one I had from 85 onwards…. and although it died a horribel and slow death, I think this new one will take pride of place amongst the new collection…

And whats next?

Well, a Sony SEQ-50 would be quite nice…

Well, the Easter weekend did not disapoint. Weather wise, it was perfect for diving, and having endured a cold and bleak winter, it was such a great feeling as I began to get all the gear ready last night.

All the dive gear is the same as before, but this year I was trying out a new pair of mitts and of course the new Canon SureShot 640. The old S40 died in a bizare accident with a leaking bottle of Fanta…. so I was interested to see how this new camera and housing would fair.

Well, it sure felt and smelt like a dive day. Once the gear was in the car, you could not help get excited due to the smell of all the dive gear.. it has a disting whiff and that smell means one of two things.. you are in a dive shop, or you are about to dive.

Well, the 40 second drive to the lifeboat went as expected: Fast, and Bill and I started to get our gear ready. Bill moved in to next door last year and is a DM (dive master). This was his first Selsey Dive and was anxious to get in….

The weather top side was great, but alas… below was a different story altogether.

60cm viz….. I could see two things… jack & Shit. Bill loves zero viz, but I cant stand it. I hate trying to make out what the dark shadows that loom out of the murky darkness are…. I just dont see the appeal myself. There is nothing to see, and when it is like that, Horsea Island seems a preffered choice, or even a pool…..

But, I know full well that of course as the water gets warmer, we will soon have the great Viz JSL and I enjoyed during the week where we dove almost every day for two weeks, taking some great pics as well… Once I am wrapped on the curent show I am on, I’m taking a week off and getting wet wet wet.

So, it was dark and gloomy and as you can see, Nicky probably made the best decision: To remain on the beach…..

Still, got wet, everything works and of course the camera managed to take some very accurate pictures of the pea soup we were diving in…

Mind you, a little auto adjust in Photoshop and at least you get to see some color…. All I need to do now is sort out the focus next time I am in. I dont think I gave the camera enough time to seek….

Well, it has been rather quiet as of late… Im guessing that it may have something to do with the fact that A: the sun is now favoring my Hemisphere and B: Work is getting a little bit busy and that means that I dont really have time to enjoy the sun other than when I am walking across the Thames with VDB, tea and pastry in hand for the ten minute stroll to DNEG.

I had a nice reminder of the pre xmas crunch we all endured during the last few days of Stardust. The new trailer just hit on Apple in HiDef no less and I counted at least 7 shots I worked on in the trailer. Obviously, many people worked on them, but it did serve as vindication that the struggle to learn CG and ditch the Puppet stuff paid off….

Here is the trailer: No doubt paramount will throw a hissy fit and have some poor you tuber remove it.

What else is new….? Well, I have yet to discuss either Platform Girl and French Pastry girl in any detail…. thats all to come, needless to say that I am sure that everyone has a person they see on their commute every day, and they secretly enjoy the fact that they see that person every day…… Obviously, a man in my position can only muse, but it breaks up the monotony of the 2.5 hour journey nonetheless….

Anyway, todays the day…..

April the 1st:

The start of Analogue April, where I forgo all digital gadgets that I normally use on the commute and take a step back in time and use 1 x Vintage Sony walkman and a selection of tapes I have been dubbing for the past 6 weeks.

No Ipod
No Psp
No Mobile Phone

Obviously, I have to work, so the Machines at work are not part of the deal, but anytime I am not at work, its analogue all the way!

Why?

Why not?

Because I can, so shut up, thats why!

Thanks to Itunes, making compilation tapes is a piece of cake… Create play list, then connect cassette deck to pc, hit record….. You just have to make sure that all other sound generating applications are killed. There is nothing worse than hearing the msn “doodle doo” noise mid way through Hungry like a wolf!.

I have a new Camera, as the last one died in a Soda drink spillage accident. Barclay’s insurance were ace, and many thanks to them I actually ended up with a better camera… so lost of pics to be taken this week of the new Action Man dolls, and vintage walkmans that I have managed to rescue from E bay.

And next month marks the 30th anniversary since I saw Star Wars at the Bromley Odeon…

Im sure Lucasfilm are already planning how they intend to fleece yet even more money from me to mark the occassion.

And last but by no means least, I think a trip to LA to see the guys is in order.. its been 5 years since my last trip (which was really just me trying to get away from some shit….) but I think this year I may go, do Siggraph and then perhaps Dive off Catalina….. We’ll see….