BruceArmstrong.net

We got a new HD camcorder (Canon HF20) recently and this weekend, Ace and I went out to make our first boomerang video. It was over 100 degrees and the winds were gusty and shifty. To make matters worse, the field we were on was near trees and we were getting some crazy turbulance. Two throws that I would feel were identical might end up 50 yards away from each other. All this added up to a brutal afternoon with way more throwing than catching.

Here’s the video that Ace put together: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBwXt19XU_4&fmt=22. If your computer and bandwidth are up to it, make sure to click on “Watch in HD”. YouTube down-converted our video from 1080i to 720p/30fps, but it’s still reasonably high-definition. Unfortunately, the boomerangs we used the most were unpainted, but you can still make them out pretty well.

One new thing we tried was using a fish-eye lens to be able to keep the boomerang in the frame more easily. This worked pretty well for fast catch.

Saturday was the 3rd Annual “LD in Big D” long distance boomerang tournament. Once again, Ace, Cameron, and myself competed. Ace and Cameron had difficulty getting things dialed in, but still managed decent throws of 95 meters each. I fared better with a new personal best throw of 113 meters! This was enough to tie me for second place in the tournament, the best I’ve ever placed in an LD tournament. I actually beat my previous personal best of 107 twice during the tournament. My first scoring throw was 108.

Tom Wythes ran away from the field with some really consistent throwing. He tied his personal best with a throw of 140 meters.

Click here for a small gallery of photos from the tournament.

Ace performed in his first show ever on May 21, 2009. It was at the Opening Bell Coffee Shop at Mosaic in Dallas. Ace did a great job and got lots of good feedback. If you click this YouTube playlist link, and click “Play All Videos”, you’ll feel like you were there. My aging camcorder didn’t handle the low light very well, but the sound came out pretty good. Be sure to leave comments on YouTube. Thanks!

There’s also a photo gallery available here.

He’s really gonna do it! And it’s only a week away.

Next Thursday, 5/21/09, Ace will be on a stage alone with a mic, an acoustic guitar, and 20 minutes to entertain the crowd. The name of the club is “Mosaic” and it is at 300 North Akard, Suite #300. Here’s the Google Map. Make sure to click “Street View”. Looks like a cool area.

To get a taste of his tunes, check out his MySpace music page: http://www.myspace.com/acezbeatz. My favorites are “12:09″, “Lyrical Love”, and “Just Dance”. Lately “gdntbby” is starting to grow on me.

He’s been told to do 3 or 4 originals and 1 or 2 covers. He’s been working on a really cool version of Gary Jules’ version of Mad World. If you plan to come, be there early, because I believe he’s the opening act.

To get the official scoop, you can check out the promoter’s site here: http://artists.aftonlive.com/. Click “Calendar”, then locate Texas on the map and click it. Now scroll down to the “Dallas” section and finally, find May 21st. If that’s too convoluted, here’s what you’ll see:

May 21st

MOSAIC
300 North Akard Suite #300
Dallas, TX 75205
Show Time 6:15 PM
All-ages & Bar w/ID
$8.00 Adv Tix, $10.00 Door

Bands:
Ace, Faction, The Brighter Side, Brian Shuck, Mental Dentist, Close Enough, Zeal

Andrew has been creating some pretty good art lately. Here are a couple of the better ones:

(He spent like three hours doing shading on the upper lip.)

The 2008 National Boomerang Championships and Expo are coming to Dallas!

I am co-hosting the tournament at Eastfield College in Mesquite Thursday through Sunday. It’s my bad luck that we finally got the tournament on the same year that the world championships were in Seattle. Lots of the regular competitors used up their travel budget for that tournament, so I’m not expecting as big a turnout as the Nationals usually have. We’ll have around thirty throwers, and some of these folks are the best in the world.

If you want to see something you’ve never seen before and may never see again, come on down to Mesquite on Saturday or Sunday and watch a bunch of guys and gals throw curved sticks at themselves. In addition to seeing some exciting action, you can purchase boomerangs and we’ll teach you how to throw and maybe even catch them.

Here’s the official web site with maps and schedules: www.boomerangexpo.com.

 He waited until the last minute, but Andrew finally whipped up a T-shirt design for the 2008 National Boomerang Championships and Expo. The design will be on the front of over 100 shirts that we’re ordering for the event. Click the thumbnail to see a larger version. Go to the Expo site to see what the design looks like on different colored shirts.

For the second year in a row, my nephew Cameron Kelsey was down from Oklahoma visiting during the weekend of the “LD in Big-D” long distance boomerang tournament. Last year Cameron, Ace, and I all competed in the tournament, and we were all disappointed in our performances. Cameron showed great promise, throwing incredible distances, but not quite getting those awesome throws to fully return.

This year was different. On Cameron’s first throw, he got what looked like respectable distance, and a very nice return. The official measurement: 118 meters! This was the first successful return of the tournament, and it would stand through all 5 rounds as the winning throw.

We weren’t able to be at the tournament for the second day so we only got in three rounds, but Ace and I didn’t do too shabby ourselves. Ace set a new personal best at 106 meters and I set new personal bests with throws of 89, 94, 100, and finally 107 meters. (Yes, my best beat Ace’s by 1 measly meter.) Not only did we all set personal bests, but we are finally in the “100 Meter Club”. Our results should be up on the LD website, www.baggressive.com soon.

At the end of the second round, Cameron, myself, and Ace were in first, second, and third. This drew some good-natured ribbing and threats of finding something in the by-laws against that kind of family collusion.

We all have to thank the tournament host, David Hirsch for sharing his LD boomerangs with us, and helping tune them between throws. Thanks, David!

Since neither Cameron, myself, or Ace had ever thrown over 100 meters before, we were classified as “Intermediate” competitors. So not only was Cameron the Tournament Champion, he was also the Intermediate Champion. Ace was the Junior Champion, though there were only 2 juniors entered.

There was other excitement too. We had a storm blow in and cause a rain delay. I needed a break at that point, because I had worn myself out by chasing my wind-blown golf umbrella clear off the campus and into an apartment complex across the street. There was a also scary moment when one of my throws hit a range spotter, slicing his pinky finger to the bone. Glad to hear you’re OK, Larry!

I didn’t have my good camera out much, but I did take a few phone-camera shots. A small gallery is available here.

Here’s something I had heard about, but just now found. I don’t know how long this link will remain active, but there’s a pre-tournament news spot video on WFAA’s site here: http://www.wfaa.com/video/?z=y&nvid=253881

Here are the full final results:

• Cameron Kelsey - 118m
• Tom Wythes - 116m
• Joe Rader - 116m
• Dennis “Juice” Joyce - 112m
• Bruce Armstrong - 107m
• Ace Armstrong - 106m
• David Hirsch - 98m
• Stuart Jones - 98m
• Mark Wolff - 90m
• Larry Burns - 86m
• Bob Rudy - 86m
• Roy Dempsey - 86m
• Barry Burns - 72m
• Walter Owens - 59m
• Xee Rader - 50m

We’ve been promising the kids for several years that we would get a dog. Andrew’s 16th birthday turned out to be the occasion for finally making it happen. Michelle and Andrew drove over two hours into East Texas to pick up “Scout”, a pure-bred Border Collie. We’re looking forward to years of fun with him. More photos are in the Scout gallery.

There’s been so much Holly stuff on here lately, that I thought I’d better give Andrew some equal billing. Here’s what he’s been up to lately:

Ace and his buddies skating better than you might expect:

• Go Skate Day 2007
• Midlothian Skate Montage

General goofing off:

• Stop Motion 0.9: Animation by Ace and friends. 
• Dino-surance: Insurance against dinosaur attacks (a fake commercial for school)