Back Yard (Punk Rock) Chirper

Once again I find a myself featured on a birding blog. I'm happy to be in the company of the fine people over at The Backyard Chirper. I am always pleasantly surprised when these opportunities arise. I never know if people are paying attention but I guess some are. If you don't follow Backyard Chirper's blog, please do me a solid, read their take on my project and then move on to their other stories. Who needs another birding blog? We do, we're birders and we all know we consume anything bird related like we used to consume rebellious music our parents hate. Ok, so some of us still consume said music.

http://www.backyardchirper.com/blog/punk-rock-birder-paul-riss-tries-to-bust-misconceptions-of-birdwatchers/

Oh poor me

This week I need to share something. I wasn't sure what to write about because honestly, it's not easy having something every week. My life just isn't that exciting really. But statistically, and I know this from my advertising background, if I don't regularly reach out to all of you, you'll quickly move on to something else and the momentum I've built up will fizzle out. I wouldn't blame you for dropping off either, why spend your extremely valuable leisure time following someone that gives you nothing in return. So I'm back to trying to keep up weekly posts.

I thought I'd let you in on my reason for not being around for a while there. Really it was a combination of a few things. Laziness being at the top of the list. I'm not a lazy person but the following reasons made me slow down a bit. Game of Thrones. It is a killer of productivity but it's also a very inspirational thing. That intro sequence is exceptionally original and I'm a firm believer that if you're a creative person, at least 50% of your time should be spent inhaling others people's creative output. It further enhances your own. Work is another reason. I was so busy. All my time was spent either making or thinking of commercials. One part of the ad game people wouldn't really think about is execution. Executing an idea my partner and I have had is really important. Because he and I see the idea clearly but are humanly incapable of making it a physical thing. Therefore, we need to hire directors, production companies, sound people, SFX houses and photographers to make things happen. But they might see it a tad different than us. So we need to be the keepers of the creative vision. Anyway, we made a commercial and some print ads for Manulife Financial. This product was insurance. Our idea; without the right coverage, your family might be left with the burden of bringing in extra money in the event that you are injured and can't work. Since just showing a wife working overtime would be as interesting as watching paint dry, we exaggerated the idea and showed people's kids work proper adult jobs to help pay the bills. Here's the work.

The point of showing you all this is not so you'll feel sorry for me or even show understanding toward my plight (if you can call it that). No, I'm Going to call myself on this right away. I'm not in a bad way at all. Sure Shep has his adenoids thing but it's fixable. I might possibly have the second best job a guy can have. Birding for a living would be the number one job. I'm calling myself a suck right here. Why? Because I was recently followed by a person that is trying so hard to be a birder. He can't do much birding because he has no time or the funds to do it. He looks after his ailing father and works in an office much of the time. He is from Bombay and can't get to go birding. Here's me complaining that I have no time when last weekend I spent half a day fishing a local stream and birding all the while. I hope he isn't bothered by me talking about him but I think it's important for us all to remember when we have it so good. My life isn't always easy... No actually it kind of is. Anyway, this new friend of mine, if he'll allow me to call him that, has no bins. A birder needs bins. I'm going to start a collection. I'll start by giving $25. My goal is to get a nice pair of compact bins and send them over to him. That way he can at least do some local park birding. Anybody else game? If you're in and trust me to follow through, let's talk. Email me at punkrockbigyear AT gmail DOT com. If you do internet banking, send a small donation that way, if not, send a cheque or whatever. Let's try and help a fellow birder out. We always say we need to make more people into birders. Well, here's a guy that ready, willing and nearly able. Let's take one of his birding barriers away. We can't do a thing to help him with his time issues but we can get him the equipment.

Punk Rock Big Year

Paul Riss