[Nfbwv-talk] Huntington Area Chapter met yesterday

[Karen McDonald]

Brad, you guys are really making us proud here in WV.  It makes 
me wish I had a chapter to physically meet with every month.  
Nothing can replace that monthly meeting where people can sit 
down together over breakfast or whatever and plan to change what 
it means to be blind.  Keep up the good work.

Peace
Karen

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Brad Hodges <hts25701 at aol.com
To: NFB of West Virginia Discussion List <nfbwv-talk at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Sun, 24 Mar 2013 12:30:09 -0500
Subject: [Nfbwv-talk] Huntington Area Chapter met yesterday

Greetings Federation Family:

yesterday was a busy day for the Huntington Area Chapter.  We 
changed up
things a bit from our customary third Saturday meeting at the 
Public
Library.  I was pleased to host members for breakfast in my home 
followed
by an expedition to the Cinemark Huntington Mall theater to 
audition the
recently installed description technology.

Breakfast was lively and productive as we furthered our plans for 
the
NFB Huntington Tri-State Seminar scheduled for May 11 at the 
Public
Library in Down Town Huntington.  We encourage everyone who is 
interested
in participating to make plans now to join us on that Saturday.  
also
remember that GW Micro and NFB Huntington will present Windows 8
Survival training for using a screen reader at 1:00 PM on Friday 
May 10,
also at the Public Library.

We will circulate preliminary press and schedule information 
shortly.

After we finished our meeting we headed to the Huntington Mall 
and the
recently remodeled Cinemark Theater.  Mark Robertson has held an 
abiding
interest in audio description for movies for some time.  At his 
urging we
decided to find out what the recently installed description 
system could
do and judge it's effectiveness.

I haven't talked with members yet, but speaking for myself I 
really
think the technology is credible and enhanced my experience.  As 
some of
you may know, I find audio description embedded in TV audio to be 
a
distraction which detracts from most TV viewing.

SO what is the big difference which has turned me into a fan? 
Simply
that the description is given separately from the regular audio 
playing
in the theater.  The Cinemark system uses comfortable on the ear
headphones and a small box which resembles a garage door opener 
remote.
The description is clear and well placed in portions of the film 
in
which there is no dialog.  More importantly I could adjust my 
listening
of both the primary audio surround sound content and the 
description.  I
placed the headphones just in front of my ears at quieter times 
and
during extended dialog.  For very loud action sequences I placed 
the
phones on my ears and even had to cover my ears to hear the 
describers
voice over the booming and sound effects.

On a personal note, the movie which was described is Oz, The 
Great and
Powerful, Which I think might be more accurately titled Oz, the 
Dull and
Hapless.  Where are Judy Garlind and Harold Arlen when you really 
need
them? While even the description can't turn a cinematic sows ear 
into an
Oscar worthy silk purse, thanks to Mark for introducing me to the
technology, and rest assured that I will plan to pay closer 
attention to
David Edelstein's reviews in order to plan my return in the very 
near
future.

Our next chapter meeting will be April 20 at the Public Library.

Brad Hodges

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