It's December, ladies and gentlemen, as I am sure you have heard. Yesterday was (thankfully) my last day of classes for 2011 and I have a single exam on Thursday. Although I am not content and I walk away from this semester a slightly estranged person, my mind is already elsewhere and I am ready to move on.
This semester, I think, will go down in my own personal history as "That time you humiliated yourself for the last damned time". My second year film was shot almost three weeks ago and the personal drawbacks were astounding. I have been unwittingly stubborn, outrageously cowardly and excessively self-conscious. I don't know if I've officially turned some sort of a corner (the straw that broke the camel's back, as it were), but essentially I am tired of being doubtful and self conscious, nervous and anxious. I let people walk all over me, and I haven't had the brass to stand up for myself since High School.
Now, I've been like this for a long time. Determined to remain a stranger to new things, outrageously set in my ways, no matter the ridiculousness of my methods. If it took this fall to change me, then it's best for the long run. So I guess for the foreseeable future, I've got an intense internal project going on. As I've got to change the fundamentals of my entire being. It's going to be wildly uncomfortable.
Well, that's that. Now to talk about other things.
Counting up the shoots I've been on this semester, I'm rather proud to see I've been on eleven. Seeing as how I amass experience on a rather alternative scale on set than say, at school, I am pleased to know that I can work somewhat functionally on a set.
I've decided to discontinue my strange video blog, as I have deemed it a extreme 'exercise in narcissism' and we don't need any more of that flying around the internet. But in it's place, I have started a new Tumblr, known as For Freak Steaks. It was inspired by a friend's blog, Please Look. Basically I wanted a place to assemble bits of photography and cinematography that I can just amass as I'd like, draw upon as inspiration and practice for the eye. As a drive to further my knowledge in film history and technique, I am pairing this with my film journal. I'll watch a film, write up a page on it and then take some screen captures of what I thought looked fantastic. The examples I'm pulling have many motivations for singling out, whether I like the use of practicals, the depth of field or the lighting.
I'm really stoked on Christmas this year. Mind you, I don't think I've experienced a Christmas yet that I haven't been stoked for. I haven't really been home sick, as I spent two weeks hanging out in Canmore in August, I just feel I need to be with people who know me and care about me and stuff (i.e. my family). My Mom goes crazy with Christmas, so it's always full of people and food and fun things to do. Plus, this year as most of everyone's Christmas gift, my family's taking a trip to Mexico for a week! I haven't been traveling for a while, our last family trip was probably six years ago. I'm saddened by the prospect that this might be our last family vacation, but I am thankful for it and I think it's going to be a ton of fun.
Anyways, that's all I've got on my mind lately. I hope everyone's having a superb start to the holiday season. Give everyone you love in your life a bear hug and build a gingerbread house or something.
Well, September's almost over already. I'm at a loss as to where it's gone, but it's been greatly occupied by the good sort of busy that I'll look forward to continuing in the next three months. Being immersed in this film student mentality once again has gotten me back on my feet, and I'm now able to reflect on the past year of my life with a strange sort of... omniscience. It's like I dropped this breadcrumb trail of myself and can now trace it back and pick up bits that need to be kept, and leave other bits to be carried away by ravens and the like.
I guess this is what aging feels like.
Second year of this film program has proven to move forward at warp 9, which isn't entirely what I expected - seeing as how I've spent the past 6 months under the impression we shoot our second year films sometime following January 1st, but we do, in fact, shoot this November. In five weeks. So, that's caused a bit of a discombobulatory panic that I haven't much liked. However, since that elusive piece of knowledge was dropped on us, things have sort of gotten up to speed and now we're on our way. The most intense two hour brainstorm occurred on Tuesday at the Acme Cafe over delicious delicious pie, where my group's idea sort of rose from the ashes of a number of less fortunate ideas and came into play as what we would be spending the next seven months bringing to the silver screen in the form of a ten-minute short film. It's going to be a rather epic adventure, I think.
On this second year shoot, I've stepped up to the plate as the director of photography. I've sort of taken this up as some sort of combination quest/challenge that's going to make me wise up in the more technical aspects of filmmaking - the aspect I enjoy most, but know the least about. The more sets I work on outside of school, the more I see myself getting pigeon-holed into these paper pushing jobs I typically see women doing on a set. I don't want to end up paper-pushing on a set - it's important to know how and have excellent people who do that around - but it doesn't appeal to me and I don't particularly enjoy it. The obstacle here, for me, is getting out there and not allowing myself to fall behind, to know how to communicate what I want on a set and to have the chutzpah to go out and be a valuable asset on sets.
I've been doing a lot of reading - thankfully I've been blessed with a semester that doesn't make reading a wretched and horrible thing and I've been able to read a lot of things at my own leisure. I finished reading The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald and In the Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch last night, and have started in on a book for school, Believing is Seeing Mary Ann Staniszewski and Audio - Visual by Michel Chion today. I'm going to try and get as many film books under my belt in the next four weeks as possible. A broader perspective, nuggets of wisdom and general knowledge are all things I will need to the nth degree come to our shoot in November.
I've been steadily working through my ever-growing 'films to watch' list. Magnolia, Midnight in Paris, Bridesmaids, Rear Window, Vera Drake, Thor, The Shining, Road to Perdition and My Own Private Idaho are some I've crossed off my list this past week or so. The film journal I started a month or two back has proven valuable on a number of levels - familiarizing myself with all sorts of names, trends in director's/cinematographer's works, pointing out things that evoke particular emotion, amazing instances of photography - I tend to remember things much better if I write them down.
However, reflecting upon films I've seen since August in a little black book have lead me to this unnecessary, but incredibly nagging feeling that I must now watch every movie I've seen prior to August 2011 again so I can reevaluate it. It's terribly redundant and there is no way in hell I'm sitting through Transformers 2 again just to say it caused me to have explosive naps. But whatever.
Anyways, I pulled two entire heads of lettuce out of my garden today - I'm at a loss as to what kind of lettuces they were, as I put down a number of varieties that came in variety packs themselves, but both were rather wonderful in a salad. It was surprisingly filling. I'm unsure if it was the variety or the fact that these grew without aid of growth hormones and have had two months to become gorgeous, full heads of lettuce instead of the meek stuff you buy at the super market.
A wicked wind rolled through Vancouver last night and blew over my Brandywine tomatoes. I spent a good hour staking them back up with anything I could find. They've gotten stupidly heavy with tomatoes the size of my fist and I'm not entirely sure how they'll hold up if we get another windy day, but we'll see how it goes. I weeded the second garden bed today and am drawing up a bit of a space saving regime to plant that will come up over winter and in the spring - a variety of hardy lettuces, carrots, radishes, beets and garlic.
Digging in the rain drenched soil today, I rediscovered the curious world that I knew as a child that exists around the roots of plants and around the edges of the garden bed. Earthworms and red worms were plentiful, I must've come upon a dozen just weeding out dandelions. When I'm out there, dirt up to my elbows, flip flops and sweatpants (so many reasons there why I get all the guys, but that's an issue for later), I relax completely - not a lot bothers me. I brush elbows with mama wolf spiders, roll sowbugs around in the palm of my hand - I realize that these are things I should not fear. And I think, a hiatus from the outdoors and a super-city mentality allows these insecurities and itty bitty fears to come creeping back.
Because I'm obsessive-compulsive about the animals I keep as pets, I'm so very glad to say that my dear old catfish, Leonard, turned two last week and my other catfish, Samson, is turning two next week. May they have many years of lazing around, being catfish before them!
Well, after this million-word-count blog post, I should probably go to sleep or something. I've got a week of hellish stress on a budget of zero dollars ahead of me. I'm sure I'll enjoy it. Hope everyone has had a nice start to their autumn and here's to starting October on the right foot.
The summer's pretty much over, but it's making room for delightful fall adventures - where I get to learn things! I cut all my hair off and bought a pair of shoes that aren't sneakers. I'm a grown up! Or something.
I've been traveling a bit. And by traveling, I mean going to see relatives. I don't get out much. First, I ferried over to the island via a long, hellish bus ride with camera equipment and, as usual, too many books. There I spent some time with my Gran and we went on some adventures. It's a tradition we go to Cumberland and pick up some delicious doughnuts at the local bakery. We went to Seal Bay, saw some seals - or rather, we heard them first, as they kept snorting at each other. We also went "plodging" at this great beach that, when the tide is out, there's this vast expanse of sand with shallow pools of saltwater flowing between eachother. Plodging is when you hike up your pants and plodge through these puddles. I think it's an English thing. My Gran is quite English. We pulled over to this road side cafe nestled in the trees called Becky's. They don't really have a menu. Just tell them what you want and they'll see if they can make it for you. What's better is that the owner is a gentleman with an artificial leg who has an affinity for karaoke. Oh, also the Nanaimo bars are the tallest I have ever seen. We spent a lunch at the Wandering Moose Cafe, who've got great soup and sandwiches and tea and things. For a fancy farewell dinner, we went into town to Atlas, where we shared a goat cheese tart and I had a burger that had regular burger fixings, plus pear and brie.
To Calgary! My mom took me to the zoo and we chatted while we perused the caged mammals. I was disappointed to see that the nocturnal portion had been closed down. The reptile and amphibian section was whittled down to some dwarf caimans and a tortoise, I think. I also obtained a pair of maroon pants that make me look like a 70's pimp. I dig it.
Canmore was hot and gorgeous, I spent some time just basking and reading. My dad took me to the Quarry before whisking me off to my Grandparent's farm for a couple nights. I reburned my sun burn. When I got to the farm I got mosquito bites ontop of my twice burned burn. There are few things as painfully itchy, methinks. We took the dogs out to the pond and hunted in the tall grass for (velociraptors) wood frogs and dragonflies and fancy-pants spiders. I found a friend down at the lake, a dragonfly was struggling in the water and I scooped him out. He hung out on my shirt sleeve for a good half hour before he deemed himself dry enough to fly away. I named him Horatio. It was nice to be up there for a bit. I don't think I've been that way since 2009. Seeing my grandparents and my uncle was great too.
Spent some time at the Paw with a group of friends. I would have liked another night with them all. I miss them quite a bit, especially since John left us. Time didn't permit much between everyone's schedule's though. Canmore lost another super guy last Wednesday quite suddenly. I'm sending all of my love out that way still, especially to his wife and all of his friends. It was such sad news to hear.
Spending time with my parents was pretty fly. Cracking vulgar jokes while drinking and roasting marshmallows, staying up to watch a movie only to have everyone just sort of fall asleep around me, pitchers of sangria for an anniversary dinner. It was pretty super. We all took a hike up to Grassi Lakes with my sister, aunt and rolly-polly dog. I walked into a lake and felt the coldest water on my legs since the East coast. I flew back to Vancouver the next day.
Here's a collection of the least dumb shots I took while I was away. I'm always disappointed that I don't have more/better footage. Le sigh. Try to enjoy none-the-less.
I came back to see that my garden had transformed into a tiny plot of jungle. The tomato plants were vast, when I was under the impression they wouldn't make it. One's even got some tomatoes already started. All of them have flowers. The radishes are MAD. I've got some good start on lettuces, flowers on the melon plant, more blossoms on the pumpkin plant. I've also now got another plot out back, which I might fill with root veggies - carrots and beets and more radishes, most probably.
A book you need to read?The Shadow of the Wind by one Carlos Ruiz Záfon. One of the most intriguing and richly written pieces I've read in a couple years. Now, this could mean I just haven't been reading much fiction. And I suppose I haven't. But I did really enjoy this novel. I went and bought his other book The Angel's Game last week. I can only hope it'll be a fraction as good as his first.
A film you need to watch?Rango! It's been said more than once that I have a child's taste in films, but I really did enjoy it. It was probably 20 minutes too long, but I really enjoyed the character design and the wondrous textures and references and all around awesomeness. I can really appreciate a film that pays just as much attention to it's secondary and background characters as it's protagonist. Also, there are very few human beings in the film. I also like that very much.
Now for some angst! There's been a funny, deep seated doubt I've seemed to have grown over the summer. After scraping all of that horrible sadness and lack of worth off my skin, I've seem to uncover something just festering away in a less accessible place, say a kidney or a spleen. I can't seem to shake it quite so easy. Hopefully some film work will drive it away. I don't like the feeling much. A future that once seemed boundless is now this slightly-too-small box that I'm destined to sit in with my knees under my chin and my ear pressed up against the top. I shudder at the prospect.
Here's my most recent Kingfisher Says post. Pretty much talking about what I just talked about in this post. But you get to see my weird face and hear all of my poorly chosen phrases and hums and haws! Yay! (Note: by far, the most convincing thumbnail to date proclaiming my sanity)
Oh hi there. Well, I'm pretty excited we're well into August and I'm still on my feet. My semester officially ends, with a bit of a fizzle, on Wednesday. But I'm not worrying too-too much about that. Thursday we're having a bit of a fancy-pants shin dig to shake off the chills of this past semester and Friday I travel, and continue traveling through until the 28th of August. I think the next three weeks are going to be a supreme time to clear my head, shake things up a bit, tie up some lose ends and just start off the fall semester with a running leap. I've got a sweet fall lined up, with three film production classes, a studio art class and a math course by distance. I'm far beyond excited to see all of my film chums again, the summer just hasn't been the same without seeing them all in one place a few times a week, not to mention working on wondrous projects with them. I'm excited to, once again, become immersed in an atmosphere of every kind of creativity, of knowledge and experience and wonderful things. It's going to be a riot.
With the rainy weather gone, the gardening has taken off a little bit. We've got strawberries and peas that have been picked a time or two and have a number of other things well on the way. The four Brandywine tomato plants I started late from seed are just rocking it out in the raised beds. I didn't have much hope for them at first, but they've got glorious green foliage and are shooting skywards! On my two store-bought cherry tomato plants, we've got some wee green tomatoes just starting to come round. The pumpkin keeps coming back from the dead, it seems. Poor thing. But the blossoms keep coming, but no pumpkins starting quite yet.
Asides from a damn cat in the neighborhood feeling that he must use my garden as his litter box at every opportunity, I think things are going relatively well. I sowed a number of seeds directly into the garden a week or two ago. We've got radishes, violas, kale and a variety of lettuces coming up already. I'm really enjoying having the raised bed. Planters are fine and all, but it really doesn't compare to having a plot of earth you can call your own. I've packed a lot in there, and hopefully by September, it'll be chalk full of great things. Four Brandywine tomato plants, a yellow pepper plant, a red pepper plant, a mini pepper plant I started from seed, and rows of violas, kale, mescluns, lettuce, romaine, radishes and butterfly flower mix. I'm not sure what will win out on space, but I just can't wait until it's a full, lovely garden.
The bordering gardens were planted up by the ladies downstairs and they are just marvelous. She came out of one patch with an armful of squash this afternoon and has a most exuberant potato patch. I'm a little jealous.
Last night I finished the last of the Harry Potter books for the second time. Reading all the books through once again has, I think, brought out my real love for certain ones. Before this time through, I had always had an affinity for the fourth book in particular. But I found myself absolutely loving Prisoner of Azkaban, Order of the Phoenix and even Half Blood Prince! The Deathly Hallows, on my second (much more conscious) reading through, was much better than I remembered it. I had picked it up at midnight the day it came out and promptly stayed up all the next day reading it cover to cover. I didn't remember much of it. So this second time through was really, really nice. I could make some sense out of the last film and I could sort of see where they were coming from with some of their decisions, I suppose. I think I'm going to go see The Deathly Hallows Part 2 a second time with my mom and aunt when I visit home in a couple of weeks. A revisit after reading the book and after some deliberation will make up my mind for certain, I think, whether or not I like the last installment of the Harry Potter films.
I have started a film journal, at long last. It's more an exercise for me to remember what I've seen, my opinion on what I've seen and names. The best I've been able to do in film class so far in a name-drop heavy environment is just sort of... smile and nod, perhaps googling names under the table on my phone. I always try to record the same set of details for each film: title, year, country, director, cinematographer, actors I know and actors I do not. I then will go on, in point form, highlighting interests or conflicts or shots I liked. Usually at the end I'll give a general interpretation of the entire thing and a star-rating, which I really have no system for. Perhaps if I find another aspect of the film mind blowing, i.e. editing or costumes or somesuch, I'd write down that too. I've been trying to get through a few films a week or more and have finally taken in film such as Forrest Gump and Breakfast at Tiffany's, and discovered some likes and dislikes amongst The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Jailhouse Rock, The Big Red One and Wanted.
I haven't had bok choi in years, but have recently rehashed my love for it. The first time I (tried to) stir fry it in a bit of oil and garlic, and that turned out a little gross and slightly singed. Then I discovered a little trick in wake of my every-so-often bacon bender I seem to go on. Bok choi is lovely when stir fried in a bit of bacon grease. I just cut the bok choi in two and fried them just like that. They came out of the pan slightly crunchy and lovely. You end up with this amazing vegetable that smells and tastes every-so-slightly like sweetened peanut butter. It's rather bizarre, but I greatly enjoy it. Plus, bacon + bok choi = a solid Sunday night meal. I am not going to lie.
Anyways. I really do feel this irritating, rage dump of a summer melting away. I think some time on vacation will really remedy this brain-in-a-box feeling I've been enduring for a number of months. The start of a fresh semester with lovely old faces and wonderful new faces will, no doubt, help as well. Anyways, I'm going to go stand in front of a bookshelf for a half hour and contemplate what I am going to read next. I have a brain ache that keeps punching me in the face.
I'll leave you with my most recent video blog... see more over at Kingfisher Says.
So it's July. Happy July? Yes. Because now that's July, July will be over soon. Kapeesh? It's an uneasy time when I've got my nose to the grindstone, but in such a way that I'm constantly wondering, "what the hell for?" Although I can answer that question rather simply, most days I go unconvinced. Unconvinced of what? I am rather unsure. I am unsure of many things. This paragraph is filled with so much unsureness.
I'm getting extremely stoked on Harry Potter. I'm motoring through the series again, hopefully to have them done by the time I stand in line for a great number of hours to see the final movie at midnight with some friends from work. Yes. Midnight opening for the Deathly Hallows Part II. Once a nerd, always a nerd. I accept this. It's going to be an emotional roller coaster of ending childhoods and sadness and 70% of the characters dying for whatever reason. But at least we'll have each other?
This photograph.
Anyways, we christened the Bat Cave with a good old fashioned house warming this past Wednesday and were happy to see all of the faces that showed up, bearing booze and food. Joel (of the 30 days of videos) came bearing a gift of a Battlestar Galactica themed mug, on which "WHAT THE FRAK" is printed in large, rather angry, red letters. I will now forever loaf around my house drinking booze from this mug, pretending I am Colonel Tigh. I think most of the evening can be summed up by this photograph and by telling you that I strummed on a green ukelele for a while repeatedly singing, "I like dudes". We're a classy bunch.
I went down to Red Cat Records last month and picked up some sweet, sweet vinyl. I'm a large fan of used vinyl, as it doesn't cost me $50 *coughDaftPunkcough*. But I accept that I am poor and will someday not be. Though I don't rest very easy with that thought. It's more a superficial, polka dot band aid for the sucking chest wound that is the problem of how I'm going to make money for the rest of my life. Anyways, back to records. I bought two marvelous soundtracks - The Muppet Movie as well as When Harry Met Sally (oh, Harry Connick Jr and your sultry, sultry voice). I also picked up a really illin' Bony-M album, which a friend of a friend remarked, "I think my mother had that album," I laughed and told him to listen to Ra Ra Rasputin immediately whilst dancing. I also picked up my favorite U2 album, War. I believe my dad used to have it on cassette tape, back when those were cool. It's absolutely stupendous on vinyl, it's loud and "full of texture" (if that's a thing - it must be a thing) and wonderful.
Moseyed on down to the Vancouver Public Library book sale after class yesterday to see what sort of wonderful, wonderful things I could find. First off, I was blown away by the building it was in. Evidently, I had been skirting around it my entire school year by about two blocks and never even noticed it. It's glorious! I didn't even have much time to marvel at it, as it was raining rather hard, and me being myself, I didn't have an umbrella with me. You'd think I'd learn eventually, as this is Vancouver I live in. The book sale was a little less intense than I had hoped it to be, but with paperbacks coming in at 75¢ a pop, I really, really could not complain. I picked up four National Geographics, a copy of Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain, T. H. White's The Sword in the Stone and two tiny gems, MASH Goes to Texas and MASH Goes to San Fransisco. I also almost picked up a tiny paperback entitled Indiana Jones and the Philosopher's Stone, because it was hilarious. "Harry Potter, we meet again" "Snakes, why'd it have to be snakes?" or some sort of mash-up like that. Who's not very clever with these sorts of things? This guy.
I recently planted a pitcher plant in my frog tank, and am both disgusted and amazed to report half digested cricket carcases in all of the largest pitchers. It's gross, but so so awesome. Here's some photos of my new fish and my old fish. They're doing rather well. The glowlight tetra is Herp and the silvertip tetra is Derp. Derp is doing a lot better than Herp, but hopefully Herp will start putting on some weight soon. My oldest tetra, Miles, is bossy and chubby. My two catfish are boisterous and chubby. The shrimp's a fat kid, who keeps molting because he keeps getting too fat for his shell. I'm so glad everything in this house is so well fed. :|
Finally got around to planting some veggies last week. Hauled a bag of sea soil home and planted up some peppers, tomatoes, basil, sunflowers, peas and pansies. Today I picked up a strawberry plant, tons of bamboo to build trellises from and more pots to fill with this wonderful stuff known as sea soil. My place doesn't have any sort of hose (or any sort of spigot for one), so there's going to be lots of trips up and down stairs with a mop bucket filled with water and fertilizer to keep that garden going strong all summer. I'm hoping we'll get something out of it. I'm going to plant up a bunch of lettuces in a planter perhaps tomorrow. I'd love to expand my gardening habits, but it's hard 1) renting, it's not like I can invest much in this place, seeing as I'm not going to live here for years and years and years. 2) sharing the yard with three other people. I keep daydreaming about being able to have raspberry and blueberry bushes and apple trees and flower patches, but I guess now's not the time in life. I'm finding it hard to pace myself.
Moving caused some curious, old-time things to surface. I went through some picture books the other day, finding that some were just as old as I was! Puzzle Island, The Butterfly Ball and Rupert were some of my favorites. I also leafed through a copy of The Road Goes Ever On and On: A Song Cycle, which I picked up at a used book store in Canmore some years ago - during my overly obsessed period of life when anything that Tolkien's name graced had to be mine - and had a fit when I realized I may have had, in my hands, a first edition. Unfortunately, after an hour of over exuberant searching, I discovered I had the first American edition, which is still a little valuable, but not straight from London valuable. I actually got some use out of this book my late Great Uncle Brian gave to me on my birthday some years ago called Treasures of the Misty Mountains. It's entire volume is dedicated to the different editions of Tolkien's books and various merchandise that has stemmed off from the series (oh, the things in my library). In fact, it was more useful than anything I found on the internet (books for the win).
Another thing I rediscovered was this box that I has housed many things throughout it's life, jewelry, photos and now is host to gameboy games. It's been plastered with stickers since middle school, but on the bottom is a little piece of signage via my Grandpa, who made the box. I don't know if I ever realized this was on the bottom. Why my childhood self figured it was a good idea to plaster something my Grandpa made me specially with his own two hands with stickers of Pokemon and cycling swag, I don't know. But now it bears this strange new specialness to me. I'm getting far too nostalgic in my old age.
Check this out - the Bat Cave has not one, not two, but four game consoles. We're working on a fifth. That's how much gaming/Netflix watching goes on under this roof. I've discovered how much rage Halo gets out and created a disgusting alter ego for myself in Xbox Live known as "Dinkleberg". This alter ego dresses like they empty lobster traps for a living and are pretty okay with that.
Nesting has been going quite nicely. Organized all of my books last week, which has calmed me down quite a bit. High ceilings have given way to more space to put books on the top of bookshelves, which has just been revolutionary. I've got a pile of Redwall novels, a pile of Harry Potter hardcovers, a stack of graphic novels and some fancy boxed sets sitting where they wont take up space on the actual shelves. Organization and high celilings for the win. Books rule.
Excitement is mounting for August. My only exam arrives on the 10th, which is now going to be followed by a three week hiatus from school, work and Vancouver. I'll be headed to the island to visit my Gran for five days or so, then I'm jetting out West to Canmore for a good, solid visit with my parents, grandparents, friends and puppy dog! We've been planning lots of mini trips to do - the zoo, movies, Lord of the Rings on Blu Ray marathons (yesss), hikes, I think I'll even get a trip up to the Farm! I need a holiday, it's not a very long one, but I suspect I'll return quite refreshed for the fall semester.
Anyways, hope everyone's having an okay time this July. Tomorrow's going to be a great day filled with gardening, sun basking and celebrating Vancouver's 125th downtown with some free concerts. Free is good. I hope you enjoyed my text/photo/youtube embed heavy post.
Make sure you keep an eye on:
The Long Road Home: their Indiegogo campaign made it to a sweet, sweet $10,386! Production will be commencing shortly. Be sure to follow their video blog of the super-journey with filmmakers' Alex Coulson, Adam McKay and Analise Stuart!
Choch: their Indiegogo campaign reached their goal of $1000 and even went a little over! Be sure to keep an eye on when DVDs are going to be released - here's an article in FFWD from this past week, where filmmaker Brendan Prost speculates as to why no one seems to have an interest in coming out to watch independent films.
Some neat things to bewilder and bedazzle your wrinkly brains:
Virtual tour... of MOSCOW. In leiu of Durae and I learning a whole of three words in Russian the other day and vowing that we would learn it proper.
Stumbled across this photographer just yesterday - haven't quite seen anything like it. I recommend checking out his entire gallery! Get ready to get up close and personal to those hairs on the elbows of spiders. Just saying. It's very cool.
I've been doing genetics homework all week listening to this! I don't have any speakers hooked up to my computer at the moment, so I've had the ol' earphones plugged in at all times. I've been finding lyrical music increasingly distracting as I try and decode what this frigging textbook is trying to tell me in the most complex way possible, so I fell back on some orchestrated soundtracks to soothe the soul. It's a wonderful mix of epic, motion picture orchestra, booming bagpipes and rolling drum crescendos, as well as playful Celtic flute pieces and an adorable song by Jonsi. Have a listen, or numerous. If you haven't seen the film yet, please do that too.
Things have been rather stagnant this summer semester, punctuated by these incredibly tumultuous moments that sort of shake around the brain a little. A lot of evaluation and reevaluation has been occurring. Lots of attempts at backpedaling and not a ton of success at it. Summer's become something to just 'get over with', which is all sorts of wrong in my book. Waiting to see if I made the cut into the 2nd year of the program is just driving me up the wall. I'd just like to know if I'm a failure sooner rather than later please and thank you, SFU. All the things I've planned to do this summer have sort of fizzled. I was going to sew and sell tons of felties and make tons of movies and take tons of photos and learn tons of new things and go to the beach and garden and read lots. Let's just say I have done very few of those things. When work slows down in a couple weeks, I'm hoping I can get to the point where I can get up and just do something wonderful with my day, every day. There are two months left to make up for two months of nothing. Because why have a lame summer, when you can have a pretty alright one?
I lost an awesomely dear friend recently, I talk about it on my video blog a little. It's here, if you'd like to see it. I get a little weepy, but I sort of just needed to talk about him a little. I still get weepy every few days, his loss is one that'll always be with me. But it's getting better, and I look back on the good times that we all had while he was here with us. I didn't make the trip home to attend the funeral, which, depending on the day, is a decision that I am somewhat glad or incredibly saddened I made. One thing that sort of shuffled out of the ashes, however, was a feeling of community that sort of reached out to me from the eastward province. The feeling has since dispersed, but it was very comforting to know that in times of grief, sadness and need, we could come together and make sure that everyone's doing alright. A lot of people were proud to call him a friend, as he was someone who was kind and friendly and always made a point of making other people laugh. Canmore gave him a good send-off. It's hard not being able to talk to or hug someone who meant so much to me and who was in my life for such a long time. I miss him a lot.
In other, much, much more frabjous news, I've moved away from the basement and into the top floor of an old house. Some attributes I enjoy about my new residence: it has lovely, huge windows everywhere, the bathroom is orange, the kitchen is gigantic, we turned our two futons into a sectional, room to garden and we have our own doorbell! Some attributes I do not enjoy about my new residence: the fridge screams in agony every day or so, we think it is dying, my room is this nuclear blue that is unlike any colour I have ever seen, but I lack the funds and the pure strength of will to paint it and I have a fear of falling out of my bedroom window because it is sort of falling apart. But all in all, it's a pretty swell set up. My parents came out for two days and the move went super smoothly thanks to some burly film chums and Mickie! Thanks to the quick move, I got to spend some more time with my parents, which was nice. It wasn't near enough time, of course, but it was nice to see a familiar face from Canmore after John passed away. We took a trip to Granville Island and gave a toast to his memory and all-around awesomeness. He and I went to Granville Island and had a super time in 2009. He was here for his 19th birthday, so I made him Bender out of felt, because we both enjoyed watching Futurama to an extreme degree.
Moving out of my old place was super surreal. Between losing John and packing up all of my belongings in the same week, it was a strange and empty feeling. Now I look back on it and it feels like I never really lived there at all. I was there for 11 whole months! I'm quite glad I'm here now. I've got a room mate who I can talk with when I get home instead of stewing in misery by myself. Currently, it's a little bit like Tetris trying to find places for everything. I have an extreme number of books, DVDs and film equipment and downsizing to a room probably half the size of my last one has been a bit of a 'where to put all of this shit I own' sort of challenge. My books are all in disarray and it is driving me all up the wall. Due to my large amount of film equipment, most of my closet is dedicated to my camera rack. Who needs clothes anyways.
We've also got some new additions to the fish family. We went to buy a couple of tetras to make my green fire tetra, Miles, company. He's been all by his lonesome since around November and he needed some chums to school with. So we picked up an orange glowlight tetra and a silver tip tetra, whom we named Herp and Derp, respectively. It was tremendous to see Miles trying to school with Herp and Derp while they were still acclimatizing to the water temperature in a plastic bags. Now they seem to be best of friends. Yes, I'm a big fan of aquarium fish. Deeeeal with it! We also picked up a couple of new aquarium plants, as the tank now gets a fair amount of sunlight.
I'm rather excited for August. Once my exams are all wrapped up and I (hopefully) never con myself into taking summer courses again as long as I live, I'm going to take a jaunt over to Vancouver Island to pay my Gran a visit for a week or maybe a little less. Then I'm heading home to Canmore for a week or so! I'm so excited! I've been missing home a lot this past year and didn't think I could quite last til next Christmas to see those mountains out the front window, my puppydog Finnegan and my folks back home. My original plan was to start shooting some sort of documentary about my family this summer, but I just haven't developed a solid enough plan for it quite yet. I'm so excited to just have two weeks of no school and no work. Simply visiting and chatting and watching movies. It's been a while since I've had a bit of a break like that. So that's something to look forward to, film school or no!
I've been trying to hash out a couple of film ideas, but I can't seem to form any of them into much of anything. Pages and pages of rather self-indulgent monologue, but that's about it. I apparently am a big fan of using voice overs, or perhaps I'm just a terrible dialogue writer and proceed to just lean on monologues to get the point across. Who knows! I guess I'll just keep writing and see what develops. I'd be looking forward to screenwriting classes come fall, but I don't want to get my heart set on anything (thanks again SFU!)
The past few weeks, I've just been haunted by this feeling that I'm never going to get anywhere in life. Currently wondering how so many seem to work past that. And sort of just... persist. It's just hard to see past the end of my own nose, currently.
Hope the end of June is most excellent for everyone and happy summer! Go frolic on the beaches and drink delicious slushed adult beverages and cook things over fire pits and stargaze and go on long walks in the wilderness and read in the sun and bask in the lovely, lovely heat.
Stay classy.
Some shout outs! I shall link them, and you shall go to them.
Next week, look for a post where I re-visit Choch! Brendan's put the whole damn thing online for two weeks for you to watch for free! Please take an evening and watch it, think about it, maybe discuss it with a friend or two. Then, perhaps you'd like to kindly donate to the cause - helping the film get distributed out to film festivals and into your own homes!
The Long Road Home also needs your help! They only have 8 days left to raise the remainder of their production costs!
Joel's 30 days of film - what a challenge! He's done nine so far! Just think, he's got another twenty one to go! In this one, number eight, get up close and personal with Joel's big toes.
Support independent film! Because it is oh-so-awesome.
Check out my exorbitant amount of other blogs:
Kingfisher Says - Video blogging because I'm horrible at speaking intellegently
May's finally coming to a close. I've been working border line full time, which makes for boring days and exhausted nights - but with this first month of summer almost past, I feel much better about the stretch of time that lies between now and August.
I haven't had much inspiration to sew, and even less to write films. I made myself a handy checklist at the end of April detailing all of the film exploits I wanted to complete by the time September rolled around. Three short films and a stop motion short. So far, we're at a smooth zero count. I have an idea or two rolling around up top, but nothing concrete seems to be able to make it's way out onto a page. I'm desperately hoping that June will bring a little more creative ebb and flow. I think once I move and assemble myself in my new (!) place of residence, new things will begin.
After two years of rather stagnant not-really adventures, I finally got out to Lighthouse Park up in West Vancouver. My first mistake was trying to get there on the precipice of the long weekend. The bus was packed and the traffic was horrendous. But eventually, I did get there. I spent the afternoon and was rather disappointed to find that Lighthouse Park is more the Stanely Park of North Vancouver, than anything. I could hear lawn mowers and screaming children no matter where I was in the park. Needless to say, my next adventure will have to be a little farther removed from the city. The only birds I saw were robins and black-capped chickadees. The flowers were few. It was nice to get out with my camera, but for my five hours there I only shot about 15 minutes and compiled the video below.
The end of May has come with this piqued sense of homesickness. Hauling out old DVDs of home movies to bring some warmth back into this basement. I watched this one I did for my Grandparents Christmas 2007 the other day, and thought I'd share the last 15 minutes or so. I hope you enjoy. Just a bit of self indulgence.
Thankfully, I might get to go home to Canmore for a week at the end of the summer. I'm really, really looking forward to it. It is rare I see my parents, rarer still to actually go home to them. I've been trying to come up with some sort of basis for a documentary about my family that I can start that week. I know I want to do it, but don't know what grounds to build the premise on. Laaaame!!
In other (good) news, I finally have a new place to live! As of yesterday, this adorable top floor of an old house that my friend and I had been after was granted to us. Our move in date is June 1st, but I will be moving shortly after (June 10th) with the aid of my parents who are coming out for four or five days to lend a hand.
I've got to say, getting to know Brendan Prost over the past 8 months has been inspiring. He was making feature films before he even set foot in the film program at Simon Fraser University. Generation Why, Prost's second feature, premiered in Calgary last summer and I nabbed a DVD of it this past fall. I was blown away by the fact that a fellow student had already achieved such a standing in the film community, with numerous screenings and DVD sales, not to mention the fact that it took home the Rising Star Award at the Canada International Film Festival. The drive and determination needed to complete a feature are two things I have yet to muster as a filmmaker - but seeing is believing, and with Prost's feature-per-summer game plan, it's quite the motivation to get off your keester and make some films of your own! It is possible, ladies and gentlemen, you've just got to have the drive and ambition to do it!
Screening this month in Calgary Prost's next feature, Choch,gives us some mulling over to do about that image in the mirror we preen and obsess over every day.
I was lucky enough to see Choch at it's premier in Vancouver on April 15th (such a late review, I'm such a horrible person, apologies). Choch is a conversation in identity and the trials we put ourselves through to fit into a clique or a culture. Tyler is a choch, stoked on Jagerbombs, decked in Ed Hardy, and surrounded by friends who are rowdy and obtuse. We've all seen these stereotypical 20-somethings wandering the malls and prowling the clubs with popped collars. Our protagonist Tyler, we discover, isn't this insensitive, chauvinistic husk of a young adult we have come to expect from that caricature. He finds himself conflicted - unable to feel quite right in his social group. Putting up this tough exterior has become commonplace, but Tyler develops an acute, conscientious doubt concerning his identity. The things he has said and done start to disgust him and he begins to reevaluate this persona he has created. He can drop the charade, become an outcast to that social circle and have to look for new companionship, or keep it up - maintaining that group of "friends", perpetuating that stereotype, but retaining that safety net/comfort zone.
Not only was the identity of youth under scrutiny, but the masquerades that parents put on were also on trial. Choch presents the facades that adults find themselves putting up to impress, say, a date with a new woman - case in point: Tyler's father. The remoulding of one's interests to cater to that of another, in this case an internet date and a sudden interest in jazz, becomes just another face to put on in the morning to maintain that relationship, however strained and uncomfortable.
I felt Choch added a sort of middle ground to these stereotypical conflicts we are so familiar with - these social groups that seem so black and white. The Greasers and the Socs, the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies, the territorial lunchroom tables in high school. Culture cliques whose elitist dispositions always end in naive misunderstandings. In Choch we see Tyler strive to maintain an awkward friendship with an old friend, whose own social qualms manifest themselves in skinny jeans and obscure bands you've never heard of. Both characters are limited by the identities they have spun around themselves and the safety they feel they have in their cliques.
Choch was leaps and bounds ahead of Generation Why both technically and from a storytelling perspective. Prost coaxed some amazing performances out of his leading man, Zach White, and used a considerable amount of ad-libbed dialogue that provided smooth and believable conversations. Shot on a couple of Sony HDR FX-1000s on a shoestring budget, Choch develops a distinct visual style via handheld camerawork, black and white footage and tight, rapid cuts. Prost's filmmaking abilities improve astronomically with every picture - the sky's the limit. Keep your eye on this one!
I've said it before, and I'll say it again - independent films rely on word of mouth and shout outs to get their names out there. Become a fan, invite your friends to an event, write a review - anything and everything helps! Support truly independent film - spread the word!
Happy end of April! It's been one hell of a month, I'm not going to lie. It seems that life is becoming increasingly dense and uncertain and bizarre. I definitely am not minding it as much as I thought I would!
I had a super two days with my pal Aerlan this week. It was a super surprise because he was supposed to mosey on down to Seattle for a visit. First, we went to a super hot pot place down on Victoria Drive (highly recommended - Fatty Cow Seafood Hot Pot!) where we partook in a little bit of everything, which included some "out of the comfort zone" foods such as oysters, liver and kidney. It was pretty tasty, except for the weird things. But, hey - now I can say, "I've totally eaten pork kidney," which I suppose I can consider a point of pride? The next day we had a super marathon of The Outsiders, American Graffiti and MASH followed by a strange dinner at a shifty Chinese food place that had horrible service - but hey, all the restaurants you walk into randomly can't be winners.
I had a great dinner with my friend Amanda when she came through town on her way to spend a glorious year in Taiwan (take a peek at her travel blog!) when we walked around on Kingsway searching for some chow. We came across a strange place called Mega Grill. Seemed to have a little bit of everything. Lamb souvlaki for ten bucks (no objections here!) followed by surprise belly dancing. Yes, belly dancing. It was cool for about a minute before it got horribly awkward in that tiny restaurant. But again - it was a curious experience, and I'm starting to not mind those.
With school over - films screened and exams all wrapped up, I finally got around to sewing a bit this week. Creature 003 is up on Etsy! I think his limbs turned out pretty adorable, as did his teeth and eyebrows. The overall shape of him is kind of funny - but hopefully someone will give him a happy home! Sewing on my days off was such a zen experience. I'd put on some Star Trek Next Generation and stitch all afternoon! I'm looking forward to seeing what sort of felties I create all summer long! Remember to keep an eye out on my Etsy shop. I'm really going to be trying to spruce it up and keep it nice and stocked up from now until Christmas! So many felties!
I ended up taking a couple of courses over the summer - but with only one day actually affected by this I've been plotting out my summer beyond the work place. I'm bummed out I have to work so much - but its something I've been slowly coming to terms to, the fact that I'll be working jobs like this for quite some time. But I've got a solid job that pays alright, and I'll hang on to it until a better opportunity comes a long.
The end of the semester has really brought a change in mindset for me. I think the past four months have really gotten the ball rolling in a sort of "mental maturation" that had been overdue for a happening. After eight months of film school and meeting some of the most fantastic people, I think I've really started to gain new perspectives and at least get a foot hold in the seemingly unscalable wall of the lazy, procrastinating and boring self. I've definitely had a shift in my mind set and it seems that I'm much more positive and am regaining the passion and drive that I had lost in the previous two years of University.
Creator and Monster - and vise versa
The summer seems bright - I was not looking forward to four months of nose to the grindstone cashier work. But things keep popping up that will break up the monotony. I've told myself that by the end of the summer I want three complete short films written and directed by myself as well as a stop motion done on 16mm and the Bolex. I've got an idea or two that I'm slowly developing for the shorts. I basically just want to get out there and make films. It's something I've never really done. Any project that I've done in the past five years has been for school or a paid gig that I didn't have much interest in. With everything I learned this past year, I think I could really make some personal headway in developing a storytelling and visual technique. It's going to be awesome! Some traveling might be in the future as well - and that's always awesome!
I've got two fellow filmmaker shout outs to make this week:
CHOCH! Filmmaker Brendan Prost - creator of Generation Why - premiered his next feature, Choch, at Woodwards a couple of weeks ago. My review for it should be up in the next few days! Now that he's back in Calgary for the summer he's looking to get the word out. I believe he's going to be announcing some Alberta bound screenings in the next couple days. Choch is fantastic - a look at the identities we find ourselves putting up for the sake of fitting in as youth and as well as adults. Shot on a supremely modest budget, this indie film is worth the trip! Go check out a screening and tell your friends! Independent films greatly depend on word of mouth and small promotions. Prost's work improves with each project - take a gander at his previous work. He's got a new website up!
The Long Road Home! Hailing from Capilano U, Adam and Alex are working their way across country to their home towns in Ontario to start production on their first feature, The Long Road Home. They desperately need your support (and maybe some cash, if you've got any to spare). If you find yourself in Ontario this summer and want to lend a hand, get a hold of them via IndieGoGo! Or drop them a donation or a supportive word or two - whatever you can spare!
Support independent film!
I should really be asleep already, as it's a dense weekend filled with work and house hunting! Yes, I am moving! It's going to be insaaaaane!
I did a bit of a photo shoot of my firebellied toads as I fed them the other day. I've had these toads a very long time and every so often I just need to document their little handsome faces!
In other news, in an attempt to improve my speaking/conversation ability, I have started a video blog for the sole purpose of talking about anything and everything. My first post will be up shortly - but check it out at Kingfisher Says!
The semester's coming to a close and I suppose now would be an alright time to reflect on my 2nd semester film, which I tiled 'Vanity'.
I can say I'm rather disappointed in myself with this project. I got my brain all wrapped around the idea of doing an environmental piece over Christmas. And although the final project has a much more solid concept than my original proposal, I still can't help to think that it fell short of delivering anything decisive.
The shoot was short, sweet and easy (something I have come to not expect at all, from any shoot, ever). With the help of two fellow film students over a weekend, I was finished. I can say I'm quite pleased with my photography. I shot all of the colour footage in my kitchen. I decided since I refused a light kit last semester and loathed myself for it (lit my bedroom with like... 7 IKEA lamps instead), I decided to haul a three point ARRI kit home. I actually had a great time lighting it, I wouldn't go without a light kit again.
This was my first attempt shooting on black and white. With the original intention of hand developing, I chose to shoot on black and white reversal. With the tip that the 85 filter would help bring out some cloud contrast, I used that to my advantage. My disappointment with the black and white reel, however, was that some shots were too underexposed (as you will see), a few so much so they could not be used. The use of the negative print was a decision I made once I saw how fantastic some of it turned out. It took some trial and error to figure out how it would be assembled, but in the end, I think it is an effective closing - however aesthetically motivated the decision was.
Anyways, I suppose I should explain my motives to make this. Ever since moving to Vancouver and doing things like volunteering at the Vancouver Aquarium, I've become much more aware of environmental issues in general. Moving from small town, middle of Alberta to huge city sitting on the edge of the Pacific brought many issues to the forefront. I made it a priority to compost, recycle and be extraordinarily mindful of products I buy and use on a daily basis. As I continued these acts, however, I realized that no progress was being made. Some people make it more of a priority, others pay no mind to it. I learned of all the shortcuts the large corporations were taking around environmental problems. A handful of individuals are bailing water out of a ship of millions, filled with holes.
Basically, I made this film to illustrate the redundancies in the environmentalism movement. I can recycle everything for the rest of my life and it seems that that wouldn't help anything. My realization of this has sort of manifested itself in a sort of back of my brain constant madness/frustration. We're in too deep to beat around the bush. The facts have been presented in every possible way - it's horrifying to think about... and yet, the problem persists more than ever. It exists on such a broad scale that it's difficult to comprehend - the global ramifications hard to see when it's so expertly swept under the carpet. It's a similar frustration I feel when it comes to other over-sized, deeply engrained issues such as politics and media. Things that often result in the realization of futility and the inability to truly change what was set in motion long before I was born.
I took exerpts from The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, The Human, the Orchid and the Octopus by Jaques Cousteau and Silent Spring by Susan Carson. The narration was, once again, done by myself. I should have made it more of a priority to find another individual with, perhaps, a more authentic voice. The sound I used was a combination of Keneda by Geinoh Yamahirogumi from the Akira original soundtrack, Wounded Animals by Vangelis from the Blade Runner (LE) soundtrack and The Amazon Rainforest Part III from The Sounds of the Rainforest.
My problems with this film lie mostly in the fact that my vision was never that strong, nor was it every very clear. The issue I was addressing was large and overbearing, my presentation was lacklustre. It's an extremely important topic, and although I learned a great deal from the background research I did, it seems I failed to convey any specific feeling at the close.
The feedback I received post-screening was generally positive. It generated some good discussion points, but nothing outstanding. The fact that I have rudimentary skills at threading the Eiki projector and the fact that it kept skipping horribly on splices didn't help my nerves much that morning. Post-inspection of my film brought to attention sprockets that were missing entirely and some haggard looking splices. Since then, it has been respliced, but still skips occasionally (which you will see in the video).
You can take a gander at my previous film and subsequent reflection here. Or if you're on Tumblr, check it here.
In still film related news: if you live in the Vancouver area, the SFU first year film student screening is on April 6th at 7pm in the Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema at the SFU Woodwards building. I highly recommend it if you're up for an evening of some truly fantastic and unique 16mm films.
Also also also: my friend, classmate and fantastic filmmaker Aerlan Barrett guest posted an absolutely fantastic guide to the wonderful world of the Bolex over at Sad Hill Cemetery!
