Great Manta Ray of Santa Fe -

As I start to piece together this script for the fall, I find myself constantly hung up on the visuals. When I'm sitting down, brainstorming the main conflict in the film and what it can involve - I constantly find myself on the next blank page, making lists of props, costumes, songs, locations, lighting schemes and camera angles. On a secondary front, any story I have tried to write down, I have deemed not a good enough story to tell. On what basis, I'm not entirely sure. I'm not even super sure what sort of films I'd like to make. When I think of my dream jobs, two sort of float to the top. One is working in quality kids films - the other, doing camera operation for programs like Planet Earth, traveling, observing and searching for that perfect, heart-rending shot of a tiny, rare animal making it's way in the world. As much as I'd like to be the ring-master on any project of mine, I really don't think I have the ability to actively produce entire ideas. Of course, I'll give it my all while I'm in school, but it's not something I'd necessarily cling to coming out of  University. I think it would be magnificent to collaborate with a screenwriter at some point - either in a directorial or a cinematography capacity.


While reading Mike Leigh on Mike Leigh, I've come to note certain aspecs of filmmaking that continue to both astound and confound me. The debate over art is something I find particularly futile; what is worth looking at, what is worth money - which pieces affect whom and in what way. Leigh's way of doing things is unique, laborous - and through his practices he gets these devastating dramatic pieces that I, personally, have not seen the likes of. There is a film out there for everyone, I think - and as filmmakers, the possibilities are absolutely endless. Not only are there an astounding number of ways to now go about getting a film made, but film can be made to realize any truth, any dream and any image. It's something I really look forward to being involved in for the rest of my life.

I've also started exploring photography a little more as a source of inspiration for visuals. I've now shot a couple rolls of black and white 35mm stills on loaner cameras. It's a rather exhilarating activity, looking for where the light is just right. And trying to think in black and white is opening up all of these brain-doors that look for texture on a different level than taking colour photos.

Potatoes!

I also made some amazing soup the other day. With the onset of a weird chest cold, I decided that, in 25 degree weather was good weather to make a butt-load of soup in. Using Jamie Oliver's potato and leek recipe as a jumping point, I took garden potatoes, leeks, onions, garlic, carrots, celery and ham - boiled in a vegetable stock with loads of pepper and a couple bay leaves. Delish! My only wish is that our freezer was bigger so I could make bigger batches. And, as a result, eat soup forever. Also, this horrible, horrible cough is remarkably persistent - so make a wider berth around me than you usually would. I seem to have already infected my roommate. Although it doesn't seem to come with any flu-y or congestion problems, it's all up in my chest and it's really awesome.

Having harvested my first (and probably only) head of broccoli yesterday, I think the gardening is winding down. An unfortunate white mildew is slowly preying in my pumpkins, and the peas are all but done. The beans are still coming at alright intervals - onions are still coming, and I picked my first couple of tomatoes from the vine this past week. Sometimes there's a strawberry or two waiting for me in my patio planters when I come home from out and about.

I made a new friend. It's a ukulele. After a couple years of pining after one, after feeling the need to have another interactive hobby that is completely "battery-free", I'm actually having a lot of fun teaching myself how to play an instrument. It picks at my brain in different ways than reading, watching and the like.

I'm due back home in Alberta today! Where many adventures await: camping, hiking, eating, drinking, and all that business. It's a much needed holiday, I think. A time to be away from the pressures of the city for just an ounce of time before I come face to face with an incredibly dense semester. Although my anxiety is peaking at a borderline psychotic level, I think this semester's going to be a lot of fun.

Anyways, a bit of a scrappy, boring to look at post today - but I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their August. And for those returning to school of any kind this September, I feel ya.


Things to feast your eyes upon:

Experience Madeline's excellent cartoon-amazingness!

Remember to keep up with Rock Cottage Year!

Also, ParaNorman was really awesome. I recommend you all go and see it. Plus, the soundtrack is by Jon Brion. So there is nowhere you could go wrong here. At all.

Live in Vancouver, looove movies? Be sure to check out the Vancouver Retro Cinema Festival. PRISCILLA IS PLAYING!

I found this neat, very informative site that describes the inner workings of tons of still photography cameras that are a little on the old side. Here's a link to the Nikon FA portion of the site. Extremely thorough, and rather straightforward. A great guide for n00bs like myself.

August: Selectively Crispy.

"What is commonest, cheapest, nearest, easiest, is Me,
   Me going in for my chances, spending for vast returns,
   Adorning myself to bestow myself on the first that will take me,
   Not asking the sky to come down to my good will,
   Scattering it freely forever."
                           -Walt Whitman, Song of Myself (14)


I have attained a new personal project. Probably something that will come to reality in the next year or so. But I've gotten pretty stoked on camping. With the success of our second ESL camping trip, plus talking with some amazing people about trips around the Gulf Islands, I've decided to start a collection of one-man camping gear, a touring bike, and some good places to travel to and hunker down for a night or two or three. This last trip has sort of renewed a love for the stars, for bonfires, for picking through rockpools for the most bizarre of sea creatures. A trip to Grandma's Beach on Salt Spring garnered an absolutely amazing array of sea life, just wading up to the knees. Rock crabs, pipe fish, fan worms, baby rock fish (cutest!!), shrimp, brittle stars, star fish, moon jellies and, what I believed to be, a  sort of miscellaneous cnidarian.

I think, a lot of the time, we have a tendency to disregard how attached other people can be to things. Things being... well, anything. Music, movies, moments in time. These iotas of importance in an individuals life. How can one person put down another's love for opera or rap, Leo Tolstoy or George R. R. Martin? I had a really hard time in middle school when in my top ten 'Everything I Will Ever Love Ever' list included things like Lord of the Rings, frogs, writing fantasy novels and science fiction. Lord of the Rings was a turning point, reaffirming filmmaking as my star to shoot for, the first film that I noticed cinematography specifically. I was appalled when people would declare to me that it's lame, or they weren't going to watch it because everyone else has seen it, it's too mainstream. That kind of thing still gets my goat occasionally. Mostly when it comes to film. It's important to keep in mind, the reason our arts scene and culture is so diverse, is that people are individuals - don't knock it til you try it - and it takes all kinds.

I heard about a weird, morally reprehensible thing on CBC the other morning. I guess some kids (and, I guess, parents) have decided it's a good idea for  picked-on youth to get plastic surgery as a means to deter bullying. Now, I'm all for the control of violence and depression in youth - I'm all for giving every kid the ability to stand up for themselves, but this really upset me. It comes back to the "we live in a society that tells us 'don't get raped', instead of 'don't rape'". Here, the message seems to be, 'boys don't like you because you don't have DD breasts? Let's fix that," or, "Don't look like a Hollywood starlett? Being picked on for your (insert any extraneous non-Barbie-like feature here)? We'll fix that right up and make you look like Jocelyn Wildenstein before you've even hit  puberty! Huzzah!" This is a step in the wrong direction for youth. Accepting who you are, and who others are is a much more important (and less invasive) way of dealing with bullying, kids feeling out of place, and building a supportive community in which youth are raised. Kids need to have thicker skins, parents need to be there for when they need support, and as a society, we can't be advocating changing yourself just to 'fit in'. Be yourself, you exist, you're a thing!

I've recently been able to start harvesting some potatoes. Those have come with some hard lessons. My first batch came out small and scarred (but still good), and some web and book research has told me how to avoid those problems. The second hill I dug up was nicer, smooth skinned and more plentiful. I had a bit of an aphid outbreak on my broccoli, but was able to deter them with soap and water treatments, as well as some help from the local ladybug population. I can pull a handful of beans every few days, which is fantastic. I've got a wicked pumpkin well on it's way to being the most show-y thing in my garden. It's about nine inches in diameter and still expanding!

In light of my fifth (yeesh) year at university about to begin, I have started thinking a little more critically about my current and future roles in filmmaking. What kind of films I want to make - and who to make them for (the later, perhaps the most important question of them all). Despite my family egging me on because of my 'youth', I do feel ancient. Every misstep I make feels like a devastating waste of breath - when really, it just takes me down another path; other opportunities, new scenery. I keep getting sucked in to the idea that this industry is incredibly 'cut-throat'. But, the fact of the matter is - it's only cut-throat so long as I play it that way. So long as I believe that every one else will cut me down to get to the top, and I need to do the same - I wont be a happy camper, and I'll be in the wrong state of mind. I think the key for me now is to find a group of people that I really enjoy working with. Filmmaking need not become my ball-and-chain, because I love it - and I always have loved it. Needless to say, I'm rather excited for this next year. I've started picking up a crew member here and there as my script sort of festers at a single page plus a thousand sticky-notes, but y'know... that's how it goes. I'm sure I'll keep that information forthcoming as ideas start forming cohesive bits of narrative. Currently it's colours, character names and snippets of songs. We've got a long way to go yet, but it's going to be great.

Wonderfully enough, I was able to finagle a biology course in with my film courses this fall. Intro to ecology. I'm pretty amped on this for numerous reasons: I love biology, I love animals and behaviors and plants and science. Also, I like having a hard science mixed in with my largely malleable arts courses. While I do appreciate the arts, it's a field of emotion, opinion and the abstract. In a larger sense, there is no right or wrong answer in the arts. The sciences, however, provide me with some much needed concrete-ness. Some fact, some good old fashioned book learning. Quite frankly, it's my grounding in reality, my ground in the importance (or unimportance) of what I do, it's my snap back to the larger picture. Plus! It's a chance to meet some new people. Can't pass up a sweet opportunity like that!

I go on holiday in 17 days. Cannot wait. Yeeeeeeeesh.

I hope everyone had a great, Pride-filled weekend!


Things to chiggity-check:

New (to me) music: Alex Turner, Patrick Wolf

A blog to look at because of reasons.

A refreshing dose of 'get your head out of the sand, here's what feminism actually is all about'.

What's all this about 70mm? A nice explanation of 70mm and it's uses via the Paul Thomas Anderson resource, Cigarettes and Red Vines.

Adorable best friend beasts!

A neat little resource that maps distances. I've been using it to calculate how far I run (not very far) every week. A little more accurate than Google maps. Pretty handy business.


(Hhhhi Nathan)

There's always peas in my pockets, these days.

“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.” - E.B. White

 Well, not to brag or anything, but I'm super proud of my little garden. My yard's still pretty hideous, but I put in flowering perennials when I can. I recently put in some lupins, lavender and some various other large-ish flowering perennials.


I'm picking peas by the handful every couple days. Heads of lettuce every week or two. Tons of radishes. My pumpkin plant is just... insane. Gardening has become my weekly rage dump, a place where my brain sort of empties and I get a little zen. Although gardening affords it's own stresses, there are typically practical solutions to any problems I may encounter - whether they be pest, harvesting or upkeep problems. Let's just say gardening is very straight forward, and it's a skill I actually really value having. Plants? Infinitely more simple than people and all of their feeeeeelings.

I've gotten into the habit of looking up birds in the Sibley guide when I see them. My problem, however, seems to be that I have so little skill in identifying birds, I end up sifting through the entire book like three times before I maybe find what a bird might be. Maybe. While I was camping with work (yeah, you heard right), there were these finches that hung around quite a bit. I'm sure they were something quite run of the mill, but for the life of me, I can't identify them. Not even with the book. And the internet. Yeesh.

Today's harvest

My videography gig is keeping my schedule fairly dense. The great thing about being so damned busy - and I think I've even mentioned this before - is the lack of time to sit and stew. I've got time to think - between bus trips, mindlessly cutting together  montages of 10 year olds ransacking Vancouver, picking snap peas - but it's like a higher grade of thinking. Business and general exhaustion just kind of skim off those curdling thoughts that sort of stab at me when I least expect it. Those thoughts of the larger, disturbingly angst-ridden variety. No body wants those.

I've picked up a second summer mantra. So, now there is a little purple bear sitting on my hippocampus wearing a party hat who is chanting 'Meet new people, meet new people'. He's seated next to the little gargling giraffe who shrieks, 'Use your words!'. I'm sure that will be an interesting party once the 'Why put off til tomorrow...' toad gets there with the chips and dip.

My parents came to visit last weekend - this lovely stack of books from Café Books came into my possession. I haven't bought a fiction book for myself in a while. I've either been reading them on my Kindle or getting them from the library. This stack is special because of the influence John Green (and his brother Hank) have had on me. The two of them run a little YouTube channel called Vlogbrothers (among others). John Green can have my money. Why? Because of his philosophy. The Green brothers advocate knowledge, intelligence, community, creativity and positive influence. They're tremendously entertaining, respectful to their fanbase, and really seem just like all-around nice guys. So yes, John Green can have my money. And I'm really stoked to get started on this stack of stories.

On a more serious note, This quote from Christopher Nolan in a statement he issued to the public  (source) sums up a chunk of my feelings about the July 20th shooting in Aurora, Colorado, "The movie theatre is my home, and the idea that someone would violate that innocent and hopeful place in such an unbearably savage way is devastating to me." On top of the fact that this is a massively unnecessary tragedy - for me the cinema is a safe haven, a place of expression, a social outlet, a place to escape. And even though your average Cineplex is considered by most people to be a sticky-floored, over-priced social outing - and even though this tragedy took place far away from me, it hits strangely close to home. And it has rehashed the age-old debate on the right to bear arms. I found Roger Ebert's post on this completely agreeable and logical. I really don't like how one vicious idiot can have such a broad, negative effect on so many people. This week I'm glad I can't afford cable, because I'm guessing the media's taken this and spun it all sorts of ways. It's difficult to see these kinds of things happen, a needless, impulsive action that ends lives, ruins families, and ultimately ends up restricting society through a fear of another incident, and fruitless prevention measures.

ANYWAYS. I hope everyone's July has been great, and is gearing up for August! I'm back in Canmore in a month, sooo... if anyone's out that way, we should have a pint or a coffee sometime. Yiss.

Things to check out!

Remember to keep up with Canadian Frame(lines) !

Mode Moderne - a pretty swell Vancouver-based band.
Who Needs Feminism?

Rain rain go away.

It's been so rainy here in Vancouver! It's getting on my nerves. I just want to sit outside and read as the tomatoes in my garden flourish. I mean really now. Also, carrying your laundry to the laundromat in the rain isn't all that exciting. Neither is hanging laundry to dry. Because it never dries. Ever.

After a weird sort of job shuffle, I am unemployed for the entirety of June. This time without school or work, once a dream to my younger self, has become a penniless adventure in rainy town. Finding things to do has been interesting, making play-dates, going for walks, cleaning the house, vanquishing our jungle-lawn and watching like... three movies a day. Otherwise, for the month of June - I've got a film gig or two lined up, and I've been over to the island for a few days I think to visit my Gran. A myriad of things, I suppose, that I haven't been able to do due to school, work and grinding routine. July and August are going to be a lot of work, so my laziness will probably average to a 'sort of' looking back on the summer over-all.

For when the sun comes out, and stays out: http://www.vancouvertrails.com/trails/capilano-pacific-trail/

Writing exercises - trying to blog a little more (hah, that's going well), journal a little more and attempt to form some sort of a cohesive idea for a film idea or two. I took a screen writing class this past spring and found it quite difficult to form an entire story arc. I enjoy creating characters, environments and inciting incidents - but I can't seem to get the hang of writing conflict. That could be because I actively avoid conflict on a day-to-day basis.

Summer music. Summer flowers. Summer television. Whatever.

Summer is here, summer is here. So this blog post will be filled with pictures of flowers. Whatever.

Buttercups & Bachelor Buttons

Summer, a time of increased insect traffic in your home, increased beverage consumption when siting outside and increased itchy sunburns. It's a time of summer music, this year it's the Dandy Warhols. I tried out a few others from my middle school days - Green Day (pre-American Idiot), The White Stripes, Blink 182 (oh god, I had forgotten about that video), but none of them have really stuck like they used to. The Dandy's have been playing pretty steady when I'm home. I've found this summer needs a bit more of a robust soundtrack than the combination indie/soft spoken Grizzly Bear sort of stuff that bore me through the rainy winter months.

I finally quit my job last week - which was a difficult, but necessary decision. As much as I really didn't enjoy working there anymore, it still provided a safe little haven where I knew everyone, I was skilled in my skill-less position and a steady paycheque. But really, I just want to get out there and meet people this year, learn new things. I can't do that stuck in the same place, nor can I do that with my perpetual, no exceptions 'better the devil you know' voice of my conscious. I mean really, it's absurd. So away we go!  I am a leaf on the wind. Landed a new job, different service industry, different duties and radically different time schedule. Should be alright for a while, I have a feeling it wont be too prime. But - this summer, I feel, is as much a time to be intrepid as ever. Out we go to experience life in general. I've even got a ladies rugby team all picked out to join once I settle into work.

Violas

A recent daily challenge of mine has been making decent dinner from rice and whatever is left in my house. Solution: super duper stir fry. Base: rice, plus! Leftovers, beans that have been in the freezer forever, egg, spinach, all that business. It turns out not that bad with a bit of olive oil, garlic and sometimes ginger.

And on the note of calling making edible food a 'challenge', I have also been facing tiny other 'challenges' on a daily basis. They're stupid little things, things really not worth telling anyone because they're so... itty bitty and seemingly inconsequential. But knowing how I work in a day to day environment and know how I react to some things (badly), I'm kind of able to make a little list of things to do that I don't usually do that will somehow result in a betterment of person. It goes much like this:

1. Example: after every conversation know what colour the other person's eyes are, or walk around without the protection of a giant bag for a day.
2. ???
3. Profit!

But really. These things just funnel my anxiousness into constructive means. So whatever.

Strawberries!

Transplanting things! First to sprout from my flurry of seeds outdoors was surprisingly pac choi. Closely followed by usual favorites, english breakfast radishes, mescluns and spinach. A few days later, beans and snap peas. On the indoor front, my Brandywine and Sasha's Pride tomatoes just sprouted the other day and are merrily putting up new growth. I recently transplanted peppers, cucumber and canteloupe that were bought as seedlings into larger pots with a healthy dose of Sea Soil Potting Mix. This stuff is gold. Jobe's tomato spikes and a handful of crushed eggshells was mixed in to my fourth garden bed with Sea Soil in preparation for tomato and zuccini transplant today. I've gotta say, in about three or four weeks the garden is gonna be bumpin'.

Anyways, that's what's up. I'm finding that, between my gardening and referring to my tiny animals as 'children', I am sounding rather domestic. Weird.

All the while, I repeat this summer's mantra: "Use your words".



Things to feast your eyes (and whatnot) upon:

   - Maitenance Man is being screened on May 31st at the Pacific Cinematheque, a CineWorks film festival project I gaffed for last month - Back Down the Highway
   - 24 Hour film race, look out for the SFU Film Workshop.
   - Girls - an HBO series in it's first season, I cannot express to you the weird kinds of joy that this show brings me, it's like what Sex and the City should have been, PLUS going through each and every one of my neuroses, making me feel slightly better that someone (however fictional) experiences much of the same. Feeeliiiings.

   - The independent film Choch is available here - read an open letter to supporters by filmmaker Brendan Prost here. Also be sure to check out this interesting independent film distribution phenomenon known as Distrify.

October's coming.

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.

Things we can both be excited about:

VIFF - oh you sweet, sweet film festival

Drive - read this review by FilmDrunk

This guy's youtube channel - this video in particular

Aerlan has a blog - you will go to there!

Haw-gust.

  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.

August 5th, 2011 from Laurel K Brown on Vimeo.

Nighty night.

Is it July 17th already?

It seems there's so little to update on, and it's been so long! Anyways, moving happily into my new basement cave - wondrous as it is! The kitchen and the living room are all cleaned up and livable. But there are still piles of things in most other rooms of the house. However, I did just get a storage space freed up today - so in some boxes go! Here's a bit of a nostalgia binge: I went through all of these boxes my parents brought out for me that I had packed up in the summer of '08 before I went off to University. It was pretty awesome going through them. I was trying to get rid of some things, but basically all I did was pack them more tightly into the boxes so it seemed like I had gotten rid of 4 boxes worth instead of two.

Today I decided to do a little sewing, when I was probably supposed to be catching up on bio, but whatever. I drew up a bunch of patterns for fruit&veg keychains (!) and ended up making this tiny little fellow I have called Wee Blue Bunny. He ended up a little more lopsided than I would have liked, and I should have stuck with felt for his belly - the fabric I used is sort of weird and stretchy, which makes it hard to keep even.

In other sewing news, I'm thinking of making Big Buckaroo more interesting. Since I made him I have continuously said to myself, "He's not quite 'alive' enough, he needs something more!" So the answer? I think a neckercheif and some chaps are in order! It'll make him look like a real buckaroo from the west. It'll sure make his boring felt torso a lot more intriguing. Maybe I'll give him big Brezhnev eyebrows too.

My garden has shrunk quite a bit since I've moved. It's been a bit neglected lately. But one tomato on my micro tom plants has started to turn red at last! They are LOADED with tomatoes. The back yard gets sun all day and my plants are just loving it! My Brandywine toms are chest high and started flowering a few weeks ago. Hopefully I'll be able to get some huuuge tomatoes off of them!

I think I'm going to go to a park further north tomorrow and get some nature shooting in. I haven't been out with my Sony in a very, very long time, so it's time to delve into nature for some gorgeous shots again! It'll be a bit of a haul by transit to get up there, but hopefully it'll be well worth it. I was going to go up there today, but my mom, dad and puppy left today and after that, I wasn't feeling up to too much of anything (except A LOT of Star Trek: Deep Space 9). Azn's coming to visit next week for 4 or 5 days and I may have a hot date the week after (?) busy busy busy.

Hope everyone's summer is going swell!

Buckaroos

I was just sketching up some creatures when Little Buckaroo was born. After I made the small fella, I just felt compelled to make a larger Buckaroo, with an even larger mustache!

Favorite things of the week!!

Happy  happy June fellow Earthlings!

Here are some favorites I've been compiling for a while:

All I can wonder about while I look at this is: Why the hell didn't I have one of these as a child? Via io9.

Here's a brilliant piece of modern DIY gardening with succulents! I hope to devise some massively awesome succulent planter for my new place. They're a little pricey, but they are so excellent! From Apartment Therapy!

Birthday Coffee Sleeve #1!

A coffee sleeve for Julie's 20th! It ended up being a little smaller than I wanted it to be, diameter wise, but I think it'll still do the trick. Up next: my dad's combination birthday/father's day coffee sleeve.

Odd & Ends

I've had some spare time lately because it's been extra slow at work, so I've made a set of new felties, but I shall post those later! Here are some miscellaneous happenings.

Here is my gorgeous Weston Cinemeter. I don't know how to use it yet, but it's definitely on my list of things to conquer this summer! Sometimes I feel horrible that I have all this equipment, but not the wherewithal to use it. In time, I suppose.

Here's most likely the last three sisters feltie I will ever construct. It was a fun idea while it lasted, but I love making new things too much! This one here was specially ordered, so I made an exception. Hopefully the buyer loves their mountainous feltie!

My garden!

It's sort of a pathetic garden, but I like it. Whatever.

This is the deal I've got going on my patio.


What my plants look down over each and every day!

Radishes, greens, tomatoes and shrimp!

Shrimp you say? Oh yes. Meet Jacques. He is a Japonica Shrimp and his soul purpose in life is to pick things off aquarium glass and eat them. Perfecto! These are amazing little creatures to watch, and I was really happy when I found out freshwater cleaning shrimp existed. They have so many tiny legs! With two tiny arms, with two wee claws, he picks things daintily off the glass and stuffs them into his mouth. I would have liked to get another, but it was recommended at one per ten gallons, so that's what I've got! It's really hard to find him when he doesn't want to be found. I've been terrified of the other fish trying to eat him. But it  hasn't happened yet, so here's hoping!!

On the 21st, I planted a bunch of seeds! Radishes, mescluns, lettuce, spinach and carrots! I picked up some Jiffy strips and Dutch Treat starter mix from work. These photos are from today! The mescluns and radish are growing like weeds! I love it. What else do I love? The packaging for West Coast Seeds. Compared to the other seed packets at the garden center, these ones are very pleasing to the eye, not to mention functional! Not like the stark whites and neon yellows of other brands.

Gardening!

Oh how I love it! Even if it is limited to windowsills and bookshelves, it is definitely one of my favorite hobbies I've picked up since being in Vancouver.

Microtomatoes! Someday.

A quartet of Strawberries! These ones grow in a bush rather than on runners. I hope these bear fruit! I would love to have granola with home grown strawberries this summer!

Plaaaants + Butt Dance.

So yes, I have become a plant freak. Here are some photos I took late January of my (comparably small to now) plant collection!!

Dwarf Sunflowers!! They are amazing. They also grow like weeds. Which is also amazing.

My windowsill set up of Mason jars! Also: the gorgeous view of the house across from us. Not.