late night

just finished doing the sound editing and final sound mix for rob and david's documentary demo trailer that they will be showing and then pitching an idea for at the whistler film festival.

all 3 of us leave tomorrow. morning-ish, i think.

yes, it's no lie. it's 2am.

rob is watching a copy of the final demo on a dvd for quality assurance. if it's okay, then we start burning more dvds, baby!!

still don't know if i'm gonna snowboard. i retrieved my snowboarding gear and even packed it but i'll take a look at the forecast tomorrow morning before deciding.

also, i spoke to the co-producer of Sidekicks at the audition today and he said i should have no problems going up to whistler in my mom's car. if i use my mom's car, i won't be telling my dad. i know, i'm such a rebel.

2 more sleeps until whistler

do people over grade 9 still say that?

yesterday i was visualizing myself snowboarding down whistler. i could just imagine the special thrill it is to coast down powdery snow. but today i checked the forecast and there's a wind and freezing temperatures warning.

so now i'm visualizing myself skidding down the frozen mountain with terror griping my lungs.

i think i'll wait until tomorrow night and see what the forecast says.

in the meantime, my dad has expressed grave concerns about my driving my mom's 13 year old integra to whistler. which is his passive-aggressive way of telling me not to drive mom's car to whistler. which is just great.

so i spent a good hour tonight looking and comparing all the alternative transportation options available. i'm leaning towards the one with the best website www.snowbus.ca over www.perimeterbus.com

in other news, i'm gonna leave work as soon as possible tomorrow and speed towards auditions for Sidekicks and Miss Julie. then home to pack and decide if i will bring my snowboarding shit.

holy snows

spent a pleasant saturday being slate girl (and is it the script supervisor that records all the info on the takes? ok, and that one, too) for ken's shoot where he was the assistant director. it was a small but tight crew that walked around in a gorgeous looking ravine in the surrey area.

the ravine had all these steep pathways, a stream (yes they still let those things exist), tall trees, old trees, and lots and lots and lots of leaves.

after it wrapped yesterday at 4pm cuz all the light went away, it took me 1.5 hours to drive from surrey to vancouver. the length was a combination of a)snow b)rolling stones concert and c)canucks game. anyways, it was brutal.

the shoot was supposed to continue today but the snow kinda killed the continuity so it was postponed. wish i had known sooner as a friend had invited me to a comedy show for tonight but i thought i would be too busy a) thawing out from a 2nd day of 'blair witch project' and b) working on the wedding video. well, the second part is still true.

i've been trying to fit in a haircut for, oh, 2 months and finally got a last minute appointment at this cute salon on main called barbarella. my hair is so crazy looking right now. i've never had this curly stuff. and it only took a difuser to make it happen. very cool.

sitting at work

it's just after 6pm on a friday and i'm sitting at work. well, actually i'm waiting for my ride. my gorgeous and lovely boyfriend has taken use of my car today for one of his documentary shoots.

and i'm bored. everyone has already gone home and i'm all alone.

so i'm wandering through the interweb and can recommend two well-written blogs; both of whom are women writers living in the seattle area.
http://breakupbabe.blogspot.com/
http://odiouswoman.blogspot.com/

in other news, i have developed a troubling addiction to ebay. specifically for 1950s russian film cameras called Lomo and "Diana Camera." Oh, man they are so pretty and they take unpredictable and vibrant photos. for the past 2 days, i've been tempted to buy them but i've decided that i shall delay satisfaction and go to salvation army's and pawn shops.

i guess that would require willpower and discipline? anyone have some extra to loan me?

committed

::: producing :::
last night, rob and i spent some quality time with terry and kelly. we talked about film projects and watched some very funny stuff from mitch hedberg who, unfortunately, passed away last year.

as we were about to leave, i remembered (with some embarassment) that i had promised terry i would offer assistance as a producer on his next project. but i couldn't remember which one.

so i asked him in a sly but cute manner "terry, which project did i promise to produce for you?" i hoped that he wouldn't be too mad at me for a)forgetting about the promise and b)forgetting which project. plus rob was there to protect me if terry got out of control. kidding.

we chatted and he's really looking for help on his tv series pilot: sidekicks.
comedy + superheroes = great concept

go to terry's website www.ashleypark.net for more info on this guy. terry's a very creative guy and i'm spending time on this because i believe in his talent. if you are at all impressed with this dude please consider financial support. you won't regret it.

::: production assistant :::
i just got off the phone with ken, another talented filmmaker, and agreed to spend my 2 days off work this coming weekend being his grunt on his friend's set. i don't even know what the film is about but again, because i believe in my friend, i gotta support him.

sound problem on macpro

there's this major problem with the audio manager on our new macpro. it's this: at any given moment, the sound that is coming out of the computer will suddenly (and without warning) turn into massive white noise.

it's totally horrible when it happens and we gotta shut down the application that's running (i.e. itunes, protools or quicktime) and restart it. but the white noise can strike at any time.

i finally had time tonight to do a proper search on this problem and found out that this is a real problem for many macpro users with protools installed. now it's a real problem for me. when you install protools, the apple soundmanager is replaced by protools' coreaudio manager. it's this coreaudio manager that's freaking out.

meanwhile, i hesitate to listen to music on the brand new $3000 computer. oh well, at least it's a handy internet browser.

are all lessons painful?

rob and i usually only need to capture 1 or 2 miniDV tapes for a project. so with the 18 wedding tapes we decided to rent a miniDV deck.

we've been plugging in tapes since 5pm Friday and as of this posting we have 3 more to go.

some things we learned along the way:
1/ if you want to break up your 1 hour tape into four 15 minute segments for easy backup, make sure you're working with tapes that have already been striped. otherwise, final cut will throw a hissy fit and stop capturing.
2/ if you want to break up your 1 hour tape into four 15 minute segments for easy backup, you'll need to spend about 15 minutes setting up the in and out marks. this adds precious time to the whole capturing process.
3/ a deck is a valuable piece of hardware
4/ babysitting a deck isn't the most useful part of your day

so, this morning i thought i would check out ebay and see if there were any decks out there for sale. we saw one that was expiring in 15minutes and it was at $600 US. we bid on it right away and won it. it's a Sony GV-D900 Mini DV Digital Video deck.

it'll not only be great for capturing miniDV tapes but it's good for reviewing tapes in the field as it has a screen and also plays sound.

our debt load continues to rise. i hope rob finds some editing work soon.

(video) decking my resfest

this weekend is all about downloading all of gord's wedding video into the computer using the an actual video deck meant for the purpose of capturing video AND resfest.

well, i also gotta spend an hour or two outputting audio for terry's short entitled "do you mind if i tell you a story." oh, and i really really need to go to the gym for about 30 minutes. oh shit and club monaco has this friends and family 25% off everything coupon. crap, and i still need to:
1/ finish reading this producer's workbook (thanks, terry)
2/ finish reading a project management book (thank you, ken)
3/ knit some scarves
4/ sew 2 skirts
5/ install a 70s ceiling light fixture
6/ do laundry and vacuum
7/ decide on placement and type of new shelves for the den
8/ decide on where our growing pile of business files and film stuff will go
9/ figure out when i'm going to have a christmas open house
10/ and, have my hair trimmed on the ends

shit, maybe i should just go back to bed

film fest geek sighting

the day i saw "do over" i happened to sit behind and a bit diagonal from this total weirdo. this was, of course, situated in the most uncomfortable "pacific cinematheque."

the straw :::
i first notice him because he has a plastic straw in his mouth but it's extending horizontally from his mouth and his hand is 1 inch from the end of the straw. i see that he's blowing out of the straw but it's more than that: he's blowing out the straw with growing force. first he inhales, then as he exhales to blow out of the straw, he starts off gentle and then blows out with growing intensity. and as he's doing this, his hand is on the receiving end of his blowing.

he does this about 5 times and when it appears that he's satisfied that he's blown out any and all particles that might be clinging to the inside of this striped white and red straw, he places it (with precision) inside his front left shirt pocket. yes, the straw is sticking out profusely.

i'm immediately elated that i'm witnessing this. but there's more.

the toblerone :::
next he prepares his toblerone chocolate. when he retrieves it from his faux computer bag (the cheap kind from 5 years ago) i notice that he is using the zipper with uncommon force. he is seriously zipping the hell out of that poor little plastic device.

he brings out the small toberlone and opens the cardboard part. he pulls out the toberlone with its silver sheath and carefully rips the silver away until there's only 1 inch of it clinging to the bottom of the chocolate bar.

he takes all the silver foil and, using all fingers on both hands, crunches them up into a little flat bundle. he pushes the bundle into the bottom of toberlone cardboard container and then slips the mostly naked toblerone also back into the container. he puts the whole thing on the arm rest on his left.

the rest :::
he doesn't do much after this. i feel like i've witnessed some sacred and ritualistic act. i'm waiting for more. in my head i'm yelling "do something else weird guy. come on!!!"

he must of heard me because he brings out his can of pop (it was one of those fake brands) and puts it between his legs. as in, in his crotch. then he leaves it there.

the previews come on and i see that he doesn't crack open the pop can tab until the exact start of the film festival logo is on the screen. he pulls the straw out of his shirt pocket and puts it into the can of pop.

i decide that i paid 8 dollars to watch the film and focus on the film.

when the film ends, the venerable Tony Rayns is there to introduce the taiwanese director. weirdo doesn't stay for this. i'm perplexed. the Q&A is awesome and i even ask a stupid question: what kind of camera did you use?

resfest

this coming up friday is the start of resfest for vancouver. it runs friday to sunday.

i went last year for the first time and my ass was rather numb by the conclusion. i saw a lot of people whom i would definitely slot into the new media crowd. you know the type: mid to late twenties, hate the gap-ification of clothing, listen to indie rock, possibly vegan, might wear an original nintendo controller as a belt buckle, and works as a graphic designer or video game producer.

resfest has a nike opening night party at the century house restaurant/lounge on richards (at pender) this friday. this is one of the coolest places in the vancouver to have a drink and some tapas. it has these murky revolutionary-esque murals on the super tall walls. and it's using the original bank vault as a wine cellar. you can book the cellar for expensive, initimate dinners. the place sure looks better than the days when the bar was made up of white resin female torsos that would morph from one colour to the another.

season's greetings

2 years ago, my dad came home and found that all his christmas light bulbs (just the bulbs) were stolen. he wrote a note to the thief.


here's what the bottom sentence says:
beasese. stealing is. sin.

my dad slays me.

welcome and hello

second attempt* at this blogging thing and i'm feeling pretty optimistic. at first i suggested to rob that i could share his blog (narcissistic fibrosis) but then i realized that was a bad idea. besides, we're 2 totally different people. for instance, he has a penis and i don't. shocking, i know.

i'll apologize right off the bat for posting stuff that's boring. i reserve the right to post stuff that's exclusively of interest to me. as we all do.

so, here's some catch up....

::: vancouver international film festival :::
this year was exponentially better than last year. i even took 4 days off work to watch films.

• walking on the wild side (china) - a gritty drama about listless youth living in a mining town. the story was brutal, there was too much handheld stuff but the story was bravely unapologetic yet depressing for the new china
  
• do over (taiwan) - introduced in person by Tony Rayns with the director in attendance. 4 taiwanese young adults on the eve of 2000 and the people/things/relationships/status that people wish for themselves. gorgeous cinematography, acting that pulled you in and a story with many layers.
• still life (china) - missing partners in a town about to disappear under the Three Gorges Dam flooding. it was okay.
• celestial mechanics (canada) - 8 canadian shorts. they were all shitty and i hated myself for sitting through them.
  
• into great silence (germany) - a 3 hour documentary about the Grande Chartreuse, the mother house of the legendary Carthusian Order. my thoughts: freaking gorgeous cinematography with about 3 sentences of dialogue. i was blown away by the ending.
• i don't want to sleep alone (taiwan) - the latest tsai ming liang. his most accessible work but also my favourite.
• red road (uk) - i don't want to give away the plot so i'll just say it was another awesome film: the story and the acting were powerful and engaging. raw and beautiful. i cried.
• radiant city (canada) - a doc about urban sprawl. fantastic spin on the traditional doc. plus rob and i got to hang out with the director at bosman's after the film.
• the fountain (usa) - this film appealed to my artsy fartsy side. i appreciated that this was a very different type of film that's not endorsed by hollywood. but it's not for everyone. i really liked it and cried at the end.
  

okay, so i don't qualify for film festival geek status but i feel immensely enriched by most of the films i saw.

::: toronto trip :::
so i won this contest at work where i had to describe on 1 page why they should send me to a conference attended mostly by 911 managers across canada. damn if the trip didn't happened during the first week of the vancouver internat'l film festival.

awesome thing #1: i made up for it by attending one of the most remarkable events i've ever experienced: nuit blanche. see link on the side. basically a whole night of art installations, sound installations and participatory art installations. it was all free. i felt so lucky to have landed in toronto the exact evening that nuit blanche occurred.

i walked thru the popular fog installation as well as a sound installation where i handed my driver's license to someone in exchange for a cd player with instructions to follow in the footsteps as you hear them on the cd.


i spent 40 minutes at this one installation that took place in the basement of an old building at the university of toronto campus. the basement had this pool with pillars surrounding it and video images (along with sound) were projected onto a blank wall. i saw 2 people jump into the pool and swim across.


at 6:30am i got up after 4 hours of sleep and went back to the "ladies with the cakes" installation. it was a spectacular commentary on gluttony and waste in our society.


i hope this comes to vancouver but i think our art community isn't big enough to sustain it.


*the first attempt was only for the eyes of 2 former co-workers but it's not suiting me anymore (the blog not the friends) and i feel the need to start fresh without all the historical baggage associated with the first blog.