Narcissistic Fibrosis

A Decade of Images and Sounds

2009-12-23T11:28:00.001-08:00

MOVIES
Hi-Fidelity
Almost Famous
In the Mood For Love
Royal Tenenbaums
Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind
Before Sunset
No Country for Old Men
The Lives of Others
Ghost World
Punch Drunk Love

Couldn't keep this to 10 so here are 40 more

1Lost In Translation
2Y Tu Mama Tambien
3Amores Perros
4Vibrator
5Talk to Her
6Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter... and Spring
7Oldboy
8Cafe Lumiere
9Dogville
10The Devil and Daniel Johnson
11Elephant
12Donnie Darko
13Half Nelson
14The Good Girl
15The Puffy Chair
16Quiet City
17LOL
18Primer
19Wonder Boys
20Memories of Murder
21The 25th Hour
22Code 46
23The New World
24A Serious Man
25Sex and Lucia
26Children of Men
27The Turning Gate
28Lord of the Rings Trilogy
29The Squid and the Whale
30Mulholland Drive
31The Proposition
32The Assasination of Jesse James
33Morvern Callar
34Millenium Mambo
35Cache
36Time of the Wolf
37You and Me and Everyone We Know
38Red Road
39Waking Life
40Gerry

MUSIC
Sufjan Stevens - Michigan
Radiohead - Kid A
Yo La Tengo - and then nothing turned itself inside out
Sparklehorse - it's a wonderful life
Aimee Mann - the forgotten arm
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Cat Power - The Greatest
Elliott Smith - Figure 8
Neko Case - Blacklisted
The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow

Best of 2009

2009-12-21T12:14:00.000-08:00

The best and worst year of my life. Working at a shitty job coupled with my Mom passing away could have swallowed me up whole. What kept me going was the support of friends and my creative spirit. 2010 will be a great year thanks to the debut of Everything Louder Than Everything Else, which I expect to do great things for me and everyone involved.

Top Ten Movies of 2009

A Serious Man – Experimental jet set, no stars (excuse the Sonic Youth reference). This is everything I love about a Cohen bros. comedy. As weird as Barton Fink and as hilarious as the Big Lebowski. I want to see this movie again and again.

Inglorious Basterds – Tarantino’s love of cinema shines brightly in this WWII masterpiece. After having seen The Last Metro I thought I never wanted to see another German occupied France period piece. This movie proved me wrong. Up there with Lacombe, Lucien and Murmur of the Heart for sure.

Bad Lieutenant- So different from the original, the creep factor is all but gone. The Herzog/Cage team is unstoppable in this film. Loved the scene where he interrogates the old woman.

Fantastic Mr. Fox – Restored my faith in Mr. Anderson (and possibly humanity). In a year that had a lot of great animated kids movies (Coraline, Up) this one really shone. Did not expect to ever have an animated movie in one of my year-end lists. As Larry David would say (or text) in a situation like this: NO I HAVEN’T SEEN IT! I’M AN ADULT! Honestly though, this is witty, intelligent and inspiring filmmaking. Cousin Kristofferson was the biggest surprise for me. I didn’t know it was Wes’ brother till after I saw the film.

Thirst- Another great one from Park Chan Wook. I don’t even like vampire movies.

Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus – Finally another great Terry Gilliam movie. It could have been a disaster after the death of Heath Ledger but Gilliam made it work.

Antichrist – The only director that could make me see a torture porn movie. I shouldn’t be but after seeing this movie I’m smitten with Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Anvil: Story of Anvil – Inspired to tears of joy while watching this. Their story is my story. This is why people make music! This movie is fucking amazing. Thank you for sticking with it Lipps and Robb.

White Ribbon – Very different for Haneke but I still love his use of ambiguity. How the film is framed around the events of WWI really worked for me. The kids in the film essentially grow up to be the Nazis. Some great performances by these kids and adults alike. Still not a fucked up as the Piano Teacher but that is hard to top. In a lot of ways he is the heir to Bergman’s legacy.

Humpday – Mostly because of the two lead performances by Joshua Leonard and Mark Duplass. It felt authentic and not forced like so many films nowadays that are trying to cash in on hipster culture. The best thing in this genre (I won’t use the M word) since Quiet City or even The Puffy Chair.

I still need to see the Girlfriend Experience, Hunger, Che, Moon, A Single Man

Biggest disappointments…

500 days of summer – This years Juno

The Young Victoria – Big disappointment after the stellar C.R.A.Z.Y

Funny People – After 40 year old Virgin, Judd Apatow movies are getting more formulaic and self indulgent. This could have been 45 minutes shorter. I just don’t care about the characters he chooses to put on screen.

Top Ten Albums of 2009

In a lot of ways this is the year of the comeback. So many bands that I’ve loved for over a decade really shone this year.

Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest – Been listening to this album since Dec 2008 and I still love it. This is their breakthrough. Great live act as well.

Bill Callahan , Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle – Most solid album he’s put out since Knock Knock. Best lyric of the year: "I used to be darker/ Then I got lighter/ Then I got dark again." If I were a tattoo person I would have that immortalized on my flesh.

Pink Mountaintops, Outside Love- Enhanced by their live show for sure. Some really great songs on this album. Vampire, greatest song about a film genre I have no patience for.

Chet, Chelsea Silver, Please Come Home - As good as anything they’ve done. Why these guys aren’t huge is beyond me. Hopefully their appearance in ELTEE can help to change that.

Solarists, Coast Spirit- The Sleeper of the year. This album crept up on me and took hold pretty hard. Band leader Cam is one of the nicest guys in music which is great and baffling at the same times. Most great artists I’ve met are elusive jerks.

Yo La Tengo, Popular Songs – Best in a decade for this trio. The variety they are known for is present on this ablum. Similar to the last two releases just more refined.

Sleey Sun, Embrace - This is a last minute addition. I thought I had this on last years list (since I've had a pre-release forever) but alas it was not there. One of the best albums from a non-Canadian band to ever come out of the hive. Inspired by Black Mountain and every bit as good. There are some sweet acid rock jams going down on this platter for sure. Wait till you hear their new one (entitled Super High), it's even better.

Wilco, (The Album)- Probably listened to Wilco (the song) more this year than any other single. Their most consistent album in a long time. Other than aforementioned song the duet with Fiest , You and I, is another stand out. Best Album cover of the year as well.

Neko Case, Middle Cyclone - Just a colossal force of nature. Amazing songwriting and delivery. Even the covers are hard to distinguish as being done by someone else. Neko owns every second of this album. When I saw her live I almost welled up when she performed “Don’t forget me”.

Camera Obscura, My Maudlin Career - Finely crafted sixties pop tunes. Just how strong of a document is this ablum? It’s place on my top ten was not jeopardized by their terrible live show. They won’t be playing my wedding, although the DJ may spin the sweetest thing during the garter toss. P.S. I’m not getting married any time soon.

Runner-ups

Lou Barlow, Goodnight Unknown - It’s like having unearthed an lost Sebadoh album. Nice mix of rockers and ballads. Still carrying the lo-fi torch after all these years and not embarrassing himself in the process.

Dinosaur Jr, Farm- as good as anything J Mascis has done. A Great wall of sound accompanied by sweet solos.

Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, Know Better, Learn Faster - Great discovery. Half of this album is amazing.

Dark Was the Night, V/A - Some of the best tracks of the year are on here (Beirut, Dirty Projectors, Yeasayer). Worth it for The National's So Far Around the Bend.

Cave Singers - Channeled their inner Zeppelin on this one.

spring

2009-03-04T10:03:00.000-08:00

Hey Y'all. Haven't been around the blog for a while. I'm not liking the full time job thing too much but who does. It's a job not a career. I have still been filming Everything Louder than Everything Else. That is going well. I am covering that in another blog though.

I do really like my new-ish place. It has a funny gas stove smell but that is about the only complaint. I've decked out the place to be a media haven. I now have three different boxes to play my audio visual material. Plus I've synced that shit up to my computer so I can watch my videos on my 50" inch plasma.

I had stated earlier that this was going to be my year of TV. That is true and I've already gotten through The entire Entourage series, up to date with Battlestar Galactica, just finished the second series of Heroes and I pvr Flight of the Concords and Eastbound and Down every week. I think i'll be ready for a Lar Von Trier, Louis Malle marathon soon if this keeps up. Speaking of which I saw two trailers for foreign films recently that look pretty great. One by the great Dardenne Bros. (Lorna's Silence)

and Kiyoshi Kurosawa's new one (Tokyo Sonata).

I've been playing some video games as well...

So, that's what I'm up to. There is some private relationship stuff that I'm really happy about but you'll have to ask me in person about that cause that shit ain't goin' public.

Out

What took you so long

2009-01-09T11:20:00.000-08:00

I would like to report, once again, that I'm very slow to discover a fucking amazing artist (not totally to blame, more details later in this post). Having been raised in Edmonton I can quite accurately state that nothing good in the realm of the recorded arts hath spawned from this crude oil soiled Province, much less stayed there to flourish.

That is why I am so stunned and awed by the body of work that Chad VanGaalen has produced. This guy lives and records (in his basement) in Calgary. I hate so much of what Canada has offered up for the indie community to consume, so this is as shocking to me as it is for you to hear me gush over an over-achiever in this lazy member of the commonwealth.

Of the three albums (Skelliconnection, Infiniheart and Soft Airplane; all on Subpop no less) I've been listening to over that last three months I've found it hard to find fault in this genre bending wunderkind. He does the acoustic ballad, electro pop and lo-fi rocker all with equal aplomb. I want to know how he has managed to barricade himself from the mediocrity that thrives in Radiant City.

Another musical find this year was Elbow. When I first heard grounds for divorce I thought, wow, this is like a Haruki Murakami novel condensed into 3:39 minutes. After listening to the rest of the album (The Seldom Seen Kid) I was won over by the variety, poetry and ingenuity of this British band. I download the rest of their catalog at that point. Of the 4 studio albums that they have released all of them are uniformly great.

Guy Garvey's voice at times sounds like Peter Gabriel or Sting but the musical accompaniment is something altogether different. They just don't really have a formula. They seem to re-invent themselves with each song yet retain their own identity. I think how can a band like this go largely unnoticed outside of England when the bland-as-fuck Coldplay seems to add a million more fans with ever release. Something is wrong with the music listening public and has been for a while. I'm resigned to the fact that the real good ones will never convince the public of their greatness but will create ten times the adoration in smaller fan bases.

In an era where we have algorithms and AI that collect and process your music listening habits why is it that this band has eluded me? I've been actively searching for a band like this and it's taken me 7 years to gain access to their amazing body of work. What up with all this taste-making technology? I've been fucked over by the machine. It shouldn't be that hard in 2008 to match up the appropriate band with its intended audience. It's not like I'm a casual listener or anything.

Hey technology, get better. I'm warning you.

Having said this, I'm grateful for finally discovering these bands on my own and will be listening to them for years to come.

Year end Music

2008-12-12T09:04:00.000-08:00

Top ten in no particular order...

MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Fleet Foxes - S/T
Ladyhawk - Shots
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Department of Eagles - In Ear Park
Blitzen Trapper - Furr
Portishead - Third
Beach House - Devotion

It's been such a good year I can't come up with just ten...

She and Him - Volume 1
Black Keys - Attack and Release
Black Mountain - In the Future
Stereolab - Chemical Chords
Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane
Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely

Stay tuned for the top ten movies

Everything Louder Than Everything Else

2008-10-15T00:12:00.000-07:00

a new blog following the exploits of our first narrative fiction film...

everythinglouderthan.blogspot.com

VIFF VS. THE SICKNESS

2008-10-10T20:33:00.001-07:00

My movie going experience has been pitiful to say the least at this years VIFF. Here is what I managed to see.

Wonderful Town- Slow moving Thai movie about people who smoke and lie on freshly made beds (heavens no, not a the same time, that's a fire hazard) pining for that person they recently met. Oh yeah and the main character gets killed and thrown in the river cause he slept with the help. Note to self: don't sleep with Thai chamber maids in the wake of a Tsunami.

Sweet Food City- The tough hooker at the center of this so-bad-it-made-me-laugh was not quite as interesting when she took off her wig. The wig deserves some type of award. It was the only thing in this movie that I marveled at. Sweet Wig City.

Sparrow- Johnnie To, Pickpockets and heavy handed bird metaphors.

Christmas Tale - If Michael Bay (with Paul W.S Anderson as a consultant) tried to take a stab at the Northern European domestic drama. Employing every stylish trick known to Madison avenue this film had no time or concern for character motivations. That is probably why all the critics love it. They misconstrue this as complex characterization. I just call it "not putting in the work that the audience deserves". Oh, yeah and it's in french so that helps the critics pad a couple of extra stars into the rating of this laughable feces receptacle. I would expect this from Hollywood but from France it's just inconceivable. If you like this, you are not allowed on any of my future film sets.

Still Walking - No, it's not a remake of a 70's exploitation flick. Yasujiro Ozu: Cira 2008. this is how domestic dramas should be done.

Night and Day - Hong Sang Soo epitomizes the director who constantly makes the same film. I liked Turning Gate but I am becoming increasingly bored with his variations on the plight of the Korean manchild.

Three Monkeys - Too close to the screen to really take in the great cinematography on this one. It was well acted and directed but there where a few things that were far too convenient to be taken seriously. In the end though I was mostly pissed off cause I didn't see any primates.

For the last couple of days I've been really sick. If you call really sick being pounded in the head with a ball peen hammer for 12 hours. Seriously I couldn't sleep, read, watch TV, surf the internet, make stupid jokes or play video games. So what I did was prop myself up on the couch in sort of a cross between sitting and lying down position and put my hand on my forehead. I closed my eyes and put on episodes of Dr. Katz, just so I could hear something to take my mind off the sinus headache from Hades.

Mona deserves many kisses, accolades and gold stars for putting up with me and missing a potentially great film. She went to Capers and got me some great organic food. The thing that was the sweetest though was when I ran out of sinus relief pills she drove me to the all night drug store (at 2 am).

The worst is over now.

Unfortunately, I had to cancel plans to run the Victoria Marathon on the 12th. When I'm better I'll run the distance on my own; on a course that I choose. One without an entrance fee.

I am planning something cinematic. News to follow

Back from TIFF

2008-09-14T09:02:00.000-07:00

Hey Y'all, I'm back from TIFF 08. What a crazy week it has been. It's my first time being on a winning team at one of these events and I have made a few observations...

-There is a two tier system: Hollywood and Canadian Cinema. Unfortunately we reached the upper echelons of the Canadian world but weren't able to crack through the stratosphere to hang out with Michael Cera and Zooey Deschanel.

-There is such a thing as too much free food and booze

-Naked Sushi is never a good idea.

-Is it possible for a show as lame-ass as E Talk to have a good party? I'll ad the caveat: Ben Mulroney was in attendance.

-The Holiday Inn on King has gone all Boutique hotel on our asses. Gone are such frivolities as storage space and ergonomics.

-I was overly optimistic about doing one video podcast a day. Being a social animal I got caught up in the networking and all night parties. I will be posting three more on this blog very soon.

-The programmers at TIFF are the nicest and coolest people ever. For those of you who don't know who I speak of they are: Jesse Wente, Matthew Hays, and Steven Gravestock. They were are personal guides to the event and just the most accommodating folks you could ask for.

-Mona and I need to come back there some day with a film of our own.

When Life Was Good at TIFF 08

2008-09-02T18:06:00.000-07:00

In anticipation of the When Life Was Good entourage going to Toronto, I put together a 3 minute video. Check it at Vimeo...

When Life Was Good at TIFF 08 - #01 Prequel from When Life Was Good on Vimeo.

The next one should be up early morning on September 5th and then every day after that until the 9th if I can keep up.

PNE Hangover

2008-08-23T21:18:00.000-07:00

I know my body is changing when I am totally leveled by a day at the Pacific National Exhibition. This is how it went down though. My mom and 8 year old niece were in town for a few days which meant I had to put on my entertainers hat.

The first day was fairly basic, I only had to go to the Aquarium but yesterday I had to go to Vancouver's annual fair. I was tired when I arrived there at just after noon but my niece made it pretty clear she was gung-ho to go on as many rides as possible. So to prepare for this I had a 1/4 chicken, mini donuts, an ice tea and as the rides loomed closer and closer I decided to have a Rockstar energy drink. My stomach had been feeling a little queasy that morning but I thought none of it. My niece and I bought ride wrist bands and god dammit were gonna get our 40 bucks worth. If an 8 year old can handle it, so should I. Wrong, very, absolutely, surprisingly, WRONG.

The first two rides were OK: The Swings and a tilt-a-whirl clone. Then we approached the Orbiter. This is similar to the Octopus but larger and as I found out packs a hell of a lot more G-force. During this ride my stomach started to disagree with my choice of entertainment. I could feel the puke making it's way up my throat. I kept it down thankfully but I was completely disoriented and shaky afterwards.

My niece was unfazed as she ran to the next ride. I told her I almost ralphed but she didn't react. I want to go onto the pirate ship; she shrieked. I managed to stall her but I still wanted to try to go on a couple more gentle rides to get my money's worth. A fools plan but I didn't want to piss away good money.

When we finally got to the Pirate ship I sat closest to the side so as not to get any vomit on my fellow riders if I had to hurl. I didn't get sick but I felt like an old lady. After we got off I finally put my foot down. Nothing short of coating her in warm bile would have convinced her otherwise so I had to tell her firmly that I needed some time to collect myself.

During all this my mom was safely ensconced at the Casino. When we met up with her we decided we would escort my niece to the different rides but I wasn't going to go on anything that involved shaking, dropping or vigorous flailing. In the end I went on 8 rides and my niece went on about 16. One ride (1001 Nachts) she went on 5 times.

As soon as I got home I went right to bed (even the car ride home was making me ill). Today my legs and buttocks hurt. Which is all very troubling to me since I've been training for a Marathon and just last week I went for a 25 Kilometre run with very little after effects.
When I saw my niece this morning she was fine. Damn kids.

Off to TIFF

2008-08-18T23:29:00.000-07:00

As you may or may not know I am going to the Toronto International Film Fest as part of the cast of When Life Was Good. I am very excited about this trip because I really think Terry (the director) really has something with this film and that many people will respond favourably to the subject matter. Many other exciting things are in the works. which I will tell you as they happen. I just hope I get to meet Don McKellar

Bad things happening to good people

2008-08-06T10:09:00.000-07:00

A little something about the movie This is England...

Shane Meadows movie about skinheads in early 80's England is a bracing smash in the face. The acting is top notch, the cinematography is grainy and unrepentant; the kind of sickly depressing stuff the BBC was pumping out in the 70's. A friend of mine said the look of British films of that era would actually make him sick to his stomach. This is a celebration of that anti-aesthetic movement.

It's a guys movie if there ever was one. Similar to John Tutuorro in 5 corners or many or Joe Pesci in Good Fellas the director puts front and center a character that is a ticking bomb. You just know something bad is going to happen to one of the good kids in this movie. It just stressed me out so much I could barely watch it.

The character I speak of is a real twisted fuck who's fresh from behind bars. He's about a decade older than the rest of his gang and prison has sure turned him into a four-star white supremacist. He's got all sorts of unresolved issues with the nice skinheads and a real thing for one of their girlfriends. He gets a few good monologues in before he starts his violent rampage.

One of the few sympathetic characters was Woody, the Skinhead who chose not to be a racist. They don't see eye to eye as you can well imagine. So, he's ousted and the white power dude is the defacto leader of the gang. If Woody would have had more screen time I would have really gotten into this movie. This is the point where I was gonna turn it off. Then Meadows throws in this added bonus: it's the Wood man's girlfriend that the ex-con is after. Let the love begin.

Don't get me wrong I can understand why people like this movie. I just don't like the way I felt at the end of it. I love Von Trier, Haneke, Park Chan Wook and Bergman so I guess if the pill is forced down my throat by an artist I can handle it more. "Oh god that is so violent but look at the framing"...kinda thing.

I guess the documentary realness of it hit me too hard. Meadows, you won but am I really envious of the prize?

The 12 year old kid who is the actual lead in this film really didn't do much for me either. It's true I'm not a big fan of movies through the eyes of kids but that's not really why I didn't like this film.

I'd have to say the little bit of hope at the end didn't make up for all the shit I was put through.

I feel I have to watch a few episodes of Dr. Katz to really purge myself of the mean little bastard of a tale.

It's in Belgium

2008-08-02T22:32:00.000-07:00

What a phenomenal movie In Bruges is. I mean...I just hate Colin Farrel just like the rest a yas' (except for his role in The New World) but this movie was just bigger than his ego. This movie flattened his myth in one bloody swing.

I knew something was going on with this flick when I heard it was directed by Martin McDonagh who did Six-Shooter; a truly fantastic short that won an Academy award a few years ago.

At first blush it seems like another kick at the Lock, Stock and Two Smokin' Barrels formula. What it ends up being is the best British crime movie since Sexy Beast. I like it even more than SB as it takes it's roots in plays such as Waiting for Godot (Beckett) and the Dumb Waiter (Pinter). Yes, this movie is full of existential angst (Anyone heard of Theatre of the Absurd?) and every frame has a powerful nihilistic charge to it... but it's funny as fuck to boot. It's alive and heading for the grave in and addictively giddy way.

You really should see it if you like non-traditional crime films and ever since Pulp Fiction I know that's what I've been looking for. Hope you will agree.

In Edmonton for some Wedding stuff

2008-07-25T09:46:00.000-07:00

I'm here again in Edmonton. I know I was just here in May. What brings me here you ask? Weddings. That old tradition where your need to make you commitment to someone becomes a legal matter. Crazy, I know.

To Quote Steve Malkmus: " I don't need a Minister/ to call me a groom".

So, I managed to go for a long run because I'm training for Victoria and I can't take time off, there are no vacations from this Marathon I've signed up for. I went down to the river valley on Wednesday and boy was it a hilly 25k that I blindly dove into. I thought this city was flat until I did that monster of a run. If there would have been one more hill I would have collapsed. Boy does it make me appreciate the Stanley park Seawall. I took yesterday off but today I'll try for a 10k.

I tried to do a pre-wedding video but Kerry and Kirstie didn't have enough free time to donate to the project so we scrapped it. That's OK though because it allowed me to just relax and Hang out with my Dad and Mom.

My Dad's Birthday is coming up so Mona, My Sister and I went in on a Wii for him. Cathy, his friend Harvey and Him just loved it. They played Golf and Bowling for most of the afternoon. It's amazing how people who have never played video games pick up the Wii. I guess that's why it's so successful.

Mona comes today which is awesome cause I miss her somethin' fierce. Tonight we stay over a Kerry's and then it's the Wedding tomorrow. We did the rehearsal last night and the Justice of the Peace scolded Ed, Jamie and I (the groomsmen) for talking. Apparently she was an ex-school teacher. At the end she got real heavy on us and stressed that she would not marry two people who had been drinking. If that was the rule no one would ever get married.

Mona is videotaping the Wedding but this time I'm the best man so I won't be shooting I'll just try to come up with a few good zingers to send the video over the top.

Terry's gone and done it again

2008-07-08T17:16:00.000-07:00

Terry Miles, who never ceases to amaze me, has finished filming his third feature film. This one is called the Red Rooster and I was glad to be a part of the last day of production.

Mona and I went down to Relish (the restuarant the were filming at) last night to get some behind the scenes footage and help out with the production however we could. As with Terry's last film (When Life Was Good) he is a crew of one most of the time. He did have one other person helping him on this film but last night he was all alone. I did some focus pulling and some grip stuff but pretty much he did it all himself. Mona filmed some stuff but had to get up early so she left just after 11.

The production wrapped at around 2am and by what everyone was saying it seems like he completed another relatively stress free film experience. The proof of this is he's worked with his two leads (Casey and Kristine) on two features and about a dozen short films. People are loyal to Terry because he's a good guy and treats you well on set. Sounds simple but most new filmmakers get this part wrong. They get so stressed out and end up alienating the entire cast and crew. So, I'm glad to say I've learned a lot from Terry and when Mona and I do our first fictional feature we will be putting a lot of what Terry does into practice.

I can't wait to see the finished film.

Training for the 42K

2008-07-05T23:54:00.000-07:00

It's been 8 years since I've completed a marathon, so having had enough time to completely forget the pain, I've decided to run the Victoria marathon on Oct 12th. Out of the dozen marathon's I've completed it was my favorite. The course is gentle and the climate is mild.

A few things have changed since 2000 in the world of long distance running.

First off, I now use the Nike-ipod combo to track my pace and mileage. This handy little device allows me to listen to my favorite tracks while having a soothing female voice give me pace and distance updates at the push of a button (or automatically if I choose). The clothing hasn't changed much but there seems to be a lot of new nutrition supplements and performance enhancers. I'm just glad the shoes are still squishy so as to take the pounding away from my knees.

My longest run to date is 18 kilometers but I will build up to around 32K. The new thinking is to build up your longest run to about 70% of the distance. This way you don't burn yourself out before race day.

I did have a little scare a few weeks back when my hamstring seized up but I went to my massage therapist and he got me back running in a matter of days.

More on my progress as it unfolds

Freelance, whatever that means

2008-07-04T10:06:00.000-07:00

Hello all. I am now no longer employed at the Hotel. I now free to pursue my creative and artistic goals. This will mean having to eek out a living doing freelance editing gigs in the mean time though.

I am listening to a lot of great music at the moment. At the top of the list is Fleet Foxes, a band on subpop, who conjures up memories of CSNY, Band of Horses and My Morning Jacket. These long haired dudes who loves the reverb-heavy multi-part harmonies have really gotten to me. Whenever one of their songs comes on the ipod during a run my pace quickens. White Winter Hymnal is my fav right now but there are lots on great ones on this disc. I am told they are friends with Cave Singers so hopefully I can meet them the next time they are in town.

Mona and I went for a walk through our neighborhood and took a few pictures...

Off to Edmonton

2008-05-22T22:48:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't been on this blog thing for a while but hey I'm here now.

I've been doing a lot of stuff over the past few months...

- I quit the Hotel I work at; my last day will be June 30th

- I am now getting a lot of work as a freelance video editor

- I saw and thoroughly enjoyed Iron Man

- I still think foreign films are tops (yes I'm talking about you Woman in the Dunes and Four Months, Three Weeks, and Two days)

- Mona and I are happy to be making the transition from Doccos to Drama (It will be a slow process but it will happen, I assure you)

- I am training for the Victoria Marathon which takes place Oct 12

- I can't wait for the Ten Kens album to come out and set the music world on fire!!!

- I think my sister is going to get the most kick ass wedding video (that we are shooting for her this weekend as a gift; two camera shoot and killer video editing skills)

- I know Let Me Be Fictional has been rejected from several film fests but I still love it and wouldn't change a thing

- I still love you Scarlet but just step away from the mic (or at least stay away from the Tom Waits catalog)

- I've fallen for another Scarlet and am gonna get me two of those cameras when they come out in early 2009

- Lovin' the PS3 that Mona got me for my Birthday. When I feel I deserve it I'm gonna get GTA IV

Out for now, will post more and with greater frequency.

Two new videos worth a look

2008-02-18T09:14:00.000-08:00

These two videos caught my attention the other day. The New Pornographers video really helps to feed into the cult of Bejar but in a really trippy way.

Sick, but still in the fight

2008-01-26T14:05:00.000-08:00

I've had a sinusy-cold-energy-sucking thing going down for about a week now but my head still feels pretty clear. We still haven't heard anything back from SXSW yet. I suspect we will hear from them by next Friday. I think this is a good sign.

Mona is busy in the other room editing some of the wedding video. It will be my turn later today. It looks like we are almost done.

Next week I am going to be doing more editing for a mixed martial arts program. Yes, there will be grounding and pounding. It's fun and I get to work with Paul who is a cool guy who listens to decent music. After that hopefully Mona and I will be able to work on our own stuff for awhile.

We saw Dance Party, USA last night at the Vancity Theatre. It is one of the more poetic and lyrical entries in the whole Mumblecore phenomenon. I really enjoyed it and found it to be a lot like the last couple of Gus Van Zant movies. It's basically about teenagers partying and drinking but without all the mainstream cliches plopped on top. There is a serious tone to it through the use of long lenses and very quiet moments. You can tell why Benten films chose to release it on DVD. All in all I would recommend it to people who like the same arthouse fare that Mona and I champion.

Well, it's back to editing.

LMBF trailer now on youtube

2008-01-10T21:20:00.001-08:00

thought we'd put this everywhere. If you haven't seen it....

Top Movies of 2007

2008-01-06T14:59:00.000-08:00

It was a great year for movies that's for sure. I still haven't seen all the movies I've wanted to because some of the supposed best of 007 are not yet playing in Vancouver.

Theatrical

No Country for Old Men
The Savages
Margot at the Wedding
King of Kong
The Host
Red Road
Day Night, Day Night
Paris J'Taime
Inland Empire

Film Fest Favs

Paranoid Park
Edge of Heaven
The Red Balloon

Movies I still need to see
2 Day in Paris
Youth Without Youth
4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days
Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)
Romance and Cigarettes

and of course

There Will Be Blood

Video Discoveries

Cache
Great Happiness Space
The Devil and Daniel Johnston

Biggest Disappointments

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Eastern Promises
I'm Not There (although the soundtrack kicks ass)

Let Me Be Fictional website up and runnin'

2008-01-05T20:20:00.000-08:00

Go to our shiny new website...

www.letmebefictional.com

It's pretty basic and may need some tweaking over the next months but it's up and the trailer's there.

In related news we've submitted to 8 film fests so we'll keep you posted over the next few weeks to our status (accepted or rejected).

The Savages

2008-01-05T19:55:00.000-08:00

Mona, Ryan and I just saw The Savages today. This is the kind of movie that Mona and I would hope we could make one day. Everything about it plays into what we love about cinema.

The story is pretty simple, a brother and sister are forced to take care of their aging father after his girlfriend dies. This is the stuff of TV melodrama, sure but in the hands of the director/screenwriter Tamara Jenkins and two of my favourite actors Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney this material just soars above the competition.

The way the scenes unfold and linger is what all domestic dramas aspire to. Sure it's not a flawless film but it feels exactly the way it should: natural. There is absolutely not exposition, you are literally thrown into these peoples lives and little by little you learn about them, but not too much, just enough to want to know them more.

There are no great triumphs or wrap-ups in this movie. It's depressing as hell and makes you want to cry in more than a few scenes but in the end it inspired me to write the feature Mona and I want to make this year. Now if we can just hold onto this feeling we have right now until post production.

Year End List

2007-12-31T18:57:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd have to come up with a year end list, since I haven't posted in so long. This one is about the music that hit me hard in 007. For this I looked through my itunes to see what I downloaded and bought in the last Calendar year. Here they are in no particular order.

The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
Sunset Rubdown - Random Spirit Lover
The Good the Bad and The Queen - ST
Shearwater - Palo Santo
Neil Young - Live at Massey Hall (1971 concert, first time on CD)
Low - Drums and Guns
Feist - The Reminder
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
The Apples in Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder
Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation
St. Vincent - Marry Me
Wilco - Blue Sky Blue
Dean and Britta - Back Numbers
Caribou - Andorra
Iron and Wine - The Shepard's Dog
Beirut - The Flying Cup Club
Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
Radiohead - In Rainbows
I'm Not There - Soundtrack

Best Discoveries of the year
New Marble Giants - Colossal Youth
the entire Feelies catalog

Some Favourite songs of the year-
Myriad Harbour - The New Pornographers
Wild Mountain Nation - Blitzen Trapper
All My Friends - LCD Soundsystem
Objects of My Affection - Peter, Bjorn and John

Not yet released but will most surely be on next years list

Vincat - Not Yet Titled
No Kids - Come into my House
Ten Kens - Not Yet Titled
Ladyhawk - Shots

Next post will be top films of the year. This will probably be amended beacause
PT Anderson's There Will Be Blood doesn't open until Jan 11th.

Let Me Be Fictional HD Trailer

2007-10-17T11:21:00.000-07:00

The LET ME BE FICTIONAL trailer is now online in HD thanks to the people at Vimeo.

Check it here

The Edge of Heaven

2007-10-08T14:09:00.000-07:00

Mona and I attended a sold out screening of this Turkish-German production the other night. Having seen Fatih Akin's last narrative feature, Head-on, we were very pleased to have acquired tickets for this new offering.

The film follows the lives of three parents and their complicated relationships with their children. All the characters manage to interact in some way or another. The interweaving of these three stories never feels forced or written.

Head-On was a hard act to follow but I believe Fatih has topped himself with this one. This movie has a lot of the elements I am drawn to. There is never any heavy handed exposition or characters directly addressing there problems to those around them. Most importantly this movie never telegraphs the plot or the ending, something Hollywood eschewed years ago. This is drama of the highest order and the world of international cinema has a new master to add to the likes of Lukas Moodysson, Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Michael Winterbottom.

Beyond Control at the film fest

2007-10-08T14:03:00.000-07:00

So we've gone to see a couple of films so far at VIFF. They were both pretty average, not bad by any means just average.

The first was Control which I was really excited about seeing. It started off great and then petered out around the half-way mark. All parties involved were great except the director and screenwriter.
So what happened? After the band received some critical and financial success this is when Ian starts to get depressed, cheats on his wife, becomes epileptic and starts drinking more. Don't get me wrong I love depressing movies but this one wasn't one of those so-dreary-it-makes-me-happy ones.

At the start of the picture there is a lot of great humour and amazingly real moments...plus the music was fantastic (apparently the actors all sang and played their instruments). The live performance of Transmission really fucking hit me hard.

Writing a movie based on a memoir can't be easy and trying to explain why someone kills themselves is even harder. I don't think they truly cracked the problem and should have gone at it with more intensity. Until this writer-director team (if they ever work together again) figures out how to get past problems like this they will never be in the class of the great interior realists like Lars Von Trier and Bergman.

I just kept thinking about the movie C.R.A.Z.Y. and how similar it's opening was to Control's. The lead characters are lying on their beds smoking and lip syncing to a Bowie tune. In the later I just felt claustrophobic and lost watching Ian ape one of his heros but with the former I felt Zack (CRAZY's lead) had successfully transcended his dull life and landed firmly in the otherworldly reaches of glam rock. Nothing to do with the actors (who both did great jobs) but just different approaches in capturing the sequence to film. The transition to moving images is more difficult than you think Anton, Jean Marc Vallee for my money, beats you on this one.

My favourite character was the band manager. Funny how in most rock movies the manager is the one we remember most. There were two great ones in Almost Famous, played by Noah Taylor and Jimmy Fallon.

I can't talk about this movie without mentioning 24 hour party people which treads a lot of the same ground as this but does it with more diversity and lust for life than this study of angsty Mancunians. Factory Records head Tony Wilson was portrayed with equal skill by both actors and Sam Riley, doesn't play Ian Curtis but The Fall's Mark E Smith. 24HPP was shot with sickly looking minidv cams and Control was brought to the screen with magnificent B&W. It didn't matter much and the black and white kinda got on Mona and my nerves after a while. I think Ian's story just fit better in a movie about a "scene" rather than one just about him.

For someone who has shown us so much in a still image, you'd think Anton Corbin would have been able to pull off the shift in tone with ease. Unfortunately he probably needs another film or two get it right. So, if you're a huge fan of Joy Division go see it but if you are a cinephile wait for it on video.

VIFF is underway

2007-09-29T09:53:00.000-07:00

The Vancouver Film Fest started on Thursday but today is the first day Mona and I are going to see films. Our first film is going to be Control, the Joy Division movie. I am really looking forward to this one. I haven't heard many bad things about it so I am sure it will impress.

Then tomorrow we are going to see three films. I'll post my thoughts afterwards.

There will be Blood

2007-09-29T09:48:00.000-07:00

People are saying this is PT Andersons greatest film and possibly Daniel Day Lewis' greatest performance.

I am so there.

Trailer for About a Son

2007-09-24T10:18:00.000-07:00

Check out the trailer for this amazing looking film.

We are done

2007-09-24T10:13:00.000-07:00

Mona and I have just finished our first cut of Let Me be Fictional: A Documentary about the band Ladyhawk. There were a few stressful days but nothing compared to other projects I've worked on. We had a tougher time putting together the Wedding video last year. I think the reason is we love the footage so much and find these guys in Ladyhawk to be captivating and fascinating.

So, now it's on to a test screening with some people and then the sound mix. Our Dec 7th deadline for SXSW is totally doable.

I can't believe Mona and I have finished our first feature film. It feels amazing.

Staring at the Sun

2007-09-10T21:45:00.000-07:00

Sunshine is the kind of science fiction movie we all want to like but a lot of us cannot. Every year we hope for that great movie that will take the place of Alien or 2001. With all the great cgi out there you would think we could do it.

The thing I like about this movie is it doesn't even try to compete with the other flashy visuals of late. The set design, acting, pacing and overall feel of this movie are first rate.

Why don't a lot of my friends embrace this movie? I think it's because they thought it was going to tell them different things about the darker side of humanity. The fact that it didn't tap into these recesses of our subconscious is not grounds for dismissal.

It was essentially a well put together thriller made by a group of people with higher than average IQs. In the end we are left with a positive if not metaphysical wrap up. Sure, there are some directorial choices I would have steered clear of but all in all I was thoroughly entertained.

All I can give you is my emotional response to the movie. I left that theatre satisfied and excited; I didn't feel cheap or in want of more. It gave me more than all the summer blockbusters I have seen in this season. Now let's just see if The Bourne Ultimatum fairs as well.

Friday Night Lights: The irresistible gravity of sun flares and pensive stares

2007-09-10T21:43:00.000-07:00

Coach Taylor

Tami Taylor

Julie Taylor

Jason Street

Buddy Garrity

Lyla Garrity

Landry Clarke

Tim Riggins

Matt Saracen

Tyra Collette

Smash Williams

I love these characters and so will you after only a few episodes of this exemplary series.

I Hate Football (or at least I'm mildly disinterested in it)

It all stems from the time I spent in Lethbridge, Alberta. I was in Grade 8 and for whatever reason I decided to try out for the football team. I could have become a stoner like my friends but I thought that team sports was the high road.

I think it was the appeal of walking down the hall wearing a team jacket and having people like you, without ever knowing anything about you. Even though I didn’t feel much affinity for these small town types I still wanted them to like me. Fucked up but hey? The need to belong is strong no matter what bastard-child-of-a-subgroup you belong to.

At the time I was 13 yrs old, 6 feet tall and around 140 pounds. Not the best profile for such a rough sport. So, me and a couple of my other weakling friends tried out. They too, shared my survival strategy.

I made the final cuts, just barely. I was on the special team. I think I was a safety. I got all of 5 minutes playing time.

The only bright moment in this soul-crushing endeavor was when the coach looked back at our practice tape, showing me barely getting out of a dog pile with my life and said: “Leickner’s got a lotta jam.” This moment of victory was short lived as one particularly beefy redhead took it as his main goal to drive that jam out of me during each and every subsequent practice.

It should be mentioned that this redhead was fond of sadistic locker room games. One of his favorite tricks was to grab the punier kids by the neck and squeeze until they passed out. These kids figured it was some kind of initiation rite so they willingly allowed it to happen. This asphyxiation ritual was both bizarre and terribly frightening to my teen eyes but I managed to avoid it. I don’t know how.

Before I started football I wasn’t afraid of anyone but after one season I was afraid of everyone. I now knew what pain was; whereas before it was an abstract concept. If I stayed in Lethbridge (and not moved to Edmonton, where they didn’t have a junior high league) I might have gone on to play the next season and on through to high school. This would surely have turned me into a narrow-minded jock and most likely someone my current self would hate to be around. So what did I get out of that six months? Several welts on my forearms and a lot of self esteem issues.

And why am I addicted to the TV series, Friday Night Lights?

Every other sports drama perpetuates the notion that there are special people in the world that deserve public adoration and that people need to be inspired through exclusion.

But FNL is critical of those accepted views and questions things like: what’s important in life and what happens if you don’t fit into the world around you. No one is purely good or evil everyone has their moments when they feel the pull of the dark or light side. FNL is all about hard choices and no right answers. This is a smart-as-fuck show and it pushes the gray areas to the fore.

FNL is also filmed with the eye of an artist, which would totally be lost on a lesser sports series. All the camera is handheld, through long lenses and very immediate in it’s feel. The town’s folk that aren’t into this sport-as-religion get ample time to voice their opinions. This is a football film for people who hate the smell of pigskin or the feel of a jockstrap.

I also love the movie this drama series is based on but this series goes so much deeper into the sick psyche of middle America. It presents alternatives for people who are trapped in this suffocating world. After finishing the first season I can't wait for the next one to start up. I have grown very fond of the characters and want to know more about their lives. So many things have changed since the first episode that you want to see what more could possible change in the upcoming shows.

This show has received terrible ratings this last year but they are bringing it back for another year because the critics and the network know how important it is; sometimes there is justice in the world. The 13 year old in me that winces every time someone on the show is tackled is very grateful for this show that director Peter Berg has created.

Hou Hsiao-Hsien

2007-09-10T21:38:00.000-07:00

I am so gonna see this at VIFF. You can't stop me. I know you'll try.

Gettting ready for VIFF

2007-09-09T11:07:00.001-07:00

The 2007 edition of the Vancouver Film Festival is almost upon us. The movies I am excited about include the Latest from established Auteurs and the two Asian Countries (South Korea and Taiwan) I consistently go back to for celluloid pleasure.

Once again they overlooked a few of the big ones on my list: Hannah Takes the Stairs, Billy the Kid, Silver Jew...plus a few others that I can't remember right now.

More on this as it happens

Sigur Ros Doc

2007-08-31T14:10:00.000-07:00

Paul Bae brought this to my attention.

http://emichrysalis.co.uk/sigurros/heima/film/heima_trailer.html

Love the visuals. This is going to be great

Songs to make you feel new again

2007-08-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

Dean and Britta
Back Numbers

With the recent deaths of Antonioni and Lee Hazelwood there couldn’t be better timing for this collection of sweet tracks. This album stands as a great eulogy for that great lost era in the 60’s. Interior Realism and Nancy Sinatra are still the order of the day on this second CD of theirs but it actually improves on that disc and gives us Luna (their former band) fans something to live for.

The song "you turn my head around" has Britta belting out the gorgeous tones like never before. Of course on every track, Dean is (as always), the epitome of New York cool.

The New Pornographers
Challengers

Fitting, that the people who like the older New Pornographers albums really don’t like this one. The relentless power pop tempo and lack of breathing room of their earlier CDs just weren’t for me but the kids just ate that shit up. I like their change; it’s more what I’m into. They’ve found dynamics and introspection and if that’s not progress well then shoot me now.

Dan Bejar hath laid down three exemplary songs on this one, with my favorite being Myriad Harbour (which I’ve mentioned in an earlier post). The other songs are fantastic as well. Almost all of them have great vocal melodies and wonderful lyrics.

What do I find are the key differences that set this apart from their previous efforts? I will be listening to this album when I’m writing, reading, running and doing the dishes not just when I’ve had a few drinks at the bar. This is absolutely a great time for this CD to be released for as we mourn the final days of summer we have this album make the transition to fall a little more bearable.

Dylan Biopic

2007-08-24T20:31:00.000-07:00

Saw the trailer for the new Bob Dylan Biopic on A.J. Schnack's blog. Here it is for you. I don't know about you but I am truly excited about Todd Haynes approach to the material.

Hannah takes the Stairs

2007-08-17T20:53:00.001-07:00

It's coming to theatres, here is the official trailer...

This is great news, as I didn't get to go to SXSW this year. Hopefully with the Ladyhawk Doc, we'll be going next year.

Yeah, I'm on it

2007-08-10T09:49:00.001-07:00

Now I am officially on Facebook. I've managed to re-connect with loads of my old friends from High School through this virtual community, so for that, I'm pretty pleased. All those folks with asymmetrical hair styles and unsavory fascinations with Frankie Goes to Hollywood have mellowed a little but I'm sure if you get a few drinks in em' their inner sixteen year old will become re-animated. Yes, it's addictive but as far as vices go it's pretty inert. I will have to reveal my real name if you want to poke me or be my friend.

Look up Rob Leickner and have yourself a good chuckle. I

will post some of the shorts Mona and I have done, in the near future.

Up to Our Hips

2007-08-09T16:26:00.000-07:00

I just re-discovered this mid-career Charlatans album. Some Friendly is the album that most people gravitate towards but this one is still pretty great. It sounds live off the floor, stripped of the studio trickery that graced their first two albums... and dammit...it holds up quite well when compared to all the current Brit acts (read: not a trace of Joy Division or Talking Heads just lots of funky bass lines and sweet Rhodes piano). The whole album is a peppy affair that's informed by soul classics of the 60s and 70's. This was a point in their career when they were just coming out of the drug drenched Mad-chester ghetto. While the public was starting to lose interest in them, they came out with a timeless album rather than a footnote to a era that was dying.

Standout tracks are "Feel Flows", and instrumental that wouldn't be out of place on a Mogwai album (sans that funky Clav), "I never want an easy life" and "Can't get out of Bed". When I get around to writing my film based on my travels in Korea circa 94-95 a few of these tracks will grace the soundtrack.

back home

2007-08-07T23:49:00.000-07:00

Spent the weekend in the Okanagan (Kelowna and Summerland) with the family. Ate, drank and trampolined too much. Had a great gourmet lunch at the Sumac Ridge winery. Next time we are going to go Oliver, which is the wine capital of Canada, it's home to more than a dozen vineyards.

Kelowna wasn't as hot as it usually is in August (only in the high 20s not high 30s) and at night the temperature dropped considerable so you could actually sleep.

It was great to see the parents, my sister and my niece and nephew. Mona and I showed them a taste of all the video projects we were working on. Now we just have to get back to the Ladyhawk doc and finish that f**ker.

We hope to get back there before next summer.

The Adventure ends: Michelangelo Antonioni, 1912 - 2007

2007-07-31T09:55:00.000-07:00

It's a shitty week for lovers of art house films. The great Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni died today. He directed L'Avventura, which like it or not, changed the way people make films. He was 97 though so we knew it was coming soon.

Hopefully Woody Allen and Jean Luc Godard can make it to the end of the week.

Ingmar Bergman 1918-2007

2007-07-30T09:01:00.001-07:00

I knew it was gonna happen soon but it still hits me pretty hard. This man is largly responsible for my post 2000 film making resurgence. His dramatic films are suffused with the stuff that all great directors strive for: internal realism. So many directors have tried to emulate his approach to moviemaking. The most successful is Woody Allen. Bergman's followers are legion but their names escape me at this time. Go out and watch Scenes from a Marriage, Wild Strawberries, Persona, Saraband...where to start. If you aren't familiar with him go out and do so.

More on Bergman at the face to face site.

Weekend update

2007-07-28T20:39:00.000-07:00

Mona and I tried to go see Sunshine, the new Danny Boyle movie, today but didn't get around to it. We'll try to see it very soon. K.M. saw it and said it's a winner. What it's got going for it in my opinion is the cast (Cillian Murphy, Michelle Yeoh and those other people who I've seen and loved but can't recall where) and the Cinematographer(Alwin Kulcher, responsible for lensing two of my recent favs: Morvern Callar and Code 46). With all this mindless action and sci-fi coming out who doesn't want a substantial, mind-fuck of a summer blockbuster?

We drove to Richmond's Yaohan Mall twice in the last 14 hours to acquire high end hair products at discount prices . Last night we got there at 8:30 only to discover it closed at 8. So off we went today for a repeat expedition. Mona dropped $124 but when you buy it by the gallon you know it's gonna last. The asian guy that sold it to her seemed to know his stuff, albiet spoke too fast for one with such limited English skills. He kept pushing the buy-more-you-get-discount mantra, which seemed to have some merit since I've seen what women pay for this stuff in salons and it's not mice nuts.

Off to Kelowna on Thursday for four days. Bask in heat, drink, hang out with family will be the program once we get to the Vineland.

Finally

2007-07-16T09:22:00.000-07:00

This is an old post that got lost in the shuffle. So here it is. I think it's as relevant as it was when I wrote it...

Mona and I finally received the Four Eyed Monsters DVD in the mail yesterday.

It took over 2 months for us to get it but seeing how they are basically a two person operation, we let it slide. Up to this point I've been watching their podcasts and following the life of this film. Arin and Susan, who are the writers and directors of this film, have done an amazing job marketing and promoting this film. I was fearing it was gonna suck huge. With so much sub-standard crap being thrown at us these days it's impossible to wade through the hype.

We really wanted to like this film but expected it to be a piece of crap.

We put the disc in our DVD player and braced ourselves for a pretentious, stilted, overly earnest look at NYC scenester life. After the first ten minutes Mona and I looked at each other and said - so far it's pretty good. This feeling only intensified as the movie went on. When it finally ended we both agreed that this movie was FUCKING AMAZING.

It is a deft look at relationships. The main characters, who are just romanticized versions of Arin and Susan, don't want to slide into the same shitty behavioral patterns they have in the past. These two don't want to become the same old Four Eyed Monsters (couples) you see at cafes, movies and park benches. It is funny too. I wasn't expecting it to be as droll as it was, you don't really get that from the podcasts they made to accompany this film. There are some great pseudo-doc moments that are on par with Christopher Guest's best stuff.

The editing, visual aesthetic and pacing are all first rate without being too slick.

So, yes this is a great addition to an already strong American idie scene that's been building over the last few years. I don't quite think this counts as being Mumblecore but it's just as good as any of those filmmakers entries.

you can see the whole film on youtube until Aug 15th.

Colin: Tune-master extrordinaire

2007-07-10T11:00:00.000-07:00

Had to post about Colin's latest audio projects. Nowadays, it seems my good friend is recording some of the best bands around, not just locally, but internationally, too. He's recently finished two albums I am particularly excited about.

I've been listening to the Cave Singers since it was completed a few months now. They hail from Seattle and are masters of channeling that great rootsy hillybilly sound that many artists have done over the last decade (Will Oldham is the first that comes to mind). This was recorded at the hive with little fanfare or prospects of being released. Then they got signed to Matador and you know the rest. This is hot indie-folk that will gain a audience. I am not sure how big but they will be devoted.

Hear a Cave Singers track from the matador website - Seed of Night

Then there are the Ten Kens. They are the best band I've ever heard to come out of Toronto. Yes, I am including Broken Social Scene, Triumph and Rush.

Colin is starting to become a very in-demand producer and over the last few years he has traveled to other studios to record bands. This is the case with the Ten Kens, in which he chose to go to Montreal and lay down tracks at Break Glass studios (Wolf Parade, Besnard Lakes, Sunset Rubdown). The result is an album soaked in natural reverb, the stuff us audio fanatics dream about. The main recording room at the studio is just amazing sounding. Colin has, in my opinion, recorded some of the best drum sounds of his career (or anyone's for that matter). These are un-mastered tracks I am listening to as well so that makes what he's done even more astonishing.

Not to overshadow the band themselves, who are very original and extremely listenable at the same time but Colin likens their sound to Nirvana though I don't really hear it as much. They do have that Canadian indie sound (Victoria-via-Montreal) that is winning over the world and thanks to them being on Fat Cat I'm sure that's just what they will do. David Lynch sountracks, Noir-Country, and Late-80's College rock: these are all conjured up when you listen to their tracks. You can go to their myspace page to hear their songs until their record comes out in a few months.

Bejar and the merchants of smut

2007-07-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

" Bejar, Pressed and ready for action! "

Myriad Harbour is probably the best New Pornographers song to date. As we know, Dan Bejar is an active recording and touring member of said Vancouver supergroup. Every album, they allow him a couple of songs to fill out the track list. He's the darker edge that offsets the power pop sweetness that is key to huge success they have achieved.

In the past, I thought his additions to NP albums were too finely polished and quantized by the machine that A.C. Newman captains. This time around he's channeling the same ghosts of rock past that he does in his other group but when the background vocals kick in you know it's none other than the New Pornographers. Still, the ragged beauty of a Dan Bejar song reaches the listener unmolested.

I have noticed since their last album things have gotten a little more melancholic in NP land. It's a good move and Dan Bejar fits in perfectly with this new aesthetic.

Sure, there are better songs on Destroyer albums but this is going to be heard by a lot more people. That more people will finally hear less diluted Bejar is a long time coming. The mainstream is finally getting a taste of what great music lies just below the surface.

the angry streets of East Van

2007-07-07T09:21:00.000-07:00

I've run 12 marathons, done the Grouse Grind several times (including the race), successfully navigated the Baden Powell trail and even completed the Diez Vista 50 Kilometer Trail run. I am not writing this to impress or blow sunshine up my own arse.

No, today I have a far more important goal.

First, I wanted to illustrate this point: I am able to run over uneven terrain for great distances with out upsetting my equilibrium.

I am fed up with the state of the sidewalks in East Van; the streets are hilly, undulating, peaceful tree-lined idyllic setting, perfect for running, right? Don't be lulled in by these serene setting, it's war out there. These trees have root structures that are perfect for forcing sidewalks into jagged foot hungry predators. In my life as a runner, which started in July of 1990, I have lost my footing only 2 or 3 times. In the last four months I have been tripped up 3 times by the mean streets of East Van, almost 4 but that time the edge of the sidewalk just ripped a hole in the side of my right shoe.

I don't expect the city to do anything about this. They have already tried to smooth out some of the nastier spots with asphalt. Right now, they are putting all their money into the Olympics, which is far more important for their public profile.

What I do suggest, though, is the citizens of the area not ride their bikes on the sidewalks. It's hard enough trying to watch your footing without some myopic septuagenarian coming at you with a rickety old 10 speed. Also, when riding your bike in a prohibited zone try not to carry two cardboard boxes, which further inhibits your less-than-ideal pedal pushing skills. I am glad that none of them wear helmets (even though it is the law, our Olympic -centric civil servants turn a blind eye) because it makes it easier for me to store your guilty faces in my lexicon of inconsiderate cluster-fucks. Your time will come.

Oh, the joys of staying fit

18 Scenes

2007-07-02T09:00:00.000-07:00

M.M. and I just saw Paris Je T'aime and, in our estimation, it's one of the best collection of short subjects every put up on the screen. This shouldn't work in theory. Two producers come up with and idea to have 18 world renowned directors describe their favourite French city. Add some A-list actors, the best cinemtographers and mix vigorously. The result: comedy, drama and romance along the better streets and buildings of Paris. After having just seen the hit-or-miss collection Chacun Son Cinema we thought PJT would be more of the same. Not so, this is one hell of a consistent compendium.

Of course, some of them stood out but of the whole collection there were probably only three I didn't like: one involving mimes (you knew there was gonna be one of those) and a Vampire who's got the hots for everyone's favourite Hobbit were two of the lesser entries. Not that they were bad, just not my taste.

I feel truly inspired after seeing these films and am suffused with the power of Cinema's potential. PJT is the best of that art form. The assembled actors are the finest working today and include: Maggie Gyllenhal, Emily Mortimer, Natalie Portman, Sergio Castellito, Steve Buscemi, and Gena Rowlands. It amazes me now how much these directors packed into a short considering they've been working with long form pieces for the greater part of their careers.

The directors that surprised me the most were Wes Craven and Alexander Payne. The master of horror's entry, "Pere-Lachaise", is in full Woody Allen mode and man does he have a deft touch when he leaves his comfort zone. I would love to see more projects from him like this. Mr. Payne's entry "14th Arrondissement" shows his talent for blending humour and poignancy without the benifit of a feature length pallette. After writing him off because of my dislike of his last two films this is being very generous but deservedly so. This omnibus has really made me reassess cinema's bastard child, the short film.

Furthermore, I was very moved by the sum of all these films. When I forget to criticize what makes a film tick and am just swept away by the sounds and images this is a sign of great art. It shows that even though the whole endeavor may be contrived and packaged to entertain the masses the outcome can still be sublime.

Alternate Realities

2007-07-01T12:13:00.000-07:00

Just finished ready Harkuki Murakami's Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and Kafka on the Shore, back-to-back. They totally straddle the line between what's real and imagined in a brilliant way. Murakami loves to put the everyman/woman in otherworldly situations and then take them (and you) to fantastically imagined planes of reality. I would recommend his books to anyone who loves detective stories that go deeper than the standard Raymond Chandler or James Elroy crime novels. What I'm trying to say is: his books are modern extensions of what noir masters have set forth. Not for everyone but for those who get Murakami he makes our lives feel a bit more substantial. He writes about Japanese people but from a western point of view. His Japan is informed by the west and isn't some exoticized Eastern netherworld. I need to read his new book After Dark and his biography to completely absorb the entire canon (aside from a few short stories).

Last night we showed our trailer 3 special guests whom gave us many helpful hints. They mostly liked it but they felt it needed some more key points of info. We're up to the task so it won't be a problem. When you seen the final film you won't be disappointed.

more from the mind of Lubener

2007-06-30T18:50:00.000-07:00

Just spent 3 hours at mm's nephew's bday party. A half a dozen screaming kids but hey I came out unscathed and kinda enjoyed the experience.

We are about to show our new Ladyhawk trailer to two of Vancouver rock intelligentsia's most esteemed members. We hope it goes over well. We have wine here to wear down their defenses though. Here's hoping it works.

David Lynch's Inland Empire is making a second appearence hear in Vancouver. We are going to catch it on July 8th. K.T. has seen it three times and assures us our lives won't be complete until Lynch's glorious pixels wash over us.

Wilco is coming to town again and playing at none other than the Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park. It's on Aug 20th and M.M. and I will be there. It's an outdoor amphitheatre with a liquor licence so why wouldn't we go? We're pretty fond of their new album Sky Blue Sky so that doesn't hurt either. It's not as good as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot but what could surpass that career topping high.

I'm editing some stuff for a christmas music doc this monday. The section I'm working on features the infamous El Vez (the Mexican Elvis) if my dad is reading this he'll get a kick outta that.

I'm back in the blog-sphere bitches! get used to it.

When blogging was good

2007-06-27T10:53:00.002-07:00

A lot has happened since my last post. First off Pandora is no longer available to people oustide of the US. Boo Hoo. There are many other things to be excited about though...

My good friend Terry is almost done with his new movie "When Life Was Good". Go to the website whenlifewasgood.com. This film of his is really great. I just love the direction he is going in. I have a small part in it but if you sneeze you'll miss it. That aside I would still love that movie. He is no longer just a friend who makes films but a filmmaker that happens to be my friend. WLWG is going to take him places. Hopefully he'll still hang out with Mona and I.

I might finally make the jump to Facebook. Only for film networking not social networking. You have to draw the line to what groups you are a slave to. Next year there will be something even better and we'll all leave facebook. That's my prediction anyway. Mona and I are finally going to put up some of our short films on that Facebook thingy.

I'm waiting to see some movies thanks to their glorious trailer...

Margot at the Wedding, the new Noah Baumbach, starring Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jack black.

There will be Blood, the much awaited P.T. Anderson. The only period piece I'm excited about.

Also I just got the new OZU boxset thanks the the wonderful Huguette at work. I will write a post about her very soon. She is an amazing woman that I work with at the Hotel. All of you need to know about her and her amazing presence on this earth.

Movies I've seen recently...

Red Road - A Scottish movie that is moody and thrilling. Not a thriller really because it doesn't really go down that tired genre's path. It also has some great acting, cinematography and very little exposition.

Chacun Son Cinenma - a collection of 33, 3 minute films that were commissioned by the Cannes Film Festival for their 60th anniversary. My friend K.T. had to order this DVD from France at great expense so props to him and his love of Cinema. K.T., Mona and I all sat down and watched it on the weekend. The goal was to make a film that captured the feeling of being in a theatre when the lights go down. About half of them were amazing. My favorites were Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Zhang Yimou, Tsai Ming Liang, Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Raymond Depardon. There were a few stinkers, unfortunately one of my favorite filmmakers was responsible for the worst pieces of crap on the disc. I won't mention it here because I have too much respect for the Director's body of work.

I'll try to be better about posting more often. I have to get more than one person looking at my blog per day.

Pandora the Genome Project

2007-04-04T12:15:00.000-07:00

Once again I feel like the last person in the world to be hip to something great. If you don't know already (and you probably do, but I'll keep writing anyway) the Genome project is a team of musicians who listen to songs and break them down to their musical DNA. In their words - On January 6, 2000 a group of musicians and music-loving technologists came together with the idea of creating the most comprehensive analysis of music ever. They have apparently listened to over 10 000 artists.

Joined at the hip is pandora.com. On this site they have a streaming music player that you type a band or song into the search line and they decide what other bands and songs complement what you've selected. So, if you set up a station for the Beatles they will tell you what's distinctive about the voice, instrumentation and the way in which their music is played.

Here what I got when I punched in The Beatles...

we chose this track because it features a subtle use of vocal harmony, acoustic rhythm piano, major key tonality, a dynamic male vocalist and melodic song writing.

Funny thing is they played the Kinks and Todd Rungren before they played the Beatles because of some screwy licensing deal. I think that's fine though because if you like the Beatles it's pretty easy to download Beatles songs. The great thing is if you are sick to death of the Beatles but you want something that sounds like them, then you're all set.

You can get more advanced by adding more bands or songs to your radio station. For example I set up a station for Camera Obscura and then I added Cat Power, Neko Case and Belle and Sebastian. Unfortunately for that station those aforementioned bands are probably the best of that sound so every other song I heard was kind of a way to slick or sub-standard version of those bands but hey I'll give it time. Another great feature is that you can rate the songs with a thumbs up or thumbs down. Apparently, if you give the shitty songs a thumbs down you'll get better songs and essentially fine tune your station to where you want it.

The thing I like about this service the most is it frees me from Pitchforkmedia.com, which I usually go to to learn about new music. I like their site but I don't always agree with people-in-their-twenties-who-know-nothing-of-music-history making all my musical choices. Don't get me wrong, Pitchfork is great but it's a popularity contest. Pandora is far more democratic and based on merit not nepotism. Just because a band is unknown or not on a cool label doesn't mean they can't be amazing. So, thank you Pandora for this.

Sometimes it's OK to be last to discover something.

These are the stations I've set up...
The Jazz Butcher
The Minutemen (I just saw their great Doc "We Jam Econo" so I want to hear more stuff like them)
The Velvet Underground
Black Mountain
Ladyhawk
Camera Obscura
Boards of Canada
Yo La Tengo

work faster, work leaner; create a body of work!

2007-03-27T10:34:00.000-07:00

I recently listened to Joe Swanberg's podcast at the workbookproject.com.

This is what it's all about.

He shoots his movies on video for nothing, has a crew of 2 and comes up with high quality stuff. Prolific is a word that comes to mind; inspiring is another. How has he managed to do all this?

He shares with us how he's finished three features and two seasons of a web TV show in the past two years (as well as another in the can but unedited). The key is his unique approach to the medium. First off --- He spends very little money on these films, he's the shooter, actor, producer and editor. He used to do the sound but now he has a sound guy. He very recenlty started working with a producer but really he's managed to cut out about 90% of the useless twits who manage to gum up the works (you know who you are; you can stop reading now). He doesn't write scripts but rather uses the actors own life experiences to form the story.

He said for his latest, Hannah takes the stairs, all he had was a pencil drawing to secure financing. He says a lot of indie filmmakers spend so much money on their first film that they are tied to those projects until they can recoup their initial investment. He uses the four-eyed-monsters kids as an example. They made their first film in 2005 (yes, it's called four-eyed-monster) at the same time Joe had just finished his first film --- Kissing on the Mouth. As I mentioned he has completed several projects since then but Arin and Susan (the directors of FEM) are 80 000 dollars in debt and can't move forward with any new projects.

So, yes I like what Joe Swanberg is doing. I think that Mona and I should just do our next fiction project by ourselves with non-actors that have great stories to tell and look great on screen. First we have to finish this doc.

Friend or Foe

2007-03-12T13:45:00.000-07:00

Is this world set up for forward thinkers? Or is it destined to stunt the growth of those who challenge mediocrity?

I can't tell you how many times I've faced the challenge of fitting in with the straight world. At work I bite my tongue and am forced to justify my opinions on a daily basis: it's a tough grind. When you go against the norm it's not a fun existance. People at my work just want things to go smooth; they want to avoid situations that make them think. What the fuck is the matter with thinking or feeling or having emotions? I want to gain emotional maturity through my life experience.

Ever since I left the studio to work at the Running Room I've had problems fitting in with the masses. I've learned to like them, befriend them and even bedded a few but in the end i just want to go back to my own: the weirdos.

The edit begins

2007-03-10T14:32:00.000-08:00

We've been back from Kelowna for a week now and we've started to edit the Ladyhawk doc. Yesterday, Mona and I made a 1 minute teaser for the doc. We got a hold of the final mixes for the album (unmastered, unfortunatly) and their Fight for Anarchy EP. The new album is a natural progression from the first release but the EP is a crazy side-step of lo-fi genius. Bob Pollard, Lou Barlow and David Berman insinuate their influence into the 6 song, mushroom inspired, recording. I don't have a comprehensive list of all the songs yet but I know that song six on the ep has been re-recorded for the full album, which I will refer to as "Whitehouse" for now, since that's where it was was recorded, and that's what Colin wrote on the CDR with a sharpie. They are very against the idea of calling it "the whitehouse night gallery sessions" though. The lead singer/songwriter, Duffy, abhors any album that has "the" or "sessions" in the title.

I have to say the guys in Ladyhawk are some fine lads. Allowing us to film them for two weeks was a bit more than they signed on for. Having two cameras in your face for 10 hours a day can be a bit trying and they didn't complain one bit. But we knew they were tired of us during the last couple of days. We're going to film their Tofino show (our last piece of the film) on April 14th and then we'll be out of their hair. After they see the finished Doc they'll know it was worth it.

self-analysis as an art form

2007-02-14T18:43:00.000-08:00

Caveh Zahedi's I am a Sex Addict is another great American film that takes chances in a era that seems to have turned its back on this so-called poppy cock. Yes, this is another film shot on a shitty mini dv camera (I am seeing a lot of these lately) so you film purist can pass this one by.

Caveh is not new to the world of Cinema, I just haven't gotten around to seeing his work. I first heard of him when I saw Waking Life. He was the guy in the "Holy Moment" sequence. A high point in a movie with many peak moments. This new film of his is what you would call an autobiographical Docu-Drama. He re-enacts scenes from his life, mostly concerning his addiction to prostitutes.

Using old footage and new staged footage he has put together a wonderful and engaging look at himself; with all his flaws kept firmly intact. There is explicit sex but it is done in such a playful way that it doesn't detract from what is essential an updated version of Annie Hall. He really has cracked the Woody Allen code on this one.

His self-depreciating humour and observations really draw you to his character (which is essentially him). I found myself being truly moved during several sequences in the film. It's so great that a filmmaker can give so much of himself and not come off as self-indulgent.

The way he wraps up the picture is also a masterstroke. He alludes to Orpheus and the Sirens, with some wonderful animation, to give us a quick recap of what we just witnessed. With a lesser filmmaker this would have been a sucky pat ending but Caveh really hits all the right marks. I am so glad a film like this exists.

go to his website

http://www.cavehzahedi.com/index.html

Inland Empire

2007-02-14T17:05:00.000-08:00

Can't wait to see the new David Lynch Movie. Here is a great review of Inland Empire. Hope this inspires you as much as it did me.

never speak it's name

2007-02-13T17:00:00.000-08:00

There are things just don't say when we are in certain company. If you are with your parents you don't talk about your proclivity for wearing ladies undergarments and if I'm with one of my guy friends I never say "you know that part in The Devil Wears Prada". These are all minor foibles compared to what I am about to lay on you. If you are talking to people in the Broadcast Industry then you must steer clear of one particularly heinous acronym.

I regularly read several of the indie filmmaker websites to try to get the lowdown on what type of gear is availible in my price-range. Right now there is an inexpensive format called HDV - high definition video. This is a very efficient way to get a high definition image on a mini DV tape. Many argue it's not true HD but it looks a hell of a lot better than standard definition video.

These tapes can be purchased for $4-$10 a piece and they can record an hour of footage. the cameras are anywhere from 1500 to 12000 dollars. The one I am eying up is around the 5000 dollar range(the Canon XH A1). Everyone should be really excited, right?

Well they aren't.

Sure this technology has it's drawbacks but I've seen the images and they look great. If you see these images on a 42 inch HD plasma you will be too. For documentary it seems like a perfect fit.

But there is a problem.

Yes, in the broadcast industry you never admit you are filming your project on HDV. Why is HDV getting such a bad rap? There is Standard Definition (SD) and then there is High Definition (HD). In between these two formats HDV protrudes like a canker sore on your prom date. I wager that if you gave one of these industry types a project done on HDV they wouldn't be able to distinguish it from real HD.

Back in the 90's when I used to record bands, the recording industry hated these terms -- project studio, Home recording and four-track. If you were a proponent of those you weren't professional. Basically if you didn't spend a ton o' cash recording your album at a industry sanctioned recording facility they didn't want to have anything to do with you.

What the hell does professional mean anyway?

The thing is, in the audio and video world they have standards. Who sets up these standards? Accountants. These financial wizards are always finding creative ways to keep their bloated machine alive. The rental houses, the overpriced post production facilities...the old guard. As independent filmmakers we are in a powerful position. We can afford to shoot, edit and deliver high quality films. They don't like this because all they can control is the broadcast and distribution of your original work. These are things they should only be doing in the first place. So, when you say you are filming on a 5000 dollar camera and not a 100000 beast (that takes several people to run, rent and insure) they get scared. They feel they are being left out. Where's their peoples cut? They point out all of the drawbacks of your format and act as if theirs' is bulletproof. There is no perfect format or camera for that matter. All formats are temporary anyway, nowadays even more so.

I say employ the same technique the US Navy does: Don't ask, Don't tell. Just deliver the final cut to them in 1080i (the standard format for HDTV broadcast) so they can play it on their precious channel. Chances are they won't notice as long as it shows up on their monitors in 1080i everyone should be happy. Remember these are not technical people and most of them can't tell the difference.

Go out now and shoot your original idea (i can't stress that enough) with whatever you can get your hands on. Thankfully even the sub 5000 dollar cameras are way better than what was available for ten times that only 5 years ago.

I am a filmmaker not a film-developer or someone who lunches. I want to be actively making films not just writing proposals for overpriced TV shows that have a great chance of not getting made. That is what HDV allows me to do and what is so bad about that?

Mona and I are going to make our Rock Documentary on our puny HDV cameras...and guess what...it's gonna look great because it's who's doing it, not what you use. The thing is, the opportunity is here right now and waiting around for a better camera is a great way to avoid making a film.

For more info go to these sites

www.hdforindies.com

www.freshhdv.com

http://www.bluesky-web.com/prosumerhd.htm

What kind of Fuckery is this?

2007-02-12T10:51:00.000-08:00

Even though the Cover Art is harshly inspired by Flashdance, the contents of this Amy Winehouse CD is pure 60's soul...and boy did they get the sound right. I like retro but when people try to rehash the classic sounds they usually get it wrong. Even my friends are guilty of such failures. In this case she's got the voice, the songwriting talent and the sound down pat. Not an easy task but she and her crew pulled it off. Jack White only wishes he could attain the heights this album has reached.

Is everyone hip to this in Canada already? Am I the last one to get into this? Well, it doesn't matter because I'm hooked for good. This is one of the few album I can say I could recommend to my parents. I could recommended it to my music snob friends as well without "Guilty Pleasure" prefacing that statement. I know Colin and Terry at the Hive will dig this, big time (if they aren't into it already). I can understand how some may hate this but I won't engage in any debates with those folks. She's done an amazing thing with this album in my opinion and that's all that matters.

Hope for Canadian Cinema?

2007-02-09T16:23:00.000-08:00

The real coup here is that the Tracey Fragments is opening the Panorama section of the Berlin film festival. The Review of this New Bruce MacDonald movie is on Cinematical...and wait...it's sounds promising. Looks like if there is hope for Canadian Cinema, it will come from the East. Terrry M's UBC prof wrote the book it's based on, so there is a West Coast connection in this as well. The real success of the films seems to have been from the direction style not the original text. In the wrong hands it sounds like it could have been after school special material or worse: video poetry.

I really hope I like this movie cause Bruce stays at the Hotel all the time and he is an awesome guy (so down to earth and approachable). I will also point out that the review is from an American website so there is no nepotism going on.

here be the link

http://www.ciwww.cinematical.com/2007/02/08/berlinale-review-the-tracey-fragments/

The Long Blondes

2007-02-07T21:05:00.000-08:00

I don't usually go in for this sorta thing but this takes me back to the nineties and I was really given' er in the nine o's; this was my decade. I'm reminded of bands like Elastica, Sleeper, Echobelly or even Late-Era Lush. Looming over all those band is the inescapable Pixies reference. The slightly surfie guitar riffs, the mobile bass licks and the wanna be wipe out drums are most likely to conjure up images of Black Francis' cash cow. This is not original but it's fun and it's creating some much needed light in my slate gray life (i'm just talking about the weather, it's February in Vancouver after all). Sure, I like the allusions to French 60's film starlets and Scott Walker but mostly I like the energy of this album. These songs are a great soundtrack for running through the streets of East Van. I may even go see them live it they come around these parts.

No, we don't rent rooms by the hour

2007-02-07T16:32:00.000-08:00

I have officially reach a low point.

I am speaking of my job at the hotel. Thankfully I only work there 2 days a week. In the past 6 years I have been asked to do many things for the guests. It's my job, I'm a Bellman; the last line of defense in the war on customer service. I don't mind taking people's mail out, picking up a copy of the Globe and mail for them or even parking their cars in the underground lot. These are all not technically part of the service the Hotel provides but I do it for the guests anyway.

When I arrived at work Sunday the Bellman (I'll refer to him as X) who I was relieving says to me "Have fun with room 507". I asked him why and he said, "you'll find out." Just as he was leaving the switchboard rang...and what do you know, it was 507...

"Can you bring up some condoms?" A woman asked.
"sorry, we don't have any here, you'll have to go to the corner store".
There was a pause and then she hung up the phone. Right away the switchboard lights up again and it's 507.

"Can you go to the store to get those condoms? it's an emergency".
"I'm sorry I can't leave the building". I lied
"Wait someone wants to talk to you".
A man's voice now comes on the phone.
"There will be a huge tip in it for you if you go to the store".
"Er, ah I'll see if someone else can go for you." I look at X and the other two people who were working at the front desk. They all start laughing at me and then X leaves.

I'm holding the phone, not knowing what to say and from the back office the Mangager yells, while laughing at me, "just go do it, no else is gonna go for you."

"This place sucks" I yell and storm out to the corner store.

I buy the aforementioned unmentionables and take them up to 507. I knock on the door. The door opens, just a crack and she grabs them from me. "You're so sweet".

And she slams the door.

Story's over right?

Not a chance.

They phone the front desk again. This time they want BAND-AIDS!!!!???

I take up some and once again have to slip them through the crack. "Sorry, we're naked". and she slams the door.

Prepared for almost anything when the phone rings a third time she asks for 4 beers and adds "Make it fast, we're running out of time."

I take the beers up, this time they let me in. She's wearing a hand towel and a big beefy guy with a thorn tattoo on his upper arm is lying on the bed. Thankfully he has a sheet draped over his condom landing pad. As I survey the room I can only imagine the sexual-tsunami that caused this mess. I set down the beer on the 2cm's of clean space the room had to offer and I get the female of this dynamic duo to sign the bill. I leave and see they've left me a 15% tip. Not exactly the huge tip I'd expect (and was promised) for being their own personal condom valet.

The night goes by slowly. I talk with the regular guests (both in frequency and mental state) and go about my Bellmans' duties.

Of course, they call the front desk again. This time they want to know if any "High-End" restaurants deliver. I guess our restaurant isn't good enough for such royalty. I tell them I'll have to call them back. I do the bare minimum of research and then tell them NO. She says "It's OK, we're going to get dressed and go out."

They can do that? I wasn't aware they had such powers.

They go for dinner. When they come back, get undressed and just before they get down to their nasty business, they call down for another order of condoms (their first delivery included 6) and 4 more beers.

This time I pawn off the dirty task onto the Security guard who just got on shift.

He comes back just as I am taking the beers up so I throw the contraband on my tray and go up to their love-nest. When I get there she tells me they just got married. I a say "really"? cause I don't believe them. I think they were offended. Then she makes some comment about them being our most notorious guests. I couldn't argue so I said nothing and left. At this point I usually say to the guests "If you need anything just call the front desk." I conveniently became mute.

That was the last I heard of them. Later that night though I was told that the security guard found her running naked through the courtyard. He had to cover her with his jacket and take her back to her room.

A true low in my personal history at the Sylvia.

Cast of Rob on Bob clean up in Mexico

2007-02-07T16:22:00.000-08:00

You might recognize these folks (Bob, Cathy, Marilyn and Barry) from a little film I did called Rob on Bob. No cliff diving or Bullfighting took place this time. Some livers may have been abused but that's about it. That 130 pounder was caught by none other than Bob.

Roc Doco Research

2007-02-05T10:05:00.000-08:00

I just saw Gimmie Shelter as part of my research for the Ladyhawk Doc.

This is touted as not just another Rolling Stones concert film and boy did it deliver on that. Can't tell you enough how I enjoy the Maysles Brothers approach to documentary. They don't use narration and are very econmical when it comes to titles. What you get is a feeling of actually being there without any heavy handed manipulation.

One of my favourite parts was the scene where they are in muscle shoals studio mixing wild horses. It's just genius how Albert Maysles picked up on all the subtle things that where going on an commited them to film. Don't get me wrong this is a big doc culminating in the stabbing at Altamont but all along they managed to keep it at a very small human level.

The transfer thanks to Criterion, is stunning. The visuals are crisp and the new 5.1 surround mix is amazing. That subwoofer I got at christmas really made me feel like I was there during the live segments.

It's not all The Stones, there are a couple performances by The Flying Burrito Brothers and Ike and Tina Turner. The later was just breathtaking. All Mick has to say after seeing Tina Turner lay emotional waste to the audience is "it's nice to have a chick around once and a while." His way of dealing with being severly upstaged.

It's pretty sad that it took me this long to see Gimmie Shelter but hey I finally got around to it and am all the better for it.

The Good, The Bad and the Queen

2007-02-05T10:00:00.000-08:00

i grew up on Blur. One of the first things i remember when I moved to Vancouver in the early 90's was walking into a club called Luv Affair. I heard this song There's no other way just wash over me.

It was a defining moment. I knew I wanted to find out who that band was and be a part of what that music represented. It must of had something to do with just moving from Edmonton, knowing I didn't want to be a part of what that city had to offer and looking for a place I could fit in.

I had wanted to break away from tradition and with a band like Blur I found they could open me up to another way of living. People would say if you like Blur, you'll like so and so. A few years later I quit my restaurant job of 4 years and started working at a record store. Modern Life is Rubbish came out and further solidified my love of these wacky Britons. I worked with a British guy who helped me understand all the UK-centric references on this album. He claimed it was album of the year and I couln't argue with him. It was a great antedote for the glut of grunge music that was surrounding us at the music store.

Later when I was in Thailand (around 1994) a British girl gave me the Parklife tape and that became the soundtrack for most of my trip. Cocky and cockney, this was not an album for North Americans who couldn't handle a little accent in their vocal delivery. This didn't stop Boys and Girls from being a huge international hit. Aside from that one track, though, the rest of the album was mostly ignored on this side of the pond. Once I got to Korea and started teaching English The Great Escape came out and I mostly kept that in my walkman and used it as a shield as I took the subway to my next teaching gig. This was the height of their slickness and they needed to change or they would become too mainstream for their own good. I guess they knew it, too, as seen from what they did on their next album when they went all lo-fi on our asses. When I started The Hive the S/T Blur album came out and we found ourselves disecting and trying to reverse engineer those sloppy sounds they were offering up.

Now comes The Good the Bad and the Queen. This album is the first thing I've liked from Mr. Albarn since that self titled Blur masterpiece. I've only had a few listens but this album has the makings of a Rube Lubener approved classic. A darker dubbier and more soulful version of Blur. With the help of Paul Simonon (the Clash), Simon Tong (The Verve) and Tony Allen (Africa 70 and Brian Eno's choice for one of the most important musicians of the last 50 years)they conjure up some of the bleakest pop you're likely to hear. I thought intially this effort would ram your head with noise but it's far more restrained and sparse (and all the better for it).

The confluence of ideas that brought about this album also gave us Children of Men. The world sucks and the future is not friendly. I think this as I write Dr. Tomorrow's treatment and think technology only allows us to spread our pain around in quicker and more mobile ways. There is no centre therefore we are clinging to the edges. There is no middle so we are slipping to left and right. A album like this helps me to focus on my creativity. I like to listen to it as I write and wash the dishes.

The sound of the album has touches of Air, The Clash and the British ska from the early eighties. There is still Damon's barhouse piano and Carnival keyboards but they are so depressingly drenched in post-apocolytic studio tweeking that it comes across as ancient and modern. It's very much a product of him being fed up with the perfection of modern music. The songs don't end as much as fade off into the abyss.

If you're looking for something to compliment your gorrilaz album, this aint it. I like my stuff depressingly anti-mass-consumerist; it makes me happy. Hopefully it will do the same for you.

Four Eyed Monsters

2007-01-29T12:31:00.000-08:00

We should help out these young folks from NYC by requesting a screening of their film.

3XC and the New Realists

2007-01-26T20:14:00.000-08:00

The other night was 3XC at the Sylvia Hotel. The tiny conference room was packed with about 30+ people. We showed my films as well as Terry's and Ken T's. There were a few technical glitches but mostly it went amazingly well. I will have to remember to not use a new DVD burining program without thorougly testing it first. There was really good audience response for my new cut of Rob on Bob (it's down from 22 to 15 mins) but I'm going to do more trimming and send it out to some film fests.

Also, I saw the film 'puffy chair' last night. A realistic comedic relationship road movie by the Duplass Brothers. I've been meaning to see this for over a year. Up in Canada this movie is almost impossible to find. Thanks to Ken T and the good people at Happy Bats Video I watched it last night.

To me, this is what low budget digital cinema can do at its best. Most of the time people try to use their handycams like the big film cameras (making a mockery of themselves and the medium they are trying to ape). In this film they knew the limitations of the camera and made the best movie possible. Most importantly the content was first class. The dialogue, the actors and the situations where so natual and compelling that no big budget could have made this film any better. Shot like a documentary with natural looking lighting I felt this showcased the DVX 100 (a sub-4000 dollar camcorder) a lot better than the over-hyped movie 'November' did. In that Courtney Cox vehicle they pushed the camera beyond its limits whereas the 'puffy chair' used it economically. It was the perfect match of form and function.

I can't begin to tell you how much I love this movie. No violence, no nudity, no crime capers gone awry. Just a movie about people in their twenties trying to figure things out. It's so original in it's approach. I feel like copying it but then I think: well, I should really make a movie that reflects my own style.

Let's take a look at this phenonmenon from a larger view. In the ninties we had indie rock which revitalized rock and rock and then mainstream rock and roll ruined it. The new american filmmakers are doing the music equivilant to what bands like sebadoh, superhunk and built to spill where doing in the nineties.

The Duplass brothers are one of many new filmmakers to come out of this movie-ment that include Joe Swanberg, Andrew Bujalski, Arin Crumley, and Susan Buice. These are movies about people their age told in a realistic way (realistica?). They aren't doing action movies or genre flicks; these are stories that spring from their own lives and the people around them.

The other thing that sets them apart is that they are very skilled at what they are doing. Using consumer brand equipment and small lighting setups (with the exception of Bujalski who used black and white film stock) they are all making high-quality and hugely original movies. Whit Stilman, Noah Buambach, Richard Linklater, Hal Hartley had some luck with their earlier films but until now nobody kept up with the tradition of documenting the lives of intelligent young people. There seemed to be this huge void around the millenium but now there appears to be a true independent movement south of the border.

This is a product of readily available technology that is fairly inexpensive. Arin and Susan AKA Four Eyed Monsters used the DVX 100 and a Mac to edit. Most of these movies are made for around US$20,000.

These films have an immediacy and importance to them that is sadly lacking in Canadian film. I want to be a part of this flow of creativity. I want Terry, Mona and Ken and I to be up there with these guys. I want to be free from the bureaucracy and mediocrity of Canadian film. I want to be as independant as the Hive is with Music.

I have made steps towards this...

I just got the go-ahead to do a documentary on one of my favourite bands: Ladyhawk. At the end of February they're going to a barn in rural BC to record a new album. I'll be there with Mona to catch the magic as it happens. I'll meet with them next week to discuss all the details. After that I plan on filming another short with the help of Ken Tsui.

Better get this out

2007-01-20T21:11:00.000-08:00

Haven't posted much lately. Actually this is my first post of the new year. I've seen a few movies lately and worked a bit on the three docs. Mona and I are on our way to finishing our first wedding video (for a friend) and are seriously thinking about doing it for money. We think we can fill a much needed niche: hi/mid-price, high artistic quality. We'll shoot all of our stuff in HD and keep our crew small for now (just mona and I) and expand slowly. We still have to research the market more and then there's the matter of the name. We gotta come up with a good one.

Movies I've enjoyed -

Luna: Tell me do you miss me - A documentary about one of my favourite bands. Even though most of the film was shot through a dirty lens there were some great shots. We join up with them on their break-up tour through Japan, Europe and North America in 2005. This movie gave me a real sense of what they are like as people. I still think it's a crime that they didn't get bigger than they did. With me they are huge though. Their fans have a lot of insightful things to say about them. I thought Sean Eden (the guitarist) was kinda like the John C Reilly of the indie-pop world. This is the kind of film I would like to make.

When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in 4 parts.

I just have to start of with saying EVERYONE SHOULD SEE THIS. This movie by Spike Lee about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is an amazing oral history of one of the greatest injustices in American history. I don't really into political films. This is not a political film.

All you have to think is what if this happened to people in your town and your government took their sweet time to help you. To think a city so rich in culture, one of the few good American cities, was basically left to die by the American government is just unforgivable. For Christ sakes it took them 5 days to get them food and water. What kind country would do that to their own people?

This kind of country...

Jesus Camp

Another great doc that doesn't lean on narration to give you all the info. This is about the new Christian army that's rising in the mid-west. These f--er's are scary and don't resemble the Christians I grew up with. Yes there are funny moments especially when one of the characters, a ten year old girl, is seen dancing to Christan heavy metal telling us she is dancing for god and not for "the flesh". Good thing she told us cause I was getting worried. Let's pray these Bush loving home-schooler don't screw the world up even further.

which leads me to...

Children of Men -
An important movie that stands right up there beside Bergman's Shame, Time of the Wolf and Code 46. This bugger was bleak as all hell but so well done. There were so many striking images in this film it's just hard to pick one to write about. The colour palette was all those great gritty greens and blues that I love so. In the wrong hands it would have turned out like Minority Report or the Island. Like all good dystopian movies this one captured the chaos and the mutli-facted social clusterfuck we're headed to; not just the technology. This movie also had elements of film noir with the hard drinkin' dishevled Clive Owen. He's been one of my favorite actors of late and this role further proves he is one of the best. Is he the British Robert Mitchum?

People have talked about the long takes and how well choreographed the action scenes where. Truth is you don't notice this as you are swept away by the action. After a second viewing I may notice what was going on with all that agile handheld camera but on first viewing it was all about story for me. I won't give much away but I don't think this is really a crowd pleaser and this is mostly the reason I liked it. Sorry, but the future is not friendly.

Didn't like so much

Volver: Almodavar on Auto-pilot. After 'talk to her' he has gone progressively down hill. This is an art house movie for idiots. It looks and acts like it was filmed in 1985. He has brought back his campiness and low-brow humour for this one, that's for sure. Why aren't there any transvestites? Why no dreggs of society? We really ate up that stuff. Bad Education wasn't really that great either but at least it was more earnest than this one. And what about art-direction, has he fired that department altogether. If this is him trying to do something different then don't bother.
....

Making progress on two of the three of the docs I'm working on. I have a screening coming up on the 25th of my short films at the Sylvia Hotel. Terry Miles and Ken Tsui will also be showing their films. It should be fun, although the room only holds about 40 people.

I laugh more often now

2007-01-20T20:38:00.000-08:00

and the question is, was i more alive
then than i am now?
i happily have to disagree;
i laugh more often now, i cry more often now,
i am more me.
- Objects of my affection - Peter, Bjorn and John

The above quoted lyrics are from the first song i heard by Peter, Bjorn and John and what a song it is. When the singer hits the part where he say's I happily have to disagree it sounds like early Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe and Joe Jackson all crashing down at once. The music is pure phil spector wall-o-sound making the whole affair just an epic experience (fittingly wrapped with an fuzzy analog bow). The rest of the album has quite the variety of aural delights as well. It is sparse in many spots and overly dense in others. Other era's and sounds that come to mind are New Zealand's Dunedin sound of the early eighties (tall dwarfs, the clean), Britain's postpunk, and 90's power pop.

So now with Bergman, Lukas Moodysson, and Aha we have another reason to rush to the Ikea soiled shores of Sweden. I am told Loney, Dear, The Concretes and I'm from Barcelona are great but I haven't heard enough of these other Swedes to say if there is a scene going on there or not. If Peter, Bjorn and John are the only good one in the lot that is enough for me. I've said it in reference to Band of Horses but these guys care about pop and I can love anyone who cares about lost causes.

End on a high note

2006-12-25T11:43:00.000-08:00

Music and Movies. Have I had time to compile a top ten list? Yes I have.

I will combine both film fest and general releases here because I haven't seen as much stuff as I wanted to. If I would have had more time to see films at the Vancouver Film fest this list would be a bit longer but working at the Hotel and the Docs doesn't leave time for much.

Little Miss Sunshine: Nietzsche and Proust don't usually make it into road trip comedies but they did here and that why I love it. Literate and dumb in all the right places.

A Scanner Darkly - a mind-fuck with great animation for people who flee from Pixar rendered nonsense at at every opportunity.

Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles - After Hero and House of Flying Daggers I thought Zhang Yimou had lost his soul. Zhang shows it is possible to do intimate and opulent with equal zeal. With this personal tale he showed Raise the Red lantern and To Live were not just the kind of films he used to do. Ken Takakura, who plays a parent struggling to connect with his dying son, evokes the grace and dignity of all the great father figures in OZU's movies. Also, China has never looked better.

The lives of Others - Amazing story about East Berlin in the eighties and how art thrived and infected the hearts of those trying to crush free thought. A great, almost wordless, performance by Ulrich Mühen as the Stasi agent who puts aside his politcal beliefs to help a talented playwright.

Radiant City - A hybrid doc about urban sprawl. Set in Calgary but it could be anywhere USA. A funny and informative vision of our every expanding neighborhood dystopias.

Brick - Film Noir set in High School with those kids from Third Rock from the Sun and Witness. A great concept expertly executed. One of it's many strong points is the slang and how they employed it without it sounding stilted.

Sketches of Frank Gehry - Inspirational and informative. For a first documentary Sydney Pollack did an amazing job.

Recent Discoveries
The Weather Man - A miracle it got made within the Hollywood system. I usually hate Nicholas Cage but he really was fantastic in this mid-life crisis epic.
Don't Move - Penelople Cruz is always great in non-english roles. In this one she uggs herself up and really breaks your heart. It really got to me the way only Bergman usually does. It thought about it for weeks after seeing it.

Music
I've been listening to lots of good music this year (I can do that while doing other things) so it's easy to come up with 10. Only a few new artists on the list. Mostly it's established bands coming up with near-career topping achievements.

The Greatest - Cat Power:
Hard to follow up "you are free" but she did it here with the help of the Memphis blues band. It came out early this year but when I put it on I still feel all those emotions I did in February.

Let's Get out of this Country - Camera Obscura:
Their others albums are great but this is simply magnificent. Doing what Belle and Sebastian should be doing (and getting paid substantially less). Lloyd are you ready to be Heartbroken? had me going back to the Lloyd Cole catalouge. I had forgotten about him but thanks to this song he's a staple in my itunes library.

Shut up I am Dreaming - Sunset Rubdown:
Holy shit, it's still a piece o' magic. Even after all these months.

Rubies - Destroyer:
Most accessible Destroyer and a timeless rock record to boot.

Mr. Beast - Mogwai:
Never been a Mogwai fan but this album made me go back to their back catalogue to find out how they got here. Even if Miami Vice is a lame turd, they aren't guilty by their association to said dud. They didn't write the album for the movie they wrote it for me.

Band of Horses- Everything All the Time:
A new band that just kicked my ass. Why do they care so much? It's only pop. The same question I ask myself all the time.

Axis of Evol - Pink Mountaintops:
More greatness from the Hive. I am biased but it looks like the rest of the people in the know are as well (from all the top tens they are on). They reference the greats yet wrestle originality out of every note they steal.

I am not afraid of you and I will beat your ass - Yo La Tengo: Renewed my interest in them. Makes up for the Summer Sun CD, which wuz dull to the second power.

Return to Cookie Mountain - TV on the Radio: Took me a while to get into this one but after seeing them live and taking it out on the run with the ipod I was taken in by these Brooklynites.

Almost on the list - need a few more listens

Bonnie Prince Billie - The letting go
Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
Peter Bjorn and John - Writers Block - Full review to come
Beast Moans -Swan Lake - Destroyer + Frog Eyes + Sunset Rubdown = a dense miasma that makes no sense on paper but in practice it shines. Mixed at the hive and still being untangled by many a scenester's brain.

The importance of titles and Wii

2006-12-11T10:36:00.000-08:00

Why am i so obssesed with a title for the Dr. Tomorrow project. I want it to be named anything but Dr. Tomorrow. A lot of my favorite movies have horrible titles yet they made their way to me anyway (i.e. In the Mood for Love). This issue should be put away for now and dealt with during the edititing process, which will come in about a year.

Had a pretty good christmas party this weekend. Byron and Sonya brough over their Wii console. It was fun using those motion control wands. Although now my arms are sore. We played boxing, bowling, golf, baseball, Tennis and Zelda. I am seriously thinking of getting one of these in the spring. I still might get a PS3 though because that has the blu-ray player built in and you know I'm all about the movies.

Now the real work begins

2006-12-06T23:18:00.000-08:00

The high of Whistler is over but so is the post-partem depress fest. David and I are now onto writing, writing and then a lot of re-writing. We also have to come up with a budget. I guess I knew all along there would be tons of work after Whistler but I was just so focused on the pitch that I couldn't see to next week. Tonight I've been writing some Dr. Tomorrow treatment stuff and I've come up with a few good ideas. When you finally see the film you'll know what I'm talking about.

The great thing about Doc Talk being held at whistler was that everyone was in the same confined area and we all had to interact. I got to know a lot of great people in the Canadian broadcast world (an oxymoronical statement, I know) and got to further loathe the myopic ones I met last year. They know who they are so I won't legitimize their sorry ass lives in this here blog.

I have 3 interesting projects that I'm excited to be a part of and I won't let these soul crushing broadcasters get me down.

Whistler and Doc talk

2006-12-02T22:45:00.000-08:00

Mona and I just got back from Doc Talk which was held in Whistler. Seems that all that hard work has finally paid off.

Our pitch went great and we had some amazing meetings with Broadcasters and Distributors. All three of our doc projects now have some money people involved. David is really impressed with the progression of the whole situation and likewise I'm glad to be working with him. After talking to 15 different entertainment representatives my voice was shot by Friday.

I'm so glad I went down to 2 days a week at the Hotel. I believe positive thinking got me here. You just have to do it until you think it's beyond rational thought and then something good happens. I'm getting closer to 40 and I am happy that on my 40th birthday I will be considered a success (in my eyes as well as others).

closer to doc talk

2006-11-25T09:37:00.000-08:00

Working hard on getting a 2 minute video and pitch ready for this years DocTalk. It is going to held in Whistler this time around. It should be fun although David and I have 14 meetings in 3 days so I don't think I will be hitting the slopes. What are we flogging this year? Dr Tomorrow of course. We were one of 8 teams chosen to pitch our idea of an 86 year old Futurist. I won't get into the details but you know this guy must have something going on if I'm gonna commit time to it.

We shot some doctor tomorrow yesterday on HD and I presume to say it is the best-looking footage available for this guy. My cinematographer (the amazing Kimm) is coming over this morning to drop off the footage. We will be editing all day. I will manage to go for a run sometime during the process.

Altman 1925-2006

2006-11-22T21:46:00.000-08:00

Saw this coming but still a very sad day. I've been a fan for years. Must finish watching Praire Home Companion. Don't really have much to say but I knew I had to post. A man that has given so much to cinema needs to be remebered. After I saw Three Women in the 80's I wanted to know everything I could about the director. His imprint won't leave the landscape of independant film anytime soon. I'm just glad P.T. Anderson got to work with him on his last film.

xeon and on

2006-11-21T09:33:00.000-08:00

Mona and I have had our new Mac Pro (with the intel 2.66ghz Xeon quad processor) for almost two weeks now and we have got to tell you: it is great. We are not going back to our emac anytime soon if you're wondering. Logging tons of footage (like we are doing now) takes the same time but when we get to the editing it is going to be a breeze.

We also took in Resfest this weekend. I tell you trying to balance the two is no easy task. In the end the logging won. We saw the radiohead video marathon and couldn't muster the energy to do more. So we went back home and starting pumping more tapes into the machine.

Some Resfest Highlights

0.08 - a short doc from the Netherlands about a Spanish boy who is legally blind. Great production design, editing and story. Front to back narration...but it worked god dammit. It didn't hurt that the narrator sounded like Samantha Morton.

Massive Attack, False flags - This rock video was shot at 1000 frames per second. It is amazing what they can do with digital video these days. Will try to use the Phantom 9 camera, that the director used, in the Superdogs doc.

Coldcut, Sound mirrors - Not usually into cgi stuff but the pairing of their new-found ambient sound (former cut and paste beat junkies) and striking visuals was a very satisfying experience. I'm always impressed with photo-luminescent jellyfish.

Jon Bon Jovi's Pool Cleaner - That says it all.

Family, All he needs - A shot-by-shot remake of Mike Mills Air video: All I need. This time around it's for laughs. Instead of a hetro love story about two people who meet at a skate park there's a gay/rollerblading twist thrown in. Friggin' hilarious and inspiring at the same time.

Go to youtube if you want to see any of these.

Things change

2006-11-13T10:30:00.000-08:00

Went to my uncle Doug's funeral in Edmonton this weekend. He died of a heart attack a week ago. It was sudden and we were all pretty shocked. The good thing about it was it allowed our family to get together. We all hadn't been together for some time; I got to see my cousins, aunts and uncle and my dad and stepmom.

I made a slide show from pictures my dad emailed me. I thought it was something I could do that would be a good tribute to a great guy. My uncle Doug was always in a good mood and it's a shame that I hadn't seen much of him over the last few years.

This is a wake up call for me, I am going to make more of an effort to see my mom and dad. You don't know how many years you have left with the people you love. I've been busy trying to get my film career together but now that I'm going down to two days a week at the hotel I should have some more time to visit them (but not necessarily the cash to do it).

Sometimes I wonder why I left Edmonton but going there for the funeral I realized why. It's so damn cold, you have to stay indoors for 6 months of the year. That can't be good for you. Plus you have to drive everywhere. The city is just wrong. I always thought it was a cruel joke of god being raised there but some good had come out of it.

I'm developing two projects that are based in Edmonton. Enough time has passed that I can finally appreciate what I went through. The eighties were funny and sad especially if you grew up in such isolation. When I saw the Commitments one of the characters says something about Scotland being the shittiest place around. They've never been to Edmonton if they made that remark. When you're stuck in a place like that you have to make something great come from it because when you look around all you see is darkness. That's what these two projects are going to do. Unique lives are what people are looking for when they watch movies and in this northern albertan city I think there are more than enough to satisfy the most discerning film fan.

Projects a'plenty

2006-11-01T09:07:00.000-08:00

My life is finally starting to get back to normal. Over the last few months my schedule has been turned upside down but now, alas, I am back to posting.

Currently I am working on 6 projects: 3 Docs, and 3 fiction pieces. I can't share all the information but lets just say that 2007 is going to be more slanted towards Drama narrative, not Reality.

Info I can share -

Was accepted to doc talk again. We are one of 8 groups that are pitching our idea to 60 broadcasters from around the world. I'll give more info on our project later.

Mona and I are developing a sit-com with the ultra-young and super talented Ken Tsui. He was the only guy that stood out to Mona and I at the MAMM contest. Yes, it is true the rest of the crop were uninspired poo merchants.

We shot our first wedding video as a favour to Mona's friend. We are yet to edit it. You can rest assured we'll throw in lots of filters and slow mo plus a few CSI tricks.

What will we edit it on? We are getting a Mac Pro Quad Processor this week. This little Emac has served us well but it's a too slow for all the new projects we want to do.

I have watched a few movies as of late...

Marie Antoinette - Mood, tone, the inner world and all those things that I love and the mainstream despises. Kirsten Dunst was just amazing in this picture. Not a perfect movie but I felt comforted and inspired at the same time.

The Weather Man - Watched it on a lark and was heavily caught off guard by this mid-life crisis tale by bigger-than-huge director Gore Verbinski. I kept thinking how bad the marketing for this movie was if I got no sense of what the movie would be like from the ads. I usually hate Nick Cage but in this I couldn't see any other actor pulling of this precarious balancing act. From the colour palette to the script, everything just worked and at the end I was overcome with emotion. I watched it twice. As far as Hollywood movies go this one slipped out unmangeled. I love the cameltoe bit.

So let's just say I'm back to writing and living my life. At work the busy season is over so now they get us to do menial jobs instead of just sitting around (back in Alberta they used to call that "fucking the dog"). Had to rake leaves the other day and put my back out. I just kept thinking the whole time that I'll be glad when I can do film full time.

Going to the Asian Film Fest kickoff party tonight. Mina Shum is giving a talk and we'll be schmoozing with lots of the local filmmakers. I don't think I'll go to the Karaoke bar (yes, you heard that right) afterwards.

MAMM

2006-09-05T08:34:00.000-07:00

Recently, Mona and I competed in the Mighty Asian Moviemaking Marathon. We were one of 15 teams to write, shoot and edit a 10 minute film in one week. Luxurious schedule by 24 and 48 hours film fest standards but still we were under the gun and wished we had more time. Our film is called Just a Myth and we handed it in last Thursday. Mona was interviewed in the Georgia Straight and you can read the article at the end of this post . We won't find out if we win a prize until September 9th so we are kinda in an uneasy place, not really able to move forward until we hear how we did. Our friend Terry thinks it's the best thing we've done so that gives us hope. There are three prizes: First is 3000.00, second is 1500.00 and third is 300.00. Are chances are pretty good but we really didn't make a picture to please anyone but ourselves. Just like Departures we are going to be sending this one to as many film fests as we can afford. So cross your fingers for us. If we win the top prize we are buying a Panasonic DVX100b camera.

Brazen Asian gets real

By pieta woolley

Publish Date: 31-Aug-2006

In the world of racist jokes, Asian men’s penis size is right up there, according to filmmaker Mona Mok. But in politically correct North America, Mok says, stereotypes are off-limits. That’s why she subtly dropped penis size into the short film she’s made for the Mighty Asian Movie Making Marathon, which ends today (August 31). Mok’s out to be genuine, even if it means being shocking.

“I’m not going to worry about offending anyone,” she told the Straight, noting that North American Asian filmmakers are still struggling to find a voice. “Someone else might want to censor it [penis size], because they’re afraid to bring up stereotypes. But it’s something that me and my girlfriends talk about....I think we need to talk about Asian issues without being apologetic about it.”

This is the second year for the Vancouver Asian Film Festival’s competition, aimed at developing that voice in the local community. Each of the 15 teams was given a location, item, and fortune-cookie prediction to integrate into its film. Mok’s team, China Lily, got closet, Christmas tree, and “You and your partner will be happy in your life together.”

VAFF executive director Peter Leung told the Straight that last year’s contest did what he hoped it would. It brought the young Asian-Canadian filmmaking community together and started the process of thinking about what an Asian-Canadian story is.

“There’s a lot more buzz this year,” he noted. “I think the films will be more thoughtful.”

Mok recounted that she found filmmakers interviewed for articles about the movies Eve and the Fire Horse, Double Happiness, and The Joy Luck Club seemed apologetic, as if they needed to justify telling Asian stories.

“They should just tell their stories,” she said. “Don’t try to white-ify it because you think it’s going to be off-putting.”

The 15 movies, including that of the first South Asian–Canadian team to compete, screen at Tinseltown on September 9. Tickets, $10, will be available soon at www.vaff.org/. The three top films will be shown as part of the VAFF November 1 to 5.

No, I haven't been sitting on my hands

2006-08-23T10:44:00.000-07:00

Holy Crap, multiple posts in one day. As you can see I have been writing this August. I was just working extra days at the Hotel, writing a short film, and sending out Departures to film fests. If anyone hasn't seen Departures and would like to, give me your address and I will send one off. Hopefully there aren't thousands of you, cause then you bastards will have to pay. Starting tomorrow Mona and I are participants in the mighty Asian movie making marathon. We have to make a ten minute short in a week, from start to finish --- out of thin air. We feel we have a great cast and by the end of this month we'll have another great short film. Whether we win or not we will be one step closer to making our feature.

Fitting into your proper aspect ratio: Part 2

2006-08-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

I wish I could go back and meet Spielberg and Lucas in the 60’s and 70’s. I bet I would probably even want to hang out with these young filmmakers. They had so much promise. They remind me of the stories I heard about Truffault and Godard in the fifties: in love with cinema and ready to set the world on fire. It seems that over time they have fallen prey to artifice and have become immersed in their own myopia. And now they want to return to the a priori days but, as the saying goes, you can never go home -- they’re too dispassionate and these fat-cats can’t come back from that.

It comes down to this: people always want that which is most coveted. But if Hollywood is at your fingertips, do you really want the harsh realities of indie movies? Established directors presume to think they can make an artistic statement as potent as Pie, Donnie Darko, Brick, You and Me and Everyone we Know or Primer. Sorry, but it’s highly unlikely that this is going to happen. If you have handlers, pundits, and anyone you refer to as “your people” or use the term “working lunch” then making Killing of a Chinese Bookie might be a stretch, mais oui? And, anyone who considers the backlot at Universal “home”, as Spielberg did on a recent TV interview, will have a hard time fitting into the independent world where they won’t have their own personal assistants. The real shame is that after the fat cat directors finish their version of an indie movie, a large sector of the built-in audience will buy into their expensive marketing machine and think it’s going to be quality indie; that is until they step into the theatre and realize things really aren’t clickin’.

The only reason directors should want to make movies is to do work in an art form that is unique. If not, why not just write a novel or make and album or even commercials? One of the more brilliant literary adaptations of the past years, Morvern Callar, managed to subvert the pitfalls of screenplay translation and become something unto itself alone. By reading the synopsis of this movie (girl’s boyfriend commits suicide, she steals and publishes his manuscript, goes to Spain) you are in no way prepared for the visually arresting vision of director Lynne Ramsey’s final product. For most directors it would be a mind numbing string of enervating plot points. Ramsey understands the power of filmmaking and uses it to it’s fullest potential. Her success story, sadly, rarely exists in the straight world of corporate Hollywood.

So what does Independent mean?

Independent does not necessarily mean low budget. In fact, many indie directors have clandestine agendas of making the next bloated Hollywood production. Their real intentions aren’t exposed till much later. Movies like Hard Candy, Whale Rider and Bend it like Beckham are good case studies. Hard Candy is director David Slade’s attempt at a Morgan Freeman/Ashley Judd serial killer movie. Basically, it’s Slade’s demo reel to Hollywood. The latter 2 of this troika are little more than Disney kids movies done on shoestring budgets. They fit in perfectly on double bills with Freaky Friday and Princess Diaries. When those directors finally did make their big budget hollywood movies the gimmick of being indie darlings couldn't save their flacid tales. Shane Carruth (director of Primer) is the antithesis to this obsequious trio. Primer was a movie that didn’t sit well with the marketers or financiers. It was made for 7000 dollars after all. As gripping as all the presidents men and as complex 2001: a space odessey this movie had the power and gravitas of a master directors mid career masterpiece; not a debut. It will be remembered long after the sugar high created by North Country and Dallas have vanished.

The directors of Brick and Sin City have both been quoted as identifying inflated minimum wages as the main culprit of bloated budgets in Hollywood. Look at a movie like Sky Captain with its 100 million dollar budget compared to Sin City which was done for a measly 30 million. Both used A-list actors and no physical sets; all the actors performed in front of blue and green screens. Yet, Sin City has, arguably, a superior look, tone and script. So where did that 70 million dollars go? Into the hands of the useless so-called experts whom, we are told, are essential to getting’ a film “in the can”.

Richard Linklater, Steven Soderbergh and Gus Van Sant are good examples of directors who take advantage of Hollywood’s positive aspects yet retain their original visions of what filmmaking should be. Sure these guys make their overpriced star vehicles but then they return to what really inspires them. For instance, Linklater went from the Newton Boys to Tape and Waking Life with ease. After making Good Will Hunting and Finding Forrester, Gus Van Sant went on to make three plotless films that clipped along at leisurely pace (too leisurely for some). Soderbergh, the most successful of the three, started with a string of failures in the nineties, made the truly bizarre Schizopolis then came back hard with the universally excepted Out of Sight, Erin Brokovich and Ocean’s 11. These directors know how to play by the system’s rules yet have mastered that intangible quality that creates resonance with the audience.

After my rant, here’s a surprising thought. Amazing films are still getting made within this system. Luckily, there are just so many utter disasters to rail against that it’s easy to make a good film in this climate. American Beauty, Thin Red Line and Fight Club are prime examples of occasional miracles that ooze through the fissures of that hermetically sealed reality-suppressed bio-sphere in California. Miracles do happen, unfortunately the suits don't know how to bottle and reverse engineer it.

To Spielberg and your cronies, you claim to be powerless in the system but you are all both engineers and dramatis personae of this industry. You’re so powerful yet you complain you’re powerless to have your personal projects funded by Hollywood. This is complete bullshit. I call your bullshit and say you do have the power. Hell, Spielberg even has the financial power to fund his own indie movies without breaking his fund manager’s sweat.

How about taking a lesson from independent filmmakers who are willing to take risks, make sacrifices, and use their own money to realize their artistic visions? A nice dream but I don't figure it will happen anytime soon.

The real cure for this disease is to purge these messy tent pole disasters with a deluge of great films. If hollywood sees that films don't have to be made for so much money then maybe they'll sever the lifelines to these leeches. It is getting to the point where you can make a film for almost the same price it costs to make an Music CD. So instead of just making Dark side of the Moon you can also make the Wizard of OZ for a few dollars more. Then you and your friends can listen and watch your Opus as the Bong bubbles on ---- and yes the hapless schmucks in LA can spend millions marketing it and tell all the industry rags how they were truly responsible for its success.

The upshot is more and more young directors are taking cues from the new wave of hollywood directors and not the afformentioned old guard. David O' Russell's I heart Huckabees is more important to a young kid than the Terminal and it's a better world because of it. What inspires me even more is that kid from shit-spat Saskatchewan who knows nothing about film history, walks into Best Buy to buy a camcorder and makes his own personal Eraserhead.

Reinstate the obvious, disassociate the banal

2006-08-23T09:37:00.000-07:00

I have been listening to Sunset Rubdown as of late and I can honestly tell you I am entranced by this newish cd of theirs. Shut up I am dreaming it is called and, hell yes, I like it better than the mothership from which this pod was jettisoned---Wolf Parade. I think the reason is, it delves a bit deeper into the realm of indie-rock esoteria. I'm a big fan of this crazy (at times ambient) almost-prog---due to the extreme length of some tracks---magic that Spencer Krug is laying down here. The symphonic soundscapes he whips up on this disc are topped off with amazing guitar work. If the guitar freak out on the title track doesn't affect you at a gut level then your guts are full of shit. Not since 1995 have I heard such great slop-tastic licks as these (see: Pavement, Sebadoh and Built to Spill). That old school shit I speak of saved my sanity as I made my way through the throngs of Salarymen in Seoul, South Korea--- walkman at extreme sound pressure levels.*

There are some true surprises on this disc. The first time I heard the ending on We took a vote and said no I felt like I was hearing Radiohead's The Bends for the first time (also a Korea discovery). You don't see a lot of the sounds coming at you on this album...that's how it should always be...but rarely is.

So, it's albums like this that give my life purpose and show that the perceived futility is worth it. In a world that can create such beauty as this album, well it can't be too bad. Be patient, it'll get better this album urges me. I can say that Spencer Krug is one of the few who has taken the baton from Destroyer and made something complementary and wholly originally from the experience. It makes me wonder what people see in all the hugely popular factory refurbished indie outfits as of late (No need to name them, they are abundantly aware of their sins).

definitely up there with Band of Horses and Cat Power in the best of 2006.

*Yes, you are going to get a bit of a history lesson ala Rube circa 1995. I taught English in that hotbed of world cinema: South Korea. Music and film were my saving grace. I would sit in my yahgwan and dream of the west. My friends and I didn't realize how much we were into North America until if was ripped from our greedy claws. We were only there for the money and the price we had to pay was loneliness. Yes, there is a screenplay in it and I will make the movie someday---starring Lou Pucci.

High and Low

2006-08-22T11:13:00.000-07:00

Kevin Smith's recent blog entry explains his fascination with Linklater's Slacker and How that was the movie that inspired him to be a filmmaker. Apparently he watches it every birthday to remind him. Amazing he didn't carry on in the tradition of Linklater.

A Scanner Darkly and Clerks 2 are the most recent offerings from these two filmmakers that I've been watching closely over the last 10 years. I really enjoyed both of these movies albiet trying to reconcile the differences is almost shear lunacy.

Clerks 2: The worst movie I've ever loved.

Kevin Smith, although funny as shit, is as predictable as any other modern director. He is acutely aware of his flaws as a filmmaker yet not really interested, or even worse, capable of changing. This is fine but from a well-rounded movie goers point of view not the best situation. Kevin's knowing nods to the stupid plot contrivences (that are the wonder bread and butter of his films) doesn't in itself make them go away. It's the garbage in garbage out scenario. I saw Kevin's top ten list last year and... it's a sad, sad shit list except for the amazing Sin City. If he just watches mainstream North American movies (War of The Worlds) he will not rise above the muck.

Linklater, the more thoughtful of the two, consistantly surprises me. He can go from Tape to School of Rock (whilst making a shitload of money I might add) and then come back with Before Sunset. He is a fan of the oft maligned subtitled exotica known as the art house film. He puts that into his mainstream movies just as Tarantino does. If you're going to steal, do it from the Ozu, Godard, and Fassbinder not from the sludge merchants in LA.

When Kevin Smith takes a dip in the mainstream he drowns. Case in point: Jersey Girl. Sentimentality and cute moments don't really move a story along once you take out all the profanity and pop-culture banter. In School of Rock, Linklater had the amazing comic talent of Jack Black and the amazing writer Mike White as enabler and architect for this pre-teen flick.

Kevin is a terrible director who doesn't come up with stories that surprise you or make you think. I think Kevin should try to get someone else to interpret one of his scripts. See what happened when Rodriquez let someone co-direct one of his movies. Bam, motherfucker, he makes the best movie of his career.

Touchstones to these films:
A scanner Darkly - Alphaville, Stalker, Code 46
Clerks 2 - Meatballs, Porky's and even worse Wedding Crashers. Albiet the dialog is way better but it is constructed with the same artless abandon.

I will still read Kevin Smith's blog but I am becoming increasingly tired of his schtick. He is becoming more of a media figure than a filmmaker. We go to him for opinions and not revelations; that's why Kevin is filling in for Ebert during his recovery. I think Linklater will always be too busy making films to stop and comment on pop-culture. He prefers to keep it in-the-frame and not expound about it on his blog. Does he even have a blog? Probably not.

I still have some hope for Kevin but I think most will look at him as some one who triumphed over adversity than someone who changed the landscape of American cinema. Linklater on the other hand...

Three Times

2006-08-03T22:40:00.000-07:00

A great review of Hou Hsiao Hsien's Three Times. Just thought I needed to make it abundantly clear I'm into this dude's films.

That Obscure Object of Desire

2006-08-01T09:22:00.000-07:00

For almost a month now I have been immersing myself in the archaic sounds of the lovely Scottish band Camera Obscura. It seems I've come to their shore at just the right time. Previous albums have shown moments of great clarity and strength but this new one, Let's Get out of this Country, is phenomenal from start to finish. While listening to it on my run or while doing timed writing sessions I get all these great visual images. This is the third great Scottish album that has come out in the last year (behind Boards of Canada and Mogwai.) Tracyanne Campbell's vocals remind me of early 'everything but the girl'. This album is actually a logical progression from EBTG's cover of 'the only living boy in new york' (Simon and Garfunkel). When I heard that song on the soundtrack to the movie Tadpole I wanted more, more, more. But alas when I went to download more EBTG tracks I was left empty eared. Now, some years later, I'm satiated. Finally my sixties-meets-present urge has been quelled.

Of sense and nonsense

2006-07-25T10:03:00.000-07:00

Obsolete films (the film production company that Mona and I run) have two short films "in the can". Yes, it is true. Mona and I have finished to short subjects that we are very proud of. Typewriter at 5 minutes, was conceived, shot and edited in a 24 hour period. Essentially little more than a fun romp through the "60's Miami" inspired architecture of West Vancouver. People have really responded to it. Departures at 9 minutes, is a meditation on the strains of teenage friendship/love. This was a year and a half in the making but we are finally free of it and ever so proud. This one takes a little more to get your head around but this is really the mood and the tone we are going for when we do our feature. These two films both star the radiant Bianca Versteeg; our own personal Monica Vitti. Departures also stars longtime collaborator Terry Stewart, who gets all the best lines. Typewriter Co-stars non-actor, software genius and all-American indie aficionado Ken Milne. We are packaging up and sending them off to several film fests; from Portland to Pusan.

In a couple of days David and I will have completed our third promo for the superdogs documentary. This one clocks in at 7 minutes (the other two were 2 and 10 minutes). We will then be sending it off to the BBC, Sundance Channel, CNN and of course the mothership: CBC.

Also, that crazy Thai (Pen-Ek Ratanaruang) who brought us Last life in the Universe has a new movie coming out soon. It's called Invisible Waves and he's once again paired up with Asano (actor) and Doyle (Godhead cinematographer). Saw the trailer and it looks like another stunner. Twitch gives it a great review so that's saying something. Go to the site.

Power, Corruption and Lies

2006-07-18T15:32:00.000-07:00

No, I am not talking politics here but something far more soul enhancing: music. I know it's a little late for this revelation but the New Order album Power, Corruption and lies is a serious piece o' work. Ever since I started doing research for my new screenplay, I've been listening to it. It first re-emerged into my conscious through the gloriously anachronistic trailer for Marie Antoinette. The song age of consent was stuck in my craw for a good week...

"I'm not the kind that likes to tell you just what you want me to"

The aforementioned screenplay I am working on takes place in 1983 so I'm collecting all sorts of mainstream and underground songs from that era. This album by New Order is the idyllic transition piece between the techno-popers they would be and the doom-meisters that were Joy Division. All this and Anton Corbijn has just started filming the Ian Curtis Bio-pic. No better time to revel in the dark tones of these brilliant Mancunians.

Songs such as Your Silent Face, 5 8 6, The Village and Blue Monday (ubiquitous for years after it's intial release) really capture the other side of the 80's -- free of pastel polo shirts, rampant comsumerism and tanning beds. Through necessity this album still had a lot of the human touch that makes music really hit you. Unfortunately as technology evolved they went on to be a slave to "the midi". You can only be this great for one album, things are gonna change and usually not for the better. When so many teens are counting on you, you're bound to make a few missteps. At the time though I thought they were humming along nicely. Twenty some years on, their output in the mid 80's feels as sterile as a GP's rubber glove.

It's good that I still look back on my teenage years with some fondness, not just embarassment and shame. Hell, the screenplay will be all the better for it.

Fitting into your proper aspect ratio

2006-07-11T13:12:00.000-07:00

Inspired by the movies Capote and Good Night, and Good Luck, Steven Spielberg now wants to make a low budget movie. What is it about the allure of independence that has made him step out of his cozy abode to throw his hat into the ring? I want to explore the ramifications of such a scheme. Are Hollywood heavyweights really interested in putting forth evocative messages or are they just working themselves up into a lather by the titular ecstasy of becoming an Indie-filmmaker?

He says he was willing to make Memoirs of a Geisha for 10 million in Japan with subtitles. As a matter of public record we know that another director (Rob Marshall) ended up making the movie that became a critical and financial disaster. It alienated fans of the book as well as Chinese and Japanese audiences.

While watching extra features on the THX 1138 DVD I listened to George Lucas talk about how glad he was to be done with the Star Wars movies so he could finally focus on doing his non-linear, low-budget personal films.

What up?

Open letter to Spielberg and Lucas,

or

Lucasberg, you ruined Hollywood and now you want to ruin independent cinema. Step off, you shallow fucks.

Stay the hell away from independent cinema. We don’t need you. We have our own institutions, sacred cows and wellsprings of talent. All slots are full and we’re doing fine without you. Further, you can keep your CGI because it’s not helping to bring forward our evocative images in a meaningful way. What we will do though is let you co-opt our style in about five years or so because that’s how long it’ll take you to realize how cool our style is. By then we’ll have moved onto something else that interests us. So, yes, we’ll give you our tired old acid wash jeans at that time.

Remember that movie where Harrison Ford lived in some jungle with his family. He gets a bone-headed idea that ice is like that greatest thing in the world. Similar to what you thought when you saw all these indie films winning Oscars this year. Anyways, in the jungle is this godless tribe that has never seen ice. Ford’s character believes they need some ice. Stat. His first attempt is to bring these needy tribesmen an ice machine. That turns out to be a friggin’ disaster. Then, he decides to take them a huge block of ice. It’s wrapped up but the heat’s too much and the tribesmen end up with a dribble of dirty water. They are less than jazzed.

We thought it was funny how you cast Tom Cruise (as Tom Cruise) and the Colin Farrell (essentially a young Tom Cruise) in a Philip K. Dick story, Minority Report. We thought it was funny because Tom and Colin are such Hollywood types and, really, the antithesis of the types you would find in a K. Dick experience. When Scanner Darkly comes out you’ll see how even Keanu can appeal to the Keanu-phobic (this word may already be on Wikipedia). Further, you’ll see how Linklater, who is considered a truly independently-minded filmmaker, can spend 15 million and made it look like 150 million yet keep all the paranoia and humor of the novel. But when you see it, you won’t be able to admit that it’s a better movie than your precious Minority Report but that’s because you aren’t able to stretch beyond your own predictableness. No one will change your minds. What the both of you don’t realize is, it’s about D-I-R-E-C-T-I-N-G, not biding your time until you get the creature pre-visualizations from your effects. But you can relax fellas. With all the stuff flying around the big screen they won’t notice you couldn’t get a handle on your character.

I have more hope for you, Lucas, as you’ve already made three great movies - American Graffiti, Star Wars: episode 4 and THX 1138. But you aren’t 25 anymore and nowadays a lot of people are directly dependent on your computer rendered hand. This responsibility to the unions and to your 12+ plus work days only add to the budget and if the audience can’t see or hear the difference, they can’t feel it. Lucas, you’ve great visual style, a great grasp of mythology and an unparalleled imagination. However, you’re a terrible dramatic director (“faster and with more intensity” doesn’t exactly help to rally the troops now does it?) and have no ear for dialogue. Unfortunately, these are the two things that all great filmmakers must possess even after you strip away the millions of dollars of artifice.

Mr. Close Encounter, you bemoan that the studio wouldn’t let you do Memoirs of A Geisha the way you wanted to (for 10 Million with subtitles in Japan) so you didn’t direct it though you were happy enough to take the cash to produce it. Even though I love hearing Asians speak in bad English accents I consider this technique the highest form of Comedy, not Drama. Maybe wait before buying that island you’ve been eyeing (the one just beside Richard Branson’s) and instead bankroll something you believe in, and then we might talk. But I have a feeling we cineastes still won’t be impressed when we see your low-rent labour of love finally flickering on the screen. It’ll be a labour to watch we are sure of that.

And, really, I just want to tell you both that you’re doing just fine. You don’t need us.

Keep on keepin’ on and keep your hands off my power supply.

All for now.

Signed,
Rube Lubener
Belly of the Cineaste

Cusack at 40

2006-06-29T10:27:00.000-07:00

Which John Cusack Are You?

John Cusack turned 40 yesterday.

How does this affect me? Over the last couple of days I've been thinking about it. I am offically old now. I am no longer valid, I don't carry the clout I used to. Sure, I am 38 and still have a couple of years to go but now that Cusack has gone into middle age, so have we all. I'm speaking for the Breakfast Club/John Hughes generation. Even though Cusack wasn't in any Hughes movies, he is still a big part of our collective memories of that time. The Sure Thing and One Crazy Summer, even though those are pretty lame teen movies at the time, they served their purpose. They were predictable flicks but at the time I was pretty predictable too. Cusack would go on to make classics like Say Anything, Bullets over Broadway, Grosse Point Blank, Being John Malchovich and Hi-Fidelity but I'll always remember him as being the everyman for the eighties. They're were others, like the guy from Pretty in Pink, but Cusack is the only one who endured through the 90's and into the present.

The main appeal of Cusack's characters was that they eschewed material gains for a higher calling. In The Sure Thing he gives it all up to travel cross country to be with a girl he knows is a sure thing only to realize that it's a truly empty endevour. In Say Anything he was such a breath of fresh air when everyone thought it would be a good idea to be just like Alex P. Keaton or Gordon Gecko. Here comes this guy who justs wants to live a life where he doesn't want to process, market or sell anything. A proponent of sustainablity well ahead of his time. I think their's even a scene of him recyling. Looking back at those movies, they are dated (Say Anything survives without as many scratches) but at the time they really gave me hope that once I got out of my teens things might be a little bit better.

If this world had allowed someone like Cusack to excel, things couldn't be so bad.

When Hi-Fidelity came out, I saw it in the theatre 5 times. It was my Titanic and I was the lovesick girl waiting for the ship to finally hit the iceberg. Just as she was surprised every time it happened I was surprised when he got back together with his girlfriend (especially after hitting so many icebergs along the way). At the time, my life mirrored his in many ways (sans owning the record store, I owned a recording studio). Something about the perpetual Slacker appealed to me deeply. Sure he wanted to have opinions on wine and jet lag but in the end he was happy to put his energies into what others considered worthless. Anyone who can do anything without the promise of monetary gain, I Love.

Now that I am offically invalidated, what does that mean? It means the pressure is off. No one is paying attention to me. I can go about my business as usual and if I do manage to say something to a person in their teens that's considered worthy then cool. But as for now, I will write my stories, make my films and live my life as if their is no biological clock looming in the distance. All this with the presence of mind to put as much individuality and creativity in all that I do. Pretty well the same existence Lloyd Dobbler or Rob Gordon had fashioned for themselves.

Up to no good

2006-06-23T21:38:00.000-07:00

Just got through The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Dear Wendy, Syriana and the commentary track on Good Night, and Good Luck. FATF:TD was similarly themed to The Last Samurai but infinitely more entertaining. File it under: to bad to be actually awful. It's a great Drive-Movie. As far as Syriana goes, I love hearing the Director Steve Gahgan speak but I think he's too intelligent for his own good. I really couldn't get emotionally involved in this movie. Critic Armond White said we learn more about world politics from watching Sahara (Yes, the one with Penelope Cruz) than we do from sitting through Syriana. I want to see Sahara now cause lord I wants to learn.

Dear Wendy is one of my current cinematic crushes. The combination of Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg works famously. The visual style, concept and musical choices (The Zombies) are the strengths of this movie. The only minor flaw I found was in the overly expository voice over at the start. Granted they had a lot of ground to cover but once that sequence passed my senses were held prisoner for the remainder of this great flick. If I was 16 I would watch it over and over again and if a prospective girlfriend didn't like it she'd be toast. As Mona said "it works on so many levels".

I've been writing two screenplays (one with Misli, one with Mona) and trying to get a 10 minute dog promo down to 5 minutes. Other than that I'm trying to decide whether I am getting a sinus infection again or if I'm allergic to something.

Dangerously close to the P-word

2006-06-23T21:31:00.000-07:00

I spewed this out during my weekly writing group. Posting this is either brave or...well, you decide.

I am co-opted sentiment for the masses pre-digested for your particular demographic. I am a graphic representation of a soul that has been dragged behind a car for its entire journey through South America in the rainy season. I am Melba toast that has been reconstituted with heat and fluid. I am the fluidity of analogue impulses, the way it was before digital codes took the place of real emotion. I am the Kilometer from Granville Island to Science World, where we see the city in flux. We hope it will be so much more but are expecting the worst. I am child-like co-ordination when doing a skillful act for the first time. I am the ball and gag on the oppressor of youth. I am terrible soup that cant decide if it really wants to be stew. I am perturbed by impatience but not persistent enough to do anything positive or earth changing. I am two people walking in the desert looking for their twins when really they should be content with each other. I am the Canada arm on the space shuttle, which is ever powerful in zero gravity but on earth in can't even lift its own weight. I am Priscilla before she met Elvis and before she experienced the gaudy wonder of Graceland. I am Bob Dylan before he plugged in and got booed. I am a hybrid car that will save you 5000 dollars over 5 years. I am the 5000 dollars you saved only to spend it on expensive Lattes at Starbucks. I am a Robot that does all the things a human does only better. I am a pitch for the best movie in the world but Im too time consuming and cost prohibitive. I am puppys breath before it turns into shit scented gob. I am a Velvet curtain in an old lounge that hasnt seen daylight in 32 years. I am taller than a giraffe yet quicker than a cheetah. I am the resonance you feel after watching an Italian movie from the early 60s. I am the de-saturated colour you pull from the overstated 1950s Hollywood Epic. I am to long in the tooth to be short sighted. I am pleased to report that fat is still tasty. I am so much more than a jiggling ass and a great set of tits writhing up and down a brass pole as the lights randomly illuminate my soul. I am the tigress that eats her young because her DNA wont let her go. I am a CSI lab sequence that needs expensive editing techniques and pumping music to make it more palatable. I am sturdy as a fireplug and used just as rarely. I am Peter Parker before he gets bitten by the spider. I am the geek in the Dugeons and Dragons club after he discovers booze and pot. I am leather chaps that dont cover the really important parts. I am Monday night football that gives hope to Americas dull work-a-day existence. I am 60s French pop that gets its message across without making any of its lyrics comprehensible. I am vocal chords that have been strained beyond repair yet still sing like they did 29 years ago. I am the perpetual oyster movement in a Rolex watch; all smooth, no click. I am joining the ranks of the disenfranchised fast food franchise owners.

Mormons VS. Scientologists

2006-06-14T22:58:00.000-07:00

As we know, celebrities have a propensity for bat-shit crazy behaviour. So to stave off this madness they must search for some meaning in life. What's the salve, the balm, the panacea? The two most interesting are Mormonism and Scientology. So which camp holds the most street cred? Well lets take a look...

Scientologists
Tom Cruise
Beck
Jenna Elfman
Jason Lee
John Travolta

Mormons
Low
Neil Labute
Napoleon Dynamite
Fay Wray
Aaron Eckhart

On the Mormon side you must be thinking "holy shit these people know how to compartmentalize". To me, Mormons generally are more depressed and doom-centric. A band like Low questions those big questions in life just like Neil Labute does. As far as Napoleon Dynamite, well that cat is funny and that's because he keeps a cache of canned goods and emergency supplies in his basement plus he's allowed to have several wives. Fay Wray, an inspiration to Peter Jackson, needs no introduction. When King Kong is about to mash her in his jaws she knows she's one of the chosen and she's guaranteed to go to Mormon Valhalla.

I spent most of my formative years surrounded by Mormons in Lethbridge and Edmonton. They all had tons of kids and most of them where these gorgeous Aryan creatures that wouldn't be out of place on Laguna Beach. If you wanted that hot pussy all you had to do was dive head first into the rich talent pool Joseph Smith cooked up. At what cost though? Yes, you would have to deny yourself every joy man has concocted: Caffeine, Coca Cola, booze, cigarettes, Premarital sex (you could be in close proximity to the pussy but you just couldn't utilize it to it's full potential) and masturbation (can't get to the pussy; can't relieve yourself either). All the Latter-Day Saint boys would have to prepare for their missionary work which usually consisted of them sinning as much as they could before such task took place. I remember these kids were usually the first to get laid, drunk, toke up and come out of the closet. Directly after these life changing spirtuality questioning experiences they would repent hard and denounce any one who could slip that low, cause they'd been there and now they're so much above it. They were all so cute in the way they were hypocritical. Latter-day amnesia would wash away their sins after a Saturday night of debauchery, leaving them only a faint glimmer of guilt in the Sunday morning church light.

On the Scientologists side, Ok, you’re thinking Beck and Jason Lee are pretty cool. If you think that, you must have been in a coma since the 90's cause their output as of recent is less than engaging. When we take an even closer look the Scientologists don't fair too well. First of all, legend has it, Kurt Vonnegut had a bet with L. Ron Hubbard that he couldn't start a religion. At the time it must have been the most outrageous thought ever; that a Science fiction writer could have loyal minions following his insane ramblings.

Now look at the followers and you'll understand.

It's one of the few cults that actually legitimizes these people's inappropriate behaviour. When you're jumping on a couch in "Cruise control" or telling Brooke Shields she shouldn't be going to psychotherapy you need a fucked up support system to back up these preposterous claims. Or, to quote Top Gun - Your mouth is writing cheques your ass can't cash. I've hated Jenna Elfman's perky disposition for years. I couldn't put my finger on her source of inspiration but now I know and fuck it makes me happy. I couldn't wish Scientology on a nicer person.

What's great about Mormon artists is that no subject is taboo. Aaron Ekhart has played every manner of amoral misogynist sleezeball imaginable; usually under the tutelage of Neil Labute. Low sing about Whores, Clinical Depression and all the great sins of the secular world. Scientologists are simply swelling the ranks of bad action films, chick-flicks and turgid sit-coms. They would rather perpetuate the idea of this escapist dreamworld that mainstream media champions than delve into the grittier alcoves of real life.

When I do become famous don't be surprised if I'm waving my Latter-Day Saints flag with great vigor.

Vegas, I abhor you, though I know you not.

2006-06-11T12:09:00.000-07:00

My grandfather Victor Leickner in the desert near Vegas, 1958

I have never been to Vegas but people are always telling me to go to Vegas. First off they all know what type of person I am so they make excuses for Vegas. They add substance to Vegas. If that fails they go on to say Vegas is a vacation from substance (and too much substance is just plain boring). They don’t actually say all that but that’s their general synopsis of the Vegas experience. What is it about Vegas then, that makes the enlightened babbling apologists? Is it an Oasis that Bugsy Seagel created out of sand as an ode to a woman he adored? Sometimes I think Vegas is all that’s wrong with North America. It’s too much make-up, too much development, too much glitz and mega-consumption. It’s cacophonously loud and open all night. All this is bound to bring out the worst in people. Then again I’m not so sure about that last point. This is all speculation; it’s all a priori. I don’t think I can judge the veracity of this city’s intentions unless I am there. Will I love it or will I just be disgusted and bored. Is the lack of substance going to overwhelm me or will I fall for Cirque Du Soleil’s latest offering: Love by the Beatles. It probably won’t change me in any great way. I’m 38 and relatively set in my ways. So do I even need to go to Vegas to feel what everyone tells me to feel? Will I find this ecstatic truth that Werner Herzog speaks of? He laments there are no pure images left, that if we want such a thing we must go to another planet. So must we then search out the most impure, inorganic images ever crafted by man? Probably. Vegas does not have a monopoly on these manufactured images but it’s a good place to start. Perhaps through progressive images we may find truth. Through a Frank Gehry Building or a Miami Skyline we may see snatches of ecstasy. This is not so hard to find these days, now that every centimeter of our planet contains man’s enormous carbon footprint. So the place to start really is Vegas. All spokes are attached to this hub. So yes, I will go to Vegas and yes something will be reinforced in me and I will learn cause that is all we really want; to be better than we were last week. And if we can pass this knowledge unmangled to others so much the better. I won’t go tomorrow or in the near future but I will report back to you when I’ve accomplished my mission.

Holding out hope

2006-06-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

I hold out a lot of hope for the future of Cinema. It's good to hope for something and then to finally discover a work of art embodies the sentiments and sensibilities you find most compelling in fiction. Two films I am looking forward to this summer are The Puffy Chair and Little Miss Sunshine. The former because this movie seems to exemplify what indie filmmaking is all about. Supposedly the budget was 10 grand; which won’t even cover the coke and hooker per diem in a Hollywood production. It was shot on mini DV and visually it looks like poo. The real draw to this is the acting, which further proves you can film on any format as long as you have a great script and compelling performances. The latter because it contains the brilliant Steve Carrel, (40 year old Virgin, Daily Show, The Office) a stellar supporting cast and a funny-as-hell script. Alan Arkan does well in his comedic roles and he seems to have a few zingers in this one. This of course is from the trailers I have seen (plus the 8 min featurette for the Puffy Chair) so I could be way off. Garden State is a perfect example of a movie that I had high expectations for that let me down big time. I hate all movie endings that have a chase to stop the lover from getting on a plane. The Airport scene must die. Zach Braff, stick to making great mixed tapes cause that’s all the good that came out of this little vanity project. So we will see if either of these are this years Lost in Translation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or just mindless wastes of time.

Gorky's break up

2006-05-31T09:42:00.000-07:00

It gives me great sadness to announce one of the great Welsh bands of our time, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, have broken up. I give you Poodle Rockin to remember them by.

Someday, I will do that movie where I use songs exclusively from their sublime album How I long to feel that summer in my heart.

Top 9 Docs (couldn't come up with 10)

2006-05-30T21:53:00.000-07:00

Top 10 Documentaries
Since I’ve been on this Documentary trip for about 9 months now I should probably list my 10 favourite Docs of all time. As you can see, overt politics has no place in Documentaries for me. When you take out the topical you get to the deeper truths. I dare you to show me an Iraq Doc that can compare to any of these for pure entertainment value alone.

These are in no particular order:

Grey Gardens : Maysles Brothers – The ultimate mother daughter team. So glad they made a Broadway musical out of it.
Gates of Heaven: Errol Morris – Why do dogs make people so crazy?
American Movie: Bad Horror + Headbangin’ Director = Funny as shit doc. This is the movie Fubar was trying to be. You can’t fake a Mike Schank (god knows I’ve tried).
Cinema Verite: Defining the Moment: Peter Wintonick – A great doc about the history of documentaries.
Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus – Exploring the virtues of the deep south through the lens of a Brit with Jim White (alt country star) as our guide. Great structure to this offbeat film.
Half Japanese: The band who would be King – A great story of perseverance over lack of musical talent. This strangely moving tale of a couple of naïve brothers who made serious waves in the early days of indie rock.
Project Grizzly: Peter Lynch – On man’s vision to build the ultimate Bear-proof suit for wildlife preservation---I don’t think so. This guy is one f—ed up cookie but highly watchable. He’s Kind of the Hobbit version of Patrick Swayze.
Hell House – For Christians and those of the secular world this movie has something for you. It can be viewed as anti or pro depending on your faith. Essentially it is a tale of a famous Haunted house that is set up every year in Texas, to literally scare the hell out of impressionable Christian teens, thus leading them onto the path of redemption and salvation. Mel Gibson must have got the idea for the Passion of the Christ from this little movie (at least the gore elements).
Grizzly Man: Werner Herzog – Why do bears make people so crazy?