In Edmonton for some Wedding stuff

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Top Movies of 2007

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'

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

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

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

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

Check it here

The Edge of Heaven

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

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

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

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

Check out the trailer for this amazing looking film.

We are done

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

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.