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Hey everyone. Back from our week long visit to Edmonton. Busy busy time, sorry to anyone we didn't get a chance to call or visit with. A week seemed like a long time when planing it, but got eaten up extremely fast!
Lately, I've read "The Negotiator" by James Marsh, about the art of kidnap negotiating. It was OK at first, but I was a little disappointed in it overall. It dealt mostly with kidnap cases in Italy and Central America, where kidnap is an actual industry. I guess I was hoping for some tales of closer to home kidnappings, but I guess you go where the action is, and it's all over there.
Also read "Watchers" by Dean Koontz, and "Serpico" by Peter Maas. Both were pretty good, and I now need to see the Pacino movie of the same name. There are a few classic films I've never seen. Apocalypse Now is another. As for Koontz, may pick up a few more of his at the ol' used bookshop, but his style didn't entice me into "must read everything" mode, as some authors do.
Feeling a TV void..no Sopranos, no Six Feet Under, no Buffy, no Angel. I've always liked Smallville when I've watched it, and now that there is precious little on, I feel this may be the season that I actually remember what night it's on and go out of my way to see it. The season opener was really good, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes.
The thing I like most about it is the twist on the Superman mythos..taking a page from the X-Men movies and kicking the costumes to the curb, and using the Superman mythology as a base for an ongoing show really works, especially now. Some of the twists on the old legends work really well. I love that Jor-El was actually evil in thes treatment.
Working on the new computer, picked up an 80 GB hard drive and a DVD burner, so I can finally burn some DVD's. My main source will be MST3K's from Digital Archive Project.
While we were in Edmonton, we brought the dogs with us, a friend took two cats, and the rest of the cats (seven of them) were boarded at a local kennel, in very nice digs. We picked them up yesterday, and found that Riley had a blocked urinary trak again, same as he had a year or so ago. Luckily we caught it quickly this time. Last time, he was so blocked that we almost lost him, and all the posion in his system literall left him a little "simpler" in the head than he was prior to the illness. He's stayin at the vet overnight, and he'll be back tomorrow. Poor kitty man, I'm just glad I was home last night and noticed his distress.
Sorry for the lack of links in this post..I just feel lazy.
it's been 2 months
..since I left my job at the college. It's been 1 month since I arrived in Medicine hat. Therefore, it's been a 2 month break from the day-to-day stresses of maintaining an 8-4 schedule and trying to fit everything else in between. It's been 1 month since I've been in a traffic jam, had to pay for parking, been too concerned about being anywhere at any specific time, had to pay more than $7 to see a movie.
Yeah, Medicine Hat is going to work out just fine.
We're heading to Edmonton for a week, leaving Monday. It will be nice to see everybody (well, everybody that we can squeeze in, I think it will be a busy time, visiting-wise).
I have some potential opportunities coming up. I am meeting with the director of the Esplanade soon, to chat about what he'll be looking for in a technician, and whether or not that's even what I want to dedicate myself to, long-term, since I'm really not a performance-theatre technician by trade.
I also have a chance to be on the Esplanade AV installation crew, through my friends at All Star Show Industries, (with whom I worked often at the college. That would be a great experience, as installation is something I've been leaning towards for awhile.
I'm also going to do the Mukey thing (sounds gross, doesn't it?) and see if the government folks will pay for some retraining and skills upgrading. That's probably my main hesitation in accepting another AV job on a full-time basis at this stage, even if one were to come along. This will probably be a unique opportunity for me to stay on this largely stress-free break from the working world, plus take some classes and learn some skills I wouldn't otherwise have the time or money (or energy) to take. If I can take some courses, say an IT certfication of some kind, that would supplement the 9 years of experience I have in AV, and in a college environment, that should lead to something marketable, right? Especially in a city that has lots of oil and gas companies.
For now, I'm quite enjoying the holiday. I highly recommend it, if you have the means.
wow
Just caught the season ender of Six Feet Under. I wasn't sure where this season was going, but this episode threw me for a loop. Near the end, my jaw went from "dropped" to "whoah! Way dropped!"
I love it when a show actually draws me in enough to make me almost forget that it's just a show. I'm trying to think of other moments in film, tv or books that made me go "Holy Shit!!". There were a couple in last year's Sopranos, but nothing earth-shattering, more just shock reaction to the non-chalant nature of the brutality. Actually, the final scenes with Adrianna did have the jaw-drop-effect, as soon as I clued in as to what was going on.
I'm glad I don't watch more episodic TV. I'd rather stay a snob and just enjoy the good stuff for what it is.
Why, I remember when...
..concerts were twenty bucks! Yes, I wanted to see the reunited Van Halen. I was a fan of the Hagar era of the band, and yeah, it would be a guilty pleasure and attempt to re-experience my young adult years. But $119 per ticket, plus Ticket-Bastard's outrageous service charges? No, I can't think of many bands I'd pay that kind of money to see. In the first 5 rows on the floor, maybe, but for 80 percent of the seats in the building? No way. Nosebleeds are $60 plus service charges, for Chrissakes!
oh sure,
I leave Edmonton and these guys finally decide to do their festival. I missed the first one in 2002, but heard that it was pretty cool. I was all hyped up last summer to attend and even volunteer for the 2003 version, but they seemed plagued by disorganization, poor advertising, and, if I might say so, delusions of grandeur.
Not only did they announce the dates and schedule of all their films, they announced a venue before they had signed the papers (The recently-closed Paramount Theatre on Jasper Ave). Their big fundraiser, advertised only on their own website, drew less than 20 people. I maintained contact with them, hoping to help out in some way, but e-mails went unanswered after the initial contact. I was willing to try and get them into the college's conference theatre, if it would get the festival running.
On their webiste and forums, they blamed everyone but themselves. Edmonton, the fans, you name it, it was their fault, not the organizers.
It's too bad, as they had some impressive films lined up, from Japanese gore-schlock like Battlefield Baseball to the indy hit Bubba Ho Tep. I was quite looking forward to the experience, but alas, it was rescheduled, then cancelled, then attention devoted to running in Calgary and Detroit (which, to my knowledge, didn't happen either). I had given up on them, and wondered how they managed to pull it off in the first place.
Well, they're back, with a new format and new venue, and I hope they pull it off, though I'm unsure about the decision to run in a nightclub. It won't entice me to make the trip, if I'm not gurarnteed a seat, even a beat-up, uncomfortable, old theatre seat.
Time will tell...
movie update
Party Monster- Macaulay Culkin can't act. Well, the part required overacting, which I guess he did, but maybe it wasn't a very good movie. Seth green also overacted, but was much more watchable. Maybe it's a charisma thing.
Ginger Snaps 2- good, but not as good as the first. Kind of a cop-out ending, to me.
the latest
Hey everybody. I've been lacking in posts, so sit back, get comfy, this'll probably be a long one.
Movies n books. Went to see Suspect Zero a few nights ago. I had seen the commercial, and didn't know much about it except that it was a serial killer flick. So, it was either that, an unknown quantity, or go see something that I had seen already, like Spiderman 2 or AVP, so we went with the unknown. It was pretty good for what it was, not really what I expected with the psychic-y premise, but overall, pretty good, with a good direction in the last act that made the movie worthwhile.
On the dish, we watched Secret Window, also well executed, but too predictable. The only thing unpredictable, after the "surprise plot twist", was where they went afterwards.
Watched most of Dummy with Adrien Brody. It was cute, and fairly funny at times. I wanted to go see this months ago at The Metro, but never made it. It wasn't perfect, but not bad. As far from The Pianist as Brody could possibly get.
Also on the dish this week were two more I had wanted to see, but haven't yet. Another one from the Metro, at about the same time as Dummy, was Party Monster with Macaulay Culkin, just to see if he has a hope of resurrecting his career by being able to, you know, act a little bit. The other was Ginger Snaps 2. I really liked the first one, a low budget, creative horror film, and Canadian to boot. Still waiting to see if 2 and 3 can live up to the first. I also need to do some research into the production itself, when I finish my zombie western script, to see if some cool Canadian indy producers with vision can see anything in it and try to put it out there.
I have some thoughts and observations about the upcoming Batman movie, but I'll save that for another post.
