How much things change in one year

Yeah, a meh-me. Though I did get my massive tax return back today and I just feel saucy.

I did find this at Tris’s MySpace, and found it somewhat appropriate as Dawn and I have been in the Lower Mainland for nearly a year.

1 YEAR AGO TODAY

How old were you? 32.
Where did you work? Just finished serving purgatory working construction with an abusive friend of my father’s.
Where did you hang out? Paramount Canada’s Wonderland, Second Cup, and Simeon Park.
Where did you live? Gormley, ON (near Toronto for those asking what the duece?)
How was your hair style? Short and messy.
Did you wear braces? Never have. Something is telling me this meh-me is designed more for people just a tad bit younger than me.
Did you wear glasses? Yup. Though I’m far-sighted, not near-sighted, and as such, it really affects reading and computer work more than anything. Speaking of which… ahh, that’s much better.
Who was your best friend? Dawn (obviously), and Todd & Mandy (no blog or hyperlink I know of).
Who was your boyfriend/girlfriend? Dawn.
Who was your celebrity crush? Christy Hemme. Gawd I love the divas of the WWE. Yes I am sad.
Who was your regular-person crush? Dawn.
How many tattoos did you have? One.
How many piercings did you have? One, though it’s probably filled up, in my left ear.
What car did you drive? 2001 Chevrolet Cavalier.
What was your favorite band/group/artist? Pink Floyd.
What was your worst fear? That I lose my ability to be there for Dawn.
Had you gotten drunk or high then? Only on days that ended in the letter ‘y’. Well the high bit. My hangovers from drinking deter me from being a total lush.
Had your heart broken? On the ever scale, too many times. In the more local vicinity of last year, no.

NOW

How old are you? 31. But who’s counting.
Where do you live? Burnaby, BC (right next door to Vancouver).
Where do you work? I’m a Lamp Operator Permitee with IATSE 891, as well as working part time at Best Buy (can you say yuck yet to the latter)? Who’d have thought after being verbally dejected and my confidence widdled to next to nothing that I’d have worked on Smallville, Stargate: Atlantis, and the pinnacle, X-Men: The Last Stand?
Where do you hang out? Tim Horton’s, Save-on Foods, Cypress Mountain, and Mount Seymour.
How is your hair style? Still short and messy.
Do you have braces? Never will.
Do you wear glasses? I still have them on… and typing this thing is going way faster.
Who is your best friend? Still Dawn, still Todd & Mandy. Nothing changes there.
Still talk to any of your old friends? Aside from the aformentioned, I’ve sporadically emailed an old mate from university, Paul, which reminds me I should give him another line. As well, another old mate, Heath, and myself have had some MSN chats as he’s abroad, currently in Korea.
Who is you bf/gf? Still Dawn. Plans are will be married out on the island on September 30, 2006.
Who is your celebrity crush? Well, Christy Hemme has been “let go” by the WWE, so maybe Maria.
Who is your regular-person crush? Still Dawn.
How many piercings do you have? Still just that unused earring one.
How many tattoos? Still just the one, but half-assed considering more.
What kind of car do you drive? The same Cavalier. That car got us 4,500 km away from Hell Toronto to our new home here in British Columbia.
What is your favorite singer/group/artist? Pink Floyd. A year later and they’re still genius. Hell, 35+ years and they’re still genius. Music that will truly stand the test of time (and a vast plethora of 420 celebrations).
What is your biggest fear? Something serious happening to either Dawn or I. Not only could I not handle losing her but I could not imagine what she’d go through losing me.
Have you gotten drunk or high? I live in British Columbia. One wiff of the air, and good times here we come.
Had your heart broken? Since last year. Never. And I never will.

That is all.

Dawn, here’s what our kids will be like…

Saw this over at Kenny’s MySpace, but it is so true as to what our kids will turn out like…

Love you babe…

Crazy Eights

And no, I don’t mean the card game described here, but rather an eclectic 8mm film festival. Yes, the same film format as those lovely home movies we used to watch as children. A format that was all but dead with the widespread release of video cameras.

Well, for those of you in the know, 8mm is having a quaint comeback. Looking for a reasonable alternative to shooting digital cheaply, various 8mm film festivals pop up to allow filmmakers to realize their visions, still on celluloid.

Currently, here in Vancouver, there is a large push by independent filmmakers to get films prepared for entry in a Crazy 8’s film festival. As such, our regional section of craigslist is overflowing with requests for various volunteer cast and crew to shoot these films, the majority being short films.

Myself, I don’t mind the idea of working on such a crew, though my intention to be a world class editor is steering my choices of freebies to work on. Craigslist does do well as to give a consistent dosage of independent film work out there, and keeps me attached somewhat to the pulse of the city. Sometimes people whinge about the concept of doing a freebie for work.

Today, I found this “advert” posted on craigslist, which absolutely floored me…

stop asking people to do everything for free. I am so sick you ads telling people how big you are, yet never hires anyone for real money, just keep asking for people do things for free or (for credits)~

If you think you guys are so hot then get some money to hire people. no one cares about getting your stupid credits. WE wanna get paid for our work.!

To add some context, I began my whole ride in the film industry 4500 kilometres east in Hell Toronto, Ontario. And though many Americans feel this hell-hole is Canada’s capital, the only thing Toronto capitals is losing hockey. Anyway, I got rolling in film surprisingly in the wake of SARS, when it hit Toronto and the international community was scared to go to the city. The film industry, in the case of Hollywood productions, still hasn’t fully recovered. So new filmmakers like myself struggled finding money for film. Hence my move out here.

There are filmmakers here in Canada who do not want to be reliant on Telefilm Canada for funding (as our last names are not Egoyan or Cronenberg). So, to attract attention of potential investors, as the average film student does not sport a spare $5-10 million to finance a feature film, we start by shooting short films. 24 hour challenges, 48 hour challenges, 8mm, local film festivals, and try to get into major festivals to get our names out. To the diligent writer, no, showing up at 20th Century Fox with your film school degree in your hand does NOT qualify you for $200 million to shoot X4.

You do make one point though. Not every crew is “going places”. Maybe you should talk to the filmmakers as opposed to being overly cynical. You might get a decent idea as to the professionalism of the crew and keys who are looking for others. And maybe, just maybe, you should get that silver spoon out of your mouth and start to realize that the average filmmaker doesn’t have loads of cash to pay for a film, and has to cut costs somehow. And hey, if it’s a feature, they usually cut you into a slice of the profits for waiving your salary. There are costs other than salary. Food, craft, gear, locations, film, tape… it all adds up. And we haven’t even looked at post production, clearances or distribution.

Maybe you should go to film school before you open your yap.

That is all.