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A Series of Unfortunate Events

2010-05-23T12:34:00.001-07:00

It's been so long since I've update my blog that I figured why not do so with some lovely human misery... my own.

If you follow me on Twitter than you know that yesterday morning I awoke to a very maddening sight. My car a 2002 Monte Carlo SS Pictured here, was broken into the night before.Now unfortunately I'm not stranger to having my car broken into. Let me run the short gambit of my car's history.

I bought my car from AutoGallery in 2006, October 17th to be exact. It was a joyous day, and I was as happy as I could be. But that feeling would not last for very long. In the summer of 2007 while I was attending College Sturgeon Height Collegiate my car was vandalized and I had a litre of water poured into my gas tank by some punk kid. (kid was never named) And even more unfortunate for myself was the fact I drove all the way the Unicity Shopping Centre to buy a video game and when I got back to my car the water had worked its way into the intake. The result was a $80 tow to the mechanics (which was a ripoff seeing as the tow truck driver didn't have to drive any more than 10 blocks) and then a $400 labour charge to the mechanic because it took so long to separate the water from he gasoline. Fun time. In the winter of 2008 I went out to my car to go to school. I opened my door and hoped in, and looked around realizing that I most certainly did not leave all of my Cd's lying all over the place. Hoping out of the car I noticed a nice pinhole underneath the door handle confirming my theory of being broken into. That repair cost $500 but I only had to pay my $200 deductible.

Just this past winter as my school chums and I were going out to Lockport to do our Manitoba travel assignment I was pulled over for speeding and was issued a ticked (which I still have to pay) and was also ordered to take the tint off of my windows for being too dark. After slicing my hand open three time I decided I wasn't the right person to be doing in so I took it back to the dealership where I bought the car almost 5 years prior. Not only did they take the tint off for me, but they didn't even charge. Great customer service!
Here in lies the problem, because one of the reason I though I was broken into the last time was because my tint was so dark that you can't see inside and criminals wonder whats in there. As I found out being able to see inside is also bad if you leave you iPod in plain sight. FOOLISH! Because my car was broken into and then they tried to steal it, thanks to the immobilizer they couldn't but they did rip apart my dashboard pretty good.
Now my car may be written off but the blue-book value is still high and I don't think that repair will equal the cost of writing my car off.

Here's where it gets really sticky though. I recently just signed a 14 week contract with EPIC Information Solutions (thanks to Kenton Larsen for posting the job on his blog) to film and produce a series of promotional and training videos for their company. Unfortunately my video camera was in my trunk and that was stolen too, along with some other items. This really sucks because EPIC stated in the contract that I must use my own equipment. Now they are good people at EPIC, and I hope we work something out, but I feel like my job may be in jeopardy.

I suppose things could always be worse, and I'm not to broken up about it, but I do hate how poorly this city and MPI treats victims of car theft and break ins.

Funny or Die

2010-04-09T20:06:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone this is the montage that Jeremy Jack and I created. It's on Funny or Die right now and it's getting viewed a lot. Please rate it funny!.... Well if you think it's funny that is.

Mustard Mondays - watch more funny videos

Clash of the Titans 3-D

2010-04-04T14:44:00.000-07:00

Just a quick review.

I went to see Clash on Friday night, opening night. We got there an hour early and there was already 3/4 a theatre full of people waiting in line. Not a good sign, but we ended up getting our favourite seats anyway.

I remember watching the original Clash of the Titans when I was a kid, it was an alright movie, but I hated it as a child. There wasn't enough interesting things going on to keep me entertained. Watching it now I still don't like it, however the stop motion animation by the masterful Ray Harryhausen are fantastic here. This film was his last picture doing these effects and the only one in which he worked with assistants.
Quick note about the 3-D. It's worthless. See it in 2-D and have more fun.

The movie was a great reboot and had all the right people in it. Sam Worthington as Perseus, Liam Neeson as Zeus, Ralph Fiennes as Hades(Voldemort) and the gorgeous Gemma Arterton as Lo.
All the actors do a fine job of making their roles seem important. Sam Worthington, who's been in everything these days, proves he is adept at playing different roles competently.

The action scenes are wicked, with some very cool fight scenes involving giant scorpions, being the most exciting. The Medusa fight was awesome, if not a little short lived, but the suspense leading up to the actual fight was palpable.

Now to the Kraken. Yes, it was awesome to look at, it sounded wicked, although to me it's roar was significantly quieter than in the trailer. Why that is, I'm not sure. The scenes where the Kraken is destroying Argos is cool, but when you finally see the Kraken in full, it doesn't last long. Kind of disappointing, but cool nonetheless.

I'd say go see it while it's in theatres but go 2-D and save your money.

Stay Calm, Cool and Collect

2010-03-22T08:19:00.000-07:00

Sorry, no vlog this week. Being busy with the magazine project has pushed filming to the backseat, actually more like the trunk. Now this brings me to the point of this blog.

Staying Calm, Cool and Collect.

My philosophy when it comes to CreComm.

We all know, or at least us CreComms do, that CreComm is tough. It's most likely the most stressful and time consuming thing we've done with our lives. And make no bones about it we're all going through our own personal hell right now. Trying to juggle every assignment we have, video montage, IPP proposal and panel, magazine project, script writing, magazine fair, magazine printing. Of course then add on working part or full time, having a home life, and trying to find time to eat, sleep and have a social life. It's tough, but we're all managing well enough.

There are a lot of freak-outs in CreComm, things go wrong, time gets eaten up by other things, procrastination or you just forget. But freaking out just adds to a bad situation and only makes it worse.

My philosophy is to just stay calm. Above all else, no matter what happens just stay calm. It's a tough thing to do, but trust me, it makes getting back on the horse a much less painful and quicker experience.

For example, a lot of you know that last week as Lennie and I were working on our magazine project and finishing up for the day we lost 10 pages of our magazine when our file got corrupted while we were backing up some of my pictures. Yeah it sucked, and it put us back almost an entire day. It was the second worst thing that could have happened, but I just stayed calm, in fact I laughed. It wasn't a funny situation, but laughing is way better than loosing your mind.

Believe me it's so much more beneficial for the sanity of the group to just stay calm. There is no point in sitting there being angry because you have to do something over again. Just get over it and move on.

Stay Calm, Cool and Collect everyone.

Vlog Week 4. Queen and the IPP 2010 presentations!

2010-03-13T15:24:00.000-08:00

Vlog Week 3. Road Trip!

2010-03-07T20:28:00.001-08:00

Exclusive Interview with Barbara Bell, director of Graphic Sexual Horror

2010-03-01T09:03:00.000-08:00

Last week I took on a story for the Projector where I had to write about a new documentary called Graphic Sexual Horror. The film was put together by Anna Lorentzon and Barbara Bell. I had an interview with Bell and decided I'd post that here, because I couldn't use all of the great quotes she gave.

1. What possessed you to make this movie?

After Insex closed, Anna and I wanted to do a project together. But when we were throwing around some ideas, all we could talk about were the funny, strange, and poignant things that happened at Insex. We wanted to make a feature film, but didn't have the money for it, so we decided to to do the documentary first to draw attention to our work.

2. Was it difficult to contact the people from insex? How did you go about contacting people who were either anonymous or went by aliases?

Anna had scheduled the models at Insex, and so had some contact information. But it was still very hard. Even after we were able to find a particular model or staff person, many didn't respond, or said no, or just didn't show up. The people that were most interested were those that are still working as bondage models or are working in the industry in some capacity.

3. The subject matter and visuals are something that many people would find very disturbing. How have your audiences received the film?

We've had some walk-outs, but only a few. I thought there would be lots. In general, I have been pleasantly surprised that most people have been able to process the material and the direction of our film and talk about it in a fair-minded, mature manner. Of course, you always get those few that already have their minds made up and just want to lambast all porn, or PD in particular. But I would say that the response has been very positive.

4. Do you warn anyone viewing the movie before hand that the content may disturb them?

Yes. Depending on the venue. Sometimes we aren't given a chance to say anything before the film. But the advertising should give them a clue.

5. Most documentaries present a bias, but GSH does not. Was there a specific reason for doing that? And what side are you on personally?

I don't like documentaries, movies, talk-show hosts - whatever - that tell me what to think. I dislike material that is clearly biased. We're showered with it in America. Even so-called socially conscientious documentaries are generally put together to make you angry about something. I'm rather fed up with it.

As far as PD and Insex, I am not actually on a side. I think it is a complex subject with real human beings who have their own strengths and weaknesses. I simply wanted to paint a picture of the situation as I experienced it at Insex. I think that adults should be allowed to make their own decisions as to whether or not they want to engage in this type of activity, both on a personal level and a professional level. Some people find it exhilarating and healing. Others have bad experiences - like in ALL of life. One reason why I wanted to make the film was to show that these individuals aren't that much different from anyone else. And that they are doing a job. And that the work environment isn't that different than other work environments. It is very easy to scapegoat a business or make assumptions about the "exploitation" of women when you don't know anything about the situation. I see this type of activity being isolated out and treated as criminal much like gays and lesbians, in the past, were treated as criminals. Even psychiatrists used to consider homosexuality a mental illness. Which is exactly why we didn't have so-called "professionals outside the industry" talk about it in the film. The bias about this kind of work is so over-riding, I don't know if an unbiased outside source even exists. I recently spoke with one of the models that was in the film and she was told by mental health professionals that her preference for this kind of sexuality is an illness that must be treated.

6. Was the subject matter difficult for you to stomach?

My first experience when seeing PD's work was - whoa, this is too much. But then, I can't stomach horror films either. And I'm not into porn. Yet at the same time, I could see something in his work that was more than porn. And that completely intrigued me. PD's material pretty much trashes the illusion that there can be a line drawn between pornography and art - in the same way (but more intense) as Maplethorpe. Because there are clearly artistic elements.

Once you become accustomed to the medium in which he is working, you can then gain an appreciation for the energies he elicits both from within himself and some of the models.

Clearly, if you have a fetish that falls in the category of PD's work, then you will have a completely different reaction to the material. Again, a bias against it exists in part because most sexual expression is taboo in our society. And because a small number of people possess this particular sexual orientation, most people won't have an initial positive reaction to it. Even those that enjoy BDSM can find PD's material difficult. We used a quote from a female Insex member near the beginning of the film talking about this very issue.

7. Barbara, you're a novelist, a musician and a filmmaker. Is there one above all that is your favourite?

I began as a musician and writer and still see myself that way. To me, making this film was about the storyline, the writing aspect. But I learned so much about how to use image. An amazing documentary I saw recently is called "Touch the Sound." It is about Evelyn Glennie. But the director, Thomas Riedelsheimer, used remarkable sequences of image and sound to create a marvelous shift of consciousness in me much like poetry or listening to Arvo Part. So I find myself thinking about image as a medium more often.

8. What is the main message behind GSH?

To me it is about the people. That they are real people that deserve our respect as we would respect anyone. But the reason I found myself spending time at the studio was that the extremity of the situation was like a spotlight. The climate at Insex illuminated the complexities found in all of life. It made certain profound problems of being human very clear. That is the message behind Graphic Sexual Horror. It's about marvel and obsession. It's about greed and how it drives us. It's about how two people negotiate an outcome while in a very tricky terrain of money and emotion.

9. How long did it take you to make the film?

We made the film in a little over two years.

10. Whats next for you?

I am presently re-working my website, barbarabell.com, in order to post one of my novels online for free. The first chapter is now online. I am also working on the screenplay for a movie based on my experiences at Insex.

Dean Cooper, Tiffany is Deaf and Sandy does Impressions!?

2010-02-25T19:31:00.000-08:00

Reading Week, Fake Teeth, Shutter Island and Garbage

2010-02-19T17:09:00.000-08:00

CreComm's Bachelor/Bachelorette Auction

2010-02-17T20:50:00.000-08:00

Our very awesome CreComm Grad committee put together a great event as a fundraiser for us this past week. It was a blasty blast and we raked in over $700 beans! That beats the hell out of a bake sale any day. It was a great event and I was there to capture it all on video. Here are the highlights!

War of The Worlds

2010-02-09T17:00:00.000-08:00

Probably the most well known radio drama of time is the October 30,1938 War of the Worlds broadcast by Orson Welles. It was a retelling of the HG Wells story about martians landing on earth and zapping us all into dust with ray guns. The radio drama started off like a regular newscast and, although prefaced with an introduction by Welles, if you were tuning in late it was very easy to assume that this was a real live broadcast. I listen to it every Halloween on Coast to Coast AM. If you have time, listen to it in it's entirety.

Rebel Yell Magazine Feature Article

2010-02-06T11:28:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd post the article I wrote for my magazine project.
Our magazine - Rebel Yell - is a magazine about activism. Exploring local and international causes around the world. For my article I wrote about how sometimes protesting can cross the line. I scored an interview with Shirley Phelps-Roeper from the Westboro Baptist Church and we discussed how the church goes about their protesting and if it's making an impact. I also spoke with Chris Vogel, a pro-gay activist, and founder of the Manitoba Gay and Lesbian Archive.

I'll warn you first, the language in this article is EXTREMELY OFFENSIVE and if you're sensitive to any kind of anti-gay sentiment I wouldn't read any further. It is also important to note that I DO NOT support any of what Phelps-Roeper is saying.

God hates fags. At least, that’s what the Westboro Baptist Church wants you to think.

The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) was founded in 1955 by Fred Phelps and is still run by him today. The group is best known for the hate-based picketing of funerals of dead soldiers with signs that say “Fag Troops,” along with similar messages. These rallies are organized by Shirley Phelps-Roper, Fred Phelps’s daughter.

“Obey your God, that is your duty,” says Phelps-Roper, 52. “Fear and obey God, and give the glory of all his amazing works. Hurricanes, dead soldiers, that fag disease AIDS and decapitated Canadians.” That last part refers to the August 2008 beheading of Tim McLean on a Greyhound bus just west of Portage La Prairie, Manitoba. The WBC attempted to come into Canada to protest his funeral. Almost everyone was denied entry, although a few did get into the country, but none appeared at the funeral.

I ask Phelps-Roper to explain her motives for coming to Winnipeg. McLean was just a regular nice guy who had his young life tragically and horrifically taken away from him, no?

“I want to connect the dots for you,” explains Phelps-Roper. “Dot A, your rebellion against the commandments of God, to dot B, you beheaded and snaked upon the carcass of your fellow countryman.”
So just so we’re all clear now, Tim McLean was murdered because of his rebellious nature against the word of Phelps-Roper’s God. I wonder why that was never discussed on the news as a possibility.

Freedom of speech is a remarkable thing. It gives us the power to say whatever we want and is the backbone of any activist group. We wouldn’t have protests if free speech didn’t exist. This is what gives groups like the WBC the right to say the outrageous things they do. It is also freedom of expression that allows them to take their opinions to the street and have their protests, just like everyone else.

Therein lies the hypocrisy in their argument against homosexuals. Is it right to condemn them for using their freedom of expression by being homosexual? The short answer is no, but let’s put the wisdom of Phelps-Roper back into the equation.

“God gives both the responsibility and the right to do what we do. Homosexuality is an abomination,” Phelps-Roper laughed, then added, “You have two gay rights, AIDS and hell.” That certainly isn’t the same gay rights I’ve always heard about. I think it’s time we hear from someone on the opposite end of the spectrum for some clarity.

Chris Vogel, the founder of the Manitoba Gay and Lesbian Archive, played a big part in pro-gay activism in the 1970’s. Vogel, now 62, is a very friendly open-minded person who – get this – hates no one. Hopefully this is enough of a contrast. It would be easy to understand that as a gay man, he has faced some serous prejudice in his life. It must feel enraging to see signs that say “God Hates Fags.”

“It causes a slew of emotions. It makes me angry, and sad, I also think it’s humorous sometimes just because of how ridiculous these people are,” says Vogel. “However, it is also important to understand that what they do and say don’t matter, and that prejudice will go away one day.”

Vogel is soft spoken, but you can tell that he is still very passionate about gay rights. Surprisingly enough, he doesn’t think the WBC should be held back from getting their message heard.

“There is a time and a place, of course. Protesting the funerals of dead soldiers is a completely different animal than holding a protest in front of a government building,” Vogel says. “Let them protest to their heart’s content. If you’re a reasonable person, you’re not going to buy what their selling, anyway.”

I bring to Vogel’s attention Phelps-Roper’s belief that the WBC has “bound this generation to their standards.”

“These people are very closed-minded,” Vogel laughs. “The church does a lot of lying. They have to make up these ridiculous claims so that people will listen to them. The truth of the matter is, they’re the minority.”
We may think that homosexuals are a minority but the numbers of gay, lesbian and bi-sexual people are constantly on the rise. “Historically and socially everything is going right for the gay community,” says Vogel, “and no amount of closed-minded sign holders is going to stop that.”

Zooey & Adam Private Screening.

2010-01-28T11:20:00.001-08:00

I was invited this past Saturday to attend the private screening of Sean Garrity's new film Zooey & Adam. I'll be posting my review of it after it's released in the Projector.

The film was screened at University of Winnipeg's Eckhardt Gramité Hall. Myself and roughly 50 others gathered into the theater and at just past 7:30 Sean took stage and introduced the film. The theater was mostly filled with people from the Garrity camp. The actors who were in the movie, people who had helped him along the way and just close friends and family. It was a great opportunity for me to get acquainted with people who are in the industry I've dreamed about being in since I was a little kid.

Sean was very humble when thanking everyone who helped and supported him while making the film and he seemed very genuine about how important they were in the films completion and success.

After that he screened the movie for us. All of us in CreComm have been talking about it since Sean came to the school and screened the trailer for us. I know a few of us don't want to go because they feel like it might be too intense and real for them and after having seen the movie I can say that, if you feel that way, don't go. The movie is great and the subject matter is very heavy, but for clarification let me just say this. The movie is NOT about rape, it's about the struggles that happen afterward with raising a child that may or may not be yours. To be fair though the rape scene is terrifying.After the screening we all got up and left the theater and went outside to partake in some great food and drinks that we all provided FREE OF CHARGE. (Man I LOVE events like this!!) I got another chance to speak with Sean and told him what I thought of his movie, we chatted for a bit but there were so many people who wanted to talk with him that night so I made sure to not monopolize his time. It would have been easy though, Sean is living my dream.

I also got a chance to talk with Tom Kennan (Adam) we spoke briefly about what it was like to film the movie, and how emotionally draining it was. They were all great people and it was a great event.

Lastly I'd really like to thank Anne Dawson, the ex-CreComm who put the whole event together. She gave me the press kit and a screener of the movie which was really awesome. She went above and beyond the call of duty and I thank her.

If you can get out to see it, I highly recommend going. Do it quickly too because the movie is only in limited release and end Feb 4.

In The Chamber

2010-01-16T15:32:00.000-08:00

For my creative writing class we had to attend a play put on by Theater Project Manitoba called In The Chamber. What the title means exactly I couldn't tell you, nor can I explain what the play really was about. I can however let you know what I thought about it.

The play starts out with a man and women wrestling for control of the covers (Has it ever occurred to couples that they can have their OWN blankets?) and then an oddly placed handjob scene that made no sense in context to what happens next. (Of course this might be just because I'm not the well versed in the nuances of theater)

The stage goes black and when the lights come back on we watch as a man goes through an epiphany moment as he records a video of a presentation he was going to do at a farm safety convention. He then goes into an hour long monologue about 15,000 pigs burning to death in a fire. It was a heartfelt and genuinely well acted speech, although I just couldn't find enough reason to care. The actor Gordon Tanner plays the part so well you'd think he wasn't acting at all.

-Intermission-

Lights up bring us into a restaurant scene where a man who just quit his job is giving a speech to his "friends" (Friends is in quotations because this again is really just a one man show and the people are represented by balloons). The man discusses the death of his son and the circumstances surrounding his death within the Health Sciences Center pediatric facility. His son, born with Downs Syndrome and a malformed heart, spent most of his life in and out of the hospital. The acting again is superb, and the actor Steven Ratzlaff makes me feel like he isn't acting at all. Unfortunately I really didn't care about the story and felt completely disconnected. The play ends with a waiter (played by Gordon Tanner from the previous act) talking with the man about a fight he's having with his wife, which in my mind is completely separate from what his previous speech was about. (again this may just be because I don't really read into what the script is deep enough to understand the underlying issues)

I'm torn. I loved the acting, hated the stories. I did like it but I know that the only way I'll ever see anything like this is if I'm forced to go or have to go for another assignment which is pretty sad.

Theater is not for me, but I really did give this one a try.

Top 10 Movies of 2009!

2010-01-05T18:07:00.000-08:00

Another year has passed and it's for some reason very contagious to recap the year that was. I love Top 10 lists and have been thinking for a long time about each placement for this list.

Remember these are all personal choices.

You all know how it works.

Top Ten Movies of 2009.

10. Taken. (Released in Canada Jan 09)
Easily one of Liam Neesons better movies, this one was a sleeper hit. The story revolved around an ex CIA operative (Neeson) sees his daughter off on her trip to Paris. Neeson's character is a quiet, but very lethal man and you feel very sorry for him in the first 20 minutes. His estrangement from his daughter and desire to be in her life is at the forefront of his mind. Neeson's daughter gets kidnapped and he is told by his CIA buddies that he has little time to find his daughter before she is sold into sex slavery and is gone forever. Great action scenes, combined with a solid script and some great camera angles make this movie one to see.

9. The Hangover.
Easily the best comedy of the year. Great script, fantastic comedic timing, dumb story, but that only works to the movies credit. The movie centers around a bachelor party gone wrong (Hooray for original ideas!) and when the group can't find the groom, things get crazy. With one great scene after another, it easily makes the 9 spot. Would have been higher had it had more staying power, but I felt bored after the second viewing.

8. Pandorum.
I'll be honest, this movie was not what I was expecting, but what it was, was great. It took the great psychological fears of being alone, in the dark, and in the most dangerous environment imaginable, space. And combined it with a great reboot of your average killer alien. The ending was a surprise and it was a welcome one. It just needed to NOT have Denis Quaid in it.

7. Haunting in Connecticut.
I think this movie is very underrated. It's a classic ghost story that aired in what was supposed to be a one off show on the Discovery Channel, but the popularity of it spawned a mini-series. Filmed in Teulon Manitoba and featuring a Winnipeg born actor Erik J. Berg this movie set a very creepy tone. The story revolves around a family that rents a new home to be closer to the hospital for their son who has cancer. He needs to be closer to the hospital because treatment is so hard on his body. Eventually the boy starts seeing things in his new house, is it real, or is it just the stress of his body fighting to stay alive? This is something that played a big part in the TV show, but the movie was hollywoodized to be more entertaining. And that's ok, but this is a main gripe for fans of the show. Listen for great creepy music in the trailer and easily the best opening and ending credits sequence this year!

6. The Fourth Kind.
I have to say right off the bat that this movie has a very niche market. It revolves around "real" recordings of hypnosis sessions documented by the "real" Dr.Abigail Tyler a therapist in Alaska. Patients claim to be visited by owls at night, and while under hypnosis, we find that the "owls" are the most frightening species ever! The movie jumps from the "real" recording to reenactments of these session with actor Milla Jovovich and other notables who fill in for key rolls in the story. The highlight of this movie is the shocking hypnosis sessions that take place in the second and third acts of the movie. I jumped in the theater at one point because I was expecting the scare to have some build up. This movie also has an ending that some people will find surprising but I saw it coming. Great experience, and it's always good to see a director try something new.

5.Collapse.
There were a few great documentaries this year (special mention goes to the amazing "Tyson") but this one really stood out for me. I just recently watched this but it left an impact on me that I just can't shake. Without going into to much detail the movie is one long interview with Michael Rupert. This man basically details how the economy of the world will collapse. Government, Safety, Food, Oil, everything is coming down. Believe him or not, this is a great movie with a guy who is very passionate about what he is preaching. He wants to help, but no one is listening.

4. Inglorious Basterds.
Wow. Just wow. Quentin Tarantino better get an Oscar nomination for this film because it is brilliant! Writing, pacing, acting, shot composition, violence, everything is damn near perfect. If Christoph Waltz doesn't get a nomination for his chilling and flawless role as Colonel Hans Landa we should all petition. This movie was pretty long at almost 2 and a half hours but I was never bored during any of it. Watch. This. Movie!

3. Paranormal Activity.
I'm proud to be the first one who signed the online petition to bring this movie to Winnipeg, and my name is even in the credits. (Seriously, look for it!) This movie was actually made in 2007 but wasn't officially released until late this year, after a very long campaign in which people "Demanded It" to come to their city. The movie had a small budget of roughly $15,000 and it was shot in the director Oren Peli's home. Although I'm not a fan of the Hollywood ending, this movie embodies everything I love about film making. It has scenes where I just can't imagine how they did it on such a low budget and scenes that just scare the crap out of you. I wasn't really scared at all in the movie, but a lot of people were. The thing I love about movies like this is that we, the audience, already know it's going to end up badly for these characters. We do everything we can to wish that they wind up ok, but going in we know it's not going to be good for them. The Cinderella story for 2009, and my number 3. Paranormal Activity.

2. District 9.
This movie blows my mind. The story, the directing, the special effects, the sci-fi, the aliens, the EVERYTHING! This movie creates a story that is cohesive as not only a standalone but as a allegory to the apartheid. This movie was originally a short film called Alive in Johburg that was made by Neill Blomkamp in 2005. It was picked up by Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings, King Kong) and Neill was told to, "go crazy". He did and it worked. This movie was my number one until late December when my now number one came out.

Alive in Johburg

1. Avatar.
Did you expect anything else? My full review is the blog entry previous to this, read here.
I'm not gonna say much other than, this movie is unlike anything I have ever seen before. Yes it does have a few script problems and similarities to other movie, in principal. But I've never been to a world like Pandora, no one has, except James Cameron. This movie is something that needs to be experienced and I will see it again when it goes to IMAX. This is now the fourth all time highest grossing movie, and James Cameron's second movie to make over 1 Billion dollars. Yes Billion.

Check out Kenton Larsen's Blog for other great movies that I didn't add to my list.

Follow me on Twitter.

Avatar - Part 2

2009-12-27T10:51:00.000-08:00

Alright so its been a week since seeing Avatar and I've had enough time now to really let the film sink in. Almost any other movie I would give my opinion right after, but I felt like this movie in particular needed some downtime so that I could digest what it really is as not only a movie, but really an experience.

Let's start with the main problems of the film first.

1. 3D Eye Strain.
This is more of a personal issue than anything else and because every one's eyes are different I can't fault the filmmakers or the technology for this.
The entire requires you to wear 3D glasses and while they are much more comfortable than they were in the past it's still very uncomfortable for me to wear. There are also quite a few instances where I wasn't sure what I should be focusing on and some of the picture became blurry, which hurt my eyes even more. Overall after the film I did have a headache, and with a run time of 2 hours 41 minutes, plus 3D previews, it was a lot to sit through.

2. Not Being In Kansas Anymore.
Although just a 2 second line, the "we're not in Kansas anymore" line is one that kills me every time. Hollywood needs to STOP metaphorically leaving Kansas! I realize it's from one of the greatest movies of all time, but it should stay with that movie. Stop putting it in movies, it's cheesy and very stupid.

3. Cliche Romance.
This is a main part of the movie and unfortunately it follows the typical romantic plot points. It can be seen coming from a mile away and because of the way its been setup you know how it will evolve. Don't get me wrong though, James Cameron did a fantastic job writing this movie and even though the love story is cliched it still kinda works on some levels.

Now the good.

Overall the movie is one of the top 3 films of the year, maybe even number 1. I'll have to refer back to other movies.

Cameron deserves some big time credit here because he created a world that no one has ever seen. It's gigantic, gorgeous, absolutely breathtaking and it's an environment that no one has ever seen before. Every tiny detail is picture perfect and I have never seen a movie look this good. James Cameron does for Sci-Fi what Michael Bay does for explosions.

The action scenes are some of the best CG/Live Action I've ever seen, they're absolutely spectacular and when the 3D is in full effect, the scale of the scene is intensified tenfold. 3D is something that is rarely done right in my opinion, it's a very difficult thing to get right without it being called a gimmick. It is certainly not a gimmick here, as I actually found myself wiping off my glasses because I thought there were drops of water on them. Turns out, it was all in the movie. That is the mark of well done 3D.

The Na-Vi themselves are an amazing race of aliens, or actually humans are the aliens in this aren't we? They stand 10 feet tall are blue and so agile it makes your heart stop. The flying scenes are unlike anything I've ever experienced and just amazing to watch. The way that the motion capture works to perfectly, and I mean perfectly, capture every last detail of expression on the actors faces is phenomenal. It is as close to perfect as anything like that has ever been.

Without giving away too much of the story, I'll just say that it's a pretty well written story, the dialogue is all good and the overtones of politics, war and environment are certainly a driving factor. The story works well with everything and it all comes together nicely at the end. There are a few thins that don't make a lick of sense, but they're not really important in any way.

Overall I'd give this movie a 4.5 out of 5 and it's one that everyone should check out.

I'll be seeing it again when it goes to IMAX and I recommend doing that as well if you feel you can wait for a few weeks, because the experience on that screen in IMAX 3D will be awesome!

Follow me on Twitter.

Avatar - Part 1

2009-12-15T14:28:00.000-08:00

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a huge movie fan. I live and breathe film and almost every aspect about it. It's my dream to become one of the elite Directors someday. In this medium my hero's include. (In order)

1. Martin Scorsese
- Martin to me, is one of those rare filmmakers that always has a perfect vision of the end product. He storyboards every single scene of his movies before filming so that he knows exactly what he wants us to see. His ideas are usually small to begin with, but as the story progresses everything becomes larger than life. Just recently he was FINALLY awarded with his first Best Director Oscar for the 2007 film The Departed which also received three other Oscars for Best Picture, Best Writing and Best Editing. Scorsese has rarely made a film I don't like and I'm very excited for his next film, 2010's Shutter Island with Leonardo DiCaprio.

2. James Cameron
- James Cameron can go to his grave knowing that he has made two of the best movie sequels of all time, Aliens and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Terminator 2 is, in my opinion, the best movie sequel of all time. Not only does he have those under his belt but he also is the man responsible for the largest grossing movie of all time Titanic which raked in a ridiculous $600,788,188 domestically and a whopping $1,242,091,767 in the foreign market. That makes a grand total of $1.84 BILLION dollars world wide. To put that in perspective the film in second place world wide is 2003's The Lord of The Rings; Return of the King which has made only $1.1 Billion.

3. Stanley Kubrick
-Kubrick is a brilliant filmmaker with the way ever single shot has to be 100% perfect. I remember listening to an interview with Jack Nicholson about filming The Shinning with Kubrick and he said that they had to scrap three days of shooting because there was a picture in the background that wasn't the right amount of crooked. That is the mark of a man who demands absolute perfection from his films. Unfortunately Kubrick passed away in 1999 but has left his stamp on cinema with classics like Dr.Strangelove (1964), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1971), Full Metal Jacket (1980) and his last film (arguably his best) 1999's Eyes Wide Shut.

The real reason I decided to write this blog is because in just three days time a movie will be released that has the potential to go down in history as one of those movies that shapes cinema for years to come. James Cameron has been working for 15 years with concept and design, he wanted to make it directly after Titanic in 1997 but the technology wasn't available. After seeing Gollum in The Lord of the Rings Cameron knew the technology was ready to be utilized. Of course the movie I'm talking about is Avatar.

If you haven't heard, Avatar is a movie about a Marine who is a paraplegic that is sent to the newly discovered Pandora to help with the collection of a resource earth desperately needs. The largest deposit of this resource however sits smack dab in the center of a large group of indigenous peoples called the Na'vi. They are 10 foot tall blue creatures that live in harmony with the planets otherwise hostile inhabitants. The Na'vi obviously don't want the marines raping their planet so they put up a fight (enter conflict) so the marines and scientists develop a way of infiltrating the Na'vi. They use bio-engineered bodies made to look and move and speak exactly like the Na'vi and a CT scan like machine to transport the mind of the paraplegic marine into this body so that he can convince the Na'vi to let the scientists have the ore they crave. They call this method Avatars.

James Cameron had a linguist come in and develop a language for the Na'vi much like Peter Jackson had one come in and develop a language for the Uruk-Hai in The Lord of the Rings. The film also uses some revolutionary 3-D tech that Cameron says will heighten the experience.

Watch the trailer in HD here.

Anyway so as you can tell I'm obviously going to the movie opening night and I'm very excited. My next blog will be my review of the movie.

If you want to know what my favourite critic rated it as click here.

Follow me on Twitter for regular updates.

-JW

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

2009-12-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

The semester is over and we're all exhausted. I honestly don't think I've ever been this tired or busy in my entire life. And I'm actually grateful that there has been this much work, because it's going to make the break seem so much better.

We've all been working so hard and the camaraderie has been unbelievable. Our class rallies like no other class I've ever been in. Even with all the work we have on our plates we're all more than willing to help one another.

We always deserve a good long break and I hope everyone has a blasty blast!

I do plan to blog during the break, but they will be most likely video blogs.
I look forward to next semester and even look forward to the truckload of work.

The Best Burger in Winnipeg!

2009-12-04T16:40:00.000-08:00

Some people search their entire life for a plate of food so amazing, that they bestow it with the title of ‘the best’. Who would have thought that the best burger you’ll ever eat was in Winnipeg all along, at Billabong Bar and Bistro.
Billabong, located at 121 Osborne street, has many things to offer. From down under crab cakes, and calamari, both $8.75 to the uluru ribeye, which is a broiled ten oz ribeye topped with an Australian peppercorn spiced Jus at $23, and even the odd yet satisfying barbecued kangaroo. With three different menus for different times of day there is something for the non-adventurous types and kangaroo tacos, $14, for those looking to step outside the box.
Our waiter, John, a very nice and courteous man walked us through the menu choices explaining the different items and what they closely resemble in taste, a key factor when deciding on the barbecued kangaroo at $27.50. We started off our night eating the surprisingly tasty kangaroo tacos, $14 for 6, thinly sliced kangaroo with thai-red chili dressing and mango stacked in crispy shells. John directed my attention to a burger that I ‘have to’ try. Being a very picky eater I was hesitant, but I decided that every burger is the same so how could I not like it.
They call it “the legendary aussie burger”, $11.50, and that title is well deserved. What came to my table was the Everest of the burger world. A huge 1/4 pound sirloin patty topped with smokey bacon, already off to a good start, aged cheddar cheese and hot pepper beet relish. That may not seem like that big of a deal, but this is where the burger get’s ‘aussie’. A thick slice of barbecued pineapple sits on top of the cheese, sweet and juicy with all the sugars on the outside perfectly caramelized. Right on top of the pineapple sits a fried egg, yolk not yet popped.
At first I didn’t know what to do, I was in awe at how good it looked, although when you put these ingredients down on paper it doesn’t sound all that appealing. My first bite was like being reborn, reborn a carnivore. The beef was so perfectly done on the grill, with just the right amount of char. The relish, spicy yet sweet, the perfect contrast in the same bite. The cheddar cheese and the smokey bacon set each other off perfectly with a great balanced flavour. Finally the fried egg and pineapple, the egg providing the perfect texture in an unbelievably great burger. Everyone of these items combining so perfectly to create the Da Vinci of handheld food, not to mention the side of crispy, thinly sliced, perfectly seasoned chips.
Billabong Bar and Bistro may have some odd items, somethings you would never consider eating. For those who want a great atmosphere, friendly staff and literally the best burger I’ve ever eaten, look no further than Osborne village.

4/5 stars.

Drum Videos

2009-12-02T16:34:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I posted a drum video, so I figured now would be as good a time as any.
This is a song I've been trying to master all summer. I've had troubles getting the slower parts memorized and some of the fills (which I still have trouble with as you will see) and transitions.
The song is Decode by Paramour.
Yeah it's the song written for the first Twilight movie, I know, blasphemy. But I just really like playing the song.
Anyway, hope you all enjoy listening to it.

Twitterific

2009-11-27T11:35:00.000-08:00

I've been tweeting regularly now for almost 6 months. I've become completely addicted to twitter since then and have been tweeting everything from what I'm doing at that given moment, all the way to posting pictures of things I find funny in my daily travels.

Honestly I can't even begin to understand my own fascination with twitter, I just can't go a day without having at least one tweet, and if there is a day I go without I feel bad. (completely insane, I know)

For those just getting started, twitter is something to be valued, especially if you want insight into peoples lives that you wouldn't normally get.

Also I recommend following Roger Ebert (ebertchicago) for those who want some of the best reporting on movies and culture. Ebert is an incredibly smart man and one of the best to follow on twitter.

Follow me on twitter here

Remembrance Day is never over.

2009-11-19T17:08:00.000-08:00

Ok so last week all us CreComms did our Remembrance Day assignments. I've been struggling with Journalism for quite some time now and really needed to do well on this one. I worked very hard (as I'm sure everyone did) and came out with an A and a B which I was very happy about, and still am.
But because I'm actually quite proud of myself I figured I'd let everyone else read what got me the A.

Note: Sandy Klowak(Journalism Hero) helped me edit this story, she probably saved me from getting a C. Huge props!

On the day that we remember our fallen soldiers with a moment of silence, the ceremony at the Manitoba legislature honors them with a 21 gun salute.
On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month we stand to remember the sacrifice that those brave men made serving their country.
Three C3 Howitzers stand in wait, a single 105 mm shell is loaded into each one. The command to fire is given and by the pull of a “fire rope”, the name given to the rope that triggers the charge, the blank round is fired producing a concussive bang and a large amount of foul smelling smoke from the barrel, that for a moment blotted out the sun.
The powerful feeling you get from being there and feeling the shock wave run right through you, makes you feel as if you were in the trenches about to rush Vimy Ridge, or on the boat about to storm Juno beach. Warrant Officer Robin Everette, the man responsible for putting this year’s ceremony together, explains why Remembrance Day is so important to him, “it’s important to come down and remember everybody before us that made a sacrifice, and to also remember those making sacrifices today.”
Many people, from all different walks of life, came down Wednesday to pay their respects to those lost, and to those still fighting, “todays turnout was fantastic, the good weather certainly helped. Roughly 300 people came out today, I even spoke with a few families who are starting to make this a tradition and I think it’s great,” explains Everette.
With every passing year more and more of our Veterans are passing on, leaving stories untold. As Officer Everette said, “they gave us their tomorrows, for our today’s.”

Will Smith IS a true Actor!

2009-11-09T19:06:00.000-08:00

I've heard for quite some time now that Will Smith is a terrible actor, that he isn't worth the money studios spend on him and that he should even quit acting.

These comments are ridiculous. Most of which is for the 2007 movie I Am Legend where Smith plays the character Robert Nevil previously played by the magnificent Charlton Heston in The Omega Man (1971) which was a twin, if not a remake, of The Last Man on Earth where the always creepy Vincent Price played the character Dr.Robert Morgan. Which was all based on the
1954 novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, a fantastic book by the way!

Smiths character Nevil, is a virologist and the only man alive who is immune to the vaccine that was made to cure cancer. This vaccine however turned people in "vampire like creatures" that now prowl the streets of Manhattan at night looking for humans to feats on.

Now Will is completely alone for the first 2 acts of the film, other than his dog, and is left to act alone. He speaks to mannequins to keep his sanity and even develops a little crush on one of them. Acting in a movie with no one to play off of is one of the most difficult things you can do as an actor, and Will does an amazing job. Watching him react to his own surroundings and being alone is fantastic. Probably the most heartbreaking scene in the movie (No Spoilers, for those who haven't seen it) comes close to the end of the second act where Will keeps a promise to his "friend" by talking to the girl at he video store. It's remarkable how well he plays the scene off of no one.

Eventually in the third act he meets up with 2 survivors and struggles to communicate with them seeing as these are the first people he has interacted with in 3 years.

The movie is great if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.

What I really wanted to talk about though is where Will got his big break.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was a landmark show for him, it's what set his career off.
As anyone who's watched the show knows it's full of humour, jokes and genuinely funny moments throughout the series.

However there is one particular scene in which Will father, who abandoned him at a young age, comes back to try and rekindle the father son relationship by taking Will on a summer road trip. The scene that follows is probably one of the best acted sitcom scenes in history. I don't say this lightly, but it really makes me sad to watch it, no matter how many times I've seen it. Will does an unbelievable job of making me believe that he is truly crushed, and I can't help but feel bad for him. I personally know what it's like to loose a father(but not in this way) so maybe that's why this scene carries a little more weight with it for me but it's still heartbreaking to say the least. Look for a great supporting performance by James Avery as Uncle Phil. It's also important to note Will's entry into the scene, he's very excited to get to spend time with his dad and his demeanor changes so subtly but naturally you really feel like he's devastated. His body language is that perfect fidgety/natural way of moving, that clearly shows he's trying fight back emotions. The way he speaks with a quiver in his voice and even stutters a line. It's all just so real. Anyway watch below and you'll know what I'm talking about.

If you watch that and don't feel bad for Will I'm shocked.
I think this is a pivotal scene for Will Smith and for me, is probably one of his best acted scenes.
Every time I watch it, it makes me feel something, and if an actor can take words on a page and create an emotion in someone watching it on TV, that's EXACTLY what a great actor is supposed to do.

Comic Con 09!

2009-11-02T14:21:00.000-08:00

Wow so this was literally one of the busiest weekends I've had in a long time.
First off with Comic Con being in Winnipeg it brings with it tons of great talent and interesting people. This years marquee name being Adam West.
However the event also brought some big names in the Comic Book industry that I was not expecting. The biggest being Tommy Castillo. On Wednesday his plane landed in Winnipeg and he rushed over to the Park Theater and hosted a screening of the original Night of the Living Dead(1968). Tommy had worked with George Romero on a comic book called Toe Tags, so Tommy had a bunch of great stories from the man who literally pioneered his own genre of horror.

Friday night was without a doubt HEAT!
My girlfriend and I went to the premier of a horror-documentary called Cropsey. It was shown in a warehouse on the 5th floor in the exchange district. As we were walking down the street towards the building there was a creepy old guy standing outside who looked at me and asked, “you here to see a movie?” I thought briefly about whether or not to call the police but then decided to go inside. We took a disgustingly small and frightening elevator ride up the 5th floor, where I expected to see some level of decorum. I was surprised to see that the place looked very refined for your average crack den. We sat down and watched the movie, which was actually pretty wicked. I highly recommend picking it up if you can.

Saturday was the first real day for the Con(Khaaaaaaaaaaan!) My girlfriend and I got there around 2ish that afternoon, and of course the first person I run into. Giacomin. Who apparently later got into a heated conversation with the ex pro wrestler Virgil. Heat!

On Saturday I picked up some nerd items, the first being a film cell from The Matrix Revolutions, the scene just as Smith and Neo punch each other in the face. Very cool.

The second being an autographed picture of Sean Connery and a film cell from Goldfinger, which is amazing!

That night we went to see Mode 7 play at the Park Theater. For those who don’t know, Mode 7 is a great video game cover band. They play music from all the classic video games, and they really brought the house down Saturday night, play some new tunes and finishing it off with Ghostbusters, which was actually very well done.

I had planned to spend at least $60 on Sunday at the Con(Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!) but every time I would go around looking at stuff I would just put it back down. I bought a Lime Lemonade for 3.75 which was delicious.

Comic Con this year was a great time, there was more to do and to buy and I think just put together much better. My only complaint was the Adam West autographs were too expensive. $40, yeah no thanks.

The Future of Blogging

2009-10-27T08:33:00.000-07:00

To me there is no end to blogging. As long as the Internet is around blogging will be there. However the future of blogging, to me, seems to be going in a visual direction.
 More and more people are taking their camcorders and recording events in their day, and posting them as a video diary or blog. YouTube is filled with video blogs and journals, daily updates and even specific channels devoted to an entire year of your life, doing one video every day.
This is why for my last two posts I’ve been experimenting with the video blogging idea. So far it’s been decent, I try to treat it like it’s a stand up routine and play off an invisible crowd. It’s not as easy as I thought it was. To be able to hear laughter after telling a joke is how a comedian can tell if it’s funny or not, but while I record myself talking and ad-libbing there is no one laughing.
I love making people laugh and can do so very easily, but trying to write or perform a blog that you want to be funny is a completely different animal.
Back to video blogging though, it’s a completely different game than writing. In some ways it’s more involved, you can be more creative and for me (if I’m being honest) it’s less work, but only because I’ve been shooting and editing video for so long now.
The steps to shoot a video blog are as follows.

1. Writing a point form script.
-This is so that I can remember on the fly what I want to talk about, I can also create breathing room to improve a different joke into a certain take. This way I’m not bogging myself down with a script I must follow.

2. Shoot supporting footage/ Find supporting footage (Optional)
-Now it’s not 100% necessary to have supporting footage, but I’m a big proprietor or “Don’t tell me, show me” I want to see what you’re talking about, not look at you talking about it.

3. Film Monologue
-Really the backbone of the video blog, this is where you set up the camera (in this case my webcam) and start reading your script. It usually takes me 30 minutes to an hour to get the right read that I want to use. Of course changing up the background scenery is a good idea so that when the camera does cut back to you it’s not the same ugly location. (You can also just record your voice if you have enough supporting footage to go the entire time)

4. Editing
-For me editing is the fun part. It’s where you get to be the most creative. Importing video into your choice of editing software. (I recommend iMovie or Windows Movie Maker for first timers) and start filling in the blanks. I always think that it’s better to see video of what you’re talking about than your face, however some people are really good at speaking and having no video reinforcement which is also fine.
YouTube is the best place to post your videos and then just hyperlink or embed them into a blog post on blogger. That way you can easily track all of your views, comments and ratings. Plus YouTube has a great feature called “Insight” where it lets you know some very specific demographics about your audience so you can then cater to them more in your videos.

Shameless Self Promotion

2009-10-22T18:33:00.001-07:00

Buyer Beware

2009-10-13T17:51:00.000-07:00

The Making of Torches of Freedom

2009-10-08T16:21:00.000-07:00

So since Jeremy, Jordan and myself did our presentation in Tuesday's PR class a lot of people have been coming up to use and asking, how long it took, how did we put it together and so forth.

I figured I should probably blog the events and answer the questions people have been asking.

So we got our assignment in last Thursday's PR class and were given the hour to think about how to present. We didn't want to do a power point thing because we didn't really know how to use the program so we immediately defaulted to doing a skit. That in turn led to us asking Melanie if we could do a video instead which she said was fine.

After brainstorming we decided that it would be a better idea for a slideshow/video type of thing after remembering how funny those old skits on Conan O'Brien where he tells a story with pictures he took that go over the nights events. They were hilarious but unfortunately I can't find a video of it.

So Jordan and I met up at J Jack's house on Sunday and we started got out our story boards and started setting up all the Edward Bernays and George Hill scenes, we used his dinning room

We also had to "carefully" draw on Bernays mustache with a smelly marker.

After getting the scene set up we took pictures of each other with different facial expressions and different physical expressions. We had Jordan dress up as Phillip Vogelman and hold Jeremy's dog "chicken". Oh and the "phone" is actually just a lamp and it's glass shade that was on the coffee table.

After all of the guy scenes were finished we then looted Jeremy's moms closet for all her old dresses, Jordan got the nicest one but let's not get into that.

The dress I wore went on quite easily, unfortunately It was a pain to get off, I was about to ask Jeremy to cut me out of it and I actually think I ripped it a little getting it off.

Here are some pictures that really should never see the light of day.

So after that we went down to the edit suites on Monday after school and recorded the voice over you heard. Everyone did their best 30's mobster impersonation and we decided that mine was the best one. My throat was really sore after all that recording, we spent roughly 3 hours in that edit suite writing and laying down tracks.

Now the song Jeremy sang was actually recorded the day before and we were going to make a video montage of Bernays with the song playing in the background, unfortunately I don't know how to use Pro Tools to save my life and lost that file along with some others. Jeremy sang it live instead which I think was a better choice, but we're going to record the song soon just because it was awesome.

We have plans to possibly start writing an entire series on Bernays and profile his life, depending on how much spare time we have.

Anyway I think the last thing I should mention is the picture of Bernays is ACTUALLY him, yes he does look a lot like Jeremy but that was just pure luck on our part. After the mustache and the tie Jeremy looked so similar some people have asked me if I photoshopped one of the pictures. I didn't that's just how lucky we got.

Well that's it, it was a fun project and I hope we got a good mark on it. We probably put too much effort into it but I think it was worth it to make people laugh.

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- JW

When I grow up I want to be............A 12 year old Tony Royster Jr.

2009-10-01T13:16:00.000-07:00

I started playing drums when I was 13.
I had no intention or even desire to play, the reason I got into it was my High School Concert Band at GP.
I had played the Clarinet until midway through Grade 8 and after getting braces I couldn't play it anymore.
I still wanted to be in band because I loved the class so the teacher stuck me in the Percussion section.
That move has had a big change on my life.
For my 14th birthday my Dad bought my my first drum kit, which is the one I still play on to this day.
It was(is) a Pearl Export 5 piece drum kit with flecked metallic grey wrappings.
It was literally the first time I fell in love.

I have since bought better hardware and drums skins, different pedal, beaters, cymbal stand and even some high end cymbals
(I have a big crush on my 14" Zildjian A Custom
That cymbal cost me $300!

In short I love playing drums, it's really the biggest stress reliever I can think of. Just sitting behind a big shiny drum kit and beating the hell out stuff that makes noise? Yeah awesome!
When I first got into drums my influences we Neal Peart from RUSH (Obviously) because of how amazing he is, that man can play anything. Then I came upon this video of 12 year old Tony Royster Junior who is now 25 playing one of the most amazing drum solo's I've ever seen, and I'm not even taking into account that he is 12!

Phenomenal!
One day I hope to play as good as he can.

Just one final video because this is my favourite drum battle of all time.
It's Buddy Rich, one of greatest drummers whoever lived and Animal from The Muppets.
The puppeteer on Animal is very impressive.

Follow me on Twitter

JW

What was I thinking?!?! (I'm sorry)

2009-09-24T17:56:00.000-07:00

Ok so today I had my first experience with bad personal PR.

The Facts:

- PR class was directly after lunch today, it was a one hour slot.
- While I don't think I want to major in PR I do find it to be a great class for some heated discussions.
- I wasn't taking a very active role in today's class, partly because my mind was in another place, my back hurt and I was just tired overall. (No excuse though for what happened)

The Story:

Ok so about 15 minutes into today's class my instructor Melanie handed out some information on the IABC Code of Ethics and the Canadian Public Relations Society, Inc.
We discussed (and by we I mean almost everyone but me) some of the differences between companies who use a team of in-house PR people who are on the payroll all year round and companies who hire freelance PR people. After that was finished Melanie had us all read the info on the IABC and everyone did (and by everyone, I mean everyone but me). I instead decided to draw things in my notebook and to not read the info. Not because I thought I was better than it, or because I think it's stupid, but because I was being stupid. I pretended to flip through the pages and continued doodling on my page.

It was clear that Melanie knew exactly what I was doing and then asked me what the differences were between the IABC code of ethic and the CPRS code of ethics. I obviously didn't know because I didn't read what they were. I think she expected me to lie and maybe try to make something up on the spot. However what my instinct told me to do was to just tell the truth. So I did and it couldn't have come out anymore rude.

My Exact Words:
"To be perfectly honest I didn't read it" (It was said in a very dismissive and arrogant tone)

I then realized as I was walking to my next class how much of an asshole I came off as. If I was watching myself say that, I would have said "what an asshole".
It wasn't my intent to be that rude I was just telling the truth, but they way I said it made me look like a dick.

Now I owe two apologies here.
The first to Melanie.
I showed a huge amount of disrespect to you today and really made myself look bad. I make no excuses for not reading the papers you handed out. It may not have been my intent to come off so rude, but that's most certainly how it sounded and for that I sincerely apologize.

The second goes to my classmates.
I would like to apologize for making myself look like an asshole and an all around idiot for decide to NOT do what you all had no problem doing. For whatever reason I made a choice to "just not do it" and I was wrong in that.

What I did today was stupid and rude but most of all just plain selfish. I'm not better than anyone else in the class and certainly don't want anyone thinking that that's what I think. I now view myself as being one step below everyone else because of the way I acted today.

To everyone, I'm sorry.

JW

I Got Blisters On Me Fingers!!

2009-09-15T18:19:00.000-07:00

First order of business is to post my new drum videos.

The first one is a cover I did for Carly, she really like the song "You know what they do to guys like us in prison?" by My Chemical Romance and as fate would have it it's one of the few songs I can play well by that band so I figured I'd give it a go. The only part of this cover I don't like is closer to the end I start to play almost half a step faster than the song, hopefully it's not as noticeable to you.

The second is another System of a Down song that I've loved playing since their album "Mesmerize" came out, however I've never felt comfortable enough to record myself playing it. There is also some really heavy double bass in it so I figured that if I record me playing the song I'd had to set up another camera to record my pedals on those double bass parts. I really like how this one turned out, it's definitely one of my best covers. The only downside is I recorded this as the last song of a long night of playing and I was tired so I didn't beat on the drums as much as I would have liked, my arms and legs were just too damn tired.

School so far hasn't been as rough as I had thought but I assume that things are going to get much more intense the further we get into it. We've had some homework and a few quizzes and one test for Grammar which I think I bombed but other than that it's been pretty easy to keep up. So much so I've gone back to my old job at Auto Extreme polishing and driving cars, I need to make some extra money because parking downtown is obscene!!!! I'm not taking the bus either, no offense to anyone who takes the bus, but I just HATE it so much. Plus I'm not going to spend $200 a month in insurance for my car to then take the bus to school. The only downside of school so far is I haven't been able to see Carly as much as I would like. People have been calling CreComm the "relationship killer" but I like a challenge and being the exception to the rule so that will NOT be the case.

That's all I have to write about now.
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-JW

Drum Covers Aplenty

2009-09-10T05:53:00.000-07:00

Mike is now back at Fanshaw in London and Drumfest 09 is finally done.
Our kits were broken down and mine shuttled home in my car.
I had been thinking of selling it for the longest time, I had taken pictures, got it appraised and was almost ready to put the ad up, but then as Mike, Jackson and I played our few final songs I remembered how much fun it was to play drums. Right then and there I said, screw it, I'm not selling this kit even if I can't play it until I get my own place.

After getting home and unpacking my car, taking everything downstairs into my room and only then realizing how much space I actually had. After planning carefully about how to feng shui my drums around, and after moving some stuff around in my room I found a setup I like.

It's a 4 piece but it's the only way I could get that huge 20' ride cymbal in there. I have plans to buy a rack kit and hang my smallest tom off of the crash cymbal stand and then put my 8' tom in it's place.

It took a while to get used to, having to do fills without a middle tom and have a ride cymbal instead was very different. Especially the big ammount of space my hands have to move to get from my high tom to my low tom, but I'm getting the hang of it.

So these past few weeks I've been playing like crazy, practicing a bunch of songs and starting to play some I've never tried before. I've also started filming covers again and I figured I'd post some here.

This is the first video I recorded since putting my drums back together, it's a cover of Toxicity by System of a Down. Pretty easy song for the most part, made a little more complicated with less toms to work with but I really like how it came together.

I'll be posting more as they come, I've 2 videos in waiting right now so in the next few updates I'll post them. I figure I should get in as much drumming as possible before school starts to really kick into high gear.

Speaking of which school is awesome, I clearly made the right choice by coming to CreCom, I'm finally in a class where everyone is smart, there isn't one dumb person in my class and that's great. Plus there is always great discussions going on and everyone is contributing and it makes coming to school very exciting. Right now the only class I'm not enjoying is "The Writers Craft" because it makes me feel retarded. It's going to be a struggle to maintain a good grade in that class, but hopefully I'll get it. If not there are tons of people in the class who are fantastic at it and I'm sure they'll lend a hand.

That's all for now.

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-JW

End of Summer/Beginning of School

2009-09-08T08:53:00.000-07:00

Expect more regular updates now that apparently more people are going to be reading it, well that and I'm now being marked on it.

So summer 09 is pretty much over, school has started and very excited about the prospects that Creative Communications is going to bring me. I knew that I wanted to major in TV Broadcasting in second year, but now after getting into advertising I may want to try that. It for some reason is really fun, but it may just be because of the wackiest of instructors Kenton Larsen.

PR is also a good class too (and NOT just because Melanie is going to be reading this) however sometimes I think that most PR is needlessly complicated and could stand to be much simpler. In everything though the more money involved the more complicated things get.

Quick side note The Bonus Stage just aired it's 15th episode here and we've started filming a new format. I've gotten tired of having to edit 30 minutes of video as a whole and cut episodes to 10 minute segments for YouTube. So what Tom and I have decided to do is film each review as a standalone segment. Think of it as a TV show you'd watch on cable and between each review is a "commercial" that separates the reviews. So technically you don't have to watch the previous part to find out what we were talking about although we hope you watch all three parts anyway. So far since January of 09 we've had almost 10,000 total views and just over 2,000 channel views with 87 subscribers. Please check it out here and you can also follow The Bonus Stage on Twitter and get regular updates on what is coming next for the show.

I just finished reading the brand new compilation issue of The Walking Dead from Image Comics.
This is honestly one of the best graphic novels I've ever read. It's so well written by Robert Kirkman that it feels like you know ever single character like they're in your own family. It's all penciled and shaded and there is no colour, so if you only like to read comics that have colour you may want to stay away.

The story really has very little to do with the zombies as characters, it's more about the human struggle going on where you're never safe. Everyone is at risk at all times and the interactions between people are so realistic to crisis situations that I feel like it's almost a window into what would happen if a zombie outbreak came about. If anyone who is like me and LOVES zombies I recommend picking up the book "The Zombie Survival Guide" by Max Brooks.
He is a comedy writer but he writes this book like it's a completely legitimate survival guide. It's taken on a huge cult following and I highly recomend it for any zombie fan. To that end there is also a great website about surviving a zombie apocalypse with a very helpful forum with discussions about how to survive the worst.

That's all that I can think to write about now.
Follow me on Twitter

Things you should check out.

Starship Amazing
Happy Video Game Nerd
Cinemasacre

- JW

Summer 09 Part Deux.

2009-08-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

Wow so I've pretty much neglected writing anything here for almost 2 months, yeah I got kinda lazy / busy with other projects. But here's whats been happening since I last wrote.

The Bonus Stage has been gaining some ground these last few weeks, mostly in part to our Video Games Live coverage with the biggest hit being a Michael Jackson tribute video, gamer style seen here.

Sidebar: How weird is it that he had to die on my birthday! Jeeze way to take my thunder Mike.
In all seriousness I'm a pretty big fan of his music and have now found myself listening to more MJ than I care to admit.

Anyway back to TBS, we've been gaining roughly 5 subscribers a week now and have had almost 5,700 views total with almost 2,000 people looking at our channel. Now it may not seem like much but to be honest I never thought we'd do this good so it's all very surprising we've had this much positive feedback.
Even better being that the show might be picked up by a local production company to be on CCTV sometime in the next year, so we're really jacked about that. We're starting to really bring the show full circle and the quality shows, we now have game footage in HD and are recording on my new camcorder I bought from Mike in full HD so it's pretty great.
You can check out the show here and please subscribe if you like it.

So onward to other things.
While at VGL this year I happened to meet a new girl, her name is Carly.
She is Tom's girlfriends best friend.
She was very quiet when I first met her, she's just one of those people but immediately when I saw her I knew I had to get to know her better. After hanging out a few times we eventually started dating and are now together and to be perfectly honest I don't think I could be any happier. We seem to have a really good balance personality wise and with what we like. Food especially because I'm such a picky eater, anything I don't like she usually likes, so I can give it her and vice versa. For those of you who watch "How I Met Your Mother" it's the "Olive Theory".

I've been filling my time lately with her and I've been seeing a ton of movies, now I don't want to get into detail about all of them but I haven't seen a terrible movie this summer, and yes I did like GI: Joe, it was a fun movie to watch. Dumb as eff though.
This past weekend a movie I had been looking forward to for quite sometime District 9 came out and Carly and myself went to see it friday night.

First impressions: This movie is unbelievable, from start to finish it's captivating and the plot is so thick with undertones of racism and hatred for the "prawns" that it makes you feel like you could be watching stock footage of the jews in concentration camps. This movie has some of the best special effects I've ever seen, and not because they were over the top, but because they were done right. So often in movies today the special effects are cool looking but don't have the same charm as miniatures or the organic special effects of old. This movie however had the perfect blend of organic and CG. Interactions with the prawns are filmed so well that it's hard to tell if they're CG or animatronic. The whole movie has such a grit to it that you may as well be watching the events unfold on CNN or the BBC because everything is so real.

Now that I've had a few nights to think about it and really understand what the film is about, it's even more mind blowing than I could have ever thought, obviously I'll go see it again but not right away. It's a fantastic movie and by far the best movie of the summer hands down.

Ok lastly I wanna talk about my new project. I've been working and writing for about 2 months now and I'm almost ready to start filming. Now I don't wanna give to much away because I kinda want it to be a surprise but at the same time it's one of those things that would probably be alot easier to finish if I had feedback. Anyway the readers digest version is I've planned on doing something called The Jeff Ward Show, basically 3-5 minute videos, Monday, Wednesday, Friday about all the things that I encounter in daily life that piss me off. Things in the news, government, stupid people and anything else that puts me off. I have the YouTube channel already set up and if you want to subscribe go ahead, however there are no videos up yet, but I'm thinking of starting filming possibly Monday August 24th.
Channel

So that's it for now, I'm making a point to update this thing a little more regularly, however I have no idea how many people read this other than Mike sooooooooooooooooooo that happened.

Follow me on Twitter

-JW

Summer 09, Epic Drum Kit, Transformers 2 and The Kings of June!

2009-06-24T11:40:00.000-07:00

Ok so it's clearly been a long time since my last update, quick update The Bonus Stage is now at Episode 10!

Ok so Summer 09, as you know my Bro Mike is back from Fanshaw for the summer and we've been broing out quite a bit and it's mostly been good times. Every once in a while we've found ourselves in situations that were less than favourable. For the most part it's be Legen...... wait for it......Dary!

So far a big part of our summer has been drumming. Mike and I each have our own kits and as you've read from my last update we've been rocking out in his basement. Now however we've combined our drum kits with the help of The Jackson Valdeze to become an EPIC 10 piece drum kit with 8 cymbals and 2 sets of Hi-Hats.

It's a blast to play but I prefer my 5 piece because it's much easier to move around the kit. All 3 of us are still brainstorming on how to create different configurations with less drums and different ways to have both kits separate. Believe me I will post pics of any kits we come up with.

So Transformers is well Awesome!
I was a huge fan of the cartoon growing up and had the toys and everything like I'm sure alot of you did. When the first movie was announced I, along with many others were very skeptical of how well they would transcribe this to cinema. When people realized it was live action we got even more nervous. However what we got was probably one of the best action movies of the past few years, and my top movie of that year. When the sequel Transformer: Revenge of the Fallen was announced pretty much right after the first one came out I was jacked! The first movie did a great job of fleshing out the most important part of the Transformers universe........the Transformers, even down to how Megatron is always getting mad at Starscream. The special effects were great and the voices were amazing but my favourite part was the SFX when they transform. The first scene in Qatar with Blackout is one of my favourite movie scenes ever. The Sound of him transforming is just incredible!
Anyway I was having a hard time figuring out what to get Mike for his birthday so I figured midnight premier of T2.
So last night we went and saw it.
I was the most excited I've been for a movie in a long time.
This movie was amazing, it had EVERYTHING you could want in an action movie.
Explosions, car chases, destruction, fire, guns, hot girls and some of best looking sets I've seen in a long time.
Now as a piece of cinema this is a terrible movie, the plot although deep, is very thin at times and can drag for too long while things are being explained. A big problem I had with it was that at some points where everything is happening a mile a minute and your on the edge of your seat and then they stop dead and explain what happening in a scene that could have been cut down by quite a bit. There were a few problems with how many Decepticons were absent in the movie and how many nameless robots were in it, my biggest disappointment was with a Decepticon that I've wanted to see for a while being in the movie for only a few scenes. But no spoilers yet because I don't wanna ruin for you.
The best parts about this movie.

A. Michael Bay, this guy knows action and knows how to make a summer blockbuster movie.
The Rock
Armageddon
Bad Boys 1 and 2
The Island.
Explosions are all this guy has on his resume and he does them right.

B. The cast was kept the same and that helps with continuity and makes the movie very enjoyable, I'm a big Shia LeBouf fan ever since watching him on "Even Stevens" on the family channel when I was younger, I thought he was hilarious. He's definitely someone I would want to work with if I ever become a director.

C. The Transformers are even more amazing this time, their in it the whole way through and I swear you can see so much detail on everyone these artists should be getting paid top dollar. Sidebar, why is that Optimus Prime can look all shiny and look like he was just polished but his windows always have streaked mud on them?
Anyway they are all awesome and there are a few new ones that are Gargantuan and really and quite amazing. Along with the best special effects I've seen in a movie, it's amazing. Another thing this is one of those movies where you go in wanting to see good effects and their put together so seamlessly with everything else it's hard to tell sometimes, at points you think is it so insane to believe their actually a 80 foot robot standing on set?

D. The writers clearly watched alot of Transformers because you can tell they put alot of thought into how to make this an authentic experience and keep it engaging for non cartoon fans. The squabbles between Megatron and Starscream, Bumblebee's voice not working, Primes epic way of speaking.

All in all this movie needs to be seen and if you can, go to IMAX because that would be a wicked experience. Hopefully it comes to IMAX here along with Star Trek so I can go again.

Lastly The Kings of June.
Grade 12 year at Grant Park Mike and I became the good friends we are now, and because we have so much in common.
1. Moms have the same name.
2. His middle name is my first name.
3. I was born on the same day as his Dad.
4. He was born just a few days before me.
5. We're awesome.

We decided to create something called the Kings of June.
Which basically is the month of June being literally the best month ever.
First off its' summer, last month of school, and our birthdays are in it, what else could you want.
If you want to apply to be an honorary King of June please send your full resume and awesome quotient to kingsofjune@gmail.com

The Kings of June uphold the highest if Brocations and being a Bro. It takes many years to become KoJ Bros or have your birthday in June and read The Bro Code once.
Corollary: Jackson Miller is such an awesome bro that it feels like he was born in June.

Anyway that's all I want to talk about for now, I'll try to update more frequently.

Follow me on Twitter

WU

- JW

Star Trek, Wolverine, Summer Movies and DrumFest 09 part deux!

2009-05-08T16:29:00.000-07:00

First off just letting everyone know that Episode 7 of The Bonus Stage is now on YouTube here:
The Bonus Stage

So summer movies are now in full swing and wow they're not disappointing........yet.
First off saw Wolverine last week, gotta say its got some awesome action scenes in it and Hugh Jackman is an animal. It's funny to see how he transforms from one of the nicest people around into this monster on screen when he steps into the roll of Logan(Wolverine). The script in this movie was lacking but the action made up for the sub par story. See for me the thing about Wolverine and why the first X-Men movie was so good was because when you introduced to Logan for the first time you know as much about his history as he does...nothing. That was the charm of the character, both the audience and him were trying to figure out how he became to be, although if you read the comic books you have a pretty good idea anyway. Bottom line this movie is got some great action and wicked special effect......well except for the claws. Yeah so Wolverine's claws in some scenes (particularly the one scene in the bathroom look horrendous, im not sure who was in charge of animating the claws for this movie but wow are they needing some work done to them, they look like they were attached to his hands using MS paint. Hopefully we'll see some better quality on Blu-Ray.

Now this movie I went to see on Thursday at a midnight premier.
Star Trek.
J.J Abrams who I LOVE (although I hate Alias) is a genius.
The guy basically had me sold on anything he writes after the screenplay for Armageddon, then with his film directorial debut of Mission Impossible III which blew me away! Then LOST to which i'am a die-hard fan of, I have more DHARMA Initiative merch than I care to count.
The to Cloverfield which although was given a cold shoulder by alot of critics renewed my hope for new and exciting ideas in film.
But lets talk about Star Trek, and honestly right off the bat I can't think of one bad thing I can say about this movie. It's just, dare I say it? Perfect?
Maybe not perfect if you nitpick, but it's damn close.
From the superb casting, to the solid script, great acting, gripping action and mind blowing special effects. Oh yeah and the best end credits i've ever seen!
This movie never once left me bored, although there was one odd moment when seeing Spocks mother for the first time and both me and my friend Mike looked at each and asked, is that Winona Ryder? Yeah it was.
I also must say that Eric Bana as Nero was awesome, not only did his makeup transform him physically but he played the part great. Damn Romulans!
KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHN.(not a Romulan)

Lastly, my friend Mike is back from London on summer vacation. So as is no the custom I brought my entire drum kit over to his house and we set up dueling drum kits.
These pics were taken with my iPhone so the quality isn't very good, i'll get better ones next time. My drum kit is the black charcole one and Mike's is the red one.

If you have twitter you can follow me here

Blog the first

2009-05-03T17:58:00.000-07:00

So much to do and so little time.
After finishing the first part of school I assumed things would settle down a bit but I was wrong.
Practicum at Video Pool
The Bonus Stage filming editing and posting
Trying to fit work in somewhere so I can still make money
And now a BLOG?!

Well this shouldn't be so hard although keeping up with it regularly might be.

If you love video games as much as I do and want to know what I think about some of them here is the link for The Bonus Stage, a show hosted by myself and Tom Higgins where we review the latest games and consoles.
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheBonusStage09
Leave me comments here or there and let me know what you think.

Follow me on twitter here.

Sites to keep you in the loop.
Engadget
Gizmodo
Gametrailers
FailBlog