Sunday Shopping

Hamster eating a nut (maybe passing gas)

To help speed the day along I went to the Scarborough Town Centre, a shopping mall that's been around since my youth. I used to visit it on a regular basis when I went to visit with my paternal grandmother. Not really much has changed. There's still the hot air balloons that float up into the air and it's still busy with people. Dragging Marc along with me I decided it was my mission to get my watch fixed and maybe buy a new pillow.

Pillow techology has fascinated me since my trip to London just over a year ago. The Holiday Inn I stayed in near Victoria station had a pillow menu. You had a choice of 5 pillow levels ranging from extra soft to extra firm. I thought this was amazing. That and the desk with the different plug adaptors built into it.

Today I found out that there are also different pillow sizes. The smaller "standard" size is about four times the thickness of my existing pillow. Actually my exisiting pillow is so old and flat it might as well be a towel folded three times in a pillow cover. There was a grandpa pillow model on sale for $7.00. Marc thought that was a good deal. I resisted and moved on. There were body sized pillows. "Great for cuddling". That's one of the selling points displayed on the plastic wrapper. I wondered if that was a big selling point. I mean why put it on the bag. It's geared towards someone. Sort of like the tag lines "Contains no calories" or "Fat free" are geared towards weight watchers.

Some guy in marketing probably looked at the pillow and said "I've got it! Let's target all those loney people out there that have no partners and are too old to cuddle stuffed animals". I then thought about all the loney people out there "cuddling" their pillow as they cried themselves to sleep. It was a sad moment.

Other pillow technology included ones that had dips in them for your head so your neck was supported. We even saw one that you put water into it. I'm not really sure what that would do. If you had a cat, I could imagine coming home to a big fat puddle where your face hits the bed.

Not really a great idea. I led me to thinking about other things. A few years ago I bought, what I thought was a great idea at the time, sneakers that had little pockets of air trapped in the soles. When walking the air would move from the front to the back of the shoe with each step. It felt great. You were literally walking on air.

Once I started wearing the shoes the feeling of air walking lasted about half an hour. I stepped on a tack. The air came out. One foot was walking on air. The other foot felt like it was walking directly on pavement. The situation got worse. Later on that day it rained. The shoe with the air hole became a instrument of loud sqeeky sounds that sounded like hamster flatulence. At least what I'd imagine if a hamster had gas. Cartoony but existing under my foot with every second step.

Now that I think about it, that particular Reebok shoe line didn't last very long.

Outdoor Adventure Indoors

A scuba instructor talks about diving basics with the help of a diver.

I was groggy from going to sleep late and waking up early. This really seems to be the norm these days. Last night we wrapped (finished working) on Tilt around 2:30am. By the time I got home and into bed it was about 5:30am. Kyoko and Chris would call about five hours later to arrange to pick me up to go to the outdoor adventure convention hosted at the international center (near the Toronto Airport) which is way out there.

The show consisted mainly of a lot of booths showcasing places to visit. From white water rafting to lazy canoe trips along the Lake Superior tributaries and a bunch of stuff inbetween, there were a lot of destinations to choose from. Neither Marc or myself were really that interested so we stuck to the booths selling stuff.

One thing which caught my eye was a jet powered surf board. It weighs about 175 pounds and depending on wave condtions and stunts you were pulling you could travel between 1.5 and 4 hours with the board giving about 300 pounds of thrust. The design was very cool. I want one. At least I did until I found out it was about $9000. Well okay I still want one. Click www.powerskicanada.com for more info. Not that I'm a surfer or even have a place to put it in my tiny apartment, but it's so cool and gadgety.

The surf board and the booth that sold ikelite underwater systems (really expensive containers for cameras to shoot underwater) were really the only things that held my attention. The food was way expensive. $11.20 for a submarine and drink from Mr. Sub. It didn't matter if you ate a veggie sub or a meat sub the price was the same and the service was lousy.

Marc ordered a sub just before me. It took about ten minutes for them to make all the subs ahead of him and get to his. Then I ordered. Because my sub was the first of the next batch I had to wait until all the other subs were completed. The way the order was taken stumped me. The sub assembler, a really pissed off girl that didn't seem to want to be there, would ask me if I wanted lettuce. She would then ask the three people behind me if they wanted lettuce. She would then move on to the next topping, say pickles, ask me if I wanted them, then the three other people. This continued for each topping. The fact that some of the people behind me were still unsure and held up the slow as molasses process really started getting to me. I was hungry, the food was in front of me, but unobtainable. Much like the women in my life, but this was food dammit and I wanted instant gratification! After all it was $11.20. How hard is it to put stuff in between to pieces of bread and send it over the counter? Obviously this was a task that should have some kind of training involved. And I laughed when I heard McDonalds had a hamburger university... What was I thinking?

Once the subs were completed the cashier decided to take the time to walk away. Marc started getting impatient. He keep pointing to my sub asking "Is that your sub?". "Yes" I would reply. I don't really don't remember how many times I had to confirm that that was my sub. I could imagine Marc's sub getting old and stale. Maybe even some fungi growing on it.

Eventually another person came back to the cash register and let me pay for the sandwich. My sub sat on the counter ready for me to eat for what seemed like another five minutes. The cashier's job was clearly not to touch any of the subs. Oh no! I had to wait for the sub assembler to package the thing and hand it to me but only after verifying that indeed it was my sub.

One wonders if someone were to open a competing resturant or eating place just outside the convention centre, would it crush this Mr. Sub booth? It might be a good idea for someone to look into. Despite all the waiting, the sub assembler did put a lot of toppings on my sub. Maybe twice as much lettuce and things as if I went to a Mr. Sub somewhere downtown. If the idea of waiting sounds like it would make you enjoy the sub that much more, It's true. That was the best tasting submarine sandwich I've had in a long time.

The Secret World of Background Extras

James Tamblyn sets up a monitor adding to the illusion that the background extras are working in the casino.

One of the things that's great about working on set in movies and television shows is that you get to meet a whole bunch of people from various walks of life. They all have different talents and they all vary in age. Some old, some young. Some really young and if you think "those" thoughts you're going straight to that special place in hell. (As a funny tangent see the show "Firefly", the episode titled "Our Mrs. Reynolds", you'll understand the special hell reference a bit better after Ron Glass's character uses the term)

Today was the last day of shooting on Tilt for this season. My job title today was playback/vidoe assist helping the main playback technician (James Tamblyn) with wiring up the sets, making sure the animations played correctly, and syncing the odd camera to a 24 frame signal. Because of the set being a casino there were a ton of extras hired. Extras are the people that are hired to fill in the background, so the main characters aren't in an empty room. Some of the background extras could be the security officer standing in the background, people playing cards or throwing dice at some table, playing the jackpot machines or the waitresses wandering around with drinks.

The later being the job of Norah-Jean and Ashley and some other very cute but very young women. In some ways background extras are treated like cattle. They're hearded into a waiting room where they will wait for some unspecified time. The rooms are usually make shift areas that have chairs and tables. For some reason when I think of these rooms (also known as background holding) I think of rooms that are hot with no windows. This of course is not always the case. Eventully the extras are moved to set where an assistant director will tell them where to walk and when to do it. Sometimes they're given a zig zag pattern to walk around or they might be made to stand or sit in a particular place while the camera is rolling. It seems like an odd job to get paid for.

I've noticed some of the extras were familiar. Turns out I worked with some of them on "Blueprint for Disaster". Episode 3, the Sampoong, department store, to be exact. They played the guys that were responsible for not evacutating the mall and causing the deaths of almost 500 people. I was talking to them and they both get jobs as extras on a regular basis. One of them wants to be an actor, where as the other just wants work on a part time basis. I can't really see myself making a living as a background extra but these guys are proof that it can be done.

I Wish I Was an Oscar Mayer Wiener

A very talented Laer Adlon in music composing mode

Today was a pretty busy day. It started with me travelling across our vast city to Kodak located near Photography drive (IMHO in the middle of nowhere). Using our transit system it took me an hour and a half. A bus, a train, another bus, a bit of walking and I was there. Kodak had a seminar on a product they're introducing to the DPs (Director of Photography) in our area. The LOOK management system. Basically it's software that standardizes color information between the DP and the colorist and anyone else in post production.

The way it works is that that DP will shoot a scene using a Canon or Nikon camera, not just any camera but the higher end SLRs. For Nikon the D100 or D70. I didn't pay attention to the Canon cameras as I'm a Nikon user. Once the picture is shot in raw format, the file is transferred to a computer (could be a laptop) with the LOOK software installed.

The DP can then pick what Kodak film stock he would like to use, if he wants to color correct the image, and if he wants to push or pull the film. The software emulates what the final film will look like. This information can then be saved and a person in post production can access it (with installed software on their computer). The various computer monitors are calibrated with a little puck shaped sensor that sticks onto the monitor screen.

After hob-nobbing with some of our finest DPs in the industry I walked back to the subway station and hopped on the train to bring me downtown. I did a quick stop at Monster Records then proceded to Laer's place. He wanted to see "Ong Bak", a thai martial arts movie. We were going to go with a bunch of people later on in the evening so we had some time to kill. I decided to take a nap on his couch while he worked on a soundtrack for his web site (see www.laerworks.com).

Laer is one of those untapped talents that can do a vast number of things from exploding zombie heads, visual effects, playback, musical scores and pretty much everything in between. With all this talent what does Laer do? He plays requests for one. Alan showed up later that night and requested the Oscar Mayer theme. Laer not only played it but embellished it to resemble something you might hear at an ice rink. Very cheesy with a lounge feel to it.

We went to see the movie, which was incredible, BTW. I don't think Bruce Lee will ever be replaced but if you want hard elbow to the head, skull cracking action then this is the movie for you. The only downside to seeing this movie were the three guys that kept yelling in the back of the theatre complaining the movie had sub titles. Heathen scum.

After the movie Alan told me that a mutual friend's pet cat is having difficulties. It disturbs me that this is happening and there's nothing I can do to fix it or help out. I realize there are some things that are just not in our realm to control or fix but despite this I'm still awake thinking about her and the cat. It's 4:45am. I've been lying in bed since 12:30 (with the exception of turning on the computer to make this entry).

On a happier note, "Macho Baby!" has been selected as an official entry in the IASTE screening march 5th and I managed to get some daily work tomorrow on "Tilt". Now I just have to get to sleep to wake up at 9am.

HLAP party 6 announced

Roger and Darryl check out movie listings

Today I met Darryl and Roger Fredericks to gab and eat at the "Bejing House", a local haunt for Darryl and I to get cheap but good chinese food. We were there for about two hours. So the big news is that there is likely going to be a Hard Liquor and Porn party 6 in June sometime. With any luck Darryl will successfully take the show on the road. This time it's going to take place in Montreal (if all goes as planned). For more details keep checking Darryl's site, www.hardliquorandporn.com. News of the event will be posted as soon as things fall into place.

Time to dust off the LEGO and start shooting a french/english short.

Snow = Fun Fun Fun.

The path to my apartment all nice and clear.

After about 12 hours of sound sleeping I woke up to find...
a) I was still tired.
b) I had finished watching the entire season 5 of Angel
c) The path to my apartment entrance was filled with snow
d) I required stamps.

My back was sore probably from not moving the whole night. So going back to sleep wasn't going to help. I decided to wake up and do those computer chores, some cleaning, and making some breakfast. As it turned out I had a leftover nature (veggie) burger from the night on Tilt. I nuked it and ate it. Breakfast of champions! Done. No Fuss, no muss (whatever that means).

There wasn't much I could do about the lack of Joss Whedon shows. I guess I'll have to wait for the Firefly movie to come out. Season 5 was pretty depressing. I felt that there wasn't any closure for some of the characters. Also another good show not airing. It's hard to believe I watched 110 episodes and still wanted more.

I took about an hour and a half moving the snow from the pathway into a pile in the backlot. It was packing snow. I flug it towards the brick wall and it would just stick there in a clump without falling. This facinating revelation only lasted about 30 seconds, then I started to tire. Not lose interest but lose strength in my whole body. It was like the shovel was sucking the life force out of me. My back was starting to ache and the shovel felt like it was turning into lead. I only had the sidewalk to do by this point but it might as well have been the entire city block.

Each shovel full of snow and ice became more and more draining. I stopped for a while to see the neighborhood kid playing in the snow in front of the house next to me. She was making a minature snow man, the height of three snow balls. The look on the kid's face was of wonderment and awe. The kid looked like she was thinking "How does this white stuff stick together? This snowman looks like my Dad. Maybe I can use this as a little voodoo doll and get my parents to buy me a small shovel and pail. Why has that guy over there stopped shovelling?".

I kept thinking back to when snow was fun. Going down hills in a toboggan (that's Canadian for sled, eh.), making snow angels, having snowball fights, seeing friends lick the metal pole and making twenty-five cents, getting pulled by the family dog through snow mounds like he was a giant gopher. Okay maybe being a kid wasn't that great. The memories allowed me to rest and I decided to continue clearing the snow up to and including the neighbor's sidewalk and driveway.

After finishing my good deed for the day I had to make a trek to get some stamps. I have two cousins that wanted some of the pictures I took at the funeral for some school project and I have a $50 US rebate that I have to send into Epson. I hate those rebates. There's really no guarantee that you'll get the money back and it seems like quite the mission to keep track of the receipt, find the serial number, get an envelope, a stamp, fill the form and mail it in. Ah well fifty bucks is still fifty bucks.

Overnight Compositing

Daniel holds two CDs containing my overnight work.

After the visit to the gallery I got some food and went back home to work on some compositing for a friend who has been working on a film for the last few months. Like most projects I thought it would be a relatively quick turnaround time. I started on the shot with the longest duration to get it out of the way and it ended up taking about five hours to get the proper track. Needless to say I didn't get much sleep that night. I would lie in bed while waiting for the computer to crank out it's results, then get back up to do some tweeks.

This lasted until about 11am the next day. Daniel came over and thought the results were great. Once he left with the tests on CD, I continued to plow through the other shots until about 8pm. He came by to pick up the finals. A little burnt out and extremely tired I got Daniel to drive me through the snow to the Bejing House. A chinese resturant where I would meet up with Darryl for food.

Originally I had planed to go back to Sushi Island for their eight dollar all you can eat vegetarian special. Today was the last day it was offered. I went there last night and the staff said I should go back to take advantage of this fleeting deal. Fortunately Al didn't get my message in time and Tracy never got back to me. Which in the end was all well and good. Sushi Island is all the way across town and the snow was incredible. Did I mention it was freezing?

After eating the chinese food I went over to Darryl's to watch the tail end of "XXX" with Vin Disel. It was playing on CityTV. Then I wandered back home. Originally waiting for a streetcar, I gave up and just walked back home through the mini snow dunes. I kept thinking I should have worn my boots instead of the zero traction leather shoes. What was I thinking? It took about 40 minutes before I got home and instantly fell asleep.

Foolish Girl creator shows her stuff at gallery opening

Vesna Mostovac and her Foolish Girl silk screen piece.


Opening night at the Propeller Gallery, 984 Queen street west.

I received an invite to attend a gallery opening featuring 24 comic book artists, one of them being my friend Vesna. She built the Lego bank in my "Macho Baby!" movie. Up until this point I have never actually seen any of her work. Only the odd foolish girl graphic on a button, but not the animated cartoon or anything in a larger format. At the gallery she had a silk screen print (see above) and a small TV showing her work. I was tempted to turn up the volume but thought better of it.

There were hoards of people, crowding around looking at the artwork, listening to the band (the lost pilgrims), and talking to each other. The nice thing about comic book artists, at least at this venue, is that they were not, I repeat not, stuck up like your typical art person. Very down to earth and easy to talk to. None of that snooty art talk (ie. juxtaposition, symbolizes) to make you feel like a dumb ass. I liked these people.

I bumped into a lot of people there that I knew. For some reason I didn't think I would see them there as they were from different circles of friends. It seems that the different circles are actually one big circle of friends. "What, you know so and so?", "We've known each other for years. I didn't know you knew so and so as well.". It was that kind of night.

Tilt

James Tamblyn adjusts camera settings

Today I got a call around 9am to go to work as a daily on Tilt. A show that takes place in Las Vegas, but filmed here in Toronto. I'm not really sure what the show is about but in today's episode there was some guy being questioned by the FBI in an interrogation room. We (James and I) had to wire up two cameras to give the illusion that the person being interrogated was being recorded by the FBI.

Normally this would only require one person but James had to also set up some monitors for a lunch screening of episode 4. Working on set can be a little stressful especially when hardware you rely on doesn't work or someone kicks a plug out by accident. And there's always some guy with a huge ego that thinks he's a god. Somehow he stumbled into the industry through a friend and has been there ever since.

But today everything went smoothly. One of the pluses for working on set is that they feed you. It's a great way to save money. I had a nice steak and potato lunch. Upon going into overtime (after clocking 12 hours) a second meal arrived. A bunch of Lick's burgers. I had a veggie burger with a pile of onions, tomatoes and guk (the secret sauce). I've noticed that there are a lot of large people that work on set. I'll have to make an effort to exercise so I do not become one of them.

Go Mullets!

Mullet team captain Gudrun Heinze closes in on an opponent.

Wednesday, day 2, post valentine's day. Things seem quiet. Almost too quiet. For the most part I've been power watching Angel season 5. Just finished another few hours. The Valentine's day fear has been subsiding with the help of staying indoors and avoiding contact with people on the outside. To avoid the label of "shut-in" I decided to go visit the hockey gang and see what's up.

The Mullets. A co-ed team started up about three, maybe four years ago, by someone trying to find a date. I'm not kidding. It worked. The person started dating someone on the team and stopped playing hockey. She shoots, she scores. The team is composed by an eclectic bunch, ranging from punk band performers, to "music people", to visual effects artists, government employees, and production coordinators. The team meets once a week, wednesdays, playing under a league that's organized by the Toronto Central Sport and social Club.

The teams played against range from happy go lucky government Health workers to testosterone filled bankers that hack, slash and try to push their way to winning the game. The sport is supposed to be non-contact and non-competitive. But every once in a while and it seems more frequent these days, you get a twit that has to win at all costs. Some person that uses their hockey stick much like an axe. Or some team that takes the game way too seriously and really should be playing in a more competitive league.

I took this season off so I haven't seen anyone on the team since before Christmas. It was good to see them and catch up during the post game eating/drinking part of the night. I miss the playing of the game, the excercise and even the horking up a lung when running too much. I'll have to make an effort to join up next season.