2010 - will it be an unsatisfactory sequel to 2001?

Well, will it? I hope not, since that'd mean we'd be getting a crop duster slamming into the side of the Seattle Space Needle, thus giving America the reason their current administration has been dying to have so they can invade...French Guiana? Bah, I'll leave the futurism to more talented folk.

So it's New Years eve and small wonder what a man's mind wanders towards...

But hoo boy, I could have used a bit more space between Christmas holidays and New Years this year. So many things to do, so many things done. In fact, I would like to take this moment to dub 2009 The Year Which Went Too Quickly but also The Year in Which Shit Got Done.

What shit got done? Well I...

• Finally took a writing retreat, something I've wanted to do since I was in England and reading about the Cotswolds. While there I...
• Made a serious stab at finishing a new feature length script. Unless a miracle happens, it won't be done before year's end but with a finished treatment and 37 pages written (as well as piles of notes) I know it's reached a crucial point that makes it a lot easier for me to return to the work and polish her off.
• Organized funding for shooting a small pilot I wrote, which my pal Mark then filmed. That was part of a lot of other writing and groundwork which was laid in preparation for pitching what I can only refer to right now as "A Science Fiction Series" early in the New Year (ideally late February).
• Busted my balls on Handful, of course, raising the quality of the show significantly and building a suitably large archive of episodes so as to achieve escape velocity from planet "Something I did for a little while and then got distracted". That...that is a terrible planet whose gravity is often much stronger then you might expect!
• This included another interview, which I actually managed to keep to a reasonable length! I'd like to do more, but it's tricky since my topics keep changing and I rarely know somebody relevant to, say, Seasteading.
• Got my first fan video!
• Broke both the one year and fifty episode marks.
• Through the show I attended my first TIFF event and learned more about Roller Derby, something I'd been curious about for a good while.
• Became a fan of The Pillow Fight League via the episode I did. When I went to another match in July I was actually approached by Olivia Neutron Bomb, who told me she enjoyed it!
• Pulled together the big special and thus introduced the world to SHAWN MACLEAN.
• Made some buttons, even if I am now deciding to give this batch away and do a fresh one with a new design to replace the "Lake Karachy Rowing Club" button. These and the business cards helped make it all feel less like a hobby and more like A Thing.
• Did some other fun little videos, mainly as a way to force myself to continue on with my bit of self-education & writing practive via Stephen Fry.
• This included another Urban Exploration adventure to Toronto's not-so-secret ballroom.
• Got my own dang longboard!
• Which made the 2009 board meet that much more awesome.
• Worked with my roommate Christina to decorate and otherwise set up what is easily my favorite place that I've lived in since leaving my parents after graduating High School.
• Did some more painting, though not quite as much as I would have liked.
• Went to my first North American webcomic convention and got to briefly meet & chat with Paul Pope!
• Got piles of proper use and enjoyment out of my membership at the AGO, which meant a lot to me as I didn't get as much use out of my membership at London's ICA as I would have liked.

I may have done some other shit, but those are the big things. True, Handful isn't making me money yet...but I think I was being a little naive. From what I've learned of other folk with webshows or webcomics, 18 months   seems to be about half the amount of time it's taken most folk to be able to make any kind of living from their online efforts. I guess I should just quit! OH NO WAIT...

My other big goal for the year, to try and finally host a Handsome Boy Modelling School party may just have to go on the pile of broken dreams...but I think I can live with that regret!

So what of 2010? Well, I feel very excited to build upon what I've done this year and (especially after reviewing some of my pictures from London) I know I'd really like to get in a trip to somewhere other than Ottawa. It's been far too long since I've seen a concert in Montreal, but I'm also curious about New York since fully half the people I know visited there in the time since I moved to Toronto!

And then, there's this. Anybody want to sponsor a webshow hosts trip to L.A.?

Dang, I gotta get on with the day! So I think I'll close here for now and get into more depth about next year sometime in it's first few days.

I feel like I just gave birth to ten whales

Long story short, Wordpress and Vodpod are ridiculous, so I'm putting this here for now! Anyways, this is a custom player that will automatically cycle from one video to the next so you can listen to the whole special without interruption or having to attend to it every few minutes. Please enjoy!


So here’s our big special for 2009! There are piles of links below for each artist, listed in alphabetical order, so you can find more of their stuff if you like what you hear.
If you enjoy our “radio” show format then PLEASE COMMENT or otherwise let us know and perhaps we’ll do it again!
CHAMELEON CIRCUIT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAi4izfvXo4
www.youtube.com/user/charlieissocoollike
http://twitter.com/coollike
http://www.youtube.com/user/nerimon
DANIELLE ATE THE SANDWICH
http://www.danielleatethesandwich.net/
http://www.youtube.com/user/daniellesmagic
http://www.myspace.com/danielleatethesandwich
JOSEPH THIBODEAU
http://www.youtube.com/user/HandsomeNarrator
PAPA JULES
http://www.myspace.com/papajulestheband
http://www.youtube.com/user/marlonminty
PAULA VARJACK
http://www.myspace.com/paulavarjack
http://www.youtube.com/user/mochachild
http://twitter.com/paulavarjack
http://paulavarjack.bandcamp.com/
POMPLAMOOSE
http://www.youtube.com/user/PomplamooseMusic
http://www.myspace.com/pomplamoosemusic
http://twitter.com/pomplamoose
TOM MILSOM
http://tommilsom.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/hexachordal
http://www.myspace.com/tomandhisuke
http://twitter.com/Hexachordal
ZAYNA DAZE
http://www.youtube.com/user/zainabadam
www.myspace.com/zaynadaze
http://zaynadaze.bandcamp.com/
http://zaynadaze.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/ZaynaDaze
—-
MORE EPISODES -  RELATED LINKS -  FACEBOOK -  PODCASTS -  TWITTER
GOT AN OPINION? DROP US A LINE AT HANDFULOFMINUTES @ GMAIL . COM

And then life gets crazy busy again

Ah well! Can't do much about that.

So, other than fighting crime I've been working hard on the show and trying to plan all the right moves for at least the first few months of next year.

You can expect me to elaborate on such things in my fourth annual End of a Year post, if not sooner! but for now I have piles of running around to do before heading to my folks for the holidays.

(Great Batman photo by Posterchild)

TERRIBLE TEEN TUNES

A nice find

How much is it to ride that mustache in the window?

Stephen Fry Poetry Challenge: Round Four

SAXX LAWS

Saxx Laws from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.


This is a pretty specific thing, but if you know where it's from then you'll likely love it!

Flapper Lady

I did this a little while ago but I just realized that I never put it up here! Dang but it has been hard to find time to draw and paint lately. Part of that is wrestling with exciting and terrifying distractions, a post upon one of which may follow later today!

Abandoned Ballroom

I've been sitting on this since February and I wasn't going to post it....but I checked out the ballroom last week only to discover that basically...

1) Everybody knows about it anyways, now. I ran into a pack of photographers this time around, who had been told of the place by further friends and when I ad in all the people I know who know about it and how it's been posted on various UE forums then....eh.

2) The hotel has installed some working lights that are left on in the evening, which is a pretty strong sign that if they aren't at least finally fixing up the joint then they too are WELL AWARE of people coming on up. I also ran into a polite security guard who, fortunately, got distracted by the photographers.

Anywho, for a number of reasons it looks like I shan't be filming here but I'm glad I got to visit before those lights were installed. It's really something else when the only lighting is provided by the faint glow of moonlight and the surrounding buildings.

ALSO

I should mention that I met someone a couple of weeks ago who claimed to have been there eight years ago and that then it was full of mannequins. Whether or not that's true, the idea is pretty sweet!

And now I've filmed fifty...

Right then, I just survived the final filming of Handful of the year!

I had to take a liberty or two, but I'm now covered for the rest of 2009. There's still some work to do for the year end special that Joe and I have been planning for....six months? But whatever man! It feels good.

Also? I know anybody could just google my name anyways...but I still find it a little creepy that I got a google alert today letting me know that this website has assembled a kind of profile on me?

EVERYTHING ALL OF THE TIME

I seem to be writing here less and less, which runs somewhat counter to this interesting article on the ol' "Forum/chat room problem" and how it relates to Facebook vs Twitter vs Blogs. What's funny, is I want to be writing here more and more...partly out of inspiration by the quality of this blog.

Once thing that definitely has me wanting to get back on the blog-o-horse-o is that when I used this more regularly, it was pretty much all I used. For example, when I was in London and taking some neat pictures with my digital camera then I knew there were only really two possibilities for sharing - printing a copy for my photo albums and tossing it up on el bloggo for friends and family.

But of course I eventually got into Facebook and, a whiles after that, Handful has led to my reviving the Twitter account I originally put down as quickly as I picked it up and even a brief dabbling with the utterly forgettable Dailybooth. I don't much care for feeling redundant when I want to post a link-or-picture on Facebook for pals and then the same link-or-picture on Twitter for some other friends plus Handful fans and then OH YEAH DIDN'T I USED TO DO ALL THIS ON MY DANG BLOG, WHICH I LINK TO ON THE ABOUT PAGE FOR HANDFULOFMINUTES.COM?

Also? It kind of makes me feel young again to be using this sucker as if it's a brand new toy - so apparently my threshold for nostalgia is about three years. NOW. It's tempting to be all "anyways guys, get ready for the exciting retro-nipple-clamping future past of blogging to begin....soon". But that is The Shittiest Thing with blogs and so I am going to follow up this "Oh hey I like my blog again (and apparently I have made peace with that word)" stream of gobbledefuck with something akin to what I hope to be putting up here on a semi-regular basis again!

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE/WHAT IS GOING TO BE DONE

I am often struggling with the desire between what I know is sensible & rewarding (waiting until you have done something worth talking about, then talking about it) and what is very exciting & sugar-high gratifying but also potentially unwise (talking about what I'm gonna do). If I was a perfect man then I'd stick entirely to the former...but, surprisingly, it would seem that I am not a perfect man.

So here is what is going in with me in the former:

The sci-fi project for which many glamorous folk donated money to earlier in the year has had it's series outline finished, it's pilot filmed and the first cut of the editing on that pilot also finished. Wheels continue to turn and I hope to have more to report before year's end.

Handful proceeds apace and, I'm told by some, continues to improve. "Introducing Shawn MacLean" has been generally well received. I'm wondering if it'd not be a bit much to try and do something special for the fast approaching fiftieth episode, given that I already did something special for the one year anniversary episode AND I have something diabolical planned for a year end special. Better to let it pass with quiet dignity, I think...

The feature script I started in June during my writing sabbatical has been picked up again. With 36 pages of script and a 99% finished outline, I might make my goal of finishing the sucker before year's end. What's that? I didn't write about the sabbatical at the time? Well basically, my pal Joe and I were fortunate enough to be able to borrow a cottage where we could Get Away From It All to just focus on makin' things which we were having a hell of a time makin' during out regular routines in the city.

From this was birthed the slightly-less-than-halfway written feature script, spawned by almost two years of tossing notes in a bucket labelled "try to do a new take on post-apocalyptic-film"...and many, many improvised "Introducing Shawn MacLean" audio clips. It was grand and I'd love to do it again next year.

Organization of all the crap I'm juggling has gotten better since I nabbed a beautiful beast of a magnetic dry-wipe board and stuck it on my wall. I can't believe it took me this long since University to get another organizer, given that my last one repeatedly saved my bacon while I was earning my degree. This has led to my plotting out basically everything I'm doing for the rest of the year, which produced the alarming sensation that that time had already passed.

It's an annoying choice to have to make, but given that the time is going to pass anyways...I'd rather choose to feel a bit like I'm pressing the fast-forward button on my life and have accomplishments to look back on then to kind of drag my heels and stretch out my perception of time passing but then have a very disappointing life to look back on.

Now, the latter:

Going to Russia to Wade Through the Ruins of the Soviet Empire is an idea that has seized me by the sensitive bits rather firmly over the past year. I think I may even have gotten a pair of pals interested. This is something that will take a lot of prep and probably won't happen until I'm thirty, but dangit I want an adventure and I want to do more than look at crazy old ruins on the Internet. I'd like to think that if I lived twenty years after the fall of the Roman Empire that I'd want to go crawl through that, as well.

It's something I'd definitely want to film and document, but there'd be good reason to try and work out some contacts before arriving. I don't believe that Russia is filled with nothing but starving pseudo-serfs and fat, violent mobsters...but I am also hardly under the impression that I could just show up with a bunch of AV equipment, some cash and a smile.

The Handful End of the Year Special: I can't tell you anything except that the "Introducing Shawn MacLean" bits I've started tacking on the end of episodes are, in fact, building to this. Also, if all goes according to plan, it should go up on Sunday, December 27th.

But for now: I gotta go do exciting things like laundry. I shall return (promptly)!

Big ol' lights

Dang but I would like some big ol' lights!

Stephen Fry Poetry Challenge: Round Three

Street Fart

I spotted this guy on my way home today and I daresay it's my favorite piece by Posterchild in a little while. Very sexy, very stylish and great integration of both his name and his signature symbol.

FAAAAAANS

Holy mother of mercy!

So, whenever I see that someone new has subscribed to the show I like to send a little "Thanks for signing up! Feel free to yell about the show to strangers on the bus or something!" message of varying length. No matter how detailed, I always include the same two things.

1) Thanks for signing on.

2) Yell about the show on a bus.

Well blow me down, that has led to this video response made by a pair of superfans in Alabama!

LOOK AT THEIR T-SHIRTS

Oh dannnnnnng longboards!

Hot dang, I'm doing the 2009 Board Meet tomorrow. Last year I had a couple of months experience and was riding my friend Victor's spare board. Despite rain and the crazy nature of taking over a major city road with about 250+ other people on boards...I only came off my board once and it was one of those "Oh hey now I am running beside my board, maybe I should hop back on" moments.

This year I have a year and a couple of months and my own board, with which I'm pretty comfortable. The weather looks like it could go either way. I predict I will crash headlong into the worlds largest cream pie, which two very strained men will be trying to move across the road at just the moment I'm coming through.

Stephen Fry Poetry Challenge: Round Two

It also has FONTS.

Scriptin' Fancy Like: Final Draft

I popped through an Apple Store today and was darkly amused to see that Final Draft - AKA the industry standard - was selling for either PC or Mac at $299.99. (It's a little cheaper if you buy it as an online download).

This is powerful softeware, you understand, as you would need a minimum of an Intel Pentium III chip to run it! It can process text and it comes with formats as well as the ability to colour code things and search for specific words.

Hoo boy.

In much the same way that you'll be very lucky to find a graphic design student with a legit copy of Adobe Photoshop, I can say that I don't think I've ever met anyone trying to get into the film or television industry as a scriptwriter that has purchased Final Draft.

It's a good program to have, but it should also be selling for $20 at the most. This, I think, should be true of any software that can run on a computer from twelve years ago while basically being a pumped and tweaked version of something from the Microsoft Office Suite circa 1996.

So uh yeah, I guess I have made my feelings pretty clear about this!

But what else needs to be made clear is that however you get it, you should get it. For whatever original reason, this is indeed the most well known and commonly used scriptwriting software. It does have all sorts of useful features that will make life a lot easier for you than if you were to try and imitate them with macros in Word. People may actually send you Final Draft files and expect you to be able to open them.

But for gods sake, don't buy the latest version fresh off the new arrivals shelf. If you're the kind of aspiring scriptwriter who can afford to do that, well then you must be really doing it for love because you sure don't need the money!

Abandon ship? Naw

So I had a think and decided not to abandon this url and make a new blog. The service is fine and I'd have to break the long line of continuity from when this thing started. I think I'll just do a re-design in the next little while - and post the odd video bloggeroo here. Like so:

and SO:

But yeah!

Meanwhile I'm picking up the tools for Handful after a nice break for a couple of weeks and, blessedly, just what I wanted to happen is indeed happening. I'm so excited to be doing it again.

No burning out for me! NEVER.

EVER.

NO WAY.

The title of the ol' video bloggin' comes from here, of course.

Next post? Something with NO INTERNET RELATED CONTENT WHAT-SO-EVER. Can he do it?

ONE MORE YEAR ONE MORE YEAR

Maybe even more?

It feels pretty good to have made it a year, since so many Internet things get abandoned before reaching any real conclusions or meaningful milestones. Aside from doing a gimmiky episode where I managed to recruit some pals to put their aesthetically pleasing faces in front of the camera, I've decided to mark the end of the first year by retiring the brown short sleeve shirt (yes it's on a female torso plastic dummy thing, my roommate doesn't make much in the way of clothes for men).

Dang, I still like some of those FWP strips. Anywho, now I have a year under my belt...maybe I'll look into them New Media grants or some other way to get a bit of money to invest in the show. Certainly, I'd like to get my own Camera of Quality. But enough about the show...

I can't believe it, but after all these years I seem to have broken down and found myself enjoying...Veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelogggerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs. Well, just the three so far. It's...it's uh...giving me temptations. In one form or another, I think it's about time to start a new blog - this one has sort of grown away from it's original purpose and though I couldn't bring myself to delete it...it doesn't really seem entirely fitting for what's going on with me and where I see myself in the next few years.

Any opinions?

Sometimes I do things for the show that don't get used...

Four men enter, one man leaves...

And now you know...

Also

I miss updating this thing more often!

Pippity Pippity Pippity

So hip-hop hooray, another batch of shows in the can. Filming yesterday was pretty interesting since it was the first time I used two sets of duel-500W lights for more than a few minutes and the living room got pretty damn hot! Luckily we were able to cool things down by opening all the windows after we realized the microphone was directional enough to be able to get my voice while not registering any background stuff from outside.I also had had a makeup student that my roommate hooked me up with. It was pretty funny whenever she worked on me as I sort of went into my default "Doctor or Dentist Mode" where I close my eyes, shut up and just let them get on with it. Twice she said "You can open now", meaning my eyes as she'd have finished my eyelids, and I opened my mouth first!
I took some photos through the celebratory martini I made myself after we finished shooting and I rather like the effect! (One part Amaretto to two parts Creme de Cocoa, by the way).Today, feeling a bit cracked out since I'd been up late the night before and my treacherous body insisted I wake up at A QUARTER TO FIVE, I checked out TCAF. I was pretty pleased! It was the first webcomic/comic thing I've been to since London and I'm not entirely sure why - I'll have to make more of an effort in the future. Aside from picking up a couple of prints, one of Ryan's shirts (it only took me six years BEST BUD EVER) and Joey's new book, I had the unexpected surprise of finding out that Paul Pope (AKA my absolute favorite comic book artist) was going to be there for a signing!I lucked out again by grabbing the last available copy (at TCAF) of his art book and then I got in the line up before it became unbearable. He was a very pleasant, totally affable fellow and he did my up this little number (Eloy is my favorite character from my favorite work of his. Favorite).He told me an interesting story about how he lived in Toronto for a short time in the same manner as Eloy - inside a refitted grain silo. Between our short fanchat and what I've read so far in the art book, which reveals him to be far more thoughtful and literate than his comic writing (that is saying something), I consider my expectations met and exceeded. You can't ask for much more then that!

Ahhhhh THERE we go

I think the sound is a bit better too.

I'm not a man with fists full of dollars...

...but I felt this was worth making a donation to - hopefully you will too.

TEALSCREEN

DIDN'T WORK SO HOT ON THE FIRST TRY

NEXT TIME WE SHALL TRY

SEALSCREEN

Annnnnnd breath!

Okay! So I have come out the other end of a stressful but productive stretch wherein' I finally got ahead on the show, upgraded the lighting & sound as well as got everything together needed for the show's launch on lifeforce.tv
I am satiated for a while, I think. By "a while" I basically mean a couple of days. I've been out for a drink and a movie for the first time in ages and I feel good. I've also finally framed a poster I had up in my room in London, which has in turn been rolled up every since I got back!

Now it is time to keep on top of things, work towards the return of the greenscreened backdrops and get out for the odd adventure which has nothing to do with the show.

Hark!

I don't really think this one is "pretty" but I was cleaning off my camera and thought "Hey, why not?".
I think this part is what I really like. Unlike everything else I've painted, this one had no reference picture. One evening I just felt a bit possessed - so I decided to exorcise the feeling by madly dabbing paint.Despite a million things to do indoors and revolving around the Big Projects I have assigned myself, I made a point of getting out for a while to not only get carrots but take a fucking relaxing stroll, dammit.Passing by the back end of the AGO I thought about how this park would be "my park" for the coming warm weather, much the same as Kensington and Trinty-Bellwood parks were "mine" during the glorious five and a half months I took off working last year. Well, glorious but for the poverty and stress over said poverty near the end of that time, let's not coat such recent memories with nostalgia just yet!The market was bustling with the usual weekend traffic and though most everyone still has coats on, a lot are being undone at least partially. It's funny what a short walk I have to take from the edge of Toronto's MoneyTowne (where I now live) back to Bohemiaville, beside which I lived for the lion's share of last year. I like it, though, I think I'd really be a bit bothered if I couldn't easily visit all the little shops and spots I got to know in 2008.After treating myself to a book with a title that seized my heart (the first three chapters, read upon getting home, have me convinced it was a good choice) from a store I've always wished I could support more...I went by Kensington Park. The pigeons were out and, nearby, I found evidence that the street artists had also been up to their business.Yes, that is a birdhouse!

Man, I have to be careful to both meet deadlines and yet also not burn myself out between now and the 12th of next month. It's a sign that I have to watch myself when I find writing an entry like this to be almost as relaxing as the walk that spawned it!

Who's a clever little sausage?

The answer: Nobody in particular, I've just been listening to Ricky Gervais stand-up most of the day and it put me in the mood to use that turn of phrase.

So yes, more Handful news. I know I know, but it really has been a rather large part of my life since the year began and I've been able to ramp things up to a respectable quality and regularity.

I've just agreed to a non-exclusive, one year distribution deal with a Toronto based web television network and I must say it's rather exciting. I'll get into more detail once we get closer to the launch date of April 12th but for now let me say that it should - if nothing else - result in a good deal of help for me in the area which I find I have the least time and energy for: Promotion.

It's also a nice little touch of validation since I was approached by the company, not the other way around. We'll see what comes of this...

Meanwhile, here is a very short urban exploration clip from Berlin that my pal Steph put up.


Good night you clever little sausages of New England

Hot dawg

The last two weeks I have to admit I've been struggling to think of novel ways of promoting the show that don't involve being a human spam-bot. I had one good idea which I look forward to implementing soon but until then it's great to have things like this happen - not only for the traffic but because it shows that someone at Blip.tv has an eye on the show and if it continues to improve then I might be able to look forward to being featured in the big video clip thing (Featuring "The Crew" in the picture here) and other traffic grabbin' things.

Meanwhile!

Tonight I burned a DVD of the first fifteen episodes and then had a Handful marathon. I took notes along the way and hope this helps me improve the writing as my homework for the rest of this week is to get at least four episodes written for filming on Saturday.

I'd write more but the fact is that between the show and my full-time day job I am kind of spending a lot of time at the computer!

Paw found this one for me, which I enjoyed particularly since Liverpool station was a frequently used junction for me when I wanted to check out things to see and do in Jack the Ripper's old neighborhood.

In which I explain my relationship with heights...

...from a great height.

Sorry Mom, but it's kind of undisputed!

HYDRA

Because this entry has many head(er)s, get it? No? Oh.

(That's okay, I don't either).

The Webshow Meet

So that went down on Monday. It had ups and downs and I learned a whole hell of a lot that I'm struggling to retain. That last bit may make me sound a bit dim but hoo dog did I have to eat a lot of alphabet soup (re: acronyms for things I'd never heard of before).

The actual amount of people that showed was pretty disappointing. It's maddening, but there doesn't seem to be any kind of real feeling of community amongst these sorts (in Toronto). I was particularly pissed to see that a person I know who complains regularly about this lack didn't show. Now, the people who did show were quality, but I cannot blame the organizer for getting disillusioned - though it didn't help that he'd had a terrible technical problem arise earlier in the day which looked to cost several hundred dollars to fix.

I gave my presentation, but it was as much for shits as anything else. Still, I enjoyed doing it.

The ups came from the fact that I learned a lot from the other presenter about what is happening regarding the government and it's views on "New Media", that loosey-goosey term for Innernet Stuuuuuf. I'm going to email the presenter soon and ask her if she'd be willing to send me a list of the names she mentioned so that I can then do a little of my own research and then try to spread the good work - for these names were names of people and organizations which are currently flapping their gums in a way which will have a profound effect on the future business viability of Canadian webshow entertainment. Expect more on that if I am able to get this in order.

I also made a pair of very useful contacts and for that, if nothing else, I'm glad I went. Here's hoping that the rough plan of trying again in four months, after more promotion, works out and I get a second chance to present to a bigger audience.

Nostalgia

It's no small coincidence that I've got an episode of the show on this topic coming soon. Lately I have been hip deep in the stuff. It's hard to say why, I'm pretty happy with stuff right now and I'm rather looking forward to what this year seems in order to deliver. I think that perhaps part of it is how quickly last year seems to have passed, but mostly I think it has to do with how cleary demarcated my adult life has been so far. My early twenties were DownTown Ottawa and then a very thick line was drawn between then and now, that line being Fourteen Months In London of course.

I don't know what's up with that, I don't know what's up with that but I reckon it's responsible for this wordy entry.

Cursing

People who know me would never accuse me of being the sort to go around sticking bars of soap in other people's mouths. Outside of certain contexts (i.e. teaching a kindergarten class) I think that words are just words and it's the way they are used that gives them meaning and/or power. Lord knows I certainly don't shy from crude or unusual and crude ways of expressing myself.

But I wonder, am I getting worse?

What stirs up these thoughts is something that happened as I was getting off the subway yesterday. I started to get out of my seat and the train shuddered in a way that led to me mashing my left knee on the handrest of a bench. This was pretty damn hard, hard enough that I had a noticable limp for the next fifteen minutes or so.

"Ow, fuck" I exclaimed as I excited the car. Okay, whatever. But then, blessedly out of earshot of anyone but without having made of point of being in such a space, I took a step that aggravated it and chased the earlier curse with "Fuck, fuck, fucking shit, fuck a child in the eye this shit hurts!".

Uh huh...this is probably nothing to worry about. I'm doing everything in my power to get to earning a living by my writing. I get bored with conventional phrases when I hear them come out of my mouth and so for that, and other writing related reasons, I often try to spin something a different way. Maybe that was a result of this habit? Maybe I just need fiercer cursing to register in my brain as cursing?

Maybe this isn't the thing to think about, but instead I should worry if I start saying that stuff so others can hear - well, others who don't know me well enough. I'm obviously not ashamed of it to the point I won't put this up on the Internet for anyone to read...

Urban Sexploitation

Last night I was taken on my second swing at Urban Exploration, although don't go getting impressed or anything as it was even easier to get into than the Brickworks. Basically I've had more trouble entering and risked greater injury by trying to enter a relaxed state of mind than this place. I'm being vague because I don't want to attract further attention to it, lest this lead to it being properly guarded or even locked. Why mention this shit at all then? Because of two reasons.

1) I was scouting a location to hopefully film in later this year.

2) It afforded me a sight which I found to be so awe inspiring as to be life affirming. That feeling is worth mentioning, if nothing else in this entire entry. There was something about the mixture of height and decayed decadence (anyone who's been there now knows where I mean) that played a tune

I hope things come together that I can then show you guys this place via the medium of fillum.

Beards

After being beardy since about mid-2002...fully bearded since late 2004...I shaved the whole damn thing off and plan to keep it that way for a while. "BIG WHOOP" you say "WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP" you inexplicably follow with...but it is kind of a neat thing, particularly when coupled with a new haircut/style. I'm now seeing a version of my face I haven't seen since before the second Iraq war. Drinking orange juice was livened up this morning when I actually felt it lap against my upper lip - when was the last time drinking orange juice surprised you?

To further hammer the point home, against my already pale skin I noticed that the recently debearded flesh was even paler for having lived in a hairy cave (uhhhh) these past years. Makes sense, but is odd all the same.

Just shut up and get on with it

Okay

BOOOOOO-TONNES

If all goes well, I hope to be selling these next week!

Ups, big

Posterchild clearly put a lot of work in this - it is easily my favorite thing by him in a while.

Sometimes I like the colour textures...

....of a string of shots in the editing suite. This is possibly the most unusual episode preview I've done!

Cuisiness Bards!

These arrived yesterday, in plenty of time for the February webshow meet on Monday.I realize, of course, that any twat with enough cash on hand to buy a special edition DVD can get his own business cards.Nonetheless, it made me feel like a Real Man to be that twat! I got'em from Moo.com if anyone is interested and yes, I was a little pleased/bothered to learn that it was cheaper for me to get nicer cards from a company in London then at the supposed bastion of the man with few dollars and a need to print - Kinkos.