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.

Two Thousand and Feelin' Fine?

Russian Dolls from Made in Mundo on Vimeo.
This...this is just here.

Moving on!

I hate to trot this old trick, but if Present Oliver turned around and told Oliver Circa Dec 31st 2007 that in a years time he'd be where he'd be....he'd be pretty pleased!

Good or bad, 2008 has been nothing if not busy and eventful for me. Despite becoming a "victim of the economy" a couple of weeks ago, I feel really optimistic about the coming year. I have crazy fun plans for more Handful episodes, which oughta come out more regularly when I'm not getting let go just before the holiday season and then moving into a new place right after. Urban Exploration! Nostalgia! Pillow Fight League! Burlesque (finally)! and more? Yes! Why, there is even an episode where I might just get to bully a lot of my friends into wearing one of my shirts.

Oh and uh yeah I am moving into a new place, basically ten feet from my current place. I am greatly looking forward to it, if only because it is a three bedroom that was plainly intended for a family as there are two kids bedrooms and one, huge mummy/daddy room. Guess which room I'm taking? I did some measurements and I will be able to set aside enough space to fudge my own lil' studio for filming Handful - another tick in the "Things Which Will Help More Shows Get Made, More Often" column. I've also recently found my damn tablet again, which will be helpful for when I want to doodle up images either for a regular show or one of these terrifying things.

I also enjoy how Handful is making me get out and not only look for new things but try them. Maybe I would have tried UE regardless of Handful....but I can't say that for sure. I certainly wouldn't have gone out of my way to learn about terrifying lakes or done a fun interview with Ryan North. So hopefully this is a preview of when I will be a Big Scriptwriting Man who gets sent around the world on adventures by studios.

Also, it's incredibly tenative at this point buuuut, I might be writing a musical? And getting the wheels turning to make the feature film of Tonight We Fall In Love? There are other things too, but it's absurd to mention them at this stage. The point is that the fire has some irons in it.

With moving into the new place I am committing to Toronto for at least another year and...honestly, at least another two. Why at least two? This is because I have moved an ungodly amount of times since I first left ma and pa's porch, manfully steeling myself against the sound of my mother sobbing as I strode out into a world which could produce something like this. I'd like not to be thinking about moving or the possibility of moving for a while, so valuable time and energy can be freed up for the important things.

So yes, the results are in: Between London and Ottawa, I find Toronto to be the middle bowl of porridge. Good size, enough interesting stuff and a good group of people to get up to shenanigans with. Let's hope I'm piping the same tune in 356 days time.

To close, here is a great sign that my pal Victor spotted (and nabbed) while we were walking along the street.
I can only hope the person who wrote this will eventually learn the error of their "racism" or at least figure out how " " should be used.

This Year We Shall Call Them Scarer-ists, Which is Way Cuter.

Resolutions

-GET FAT
-SMOKE
-SMOKE A FATTY (phatty?)

This seems a pretty reasonable list and I think my North American lifestyle just might facilitate the first and last, though staying in Europe would have been better for the middle one.

So it's a new year and I am asking the same question that most people do - where are my amazon bitches at?

Okay, maybe that is me being facetious. Maybe this post has been a complete farce up until now. This is something worth pondering.

Last year was pretty okay.
I got to see Athens.
...perched myself upon the great white horse of Uffington.
...spent a good deal of time exploring London (too many links to bother).
...got a good deal of writing done and continue to fill my notebooks with seeds for future writing.
...got some film work set up in Canada less than a month after arriving back.
...finally did some watercolor painting.
...took a stab at a webcomic, even if it has slipped into a coma thanks to a)life getting generally crazy then b)my big move back and c) the holidays.
...went to my first (and possibly last) goon meet. I'm not sure if that's one I should mention but...
...got to have a hilarious discussion about inventing slang in a squat/bar/art gallery which "should" have made me fear for my life, but actually made me feel more relaxed than any other point in the year. Basically I learned that just because it looks like it should be a crack den and it's in a neighborhood with a reputation for horrible crimes, that doesn't mean you can't still have the time of your life!

And some other stuff too. I'm just back from a few days in Toronto, where I had a great New Years Eve but also spent time renewing my impression of the city while learning more about the downtown core which intrigues me. Walking through Bloor, College street, Kensington Market, Spadina and Chinatown as well as other central areas...it felt extremely correct. I'm glad about this because, frankly, wherever I move next should feel this way in order to justify what I want to be a long term move. By the time of my move to Toronto I will have moved five times in less than eighteen months (with a sixth time to go, depending on whether or not I stay with a friend of the family during the initial weeks - we'll see how the job hunt goes as to whether or not that happens).

Add in the four times I'd moved since turning nineteen and the summer of 2006....well, I think I'd like to try setting down roots a little bit! Not so much having kids and buying a house "setting down roots"...but maybe a "take pride in my neighborhood and spruce up my apartment so it looks more like a home and less like a very personalized hotel room" kind of setting down root. I wouldn't say my "biological clock" is ticking (though my "quotation marks" "clock" "seems" to "be" "t"i"c"k"i"n"g"), but I am starting to feel some priorities shift. Then again, fuggit, for all I know I'll get some great offer of work six months down that road that will have me traveling to a secret North Korean surgery to have my penis replaced with a live cobra (all in the name of authenticity).

So, onto the next year and maybe a marvelous, deadlier penis!

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Addendum: The Onion has a very interesting interview with the man I recently remarked upon as being my original inspiration to pursue film, if you're interested.

ALSO, last night I caught the back end of Trekkies 2 and I have learned one thing - if you want to meet a hot trekkie, go to Serbia! Apparently all the men look like reasonably clean cut gents and the women all have aquiline features which are complimented by exotic, dyed hair.

Sometimes I like to pronounce the word "Bitch" as "Bee-Itch"

It makes me feel more "street", you know? It works best when said very slowly, being careful to rub ones tongue over the two syllables with a thoroughness that is almost amorous in it's moistosity.

Such are the factoids which spill from me after a satisfying meal and a day of adventurin' in central London. Good luck with the rest of this entry!
Anyways, time to catch up on pictures.

First, on the same day in Reading where I took a picture of that war monument....I visited the remains of a monastery and the nice little bit of river beside. It was a fun enough thing to romp through and I appreciated the little monk ditty they put up for all to read.Though I wasn't in Bristol long and even then not in a very exciting bit, I took two pictures. One of the church right outside my hotel window and another of the train station. It occurs to me that the train station looks as if it could be an adjunct to the Canadian houses of parliament. I swear, even the hot dog stands in England have at least a few Gothic arches.

Right then, on to Christmas in Broadstairs. As I'm sure I've mentioned before, my Aunt Liz and Uncle Phil are down that way (along with cousins Carla and Andrew as well as many others!) and they never fail to be wonderful hosts. I arrived for a highly enjoyable carnival of people coming by the former hotel which they call home, with myself tightly hooked into a pair of IV's (one labelled "Brandy" and the other "Mince Pies"). I also won ten quid on a pub gambling machine, played with the twin boxer dogs who always give me joy (Webster and Harvey), took a few seaside pictures and generally enjoyed myself so well that I was paying for it until yesterday. Could one ask for anything more?
Two days of slightly surreal work (rendered as such by my being the only person in the whole National Rail Technical Block who wasn't on vacation) and two evenings of exploratory walks finished off the week. Tomorrow I head to Reading for New Years and also to get the rest of my junk which I was unable to carry with me when I moved.

When I woke up this morning, it occurred to me that I had some fliers for places in London which I hadn't the time to explore yet. I made myself an itinerary over breakfast and set off to fulfill it. I made the first item on my list, The British Library near Kings Cross, and even took a photo of the rather impressive Kings Library (this column of ancient texts went straight through the whole building), but after I left there...something came over me.Though I have visited England many times in my life and I have visited central London every chance I've had since my arrival in October...I guess you could say there is still some tourist in me or perhaps some "little boy who grew up in Carp". My eyes widened slightly and the plan I'd drawn up in my mind became covered over by a myriad of overriding messages which said things like "Wow gee this sure is a neat city" and "Oh wow look at that thing over there! Let's go look at, listen to and maybe smell it".

So I took a good walk past all sorts of wonderful buildings until I, seemingly inevitably, found myself in the Embankment area.After a little more aimless gawping at things such as a sandwich chain which has a rather clear message, I found myself the highly engaging South Bank Book Market. In it I found a lot of what you might expect, but also some wonderful authentic prints from the past 150 years which I would have bought if I was at the point where I could justify spending twenty-five quid on original fashion art of 1920's flapper girls or sections from children's educational picture books of the Victorian Era. I came eerily close to spending ten quid on a 148 year old newspaper!. I realize that may not be soooo incredible, but it's the fact that I found it in the kind of venue where I'm used to only finding Hardy Boy books and puzzle books with all the crosswords and mazes already done that blew my mind.

The book market takes place directly in front of the National Film Theatre building. I'd seen it before but never gone in and so, prompted by some heavy rain that sprang into being, I investigated. I actually ended up seeing a flick and I really enjoyed the high quality of the theatre. I just might look into a membership, since they show such a great variety of works. Plus my money wouldn't just be supporting the building and the employees, it would help towards the restoration of old and obscure film prints - something I don't exactly have much trouble getting behind.
When I came out it was dark and I was greeted by slightly recontextualized sights which sent me straight back into gawp mode. Yes I'd seen them before, but to see them at night as well as to think that I could now visit these sites and sights on damn near any time that I fancy...well.

I just wrote "What can I say?" then deleted it as that is a question I almost never have trouble answering. I can say that as 2006 comes to a close that I think it has been a pretty damn good year. It started with my hitting the brick wall that comes from finishing your degree and having to decide what comes next, but then went into a turbulent stretch where I made a film, met several interesting people whose company I enjoyed and abilities I respected, took several hits straight to the chin and kept on going until I achieved a dream I've dreamt since my early teens. All this and without ever sacrificing my beliefs, acquiring stupid debts or hurting anyone to get what I wanted.

It's been a good year.
I hope you all can say the same.
Now let's see where we wind up next.