convoluted coalescence

Hi again

2009-03-25T00:04:00.001-07:00

Say Hi has a new album out, and gosh darn it if it ain't as good as the last one.

Bishop Allen has a new album out as well. GRRRRR... no, I'm not growling at you, that's what it's called.... really.... it is....

Two sweet albums, and like a million years since my last post. But alas and alac, I should be writing a paper right now.

so

toodles,

It's October Man.

2008-10-27T10:52:00.003-07:00

Well blog fans, I'm back, and I will dispense with the customary apology, since I'm sure you're as bored of it as I. I know, I suck at updating and I'm sure you know it by now too. Let's just accept it.

Today I have another concert and artist spotlight for you. This one is near and dear to me, so just know that I'm handing you an indie gem... The Band is Octoberman; the album Run From Safety; The good news? They are touring. They recently rolled through town with the Fembots and I was there. It was good. It was really good.

I first heard the titular song "Run From Safety" in my brother's car as we went to some fun little ethnic burger shack in Calgary. I subsequently replayed the song about a hundred times... When I like a song, I like a song... That lead to looking up on myspace and digging the rest of the songs in the Octoberman repetoire. I was hoping to catch a show, see what else they had going... but alas, they were going through saskatoon when I was still in Alberta. I was crushed, as their next tour was in europe. But then CBC radio three announced a tour with the Fembots, coming back through Canada. Thank you radio3...

So I got a bunch of friends together, ditched out on my night class and showed up early to the show. Showing up early was a little excessive as I'm pretty sure I was the only one there who had even heard of Octoberman....so there were like 20 people there, and they were there to see the Fembots. Then my friends started whinging and whineing at the fact that we had to wait for the band to start and that i have terrible taste in music and that it was taking forever for the band to start. My friends can be so ungrateful at times.... When Octoberman started, they all stopped complaining (cause I have super awesome taste in music)..It was a great show. A great set. I would rank it in the top ten concerts I have seen... and that's saying something.... The Fembots were good as well. Great show all around. If you have a chance to see them, I guess pretty much only in Vancouver on this tour, you should.

Get the album, see the show. It'll move you.

How to clean a silk tie

2008-08-12T20:29:00.002-07:00

Lets say you're at a wedding, or just going out on the town. So you're all dressed up; A suit, or maybe just a classy dress shirt, and a fine silk tie. You sit down for a bite to eat. and you spill something on your tie!!!! oh god no..... not the silk tie.... never that! maybe it's just a little spec, um coffee... or maybe something less threatening...like pheasant. So what do you do?Well, I'll tell you.

Nothing, you're screwed.

Your tie is ruined. just hang your head in shame and never dress up again and blend into mediocrity.

Or just do your best to prevent any such occurrence by throwing your tie over your shoulder, but not in very formal settings. That could get you into hot water. And, if you really want to try something to fix your beloved tie, you can take stain remover and dab it onto the tie with a napkin. NEVER USE WATER ON A TIE! Also I've been told that talcum powder can be used to remove grease.

And I know I have only the classiest of readers, so this little heads up will not fall onto dead ears.

Peace, you classy people you.

Say Hi!

2008-07-03T13:57:00.002-07:00

This is another album notice/ band review thingy... The band is previously known as "Say Hi to Your Mom" which is now under the much shorter yet arguably less effective moniker "Say Hi". They have released an new album this year called "The Wishes and The Glitch". It is pretty much the only thing I have been listening to all summer.... granted that summer is still fairly fresh, but the point I'm trying to make is that this album rocks! The more you listen to it, the more it grows on you.

Buy it. Rent it. Steal it... it's good...

Peace.

Short but sweet... It would be longer but I have a crappy old pickup truck to fix... I love my life.

Movie Picture Box

2008-05-29T11:47:00.001-07:00

Hey, so I've got both blogs rocking now.

Check it out at MoviePictureBox

I rant about the new Indy Film.

It's great.

Lonely Forest

2008-05-12T17:38:00.005-07:00

So, here I am again, having neglected my blog for months and months. To tell you the truth it would probably be a couple more months before I blogged again if it wasn't for Lance commenting that I hadn't posted in a while. I'm mostly just honoured that someone still checks, even though I don't post very often. But here again, I will vow to post more frequently, and not let this blog melt away into mediocrity.

Today I might even have some interesting content instead of my regular banter of not knowing what to say; and then some various self beratement.

Today is about the band The Lonely Forest.

I first heard them in Seattle at Bumbershoot, an awesome music festival that I suggest you all go down and see, at the EMP Skychurch, which is a kick ass venue. Of all the acts at this festival, which included: The Newpornographers, Spoon, Badly Drawn Boy, Rouge Wave, Keane West, AFI, Great Big Sea, Fiest, so on and so forth... These guys were probably my favourite. The show was just so much fun... I think I may have even jumped a little, it's kind of a big deal. Just a little.. I'm not like some freaking pentecostal or something.

I recommend you all go to their Myspace page listen to their music. It's really better than me just describing it to you in writing. Although my words are like sun-spun gossamer from the mind of a poetic genius..... but I still think it would be better if you just listened to the music.... They just self released another album called "We sing the body electric" which I'm not too familiar with yet. But I have and love, and listen to religiously their first EP and first Album, titled The Lonely Forest and Nuclear Winter respectively.

Hopefully you like it. and if your ever in northern washington, try and catch one of their shows.
I know I'm going to.

Peace

Jackass

2008-02-21T20:46:00.005-08:00

So Oscar season is upon us. Yawn...

get the corner gas tie in? Oscar... jackass..... oscar, from corner gas.... he says jackass a lot.... no? no? whatever....

so...Andrew, the film guy, not excited about the Oscars. that's wierd.....

yeah...I'm not a huge fan of the Oscars, it all seems so arbitrary and and political. For instance, I think The assasination of Jesse james should be in the running for best picture, but it only shows up in best supporting actor and cinematography. the latter of which it will win. Roger Deakins is a freakin' machine. I am awed by his greatness.

And excuse me, this might be an obtuse question, but where is Rambo on this list? I mean, that movie was freakin awesome... and not even a mention... not even in best actor... what's this world coming to. again, you might be sensing some sarcaism, but I really do like stallone. I think he is given a rough time unfairly, unlike his action star counterpart, the govenator.

at least Transfomers got some nomination nods.

Michael Clayton.. that film is overrated. just so you know. I will be dissapointed if it wins anything.

Juno was good. I think it'll do well. Maybe it has been a little to hyped up at this point. It's not THAT good. it was good. that is all.

There will be blood. I like it. I think Daniel Day Lewis will win one for this role. he was a gooder in this film.

Best supporting actor is actually the tighest race I think. all killer actors in that catagory anyhow.
I wish casey affleck could win, but it'll probably go to javier bardem, for his kick ass portrayal of a creepy hitman in texas.

Once has to win best song. It has too! It is an awesome song. great stuff. Not that the enchanted songs aren't great.

I was watching a little bit of E talk today *gag* and it just irritated me so much. It's all, "oh, shes wearing this" and "he is dating her" and scandle because they got seated in the 3rd tow instead of the 4th.... and so on and so forth... just stupid... I hate that.. the whole thing.

Why do people care. I mean, I like that these people make good movies, and I take an interest in their careers and future work. But I could care less who is dating who or whatever... maybe that's just me. And I wish brittany spears would just die already.. I don't give a sh*t.... not at all...

So... I don't care too much, but my vote for best picture.... will be.... No Country for old men??? or there will be blood.... juno maybe??? those are the ones. and Daniel day will win best actor.

this has been a rambling discourse on the oscars and entertainment in general.

I haven't written in a while, hence the ramblyness... and I am aware that's not a word.

So, till next time,

continue being rocking awesome.
(did you notice how lacluster my capitalising has been) I did, I just don't care... I just don't care...

Lame

2008-02-03T16:46:00.002-08:00

So, these past few weeks have been fairly lame, like the title suggests. It seems like everyone is so busy that they just never want to hang out. I always have time to hang out. even when I really don't; I just love hanging out and being sociable. Me? Sociable? Yeah, that's right. I am.... Well... maybe not sociable... but I like hanging out... So yeah, for the most part it's been me and Alex... just hanging out... which is okay, but you know, it gets old. So this is my passive aggressive plea.

Stop being lame.

life has been okay otherwise. I got a raise, and work is still kind of fun. So yeah, that's good.

What else....

I'm watching the superbowl right now... I don't really care about that... but there's no one to hang out with.....

Hah. I love to complain. It's cathardic.

I have a beard.

who sucks at blogging? This guy.

2008-01-13T21:45:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry to anyone who has looked at the blog in a while; I have been remiss in my blogging duties. But I do have an excuse. I haven't had a computer for the last few weeks, so it's been rather hard for me to get on the internet. so yeah... I'll have a new computer in a week or so, and then I'll blog like nobodies business, for as most of you know, I work and then I have nothing else to fill my time... Not like those university types who have homework and whatnot. So yeah... it won't always be like this.

Andrew will blog again!

peace.

boredom in a written manifestation

2007-11-15T22:32:00.000-08:00

It's late. I'm bored.

I have moved back to Saskatoon since I last wrote on my blog, which was a while ago now. I guess I have graduated since then as well. Look at me go.

this is probably the best post ever. envy the greatness of the post!

I'll probably have another time that I'm bored pretty soon... and it's not like anyone will read this till I post again anyways... or ever....

Narf

Things Galores and Mores

2007-09-21T00:54:00.000-07:00

Okay, It's late at night and I'm still awake... well, I guess it's early morning... anywho... The point is I'm still up. I have to finish my titles for my show, and I haven't even started. So it's going to be a while. Worse yet, I have to take part in a 48 hour film festival this weekend.. It's going to be a grumpy week or so for me. Oh well... that's the fun of it all I guess. Only one month left and then I have to find a real job. Scary.

So who have I seen that's famous recently... well there was Pinball Clemons, coach of the Argonauts, shopping at the local London Drugs. That was cool. Then there was David Hewlett. Now, not many of you will know who that is, and thats okay. He's an actor on Stargate Atlantis. He recently came to our school to promote his new comedy "a dog's breakfast". It was an idependant he put together with his wife and some of his stargate co-workers. Some of it was pretty funny. I thought the whole experience was pretty awesome, but maybe that's just because he has been on stargate.

In big indie film news, for those of you that haven't looked at my facebook, I have recived the an okay from Asthmatic Kitty records to use a Sufjan Stevens song in my film!!! I couldn't believe it when I read the email. Now, it's not set in stone yet, as there is some paperwork to fill out, but it's looking good. I love it when no multi billion dollar corperations are involved.

So yeah, this is still the famousness and film topics that I always post.. but hey, that's my life... and I don't really want to ramble like this on my new blog, since it's so nice and neat right now....

So much for whatnot. Back to throwing stones...
Andrew

Call me Director

2007-09-06T13:36:00.000-07:00

Well, It's been a crazy week, but we are done shooting my first short film. After all this time, I finally have a film with a written and directed by credit. I'm not going to lie, it's awesome. The locations, the actors changing changing my written story into actual pictures, images.... Now I just have all work of post production. you know, color timing, editing, ADR... all that fun stuff.

But as of now I am done shooting films at VFS. It seems like only yesterday I started here.... and now it's almost over. I am going to be a part of a 48 hour film festival with some friends here at the school I guess, I'll probably just do sound or something. But yeah, other than that things are starting to come to a close.

I've just decided to create a new blog specifically for my film rantings. It's called MoviePictureBox. You know, the famous people I've seen and whatnot. That way I can just delve into my feelings and whatnot on this blog. Don't you want to hear about my feelings? I know you do.

Um yeah... so... Ring ring ring.. banana phone. do do de lod alod dol....

Oh Raffi..

Famousness revisited again - The series

2007-08-02T23:46:00.000-07:00

Today was like any other day. Well, not exactly, we had the day off after just finishing our shooting of the short film Mortecai. A film on which I was the Director of Photography. So anyhow, that was fun and it felt good to have the day off, just hanging out and whatnot.

So tonight we went to see the movie Sunshine. It was good, not fantastical, but it was good. But that isn't the point of my post. It was who was sitting just in front of us. Some guy! yeah. We were just sitting, waiting for the film to start and making fun of yellow hue of the lame projector. The man sitting in front of us agreed. We started talking about things we hate at theaters, one time he was at a movie and all the speakers weren't on, and nobody went to say anything.. that kind of conversation. So how is random theater guy famousness revisited again? well I'll tell you. I thought the guy looked familiar.. and it was totally Corbin Bersen! Who? how can you ask who!?! He's only the actor with one of the largest snow globe collections ever! It was nice to talk to him without knowing it, probably for him too. Because us, being film students, would have been all " You're totally an actor" "That's totally awesome" and other nonsensical jibber jabber.

So we were cool, and now I'm being a lame nerd about talking to an actor. Well, I think it's cool to see an actor just down at the local movie theater. It's just the jet set life that I live.

Till the next time I see someone famous, I bid you adue,

-Andrew

The continuing saga of the roast

2007-07-16T20:28:00.000-07:00

The midnight roast continued late into the night. The clock slowly moved forward moving closer towards morning with each tick and tock. All things told, it took till about 4:30 for the roast to be finished. It was quite ridiculous. So I didn't eat any of it last night, as I was dead tired, but, I did eat some today. It was awesome! I love roast and horseradish. So very tasty. So after all that adventure, all is well.

Till the next adventure...

Midnight Pot Roast

2007-07-15T22:07:00.000-07:00

It's 20 after 10, and I have just started cooking a roast. Call me crazy, call me irresponsible. I just really wanted a roast okay? I went out and bought some horseradish specially. I'm so excited.

Check back for more info.

Maybe you can drive my car.

2007-06-28T18:52:00.000-07:00

I guess you could say it's been an odd weekend for me. Well, maybe it's been normal for me... Today I got up at 12:30, finally catching up on my much needed rest. Boring. Then I sat around... watching a few episodes of Macgyver. Now that's just freaking awesome. After that was grocery shopping, then lunch at about 4:30-5ish... Then I went to watch Die Hard by myself, and then I went to the Bar to watch my Stamp's slaughter the Ticats 37-9 or something like that. It was awesome... I love football. So anyways... I have spent my whole day doing things by myself that one would normaly do with other people.... it's kind of weird. and now I'm at school waiting for Chris so we can get some work done.... I think every work day should start at 10:30.

Man, this sure is a rambly story... That seems to be this blog's new format... I'm just to lazy to have any real structure. Or maybe I'm a structuralist rebel...without a cause.... yeah, that's pretty cool...

One day I was walking home, like I do every day now; I was walking through the crosswalk onto the bridge and car came really close to hitting me, an unnervingly common occourance here in Vancouver, so I thought nothing of it. I continued onto the bridge, on my way home. Down below, was the car that had almost hit me. The old man inside was yelling and carrying on, but I couldn't hear him so I just kind of shrug'd at him with a smile on my face.... apparently that ticked him off because he opened his door and yelled louder and more vulger obscenities at me. I shrug'd again and couldn't help but laugh out loud. Then he gave me the finger and sped away... I can't believe how rediculous people get when they drive; when they have 1500 pound automobiles to back them up. Apparently one isn't allowed to use a crosswalk... I bet if I sped right by him when he was in a crosswalk he'd have even more swearing for me... I don't know... people are stupid.. Oh and yesterday when I was walking home some dumbass ran through a red light going like 80k's. Maybe I'm just becoming a really angry jaded person (heh, becoming....) , but I was really mad... like really.... Someone with no reguard for life, or law. If I was not paying attention to him, I would have been killed, or someone else could have been. Probably stoned or drunk anyhow, so it wasn't his fault... I hate people sometimes...

This is turning into the stupid people I hate rant, so I might at well make it a full list.

Bums. They are really starting to piss me off. Always getting up in your face. Asking for money. Being creepy, smelly and a pian in the ass. All of my charitable nature is gone. I have no good will towards the homeless. They have beat it out of me. It's not even that I don't like help those less fortunate, it's just that the only help they want is money. Money for drugs and booze and smokes. I don't have enough money for myself thanks, let alone paying for your vices! Oh it pisses me off. and they have the gaul to get upset when you say no! I'm telling you, these homeless people better watch out. I'm pretty much ready to call the cops on any and all bums who give me shit. I have had it...

So yeah. Traffic and homeless people. My two biggest beefs with this city at the moment. The traffic itself isn't so bad, it's when it relates to pedestrians, they don't care about them. which is scary. even in the IGA parking lot I've almost been hit like 5-6 times... I think I'm going to carry a bunch off rocks in my bag, so I can fight back. Kidding! ... sort of.....

anyhow.. enough complaining for now....

peace.

Weirdy

2007-06-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

Hey world, So here I am sitting at the University of Calgary in a random copmuter lab, blending in with the locals.... they have no cule I don't even go here... why? how? what's going on? All good questions. But the story is boring and long winded. And no one really cares anyhow so whatever.

Amy and Jer got married this weekend and My Dad is turning 50, so there are family milestones all over the place. I was glad that I could take a week off to come out here to enjoy both celebrations.

anyhow... I gotta go... this is a weird post.... peace

mhmhmmmmm...nnnm.mgm....nha.........ga...

2007-06-10T17:35:00.000-07:00

Okay.... I'm really tired. We are now going into our 3rd night of shooting. I hate nights....... Plus, shooting has been not going well. We lost a scene as a result of setting of fire alarms, and we are like 10% over our film allocation. So yeah, all our instructor hate us.... last night we had 4 of them on set..... I am so stressed out and tired I can hardly handle myself..... Only 4 more days..... sigh....

help me.

All something and no something make Andrew something something....

2007-05-29T19:06:00.000-07:00

Whoa hey, It's been too long since I've posted anything on this here blog. I've been super busy working, that's why.... that doesn't sound like me does it. well... it's the truth, so there. For the first part of the earlier I was 1st assistant cameraing..camering...being the 1st assistant camera for a short called Ethnic Girl. That was all well and good and then we moved on to the second round, where I am now the Assistant Director on a film called Gray Matter..... I wonder why all my titles have the word assistant in them... it's rather demeaning. I mean, come on, my job is important! Can't I get a little respect? Oh well, atleast the jobs themselves are cool, even if they don't have the most flattering titles. So yeah, I've been up to my armpits in paper work and phone calls for the last week, and that's hard to do. Even as I write this, I'm sitting in our production office, working on casting. Still no rest for the wicked... oooohhh well. So that's an update on school. basically, it's all work. Good times.

So short little update today, as I'm tired, and I'm on a stupid mac with a lame keyboard, so it's kind of hard to type.... Maybe next post I will get more philosophical... but today it's just complaining about work.... what fun...

Oh, and I get to go back to Alberta on the 15th of June, as it is the weekend Amy and Jer are getting married. I was glad I could get that weekend free so I could sneak off to that. It should be a grand time.

So much for whatnot; back to throwing stones.

Once

2007-05-14T20:19:00.000-07:00

I have just seen a preview for my favorite movie of all time. Well, I can't be sure, but it looks promising. It's called Once. I was sitting in Fifth avenue cinema the other day, for those of you not from Vancouver, it's our more artsy theater, and a preview came up, and wow! I mean.... Wow.... I don't think I've ever been drawn in by a preview. It was so evocative. The music, the faux doc cinematography. I was enthralled.... and I'm just going to say, I don't often get this gushy over much... it's a little lame... sorry.... Yeah, so it's like a indie, music, romance movie thing. can you get a better combination? It kind of makes me think of the movie The Puffy Chair, another recent sundance film which you should see. Once comes out in Canada for limited release here on the 18th and I assume out on DVD in the future for those without sweet art theaters.

So, before you do anything else, go to this Website and check it out. Again, I'm calling it; this will be an awesome, awesome movie.

- So much for whatnot, back to throwing stones.

Oh the Humanity!

2007-05-10T01:17:00.001-07:00

The other day I was just thinking about the Hindenburg; which is terribly random now that I think about it. Anyhow, I was thinking about the announcer on the video, the terror and sadness in his voice. It haunts me as being the most sincere reportage that I have ever heard. It has just kind of stuck with me since I first saw it, since like age 10ish. The irony of it all is that, 70 years ago, 3 days ago at 7:25 was the date that the hindenbug crashed. Kind of weird that it was on my mind the day before....

weird huh?

Great bands and the fans that love them.

2007-05-09T21:03:00.000-07:00

I am a bit of a music snob. You know, the kind that likes a band till it's played on the radio and then everyone and their dog say they like it, That's when I start to dislike that band. It is ruined to me. I just can't like music that the general public likes, I'm elitist, I know, but hey, it's how I roll.
You know, bands like Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, Sufjan Stevens, The White Stripes, Interpol and just recently Matt Pond PA. I liked all of them before they were popular. (sorry, that's my elitist streak) I would like to say however, that I am becoming better continuing to like music after it becomes popular, because lets face it, if it's good, it'll get popular eventually. I would also like to note that it is TV that makes all the cool bands popular. Mainly because it's cheap to license and it's just as good as expensive music. Just a little trivia for you. Jerks, stealing all my music.

So, now, to the point of the post. I wanted to point you guys in the direction of some new great bands. I will break this down into 3 different segments. Bands you've never heard of, Bands you may have heard of (and need to listen too), and Bands you need to get back into ( and if you haven't heard of them, foreshame)

Bands you've probably never heard of- (if you have, good on ya)

Band the first. - The Lonely Forest - This band out of Anacortes WA, is a sweet piano band. I first saw them in Seattle at Bumbershoot. I think it was my favorite show in the whole festival. And it was a pretty big festival. Anyways, check them out, you won't be disappointed. "Are you afraid of the world" is a great song.

Band the second - The Golden Dogs - This was the opening act when I was helping do a video shoot for Jets Overhead, another fairly solid band. I just thought their sound was pretty good, the songs Runnoutaluck and Nineteen eighty five are pretty darn catchy.

Band the third - The Wrens - watch the "She sends kisses" video - My friend Graham introduced me the this band a couple years back. I woke up to them every morning on my CD player for at least 2 months. They are pretty catchy.

Band the fourth - The Weakerthans - The Reasons - best song ever! Good 'ol Canadian band out of Winnipeg. They have become much more popular as of late. I don't know what superlatives I can use. None really good that I can think of. They are just good is all.

Band the fifth - The Honorary Title - I like bridges... I like tunnels.... and they have a song 'bout both. what's not to love?

Bands you may have heard of

numero 1 - Matt Pond PA - Myspace-scroll down and watch the so much trouble video .What can I say, they are just so freaking good. I almost can't stand it sometimes. You have to listen I was rather turned off when I heard them playing in the GAP one day, but what can you do, I just love them too much to dislike them for that reason.

numero 2 - Page France - the main website is broke, weird..... but they are nice, soft, girlie folk. Hence me liking them. It makes me wistful when I listen to them.

numero 3 - Patrick Park - What can I say.... I'd say I like it, but... I kind of say that about every band that I like..... so yeah..... he's good....um... yeah........

numero 4 - Corb Lund - Albertan country band. I;m generally not a fan of country, but this band is awesome. it's more like, folk rock country. good country. as opposed to pop country, which sucks (mostly). check them out, they are like my heros.

numero 5 - Carbon Leaf - a good celtic folk rock band. kind of like great big sea, only a million times better. Although, I did like great big sea live.

numero 6 - Built to Spill - myspace - An oldie but a goldie. Such a good band, highly underrated. listen to them, love them.

Bands you need to get back into (yeah, if you haven't heard of them... wow... that would just be too weird...)

1! - Yusuf Islam - The artist previously known as Cats Stevens - The greatest folk musician of all time, bar none. listen to him, bask in the greatness. BASK!

2! - The Tragically Hip - I am a pretty big fan. They are sometimes kind of hit or miss, but they are truly good, pure, Canadian sound. Listen to the new disc, "World Container"

3! System of a Down - lonely day - good song... Crazy turkish guys. They are a bit heavy and kind of angry sometimes. But their lyrics are though provoking, as if that mattered, and they actually have musical tune to their songs, despite the fact that they are heavy rock. So I like it. It is good. It's a good time during a sign-a-long, take my word for it.

4! Neil Young - need I say more.... that's a rhetorical question.... cause the answer is no.....

5! Terry Jacks - okay, this is a bit of a stretch. He was a singer in the 70's. Vancouver native. I like him, check him out.

Wow, this post got really out of hand. I was originally planning to just post the first two bands. wow. Get me talking about music and see what happens. This is by far not a full list of music I like; It's just good music that popped into my head while I was writing this..... so if you check these guys out, you'll be listening to some great music. Feel free to suggest some great bands of your own, although, if they suck, I'll make fun of you.....

so much for whatnot; back to throwing stones.....

Make love, Not War

2007-05-02T23:12:00.000-07:00

(WARNING POLITICAL DIATRIBING)

Some of you may know that I don't have a great deal of respect for the NDP party of Canada. But their leader, Jack Layton was being the most ignorant person person ever. It was regarding the war in Afghanistan. This is a really hot button issue in Canada recently, but not anywhere near the environment... oh god, we're all going to burn to death.... (note sarcasm.... I still think it's funny that only 20 years ago we were all going to die from global cooling..... and then the hole in the ozone layer...which fixed itself.. what will kill us next? Global normalcy? but alas I do digress)

So Jack is demanding that we withdraw from the war immediately. No troops whatsoever. Canada should just provide "support" and "aid". Those are fairly vague terms for one. You know, building hospitals, schools, giving out food. All those "nice" things. It did not seem to matter that our soldiers are only fighting when they were attacked. It's not like we walked into the country, and started opening fire on civilians, there are people with guns shooting at our boys over there. It is my understanding that one of the most volatile areas is where we are building a road. that's development, and could be quite peaceful, and yet it keeps getting attacked.... and what would happen if there was no defense for those road builders? would the NDP be ready to send those workers to their death? Take responsibility for it? Or are the aggressors just all of a sudden going to be nice? Stop putting land mines around? Let the new women doctors keep their jobs? Not take back over the government and split it back into war lording factions? That somehow seems unlikely....

Canada in general doesn't even seem to be sure if we want to be in this war. There are some that say that we should just leave the world alone. stop sticking our nose where it doesn't belong. Fore shame! I think it's exactly what we should be doing. Helping those less fortunate. we could have just let the World War run its course. Both of them... No one attacked Canada.. why should we have cared?.... True, It has taken a long time for us come to try and help, but at least we are trying now. And truth be told, we should do more, in more places. Africa for one, there are horrible things going on there, and we do nothing.... and have done nothing. The Congo, Darfur, Rawanda... should we just leave them to their own devices? Let the warlords kill, just because it's their way? That's stupid. We have a duty to try and help those who can't help themselves.

Truth be told, we can't win this war... since it's not really a war. We aren't conquering it. That would be much easier. We just have to stay till the country is stable enough in it's own government. That could be quite a while. But I think it's a better option than just leaving the country to go back to the way it was... Then we'll leave and it won't be perfect, but even if it helps a little, I think it's worth a shot....

Just a thought.

And now, the News...

2007-05-02T01:28:00.000-07:00

Sweet new bridge deal over Highway 1

I begin today's blog posting with a profuse apology. It has been almost a full month since my last post; far too long. I will not be so lax in the future I assure you. Although, I do believe that my readers will dwindle now the the university crowd is done for the year. Now all those people will be working at jobs and generally be too busy to read this. But it's therapeutic for me, and that's the main thing.

Okay, now with that out of the way, we can move on. So I just had a two week break from school just recently. Technically it was supposed to be one, but when Michael's house burnt down, and I had some documentary stuff to do, I decided to go home early. oh yeah, Mike's house burned down... It was a little scary. He's okay and everything, but the lady that lived downstairs was killed. So we are not sure what's going to happen now. The the main thing is he's safe and still as ornery as ever.

The next week I went back to my old haunt, Saskatoon. Now that was a good time. Coffeeing non stop, seeing the old faces.... watching Hot Fuzz, now that was a good time. Really funny movie.... no one wanted to see it, they were all like "who's ever heard of that movie" and " ah that's going to be lame" and "remember silent hill?" But I finally convinced people to go. And I showed them! it was great! So there!!! Yeah, other then that, we just hung out... played tennis.... pool.... fun times....

Yeah, so then I drove to Viking with Nathan's crap and then drove back to Vancouver on Sunday morning... which was good. There was snow, construction and even a van going the wrong way on the Transcanada in Langley. That woke me right up. So yeah, I got here at like 2:30 in the morning. Since I've been back I haven't really had much time to get my life back in order. last night I got home at quarter after ten and tonight It was 11ish. Now bear in mind that that's not all school, some is H&R Block and tonight I spent a couple of hours at Chris's place watching the hockey game. Canucks got to pick up the pace...

That's the play by play of life.

So much for whatnot; back to throwing stones..

No rest for the wicked...

2007-04-05T22:48:00.000-07:00

Today was a tough day... Full of work and other hardships. I call it, The Thursday of Doom!!!!... Our first item of the day was the script selection. I was not chosen... which, I'm not going to lie, pissed me off.... I think the main reason I didn't get picked is because of the class voting... but that's just a guess, I have a debrief next week some time... So yeah... that kind of put me in a bitter disposition... but the day trudged on....

Next we had two consecutive tests... Producing and ADing, they weren't hard at all though, and only took about 10 or 15 minutes to do both. But it sounds hard to have two tests in a row.... right?

As you may recall I had a large cinematography earlier, and today was the day we received the results of said test. It was a tense time... no one was sure whether on not they would be able to move on in the DoP training..... and guess what? I got the highest mark in the class! Yeah, I was just as surprised as everyone else. Yup, 93%... I wasn't even sure I'd get the 85 required... That was a good part o' the day....

Then we got our directing test back. I was pretty nervous about this one too. I felt frazzled and unprepared when I was writing it.. so I was pretty sure I didn't do well... like the last directing test, where I got like 68 or something.... and low and behold I received a 90%! I guess I'm just on a roll.... so as of now all our testing is complete, now we just need some marks back.... but these latest test help my average out quite a bit.... I guess I do have one more test.... hopefully I do okay... I'm sure I will.....

Then we decided to go see a film after this hectic day.. you know to relax, let off some steam.... So on our way to the theatre we sort of witnessed a robbery. We walked out of the Sears onto Robson, hearing a woman screaming off in the distance... which oddly enough is not completely uncommon.... crazy people and the like... so yeah, we walked out onto the street when I heard the lady yell stop thief and a guy ran off... followed by some helpful bystander trying to stop him... I don't really know what it was about or anything.... they were all the way down the street... so it's not like I was a witness or anything... if that's what you're thinking.... cause you were.... anyhow.... yeah, so we walked down to the theatre on Granville street when I noticed a somewhat familiar face. Yeah, I know you're sick and tired of hearing about all the famous people I see, but, um..... I still like talking about it?..... yeah sure....... okay, who was it? It was Nardwaur! Who? Nardwaur the Human Serviette...... yeah... you still probably don't know.... he's like a comedian with Much Music.... and he's on The New Music sometimes.... yeah, I don't know, he's not that funny or anything.... he looks funny though....

so yeah... good times.....

and the movie was okay. It was the lookout. The coolest thing about it was that it was filmed in Manitoba. Isn't that cool?! I thought it was cool. There was a part where they sped up the film though, which is never cool... they sped it up in post, not production so it just looked cheesy... like when cars are going slow and they speed it up to look like they are going really fast. It just doesn't work.... never has, never will....

That's it for today... it was long, it was hard... and now it's over... We still ahve a boat load of work however... but it's not all on one day. So peace out world. I got a test in the morrow and I should get some sleep.

Andrew
and that's the kind of day it's been here on thursday, April the 5th

So much famous... continued....

2007-04-02T21:25:00.000-07:00

Today was a tough day... I had a directing test, which was not fun... then sound test results...78% not great... but well above average.... so I wasn't too happy about the morning.... Then we had Assistant Directing and Storyboarding... For those of you who are unfamiliar with those pursuits, lets just say, they can be a tad bit boring... So basically, today was not fun. After all that nonsense was done I had a lecture. This is 6:30pm... and with no supper... But the lecture was awesome. It was with Brightlight Pictures head honcho and producer Shawn Williamson. He and his company have made tons of films... Some of the more well known ones being, White Noise with Michael Keaton, Slither with Nathan Fillion and pretty much every crappy video game movie..... e.g Blood Rayne 1 and 2, House of the Dead, Farcry..... and so on... It was really interesting. Their company is now making a deal with a big American funding house, so look for many more, and much larger pictures coming out of this movie production company. It was rather disheartening to hear his view on the canadian film industry however. Basically it's the view of the industry that canadian film's such... and they kind of do.... I mean, have you seen a good one? We have great people in the industry, and can make American movies and shows well, but when it comes to producing films ourselves we just can't seem to cut it... something to do with lack of money, and the money that is available isn't controlled correctly, and as such, stupid movies get made with it.... So I'm not the only one who thinks Canadian cinema is lame... I'll fix that! eh... we'll see..... So that was pretty fun, and well worth the crappy day that preceded it.

After that I proceeded to walk home. It's a decent walk, about 3ish kms... not too bad... So yeah, on my way home I was walking across Robson when I saw a familiar face. Who was it you ask? Well let me tell you! It was Smallville star Michael Rosenbaum. Yup, Lex Luthor! It was kind of cool... he was crossing the street taking pictures of himself with his phone... I guess he's a little narcissistic....

So yeah... that's the famousness.... not great, but hey. He's sort of famous. And Shawn Williamson is famous in the industry..... so there....

So yeah, school has been okay. Our scripts are going to picked soon... so we are preping for that. This is basically the end of our schooling and then we just make films for the rest of the year.. so it has been, and will be pretty stressful... but soon I'll have a break. and what a wonderful break it will be! For I get to drive back to Saskatoon!!! oh man, I'm so excited. Long distance driving and saskatoon. What could be better?

I think I'll leave this post here... It's not that inspired but hey, atleast it's something. It was more informative than entertaining so mabye I'll tell more anecdotes next time....

Andrew

Number 2

2007-03-23T22:56:00.000-07:00

An Inconvenient Truth; A little too convenient?

2007-03-22T14:24:00.000-07:00

I take quite an interest in documentary films; I want to make doucumentries when I am done with film school. So when An Inconvenient Truth came out with critical acclaim and later, an Oscar, needless to say, I was interested.For those of you who have been living under a rock, the Documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" follows ex-president-elect Al Gore on his presentations about global warming, and more specifically, global warming as a result of carbon dioxide produced by humans......

"Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb. If the vast majority of the world's scientists are right, we have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced."
-www.climatecrisis.net (official website)

Scared?

So one night when my parents came to town, we rented and watched the Doc. I can't I was that impressed. Okay, don't get me wrong, I like the green movement. I like idea of trying to keep the world clean and healthy.. these are respectible goals. It can't be bad to cut down on pollutants expelled by the industrialized world... even for resperatory health.... But personally, I had quite a few issues with this documentary....

First off, I felt it was one sided, which I suppose is okay, since they only want to push their point of view, and that's their purogative. But if you want to convince me, you can do a much better job of it if you present both points of view, and try and prove yours is better in comparison.. but maybe that's just me.

Secondly, I was dissapointed that the whole film was basically a long advertisment for how great Al Gore is. I don't dispute he's a great guy necessarily, because maybe he is just that awesome... and maybe he does care about the enviroment as much as this movie portrayed. I just felt the issue deserved more attention than did the man. I felt cheated, and that this was just a tool to further his political career. I do believe that this, was actually the point of the movie, not in fact, to bring the issue of global warming to the public... I have friends however that argue this point, they think that the movie is about global warming. Which is a fair assesment I suppose, and I'm sure that's what they mainly got out of it. It just seems to me that the issue is far too politically charged to be just a environment movie... It definatly makes Al Gore out to be a good guy, which I don't believe was just a happy accident... They went out with the goal of making Al Gore look good, which it did. Also the fact that it won an Oscar. How political is that! They have basically thrown their support behind Al Gore.... they even had him there for the acceptance, and several little interludes in the program.. interesting for the "subject (...or is it co subject?)" of a documentary to be that visible. Okay, any subject might come up for the actual presentation. I'll give you that. But not just any subject would have a little screen time with Leonardo DeCaprio.. I'm just saying is all... So now, at the very least, when anyone, anywhere thinks Al Gore, they think "Hey, isn't that the guy who wants to save the environment?" Now that's some good branding! What does that do if his name does happen to appear on a ballet in the near future?

Thirdly, there was very little actual science presented in the program. There was an ample amount of charts. I can only take so much of charts however. He even had a neat little thing where he used a lift thing to prove his point... when I saw him go all the way up there, man, that convinced me... I mean, did you see how high he was? The thing with charts is that anyone who has been through high school knows how easy it is to prove your point of view with a chart. you just change the size or amounts in the parameters and there you have it, instant credability. That aside even, the whole time we have All talking to us, and he looks trustworthy, but we only have him to go on? He has a friend who does ice sampling... but still we just have his word and charts to go on... That and the fact that who's going to argue? Someone is going to stand up and say that pollution is good? I don't think so... or that it's good maybe? Yeah right... Environmentalism is so quitchy now... You are cool if you are an environmentalist. And if you aren't, you're a pig. simple.

is it?

On too the next documentary..... The Great Global Warming Swindle... ooh... this could get interesting....

This documentary is in direct rebuttle to the previous. It has been creating quite a stir... even the name is rather inflamitory. So let's see what this one's about.

"According to a group of scientists brought together by documentary-maker Martin Durkin, if the planet is heating up, it isn't your fault and there's nothing you can do about it.

We've almost begun to take it for granted that climate change is a man-made phenomenon. But just as the environmental lobby think they've got our attention, a group of naysayers have emerged to slay the whole premise of global warming."
-Official website

Okay, so these guys say the complete opposite or our friend Al... but he had charts... These guys have charts too...

I must say, the main thing this documentary had going for it was the people they included to help make their point credible. It wasn't Tony Blair, Stephen Harper or even Bono (not that he would). They had university professors from several different countries and scientists from several different organizations.

-Paleoclimatologist Professor Ian Clark,
-Nigel Calder, a former editor of New Scientist,
-Philip Stott, professor emeritus of biogeography at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London,
-Professor Paul Reiter
-Patrick Moore, Co-founder of greenpeace.
These are just a few...

These are scientist, credible and they disagree with the notion proposed be "An Inconvenient Truth". It was claimed to be the opinion of 2,500 leading scientists that CO2 is the cause of global warming. Prof Reiter said it included names of scientists who disagreed with the findings and resigned from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Interesting...

I also found it interesting that they pointed out that storms are caused by the meeting of two extremely different temperatures... so if the ice caps do melt and the temperature raises up north, the chance of violent storms would actually go down.... not up.. contrary to the quote earlier on...

And the cause of global warming? well, it's what normally produces heat. The sun. That and clouds.

"Nigel Calder, a former editor of New Scientist, is featured in the programme, and has just released a book claiming that clouds are the real reason behind climate change.

'The Chilling Stars' was written with Danish scientist Henrik Svensmark who published a scientific paper, claiming cosmic rays cause clouds to form, reducing the global temperature. The theory is shown in the programme.

Mr Calder said: "Henrik Svensmark saw that cloudiness varies according to how many atomic particles are coming in from exploded stars - when there are more cosmic rays, there are more clouds.

"However, solar winds bat away many of the cosmic rays and the sun is currently in its most active phase, which would be an explanation for global warming."
-UK News

I'm not going to go over all the theories and rebuttles that are presented in this documentary. That would take too long and there's no point really, since it is in a movie. I just wanted to point out that there was an opposing view and give kudos to those that work against the grain. That, and I believe that this new documentary did more work to actually try and prove their point. Not just go with the popular opinion..

This film had a very conservative point of view. very pro industry and capitalism. Which is neither good nor bad, but like the Al Gore movie, it just shows which side of the issue it comes from. I'm not pro industry per say, nor pro capitalism. But they had more science, better answers and more opinions for my money.

I highly recommend you watch both films and decide for yourself. Personally I did not entirely agree with either film. Both sides have merit, and that's the way all issues are. there is never one clear cut answer.

Go watch them... and tell me what you think... it's an interesting debate.

Andrew

P.S You have to watch the Documentary "The Future of Food"! It is one of my favorite movies ever! About the plight of agriculture in Canada, North America and the World. Important stuff.

The Humanity!

2007-03-19T10:08:00.001-07:00

Warning... this post at one point will contain some expletives..

A while back I was going to post on stupid people. I never did get around to it. I think today is the time. Most of the time, people seem fairly intelligent, nice and reasonable. Then there are times when I wonder how it is we have any shred of society at all. When my brother Nate was visiting we were out late one night taking a walk. When "Smash", we hear the sound of busting glass. we turn to see to kids, no, hooligans, running from a bus shelter. "Oh yeah, that was so awesome!"... um yeah... throwing a rock at glass... when there is nobody around... I don't know about you, but I think that is the coolest thing I've ever witnessed....

On another occasion, there was a man going through a crosswalk when he was not supposed to. Not exciting, however a truck was rather pissed off honking excessivly and the man walking gives the truck the finger. The truck spins around to follow the crosswalk man. They exchange pleasantries; The truck pulls away and crosswalk man kicks the side of it. The truck screeches to a stop and an irate man gets out holding on of those "clubs" for locking you steering wheel. At this point I had 911 dialed on my phone... waiting to see what would happen, I honestly thought that he might start beating on the man... More words exchanged... the truck man gets back in his truck and begins to pull away again... when crosswalk man kicks it again! I was just about ready to go up there myself and tell them both to stop being so ridiculous! The truck stopped once again. This time however he just got out to make sure that his truck was not damaged, when he found that it was not he got back in and sped away.

And the last in my circus of insanity is a intelligent protest held by some upstanding citizens of this fine city. That's right, I'm talking about the "Fuck the police rally". That's right... that was an organized rally held on the night of March the 15th. I wonder why nobody takes these kind of protests seriously... I mean, I thought they had a good point... Young people, who think they have a good point yelling "fuck the police", attacking them, attacking others... destroying stuff, blocking roads.... I like having large bands of crazy anarchists.... I much prefer that to order....
see some footage of the "protest" if one can even call it that.... here at Global News
. I guess they call it social activism... weird term for criminal activity... There was a peaceful protest the other day against the war.... which we aren't a part of.... and I have no problem with that. Protesting is a right. My problem however is that it is rarely used well... it is used by the ignorant to get attention. "If we destroy shit we get on TV, then people will see our cause!"... oh we see your cause.... your stupid, stupid cause.I can't believe even those kids would want a country without police or law. We could "protest" and destroy there homes, their streets, attack them. Now who or what would that serve! I ask you, how would that be better!?!

Again... how can we function as a society when such stupidity and ignorance is a daily occurance?! I'm glad that stupid people aren't the majority, or at least not the majority in control, or we would be living out some bizzare planet of the apes style future. Or perhaps something like Orwell's Time Machine... a land ruled by hobgoblin's or whatever. We'd have to fight everyday, just for our lives and nothing more.

So this is my post against stupid people. I hate you stupid people! That may be a harsh conclusion, but it's true. You make everything harder, for everyone. I hope that something stupid you do causes you to become sterile and thus removing your stupidity from world.

That's the rant, now go forth and be un...stupid...

This is awesome!

2007-03-13T22:07:00.001-07:00

Tired to death.... not literally... now to catch you up.

2007-03-11T21:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's been a while... but I have been super busy. like rediculous.... like as busy as I have ever been... ever.

Corner Gas almost made me cry today.... I mean, it was really sad. Davis got shipped off to Wullerton, Fitzy lost the mayorship... yeah.... that's the word. Wanda co-hosted Canada AM..... Brent sold the gas station, and Lacey sold the Ruby.... and then left for Toronto! It was so sad.... It actually made me depressed.... and then it was some crazy dream Hank was having..... WHEW. like I was really sad..... okay.... whew...... so.... I'm good now.

So yeah, in other news.... School has been so terribly busy.. like rediculous. This weekend we had mini drama's where we each had to shoot a scene from a movie... so we spent all week at school and then all weekend as well... and by weekend I mean eveyday from 8 to 1.... and we lost the hour on daylight savings. It was hard... really hard. We even had to act in them, that was hard too.. surprisingly hard. I love AD(Assistant Directing)ing though, Directing was good, and DoPing too.... So basically I love doing everything..... The only drawback is the time thing, and the fact that sometimes you have to work with people you don't get along with entirely.... but that's life right?One of the Sets we put up for the Mini Dramas.On the set of the Cine exersize I DoP'd on.. This is my friend AJ Rogers, plant man. it was cool, I also acted in it.... it was Charlie Chaplin vs. the Plant Man.The set if the 4400 at the Vancouver Art Gallery.American Soldier's taking over Vancouver? No, that's stupid... They're just actor's in the series the 4400.
The set of the new Da Vinci's Inquest movie...

HOLY CRAP!!!! You know that Ad for A&W? The one where the kid and his wife come home and they buy the grandpa buger to tell the parents they're having a baby? yeah that one? I totally met the actor who played the guy! yeah the guy! The son, to be more specific...... I knew I'd seen that guy somewhere before.... I forget his name at the moment.... I should have paid more attention..... oh well.... I totally met him though.... Pretty good actor. I also met Tyler McClendon in our acting workshop. Also a good actor... we recreated a Scene from American Beauty... Those Actor, Director workshops are kind of cool.. I didn't do very well, it was a little awkward.... imagine that.... oh well...

I hate how all ads use the best music. I find good indie music, listen to it a while and wait for some huge corperation to use it, make it popular and then have every teenie bopper and their dog listen to it... and then I can't like it as much... Dove used a song by Nik Zubeck.. Pepe Romero did a song for a different ad. It is such an awesome song... It's my favorite song of the day..... the words are just so good matched only by the good ol' folksy tune.... The lyrics are:

In your eyes I do somersaults and cartwheels in the air
I’m a Master of disguise
You are prettier than all the girly girls in magazines
Your smile is like the sun
I’m the lucking one.

so good......

On that happy note, I leave you now....
More pictures on my facebook.. thank you....
peace out
Andrew

A Comedy of Romance

2007-02-28T22:47:00.000-08:00

Romance is a vital part of human life, a key to the human condition. Okay, don't go making any assumptions, because as of yet, personally I have absolutly no romance in my life.... like none.. but that aside. From time to time I enjoy the odd romantic comedy as I myself am a hopless romantic ( don't tell anyone) and as we've already established, I don't have any romance of my own...... which brings us to what I'm actually going to takl about.... Today I saw the best romantic comedy ever! Was it Music and Lyrics? or maybe um.... Norbit? no and most certainly not.

It was City Lights by the infamous Charlie Chaplin. Surprised? I was too! I thought he just did shorts, slapstick and the like. I wasn't really looking foreward to just goofy old fasioned antics, but it was a great film. The story was so touching; about a poor man, the Tramp, who falls in love with a blind flower girl. He is an awkward poor man. She thinks he is a rich man and he works hard to find a way to pay for her rent and hospital bills to get her eyes fixed, much to his own deficiet... After he gets out of prision he meets her at her shop, she has her sight and doesn't realize that the tramp is her benefacter. Only when she touches his hand does she realize that this poor disheveled tramp is the one she loves.... The whole film is broken up by Chaplins slapstick antics and still applicable humour..... That is just a really short synopsis... it really has quite a bit of depth, which is what surprised me about this film. The art of filmmaking was fully developed very early on. Yup, the best romantic comedy, and it was filmed in '31.
The appeal of the film was that if the Tramp could find love and do well in life than anyone could
. An awkward poor man can find love... And when these films came out, in the late 20's and early 30's, the burgeoning immigrant population really resounded with that notion... It gives all of us awkward single losers something to hope for.... sigh.....so yeah, that's the story, a great movie... which reminded me of my failings and sad state, but also gave me the hope of change someday.

Now that's what movies should do. The more classic films I see the more respect I have for them. They are way better than the stuff they are trying to pass off nowadays.. As I finish this post a gentle snow fall cover's the city, blanketing the streets and bays with white frosting. Obscuring the view... It's quite beautiful....

AHHHH.......Ew, Ew, Ew.....ahhh.....

2007-02-27T22:09:00.000-08:00

Ahhhhh!!! Ahhh....... okay, I'm watching a show now on killer bees, they are so scary...... there was like a million of them, and they are super mean, and venomous..... and then there were like poisonous millipedes and black widow spiders..... I never, ever want to go to Arizona ever..... ever! so many creepy critters out there...... I hate normal bugs, let alone crazy ones that can kill you.... Eww.... ahhhh...... eww....... I mean, how creepy is that!?!? it's so creepy..... creepy creppy creepy!!!! They can feel your fear... They can even feel your fear!!!! they sense your heartbeats....how crazy is that. and they don't give up stinging you for a long time... even if you are dead.... wow.... seriously creepy stuff..... We used to have problems with hornets at work and that was scary enough, I can't imagine if they could kill you.....

anyways.... have a nice day.....

Andrew.

Lengthy Awesomeness

2007-02-27T20:05:00.000-08:00

Hello world,

So, it's been a while, and for that I appologise. We had a busy week. We had a execise called the Instructor Shoot. A Director was brought in and our whole class cycled through the other departments for short script shoot. It was so cool. I found I was pretty good at a lot of stuff but I hated script supervisor and continuity. Basically I loved everything else. 1st, 2nd AssistanCamera, Assistant Director, Grip Gaffer.. even sound and art... I love this school!

Elsewhere in film land, I helped in a live music shoot with some of the TA's from school at the Plaza Club, although you can't tell anyone.. it's kind of on the hush hush.... but it was awesome! I was a gopher type, setting up tripods, carrying cables and whatnot. The footage that we shot might be used in a music video for Much Music. How cool is that! The bands playing were the Golden Dogs and Jets Overhead. We did the filming on the second band. Then we all went out to hang, it was a great time.

Even more elsewhere in film land...... We started our minidramas today, along with some quasi acting classes.... it was pretty rediculous... I like acting, and i'm pretty good at it.... not to brag or anything, but I am awesome! The improving was pretty intense, we had to become different people. it was really draining. I can now understand why actors are so weird.... And now I have some funny new catch phrases that'll follow me around for a while... kind of like LCBI.... I always have to have some sort of shtick...

I also saw the filming of the davinci's inquest movie... man movies are just so cool! so freaking cool....

What else is new.... oh yeah, the bank cancelled my bank card again, I guess I am still stealing my own money.... I've been taking out large amounts of money to transfer into my account here and my bank back home thought it looked fishey. So they called me up, and I was like, "oh yeah, that was me"... and they said oh okay. we're going to cancel your card and send you a new one.... is that not confusing? I mean, I understand why they called, and I'm glad for it. but why cancel my card after they knew it was me who took out my money? does that make sense to anyone? oh well, at least this time I have an account here and a credit card, so i won't starve or anything.... I'm also not quite so mad because there were two guys in school who had their accounts skimmed off.....

I'm watching "Are you smarter than a fifth grader"... and it is so rediculous.... this guy is so stupid........ he didn't get one question right, the only ones I didn't know were american history.... It's funny though. It's not quite as good as the office though, which I was watching before.... man I love the HR guy, he is so funny..... I can't get enough of him.....

Okay, I'm only going to talk about on more thing before the end of this little segment. I can't call myself a film student and not at least touch on the Oscars. I am not surprised that Scorsese won. It's about time, and everyone knew it.... Personally I'm not a huge fan, but whatever. This is not probably the movie he should have been nominated for, or won, but he had to win sometime.... from what I hear, he should have won for goodfellas.... I don't know..... I knew Helen Mirren would win, she was just on a role. And Forrest Whitaker won best actor... I really need to see those films so I can comment on them.... I'm sure they were great.... I was mad that Cars didn't win... whats so great about dancing peguins anyhow?!? Cars was so much better. The only other award that means anything was best doc, and of course Al Gore's film would win... I should really see that.... oh well, who's got the time? This year was rather lame for choices... not as bad as last year.... a lot of the films that are "great" and win' I really don't like at all.... oh well.... Like Crash?!?! I hated that film... It was so cheesy.... the one guy who wasn't rasict picked up a guy who was hitchiking, and then he's like, oh no he's got a gun! that's the only thing he can have!!!!! and then he burned his body and car? does that seem resonable? why wouldn't he just be like, I shot him cause I thought he was pulling a gun? or something a normal person would do? it was just so heavy handed, and as such I didn't think it deserved the oscar... but I have friends who swear by it... there's no accounting for taste is there.......

anyhow, I do digress.... so I'll just wrap this rediculously long blog entry for the day....

So peace out world,
Andrew

A bit of Crazy week

2007-02-18T19:34:00.000-08:00

So It's been a while since I've really done any good posting. I don't know about you, but I hate it when blogs don't get updated very often... but that's maybe because I live vicariously through them.. just maybe... That being said, I will now update this blog! It has been a pretty awesome week here in the costal city. My brother Nate was down for his reading week break. It was a great time. During the days when I was at school Nate just hung out in the Vancouver Public Library, which I guess was fun for him... weird.. but that was only during the day. We did the whole west coast experience the rest of the time. We took the ferry over to the Island, saw the last bit of the Victoria Film Festival, we saw.... let me see... Beyond the Call, a documentary about some guys who do work in the third world. The other film was 2:37... it was not great, but whatever... The whole thing was cool though. We went to a concert, Sparklehorse... it was okay, it was a fun experience. and we rented about a zillion movies everything from the taxi driver to The puffy couch and Snakes on a plane to Derrida. good times...

I'd love to write more, and I have more to write, but I have an early call time in the morning... which means I have to be on set early. I only had two hours of sleep last night too... so ...yeah...

I'll write more soon. And just a hint of what my next entry will be about, more about our adventure and a rant about stupid people....
Andy

Oh roger... you are so right

2007-02-08T21:20:00.000-08:00

You can't roller skate in a buffalo herd, but you can be happy if you've a mind to.

Think about it..

Tagged?

2007-02-03T01:18:00.000-08:00

Okay, I was just reading Heather's blog, and aparently I have been "tagged" I guess I am supposed to tell 5 random things about myself... I think...

1.) I am the worlds biggest enigma (well... maybe in the top 10)..... for example... I'm shy and quiet, but I need to be around people. I'm awkward, and yet I'm not really awkward at all...I am a negative, slightly depressing person, but I am optimistic, and happy most of the time..... I am a non adventurous creature of habit, but occasionaly I pick up everything and move to a city where I know no one and go into a scholastic program in a crazy field.... I guess that's what one gets from a young norwiegan lutheran.... that and a love of coffee..

2.) I get injured quite frequently. It's my left handed bad luck..... yet is never bad enough to be cool or get me any sympathy.... let's see.... A hammer fell of a roof and hit me in the head, I have been hit full on in the chest by a flying, 160 pound sheep which subsequently knocked me flat on my back, I was crushed into a wall by a Cow, I was kicked in the knee by a cow, I was in a truck rollover not wearing a seatbelt..I had a slapshot hit my bear knee and it swelled up like a balloon.... I had my elbow hyper extended in football, and my chin endlessly hit by opponent's helmets.... My neck got hurt in both highschool while wrestling and wrestling at CLBI... the second of which I went to the hospital for..... So I've been through quite a bit when it comes to getting injured, and that's just what I can remember at the moment....

3.) I can write a solid Essay with no prep in one sitting the night before. I just write it out and hand 'er in... I just did it and got an A-. My best example of this is when I wrote a whole research essay in 6 hours when I was in the middle of the flu.. I think it was worth 50% of my mark and I got an 83. not bad... I refer to this skill as a good ability to BS... but that's just my terminology..

4.) Last summer I came 2nd in a popsicle ugh...... chugging?.... contest. I think we did four...... It hurt a lot! I've never had that much brain freeze.... ever.... I also came in second in a syrup chugging contest coincedently....ooh... alliteration..yeah...

5.) I have never been able to whistle... never will be..... but I can twidle my thumbs with the best of 'em. I practiced a lot during highschool....

So hopefully this is what has been expected of me in reguards to the tagging... I don't know if I should keep this tag thing going..... hmmm... I know beth will read this... so how about I tag her....

Anyhow, I've got to get some sleep, so I can do my sound edit, schematics, AD Scheduling and work on my first draft in the morning.

So remember! The important thing is to not be intimidated by all the stuff I know.
Andrew

Thank you for Smoking

2007-01-24T21:30:00.000-08:00

No, I am not becoming a pro smoking lobbiest. Today we had a guest lecture from Jason Reitmen, the director of, you guessed it, Thank You for Smoking.... well, you better have guessed it. A movie staring Aaron Eckhart, William H. Macy, Robert Duvall, Sam Elliot, J.K Simmons, David Koechner, Maria Bello, Rob Lowe, Adam Brody, Katie Holmes. It also grossed over 24.8 million, on only a 6.5 million dollar budget. He is in town working on his new movie Juno
staring

Jennifer Garner
Ellen Page	....	Juno
Michael Cera	....	Bleeker

..... Wow, you can do some pretty cool stuff with this new blogger....

The talk was pretty awesome, neigh insipiring...... It was cool because Thank you for Smoking was his first major movie.. All of his stuff before then was shorts that he showed around the festival circut. Jason Reitmen is the son of director Ivan Reitmen.. whom you may know from such great movies as

Trailer Park Boys: The Movie (2006) (executive producer)
... aka Trailer Park Boys: Baked on a True Story (USA: promotional title)
EuroTrip (2004) (executive producer)
Old School (2003) (executive producer)
Evolution (2001) (producer)
Road Trip (2000) (executive producer)
Six Days Seven Nights (1998) (producer)
... aka 6 Days 7 Nights
Fathers' Day (1997) (producer)
Space Jam (1996) (producer)
Junior (1994) (producer)
"Beethoven" (1994) TV Series (executive producer)
Beethoven's 2nd (1993) (executive producer)
Dave (1993) (producer)
Beethoven (1992) (executive producer)
... aka Beethoven: Story of a Dog (Australia: cable TV title)
Kindergarten Cop (1990) (producer)
Ghostbusters II (1989) (producer)
... aka Ghostbusters 2 (USA: video box title)
Ghost Busters (1984) (producer)

Thats just some of them... Apparently he made quite a few movies..... but yeah, so hearing the talk was pretty cool......... I'm just going to say it was completly awesome.

So I have decided that I will speak at film schools when I am a famous director.... basically so I can be as cool as him.... probably cooler....

In other film school news....

I had a meeting with the writing instructor and he approved my treatment to go one the the first draft stage of development.... so I am going to be starting to write my first script soon... exciting.... There was a bit of confusion and he had some concerns... but that was just because I didn't write it out quite clearly enough... my bad.... but in the end he liked my idea.. which is cool... I didn't really think he would, since he has a little different taste. He said that my story structure was solid, and my character had good motivation backed up by compelling supporting characters... and now that I cleared up the misconception, it also has a good climax, well better than he thought it was. Basically his only comments were to add more highs and lows in the second act, to make it more intense for the viewer, to make them care more... and I totally agree.. so I'll do it....

RANDOM CRAP TIME!!!!!!!!! WOOOOHHHHH!!!!!

So it was a very film based day today, which is totally awesome... And to make it even better it was an completely beautiful day... I mean it was so nice today... Sunny and +13.... I walked to English Bay and watched the ships... took a ferry ride to granville island and walked through the warket... and then walked home... It was so nice... look at me.. I'm gushing... thats how nice it was...Some ships in the English Bay Fishermans Wharf..........................................
H&R BLOCK

Something else that was exciting... I worked for H&R Block this last weekend. How random is that? The dad of a friend of mine works there and he got us a job setting up cubicles for the H&R Block locations in department stores... I set up 3 different locations... It was a lot of lifting.... and as a film maker... I don't have much muscles.... I guess it will help, but my arms sure hurt afterwards.... oh so much lifting.....The locations were also set up in the womens unmentionable section most of the time... which was a little awkward... I guess they don't really want guys doing their taxes... or maybe they want them to do the taxes while the wives shop?... I don't know..... and this is only one wall of the setup... It really was bigger.....There, that's more about the size of the offices that we built... and that is my friend Chris working on a sign.... good times...The sweet "office" like wearhouse of H&R Bock. where we loaded the truck, oh so many times...I just thought this was cool... I got a sticker saying I was a visitor at Sears.... I wish every store gave you a sticker for visiting.....

Okay, thats enough random crap for today, since it is now like the longest post ever.... but I had some cool stuff going down that I thought you all would appreciate.... so rock on...

Remember, The important is to not be intimidated by all the stuff I know,
Andrew

Good Morning, Starshine

2007-01-18T22:24:00.000-08:00

Today was a monumentous occasion for me in my metamophisis as a film maker. For this was the first day I have shot with a film camera. I must tell you that it was an exhilarating experience. To work with film you have to really know what your doing. We have taken 3 or 4 classes on the cameras and the film itself before we could actually use either of the two. First off, film is quite expensive, a 100 foot roll costing about 80 dollars. That may not sound too bad, but that much film only lasts about 2 minutes and fourty seconds... so not that long at all. That price also does not include the cost of having the film developed... so it ends up being quite expensive indeed. It was quite nerve racking loading that film bit of film in the camera. You have to be sure to do it in the dark so as to not pre expose and thus ruin the film... that just a little bit of pressure... It did help however that we did have daylight rolls, so it's not quite so crucial that you do it in absolute dark.

It was high pressure, but thats film! We didn't actually shot anything of that great importance, as it was just an exercise, and we were just the crappy Bolex 16mm cameras. That particular camera while being a 16mm camera, which is nice, does have some flaws. Like the viewfinder that you can hardly see through... and some of the crews had to use ones that had hand cranks.... which while being nostalgic, is quite irritating... so I'm just glad I didn't have to use it.... When we get farther along we get to use Arri SR II's which are a much nicer camera. To put it in purely fiscal terms, a bolex runs about 1 grand, maybe 2 and as for an Arri SR II... it runs about, and this here is a rough estimate, around 100 000..... So there is a little difference in the price.... But it is a much nicer camera...

Also in film school news... I have as of minutes ago, finished my treatment for my short script. The script itself is still rather hush hush, as it is in the development stage... but I think the treatment turned out rather well. For those of you who are unfamilliar with what is involved in a treatment, you can just think of it as a shortend play by play of the prospective movie. Next on the agenda is the 1st draft of the script...... well that and script analysis, art design, film theory, cinematography, assistant directing, and film history.... so yeah, not really much at all.... It's okay though, since it is all freaking awesome.....

Holy CRAP!!! Ryan Rowe wrote Charlies Angles...... I always knew he had a secret life as a Hollywood screenplay writer.... sorry, I was just watching Charlies Angles..... I can't believe it didn't win an oscar..... ah well.....

So, as you can tell, my spirits have been lifted quite significantly, which is definatly a good thing, but thats what happens when I'm on my own. I get narasistic to the point where I give myself made up diseases... the brain is a weird thing.....

So, thats it for this instalment.... and if you are wondering what the title is about, well... to tell you the truth, I don't really know..... it's from a song... It popped into my head.... enough said?.... "The Earth say's hello".... it's a really weird song......

anywho...... You know what your problem is? I'm too good looking!

Peace out,
Andrew

Hypoparanoia

2007-01-16T21:03:00.000-08:00

So, sorry all... I was pretty down last night, hence the rather depressing post... I don't know, I just have been really paranoid about my health lately... despite the fact that I have been to the doctor and declared healthy...... It something about being alone here in the city, makes me paranoid.... and I have been dwelling over diseases that I have absolutly no way of contracting.... only because I am paranoid.

This reminds me of a Stuart Mclean story... that all men are hypocondriacts... Like nervous passengers on airliners, nervously gripping their seats.... keeping the plane up only by sheer force of will... and thus we as men only stay healthy through sheer force of will.... I have weak will I suppose.... or pretend I have weak will....

Basically I am saying, I think I am unhealthy... but I really don't... if you think it's confusing, try being me! I believe that it's just my overactive imagination... possibly mixed in with the after effects of my influenza, causing me to believe I have numerous deadly diseases...... But, I have some friends who listen to my stupid ramblings... and that makes me feel better.... so....

I hope I can keep my happiness up, and thus, not think I'm dying.... I'm such a drama queen...

So today was a pretty good day... It was rainy, and I walked home..... perfect...

The hypocondriact paranoid blogger,
Andrew Sorenson

post for postings sake alone....

2007-01-15T21:57:00.000-08:00

Everyone, 24 is really getting depressing.. and after only two episodes.... a Nuke just went off and it has really sad music... Jack is having a mental breakdown, ugh, it's just terrible... To make it worse, the nuke was set off by a Canadian... a Canadian comedian no less... Shawn Majumder, of This hour has 22 minutes fame. Has the whole world gone mad?! Okay, I know nobody really cares about 24, but it's a good show. And I get to write this blog, so I can talk about whatever I want! Okay?

Well, life here has been fairly stale. I don't know, It's just been boring lately... which hasen't been the best thing for my normally cheery demeanor... Hopefully it picks up soon.. I seem to get even more paranoid when I'm bored.. I guess since I have nothing better to do, I may as well freak out eh? Pretty much the only thing keeping me busy at all is school....I am in the midst of writing a Treatment for my short script, and by "in the midst" I mean, haven't started yet... I hope to spend most of tomorrow working on it, as I only have one class. So treatment and then on to the first draft...

What else... I don't know... Yeah, in case you haven't figured out by now, I didn't really know what to post about..... I just felt like writting some nonsense... and here we are...

I should go to bed early I suppose, since they say it is supposed to snow a bunch, and the commute will be hell... thats awesome...

until next time folks...

Cook along with Bert the Moose

2007-01-08T21:55:00.000-08:00

Welcome everyone, to the first installment of cook along with Bert the Moose. Just for those of you who don't know the reference, it's from the radio series Jungle Jam... a very funny show, I highly recommend it. Anywho.... back to the cooking part. As you may recall from my previous post I have made it a goal to cook better..... and now you can too!

Lemon Chicken with Rissoto and Arugula

Ingredients:
4 Chicken quarters
2 Lemons - juice and rind
4tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
2 sprigs of fresh thyme (If fresh thyme cannot be found, subsitute with dry thyme..... huh...)
both salt and pepper!

Directions:
Chicken:
Take the chicken, put it in a pan, mix remainder of ingredients and add to chicken as baste. Then either broil or fry chicken to perfection..... simple! a note - when peeling the rind off of the lemon be sure to not get any of the white part.... as that is where the bitter taste comes from... and it'll taste gross.

Rissoto:
Okay.... to tell you the truth, I just used rice.... but that dosen't sound as cool.... Rissoto is a goey rice, and I'm not a goey rice kind of guy..... so just follow the directions on the rissoto or rice packaging and you should be fine.

Finish off with with mixed greens, perferably arugula mainly because it's got a cool name. And there you go!

This meal is fairly labour free... which is nice, but not very impressive... I do have a good excuse for that though. I made this meal during a brief but violent stint with the influenza virus, which I am just getting over so the next time it'll be more impressive..... hopefully....

so till next.......... keep fit and have fun?

platitudes and post script

2007-01-01T17:38:00.000-08:00

Well, it's officially the end of my christmas vacation, and I tell you what, it was too short. But it's back to school, which is as you may know, awesome.

Just for those of you who were wondering if I was in fact dying, I'm afraid I must dissapoint. The doctor could in fact find nothing wrong with me.. blood test came up clear... I even had good blood pressure... wierd... so now I will just worry about diseases that just appear out of nowhere.... oh paranoia, how wonderful.

And now it is 2007, a new year... filled with oh so many possibilities. I myself am not often making New Years resolutions, but I think this year I may take a stab at it. I decided that for one, I would need to take up a west coast hobby. Which of course means physical activity. theres skiing, hiking, power walking with your tiny dog that someone could crush with one hand.... you know, those sorts of things. All of those options are quite tempting, but I finally settled on running. It's cheap, you can do it whenever you have spare time, and most importantly it will get me into great physical shape... which can never be a bad thing. I'm betting most of you are now thinking.... and I can pretty much quote your cognative process...." Sure, he may run once or twice, and it is an honourable goal, but he'll skip it a couple times, or get too busy and it will be like every other resolution in the history of time, just a good intention...."... but hey, it's worth a shot isn't it? Also this Christmas I recieved a cookbook, and now that I live in Vancouver, a place where all sorts of wonderful ingerdients can be found in a varying array of shops, it grants me a unique opportunity to cook many fancy, crazy dishes.... so thats the other resolution right there. So exercise and eating right... oh such high and lofty goals... but hey, you don't get anywhere if you don't try and go somewhere... I love platitudes.

So Happy New Year to you all... I hope it brings you both Joy and Pain, Contentment and Longing, Substance and Cotton Candy Fluff..... For this is the stuff of life...

Another comment.. it has come to my attention that I have many more readers than I previously was aware of. Which is wonderful, but I must admit, it makes the writing of this somewhat more of an intimidating task. It also makes me think more carefully of what I write down now.... oh and comment number two... something else that has been a common is people asking me about film school... and the crazy, awesomely cool life that I have the pleasure of living. So I've decided to answer these questions in a column on my blog.... whoa, this whole segment is becoming quite self absorbed. I think I may be slightly narcissistic, probably on account of me being so unbelieveably cool . So yeah, I will be open to any question anyone has about anything... I suppose not even limited to film school.... and I guess if no one does have any questions.... I'll just keep the blog the way it is..... but just so you know, feel free to pick my brain, even just for the fun of it...

Okay... I'm just going to cut this entry off right here... party..hmmmm.....partly..... because I'm tired and I have school in the morning.... well, thats kind of the reason.

and now the P.S
Keep on the look out for my next entry as it will be quite interesting..... quite indeed.... I'm keeping it vauge so that it build excitment........ the anticipation is almost palpable...

I am so neurotic.....

2006-12-11T17:47:00.000-08:00

well, It's the Christmas season... but to tell you the truth, it just doesn't fell like it yet. I guess with our school project in full swing, and rain storms and +11 degree weather it makes it rather hard to feel christmasy. I can't wait till this monday when I get to fly home to wonderful Alberta.... oh how I can't wait. I get to visit Darcy and Beth and even see a doctor! ooohhh a doctor.... It'll be great to see some friends and as for the doctor... well.... I hate doctors, which is wierd because I am a rediculous hypocondriact... but I haven't seen a doctor in quite a few years.... and I'm sure I'm dying.... well, maybe not.... but I always have little symptoms of some disease and I assume I have that disease.... sometimes even if there is no possible way I could have that disease..... and it gets worse if I have a bad day..... I am crazy...... oh no... thats a symptom of some diseases!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! So, don't be suprised if when I come back from christmas I have cancer or Ostioperosis or Aids or some unkown disease....... and then die.... eh it's been a good run.... Just do this whole segment is not such a downer... I'm pretty sure all my symptoms are the direct result of dehidration, which is easily cured..... but it's just like I said.....hypocondriact....... so right now Iam driking a rediculous amount of water.... now at 4 large glasses and I took a multi vitamen too... that will save me.....

Whoooaaaa.... I just realized how much I digressed from christmas in that last paragraph....whoa..... how do I bring this back...... um, merry christmas? yeah, thats good.

okay.... something happy.... I've been watching the show Scrubs in my spare time. Like a lot... I've watched season one, three and five..... yeah, I watch a lot of T.V. in my time off.... but i watch while I make supper and stuff too.... so I don't just have like a lot of time off... I love the characters in it... I can associate with them.... thats good script structure and development! as a matter of fact.... I'm watching an episode right now. I kind of associate with JD..... which is scary.... but I also associate with the Janitor, who is in fact awesome..... and another sad thing is.... I want to be more like Doctor Cox.. not unlike JD..... yup.... thats sad.... but it's got to be a good show if it draws you in like that........*uncomfortable cough*.....awkward...

And tonight I'm going to see Vanessa Silva play at the Backstage Lounge on Granville Island, so it should be a good time.

um, yeah.... so merry christmas!!!!

Andrew Sorenson

In your face Winter!

2006-12-04T19:58:00.000-08:00

Okay, so the weather here has been a bit dodgey, but I think it's finally turning around. See the contrast for yourself!

The before!!!! and then the after..... all three days apart

and in other news, we have three Broken Social Scene songs for our documentary. Can you believe it!!! we got them licenced for free!!!!!! so cool.

Worse and um, more worser?

2006-12-03T17:44:00.000-08:00

Wow, I'm so burnt out right now.... I've been at school every day so far this week and like 8-10 hours a day... I think next week will be the same..... I understand why all work and no play makes jack a dull boy.... I think it would also make him irritable... Yesterday we started our project at 9:30 and I got home at 2..... in the morning..... like A.M..... and then I was up early for church this morning.... and then I was at school from 1 to 6ish... which wasn't so bad.... but now I have a paper to write for the morning... AHHHHHHHHHHHHH.......

To make matters worse, we are now having our work judged by our teachers, which is not fun. we have been doing okay though. but we finished up our Mini Documentarys and mine didn't save right and they screened the unfinish version... and I hated my life.... So mad...... and I did really bad on a Cinematography test...probably like 50 something........... even more mad..... like really mad......... but then I got a producing test back and I got 100% so that made things a little better... and then on saturday I was going to take my truck to the school to transport our equipment.... but I couldn't find it..... I went to where I last parked it and it was not there....... so I assumed it was either stolen or towed for some reason... and I was about to call the city to see if they towed it when I looked down a cross street, and low and behold there was my truck... but I didn't park it there..... so my truck moved.... and wasn't stolen or broken into..... I was so weirded out........ I can only think they moved it to clear the snow from the street that I had parked on, as they had snow clearing signs where I had previously parked..... but even that seems kind of weird....

So, I'm tired.... the week after this we start our documentary filming so we have no more class till after christmas, which will be nice. And it will be freakin' awesome to be home and have a break.

Okay, thats enough of me being tired and depressing.... The weather is way nicer now, I can just wear a sweater outside again! I love that.......oh crap.... I just dropped a piece of pizza in a sink full of water..... whatever...

Ed Stelmach as Premier Elect of Alberta!!!!! Woohooo!
and lets be honest... no one cares who is the leader of the Liberals.

Peace out
Andrew

What's this?

2006-11-26T21:57:00.000-08:00

Okay, don't be alarmed..... but I think it's snowing. Yeah, I know it's not supposed to snow in Vancouver, I'm just tellin' you it's snowing. Don't shoot the messenger! I mean, I was dumbfounded, I guess me and the other 2 million plus who live here... we've had like 10cm of snow here in Vancouver alone. Some places have had up to 50cm! honest to goodness! It was one thing to have like a torrential dowpour of rain that rendered our water undrinkable by sliding tonnes of dirt into the resivior, I mean, thats life..... but now it's a huge snow storm!!! I mean Come' ON!!! I went walking today and when a vehicle would pass by it would slosh a bunch of snow everywhere. I was like being attacked by slushies all day!........okay......... I guess that whole begining came off a little pejorative... now let me juxtapose that with the catharsis of a more positive point of view. The snow reminds me of my praries! which can't be a bad thing. And it just screams Christmas, which also, can't be a bad thing...... and now the news is on.... and they are talking about like 50 car crashes and whatnot.... the weather here is trying to kill us... I'm not even joking.....help... okay, I am joking (for those of you who have no clue what sarcasm is....or is it irony? or both...?)

It was funny, I went to a Macs store to buy some bus tickets.... seems normal and boring right? Wrong! you should know better than that, I always tell awesome storys.... shame on you.... okay, there i was at the counter, buying my bus tickets and this girl walks in and slips on her way to the drinks, probably some health drink crap... and she condisendingly tells the cashier "You should really have a sign saying it's slipery here, I almost fell and hurt myself! You know there are some really crazy people who would sue over this!" (note the condesencion!!!)! and then she moved the slippery sign to the back corner where she slipped from where it was in the front of the store.... warning people that the floor was slippery..... I tell you... She was even wearing rubber boots- the most slippery footwear (I mean it was snow, not rain sheesh).... and the floor itself was not slippery, it was the snow on footwear and the linolium floors.... so....it was her own fault.... I thought it was funny anyhow. stupid store not having signs everywhere!!!!!!sooooo.... the weather is a big deal..... that being said, there isn't much else going on....

Heres me and my documentary crew being all cool and whatnot.... we work in a sexy business..... or so I've been told. Oh, and introductions..... The one on the left, that's Casey Li, our documentary director, and thats Arjay Joley our cinematographer... and in the second picture, thats me on sound, it looks cooler when I have the pole and mixer going.... really.... I'm an expert!!!!

New Stuff

2006-11-24T23:33:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a little while. I guess thats what schooling will do. But honestly, does it have to take up all my time? Jeesh.

So, I finally decided what to do with my hair.... I got it cut short again, as shown by the picture. I was just getting a little annoying being so long. I may go somewhat long sometime again, but short is good again. Doesn't look half bad if I do say so myself.

Another new addition to my life is Ipod..... ohhhhh ahhhhh! How can I afford that being a film student (one of the poorest of all students) you ask? well, I found it.... yeah thats right. A guy dropped it in the intersection, hoped on a bus and took off. I tried to catch him, and waited to see if he came back, but he did not. And it would have been crushed in traffic had I not picked it up.......So now I guess I have a new Ipod.

So I guesss this blog is just about how awesome I am.... I mean, I look super cool now, and I found an Ipod.... things are coming up Andrew!

but I gotta crash, on account of having to do school stuff all day tomorrow

Peace Out

Attack of the KILLER TREES!!!!

2006-11-15T23:11:00.000-08:00

Link to Global BC

The Trees are trying to kill us all!!!! this is a land of extremes!

"A powerful Pacific storm packing strong winds and heavy rains walloped British Columbia’s south coast Wednesday, barely a week after record rainfalls forced hundreds from their Fraser valley homes." -"The Province"

Trees have hit many homes, a steel building colapsed... one house was almost completly destroyed.... quite a few houses were hit. a trailer mart and a bunch of trailers were destroyed. Power poles leaning at an excess of 45 degree angles. Port Alberni on Vancouver Island was almost completely under water. hundreds of houses went without power and the roads were closed.

I mean, I knew it was windy and all, but I guess all the builings in the downtown block wind pretty good.

Watch out for the trees... they're everywhere.......everywhere........ they are trying to kill us all!!!!!

Western Semi Final

2006-11-12T17:25:00.001-08:00

It was a cold rainy day here in Vancouver, but that didn't affect the football. At 1:00 today the B.C Lions and the Saskatchewan Roughriders played to a croud of over 50 000. The Riders got off to a bad start and by the half they were down 32 to 4. I thought I would have been happy watching the riders lose... but I ended up cheering for them as they were the underdogs. But they also deserved to lose because they beat my Stamps. So there. The game ended at 45 to 18.

This was the first of four arrests of people who ran out onto the field.

Some weird B.C Lions gopher exterminators just killed Gainer the Gopher! They did it!!!! they tried with TNT first, but Gainer was to smart to fall for that.... but the poison got him.... poor poor Gainer........ but then he woke up? I guess he's one tough gopher.

The trophy ceremony for the western confrence champs the Lions

The mighty throng of fans leaving BC Place down Robson Street. They blocked off traffic for many blocks... I wonder why they didn't just use the sidewalk like in Edmonton? And the Cops at the library.

What to do?

2006-11-07T12:30:00.000-08:00

I was just wondering what I should do about my hair, Keep it long or get a cut short again? So I figured I'd ask my blog. What do you think?

So much famous I can hardly stand it!

2006-11-04T17:54:00.001-08:00

This is David Orth, a Canadian actor. You may know him from such low rate television series as Mutant X and more so from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World as the reporter Ned Malone. Why am I telling you this? or why should you care? Well I'll tell you. He was on the number 16 bus to Arbutus, the bus I take every day. How did I recognize him? well... I used to watch The Lost World from time to time, so sue me. I totally felt like I was stalking him, mainly because I wasn't sure it was him and I kept looking at him. It was totally him though. I was going to talk to him but I chickend out, I think he went to Future Shop.... I guess even lame, Canadian actors need electronics.... I have so many brushes with fame I can hardly handle it.

This is going to be another pictue heavy blog. I just love having a picture phone. You can take pictures without the risk of looking like a tourist, or a "photographer". But that being said on to my point.

So of you may remember the post about me being in New York... if you don't you could scroll down and look at it.....if you want.... I mean you don't have too..... anyhow.... yeah so I posted pictures "from" New York... well I have a new treat for those of you who liked those shots. Shots from Seattle!!! again, not really... it's just in front of my school... and I guess Seattle is just across the border so maybe it's not that cool..... but what have you ever done thats so cool.... These pictures are from the set of "Battle in Seattle". They set up right in front of our school, and even paid the school to use the Cafe for the crew to hang out in and hold their equipment. I totally love this industry, it's just so cool!... and I saw Kolchak the Night Stalker there... right in front of my school.... The honest to goodness Night Stalker!! well, it was Stuart Townsend, but he's pretty famous too... but sadly I didn't see Charlize Theron, Stuart's girlfriend coincidently... or Woody Harrleson...or Andre Benjamin....Michelle Rodriguez... I guess they were somewhere around...but I didn't know they were in this movie...damn...So many famous people walking down the same street I do every day. just for your information, I didn't take the red carpet picture, it's just for reference... So this movie is about the riots in Seattle during the World Trade Organization summit there... pretty neat stuff.

As for my life in the filmmaking idustry...well it's not near as exciting as Stuart Townsend... and I don't have a super hot actress girlfriend...... sigh..... but we did do some more interview projects in our documentary project... we had to find a random person and interview them for 20 minutes... It's really hard to find someone to talk to you on camera for 20 minutes... most people were too busy or they couldn't do it because it was against work policy.. but then we found a sweet chinese guy and we got our interview...... so I'm well on my way to reaching the ranks of David Orth and Stuart Townsend.....

Again, so many brushes with fame I can hardly handle it!

Peace out,
Andrew

Banks are the Devil

2006-11-03T13:01:00.000-08:00

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies."
- Thomas Jefferson, 3rd US President.

Okay, I mentioned my little bank problem last time, but it was a way bigger pain today when I tried to get the problem rectified. I went to the bank here, and went to start an account.....but, apparently I don't have proper I.D.... I guess my government sanctioned I.D is not worthy of banks....

so then I was just going to cash a cheque to myself... but they said they couldn't guarentee that I had money in my account... so then I phoned my bank to see if there was any way I could get my money here, because I needed some money.... So they told me to get a "Hold Funds" on that cheque which basically means my bank would vouch for the fact that I had money and that it would work.... So I went back in and tried again... but they don't hold funds between provinces I guess you can't trust an albertan bank in B.C.. I don't know why a credit union would lie to another one about their customer having money in their account, but hey...
so then they suggested I get a wire transfer.. I gave them my banks number on a card.... but they had to verify the number through their channels... so they called my bank to verify who I was, and they asked them about a zillion questions..... my bank had no problem verifying me, but the B.C branch wasn't convinced..... they went over my physical traits, my drivers lisence, all the little numbers and info on my checks.... I guess they wanted to make sure I wasn't a criminal master mind who had surgery to look like Andrew Sorenson, stole his government ID and his personal checks and then created a fake credit union bank in viking and hired staff there to create the perfect ruse to steal 250 dollars!!! MUHAHAHAHA!!!!! I'm pretty much the best criminal ever...

Eventually I did get that to work, but I had to pay 25 dollars and spend my whole morning at the bank to get it... so as you can tell by my long and rather irritated blog I loved the whole experience.... it's funny that all of this work wouldn't have needed to happen if I had a credit card.... I dunno, that sounds like some sort of descrimination to me....

So this has been my rant to tell the world that banks are the devil incarnate.. They hold your money and they have all the control... like my good bud Jefferson said at the beginning of this blog they are more dangerous than armies...... man I hate banks.... they never give me money, or make my life easier... they are always either just okay, or else they are making my life a living hell.... like not giving me my money..... jerks..... okay okay okay, enough ranting... sorry.....

It also has started to rain quite heavily, which is kind of fun. Here is a poem that my other good buddy Carl Sandburg wrote

Fog

The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Carl Sandburg

I read this poem like a million years ago in middle school and I just remembered it today for some reason.. .and it fits with the weather here in Vancouver... imagine that...

anyhow, there's the rant and poem combo... hope you all enjoy,

Andrew

More life Ramblings

2006-11-01T18:31:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess it's that time of year again, Christmas.....? yeah I guess, halloween is but a day in the past and it's already on to the next major holiday. You'd better get out there and spend all your money, because that proves to people that you love them... Gotta love the corprate juggernaut.

what else is new..... umm... I freakin' love "The Office". It's so awesome, it's probably the best show of all history. Toby is my favorite character... he totally was going to ask pam out, but then didn't because he got awkwarded out... thats freakin' awesome... although pretty much all the characters are the best... but that doesn't sound very decisive does it.

Today they started selling the monthly bus passes and I stopped by the bus station to purchase said pass, but to my dismay the ATM ate my bank card... needless to say I was a little irritated (to say the least). So then I had to leave the station empty handed and a little late for class....and now I have only like 6 dollars..... it'll get me to school and back till the weekend, and by then I'll have my replacement card..... it was a wonderful morning. Classes were okay, we were learning Avid.. ohhhh ahhh....Avid.... it's a movie editing tool....yeah...it's awesome.

tut tut it looks like rain,
Andrew

Welcome to the Twilight Zone

2006-10-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, so life here in Vancouver has been pretty sweet so far. Classes have started, assignments have been handed out and work is starting to happen... I must say, it's super cool joting down notes about cinematography, directing and producing. Also as students of the school we were given free tickets to a preview showing of the new Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu film "Babel". Does that sound pompus or what? To tell you the truth I wasn't a big fan.... it was kind of awkward, but the idea of the thing is cool enough.

"You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension - a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone!"

For your consideration..... a city in the lower mainland of BC... a large city with a diverse population, but all is not as it seems on the cheery exterior... not as it seems at all......

I have just started to witness some of the more peculiar aspects of living in a big city. Yesterday was weird. The buses were really packed, which I hate, and when I was waiting for said bus there was two homeless men haning around. That in itself is not the weird thing. They were yelling at buses as they passed by, swearing, calling them bears? I don't know what that means. the other gentleman was making large circles with his ares and waving at people as he mumbled to himself... it was creepy..

And Today a guy followed me for a block asking me for money, he was really persistant. I've gotten really good at saying no to people asking me for money... and also I was hit on by an old lady... that was weird too, she was a a teller at the grocery store.... it made me awkward...... anyhow...

"Oh... whats this? oh yeah you're out of the twilight zone now...."

so those are the Twilighty things that have been happening in my life.... spooky......... just in time for halloween!!!

well, I have some homework that needs my attention at the moment, so peace out

Andrew

Walking and the Weekend

2006-10-20T17:22:00.000-07:00

The view of English bay, just a short walk away from my apartment.

So my week of doing nothing is drawing to a close, and thank goodness. It has been such a looooooong week, mainly I've just watched TV episodes and movies, pretty lame, I know. As of late however I have gone for walks around Vancouver, getting the lay of the land, getting execise and killing time. frankly I wish I had started it sooner. it's pretty fun. maybe soon I'll do running...... maybe. anyhow, I can't believe how beutiful it is here, I keep wearing sweaters and stuff thinking it should be cold, but then I'm so freakin' hot, especially on my walks. which isn't that fun.... but it's nice that it's warm....

Also today I visited Ben and Johanna Haab who also live within walking distance. Ben and I played Lego StarWars. I can't believe why Johanna wouldn't want to play that game, it's sweet! I will also be going to the same church as them on Sunday, the Every Nation Church, I think it's an evangelical church, we'll see i guess....

"You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas!" - Davey Crockett
Andrew Sorenson

My many adventures so far,

2006-10-17T18:07:00.000-07:00

(Me being super cool at the fog on the Pacific Coast................ this place is pretty cool)

Hey all, I finally got the internet and I'm pretty much settled in here in Vancouver. I've got so much to talk about since my last entry.

I drove out on Wedensday with my mom, via Calgary where we visited Darcy, which was short but it was good to see him. We drove to.... Revelstoke.. I think, and there we were stuck on a mountain hiway because of a major truck accident, probably the worst I've ever seen, the truck must have role like 7 times.. it was crushed flat...after we passed that we stopped in the town and headed the rest of the way in the morning.

Then I got set up here in Vancouver, a trip to Ikea and Canadian Tire and many many trips up the stairs, it was all finished

I think it turned out quite nicely if I do say so myself.
So it's pretty nice, trust me, it was pretty gross to begin with. My mom helped me get the place all nice and livible like.

We then went on a trip to downtown on the confusing buses of Vancouver. We went downtown into the trendy downtown core.Downtown.....

My school which has a trendy coffee bar run by the school just next door and this building is where super trendy filmmaker types and nerdy game designers learn and hang out......
WOW! how did I get to New York? That's weird... I mean really.... And I think thats Jessica Alba down there hm... maybe she's invisible...... and I think some of the cars are about to explode.........A New York City taxi..... cool.
Me in New York... without all the people... (if you haven't figured it out by now, this is the set of Fantastic Four 2 a film I believe Ben Haab is working on)

Okay, then I went to school for the orientation, met a bunch of my classmates, I met an Chinese guy in my film class, his name is Joe, the first guy I met and Nik who is like 28 and a reporter guy.... Kathrin the German girl...... Antony the hyper game designer, Jacky the hyper chinese graphics guy and Dan the super cool dude from Seattle, he only talked to me because he sat beside me for the presentation, after that he took off... oh well, at least I met some people...... I took the bus and understood what the routes were for once. it was a good time. I don't have classes for a week though, so that is kind of suck. So I'm just going to hang I guess.... um.... so........ I have a bunch of pictures I guess, I'm having a good time so far..... just chillin' .... can't wait to start school.

and I noticed something, I think a lot more people smoke here, maybe it's just me but I think thats the case, maybe because there is no winter so they don't have a deterent.... who knows.....

anyhow, I think that might be it for now, if I think of anything else I might post again soon. So peace out

-Andrew

Metal Drive

2006-10-08T22:09:00.000-07:00

In the morning I am going to partake in what we prarie folk like to call a metal drive. What is a metal drive you may ask? well, I'll tell you. It's when you collect a large amount of scrap metal ( only iron and steel, oh and no cast, of course) donated by locals and take it to scrap dealers who then pay you for a load, anywhere from $65 to $150 dollars a metric tonne, depending on quality. Why are we doing this you may ask? well I will start off by saying you ask a lot of questions, but we are doing it to raise money for our mission trip to mexico, and of course when I say our mission trip, I mean a mission trip other people are going on. I sure do a lot of fund raising for never going on any of these things. And by saying so you may think me bitter, but nothing could be farther from the truth, I am glad to help out here at home, lending a day or two to the cause without commiting to days of planning and the weeks of the trip itself. Yup just doin' my part.

anyhow, I guess I should hit the sack if I'm going to be in perfect metal hauling form for the morning.

I like how this blog has two readers.... kinda makes a guy feel special..... .....

eh, I have fun just writing this thing, almost theraputic.
but alas I do tend to digress don't I?

Peace out,
Andrew

Farm + Bumbershoot

2006-10-07T23:02:00.000-07:00

Scenes from my trip to Seattle, Bumbershoot a huge music festival held every year.....

David Cross a comedian most recently from Fox's Arrested Developmet dancing for a Spoon show.
(note: I stole these pictures from Nathan)

a panorama of my farm taken on my new camera phone.
ain't it perty?

My brush with fame

2006-10-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

You will never believe what happened the other day!

There was an event in our church, like a poetry irish themed thing with music and dancers, and the musical act was no other than Finola Hackett and her brother! I know I don't need to explain who that is to you. but of course if you were born under a rock you might not know who that is, so I'll elaborate. She is of course Canada's top speller and the 2nd top speller in all the world! And apparently they are also Irish folk dancers and musicians, who knew.

Yup, so the top speller in Canada and 2nd in the World did an Irish Jig in my church, and her brother is like the top Irish jigger in Canada.

It's almost like I'm famous, just because I saw them.

I'm am Nutty, aren't I?

2006-09-24T10:29:00.000-07:00

So, I'm back home in beautiful Viking Alberta, back from my 2 week vacation to the equally stunning Saskatoon saskatchewan. That being said however, I now just realize that I kind of took off without saying goodbye to everyone. I just kinda left. So..... I guess I'm kinda turning into a nutty professor type of character. just being all forgetful and absent minded. Maybe it adds to my mystic.... but it really doesn't... it adds to my weirdness. But it was a good time, hanging with the old gang, being somewhat bored like old times and drinking a rediculous amount of coffee.

what else do I have to say that is even somewhat interesting........ um..... our phone line is down at home, internet too, I'm using church property to write this blog... I wonder if that makes this blog holier than thou? I shouldn't wonder if it does.

- a story interlude

once upon a time there was a boy named george. He lived in a gorge, and ate a lot of porridge. but alas I do digress, as I tend to do in stories of woe such as this, for George was smote with coat worn by the goat at the moat where the boat used to float. Poor kid then hid in hut by the mutt to tergiversate the coat toteing goat. so if you happen to be a boy named george who eats porridge in your gorge, you must not associate with coated goats who stand by moats lest ye be smote by an afor mentioned coat. Man don't you hate evil goats who assail with coats?

-/story interlude

The Stampeder are tied for 1st in the west right now... Rock on'

alas, it is fortuitous that this narative is fourthcoming upon the culmination of it's ceasation.

till next time, peace out
Andrew Sorenson

Number Two!

2006-09-12T22:46:00.000-07:00

Hey there my teaming mass of readers! Summer has finally drawn to a close and that means that our summer work has also. That is both good and bad news. Good news because hey, working sucks, but bad news because despite working for four month I have absolutly no money, I'm actually negative money. Which really sucks. enough sob story though.

anyhow, after we finished up work for the summer, I got a call from my brother who was in Seattle, he and my cousin were going to goto a music festival down there, which was cool. I really wanted to go too, so I did. Yup, I just drove to edmonton that night and took a plane at the crack of dawn to Seattle. Man I love being young and semi spontainious. The festival was called "Bumbershoot" which I believe is a british term for umberella. There were so many awesome bands. From major acts like AFI, Keane West and Yellowcard to great indie bands like Spoon, Feist, Of Montreal, CocoRosie, The New Pornographers (no they are not dirty), Metric, Mates of State, Rouge Wave, Matt Costa and so on. There were also comedy acts like David Cross and Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe from "24") and also there were art, poetry and film exhibits. It was a blast.

After that we drove up to Vancouver to find a place for me to live. We stayed at Jordie Rostie's house and the next day we set off to find a place. I must have phone like 20 houses and found about 3 that weren't sold, so I was super stressed. And at the first house I went to started viewing at 5, we got there at 5:10 and three people had already looked at the place. It was first damage deposit gets, so we ran across the street got money and that was that. I am now the proud renter of 1915 W. Broadway aprt 16.

So that is the major news as of late. I don't move out there till sometime mid october so for now I'm just chillin' in in rainy Saskatoon.

So till next time,
Peace out
Andrew

Smell That?

2006-08-04T22:09:00.000-07:00

Thats that new blog smell, not old, stale and musty like an old unused blog. Just crisp, clean and full of interesting possibilities. Heres hoping this one doesn't fall out of my routine as well. I have good intentions at least.

The purpose of this new blog is to chronicle my new and scary journey into the heart of Vancouver (the biggest city I will have ever lived in!) and to help me keep in touch with friends. God knows I am rather hit and miss with that, so hopefully this will help a little. It is a new blog for a new chapter in my life. Listen to me being all philosophical.

Lifes Road is Winding. get it? it's a metaphor.... it's not actually a road... thats dumb.

-----------Latest News---------

- Friday August 4th -Clint, Graham and myself are still working for ATCO Gas, moving gas meters from inside the outside of houses. We are presently enjoying a long weekend at the moment, which is why I have the time to create this blog.

- Friday July 7th - I was accepted into the Film Production program at the Vancouver Film School in Vancouver British Colombia. After all these years of thinking and talking about it I guess it's finally going to happen. Turned twenty.

--------------------------------

So thats all I got right now, hopefully I get some people intersted in hearing what I have to say. I guess I should come up with some interesting stuff to say as well. I'm warning you it could be random sometimes, but I'll try to post every once in a while.

So till next time peace out
-Andrew Sorenson