My blog
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the LEO awards. My shameless plug for the projects I'm so proud of.
Thursday, Jun 7, 2007 1:38AM / Standard Entry
My horses placed. Not my own horses specifically but the projects that I worked on. I had the very good fortune of working with some of the best in 2005. Two projects specifically- a mini series titled ‘Dragon Boys’ and a feature film titled ‘ Everything’s Gone Green’. They were both recognized at this year's LEO awards which are kinda like the Canadian Emmy's (blatantly stealing Byron Mann's descrīption of it . hee hee)
Dragon Boys – airing soon – I think October on Star TV Asia- was shot for CBC TV over here in Canada and aired in January 2007- It stars Byron Mann, Eric Tsang, Tzi Ma, myself, and many more in a gritty dramatic 4 hour tale set in the underbelly of asian organized crime in North America. It was nominated for 12 awards including best performance by a male lead for Byron, best screenwriting, best cinematography, best make up. Congratulations to all those nominated. You’re winners already.
‘Everything Gone Green’ was shot in the summer of 2005 and is written by the voice of our generation Douglas Coupland- my first and still my first reason for signing on. I later came to love the director and cast and crew as much as the material and it became a passion project. So when it was nominated 6 times it was case of the cup overfloweth yet again.
WINNERS- the Leo award goes to....
Ian Weir won for Best Screenwriting for 'Dragon Boys',
Doug Coupland for Best Screenwriting for 'Everything Gone Green'.
Last and Best....
'Everything’s Gone Green' won Best Feature Film 2007
Woohoo!
Here’s me struggling with my dress.
S*
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Sleepless 2 hours north of Seattle
Sunday, Jun 3, 2007 6:00PM / Standard Entry
There are few truths in this world but there is one that I am now certain of.
There’s no negotiating with jetlag.
You can try everything to fight it but in the end, no deal. You can stay up as late as possible, or not sleep at all on the plane over, plenty of exercise, camomile tea, melatonin tablets, really boring movies, no caffeine..and still sleep evades. Tossing and turning and trying to switch off your brain and occasionally checking the clock and thinking ‘ if I get to sleep right now I’ll have at least three hours sleep before morning’.
Ha ha. Nope.
The daylight hours pass like a blur- things feel slightly surreal, noises are too loud, trafiic is the worst. Uncontrollable narcolepsy at around 4 in the afternoon- right in the middle of a late lunch meeting and the people you're with end up thinking you're not intersted in what they're saying when in fact you are fighting to keep your face from planting into the bowl of pasta in front of you. Collapsing like a victim the moment you arrive back home.
Finally ...peaceful, dreamless sleep.
And then 11pm rolls around and *ping* your eyes open and there's no going back to sleep.
It’s the second night back in Vancouver. 3 a.m.. Wide awake.
Might have to try counting sheep.
S*
weird swing set
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WRAPPED in Beijing. The Banana Heads Home.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007 1:58AM / Standard Entry
I'm flying back to Vancouver on Thursday.
There’s something imminently sad when a film finishes shooting. Shooting a film is kinda like going to war. It’s hard and grueling work- and not at all glamourous- you wake at 4am and sleep after 15hours of battling- but everyone is there with you all battling in the same army; the camera crew, the lighting crew, the production crew, the actors, the wardrobe crew etc…. for two solid months, day after day, you eat with these people, you stand around and joke with them, you suffer as they do when it’s cold and other weather related ailments- and when you wrap at the end of every day you pat each other on the back for a job well done.
Of course there are the melodramas – people bicker, there are complaints, gossip flies around, the lead actor grows a gargantuan sized head and starts sleeping with one of the supporting actresses and it further inflates his already unbearable ego, the director throws a tantrum and everyone tiptoes for the day….etc etc…
But for the most part it’s good. Very good. These people become your family for those two months. You learn what aggravates them and what makes them laugh- you form bonds with them. They become your sister soldiers and brother soldiers.
And when it’s all over – everyone moves on to other projects- and you may see them again but it’ll never be quite the same because circumstances have changed, and for all the dramas that transpired- all you remember is the good times you had and then you feel sadness that you’ll never be able to revisit those times again except in your memories.
Bittersweet huh?
But for the most part I am amped to get back home.
This picture is exactly how I feel. So many times over.
S*
798- the artists community- Beijing.
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Part 3.
Saturday, May 26, 2007 11:42AM / Standard Entry
The Forbidden City. Was actually a bit of a downer for me as the whole thing is covered by scaffolding for repair work. The Olympics are right around the corner and there seems to be constructing and repair every 2nd street that I walk down. Bummer. I didn’t go and see the preserved embalmed body of Mao. I think there’s something very very icky about that. That’s just me though.
Across from Forbidden City is Tiananmen Square. There’s 8 lanes of traffic on the road separating them. Possibly the widest stretch of road I’ve ever seen. Wouldn’t it be perfect for Formula 1?
I can see the ad for it already. Picture this.
That whole long stretch of road completely empty. All 8 lanes empty. No pedestrians, no bicycles, no one. Deserted. You hear the Ferrari before you see it. It’s a faint drone, persistently louder and louder. Until it roars into view. One single red Ferrari. It screams towards us in a huge gust of wind and fire and then blazes past the portrait of Mao at the front of the Forbidden City. Then disappears into the distance. Spectacular. Mao’s hair in the portrait rustles a little from the faint blast.
Formula 1 in Beijing. What do you think?
S*
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the big banana in china. part 2
Thursday, May 24, 2007 2:36PM / Standard Entry
More on the great wall. The size of it, the magnitude, the history that hides within every brick, the deep sense of pride that I felt within to be connected in some remote way to the civilization that brought about this magnificent structure. Every step I took whispered stories to me. I found it heartbreaking and reverential.
Then I realized that there was no bathroom.
S*
