Orange YVR Sound Session July 25th

Come down this Thursday to the Orange YVR Sound Session. This month will have Jason Lowe and Ian Schram. 

$5 donation in support of SingItFwd, a music foundation that helps kids in the DYES get access to music education. There will be some refreshments provided by ING Direct. Help support local musicians! #Tunes4Good

Check out www.1833Radio.com for more! 

That's a wrap on Crockett

We wrapped filming Crockett on last Sunday for the summer. We have one or two days to film in the fall with a small unit, probably up in Squamish or Whistler. 

I'm currently taking a "break" to work on some of my other projects and plan a wrap party for the cast and crew of Crockett. I also need to catch up at work as well. As my August isn't quite figured out yet I'm kind of scrambling to get things finished. It's also driving me nuts, I'm one of those people who have a plan well in advance, and I know this industry doesn't really follow that. But I guess that's what makes me organized. I like to plan at least two months ahead with wiggle room. I do have options right now but I'd like to figure which path to take. 

Here is a sneak peak of Ty Olsson in Crockett: The Legend Begins. 

That's a Wrap on ATLO?

This Canada Day long weekend I spent on the set of a short film, Are The Lights On? We had a small cast and crew work on this one. Sometimes I like doing these smaller projects because it's just about the fun of the project. We had three sets in total, one of them was a small build. Each day from prep to wrap was only 8hrs. And the best part was it was friends working together :)

Check out some pictures from set.

Nicole G. Leier and Laena Brown

David T. A. Warren, our sound guy

Director Janice Chow and DOP Ian Gustafson

Shooting at the home of Vagabond Players

Are The Lights On?

Are The Lights On? is a short film I am producing with a good friend from film school. Every few years her and I decide to make a short film. I enjoy making her stories come alive because they are usually quirky and metaphoric. The last film we made together was called The Cheese Container. Janice's films always stem from an object. A cheese container that symbolized the cheesiness of a couple's relationship struggle. And Are The Lights On? stems from the brain. It's a short about what happens when you zone out at school.

Almost everything is set to go to shoot the short June 29th and 30th. Casting is locked. The crew are all on board. Now we just need to find enough background people to fill a classroom.

Crockett: The Legend Begins

One of the projects I am currently working on is a concept film for a feature about the legend of Davy Crockett. This week I spent designing a website for our campaign to secure the last half of our funding. This is our biggest, most ambitious film to date, and we need your help to make it the best it can be. So far we have raised $5510 out of the $10,000 we need. 

Check out the website at: www.crockettmovie.com

Here you'll find a list of the many Perks that we offer as a thank you for donating.

Pasadena Day 4 / Home

I woke up with a horrible cough this morning. So I spent My last half of a day before I go home, packing and relaxing. I met up with Laura for lunch at Equator in Old Town. Equator is an Asian fusion place. I had the lunch special Pad Thai which was really good and the portion was huge. Laura had a crab roll with albacore tuna. Our bill came to only $20. After lunch I went back to Laura and Henry's to relax and do any last minute packing.

To get from Pasadena to LAX airport by Metro is a bit of a hassle so I booked a shuttle that picked me up from Laura and Henry's. It was about $25 which is not bad considering a taxi would of been astronomical. I flew Alaska Airlines home direct to Vancouver and that was a big savings believe it or not.

I got to the airport with a few hours to spend so I refreshed my memory with some of Arrested Development's episodes before the new episodes come out on Netflix. The plane boarded early and for some reason I could not get comfortable on the flight to fall asleep. :( The plane arrived on time and was welcomed to Vancouver rain. And now my cough has gotten worse and I sound like a dying person. Hopefully I can take a day off tomorrow to rest and get better.

Time to start planning the next vacation.

Pasadena Day 3

Shopping in Old Town! First stop H&M. I met up with Laura for lunch as her work is right in Old Town. We went to Dog Haus a gourmet hotdog and burger place. Each hot dog is served on a Hawaiian bun and topped with crazy condiments. I ordered the Downtown Dog and Ogre rings. They were heart attack heaven. I could not finished mine.

Laura went back to work and I continued shopping. I went to Forever 21 and got a few things. After searching through the two floors of Forever 21 I had to pee. And the only place around there was the iPic movie theatre. Holy crap that is a fancy theatre. Bars and lounges inside the theatre and at the bottom of the escalator a cute girl is there to point you in the right direction. I also went to this place called Cotton On and got a cute dress and blazer. After all that walking in the hot sun I sat down in a court yard in the shade and just relaxed.

A few things I noticed here are; everywhere you go and pay by credit the cashier asks for your ID and I have never had to put in my pin. Found out it's because there's a lot of credit card theft here. I think this is an Old Town thing but addresses here don't go from 0-100 in one block it might take several blocks before you get to the 80s. One thing I hate is that it's okay to U-turn here. I almost got hit by someone trying to U-turn and I had the right of way. There was this diagonal pedestrian crosswalk which was kind of cool. I also like that machines have not replaced people unlike back home. But I really like the old brick buildings and terracotta roofs.

At 5PM I met up with Laura as her shift was over and we walked back home. We decided to take it easy tonight and ordered take out from Himalayan Cafe. The food was so good and they even delivered my mango lassi. We just hung out and bothered Henry while he did his homework. I did some laundry and sort of packed up.

Pasadena Day 2

I slept in this morning for the first time this vacation! I woke up around 10AM and got ready to meet up with Henry and some of his physics friends. We went to Mijares Restaurant for lunch. Mijares has been around for 92 / 93 years. I ordered a chicken tamale and chile rellenos with beans. It quenched my appetite for mexican food.  After lunch Henry went back to Cal Tech for his last class of the day and I went shopping. I went to Ross and TJ Max. Ross is always a place I like to go to when I'm in the US because I can always find something there. TJ Max is like Winners before Winner got to popular. It was a good day of shopping, found a couple things, no lines and friendly staff.

I met up with Henry after shopping and we met up with Laura after her work, to go to Little Tokyo in LA. We went to Izakaya Honda-Ya. I ordered Coke Chu-Hi to drink, a spicy tuna roll and a super California roll (a California roll with eel on top). It was a bit expensive but worth it. After dinner we walked around Little Tokyo, nothing too exciting as Vancouver has a huge Asian culture. But we did pick up some green tea mochi ice cream (which according to Wikipedia ice cream mochi originated in LA).

Pasadena Day 1

Checked out of the hotel. I give it 3 stars. The staff were very friendly but the rooms were noisy and I couldn't get the shower to work. I decided to call the cab driver I had from the theatre because he actually knew where I was staying last night. And my cab fare was half what I paid the first cab driver, yay. I have to say I won't be coming back to Fullerton anytime soon, there just isn't anything to do around here and you need to drive everywhere.


I caught the Amtrak train to LA and then took the Metro to Pasadena to meet up with Laura and Henry. We ended up going to the Norton Simon Museum and saw Van Goghs, Monet's and Asian art.

After the museum we walked around Old Pasadena, grabbed a frozen yogurt at 21 Choices and headed home to rest our feet.


We met up with Henry's friend Peter for dinner we went to a famous burger joint called Pie and Burger which open in 1963. Laura and Henry have pretty much guaranteed me a burger fest while I'm in Pasadena but the bacon cheeseburger I had at Pie and Burger was the best burger I've had. Our waitress seemed a little scattered and looked like she had been working there since the place opened. We grabbed some homemade pie to go.

An evening with Shirley

The train ride from San Diego to Fullerton was very relaxing and went by so fast. I took a taxi from the Amtrak station and that was the worst ride ever! The guy got lost. The hotel is in an industrial area of the town, so there are like no sidewalks. I walked to a near by restaurant called The Elephant Bar for dinner. Everyone was very friendly there. I ordered the surf and turf. It was pretty tasty.

After dinner I headed to La Mirada Theatre the real reason in in the middle of nowhere. I bought tickets to see Shirley MacLaine. I have been a fan of hers ever since I saw The Apartment. When I got there I'm pretty sure I was the youngest person there. Now granted Ms. MacLaine is a Hollywood legend I didn't expect the age gap to be this big. I sat next to a nice gay couple from LA Proper. It was nice to chat before the show. Ms. MacLaine was a riot. She didn't miss a beat. She told stories about herself and answered some questions.

Since everyone drives here there wasn't even a cab waiting outside the theatre. Luckily one of the staff let me borrow her phone do I could call a cab. This time the driver knew where I was going. Time to get dome sleep tomorrow is Pasadena.

San Diego Day 3

I checked out of the hostel around 11 and headed to Balboa Park to check out the Museum of Photography Arts. There was an exhibit of black and white photographs taken by Jessica Lange over the course of her travels. Each photo captures a raw moment in time.

After my visit to MOPA I headed to the Museum of Man. The Mayan pillars and the Egyptian mummies were cool but the best part had to be seeing one of Davinci's creations; a robot knight.

Waiting at the train station I saw an Amish family, which reminded me of an episode of Sex and the City. I also bumped into one of the hostel workers who was picking up her father. Now I'm on my way to La Mirada a small town near Fullerton.

San Diego Day 2

Woke up early had cinnamon pancakes for breakfast before heading out to the zoo. One of the girls and I went to the zoo. We spent about 5 hours there. It was massive and had about every animal you could think of. My favourite was the pandas. After the zoo I walked around Balboa Park looking at the beautiful architecture.

That night I went out with one of my form mates who's from Mexico. We tried to go to one of the clubs recommended to us but they wouldn't let us in because David was wearing shorts. This is San Diego it's warm and sunny. Yesterday we got into another place wearing flip flops. After waking around Gaslamp we found an Irish bar called the Dublin Square. I enjoy an Irish pub any day but this place had Murphy's beer which I'd drink over Guinness any day. I was even able to add black current to my beer. :)

I have one more thing on my list to do in San Diego before I leave. But I'm sure I'll be back some day.

San Diego Day 1

The hostel is super chill and accommodating. Free wifi, breakfast, dinner and activities planned for everyday.

Last night I took it easy because I hadn't slept in over 24 hours. Met some pretty cool people; a guy from Victoria, South Korean students, a lady from Ireland and a New Yorker just to name a few.

A few of us went up to the Gaslamp District to hang out. The first place we went to C Lounge had no cover so we checked it out. Turns out there was a reason for the no cover it was a shoebox with really bad music. We downed our drink and then carried on to the Tipsy Crow. A nice comfy bar. The moment I was alone, I got hit on which was kind of funny. He had an interesting approach, sat down beside me said he saw a cute girl so he had to sit with her. That would never happen at home.

Much needed vacay

After the last few days cramming meetings etc. into my schedule before my much needed R&R. I still wasn't ready to go. I stayed up all night putting the final touches on one of my projects before it had to go out to the broadcaster. I even managed to somewhat put together a prep schedule for another project I'm working on in July. After that it was time to finish packing.

Once 5:30AM hit I was waiting for my bus to Bellingham. Because I'm all about the travel deals my trip will be a little more complicated than most. I am busing down to Bellingham and then flying one way to San Diego. Doing this I'm saving about $150. But the downside is I will be waiting at the Bellingham Airport for a few hours. That gives me a nice little nap though!

The flight to San Diego is just under 3 hours. I should be there around 4pm.

Voting

This morning I got a phone call asking for help in which political party I thought would be good to vote for. Of course I gave the person some information about each party and which one has a platform to help our field of work. I had never been asked before about my opinion on the matter, I had always discussed the subject with my elders.

Now sitting here in the line to vote has me thinking about when I was a kid and for a very brief period I wanted to be Prime Minister of Canada. As a kid you think that if you look up to what a job stands for that its a something you want to do when you grow up. I can remember thinking that the person who is Prime Minister has the power to stop children from starving, save endangered animals, save the ocean and many other important causes out there. But as I grew up I became more and more aware that the person with so much supposed power really couldn't do all or any of those things.

In fact it's more and more I see that job I used to look up to, really doesn't care about saving anything. Instead budgets are cut, deals are made and the welfare of our country has been put in the hands of foreign affairs. Canada is a country with vast resources yet we sell our raw materials to foreign investors who then sell it back to us at a higher rate. This makes no sense to me. Even the city I live in is ranked as one of the most expensive cities to live in yet that could change if we stopped the foreign investors from buying up high rises. Or even the industry I work in has a huge impact on the economy yet funding programs have been cut which makes less jobs for people. The list goes on.

I hope my vote today will help change something.

1833 Radio

Over the past few months I have been designing a website for an online music hub showcasing indie and underground music. The goal of the site is to provide what FM radios don't and that is non stop music without any duplicate songs or commercials. Right now we've got about 10 hours of music.

The site will feature different genres of music, top 5 songs and albums of the month. Down the road we are hoping to also do interviews with bands.

We have also teamed up with ING Cafe to put on a concert each month where 1833 Radio will find the talent and ING provides the space. All the proceeds of each concert go to #SingItFwd which helps kids at the Saint James Music Academy. Each session will be filmed and uploaded to the website as well. The next show will be Thursday May 30th.

Please check it out and give me any feedback.

When it rains it pours

Well first off I know the above is true 'cause I live in Vancouver. But I'm talking about being given the opportunity to get my creative and multitasking sides going pretty hardcore. I was approached a week ago to come onboard as a producer of two projects a period piece and a superhero short. Which of course being me who can't say no I said yes. The period piece is in full swing. In under a week I pulled together some remaining crew and applied for a summer program that I hope will let us shoot a demo in May.  I've also begun prepping for another short as well. This is a contemporary short but with one set build, which I also hope to shoot at the end of May beginning of June. Aside from that my slate kind of looks something like this:


1 TV show in production
1 Concert series in production
1 Short film in prep
1 Demo video in prep
2-3 Feature films in development
3 Short films in development
1 Web series in development


Yes I know this looks scary but that's where timing and multitasking comes in.

Earth Hour

This year for Earth Hour I ended up filming a candlelit concert in a bank!

ING Direct Vancouver sponsored the space and the drinks for the show. 1833 Radio, found the talent. And I shot the show (on battery power of course).

We had the lovely Tamara Nile play an unplugged session on her guitar and banjo. It was the first of a series of concerts ING is doing in Vancouver to give back to the local music community.

It was funny mix of people from bank staff to a couple who came to use the bank's ATM and stayed for the session as it turned out it was their first date. And then some tourists who just arrived in Vancouver joined mid way through and couldn't believe that a bank in Canada would host a music performance and provide some drinks.

I would say my Earth Hour 2013 was a hit.

Find out more about Tamara's Band on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/tamaranile

Check out other local artists on www.1833radio.com

Follow ING Direct on Twitter for more info on upcoming shows @OrangeYVR

KMIA Season 2!

Season 2 of Kiss My Incoming Abs is back!

We have a new opening sequence for you all. Also please welcome our new nutritionalist Ainslie Grieg who will be hosting our product segments with Nicole. Don't worry we are definitely keeping the sexiness and the pink.

Take a look at the episode below on Youtube or tune in nightly on Novus at 11:30pm. Season 2 is going to be epic.

My Oscar Picks

Based on a number of factors and previous award wins here are my predictions for tonights Oscars.

Best Picture
Amour
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Actor
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Hugh Jackman, Les MiserablesJoaquin Phoenix, The Master
Denzel Washington, Flight

Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts, The Impossible

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Argo
Robert De Niro, Silver Linings PlaybookPhilip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, The Master
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook

Best Director
Michael Haneke, Amour
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Steven Spielberg, LincolnBenh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Original Screenplay
Amour, Michael Haneke

Django Unchained, Quentin TarantinoFlight, John Gatins
Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty, Mark Boal

Best Adapted Screenplay
Argo, Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild, Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin,
Life of Pi, David Magee
Lincoln, Tony Kushner
Silver Linings Playbook, David O. Russell

Best Animated Feature
Brave
FrankenweenieParaNorman
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph

Best Cinematography
Anna Karenina, Seamus McGarvey
Django Unchained, Robert Richardson
Life of Pi, Claudio Miranda
Lincoln, Janusz Kaminski
Skyfall, Roger Deakins

Best Costume Design
Anna Karenina, Jacqueline Durran
Les Misérables, Paco Delgado
Lincoln, Joanna Johnston
Mirror Mirror, Eiko Ishioka
Snow White and the Huntsman, Colleen Atwood

Best Documentary Feature
5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
How to Survive a Plague
The Invisible War
Searching for Sugar Man

Best Documentary Short
Inocente
Kings Point
Mondays at Racine
Open Heart
Redemption

Best Film Editing
Argo, William Goldenberg
Life of Pi, Tim Squyres
Lincoln, Michael Kahn
Silver Linings Playbook, Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
Zero Dark Thirty, Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

Best Foreign Language Film
Amour, Austria
Kon-Tiki, Norway
No, Chile
A Royal Affair, Denmark
War Witch, Canada

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Hitchcock, Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami LaneLes Misérables, Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

Best Original Score
Anna Karenina, Dario Marianelli
Argo, Alexandre Desplat
Life of Pi, Mychael Danna
Lincoln, John Williams
Skyfall, Thomas Newman

Best Original Song
“Before My Time” from Chasing Ice, music and lyric by J. Ralph
“Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from Ted, music by Walter Murphy; lyric by Seth MacFarlane
“Pi’s Lullaby” from Life of Pi, music by Mychael Danna; lyric by Bombay Jayashri
“Skyfall” from Skyfall, music and lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
“Suddenly” from Les Misérables, music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

Best Production Design
Anna Karenina, Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie SpencerThe Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
Les Misérables, Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson

Life of Pi, Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna PinnockLincoln, Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

Best Animated Short
Adam and Dog
Fresh Guacamole
Head over Heels
Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare”
Paperman

Best Live Action Short
AsadBuzkashi Boys
Curfew
Death of a Shadow
Henry

Best Sound Editing
Argo, Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
Django Unchained, Wylie Stateman
Life of Pi, Eugene Gearty and Philip StocktonSkyfall, Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
Zero Dark Thirty, Paul N.J. Ottosson

Best Sound Mixing
Argo, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
Les Misérables, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
Life of Pi, Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
Lincoln, Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
Skyfall, Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson

Best Visual Effects
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White
Life of Pi, Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott
The Avengers, Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
Prometheus, Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
Snow White and the Huntsman, Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson

Oscar Party

I enjoy awards season and I usually throw an Oscars Party. Since my Oscar menu last year was a success I have decided to do it again. That is I theme my appetizers around each best picture nominee. I either redo a food featured in the movie or I come up with something that I think will fit with each film. For example in Beasts of the Southern Wild the little girl's name is Hushpuppy so I have decided to make Hushpuppies which are a southern cornmeal dumpling kind of like a corn dog. Here is my menu below.

Amour - devilled eggs
Argo - an Iranian dip made with cucumber, dill and yogurt
Beasts of the Southern Wild - hushpuppies
Django Unchained - white cake
Les Miserables - French baguette with balsamic and oil
Life of Pi - vegetarian curry samosas
Lincoln - Oscar shaped gingerbread cookies
Silver Linings Playbook - "crabby snack" crab stuffed mushrooms
Zero Dark Thirty - hummus with veggies

Oscar Shorts

So I have seen both the Oscar nominated live action and animated short films. You can tell what the filmmakers were thinking when they decided to make these shorts.

The animated shorts included a Simpsons one where Maggie goes to daycare, a Disney on about a man finding his love via a paper airplane, a tale from the book of Genesis; Adam and his dog and an internet video about guacamole. My favourite of the animated shorts is "Head over Heels" a cute love story where the husband lives on the bottom of the house and the wife lives on the ceiling. And it was made by students at the NFTS in the UK.

The live action shorts were all pretty heavy this year. Only two of the films were set in North America which meant there was great scenery. All the films had great production value. Death of a Shadow (Belgium/France) was a unique story about a man who takes pictures of shadows when thy die. Cerfew (USA) was about an uncle taking care of his niece. Buzkashi Boys (Afghanistan/USA) was about two boys; a street kid and a blacksmith's son who both dream of playing Buzkashi (Afghanistan polo). It was also nice to see a Canadian film nominated this year; Henry, a pianist relives flashbacks as he is trying to find his wife. My favourite out of the live action shorts was Asad, set in a Somali village, told the story of a young boy and his bad luck with fishing.

If you want to catch the shorts head to the Vancity Theatre.

Day in the life of a Lifemaxer video

So lately I've been helping a friend with some videos for his work. The first one is A Day in the Life type video showing how he incorporates telling people about Mila for Lifemax in his daily life. This is for a contest at work. He has a pretty cool job rope access so we decided to film him hanging off a bridge and taking calls about Mila. I even repelled off the bridge!

As an extra curricular activity he would do after work we choose to go snowboarding up at Cypress. I think the final video incorporates being able to work for Lifemax on the go and still do what you love. The video was shot on the new GoPro Hero 3.

Here is the video and please LIKE it. =)

To check out more about Mila or to buy some go to www.dannymcphee.com

Searching for Sugar Man

The Rio Theatre has been showing quite a few Oscar nominated films recently and Searching for Sugar Man was just one of them. This documentary answers what happened to the mysterious Rodriguez. Before watching this documentary I had only ever heard the song Sugar Man, but I had never really looked up who sung it, Searching for Sugar Man answers that.

Back in the early 70s Rodriguez released 2 albums which were huge flops. But during a time in South Africa where people were suffering and wanting to stand up to their government they found something in Rodriguez's songs. His "Bob Dylan-esque" songs resonated with South Africans who used his songs to find the courage to fight back. In turn Rodriguez had become the Elvis of South Africa. Over half a million copies of Rodriguez's albums were sold in South Africa, yet no one in America even knew who he was. Because no one knew who he was rumours were spread that he had killed himself on tour. But after years and years 2 fans who just want to know who and where Rodriguez came from. This film follows their story and answers just who Sixto Rodriguez is.

Searching for Sugar Man is a must see for anyone who thinks of themselves as music lovers or who loves a great little detective piece. But if you haven't heard of Sixto Rodriguez go out and watch this film or buy his albums that is if you can find them.

Beckstravaganza

The other night I went to the Rio Theatre in East Van to watch 47 talented musicians play their versions of Beck's new songs. Beck decided to issue 20 songs but the catch he only released the sheet music for them so the only way you can hear them is to play them yourself or get a group of talented people together and play them for you.

The night was sold out and rightfully so. Noah from The Broken Mirrors organized the evening and did an amazing job choosing songs for every preformer. Some of my favourites from the night were Paul Pigat, Hey Ocean, Hilary Grist and The Company Jazz Band. If you love music and want to hear some locals check these guys out!

Midseason Reviews Pt. 2

Banshee airs on Cinemax at 11PM

From the creator of True Blood comes a new action packed show fit for Cinemax. The series follows a con-artist just out of prison and hiding from a mobster named Rabbit. His first task is to find the love of his life, who has a new life and family. In the process he assumes the identity of the new sheriff in Banshee, PA after an unfortunate incident. But the man who really runs the town and the local slaughter house Kai Proctor may be worse than Rabbit. With any Alan Ball creation I always have to give it a few episodes before I decide but for now if you like sex, violence and bad people you'll like Banshee.


The Carrie Diaries airs on The CW at 8PM

This is a "prequel" to one of my favourite shows Sex in the City. This show airs on the CW which can't mean it's going to be good. I mean the only reason I even watch Arrow is because Stephen Amiel is effing hot and has his shirt off more than once. But I guess now that Gossip Girl the network needs a replacement; Carrie Bradshaw in the 80's. This is coming of age story follows 16 year old Carrie the virgin, who just lost her mother to cancer and keeping within the Sex and the City niche, Carrie narrates, has best friends who discuss boys and sex and is interested in the new kid at school.  She even gets a chance to intern in Manhattan which leads to her meeting a style editor at a fashion magazine. And where Carrie makes a new identity for her Manhattan self. There is a reason this is on the CW because it fits perfectly for it's demographic, which I am not.

Midseason TV Reviews

1600 Penn

A sitcom about the first family. Bill Pullman is the president and is newly married to Jenna Elfman; his younger, pretty wife who just wants to get along with her step kids. Stepson Skip played by Josh Gad steals the show with his slacker attitude and rightfully so as the Tony Award Nominee is the co-creater behind this show. But this show just doesn't do anything for me. After all the political satires we've seen this year, 1600 Penn is far from it. I will hand it to NBC for trying to find the next Modern Family. So those of you out there who enjoy This type of humour might find this show enjoyable, for me this is a NO.


Deception

Starring Meagan Good as Joanna, an undercover cop who returns to investigate the death of her once best friend and heiress, whom she grew up with - as a maid's daughter. Joanna moves in with the Bowers. Every member of the high privileged family is flawed and hard to care about. The only one you are routing for is Joanna, especially since Good doesn't over act. But the best part of this show is the flashbacks between the deceased and young Joanna. I won't be watching.

Oscar Noms

Well the list came out this morning and I am quite surprised as I'm sure many critics are. The category that is always the hardest to predict I think is Best Actress. This year there were an abundance of great performances. Marion Cotillard did an amazing job in the French film Rust and Bone, she played a whale trainer that looses her legs in an accident. Rachel Weisz stars in the limited released The Deep Blue Sea as the wife of a British Judge in post WWII who has an affair with Tom Hiddleson. Helen Mirren plays Alma the with of Alfred Hitchcock opposite Anthony Hopkins in Hitchcock. But all these women were not nominated. All the women chosen this year were all deserving. The surprise in this category is Quvenzhane Wallis the little girl who plays Hushpuppy in Beasts of the Southern Wild.

The surprise in the Best Actor category this year is Joaquin Phoenix. But I think the biggest surprise this year is the nominations for Best Director. Both Ben Affleck and Kathryn Bigelow were snubbed and replaced by indie film-makers. Tom Hooper also didn't make the cut this year. Now granted I'm not a Bigelow fan but in past years this category has been in synch with the DGA nominations. However I am great-full the Academy is looking at indie films and film-makers. I'm also glad the Academy is recognizing foreign film-makers outside of the Best Foreign Film category.

And of course the Canadian connection to the Oscars this year. Kim Nguyen, from Montreal directed “Rebelle” aka War Witch which is nominated for best foreign-language film. Mychael Danna, from Toronto, is nominated for best song and best original score for “Life of Pi". Yan England, the Quebec, writer, director and producer of “Henry” is nominated for best live-action short. Ariel Nasr, from Halifax, is the producer of “Buzkashi Boys” nominated as well for best live-action short.


Here are the nominations:

Best Picture
Amour
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Actor
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Denzel Washington, Flight

Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts, The Impossible

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Argo
Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, The Master
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook

Best Director
Michael Haneke, Amour
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Original Screenplay
Amour, Michael Haneke
Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino
Flight, John Gatins
Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty, Mark Boal

Best Adapted Screenplay
Argo, Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild, Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin,
Life of Pi, David Magee
Lincoln, Tony Kushner
Silver Linings Playbook, David O. Russell

Best Animated Feature
Brave
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph

Best Cinematography
Anna Karenina, Seamus McGarvey
Django Unchained, Robert Richardson
Life of Pi, Claudio Miranda
Lincoln, Janusz Kaminski
Skyfall, Roger Deakins

Best Costume Design
Anna Karenina, Jacqueline Durran
Les Misérables, Paco Delgado
Lincoln, Joanna Johnston
Mirror Mirror, Eiko Ishioka
Snow White and the Huntsman, Colleen Atwood

Best Documentary Feature
5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
How to Survive a Plague
The Invisible War
Searching for Sugar Man

Best Documentary Short
Inocente
Kings Point
Mondays at Racine
Open Heart
Redemption

Best Film Editing
Argo, William Goldenberg
Life of Pi, Tim Squyres
Lincoln, Michael Kahn
Silver Linings Playbook, Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
Zero Dark Thirty, Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

Best Foreign Language Film
Amour, Austria
Kon-Tiki, Norway
No, Chile
A Royal Affair, Denmark
War Witch, Canada

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Hitchcock, Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane
Les Misérables, Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

Best Original Score
Anna Karenina, Dario Marianelli
Argo, Alexandre Desplat
Life of Pi, Mychael Danna
Lincoln, John Williams
Skyfall, Thomas Newman

Best Original Song
“Before My Time” from Chasing Ice, music and lyric by J. Ralph
“Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from Ted, music by Walter Murphy; lyric by Seth MacFarlane
“Pi’s Lullaby” from Life of Pi, music by Mychael Danna; lyric by Bombay Jayashri
“Skyfall” from Skyfall, music and lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
“Suddenly” from Les Misérables, music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

Best Production Design
Anna Karenina, Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
Les Misérables, Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson
Life of Pi, Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
Lincoln, Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

Best Animated Short
Adam and Dog
Fresh Guacamole
Head over Heels
Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare”
Paperman

Best Live Action Short
Asad
Buzkashi Boys
Curfew
Death of a Shadow
Henry

Best Sound Editing
Argo, Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
Django Unchained, Wylie Stateman
Life of Pi, Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
Skyfall, Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
Zero Dark Thirty, Paul N.J. Ottosson

Best Sound Mixing
Argo, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
Les Misérables, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
Life of Pi, Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
Lincoln, Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
Skyfall, Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson

Best Visual Effects
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White
Life of Pi, Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott
The Avengers, Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
Prometheus, Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
Snow White and the Huntsman, Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson

The Waldorf

One of East Vancouver's cultural hubs is closing this month. The Waldorf will be closing its doors January 20th. It's a shame. The Waldorf has only been reopened for a couple of years and in those years it has created a great place to eat, dance, party, listen to local talent, look at art and even screen local films. Vancouver has been loosing its culture year by year. Last year alone we witnessed the last movie theatre on Granville Street close and one of the best theatre houses close, while other business tried to find new ways to bring people in.

We say we want local talent showcased but with venues closing how is that possible? This is in no thanks to our current city leaders. We should be focusing our efforts on culture, not bike routes. This part of the city is zoned for mix-use commercial purposes not condos. But in the last few months the Hastings and clark area, has had more and more residential developers plopping signs down advertising future condos. For example The Brave Bull House of Steaks, a restaurant that was frequented by port workers and still had $9.99 steaks was sold to developers. 

 May Robertson had this to say “The Waldorf closing is a big loss to Vancouver’s growing creative community … [The] city is exploring ways to support the Waldorf continuing as one of Vancouver’s most unique and vibrant cultural spaces.” But where was he when The Pantages was sold. That was the last vaudeville theatres from that decade in North America. But just because it was in the DTES nobody saved it. That was heritage. I hope someone from the city will speak up and stamp a heritage declaration on this site. The Waldorf's Tiki Bar had been around since the 1940s. The 1955 renovation of the 1947 structure is probably the oldest in existence in Western Canada.

As someone who was born in this city and has lived here my whole life I have seen what could of been a thriving culture turn into high rise condos. It's getting harder and harder for me to recommend fun cultural activities to tourists who are looking for "Vancouver" gems.

Award season

It's that time of year again awards season!

Here's a list of the films you should see. I still even need to catch up.

POSSIBLE NOMINATIONS FOR BEST PICTURE
Amour
Arbitrage
Argo
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Beasts of the Southern Wild
The Deep Blue Sea
Django Unchained
Flight
Hitchcock
The Hobbit
Hyde Park on Hudson
The Impossible
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Moonrise Kingdom
The Paperboy
Quartet
Rust and Bone
The Sessions
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Silver Linings Playbook
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty