my reality

ahhh, i'm still addicted to the biggest loser.





in fact, i'm beginning to realize that the ONLY televistion shows i watch are of the "reality' variety. I must say that my favorites are competition ... Biggest loser, so you think you can dance, project runway, next top model and even Paris Hilton my new BFF..

Then there is my guilty pleasure, The Hills.


what can i do? In some ways i think it's helping me with my job... shooting a 'variety' show which really doesn't have much of an identity when looking at the gamete of show choices. The "look" of reality has improved significantly with the availability and affordability of HD, thus opening up new possibilities to creating a look that doesn't scream CHEAP or CANADIAN.

Today i was really happy with what we shot. Reel worthy. so that was cool. My horoscope this morning said that a stranger or colleague would say somthing to try and hurt me and my instinct would be to bite back... but dont do it.

oddly enough i didn't encounter that at all. in fact a stranger told me my lighting was "beautiful" and my colegue trusted me to shoot the last act on my own. without director. I dont know if this means i'm due for something bad... or the horoscope was just humourously the opposite. In any case, it was a good day.

and im finishing this great day indulging in fat people. :) thank you america and ABC network.


ps. it's competing with the last hour of So you think you can dance Canada... and that show seriously is awesome. Dancing is sooo much more dynamic then singing. and Blake went to Cawthra temporarily. hahahahaha until he got EJECTED in gr. 9!. Apparently another Cawthra-ite was on the show last week... packing the heat mike coda. awesome.

girls love shoes

alright, enough is enough.
i've decided i'm making it my mission to learn to walk in heels.

i'm 28 years old and have yet in my life to successfully make it thorough ONE night wearing higher then a 1/2 inch kitten heel. i recognize this is a start but please. there are so many amazing shoes to be had and i hate not getting in on that action.

especially after seeing the amazing shoes my good friend Tiff found that are knock off Dior's are are simply fabulous.
(check out Tiff's shoes/blog here: www.girlinthecity.blogspot.com )



where to start? shoping i'd say!!! I think my safest bet would be to start with John Fluevog's classic WIDE heel...



although THESE christian Louboutin pumps are f'n FABULOUS... and only $975!!! haha

OC. O-C-T. O-C-T-O-B-E-R!

wow.
my last post was exclaiming that it was september and here we are... October. a whole month flew by and snap! it's practically thanksgiving.

A quick rundown of recent times;
I finished working on Scooby Doo 3. A great show after it all - although a rather anticlimactic finish with three days of green screen following the wrap party. A sweet Tshirt as a crew gift though. thanks to the young cast.

I came back to toronto to start my adventure as DP/Camera op on King Kaboom season two. My initial week began with Dusty here on a mini-vacay. We definitely lived it up, on Toronto Island, hanging in Port Credit, a few days downtown and a few games of pool. the week flew by (as time always does) and I watched him leave on a jet plane back to Vancouver. :( a sad goodbye ... but i'm so grateful he was able to come out for that week. It made my transition easier for sure...

So King Kaboom kicked off with our first week shooting Sideshow acts, magicians, mindblowers, and HOLY SHIT! kinda stuff. My first week as a DOP proved to be intense and challenging, but in a good way. I really can't be grateful enough for the opportunity Production League is giving me. Lighting my own sets, operating the camera, troubleshooting, working alone. There is soo much to learn and experience. This is truly a gift of a job opportunity.

At the same time i began my cleanse! wowee! I'm on day 9 of 30 and going strong. So far soo good... keeping off booze has been pretty easy with work in the way of my social life... the gym is a pain cause it's a 20 minute (at least!) drive away but Yoga keeps me limber. ish. I've been photographing my results so i'll post them here once i'm at day 30.

sadly, photographing my fatty clementine seems to be the only opportunity i've had to use my camera these days. as depressing as it is. I'm hoping as the show continues and my schedule is more clear i'll find a chance to get on it again. Although i suppose i'm not in a rush. The work environment and the constant learning i'm doing is really taking over my mind these days.

This week we are on week one of our BANDS portion of the show. Luckily there is a lighting director to deal with the 'stage' lighting we use so i'm able to focus on camera work. I'm also lucky enough to be on the jib -- giving me a chance to try it out. Nothing like Hot gears sadly, it's a bit more ghetto pan tilt type thing but wow. it's been really interesting. I'd say difficult, but I dont want to sound negative. It's simply frustrating not to be good at something that you want to do well... and i suppose to give myself credit nobody really is perfect the first time. The best part so far has been that as the week progresses i'm improving. and getting to shoot 2-3 bands each day really lets me get better quickly. I'm definitely not even in the "good at it" category yet, but i'm definitely learning to speak to the jib so we can communicate more efficiently. It's like learning to walk... i'm still kinda stumbly, but i'm begining to get the hang of it.

So here we are. October 1. three months to go this year... and how will they go indeed.

Below are pictures from Dusty's most recent toronto adventure


On the Ferry


The Big Smoke


Bike Cruisin' on Toronto Island


GIANT red door on the lighthouse


Looking for Haloween Costumes... ??

it's freaking september!!

back to friday night slash saturday morning. a bit more reasonable this week I'm looking at 12:37 on the clock... a break for the last week (short week mind you!) of the show. and Pay day today. "employee appreciation day" i freaking LOVE that saying. it kinda makes me happy even though it's just a cheque hand out.

i gotta say, i'm really glad i got this show. although i've noticed my spending habits severly increase when i have money (hello cigarettes?!?! stupid!!) i'm liking having some seriously LARGE paychecks right now. thankyou film biz. it's making me feel rich (even though i totally know i'm B.R.O.K.E)...
So rich in fact that i'm checking out a condo tommorrow...
www.liveatstella.com
it's a fantasy. i know. but still i'm intersted in looking at it... awesome location and really not totally UNaffordable.
er. if i had money that is.

I got gas for $1.32.4 today. like 15 cents cheaper then it was this morning driving to work. and I got 556 km to my tank this time. HECK YES! i love you sliver bucket!

oh a lame note i'm feeling very fat right now. because i am... gee, it couldn't have anythign to do with the late night beers could it?? eww. cleanse? is it possible for me? i've had two failed attempts since my last one that truely counted last november... almost a year? woah, gross.

my phone sucks so many balls it's starting to hurt. i want to throw it at something, but i need it. boooooo.

I read like three different horoscopes today from different papers/magazines. and all of them made me feel good and/or curious. I kinda like prediciting what the predictions are hinting at... so far my outlook looks positive. (at least my invented one) ;p

party tommorrow night at lamplighter! wrap party also at Zin lounge and i'm finally going to get to see the rock laser show at the planetarium. it's been like 2 years that i've been trying to see it!
and it better not suck. ;p


2 more days of scooby dooooooo. i miss my friends.


me in seattle below:

happy anniversary Katie and Vancouver

So it occured to me on my drive home from work;
(ps. i am again drinking a beer at 5:30am having just arrived home and am in 'reflection' mode)

yesterday marked my official 4 year anniversary of moving to vancouver. 4 years! what a wild ride. i dont think i'm even close to the image of the me i left in toronto in 2004... yet somehow i'm still drawn back once in awhile... and still carry friendships with all my favorite people.
I'm reminded of my drive out here... with bronny. That was a great trip. and i'm really glad i drove out. I think the extended travel gave me time to adjust to the move (10 days!)... although i totally cried after i dropped bronny at the airport. That was the first moment i felt alone in this new city. How amazing the time has past though.
It's strange also to think of how my time here has unraveled... and how after being on such a "track" in toronto, my life here feels a bit more like an adventure. Never very reliable or stable (re: comfortable)... but somehow there are times I can't imagine wanting to live anywhere else. The west has it's attractive qualities. but I suppose it's truely the glutton for punishment colony. ( and seriously, the weather SUCKS. almost always. Highest suiside rate in the country. If you love a white or grey sky you've love it here. the sun? maybe twice a week. and the moon? maybe once in a month)

I think i'm reasoning that i'm drawn to Toronto for the comforts I feel there. and the ease in which I can feel like "my old self" again...with my old friends (in their new lives)... and my family (also in a new life). There are positive elements to me that I think really blossom in Toronto. DRIVE being number one. Of all the many amazing people i meet in vancouver, my inspiration from them comes almost always more in their survial abilities. Where as in toronto, people have a success driven attitude. I get a real kick out of the city for it's "center of the universe" attidude. even if it does annoy shit out of me occationally.

It's a real debacle the way I am so torn. There are positive and negative to every equation I've tried.

One other thing I want to mention is how much I miss my family. It is strange because I never really missed them in this way before. I really like my brother's relationship with his girlfriend, and my parents continue to change... Things I never really noticed before become very centered in my mind. I'm excited to be back home with them again soon.

Ok the sun is rising...and it's not too cloudy. the sun will be out at some time tommorrow. lets hope i manage to wake up for it! ;p

Oh! and long drive to seattle tommorrow! It's the last weekend of summer and dusty and I are heading to Seattle... Tiff and Ali are already there squatting @ Ali's cousin's house. I'm not sure where we're gonna stay quite yet but I"m serioulsy not caring. there's a cute bar by the market i want to check out... the Pink door ?? yeah burlesque cabaret! ;)

good morning.
zzz....zzzzzzzzzzzz

Finally, a weekend... 55 hours that I wont be working.

oyi.
i just got home from work. a classic Friderday... it's 6:08am saturday morning. the sun is on it's way but it's obviously overcast so it's bright without feeling quite like it's morning.
i'm drinking a beer and reveling in my week... finally over. god, work weeks are long. It's so bizzare to be back working as a 2nd after most of my year has been spent as an NFA, unemployed bum. Or working as an operator out in toronto. As ghetto as the gig is, it's actually soo awesome. I think dreaming of becomming an operator out west is going to be pretty much reality for awhile... however the Stills world is still calling my name. I can hear it. It's faint in the distance (and my ears feel numb and deaf thanks to three weeks of channel 1 in my left ear and channel 8 (stattttiiccccc!!!) in my right ear) but it's definetly calling nonetheless. I'm getting wind of the cake walk (generally) it may be to score a union membership in 667 (camera union in toronto) as a stills photographer, then transfer out west... so my time in toronto shall definetly be a no-holds-barred attempt at a real career/life/backdoor debacle of tomfoolery towards some kinda job i'm proud of.

not that i'm not proud of being a 2nd assistant. slash loader. slash i worked my ass off to get this far and i'm so new (3 whole years!) it's painful to consider how low on the todem i am... time. ah time. time you are a bitch. you are slow when I need speed and wayy to fast when I want to revel. I suppose my impatience is really what gets the better of me most of the time...
all I can say is -- i'm STOKED to be operating on King Kaboom. Really. I can't wait.

i'm also stoked to be drinking a beer at 6am. mostly cause it will help me fall into my 4 hours of beauty sleep before I get up for a jam packed saturday.... Starting with a massage from Sarah. thank freaking hell. Moving onto my car appointment... North shore fitness world gym/pool/hot tub... then a BBq and Jen Saltmans new place in... wait for it, Surrey. :)

ahh, ok. the time has come. zzzzz.... goodnight. :)

Tonight I went to a Jones bones show in chiliwack... but LAST night;

Dear friends,
i'm writing this note in stickies while i attempt to re=connect to the internet.

Interesting day today. chats about the union... two units...
actually it's been a long week. a long two weeks. and there's three more to go. but the ladies are AWESOME. Carrie and Adriene, you are fabulous. And Laura, i hope you can make it out, or I can make it out... :P We must hang out.

For the record i'm working on Scooby Doo 3: The begining. straight to DVD... no. actually it's hitting TV first, then DVD. it's attemping Highschool Musical fame, slash effort. but the jig is up. i think that's gimick is over, yet somehow, i'm still planning on checking it out. seriously, i haven't seen one or two but this movie is making me remember how rad scooby doo just is. and i'm tempted to check out freddy prince/sarah michelle just to see how they did it.

I'm also insanely jelous at the idea of being 15/16 and getting cast as the lead in scooby doo. maybe it's too beyond this generation, but somehow i think it's just classic enough that it's the TIME OF THEIR LIVES. if these kids go nowhere else, they f'n were the STARS in scooby doo. Velma? Daphne? Fred? Shaggy? oh yeah. come on gang! for SCOOBY! haha. jajaj. gracias kunder. viva drama.

I'm stoked about seeing Ed Stills everday. Ed, you rule. one day, i hope to be as wise and in tune to exposure as you. seriously, you rock.

I'm into inventing words these days. today I figured "transportationally challengened" was a good way to describe van. no forward thinking here... we figured everyone would be fine with the bicycle. the good news is noone is very impressed with the hummer. I'd equate it to the fur coat in the late 80s... "i've got money honey, and i'm WEARING it, or it's WEARING you." :0 Why does toronto think it's cool? It's not cool toronto! i'm kinda shamed that my neighbor owns one. i can't even IMAGINE trying to park one of those in this city. "small car only" is the way of life.


ps. Pieter Stathis is leaving our show. I'm dissapionted because it's the first time i've worked with Pieter in IA, but he's leaving to DP an amazing doc on Darwin. i'm totally jealous, he's traveling for 3 months and heading to the galapagos. There's only one other person ever that i've known that tried to get there. Will Litchfield is a globetrotter. I'm high fiving THAT. and Karl wants the waste ends... I wonder what it's for...? Norm? are you looking for film stock?... psssssst; loader. and Jan Kiesesr is awesome! no lie, he's the first DP i've worked with in IA who smiles every now and then. he's also the first to ever shake my hand at the end of the day. Is that sick or what.
i'm talking too much.
xo

ok. it's bed time