Roses and Thorns August 28 - Sept. 10

Okay, here goes the two week recap.

Rose

A HUGE rose this week was when my cousin A.J.'s wife Kerry contacted us to say that Jim n' I could stay in their basement suite through production! 

This is awesome for many reasons...

1. The suite is kitkat friendly, so we won't have to abandon les chats! 

2. Our producers seriously need to cut corners and save money however they can, (which is part of the reason we're looking to cast Vancouver-based actors in secondary roles), and A.J. & Kerry's incredibly generous offer allows us to crash there rent free!

3. In order to obtain better tax credits, we have to shoot outside of Vancouver - and yet, Kelowna is too far, because then crew accommodations would need to be paid for. So it looks like we'll end up shooting in Maple Ridge. And guess where A.J. & Kerry live? Yes! Perfect!

4. The suite has a soaker tub... which I am mentioning mostly for Jim's sake, who probably couldn't survive a weekend, let alone two months without a (scalding) hot bath. 

Even though we've had many nice cat-care offers and suggestions (thanks, btw!), the ability to bring our toonces along with us is definitely the most ideal. While my folks house/cat sat for over two weeks when we went on our weddingmoon, at least our fids (sorry Michelle, I know you call 'em 'feathered kids', but I've stolen your words and adapted it for 'furry kids') got to stay at home. Meanwhile, two months in a strange environment with unfamiliar faces wouldn't be fair to them.... or us. We'd miss 'em too much.

So yeah, we're both very happy, happy, happy! What a relief!!

Thorn

I recently joined this FB cause that asks it's members to report other FB groups that advocate cruelty to animals. Anyhow, I got an email from them this week with a list of groups to report, but in order to report them, you have to actually visit their page to click on the report button at the bottom. While they were all terrible in their own twisted ways, one in particular had some very graphic step-by-step pictures that I had to quickly scroll past. 

While the rational voice in my head whispers that some people are mentally ill and should be institutionalized, that quiet whisper is drown out by a much louder voice screaming that some fuckers really deserve to suffer a very slow and painful death. What fucking asshole would torture an animal to death and then post the pictures for all to see? Fuck, that disgusts me! (Sorry, no *'s today... not for them. They deserve every curse word I can muster... those shithead asshole fuckers.)

I'd say I would think twice before visiting any of these sites in the future, and yet I was relieved to learn that the group has since been removed because so many of us reported it. Of course this won't stop that sick, horrible, evil person from doing what they do... but at least it'll prevent them from spreading their hateful shit on FB...  for a little while. 

Rose

Blegh... I'm still shaking off the yuckies from that last thorn. *shudder*

Okay, so as mentioned in an earlier post, the news that our distributer is finally satisfied with the script was a pretty big rose. But since I already shared that with you, there's not much more to add.

Thorn

Due to conflicting schedule commitments, the first actress we approached for the role of Sarah had to pass. We're not too worried though. We know that whoever we get will be the right person. Jim n' I have a couple other great contenders in mind (who were originally our personal top picks), but our producers wanted us to start off by aiming as big as possible. So we did. We aimed high, but she's busy, so now we move on.

Rose

The first actor we approached for the role of Finnley loved the script and really wants to do it... but for more money than we're offering. Which I guess to be fair, we are low-balling everyone -- no one is getting paid the big bucks for this film. When a $35M movie is considered small, at $2.9M give or take, our budget is microscopic, if it's even on the radar at all. 

Anyhow, I guess there has been a bit of a negotiations dance, and now we're just waiting to hear back. Apparently he's in Venice right now, so his agent is having a hard time tracking him down.  So even though he could very easily turn around and say 'thanks, but no thanks', I'm still marking this down as a rose, because he got back to us the day after we sent him the script with a "Yes. I love it and I want to do it... but..." The first 3/4's of that statement makes us feel very good about the quality of our script.

Thorn

There's been a lot of bad stuff in the news lately. While I can't remember the specific examples, I know there was one day last week where I was just bummed out by everything I read. Sometimes we all need a dose of happy news.  

Rose

As Sept. 18th marks the world-wide Free Marc Emery rallies, I've taken it upon myself to organize a lil' something for Kelowna, which I've started pulling together over the last couple weeks. I really look forward to meeting the people I've been collaborating with online, who range in age from 25 - 53. Together we hope to pull off a mellow, educational event to show our support, and raise awareness of how Bill S-10 will cost Canadian taxpayers billions of dollars just to fill our prisons with thousands of non-violent offenders. 

While there certainly won't be a hundred of us... or probably even 50... actually, I'd be quite happy with 20... I'm just relieved that I've managed to find some local like-minded people out there. It's reassuring to know that it won't be just me standing on a street corner handing out flyers. And no, Jim won't be in attendance. While he supports this anti-prohibition cause 100%, rallies and protesting have never been his thing. Plus, he still has a million storyboards to finish drawing, so I'd much rather see him invest his energy into that. Besides, we do *everything* together - I kinda like having my own thing! 

While you don't need a permit to protest (according to section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, both under 2b (Expression) and 2c (Assembly)  ;) -- I think I'll probably contact the police at some point this week to just give 'em a heads up. Seems like the polite thing to do, even though it's gonna be a very small n' low-key event. 

Not that I expect to see any of your friendly faces there, but if you're interested in popping by, it'll be held between 12 - 5 in front of the Kelowna Federal Building at 471 Queensway Ave., by the bus loop downtown. 

Anyway, the whole point of this rose is just that I'm happy to have found others to collaborate with next weekend. I've never organized anything like this before, so I'm kinda excited and nervous and hopeful and curious... and lots of things. 

Thorn

Her: "Can you please get back to me on that project I sent you last week?"

Me: "You didn't send me a project last week. Could you please resend it?"

One month later...

Her: "What's the status on that project I sent you? I look forward to your thoughts."

Me: "If this is the same project you were talking about a month ago, you still haven't sent it to me. Did you want to try resending it? Please let me know when you get this email."

Silence.

Just a quick sampling of a reoccuring thorn in my side... 

Rose

Slurping up the last remains of summertime, sitting on the swing, blanket on our laps, looking at the stars, toasting the future.

And dats it for another two weeks!