Happy holidays, everyone! Very few posts this year. I hope to change that in 2010.
Just read that Big Finish, who published my Doctor Who story "Flashpoint" in their Short Trips anthology series, lose their licence to sell the books after Dec. 31, 2009.
The books are selling for cheap right now on the BF website. Afterwards, expect to find them on eBay.
Big Finish has been publishing hardcover Doctor Who short story anthologies since 2002. With their fiction licence to publish the books about to expire, they're publishing Re:Collections in May. It features a highlight story from each of the 28 previous anthologies, including works by Justin Richards, Marc Platt, Jonathan Morris and Paul Magrs.
I'm quite flattered, indeed. Thanks again to Ian and Jeri for their assistance with the final draft.
(I wrote about the initial publication of "Flashpoint" in a previous post.)
And after 13 years in Victoria, I'm experiencing a real Canadian winter again...
For any fan fiction or Doctor Who fans out there, I've put together Myth Makers: Retrospective. It features highlight stories and artwork from issues of Myth Makers released between 1991-2001. I laid out the anthology using OpenOffice.org 3.0, and the artists were kind enough to rescan their original artwork. The anthology is available for free in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format.
(The file resolution is a web-friendly 100 dpi. A two-part 200 dpi version is available upon e-mail request.)
Uploaded a final selection of pictures from my Europe 2006 trip on Flickr, including Nîmes, Arles, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Bayeux, the D-Day beaches, Mont-St-Michel, Antwerp and Amsterdam.
Read all about my excellent European adventure in my travel journal.
This past September, friends and I did a road trip through Germany and Austria over 10 days. We got a good deal with Air Transat, with whom I booked a return flight to Amsterdam in 2006. Three of us would fly into Frankfurt and meet up with two others along the way. Leaving Frankfurt, our itinerary included Würzburg, Rothenburg, Nürnberg, Passau, Vienna, Salzburg, Neuschwanstein castle, Dachau and Munich. We had the fortune of staying with friends in Vienna and Munich, diligent tour guides who balanced our visit with popular tourist attractions, and restaurants, pubs and nightclubs enjoyed by the locals.
The majority of our trip is documented in pictures, a selection of which I've posted on Flickr. It was a very memorable, worthwhile experience, and I hope to return to Germany, Austria and perhaps Prague one day. If you're considering travelling there, I highly recommend Rick Steves' travel guides. He provides valuable insight and is frank about what's worth visiting.
I started a travel journal, but as we were often driving, exploring or spending nights out, I didn't get far . . .
05 Sep 2007
After a field hockey tournament in West Vancouver during Labour Day weekend, Ted, Chris and I headed to the airport for 7 a.m. With only carry-on luggage, we boarded the Air Transat flight to Frankfurt, Germany around 9 a.m., with a stop in Edmonton.
Very uncomfortable flight, with us three tall guys sharing a row, and the people seated in front of us not hesitating to lower the backs of their seats. Arrived in Frankfurt around 5 a.m. local time with a crick in my neck.
At the airport, after arranging for a car rental, we made our way to our assigned parking spot only to find a black Porsche Carrera S2 . . . which wasn't our car unfortunately. What an experience the autobahn could have been though!
After coffee and pastries, we picked up another friend, Ashley, from the hostel near the central train station - in the red light district. Reading in our guide books (including the indispensable Rick Steves) that Frankfurt is a typical big city with skyscrapers and modern architecture, we hit the autobahn.
I've created a photoalbum of my Europe pictures on Flickr. Flickr is now owned by Yahoo!, so I was able to use my existing account. Uploading, annotating and organizing pics was very easy to do.
Have uploaded pics from Amsterdam, Bruges, Brussels and Paris. More will follow soon.
The picture at right was taken in Paris, on the Alexandre III bridge en route to Les Invalides.
Happy holidays, everyone! The second half of my Europe journal is finally up. Pictures will be up soon. Deciding whether to post thumbnail links on the journal or take advantage of an online photo album.
Possible trips in 2007 include Ireland, Germany and Austria.
The Pot Calling The Kettle Black... Christmas
While Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life play on TV over Christmas break, the horror film Black Christmas hits theatres on Christmas day. Christian groups, understandably, are making a fuss (from IMDB.com):
Let's assume for a moment that this isn't a publicity stunt by the film's producers or the aforementioned Christian groups.
Black Christmas is a remake of the 1974 original, a creepy slasher flick set in a sorority house. Bob Clark shot the film in Toronto and later directed A Christmas Story, another holiday season TV staple. With the recent surge of '70s horror film remakes and their popularity at the box office, it was inevitable that producers would option Black Christmas. Unfortunately, as with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, studios are dispensing with atmosphere and tension in favour of quick edits, slick design and ample gore. They feel the need to give the killer a backstory, a motive for his madness. Apparently, a crazy stranger isn't scary anymore.
So who would bother seeing such R-rated schlock? Teens, horror film fans and gore hounds. They dig this junk and will check it out no matter what. How else to explain the endless monster B-movies of the '50s and splatter movies of the '80s. Someone's paying to see them. But, by making a public outcry over a forgettable film which doesn't warrant the attention, Christian groups are giving Black Christmas the publicity the producers are craving. They're drawing curious filmgoers to the theatres and video stores to see what all the fuss is about.
Black Christmas's yuletide-themed murders and December 25 release date are merely gimmicks—the latest twist on the tired slasher-movie plot. What's more, this has all happened before. Among the myriad post-Halloween clones was Silent Night, Deadly Night, featuring an axe-wielding killer in a Santa suit. Parent groups picketed theatres showing the film and it was pulled two weeks after release. Although such a sleazy, gory, tasteless film would have had a brief box-office life anyway, it remains notorious to this day and is sought out by the curious because of the protests.
If parent and Christian groups were truly concerned about "our most sacred holiday," they wouldn't waste their breath on "ill founded" horror films, but direct their ire at Hallmark, Toys 'R' Us, Wal-Mart and the like for their part in commercializing Christmas. At department stores who set up for the holidays immediately after American Thanksgiving and subject their employees to a month of Christmas musak. Or more appropriately, why not publicize causes that deserve it at this time of year, such as local charities and food banks!
Christmas is about family and helping the less fortunate. The focus on shopping at the local mega-mall rather than donating to a local charity, helping to keep the homeless out of the cold, is a far greater insult to the holiday season than the senseless slayings by an imaginary character.
Entries for Nîmes, Arles, Bordeaux, Bayeux, Mont-St-Michel and Antwerp will be posted in the coming weeks, along with a sampling of pictures.
The picture at right was taken in Brussels' central market square. Earlier that day, I spotted an escargot vendor. Didn't check to see what kind of condiments were offered.
After wrapping up an IT contract at the end of August, I took a month-long vacation, backpacking through Amsterdam, Belgium and France. I planned the trip all summer, receiving plenty of helpful advice from friends who backpacked across Europe in recent years. Was able to put my French Immersion to use, staying in cities all around France.
Kept a detailed journal and took many, many pictures. I'll post an illustrated account of my journey in the coming weeks under Journals.
A shorter version of the following article appeared in the Halloween issue of the Martlet
It's Tuesday, Halloween. Still nursing a hangover from the weekend, you confine your celebrations to a scary movie screening. Cable's best offering is Addams Family Values, and you're fed up with The Grudge-style cheap scares passing for horror cinema these days. Time to raid the video store of the following frightful classics, recommended for lights-out viewing.
The Haunting (1963)
Based on the Shirley Jackson novel, The Haunting of Hill House, and directed by Robert Wise, who would next helm The Sounds of Music. Clever lighting and camera angles imbue the imposing, neo-Gothic mansion with a sinister presence. Unease sets in as day turns to night: the house fills with sonorous footfalls, characters are awoken by the cries of children and doors creak open of their own accord. Beware the computer graphics cartoon that is the remake.
Halloween (1978)
Tranquil suburbia becomes a shadowy, spectral nightmare in the John Carpenter classic. The chilling piano score, the wraithlike Michael Myers and an emphasis on scares over blood resulted in the highest-grossing independent movie of its day. Jamie Lee Curtis's debut film, then 19. Major studios were quick churn out bloodier, inferior clones. Forget the Halloween sequels and their attempts to explain Michael's mentality. As Chris Rock said, "What ever happened to crazy? What, you can't be crazy no more?"
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Shot in black and white, Dead's low budget, natural settings (Pennsylvania) and unknown actors actually benefit the film, giving it a documentary feel. George Romero's first feature revolutionized horror cinema, with its unrelenting dread and scenes of flesh-eating zombies. Holed up in a farmhouse, while the undead amass outside, the main characters struggle between surviving the night and maintaining their sanity.
The Exorcist (1973)
A harrowing, unsettling film, as potent today as it was 30 years ago. Director William Friedkin pulls no punches in depicting a foul-mouthed, pea-soup-spewing, head-spinning demon's possession of a 12-year-old girl. Fourteen-year-old Linda Blair was nominated for an Academy Award, but likely lost out when it was discovered another actress dubbed the demon's voice. Avoid the overblown, laughable Exorcist II at all costs.
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
"There's a bad moon on the rise." The English countryside is best enjoyed during the day, as a pair of American backpackers learn in John Landis's black-humour-laced lupine thriller. Ghoulish hallucinations and the main character's guilty conscious collide in a porno theatre. Rick Baker, who designed the werewolf-transformation effect, won the first ever Academy Award for Makeup.
Alien (1979)
H.R. Giger's brooding, biomechanical imagery comes to life in Ridley Scott's lavish production — a horror spin on Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. A taut thriller, with strong performances and several bloody, slimy surprises. "In space, no one can hear you scream."
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Despite its reputation, the original Chainsaw is relatively gore free. Instead, it's a disturbing, claustrophobic affair that will leave you fearing hitchhikers, highway truck stops and family dinners at isolated countryside houses. Oh, and meat. Like Psycho, aspects of the story were inspired by real-life murderer Ed Gein.
Se7en (1995)
Depositing the viewer into morbid crime-scene photos, David Fincher's follow-up to Alien³ is memorable for its seedy, grimy production design, literate script (Dante's The Divine Comedy) and deranged villain. Featuring Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Pitt before they became tabloid mainstays. The twist ending will stay with you for days after the credits roll.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Behind the piercing eyes of renowned psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter lies a vicious cannibal. Locked behind a transparent cell, he must settle for preying on the mind — opposed to the liver — of the rare visitor. It's the brutal hints of his potential which make him so terrifying. To date, the only thriller movie to sweep the Academy Awards — and deservedly so.
Also recommended: Psycho, The Shining, Black Christmas, The Vanishing (1988) and Ravenous.
Supposed to hit 40°C in Kamloops tomorrow - yowza!
In the April issue of the Martlet, I interviewed Stephen Carroll of The Weakerthans, a Winnipeg rock group who opened a few shows for The Tragically Hip this summer. As my first "rock interview," I thought it went quite well. I researched the band, read some of their older interviews and avoided any "What's it like being in a rock band?"-ish questions.
Plans to interview Halifax's Joel Plaskett Emergency in May fell through, unfortunately. Didn't stop me from enjoying their May 6 show in Victoria though.
The following article appeared in the July issue of the Martlet.
Over 100 new cars filled the UVic Fine Arts parking lot, gleaming in the 30-degree sun, inviting a steady stream of locals on June 25.
The auto show, the first in Victoria in over a decade, ran from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Porsches and Pontiacs, Hondas and Hyundais, Minis and Mitsubishis reflected off the sunglasses of onlookers. The Rotary Club of Victoria raffled off a Smart Car and Jack FM provided tunes.
"Planning an event like that properly takes three to four months," said Dave Adamowicz who, with fellow business students Paul Taylor and Brette Carrigan, organized the show in only six weeks for their summer entrepreneurship course. Taylor's father suggested an auto show for the course project, which was assigned the first day.
"It only took a five-minute discussion to realize that's what we wanted to do," said Adamowicz.
The first two weeks of the project involved selling the auto show idea to Victoria dealerships and the mapping of expenses. Taylor and Adamowicz met with sales managers and presented a dealership participation proposal, which outlined who they were, their motivation for organizing an auto show and how they would market the event.
The proposal, a "work in progress," was constantly updated and refined as more dealerships got on board�16 in all, including one in Nanaimo.
It took "three to four more days than we thought it would for them to decide," said Adamowicz. "We had to really persist."
In addition to a class presentation, detailing the experience of selling the project to the dealerships, Taylor, Adamowicz and Carrigan turned in a 10-page report to professor Ana Maria Peredo, which was very well received.
The remainder of the project involved bookings, confirmations and set-up for the auto show. A website was set up, plus 5,000 brochures and 60 posters were distributed.
Sponsors for the event included the Times Colonist, Driving.ca and A-Channel News.
The Fine Arts parking lot was secured for the weekend, with dealers parking their cars and prepping for the event on Saturday
evening. The group was not permitted to outsource security, so Taylor and Adamowicz dedicated their night to watching over the cars, with campus security making hourly rounds.
A fantastic turnout, remarked David Glabais, sales manager of Honda City, who "jumped on full force" for the project.
"We got a lot of the people in town that don't get to see our vehicles," said Mike Delmaire of Saunders Subaru of Colwood.
Positive feedback from attendees reaffirmed the hard work and dedication put into such an ambitious project.
"People were super friendly," said Adamowicz.
Looking ahead, Taylor and Adamowicz have applied for a business licence under the name Dynamic Planning and are organizing another auto show for next year.
"We made so many connections with sales managers," noted Adamowicz. "Prior to this, I never had to sell anything."
