I’m Afraid

I’m Afraid

I’m afraid that it’ll be cliche
I’m afraid that it won’t be art
Maybe i’ll never be
Embroiled in controversy
Public enemy number one on the hit list
Something remiss? The look in your eye says
You’ll never be the first in line to buy
Because it’s just not good enough to be
Art, I’m afraid…that it’ll be cliche.

(Slightly Creepy) Autographed Photo Request

Email I received this morning:

“On Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 3:17 AM, REHM, DALE <dale.rehm@hp.com> wrote:
To Whom it May Concern,
I enjoy Ms. Wu’s work and I am wondering if I may request an autographed photograph.  Thank you for your time.

Regards,
Dale Rehm
HP”
(mailing address removed)

WARNING FLAGS that went off in my head:

1.) I have not done any noteworthy acting work
2.) I have not done any noteworthy acting work that is visible online
3.) He doesn’t exist on Google except on others’ blog posts about creepy autographed photo requests. (see http://erincronican.blogspot.com/2009/03/really-who-are-you.html – she received the exact same letter, and has a theory as to why someone would send out these requests to (mostly) unknown actors)
4.) Should he really be using a work email for this type of request? HP Should Get Mad Right Now.

See, if you’re a friend and you want a headshot, cool. My grandma has one in her living room too. If I’m famous, cool. Famous people do signings and appearances. But Really Random Stranger Wanting Autographed Photo Of Young Woman Who Is A Wannabe Actor just doesn’t sound good. Hence the “slightly creepy”.

Anyway, Sorry Mister Dale Rehm, you are not getting a photograph, and this blog post is staying online so other actors know they’re not the only ones receiving your strange and widespread request.

*EDIT* 6:32 AM: have emailed HP’s Corporate Compliance / business ethics department regarding employee email address abuse.

June 2009 – An experimental week without Facebook and Twitter

I declared last Sunday, on Facebook, that I would be going on Facebook hiatus. I didn’t say for how long, but in my mind, I’d be quitting FB and Twitter cold turkey for one week. I am 5 days into this experiment. I find myself resisting that URL address bar like an unsmoked half pack in the back upper corner of my closet, kept for emergency use only. Nagging at my mind every couple minutes. But mind you, I don’t smoke. Never have. I know my addictive personality well enough to not bother trying. Just thought it was an appropriate simile for habit breaking. But I haven’t faltered yet. Those links are everywhere, though. EVERYONE trying to be someone is on Twitter, to the point of ridiculosity. Well, not really…just businesses, oddly enough. CKNW, CNN, BBC Science, BBC Health, Daily Planet…(my personal favourites) …and there was that one week where everyone hopped the bandwagon at the same time. T’was an odd week.

But I couldn’t have picked a more interesting week to go FB/Twit free. I just couldn’t break the habit of thinking that my thoughts all needed to be expressed and thrown into some intangible online world, that, excepting global nuclear meltdown circumstances coinciding with the time of my death, will exist beyond me, providing that inactive accounts don’t get deleted after a certain period of time, and there isn’t a massive server crash affecting all the backup copies of my accounts…etc. SO…I took to writing down all my thoughts on index cards. GOD do I love index cards. For some reason of kinaesthetic x visual learning it works for me. And here are some of the thoughts that rampaged through a manic mind going through withdrawl. Actually, happily, this week seemed like one of those rare weeks that I wasn’t overly manic or depressive. Actually, no. I take that back. I may have thrown a temper tantrum on monday. But after that things seemed to clear up, mood wise. Hopefully it lasts a little longer this time.

From the index cards:
June 23 1700h: Fascinating that so many things – economic phenomena etc. can be described/explained by little lines on a graph. Really cool.
June 24 10ooh: How the hell did I injure my knee? Left inside tendon/ligament thingy sore upon awakening. Did I sleepwalk?
1110h: There are a lot of funny looking asian men in ECON103.
1230h: I really enjoy talking to professors in office hours.
1345h: Correction: I enjoy talking to ungrumpy professors in office hours.
1400h: For every short and cute asian woman that exists, there exists an equally short, not-so-cute-asian man.
1415h: When you can’t figure me out: The secret to women is that we say things we don’t mean and we mean things we don’t say. But not all the time.
1415h: Today I feel very happy and calm and content.
1710h: I am quite possibly…floored. On gradebook, if “MT” stands for midterm, I just got 34/34, i.e. 100%. WTF?! In CMPT120! And so far I have 100% in the course! This has Never Happened Before. Not even close. Never.
1734h: Just discovered my flash animations don’t work on the CSIL computers. Not pleased.
1756h: The secret to not being frustrated and irritated all the time…getting laid.
June 25 1000h: Farrah Fawcett died. Cancer. Brings out my fears. And Jon and Kate Gosselin are divorcing. Not that that matters to anyone except their kids. I hope deep inside that all people who die are at peace. I hope the suicide bombers and war criminals, and serial killers given the death penalty are all at peace. I hope the man who believes he will be rewarded with 72 virgins in the afterlife gets just that. If that’s the best thing he had going for him, I really hope he gets it.
1315h: I just get so fucking agitated at jerks like the guy who made a left turn from behind me while I was halfway across the street during my pedestrian walk light who then told me to look for traffic. It’s my walk sign, fucker! Concentrate on your own fucking half baked fucking driving, idiot!
1350h: playing piano really gets me unagitated. New “easy piano” piece yeah that disney song “A whole new world” from Aladdin. Love it and it’s just so beautiful and takes me away to a different time and place and imaginary life. Need to get a piano of my own so i can stop renting rehearsal space.
1425h: Low F + high GAC chord. Quite a nice way to end a song.
1700h: I had a breakthrough at singing class today. Lowered larynx + space + focus. Singing the exercise “Me-lia”. Letting go. Throwing it away. Fuck yeah. And going to McD’s inbetween rehearsing and class and thinking to enjoy fully and be present doing anything because it might be the last time I do that thing – gosh Steve cried last week when he ate a chicken nugget, having not had one for so long, and thinking that it might be his last. So I went and bought chicken nuggets today to remind myself to live. I couldn’t bring him any, though because he’s fasting, preparing for his colonoscopy tomorrow. And then I came home to find that Michael Jackson had died. What a day. What a week to choose to be facebook & Twitter free.
June 26 1117h: Watched Confessions of a Shopaholic and it wasn’t good. I am disappointed because I had been looking foward to that one for quite some time. Movies and people that try too hard to be funny are rarely really funny. The Make More Money scene ended up on the cutting room floor. All the essential bits of the story that made it a charming and funny story got cut out of the script. Nobody is sympathetic towards a woman who spends too much money (GUILTY!), but somehow the book made you identify so strongly with the protagonist, and the movie just did not succeed. Director needs lessons in directing comedy.
1440h: Been at Burnaby General Hospital since 1230. Steve’s colonoscopy today. yay. One year since we’ve been here for one the last time and we’re still where we began. Not pleased. Hopefully some answers.
1700h: +1 Medication for Steve. Prednisone. At least it’s cheap. + Humira starting ~2 weeks pending all clear from upcoming “urgent” MRI. Apparently the colonoscopy looked very different from last time. Some serious side fx on prednisone i hear. fuck.
1745h: Found out Lorena Gale (Priestess Elosha on BSG) passed away on June 21st. Shocked and saddened. Cancer. Found out Google, Twitter and Wikipedia etc crashed yesterday from too much traffic/too many edits. Again, I re-iterate. What a week to be Twitter and Facebook free.
1800h: Realized that I have this lifelong pattern of disillusionment with stuff. Note to self: write blog entry about disillusionment.
2143h: Made myself a little jar with little 1/8 index card chips inside with things to do when I don’t know what to do. Will pick one each time I find myself not knowing what to do and be just one minute more productive. Each task can be completed within one minute. I like this jar already. Note to self: write blog entry about this jar.

Update: May 2009

Whew. Just wrapping up a few of the most chaotic, stressful weeks of my life. But all is very good right now.

Steve: recovering from surgery. Taking it one day at a time. Oh we had our first wedding anniversary late in April! Yay!

ELAN Awards: 2009 is done and done. The producers are getting the ball rolling for 2010.

Acting: Performed as a french-accented character from the 17th century at the Moonlight Masquerade fundraiser for the Giovanni Bastone Foundation last week, raising money for BC Children’s Hospital and childhood cancer research. One of the funnest performing gigs I have ever done. Thank you to David C. Jones and the Laughter Mission Society for hiring me once again!

School: Back at SFU for my first full semester in 4 years. Yes, it has been that long. It’s great though. This time around, I am determined to not allow myself to get into a habit of falling asleep in class. Also very annoyed at teenagers who chatter through lectures and pack up early. How disrespectful.

Art: SFU Linguistics department hired me to do cartoon drawings for an experiment. A real challenge for me, because I don’t draw people! Ever! But the steep learning curve was good for me, and I’m proud of my work.

BC Politics: Did my part and voted at 8:30 in the morning, reminded everyone on facebook etc! Cannot believe the voter turn out – less than 50%?? How pathetic! Mandatory voting and $300 fine NOW. Those that don’t vote don’t have the right to complain.

“I don’t know the issues” excuse is not valid. Go and find out about the issues – it doesn’t take that long.
“I didn’t have time” excuse is not valid. Make time. Vote early. You are entitled to time off work:

From Elections BC website: “You are entitled to four consecutive hours off from work between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on General Voting Day if you are an eligible voter.  It is up to your employer to decide when during the day you can take this time off.  It is illegal for your employer to deduct pay or penalize you for taking time off to vote.  Employers and employees are encouraged to work together so that all eligible voters can vote without disrupting business operations.”

“I didn’t get around to it” excuse is not valid. Voting is an action. You can’t just sit around all day and realize at 7:50pm that you don’t have time to get to the elementary school 2 blocks away.

This sort of inaction really frustrates me. Even in an election where the choices are generally unsavoury either way, you must still get involved! What will it take to get the young vote out there?

Maybe I should run for politics. Would people vote for me? In any case, I’m really feeling the urge to get more involved in something non-partisan, encouraging people to vote. BAH!

Update: April 2009

ELAN Awards are coming up April 25th – http://theelans.com

Just started helping out the Lower Mainland Brain Injury Association (LMBIA) with keeping their website up to date – http://lmbia.org

Finishing up JAPN100 at SFU – final exam next tuesday

Music coming along – the Collaborate Album – 3 songs on that one. June 2009 release.

Steve’s gastroscopy went well today – no crohn’s in the upper half of his digestive tract! hurrah. Still fighting that darned fistula though that’s causing all the trouble. Lots keeping me busy on the homefront.

Emotionally – holding it together today.

And that’s all the energy i have right now, but I had to write out some of the things so that they could stop eating brain power like a bad memory leak.

From Inside the 2009 ELAN Awards

As some of you know, I’m working for the ELAN Awards this year, which is happening on Saturday April 25th, 2009 at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver.

The work is never done, but I’m lucky to be along for the ride. Who would’ve thought that I’d be involved with one of the biggest awards shows in one of the biggest entertainment sectors around? Video Games, Animation, Visual Effects? Beverly? Are you joking? It’s always been your brother who’s been into Video Games…You’re an actor! Right? Or aren’t you…?

–WARNING! Tangent! WARNING!–
Well, to be honest, I’m happy to leave acting to other people who are willing to put themselves on a never ending hamster wheel of emotional distress, because drama is often just that. Drama. The stories that make up the stuff between the boring bits of life. Me? I think I’m almost ready to move on. I’m married now, and my CHOICE is to NOT put Steve through the experience (possibility) of me goin’ off and making out with a new person every week, because, acting or no acting, art or not, it still sucks. Hollywood marriages don’t fall apart for no reason, and that is one little wedge in a crack that I don’t want anymore. But hosting my own tv show would be fabulous. (Hmmm…politics? how about cooking? There will never be too many cooking shows.) Vancouver Film School’s Acting Program was absolutely life wrenching, but wonderful and worth it, and taught me so much about life, and self, and humanity, and group dynamics, public speaking, etc, but do I want to be pursuing Acting as a full time career? No. There. I’ve said it. No. But I still think that everyone should take a year out of their lives to take an acting program. Your life will thank you.
–END WARNING–

Anyway, back to the ELAN Awards!
Oh but ANIMATION! And VISUAL EFFECTS! It’s not just about the VIDEO GAMES! Think of how closely all three industries are tied together…and the incredible talent of these New Renaissance Artists bringing people and animate things to life, lifelike in sound and vision, whether cartoons or resembling real life objects. Absolutely incredible, and cheers to them.

You should see the work that producers Holly Carinci and Jack Weatherell put into this thing to get it off the ground for the 3rd year in a row…very impressive! The Oscars / Academy Awards have been around for 81 years, so by the time we get to 10, or even FIVE YEARS, I think we’ll be golden, seeing how much interest the ELANs are generating already, at the sweet baby toddler age of 3.

A reminder, for Industry Professionals and Media ONLY, to VOTE as follows
“The ELANS are asking that industry professionals go to http://microsites.ign.com/elan/ to cast their vote for the recipients of the “Video Game Hall of Fame”, “Lifetime Achievement in Animation” and the “Visionary Award” (VFX). Voters will have ten nominees – all names gathered from the industry – in each of the three sectors to select from, and they are:

VIDEO GAME HALL of FAME

Nolan Bushnell – Founder of Atari Corporation
Satoru Iwata – President, Nintendo
Ken Kutaragi – Father of the Playstation
Ken Levine – 2K Boston, Bioshock
Shigeru Miyamoto – The creator of Mario Bros.
Mike Morhaime – Co-Founder of Blizzard
Gabe Newell – Valve
Roberta Williams – Sierra On-Line
Will Wright – The creator of The Sims & Spore

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN ANIMATION
Phillip Bradley Bird -Director of Ratatouille/The Incredibles
Hayao Miyazaki – Princess Mononoke
John Lasseter – Directed Toy Story,A Bug’s Life,Toy Story 2
Michael Craig Judge – Creator and star of Beavis and Butt-head and King of the Hill
Nick Park – Producer/Director of Creature Comforts, The Curse of The WereRabbit
Posthumous:
Charles Martin “Chuck” Jones (1912 – 2002) – Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies
Dr. Osamu Tezuka (1928 – 1989) – Creator of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion
Frederick Avery (1908 – 1980) – Creator of Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny and more
Norman McLaren, C.C., C.Q. (1914 – 1987) – Neighbours
Isadore “Friz” Freleng (1906[1] – 1995) – Developed Porky Pig, Yosemite Sam and more

VISIONARY AWARD (VFX)
Harrison Ellenshaw – Matte visual effects for Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back
Phil Tippett – Co-developed Go-Motion for Dragonslayer, creatures for Return of the Jedi
Ken Ralston – Cast Away, What Lies Beneath, Contact, The Polar Express, Beowulf
John Knoll – VFX Super Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Pirates Caribbean
Joe Letteri – Sr VFX Super The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, X-Men – The Last Stand
Paul Debevec – Pioneer in high dynamic range imaging image-based modeling & rendering
Jim Rygiel – VFX Super The Lord of the Rings trilog, Stay Tuned, I Robot, Iron Man
John Gaeta – Matrix trilogy, Speed Racer,advanced methods “Bullet Time” and more
Peter Robert Jackson – Heavenly Creatures, The Lord of the Rings trilogy
David Leo Fincher – Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

And the Nominees!
The ELAN Awards Announces Their Final Nominees

ELANS Announce Ceremony Date & Venue and Who Will be Waiting to Hear Their Name Called

Vancouver, BC- March 11, 2009 – Kelly Zmak, President of Radical Entertainment where the ELAN Awards press conference was held today, opened this morning’s presser by saying “The ELAN awards give our industry a chance to celebrate the talents and creativity of the people who create these art forms. At a time where we are surrounded by bad news and a barrage of negativity, the ELAN awards give us a chance to celebrate the positives of our industry and the people who make it great.”

Taking to the podium next was the Founder and Producer of the international Awards Ceremony for Video Games, Animation and Visual Effects, Holly Carinci. Carinci first thanked Radical for their hospitality and continuous support of the ELAN Awards by naming the game developer as the ELAN’S first ever inductee as a “Founder of the ELANS”. Carinci then announced that the new ceremony date and venue will be Saturday, April 25th in the opulent Pacific Ballroom at the Fairmount Hotel Vancouver. With Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants©) as their Host and only 50 tables (6 of which had sold this morning before she reached the podium) Carinci cautioned the room that tickets would sell quickly.

Before handing the podium over to Victor Lucas, creator, executive producer and co-host of “The Electric Playground” and “Reviews on the Run”, Carinci revealed the new beautiful statuette the winners of this and years-to-come ELAN Awards will be receiving thanks to Bill Henderson and his team at Offload Studios; Offload produced both the print and the mold as well as the statuettes themselves for this year’s award winners.

Next up came Lucas to announce the Final Nominees for the 3rd Annual ELAN Awards; and they are …

3rd Annual ELAN Awards Final Nominees:

VIDEO GAME FINAL NOMINEES

1. VIDEO GAME OF THE YEAR

Gears of War 2 Epic Games / Microsoft
Cliff Bleszinski, Design Director Epic Games; Ray Davis, Lead Programmer Epic Games; Chris Perna, Art Director Epic Games

Fallout 3 Bethesda Softworks
Todd Howard, Game Director;Emil Pagliarulo, Lead Designer & Writer; Gavin Carter, Lead Producer

Fable II Lionhead Studios / Microsoft Games
Peter Molyneux, Lead Designer; Louise Copley, Executive Producer; Dene Carter, Creative Director

Left 4 Dead Valve

2. BEST CONSOLE GAME

Gears of War 2 Epic Games, Microsoft
Epic Games: Rod Fergusson, Senior Producer; Cliff Bleszinski, Design Director; Ray Davis, Lead Programmer; Chris Perna, Art Director

Fallout 3 Bethesda Softworks
Todd Howard, Game Director; Emil Pagliarulo, Lead Designer & Writer; Gavin Carter, Lead Producer

Fable II Lionhead Studios / Microsoft Games
Peter Molyneux, Lead Designer; Louise Copley, Executive Producer; Dene Carter, Creative Director

Left 4 Dead Valve

3. BEST PC GAME
Fallout 3 Bethesda Softworks
Todd Howard, Game Director; Emil Pagliarulo, Lead Designer & Writer; Gavin Carter, Lead Producer

Crysis Warhead Crytek / Electronic Arts
Péter Antovszki, Sound Director; Gábor Mogyorósi, Art Director; Bernd Diemer, Producer

Lord of the Rings Online™: Mines of Moria™ Turbine, Inc.
Jeffrey Steefel, Executive Producer

Left for Dead Valve

4. BEST CASUAL/ARCADE GAME
Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst Big Fish Games
Pat Wylie, Adrian Woods, Chris Campbell, Producer

Defend Your Castle XGen Studios
Skye Boyes, Executive Producer; Jordan Dubuc, Project Lead; Robyn Dubuc, Design & Marketing; Taylor Schaerer, Visual Arts Lead

4 Elements Playrix Entertainment Playrix Entertainment

5. BEST MOBILE/HANDHELD GAME
Club Penguin :Elite Penguin Force Handheld: 1st Playable Productios/Disney Interactive
Tobi Saulnier, Founder & CEO, 1st Playable Productions; Zhenelle Falk, Producer/ Designer; Andrew Carroll, Lead Programmer; Ian McConahey Stead, Lead Artist

Planet Rescue: Ocean Patrol Handheld: Magic Pockets / Ubisoft
Eric Zmiro, President/Technical Director; Eltienne Jacquemain, Creative Director;

Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep Mobile: Infinite Dreams / Nokia
Brandon Crick, Marketing Manager

Party Island Bowling Mobile: Digital Chocolate
David Fruin, Studio Director; Mike Saperstein, Director of Game Development; Paul Abbassi, CTO; Trip Hawkins, CEO

6. BEST SOUND in a VIDEO GAME PRODUCTION
Mike Larson, Audio Director; Steve Jablonsky, Composer; Jamey Scott, Sound Designer; Joey Kuras, Sound Designer
Gears of War 2 Epic Games, Microsoft

Brian Tuey, Lead Sound Design
Call of Duty:World At War Treyarch / Activision Publishing

Mark Lampert, Audio Director Fallout 3 Bethesda Softworks

Russell Shaw, Composer; Kristofor Mellroth, Audio Lead
Fable II Lionhead Studios / Microsoft Games

7. BEST ART DIRECTION
Chris Perna, Art Director
Gears of War 2 Epic Games, Microsoft

Istvan Pely, Lead Artist
Fallout 3 Bethesda Softworks

Denis Dyack, President & Executive Producer; Carman Dix, Art Director
Too Human Silicon Knights / Microsoft Games Studio

John McCormack, Art Director; Mark Smart, Lead Environment Artist; Jon Eckersley, Lead Creature Artist; Adam Sibbick, Lead FX Artist
Fable II Lionhead Studios / Microsoft Games

8. BEST GAME DESIGN
Cliff Bleszinski, Design Director; Rod Fergusson, Senior Producer; Lee Perry, Senior Gameplay Designer; Dave Nash, Lead Level Designer
Gears of War 2 Epic Games, Microsoft

Todd Howard, Game Director;Emil Pagliarulo, Lead Designer & Writer
Fallout 3 Bethesda Softworks

Peter Molyneux, Lead Designer; Dene Carter, Creative Director; Iain Wright, Lead Level Designer; Mike West, Lead Scripter
Fable II Lionhead Studios / Microsoft Games

Gabe Newell
Left 4 Dead Valve

9. OUTSTANDING TECHNICAL INNOVATION
Tim Sweeney, Technology Director; Daniel Vogel, Engine Team Lead; Unreal Engine Technology Team
Gears of War 2 Epic Games, Microsoft

Todd Howard, Game Director;Emil Pagliarulo, Lead Designer & Writer; Guy Carver, Technical Director
Fallout 3 Bethesda Softworks

Simon Carter, Load Game Architect and Technology Director; Guilloume Portes, Lead Tools & GUI Programmer; Jonathan Shaw, AI Director; Alex Dowdeswell, AI Director
Fable II Lionhead Studios / Microsoft Games

Gabe Newell Left 4 Dead Valve

ANIMATION FINAL NOMINEES for the 3rd ANNUAL ELAN AWARDS

1. Best Feature Length Animated Production

Winner: WALL-E Selected by children’s votes Disney / Pixar

2.Best Animated Television Production

Toot & Puddle Mercury Filmworks / National Geographic Kids Entertainment
Clint Eland, Executive Producer; Tara Sorensen, Executive Producer; Marianne Culbert, Supervising Producer; Jerry Popowich, Creative Producer

Zeke’s Pad My Pad Prod’s / Avrill Stark Entertainment; Bardel Entertainment Inc. / Flying Bark Productions
Delna Bhesania, Producer; Liz Scully, Producer; Leonard Terhoch, Producer; Avrill Stark, Producer

Wapos Bay: The Series Wapos Bay Studio National Film Board of Canada
Dennis Jackson, Producer;Melanie Jackson, Producer; Anand Ramayya, Producer; Derek Mazur; Exc. Producer

Dex Hamilton: Alien Entomologist March Entertainment / SLR Productions; Parthenon Kids
Daniel Hawes, Executive Producer/Producer; Ryan Lussing, Creative Producer/Visual FX Supervisor

3. Best Animated Short Subject

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (intro cinematic) Blizzard Entertainment
Jeff Chamberlain, Director; Phillip Hillenbrand, Producer

Turbo Dogs CCI Entertainment Ltd. / Huhu Studios

Executive Producers: Arnie Zipursky and Christopher Waters; Producers: Kristine Klohk and Rodney MacDonald

4. Best Director for an Animated Production

Christian Larocque, Director
Toot & Puddle Mercury Filmworks / National Geographic Kids Entertainment

Dennis Jackson, Director; Melanie Jackson, Director; Cam Lizotte, Director Wapos Bay Studio National Film Board of Canada
Wapos Bay: The Series

5. Best Voice Over in an Animated Production (All genres)

Winner: Tom Kenny
SpongeBob SquarePants Nickelodeon

6. Best Character Animation

Winner: Graham MacDonald, Animation Director; Emma Gignac, Animation Director; Kim Buck, Animation Supervisor; Justin Sels, Animation Supervisor
Toot & Puddle Mercury Filmworks / National Geographic Kids Entertainment

7. Best Art Direction

Teo Kiriakov, Art Direction; “Diamond” Dave Merritt, Art Direction
Toot & Puddle Mercury Filmworks / National Geographic Kids Entertainment

Zoe Evamy, Senior Art Director; Patricia Atchison, Art Director
Zeke’s Pad My Pad Prod’s / Avrill Stark Entertainment; Bardel Entertainment Inc. / Flying Bark Productions

VISUAL EFFECTS FINAL NOMINEES for the 3rd ANNUAL ELAN AWARDS

1. Best Visual Effects in a Visual Effect Driven Feature Film

Spin VFX / 20th Century Fox Max Payne
Jeff Campbell, VFX Supervisor; Eric Doiron, Compositing Supervisor;Mark Schreiber, Lead Animator; Tim Sibley, Lead FX TD

The Embassy VFX, Inc. / Ironworks Prod’s; Marvel Studios / Paramount Pictures Iron Man
The Embassy: Winston Helgason, Visual Effects Supervisor; Charlie Bradbury, Visual Effects Producer; Stephen Pepper, Compositing Supervisor; Michael Blackbourn, CG Lead

2. Best Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series, Miniseries or MOW

Supernatural Films It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester / WB/CW
Ivan Hayden, VFX Supervisor; Grant Lindsay, VFX Producer; Mark Meloche, Lead Artist; Colin Jenken, Lead 3D

Bartleby Co. and The Halcyon Co. in assoc. with Warner Bros. Televisions Terminator – The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Jim Lima, VFX Supervisor; Steve Galich, SFX Coordinator

Pix Ray VFX / Sullivan Entertainment Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning
Andrew Szerszen, VFX Supervisor; Guy Gatenby, Lead Matte-Painter; Michael MacInnis, Lead Composer

3. Best Visual Effects in an Independent/Short Film

Winner: Rock Garden: The Love Story Pix Ray VFX / Gloryous Production, 2.8 Pictures
Andrew Szerszen, VFX Supervisor; Guy Gatenby, Lead Matte-Painter; Michael MacInnis, Lead Composer

4. Best Visual Effects Shot

Winner: Spin VFX / 20th Century Fox Max Payne
Jeff Campbell, VFX Supervisor; Eric Doiron, Compositing Supervisor;Mark Schreiber, Lead Animator; Tim Sibley, Lead FX TD

5. Best Digital Environment

Spin VFX / 20th Century Fox Max Payne
Jeff Campbell, VFX Supervisor; Eric Doiron, Compositing Supervisor;Mark Schreiber, Lead Animator; Tim Sibley, Lead FX TD

Pix Ray VFX / Sullivan Entertainment Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning
Andrew Szerszen, VFX Supervisor; Guy Gatenby, Lead Matte-Painter; Michael MacInnis, Lead Composer

Pix Ray VFX / Gloryous Production, 2.8 Pictures Rock Garden: The Love Story
Andrew Szerszen, VFX Supervisor; Guy Gatenby, Lead Matte-Painter; Michael MacInnis, Lead Composer

6. Best Animated Character

Winner: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian MPC / Walt Disney and Walden Media
Greg Fisher, Animation Supervisor; Peta Bayley, Lead Animator; Julio del Rio Hernandez, Lead Animator; Tom Reed, Head of Rigging

STUDENT FINAL NOMINEES for the 3rd ANNUAL ELAN AWARDS

1. Best Student Video Game

Origamee Blue Skies / The University of Abertay, (Dundee, Scotland)
Richard Barlow, Programmer & Team Lead; Alberto Fustinoni, Programmer; Aby Cox, 2D Artist; Kevin Dunlop, 3D Artist

The Booty Bandit Masters of Digital Media, Centre for Digital Media, GNW, (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
Brian Ford, Christine Jung, David Marhal, Ken Pratt

Deguiyu Masters of Digital Media,Centre for Digital Media,GNW, (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
Bryant DJ Davey, Xbox Director; Su Yon Sohn, Web Presence Director; Liam Kelly, Support

Number 6 Six Studios / Universitat Pompeu Fabra-IDEC (Barcelona, Spain)
Carles Salvany Pedró, Artist/Animator; Albert Aguilar, Programmer; Fernando Suárez Peña, Programmer; Rodrigo Santoro Rojas, Artist

2. Best Student Animated Production

Midnight Ballet Vancouver Film School (Vanacouver, British Columbia, Canada)
Jin Xie

Nutty The Neurotic Ninja Squirrel Jason Haniuk / California State University Fullerton (USA)
Jason Haniuk

Snared Algonquin College Animation Program (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)
Algonquin College Animation Pogram

3. Best Visual Effects in a Student Project

Winner: Space Bar Lost Boys Learning (Comox, British Columbia, Canada)
George Kyparissous

Getting behind in support of the ELAN Awards are their Event Partners, Activision Publishing, Inc. and the Seven Group as well as the ELAN’S Founding Partners Radical Entertainment, Relic Entertainment, Offload Studios (Official Supplier of the ELAN Award Statuette), IGN (Official Media Partner) as well as the ELAN’S Associate Partners Blue Arc, Hitachi, sgi, SPINVFX, David Kaye Productions and the esteemed firm Buckley Dodds & Associates which will once again preside over the judicial process. And, of course, Moore’s Formal Wear for Men who will be making certain that all of our men look fabulous in their tuxedos!

“As the Movie Industry goes to Hollywood for its Oscars, so will the world of Video Games, Animation and Visual Effects come to Vancouver for their ELANS.”

RESERVE YOUR DINNER AND AWARD SHOW TICKETS NOW 778-960-4402

The ELAN Awards
Holly Carinci
Founder & Producer
604.218.3993

Azn Lifestyles TV – Season 1 is Wrapped!

December 22, 2008

To the last 2 lines of Jingle Bells:
“Oh what fun it is to be
A regular on T.V.!”

Ah yes, the 5 episodes of “Azn Lifestyles TV” were fun to film. I was in the sketch comedy segments “The Ghoster”, “The Dating Game of Death”, “Azn Drinking Games”, “Creepy Yellow Fever Guy”, and “Speed Dating”. We filmed “Speed Dating” on December 16th…and that’s it folks!

Will there be a season 2? Apparently it depends on funding. Ah doesn’t it all?

OH I have this REALLY horrific/terrific story to tell about my engagement ring from the last day of filming…but it’s pretty long, so I’m willing to write it down here, but only if someone leaves a comment requesting that it be told.

But I’m dying to tell it, so do request it!

“Dismantle The Bridge” @ SFU

Alrighty. Another student film under the belt. This one was called “Dismantle The Bridge”, a second year SFU student film about an Asian-Canadian girl who wants to become an actress, but must overcome traditional-chinese-parental-unit disapproval of her career choice.

Sound familiar? Do nod, if only to humour me. Yes. Close to home indeed.

A huge plus is that I got to use my cantonese in the film. It’s weird, but lately several of the projects that I’ve worked on have required me to speak Chinese, so it’s great that I have at least a foundation in the language off of which I can springboard.

Done and done and screening in April 2009.

“Shades Of Life” by Radhika Aggarwal

Saturday August 23, 2008

A project that I did a little bit of acting for earlier on this year has been finished! It’s called “Shades Of Life”, and was made for VFS 3D69 student Radhika Aggarwal’s grad demo reel. Co-starring Peter Breeze. Congratulations on your recent graduation, Radhika! Take a look at http://www.radhikavfx.com

Day 2 Of Filming on Better Love Tomorrow

Thursday August 21, 2008

I have a minute break while “Justin” and “Justin’s Mom” film their heart to heart scene. Awwww! I’m dedicating this performance to my real-life little brother whose name is Justin, coincidentally. JJ, may you find your own Sandy and fall in love and live happily ever after. On a really cool note, I saw a rainbow at Garry Point beach/park while we were filming yesterday evening. Very coincidental, once you watch the movie.

5 Days Till “THIS IS OUR YOUTH” @ Havana Theatre

Thursday August 21, 2008

Today is the last official regular rehearsal for our little production of TIOY before dress rehearsals start on Saturday! There’s still lots to do, but I’m confident that we’ll pull it all off for opening night. Come see the show: Tuesday August 26th – Saturday August 30th, 2008 @ Havana Theatre, 1212 Commercial Drive. Doors at 6:30pm, Curtain at 7:00pm. The show on the 26th will be a minimum $5 donation, and then it will be $15 per ticket from the 27-30th. http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=33647820904

Beverly Cast In Short Film “Better Love Tomorrow”

Monday August 18, 2008

Very exciting news! Beverly has been cast as “Sandy” in the upcoming short film “Better Love Tomorrow” directed by Erick Boychuk, which will be made as part of the 2008 Mighty Asian Moviemaking Marathon. The top three films will be screened at the Vancouver Asian Film Festival in November. Congratulations to Team Maplewood on an excellent story pitch! http://www.vaff.org

“Food For The Gods” Taking The Festival Circuit By Storm

Wednesday August 14, 2008

If you haven’t heard the name H. Scott Hughes yet…well, you have now. “Food For The Gods”, directed by Texan H. Scott Hughes, is the legendary Pocahontas story, with a twist. H. Scott pulled a JRR and even invented a language, Kyontowan, for the native villagers to speak in the film. FFTG has enjoyed screenings at the New Asia Film Festival in Richmond, Canada, and on the Shaw Multicultural Network in Vancouver as part of Asian Heritage Month in May. It will be seen next at the Route 66 Film Festival in Springfield, Illinois in less than a month, and at the Vancouver Asian Film Festival in November 2008, bringing Scott back full circle to the city where the film was born. Way to go Scott! Beverly plays the character “Princess Xionko” in “Food For The Gods”. Check out www.food-for-the-gods.com for full story details.

A Week In The Sound Studio

Saturday August 9, 2008

Today marks the end of an eventful week of ADR in the sound studio for 3 projects.
The first was routine ADR for a bit part in “Kate Is 20″, one of VFS Film Production Class 118’s grad films. Beautifully shot on 16mm film, “Kate Is 20″ is a coming of age story of an awkward young woman on the brink of adulthood. Directed by David Innanen.

The second was doing narration for a documentary short entitled “Tibet At A Glance”, compiled by Maggie HuiLin Wu of VFS Foundations Class 27. She ACTUALLY WENT to Tibet to film this project. Kudos to her!

And finally, I got to act in Cantonese for the first time ever, doing voice replacement for “Pious Son”, directed by Wallace Yuen also of VFS FP118. Apparently there was a mix up in scheduling and the original actress ended up being out of town on the booked studio days. Happily, to aid my limited Cantonese vocabulary and ill-practiced tongue, I was afforded the luxury of a soundproof booth, technician with ProTools, and a patient director, who helped me rehearse each line ~10x before we recorded each line multiple times. Painfully slow, but surprisingly not that much slower than ADR in English. I have the good fortune of pretty accurate pronunciation when I know the words to say. I experienced for the first time the dangers of not eating an excellent breakfast before heading into the recording studio – my stomach kept trying to steal the show with gurgling noises, which were clearly audible through the microphone. I eventually had to ask for a short time out to eat what I had brought for lunch. All in all, a very productive week working in a medium that I admit, I like even better than acting.

Beverly Wraps Filming On “Kate is 20″

Tuesday July 9, 2008

I wrapped shooting on another VFS Film Production short called “Kate is 20″ yesterday. I was only scheduled for one day on Monday but due to some technical setbacks on the production side of things, they had to quickly shift locations and I got called in today to do another scene on short notice. So basically I got to amalgamate a couple of minor characters.

Yes, I had an apartment fire.

That was weird. It was ~12 something at night, monday night/tuesday morning. I was about to go to sleep, but still craved fruit of any kind. Since I had gotten home from a weekend of camping, I hadn’t had a chance to shop for fruit, so in the midst of opening a can of lychees that were originally intended to go with soho lychee liquor, my roommate said something to the effect of,

“ummm….UMMMMM…Beverly can you get some water?”

to which I lackadaisically said something to the effect of,

“uh…sure, in a minute. What do you need it for?”

to which she replied,

“umm…there’s something on fire.”

WTF.

OMG.

One of her candles, which were on PLATES OF ROCK, somehow caught the actual wax on fire or something and was now proceeding to melt down, past the PLATE OF ROCK, to the plastic roll-y cart thing on which it all was set.

What to do?

Get water quickly, dammit.

Got the water. Gave her the water. It didn’t work. Got more water. Gave her more water. Didn’t work, but actually made it spread.

She asked for plates. I got her plates. Didn’t work.
I got more plates. Didn’t work.

Got baking soda. Didn’t work.

The above methods of extinguishing by suffocation didn’t work because not only had the liquid wax melted and lit itself on fire, it had proceeded to MELT THE SHELF IT WAS ON, and so the fire was taking in oxygen from UNDERNEATH THE SHELF!

All of a sudden we were looking at dripping plastic and dripping wax, both of which were on fire – in other words, we were looking at what appeared to be DRIPPING FIRE!

So weird.

And then fire started dripping onto the carpet. Oh no. Oh no. No, please, not the carpet! Not good. Yeah and the rest of the fiery shelf was threatening to implode any moment.

We got the curtain out of the way and opened the sliding glass door.

At this point, we concluded that this was getting unmanageable.

I went out to the hall and PULLED THE FIRE ALARM!!!

I went back inside and called 911 to report a fire!

Soon after I hung up with the 911 people, my building manager shows up, ready to fight the fire. I told him I called 911.

He said,

“What? You shouldn’t have called 911! That’s going to cost me $850!! That’s why I’m here, I can deal with it!”

WTF.

Anyway, some other helpful neighbours showed up. One with a fire extinguisher, which did the job nicely.

And then the FIREFIGHTERS SHOWED UP! Weeee! But too bad for them there wasn’t anybody to save or even a fire to put out because it was out by then, thank goodness.

Then they had this little beepy thing that checked for hot spots in the carpet.

Then I had to give all my info as the tenant.

Then they turned on this big fan that ventilated the stairwell all the way up and through my apartment.

The fire dept. said that it was a good thing that I had called, because if in the case that the fire extinguisher hadn’t shown up in time and the apartment had caught light, it wouldn’t be good. 10 floor apartment, all WOOD. S’mores, anybody?

Scary, but more funny than scary. I mean, it’s not really funny, really, but when was the last time YOU saw dripping fire melting through the shelf onto the carpet?

Didn’t think so.

I’m still a little scared of going home.

Beverly and Steve are engaged!

a picture of my engagement ring!

Last friday (November 24, 2006) Steve picked me up from school, and laura called me on my cell so while trying to find somewhere to have dinner, we ended up driving sort of aimlessly. eventually we ended up near queen elizabeth park, so he asked if i would like to go for a walk since neither of us were particularly hungry. so we got up there, by the blodel conservatory, and he started reminiscing about when we were in film club and the time we went up to that same place after our movie had wrapped up filming and after a late night denny’s breakfast to watch the sunrise. and then he smelled a sunflower that happened to still be blooming in 0 degree weather and asked me if i remember when the sun rose and we were taking pictures of the sunflowers that day more than 2 years ago…eventually he said “i have something for you”…and he got down on one knee, opened the box and said, “will you have this?”…of course I am at this point bawling and laughing so hard at the same time….and then he asks “will you marry me?” to which i say, “yes, of course!” and then we stood there laughing and crying <–(me) and hugging and kissing and then we went to sun sui wah for some peking duck yum yum, and fellowship @ church after that. and then we went to watch casino royale with a couple of his friends…and then at like 2am when he finally dropped me off at my place i realized i had forgot to bring my keys with me so i was locked out and didn’t want to wake anyone up, so i ended up crashing on steve’s couch for the night which was really nice because the next morning we woke up and made pancakes for breakfast