2005

Point, originally uploaded by jamie_derooy.

this was back when I was 21. Now it's still officially my birthday for another 6 hours. T'was a good day. Got a freaking amazing present for which I will not repeat here, but will be displayed in my place for all of time.

This is a picture of an Oscar Bash party we went to last year. It was hosted by a girl from Trailer Park Boys and when we were asked what we wanted to drink, I asked for their cheapest bottle of wine. The waitress corrected me and said it was a litre, or something like that...in the end we each had a few litres of wine and didn't regret it until the next morning.

Though I was quite out of it, I do remember some hilarious bits. I remember after the show, walking downtown and Bobby (see picture, center) falling behind....he was walking slower and quite funny. You know those don't walk here, its slippery signs they put on the ground after they mop? Bobby had one of those shoved down his pants and he was walking downtown walking in a very conspicuous, inconspicuous way. Unfortunately the security at McDonalds took it away from him after they saw him unload it from his pants in the restaurant. Maybe it was revenge, maybe it was just a good idea at the time, Bobby took like 6 ketchup cups from McD's and dropped them one by one off the top floor of the Rideau centre before we hopped on the bus to go home.

That Oscar party was one of the best parties I had during school. It was a quite casual event and we were the only ones wearing suits. We stood out so much and had newspaper and tv cameramen filming us instead of the organizers because we looked like we were IT.

We even won some prizes. They had a contest to see how many oscar predictions you could make right and we tied for first place. Lost because the other team came up with a better speech as to why they thought they should win and when I got up I made a rhyme for which I cannot recall at this time other than it possibly being thrust out of my vocal cords quite drunkenly and probably sounding like, "listen now casually dressed city people, we win starting no matter what because we are dressed like how tv movie people on tv and dressed now in hollywood, here! give us the prize!"

We did, however, win first place with another contest. The prize? 4 tickets to the comedy place in Ottawa here.....expiry date June 20th, 2005. Yupp, I still have them.

There were quite a few pictures taken to capture that night in single frame moments. Maybe 20-30 in all. All consisting of wine poses, cigar poses, pointing, smiling, bums and inanimate and completely noonsensical .... everything.

The great part about it is when a great party comes around, it's one of those that seem average at first but the people around you and stories that follow are what make them the amazing nights they are. That night we were the drunken party of three, with Trailer Park Boys girl for whome I can't remember her name, but she's think, looks stoned and drunk in all our pictures with her and we gave her all our emails for which we never received emails back telling us how nice we were.

I'll save those pictures for if she becomes famous and I can sell them for thousands to blackmail her.

And therein lies a glimpse of the night, the Oscar Bash and the take of the suits. Fucking bow tie......i've got to get me one of those.....

the Biz

Checked out DaVinci Code with Dana last night. Interesting movie....still not sure what to think about it but I know I liked it but I wonder if I'd have liked it more if I hadn't have read the book. National Treasure was pretty good. I wonder if that had been worse if I had read that book, or if it was actually made on a book at all.

Having had watched it now I can think of places where I would have made changes, but those changes would have been quite minute. They wouldn't have been very extravagant. I don't think anyways. Though while reading the book I did think that Ian McKellen (spelled wrong, blah blah) would have been great for Teabling and it was interesting to see that he actually played the part. Though I did think he would have done a more Gandalf like role, he did all right and even perhaps stole the show, aside from Jesus or Mary i spose.

I've been thinking a lot about quite a few of my own idea's lately and I've noticed that in the end of most of them the main character dies, or loses at the end. Most are tragedies where the hero main character is pretty much going down a jagged spiral for which everyone may suspect he will recover but in most cases he doesn't. Whether it be death by capital punishments, heart attacks at terrible moments, accidents or just an extra shot in the end by the token bad guy, it seems to happen in almost everything i've written.

It goes back to one of the first things I had ever written about my version of the Greatest Story Ever Told having to involve the death of the Greatest Man who ever Lived. Everyone has their style, their edge that they throw into their work. I guess mine is, or at least I would like to think, an art-piece about the downfall of man and reality of taking big chances. In most cases the whole movie would seem better if it involved the death of the main character, movies like Braveheart, Leaving Las Vegas, Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan....all movies that perhaps keep that character in your mind a little longer because you saw their whole story. You know how it ends, you know how they end, you know the result, you wonder what could have happened differently, you wonder where it goes from there...

There you have a glimpse into my writing style....perhaps a foreshadowing of how hopefully one day some of my projects will conclude. In a way most of the projects i've written or produced involved quite a bit of death. Gangsters, a lot of people died. The Service, a main character dies and the drama in a way abruptly ends.

The only constant is the main character being powerful, whether emotionally or physically or both, there will be something about them that you'll remember. Even after they've died.

questions about zombies

So now that i'm a qualified Zombie Extra and having spent six hours on set in my Zombie costume, I've come up with some questions I'd like answered about zombies but could still die rather peacefully if the answers don't ever come to me. They are but are not limited to the following:

1. Are there vegetarian zombies?

2. If someone was a vegetarian would they become a zombie vegetarian?

3. If someone was on a diet before becoming a zombie, would they only go after really thin people or small children?

4. Do zombies lust?

5. Do zombies prefer home washrooms as opposed to ones in stores, restaurants or bars?

6. Do zombies even go to the bathroom? They must though because if they didn't they would just keep eating until they explode and i've never seen or heard of a zombie exploding after eating so much brains and meat. Also, do zombies use toilet paper or even flush?

7. Do the legs of zombies get tired after their long pilgrimages for food?

8. Are maggots to zombies like dogs and cats are to humans?

9. If a zombie could eat Jack Black, Robin Williams or Billy Crystal which would he choose and why? IN THIS CASE HE CAN CHOOSE ONLY ONE!

10. Do zombies laugh or at least even chuckle if another zombie gets hit in the groin?

11. Would zombies prefer Conon, Letterman or Leno?

12. If zombies lost an eye would they miss it?

13. If zombies evolved would they use televison and radio to mobilize?

14. Would zombies prefer bare foot, shoes or sandals?

15. Would zombies watch more CSI than I have?

16. Would zombies be stupid and just eat every last human or be wise and start to domesticate us?

17. Do zombies have a hierarchy?

18. Do zombies fart? Burp? Spit? Scratch themselves?

19. Would zombies rather not be sticky?

20. If zombies walk all slow and dead like, look all dead like and moan all dead like, would their strength be all dead like? if so, WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU BE AFRAID OF THEM, GRAB A BAT, CROWBAR, GUN, BAZOOKA, TANK, STEALTH AIRCRAFT, GOLF CLUB, SWORD, OR ANYTHING THAT COULDN'T RUN OUT OF GAS BEFORE YOU WOULD SO YOU CAN JUST GET THE FUCK OUT OR AT LEAST TO A VEHICLE TO GET AWAY FROM THEM!

21. Can zombies swim, tread water? Would living on a zombie free island be safer or would they just sail the high seas to come get you?

22. Would a zombie jump on a bed?

23. Would a father zombie still watch out for a zombie child?

24. Would a zombie child grow to be a super zombie adult?

25. Would a zombie beat me in a game of poker if he/she/it was forced to play?

Well that's about it for questions for now. I was only on set last night and I have tonight off so i'm going to catch up on some sleep before the missus calls. She's a swell lady.

Dark side of the moon

Moving in a few days and as of now it could happen as soon as 48 hours from now if weather permits. I'd thought about a pet for a little while, still considering if it's something i'd really want to be motivated to go for before bringing up the thought with the roommate.

Nights have always been late for me. Getting used to a 8-5 job now still finds me getting to bed at an average of 2am. Not for any particular reason, give one that I think is about to come around again.

I used to write a lot. Quite a bit. I'd listen to music at night and it'd give me idea's, stories I'd start writing. Sometimes I'd start writing with no idea where it'd be going just to see what came out for which sometimes something interesting did.

Then I stopped writing for a while. I haven't written much of anything in the past six months and I'm starting to get motivated to get the pen moving again. It all starts the same way. It starts with my headphones on before going to sleep and idea's hitting you like an electric shock. Then from those idea's others rush up and soon you have to start writing it down so you don't forget where it all came from and hopefully some time soon you'll come to see where it's going.

The idea's seem to come quite scattered, it's like watching a movie trailer in your head and then building back story around that. It never really gets deep into development except for the really big things that happen to affect the story.

During college, most nights I'd find i'd be up until at least 3am every morning with a lot of different idea's floating around, some of which I was able to turn into little projects whether it be that Gangsters schtick or the Hick Show which, turned out quite different than I had origionally pictured it, turned out well in the sense that if not the best television quality, it was entertaining.....if only for watching the talent suffer through trying to talk through those fake hick teeth.

One Night Only

One Night Only

Watch the video

So Bobby Will is moving to Taiwan.  When he first told me I said that he needed to get down to Ottawa so we could have one last night of drinking before he heads off.  One night of pure drunken awesomeness.  It's been a while since we had a large group of the school gang out and though it's not concrete that the party's going to happen, I made a little video to send out to everyone as a motivator to get you guys all out.

 

I did what I could to make the video invite as EPIC as possible, played with some awesome music, the origional batman theme from Tim Burton's first Batman and well.....this is what came out! 

The Beginning of an End

After spending more time in a hospital on Saturday than I've spent in a hospital in the past 4 years, I never look forward to going. Especially when that trip is to see a family member who was given an official notice 24 hours earlier that estimated she'd only have a few days left.

My grandmother was diagnosed with cancer a few years back. It wasn't a shock to know back then that someday it would get worse and that there'd be little to do about it. I saw my grandparents around easter and my grandmother looked pretty good then. It made the phone calls with updates on Friday quite scary and the ride to Quebec an uneasy one as I didn't know what to expect. At that time the chance of us getting there and her having just passed away was pretty high.

That side of the family is spread all over Canada so we get together for one of two things, those being Weddings and Funerals. The whole family was coming down so I figured it wouldn't be good. But, as we got there her condition had improved as the medication they had given her the day before, which mostly caused her condition to worsen was being flushed out of her system and she was starting to feel better. Still though it's mainly day to day for now to see how things go. I was glad to leave there knowing that things had gotten better than worse but it's still quite apparant that the next time I go down will be for a funeral.

The last time I was in that hospital I was a little kid and my great grandmother was there in pretty much the same situation. I think that was 1993. The hospital looked bigger back then. I remember going to the elevator and kept pushing the buttons to go to the top and then the bottom over and over until someone working there told me to get out. After all, at ten years old the most entertaining part of a hospital is the elevator because God knows the posters they have on the walls are boring as hell and you don't want to read something that sounds educational if you're not in school.

I'm hoping to get to Quebec to see them all at least one more time. I made sure to tell my Grandmother as I left that i'd talk to her soon as she replied from her chair with a small smile, a nod and an "i'll see you" which is as much as a goodbye as i'd ever expect. It was a powerful moment and made it harder to leave knowing the circumstances of what's to come shortly.