Lazy Sunday # 250: Hope On The Rocks

Just a couple more weeks to Christmas –- the season of giving.

And most of us do that.

We give gifts, throw a party, buy a round for friends, tuck some bills in a Salvation Army kettle. Sometimes we even drop cans at the food bank or park an unwrapped gift under one of those charity trees at the mall.

We give. But when it comes those truly hurting, we do it ritualistically or from a distance. Most of us don’t make the giving personal.

And at a time so focused on close friends and family, that personal touch is what those most in need need the most.

Over the last week, a lot of us shared that photo of a New York Cop giving a homeless man a pair of boots.

But how many of us went looking for somebody we could help in the same way?

Give it a shot. It’s easier than you think. Even knowing that somebody simply cares can make a huge difference in the lives of those who are without this Christmas.

At the end of the day. We’re all they’ve got. Hope on the rocks.

Enjoy Your Sunday.

Add Something More To The Christmas List

I’m way too busy these days. And I know you are too. It’s the season of busy. So just a quick reminder of two things you might want to pencil into your already busy holiday schedule.

The first is doing something special for both yourself and some kids in need.

As of last night, it’s become clear that NHL Hockey is unlikely to arrive in time to appear under anybody’s tree. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t great hockey to be had –- hockey that comes with an additional element of “feel good”.

The above blizzard of bears in Calgary marked the start of Junior Hockey’s seasonal tradition “The Teddy Bear Toss” wherein you celebrate a goal by donating a bear for kids who don’t have one. And who wants to be without a bear and hockey at Christmas?

They don’t do this in the NHL. I believe it’s out of concern for giving Sidney yet another concussion.

If you’ve never been to a Junior game, it’s as fast and more furious than the top level many of the players will be joining next year (if the NHL has a next year). And they include all the guys we’ll be cheering for at the World Championships starting Boxing Day.

So go. Most local Junior teams schedule their “Teddy Bear Toss” this or next weekend.

And… for those in Toronto and the GTA.

Please avail yourself of the opportunity TONIGHT to attend the Premiere screening of Tony Nardi’s “Letter One” at the Hot Docs Cinema at Bloor and Bathurst Streets. 9:00 pm.

I can’t stress enough how important this film is to every one who considers or wants to consider themselves a working artist in this country.

It’s the season of new beginnings – and there’s no better way of preparing for the New Year than with some fresh ideas on rebooting the culture.

Please, please attend if you can. You will not regret doing so.

Up The Junction!

Here’s something I completely fail to understand about Canada’s CBC News Network. For 99% of the time, they’re not pals of the 1%.

Rich people don’t pay their fair share. The motives of people in positions of power are always suspect. Too much Public money goes to people who don’t deserve it while others suffer.

Conrad Black (uck-spit).

Then one of the Royals gets knocked up.

And it’s -- Global Warming? Economic collapse? Political Corruption? Wars in the Middle East? International Terrorism? Who cares!!!

Suddenly all the dour and not to be messed with news anchors are gushing over baby names, revised orders of succession and who’s betting on what arrival date with British bookies. Not to mention how many millilitres the Duchess horked up this morning.

There’s a camera locked on the doors of the hospital and B-roll aplenty of all the tchotchkes being churned out to cash in on the pending bundle of joy.

After spending a couple of weeks before the CRTC pleading poverty and pontificating on how much essential news and information the CBC provides us for so little, we’re now treated to an endless parade of royal watchers, experts in obstetrics and monarchist pundits –- most of them doing live trans-Atlantic interviews.

This Sunday (less than a week after the former Miss Middleton announced she had one in the oven) the CBC News Network will run a Prime Time documentary on the coming monarch.

Meanwhile, if you’re a Canadian documentary maker awaiting a similar CBC spot –- well, you might maybe start thinking of cutting in some kind of Royal Baby angle.

And we’re only in the first trimester.

Look, I’m pleased the young Windsors are expecting. Just as pleased as I’d be for anybody else I don’t know and am unlikely to ever meet.

But I’m also one of that statistically recorded 80% of Canadians who don’t have an acute interest in the Royal Family.

So why is the CBC falling all over itself to make sure I know every detail of this story?

And how seriously am I supposed to take the other stories CBC News will almost certainly run in the next months about the plight of homeless Canadians at Christmas, struggling Northern communities or heartless corporations?

If the wealthy and powerful elites are such a huge problem, why is the CBC so excited that they’re reproducing?

Or do I just accept that those tales and this one are all just part of the same journalistic need to pretend they know what their audience wants?

Lazy Sunday # 249: Letter One

How long does it take for passion to burn itself out?

When does an artist’s insight no longer resonate with its time?

At what point do you decide nobody wants what you’re selling, give up and move on?

Every creative person has a project they’re desperate to realize. And Showbiz is rife with stories about those repeatedly rejected or marginalized who refused to stop believing in their work.

But the Gatekeepers and Powers That Be are the Deciders.

And yet…

Books have become classics despite rejection by countless publishers. Award winning Movies have survived decades in development. Hit TV series overcame debut numbers that made them sure bets for cancellation.

In the end, they all achieved success because somebody believed. Somebody kept them alive. Somebody refused to accept that the message was not worth hearing.

In January of 2006, Tony Nardi asked me to attend a reading of a “letter” he’d written. After exhausting every excuse I had, I relented and went along. That letter changed my life.

Not changed it in an “OmiGod!I can see again!” way –- but close.

Shocked and angered by a script for which he’d been asked to audition, Tony explored where that shock and anger came from and in the process pulled back the veil on what really goes on in the creation of Canadian television.

It was a raw, passionate and scathingly unblinking look at the industry in which most of those reading this blog work or aspire to work.

Listening to that letter, I realized how much damage had been done to countless Canadian artists by what we’ve allowed to happen to the theatre, television and movies that we make in this country.

And it was something we could fix.

But would we?

Who among us had the courage?

And what might become of those who challenged the Deciders?

Much of what has been written at “The Legion of Decency” was inspired by Tony’s letter and some fellow Canadian bloggers who shared his passion for change.

Five years ago, I encouraged those reading this space to attend the first staging of what by then had become “Two Letters”, a theatrical event that earned glowing reviews.

Today, I’m encouraging you to do whatever you can to attend the first screening of the filmed version.

Friday, December 7th at 9 p.m. “Letter One” debuts at Toronto’s Hot Docs Cinema, 506 Bloor Street West.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Thom Ernst, host of TVO’s “Saturday Night at the Movies”.

The panel will include Nardi, Donato Santeramo (Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Queen’s University), Nick Mancuso (actor and producer) and others.

Tickets are $11 ($8 for Hot Docs Members).

I don’t think I exaggerate in saying that if you are a working professional artist in Canada, this is the most important film you will see this year.

It’s passionate, inspiring and revelatory of what’s wrong with our creative industries –- and how we can repair them. And making it took more courage and commitment than most of us have ever been willing to bring to bear.

Start with one phrase from the trailer. “Filmed in front of a live audience in one take.” Imagine having the guts to do that with something you’ve spent almost a decade trying to get onscreen.

Go. Please Go. This is Important.

And –- Enjoy your Sunday. 

F/F: The Sky Is Not The Limit

This week of short films highlighting solutions to the world’s most pressing problems was partially inspired by the month which ends today –- November.

November is when the days shorten and darkness seems pervasive. The air gets colder and the urge to just hunker down until Spring grows stronger.

It was also partially inspired by my various social media feeds. Twitter and Facebook have allowed us all to become advocates for one cause or another, without actually having to physically or emotionally commit to fighting for it.

All the problems overwhelming the world feel so much larger and impossible to confront when so many people are demanding that you join in their particular chorus of outrage.

Nobody’s got that kind of time, energy –- or rage.

So the problems begin to feel like they can never be solved.

But these posts were also inspired by how much the world seems to have changed from when I was inspired to realize my own dreams.

Back then, John F. Kennedy’s appeal to “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you could do for your country” was a rallying cry.

Now we appear to feel more entitled and want our countries to do more for us. Maybe -– because after all –- we deserve it.

But problems don’t solve themselves. And for the most part governments have their hands full. So it really is up to us.

Maybe the real future of problem solving lies in the model of the “X” Prize. Creating a reward more tangible than the mere thrill of achievement and satisfaction of doing something well.

The “X” Prize proves that the sky does not have to be the limit. There is incentive to move beyond. To Focus/Forward.

The twenty finalists in this inspiring short film competition were named this week. You can see them here and online voting continues until December 20th.

Who knows, you may find something that solves a problem that hits close to home for you –- or maybe just brings a little light of hope to stave off the dark days of Winter.

F/F: DisplAir

iPad. iPod. Mac. Mac Mini. Blackberry. Notepad. Notebook. Netbook. Tablet. Flat screen. Touch screen. Smartphone. Samsung Galaxy I,II and III. iPhone 4. iPhone 5…

Every day there’s a new device, a newer device. An upgrade. An update. An innovation. A technological revolution.

And each time something new comes along, all the old stuff gets pitched, filling electronic junkyards and polluting the environment.

And all the new stuff requires new accessories, newer batteries and rare earth minerals people literally kill to acquire. Not to mention the armies of human robots working 100 mind-numbing hours per week to make them.

What if we could get rid of all the hardware without sacrificing the benefits that flow from new technologies?

What if all the devices we need could be made from nothing more than light and water and air?

You might call it DisplAir…

F/F: Bankrupting The Warlords

Like all things, wars cost money. And when the costs outweigh the benefits, other ways of resolving differences have to be found.

Last weekend, I read an article about the recent Israel/Gaza conflict that said each missile lobbed into Israel by Hamas cost about $1000 to purchase. But by the time all the bribes and payoffs have been made to get them into the Gaza Strip, their final cost is a significant multiple of that.

Taking into account the number of these rockets brought down before reaching their targets by the “Iron Dome” defense system, it’s calculated that Hamas spent over $1 Million for each Israeli killed. And with new software developed during the eight day barrage, any future conflict will raise that cost to between $5 and $10 Million per casualty.

Begging the questions, “Why bother?” and “Maybe that money could be put to better use”.

One of the favorite weapons of the world’s armies is the landmine. They are cheap, costing between $3 and $30 apiece. Any idiot can plant one. And at an estimated cost of $1200 to find and remove each one of them, most armies just leave them where they are when they leave the field.

At this moment, there are approximately 110 Million active landmines planted around the world, continuing to kill 3-4000 people every year, many of them generations after the conflict in which they were used ended.

Most of the casualties are children.

But if it was as cheap and easy to remove a landmine as it is to lay it in the ground, like the Hamas missiles, they would soon cease to be worth using.

Maybe it’s too much to hope that people might then resort to talking out their differences instead. But at least a lot of innocent people wouldn’t have to suffer or die.

Today’s Good News Week entry from the Focus/Forward Short Film Competition exhibits an inspired solution to one weapon of war. It gives you hope that the answers to all the others might be just as easy to find –- if we put our minds to it.

Mine Kafon | Callum Cooper from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

Focus Forward: Highways of Light

I have a friend who recently bought an electric car. He did it for a lot of reasons. It only costs him about 1 cent/kilometer for fuel. There are zero emissions polluting the environment. It reduces the world’s dependence on fossil fuels. 

On the minus side, he can only drive 150 km before he needs to spend time recharging. He still gets stuck behind snow plows. All the new electricity he’s using comes from a coal burning plant.

You win some. You lose some. So far, there have been no easy answers to our need to be mobile.

Except for one. 

One that could solve all our energy problems. One that could reduce the cost of building and maintaining highways. One that could employ millions of people and make the electric car a viable choice for more of us.

Today’s entry from the Focus/Forward short film competition is that solution. A solution where the highways of the future will be highways of light.

Focus Forward Week: Print Your Own Kidney

There’s a lot wrong with the world. Everywhere you look there are problems which appear to be unsolvable. Sometimes it feels like for every step forward we take, we take another backward –- or sideways and into yet some new pit of quicksand.

But there are people making progress, coming up with innovative, inspired and almost unbelievable ideas which not only solve our most pressing problems as a species and a planet but take a great leap beyond.

Somehow, you’re not hearing much about these people and their research on CBC or CNN. Maybe the networks would rather you just curled up on the couch in a foetal position eating cheese doodles and in fear of even hitting another dial on the remote.

Maybe they just haven’t heard of the Focus/Forward Project.

Focus/Forward is part contest, part inspiring revelation in which documentary filmmakers are asked to submit 3 minute films about people reshaping our world through actions or innovation.

The most inspiring film will win $100,000. Four runner ups will share another hundred grand.

Dozens of finalists are now online at the Focus/Forward website with more being added daily.

Over this week, in an effort to counter the endless drumbeat of the Main Stream Media Cheerleaders of Doom, I’ll be presenting my favorites from the current slate of entries.

Each one is a stunning example of the unquenchable human will to overcome adversity, not to mention a pretty cool short film.

First up – creating new organs with a 3D Printer.

Pioneering Regenerative Medicine, Dr. Anthony Atala | Andy Anderson from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

Lazy Sunday # 248: The Reality Of Reality TV

The openly admitted conceit of drama is that it’s fiction. We all know it’s all made up. The story was hammered out in advance. The actors are pretending. The shots of bourbon are cold tea.

The well hidden truth of reality television is that it’s just as made up. But the writers and performers don’t get paid very much. And while the Jell-o shots might pack a punch, they aren’t really from the brand name bottles in the shot.

This week there was a frisson of “We’ve arrived!” among the makers of Canadian reality shows after American Secretary of State, Hilary Rodham Clinton, allowed that “Love It Or List It” was her favorite TV show.

Maybe it gave her some ideas for that fixer-upper she’s got in Benghazi.

Actually, what she said was that she found the show “Calming”, perhaps admitting that such programming basically helps put her to sleep.

However, we have to admit it is amazing that after almost two decades of by-the-numbers and repetitive “reality” formats, they continue to dominate the television landscape.

Much of that is because networks keep making more of them, their low cost slowing the need to openly admit that their outmoded business model is in its death spiral.

But part of it is because audiences simply don’t stop to consider that the only way to capture such manufactured realities is by using the very same techniques which capture fiction.

Maybe it’s time somebody pulled back that veil.

Enjoy Your Sunday.

See Tomorrow’s CBC Shows Today

You can’t legitimately describe the first couple of days of CRTC hearings on renewing the license of the CBC as fascinating –- unless narcolepsy holds a particular attraction for you.

But they have been fascinatingly revealing.

A month ago, there was a terrifying amount of electricity in the windowless room where these hearings are held as powerful corporate executives from Bell sparred with Commissioners over clearly different visions of what the future of Canadian television should be.

The airless bunker was crammed with predatory power and palpable suspicion. There were flashes of anger, cries of frustration and the thrust and parry of competing forces searching for a chink in either corporate or regulatory armor.

This time, not so much.

The looks between Commissioner podium and network executive table are familial and understanding. “I’m a government bureaucrat. You’re a government bureaucrat. We all know the boxes that need to be ticked.”

When a CBC Exec doesn’t have any support material or suggests the need for a break from CRTC rules, perhaps even a revision to the terms of license already applied for, there’s no consternation.

Instead, we’re treated to a lackadaisical, eloquent dance of civility. Everybody is all forgiveness and smiles. Being a National Broadcaster is a thankless job. Much like being a CRTC Commissioner.

Catch-phrases and cultural touchstones that don’t mean much more than we all remembered to touch all the bases are traded with knowing winks and nods of gracious understanding.

Regionalism. Gender and Ethnic sensitivity. Child psychologist vetted Kid shows. Recipes for Mom. Hockey for Dad. Requisite hours of Blues and Classical music. Radio in dying languages for shrinking audiences. News read by respectable looking White guys who genuinely like the Queen.

The same old same old as familiar as the lumberjack shirt and sweat pants you pull on to watch “Dragon’s Den”.

You begin to realize that the only real difference between “The Beachcombers”, “Arctic Air” and “Republic of Doyle” is which ocean serves as a backdrop.

Phrases like “we’ve ruminated on that”, “we’ve had many discussions about this” and “it’s something we debate amongst ourselves” repeat so often, you soon realize the people who work at CBC spend most of their time talking.

And not a lot doing…

No desire to show that bad old Prime Minister how much more can be done with so much less. No passion to demand the audience pay attention or the world take notice.

No fire in the belly. No spark of imagination.

Only bureaucratic excuses another bureaucrat would understand.

When the subject of feature films on CBC was broached, we learned that Canadian feature films don’t work for the CBC anymore because they arrive without any audience recognition or box office fanfare.

Far be it from the CBC to stir up some interest. Why should they do the job similarly lackadaisical and government funded producers and distributors have not.

What’s more, it seems Canadian films are not “family friendly”. And worse, they don’t all run 90 minutes.

The concepts of editing for content or to fit a time slot are apparently too large for the bureaucratic mind.

But in an effort to accommodate (everything about these hearings drips with accommodation) the network will program Canadian feature films on Saturday nights (the graveyard of Canadian TV) during the Summer (traditional boneyard of all things television).

Which evenings, even a bending-over-backward-to-be-accommodating Commissioner had to mention, are when families are “outside” and “around a campfire”.

At least those who are among the same class and cottage country coteries which network and government bureaucrats inhabit.

I told you these hearings were revealing.

But my favorite moment so far was provided by Mark Starowitz, Executive Director of CBC Documentary Programming, after assuring the Commissioners that CBC remains the dominant force in Canadian documentary filmmaking.

Certainly a revelation to any indie filmmaker who has tried to sell CBC an innovative documentary in the last while.

Asked what kind of Documentary inspiration CBC had coming down the pipe, Starowitz thought for a moment and offered that “in a couple of weeks” a crack CBC crew would be installing a camera inside a beaver dam, allowing the nation’s children the thrilling prospect of getting to know the iconic rodent so much better.

Starowitz would seem unaware, a little research apparently far below the pay grade of somebody busy thinking up documentaries, that there are currently DOZENS of web sites offering web cams planted inside or in the water surrounding any number of beaver lodges.

Meaning –- anybody with Internet access can see what CBC thinks will be cutting edge programming next season –- right now.

Having checked out a long-standing Canadian site which features a Beaver-cam, two items which also escaped the tax-payer funded programmers became clear:

1) Beavers spend most of their lodge time sleeping.

2) Beavers are nocturnal.

So unless some child psychologist recommends getting your kid up to watch TV at three in the morning –- they won’t see much.

And it’s not going to be exciting enough to drag them away from playing “World of Warcraft”.

Although –- if that Beaver were to do what Beavers often do and chews off his own nuts, he’s probably got a good chance of sitting at one of those hearing room tables.

Lazy Sunday # 247: Blood Or Chrome

Blood: The essence of life, supplying oxygen and nutrients to the body while removing toxins and waste.

Chrome: Odorless and tasteless. A lustrous, hard metal that appears to be highly polished.

"The most watched content on YouTube is professionally produced because people can tell the difference between real stuff and crap." -- Rishad Tobacowala

Five years ago, when media strategist Rishad Tobacowala assessed the internet’s best known video archive, most in showbiz did not believe online video would ever seriously challenge television creatively or attract a significant audience.

Yeah, it was fun, even edgy and challenging sometimes. But monetizing the content was virtually impossible and without money, those with marketable creative skills might dabble or try out a vanity project, but they would never fully commit.

Because creative people need money to survive and keep creating. So the internet might be a marketing or inspirational tool. Maybe it could even be a platform on which to augment the content of a popular TV series.

But it would never seriously compete.

The Broadcasting powers that be saw sites like YouTube as Chrome, the distracting sparkly, a shiny decorative flourish on  the vehicle to which it was attached.

All that is about to change forever.

A year ago, YouTube began to offer “Channels”, specialized sub-sites offering content directed at a specific audience.

These include brands like “Car & Driver”, “Maker” and “Machinima”as well as several where Russian guys shoot big guns with an enthusiasm that must leave even the National Rifle Association slack-jawed.

And in that one year, some of these sites have grown to average more than a Billion video views per month.

That has given Google the confidence to begin moving YouTube from a place where people surf to one where they engage, spending more time watching content –- and thus being more susceptible to advertising.

A few months ago, Google pumped $100 Million into its channels, which for a company that earns more than $8 Billion a year is the equivalent of you or me digging through the couch cushions when we realize the Pizza guy is going to expect a tip.

But with that money, the blood and life essence of creativity, YouTube can at last pay professionals to create high-end content. 

Fully one third of this investment went to Machinima and its vast audience of gamers, resulting in two of the most polished series currently available on TV or any other platform.

“Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn” is accessible and engrossing even to those of us who have never played the game, while “Battlestar Gallactica: Blood & Chrome” is a far more worthy successor to the 2004 series than its own “Caprica” sequel.

“Blood and Chrome” began rolling out two weeks ago and will consist of ten 7 to 12 minute episodes by the time it concludes its launch in early December.

The webisodes will then be glued together as a two hour movie for SyFy in early 2013 before a DVD release.

Watching episodes of “Blood & Chrome” it’s impossible not to be struck by production values that exceed virtually anything else on television and realize how quickly what we thought only television could deliver has been eclipsed.

Television will doubtless be around for a while. But from a creative standpoint, it will have to depend on more chrome trim, maybe even fins and spoiler panels to maintain its audience. The essence of life and creativity is inexorably moving online.

The first episode of “Blood & Chrome” is embedded below. Go full screen for the full experience and just keep clicking through to subsequent episodes.

And Enjoy Your Sunday.

There’s Two Ways To Approach Mondays

Lazy Sunday # 246: Gifs With Sound

I don’t know why I have such a soft spot for animated Gifs. Small things amuse small minds, I suppose.

Or maybe it’s got something to do with those old billboards that used to blow smoke rings or that two storey cowboy in Vegas who did nothing but wave 24/7. They just get your attention.

God knows, every time I tack one up here, the visitor traffic spikes.

 

It might have something to do with a life spent at the movies too. Watching those strings of still pictures magically being brought to life. The sweet “I could so be on Jeopardy” twinge of recognition or the distillation of the essence of a film captured in a snippet of frames.

Or maybe it’s just that they’re a lot of fun.

Fun that can be multiplied with the creative use of sound and pop touchstones. It’s always amazing how two or three disparate elements can be combined to get you giggling about what has become a cultural reference to something else.

You may not like or even “get” all of what follows. But I guarantee you’ll find yourself laughing out loud a couple of times.

Maybe it really is that “small things amuse small minds” thing.

Enjoy Your Sunday.