C.R.A.Z.Y.

Vive le Quebec Libre!!! If you have that moment sometime soon as I know you will... When you ponder endlessly the lack of great Quebecois films you've seen lately... Uh, yeah... Well fret no longer! For the great Monsieur Jean-Marc Vallée has given us this masterpiece of film. C.R.A.Z.Y. is an endearing story of growing up in Canada's much maligned Belle Provence during the 1960's and 70's and oh, let's not forget...Beingg gay. Small detail really as it only provides the context for what are some tremendous and personal performances by the entire cast. What I love about this film is that it feels delightfully Canadian without actually trying to be Canadian. It has such rich, authentic and well chosen details the sum total of which create a beautiful fabric that is immensely watchable. Allez-vous!

Version Up! Walshman V|6.2.1 Now Available

Release Notes: this version incorporates cutting-edge strategic planning initiatives and complex dependancy arrangements as well as extensive multiple outcome contingencies. Negotiated resolution, robust hierarchical implementation and aggressive stop-gap asset management techniques are also encorporated. Spring mango a non-negotiable parameter.

Walshman Versus Portman

So... The Walshman faced-off against the power that is known as "The Portman" recently during an a trip east to The New York of Canada (yes, I mean Toronto...) for some on-set visual effects supervision duties on this film. Always an interesting thing "meeting a star." First, there's the meeting, which invariably you are much more uncomfortable with than they are, isn't really a meeting at all. In this case, I was staring down at a crossword puzzle folded on a chair (yes, the secret is out... on-set work is often that boring!) when a voice said "if you can do any better than me, go right ahead." No, in fact I could not add anything to Ms. Portman's efforts in this regard, and so I informed Ms. Natalie of this fact and then promptly resumed "minding my own damned business." It is an odd circumstance indeed to see a large group of people in a condensed area all trying desperately "not to bother someone." Yet, it somehow all functions like a greased wheel. The director ponders the scene largely from a secure location via a monitor, the assistant director bellows orders, the cinematographer instructs the grip, the grip issues the communication to the crew, etc. Like a modern fiefdom. Nothing new I suppose, but it did prohibit the ultimate showdown from going down.

Spring In Vangroovey

Ah yes, here we are in that most momentous of occasions on this fair coast: spring! Heralded for certain by the arrival of the Japanese Ornamental Cherry blossoms you see in this photo taken mere footsteps from the doors of Image Engine and in fact, on my bike route to work. Quite spectacular for sure. In the often sunny, often wet, Vancouver months of April and May the city seems to be at its most colour-saturated and perhaps most beautiful. The evenings may not match the warmth and lingering light of July and August, but the mornings are nearly always stellar with the end of winter on the North Shore Mountains picking up the light of the sun like painted high-lights on a stage set.

My buddy James and I had a conversation one time while enjoying a late "summer" day in Los Angeles about how when spring arrives in Vancouver it comes with a "pow!" And really lifts people spirits. Very true, you can just see it in the way people hold themselves, though sometimes I wonder if that's just because of the rains of winter have subsided. Contrast does people a lot of psychological good I think. It is the great characteristic of some places that they do not allow people to become complacent. I think that the weather in Vancouver is one of these forces. Just when you begin to take the long "Indian Summer" for granted the cold north winds of November arrive, and just when January and February's oppressive begins to eat your soul you are magically lifted by the brilliance of "la primavera." Salud!