Benjamin tagged me. Apparently, after I finish my six random things, I’m supposed to tag six more people and let them know they’ve been tagged. Nuts to that. I’m so far out of the blogging community that if anyone is actually reading this, they probably wouldn’t do it anyway.

Here are the six:

1. I’m up to my ears in work right now. I have two papers to write, my film to complete, and three exams to prepare for. Plus, I’ve been asked to film and edit a goodbye video for a local church.

2. I have developed a talent for movie make-up, particularly blood and bruises. Two weeks ago, I found myself painting the nails of a prosthetic hand to look real AND realistic bruises for films by two other students. I also drenched a guy in fake blood for my film last week. The requests keep pouring in…

3. I’m going to ANOTHER New Kids on the Block concert tonight. WOO HOO! Yes, I’m still a fan after all these years. Don’t be giving me evils!

4. I feel inadequate sometimes. I think that’s an understatement.

5. Little Britain is one of the best comedy shows I’ve ever seen.

6. I am a klutz.

I knew, as soon as it was reported that she was flown out of Canada to be with her family that things were not good. Montreal has excellent hospitals, and there are some incredible brain specialists up here, so there could be only two reasons for her to leave: a) she will have a long recovery that would take place best near her family, or b) there was nothing the doctors could do but make her comfortable.

She had such a talent, and I’m very sad right now. My heart goes out to her husband, children and extended friends and family.

And BY THE WAY,
If you get hit in the head, don’t just take a bunch of pain medication and try to ignore it. Brain injuries are nothing to mess with. GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!!

Since the festival, I have been in a funk. I’ve been easily angered, and have behaved in ways that were not very appropriate in at least two instances.

1. I betrayed someone’s trust. Granted, I didn’t see the harm in revealing the information at the time, but the fact that I did it makes me ashamed of myself. I could say that something similar was perpetrated on me by that person, but that’s no excuse. I’m an adult, or at least, I pretend to be most days. Regardless, trust was placed in me, and I should have been more discreet.

2. I got angry that people who should have been taking care of an issue—especially when it was revealed weeks ago that the issue was not going to happen the way they wanted it to—did not actually look into how to solve it until the deadline for it was on hand. I’m not ashamed of being angry, but I should not have been so harsh in letting them know my feelings.

The more I look back at it, the less satisfied I feel with the way the festival turned out. Sure, it was organized well, and we didn’t go into debt, but the fact is, we had an extremely LOW turn out, and it has upset me very personally. It was a complete let-down after all that work.

I’ve barely got my head above water right now. It’s not just the festival, or school, or my film that I finally get to start shooting tonight. I am still struggling with a problem that will probably never go away, and I’m unable to cope right now.

You know how you’re watching a film, and you see an actor that you’ve seen a whole bunch of times in other things—you know, a supporting actor or a character actor—and you get really excited that this guy is in this movie? No? Maybe it’s just me.

Well, anyway, I have a bunch of actors that I always get really happy about when I see them in a movie. I’m usually kinda speechless for a second or two after they first come on screen, and can basically only smile large and say, “Dude! HE’S in this?!” Most of them are British.

One of them is the great Pete Postlethwaite, who co-starred with Daniel Day-Lewis in In the Name of the Father and The Usual Suspects. Today, I learned that Postlethwaite is prepared to put his money where his mouth is:

Veteran British actor Pete Postlethwaite has threatened to hand back the OBE he was awarded by Queen Elizabeth II if the U.K. government give the green light to build a new coal power station.

The Oscar-nominated star is opposed to the British government’s plans to allow energy giant E.On to create a new coal-powered plant in Kingsnorth, southern England.

And the star used the London premiere of his latest movie, climate change documentary The Age of Stupid, to announce his plans to turn his back on the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) honour he received from the British monarch in 2004 – if the power plant gets the go ahead.

He told reporters, “We tried to stop Tony Blair going to war in Iraq. But this time we’re not having it.

“I can’t be an officer of the realm if Kingsnorth goes ahead.” (from WENN 16 March 2009)

I’m of two minds about giving the OBE or the KBE (Knight of the British Empire) to artists. There is no doubt they put the culture of the UK on the map, but the honours have been given out so far and wide in the last 10 years of Her Majesty’s reign, it’s hard to take such a distinction seriously. It would bother me to see Postlethwaite give it up, but I could think of worse reasons.

Coal is one of the dirtiest ways of generating energy, and that a government as technologically advanced as the UK is considering opening a new coal plant instead of finding cleaner sources of energy just boggles the mind. I’m with my Dude on this one.

In 2005, my Grade 8 class had a reunion. I know, it seems really freaking weird. It felt kinda weird to me at the time, too, but I went. I grew up in a small town, where you pretty much went to school with the same kids from Kindergarten to Grade 8, and nearly all of them would go with you to high school, too.

I had liked (although I wasn’t close with) many of them, and since I had missed my 10-year high school reunion due to illness, I thought I should go and see how my classmates had turned out. I had a great time.

One of the things the organizers did was to compile everyone’s e-mail addresses so we could keep in touch if we so desired. Most of them I didn’t really care too much about, to be honest. Not that we weren’t friendly, we just were very different people. But there were a handful I wanted to stay in touch with. A guy I will call Cleaver was one of them.

Cleaver and I had always been the two shortest kids in the class. In grades 5 and 6 when we did folk dancing, we often ended up as partners. He was a very, incredibly nice boy, and to be honest, I really liked him in so many ways.

Cleaver’s parents had supported his musical interest and talent, and by the time we were in grade 11, he and his band were starting to get gigs in London, and a fan following. We had sort of…drifted…into different social groups. His “fame” and talent were noticed, and this lubricated his way into the popular clique—of course, some of that ease was made possible by his laid-back and agreeable nature. By contrast, the best way to describe me at this time is, “prickly.”

Shortly after we graduated high school, Cleaver’s band got a record deal, and were touring in support of their first effort, which made a few waves. They released a second album when I began my university career, and it was here that Cleaver and I sort of re-connected for the first time.

He had always teased me about my NKOTB fandom, but in a way that was affectionate and respectful. At no time when he brought it up did I think he didn’t like me or had disdain for my choices. He was lovely. Within the first week of classes, I found him working on campus at the record store which was in the UCC at the time (now part of The Spoke). We chatted about the past, we chatted about the future, his band, their record, their upcoming schedule. I bought his CD from him, and then wished him only the best of luck. I didn’t see him again until our class reunion.

He hadn’t changed much. I had, of course. I had gained a few pounds, went from crappy retail job to crappy retail job and followed my husband to two different cities. We had a nice chat, where I teased him for being “semi-famous,” and promised to keep in touch.

I e-mailed him within a day or so to tell him it had been great to see him, and that I was glad he seemed happy and content. Sometime in the past couple of years, I managed to delete all my messages to and from him, but I distinctly remember him writing that he thought I am “one of the nicest people he knows.” And yes, he put it in present tense. As in, I wasn’t just a nice person when I was a kid, but I am a nice person now. This blew me away.

Tonight, for the first time in ages, I got an e-mail from him. Sure, it’s just a stupid chain letter thing, however, I do look at things like that as an indication that someone is thinking of me, rather than just trying to be annoying. I’m thinking of dropping him a line.

Oh, and he is a very attractive man, too. hehe.

What an amazing weekend! Nearly everything ran soooo smoothly, it was beautiful. Any little hiccoughs or problems were solved easily and quickly, and I think everyone had a great time.

To be dead honest, though, I was very disappointed with the turn out. My co-director and I spent nearly every penny at our disposal for it, and then we had only about 75 people in total for both nights in attendance. We might have made $150-$200 tops. Next year’s directors are going to have a shoestring budget. I feel kinda bad about that.

Sure, we could have foregone the after party, and just let the winners know they had won after the judges deliberated, and we could have been a little less ambitious about our advertising and printing, but the fact is, everyone had fun at the party, and it was celebratory. The advertising and printing was necessary.

I do wish we had been able to order more food for the party, because it went REALLY fast, but I’m sort of glad we didn’t, because it meant very few leftovers–and those were veggies and fruit.

I got a lot of compliments on the organization: from judges, from attendants, from the filmmakers. It was great to hear that everyone could see all the time, attention and focus we had put into this festival, and I personally felt appreciated.

I was also really happy with the decisions of the judges. Although I felt at least one of the films was unfairly shut out of prize money, the films which won deserved every accolade. I was especially pleased to see that my friend, Josh, won the Viewer’s Choice award. He’s such a talented guy, and a real honour to know.

I would like to say a few things about the Ivey Film Festival:

1. I think I would have felt more comfortable being jizzed on if I had been in a gangbang. As it was, it was like watching a bunch of bizknobs jerk off for each other. A very homosocial environment. Where were the women?

2. They did have a much bigger turn out. Of course, since they had sponsors, their admission was free, and considering it was free, I’m surprised it was as small as it appeared. I’ve been in classes with larger numbers. I wonder if our ticket price kept people away?

3. The director knew exactly what to say to try and smooth my ruffled feathers, but I’m not entirely satisfied he was sincere.

4. I do believe having two festivals happening at virtually the same time confused people, and had the effect of diluting attendance numbers—especially for our festival, which went second.

Can I do it all again?

And I’m, like, stop (stop)
let me take a mental shot
of this moment

Ooh baby, drop (drop)
everything you’re doing right now
and just hold it

Click click click…

~Click Click, Click, NKOTB~

I just need to take a few moments and enjoy the moment I am in.

I am exhausted from waking up at 7 a.m. every morning and going to bed after 12 a.m.–strange hours for me. I haven’t been this behind in my schoolwork since high school. I have never talked so much to so many different people in one day. The last time I smiled so much was at my wedding. My feet literally hurt from walking in shoes that are better looking than they are comfortable. The mountain of work on this festival doesn’t seem to taper off, but I can see the horizon.

I can see the horizon.

This festival is going to be worth every pain, every moment of exhaustion, and every single little fiddly thing I have done in the past few weeks and months, and I can’t wait. I am basking in a warm feeling of hope and accomplishment, and this is only the beginning. If it gets better than this on Saturday night, I may need a tranquillizer. HAHA.