I really like full circles, long stories (and parentheses):
I was born on April 16th at 6:49pm at the Foothills Hospital in Calgary, Alberta (yes, my parents thought it could be an omen and bought a lottery ticket, and no, they didn't win; I turned out not to be lucky) . I grew up in Alberta: my father's work in the oil industry took us from Calgary (I was 0-2 years old) to Cochrane (2-5), to Grande Prairie (5-11) and finally to Red Deer (11-18), the town which I still consider to be where I'm "from". I left Red Deer the summer after high school to attend the University of Calgary, which is only a stone's throw away from the Foothills Hospital, to study Archaeology (I know, give me a minute).
Throughout school, there was always something to do on stage: my elementary school always did random Christmas productions (ranging from the standard Pagent style performances of carols etc., to plays like A Christmas Carol) . I was also playing cello in the Aspen Grove/Crystal Park orchestra, which afforded the odd performance. Moving to Red Deer shifted me in to full Drama classes, getting my first real taste of improvisation, writing and even performing my own work, culminating in a production called Supersition presented by my high school, Lindsay Thurber, at the Z4W Drama festival. Sketch writing also began to take shape in Red Deer with my memorable (for nothing but awesomeness) involvement in performing and writing of Butt Ugly.
What's crazy, I suppose, is that this is also the time I began working on short films, ranging from a 'choose your own adventure' dvd movie, to a short feature about drunk driving, eventually leading to a feature western called Whiskey Jacks.
You could maybe see how after all of this, I was tired; I thought that maybe it was time to try something else, and I had always really enjoyed history, so I decided to give Archaeology a try. This lasted about 8 months; it turned out that I wanted to be inIndiana Jones , not be an Indiana Jones (because until you get there, you don't realize how many charts of tiny numbers, and toothbrushing away sand Archaeology really is); I switched in to the Drama department and began working (an insane amount) on theatre projects. While working on various plays (and still the occasional film, like the aforementioned Whiskey Jacks), I kept improvising, and I kept writing sketch comedy. The best part of all of this hard work was that it allowed me to finally find Dave, Dean, Derek, Mike & Val; five people who care about making people laugh as much as I do, and have the talent to do it.
We have continued to work together off and on over the past 8 years on various projects & shows....and we would gather ideas...and write...and dream...and {BLANK}...
Shaun's Meandering Thoughts
February 29, 2012 Lessons of Leap Day
It's February 29th today, which seems odd that it should fall on my blog day (because I totally didn't plan for this *glance glance*).
Could you actually imagine if I had taken the time a year ago, to work out when Leap Day was going to be in the next (this) year (the year 2012 being divisible evenly by four, not evenly divisible by 100 and although not divisible by 400--which would of course result in a leap year--is a leap year)? I would seriously have some issues with needing something to do. As it turns out however, it does give me something to talk about in my blog.
Although it's not all that interesting...unless you're into Julian Reform (I won't assume ;) ) .
I mean, it's just another day and this isn't The Pirates of Penzance (remember? when Frederic was apprenticed by pirates until his 21st birthday, but because he was born on February 29th (and those pirates find out), he would have to serve until he was in his eighties??! Right?!............
nothing?.............
*sigh* Well then I guess we'll just have to sit here and stare at each other.
Or we could try and figure out how many jellybeans are in this jar.
I'm guessing 5.
The rest are actually poison (motivating poison, to get the answer right).
-S
PS: I think the lesson here is: never let me run a county fair.
February 22, 2012 Why Dolphins are Bastards. Part Four
I've rambled a lot lately. And Dave chimed back in with a complaint about grammar yesterday, so if I don't do this now, my long-running-series will probably die. And I don't know if you've noticed, but I think in their being bastards, I've stumbled upon a vast dolphinic conspiracy:
So ladies and gentleman...Why Dolphins are Bastards:
Part Four: They're Recruiting
I've already established that they're cocky and they don't care if they show us up in front of people. They're smart (and getting ready to come for your fish), and they're rich (damn you leprechaun gold!)...but what happens when they (or we) put those three parts together (cocky, smart and rich?)
That's right, Dartmouth College.
But this isn't about them (it never is, sorry New Hampshire).
This is about dolphins recruiting people (potentially paying them, or in some cases just flat out-foxing them). "Shaun," you say "That's crazy talk" and after I finish off the relevent Simpsons reference, I say NO! Think of the benefits of having covert operators within our population!
Doors and nets knocked aside. Tricky freezers of fish opened, potential adversaries/our military locked into rooms (OPPOSABLE THUMBS PEOPLE...).
We already went through this more than once (almost every war has had spies) even as recent as the 1980's (cold war spies much?) But we have a way to fight back. The dolphins have made a crucial error: they've marked their operatives.
That's right. Dolphin Tattoo's are their operatives' badges. So that cute girl you were talking to on the boat when 'Flipper' started showing off? Yeah, make sure you check her calves for these symbols of our coming doom. And if you see someone with a dolphin tattoo, I want you to go up to them, and in a loud, clear voice say: "NO, YOU CANNOT HAVE MY FISH!"
And walk away; now THEY know you're onto them. And that's the beginning.
It's time to start thinking people, and keep your eyes open.
-S
PS: Is it just me, or am I becoming the Glenn Beck of dolphins? Ah well, I haven't started crying yet
February 15, 2012 I bring very little to the table, but there's posters!!
I find myself, once again, in something of a rush. I will do my best to make this more than just a quick check in (as I am carrying the blogellogram at the moment), but I make no promises (if memory serves me correctly/you feel like scrolling through some blogs & news blogs, we've learned a long time ago that my promises are sketchy at best). While there is a fair amount going on in the past few days, I don't particularly feel like talking about any of them (and seriously, no one needs another blog that talks about politics today-- thanks c-30).
No today I think I'd like to go back to (I think, honestly, I don't remember everything I've meandered about in the past couple of years on here) talking about historical consciousness, something which I myself have been experiencing a fair amount of over the past few months. For those who don't remember (or in case I haven't talked about it before...but I swear I have...), historical conciousness (HC) is a term for that....weird sense of nostalgia some people have for something they never (themselves) experienced. I'm sure all of you have heard someone talk about "man the sixties were great" despite the fact that they're in their mid-twenties (thus narrowly missing out on living through the sixties by meer decades). Now I have talked about that "when would you want to have lived if you had the choice to be alive in any time" deal, and as you may well remember I am particularly happy with where I'm at. But that's not to say that I haven't had an odd inkling toward some HC lately, and almost all of it is directed toward advertising. Let me give you an example:
Now that's not to say that it doesn't seem like that small child is thinking about murdering those diesmbodied hands who are applying "jam" to that enriched bread...actually ok, hold on that one might be a bad example as the more I look at this one, the more I'm pretty sure that kid is evil.
There we go! That's better.
This one really gets across what I was looking at. I think there's something to be said about the simplicity of the old one sheets. Look how Happy they are! Lard's message is competely getting across here both in print (They're HAPPY --Because they eat-- and you're excited to see where this is going by this point, that's what that clear, bold font is for, LARD) and in the photo: not only is this young family enjoying themselves at the beach, but they are doing so thanks to all of the energy they have gotten from the Lard they've consumed.
Plus, at no time do I feel misled by this ad, because I can clearly see that it was issued by the Lard Information Council...a group of people who I am SURE, know the most of any of us about the benefits of Lard. Besides, look how healthy they look. Lard!
OK, yes This is a spoof from the British satirical comic Viz, issue 52, February
/ March 1992, on page 21. It's not a real advertisement. I figured you would appreciate this before I get to an actual one, while at the same time, it does relay something of my point: I find that the older ads seem to have a great deal more work put into them...the message is clearer, and it doesn't get muddled up into an advertising "campaign". Think about most of the print ads you see now...so many of them make it difficult to tell what the product actually is that they're selling, or in some cases, even what it does. And half the time it seems like some guy (like me) is just sitting at a computer and photoshopping a product picture together in an afternoon, and it's over.
Classic ads, especially the hand drawn ones, just seem so much more interesting (and dare I say, cool).
And in no place is this more apparent than in Coca-Cola ads. This one is from the 50's. It demonstrates what it is (even with a fountain tap), the tagline couldn't be more to the point (it'd be like if {BLANK} had the tagline of WATCH THE SHOW). It's not too busy, the colour scheme is calm and appealing...I could go on and on. Now think of almost any print ad you've seen in the last year...
Exactly: overly bright, super busy and a lot of times, trying too damn hard to "Stand out" by being the same as every other ad (ads now are like emo goth kids....expressing their extreme indivduality in the same way as every other emo goth kid. The three ads I've posted (even the joke one) are Clear and Distinct. Something I feel we lack now; and if you don't believe me...open up a magazine that's got fashion ads in it, and see if you can tell the companies apart.
I dunno, maybe I'm just crazy, or my lack of sleep is making me ramble on about things that don't really make any sense (and in a way, they don't), but if I had to choose Advertising from any era?
Gotta be a little bit quicker today (but I think that's fair considering the epic length of last week, plus I'm attaching the Moon Nazis vs. Earth film trailer that was out today at the bottom too...so if you didn't watch it yet, it's going to get Nazi in here-- seriously, the tounge in cheek on this is amazing).
I watched a good chunk of ABC's The River yesterday, and was thoroughly disappointed. I had some high hopes, thinking that the concept (if executed well) could be an amazing series, but it really...really didn't do anything for me. It may be the cliche-ridden characters, the "found footage" premise which feels super-imposed on a standard television serial (seriously; they had to have found like 90 cameras worth of footage...oh and half of the jungle shots didn't fit the "found" theme--pretty sure no one put a camera under that log, and we can see the two camermen...in the shot...*cough*), or the fact that it used a whole pile of horror movie stupidity (lets sleep in the graveyard) already to get itself moving.
Oh and did I mention that Hawai'i/Puerto Rico doesn't look like the Amazon? 'Cause IT DOESN'T, although I guess it helps your "British Colonial Daughter" storyline if you just pretend its' a jungle-y thing somewhere....*sigh*
RESEARCH IS HARD! If only there was some sort of resource, where you could type in what you wanted to know about, and it would find materials for you....or some sort of large building, where they have people who are...hoarding texts which contain knoweldge. That you could go to, and like, talk to them, or...or read a book.
Exactly. A Starbucks.
We all know there are Starbucks everywhere, just ask the person behind the counter, I'm sure they have a history/english/philosophy degree and will be most helpful ;)
Anyway, I gotta jet, but as promised, here's a link to the Iron Sky trailer, and man, I'm very much looking forward to this one.
If you don't believe me, I have two words for you:
I sure hope the world doesn't end this, year I wanna live to see this!
Shaun
Feb-16 4:56pm
See this, as in see the film ('cause the world doesn't end then) or see this as in 2018 when Sarah is president and the Nazi's come back. Either way I can approve because again...SPACE ZEPPELINS
February 1, 2012 The Geektacular Blog
I'm working the full week this week, so I'm on my computer as is, listening to some Armin van Buuren, so I figured that I might as well blog a bit (oh hey it's Wenesday...that's so convienient and unexpected) *cough*.
Today I feel like geeking out a little bit, to talk about a few things that have really been propping up here in the last week--and no this won't be about the SuperBowl. It's hard to care about NY vs. Boston again. Unless you're into that sorta thing (cue the Brady love from Dave).
First things first, I think it needs to be addressed that prequel series of Watchmen were announced by DC today (that's right, when I said geeking out, I MEANT geeking out. If you don't care about Watchmen, or comics/graphic novels, feel free to just skip to the picture). In case you haven't heard about it, go here and giver a look over. Now I'm not usually one of those people who feels the need to debate whether or not something like this should happen (I am someone who has no problem enjoying something that is well done and can seperate it (if need be) from the original pantheon-- for example, I was stupidly bored, and spent some time defending the JJ Abrams Star Trek on imdb from annoying traditionalist Treksters (I had time to waste (which it was) and as the Trekkies learned, I can type faster than most of them, so I could get my points across before they could ramble about "timelines" and "ruining the story" for paragraphs that no one read)) but I think it's hard not to at least conisder the fact that the timing seems a little weird.
I'd just like to point out my fantastic layering of brackets in that last part there...parenthetical Shaun is back (suck it grammar Shaun)!
Anyway, "Watchmen 2". Now my love of graphic novels was truly started by my reading of Watchmen, so it will always hold a special place in my heart for starting me off on reading some very rewarding books/series (like Y: The Last Man or Battle Pope--Yes. Battle Pope), when I first heard the rumours of a sequel (or sequels) showing up now, 25 years later...I was cautious...as my first thought was "I'm sure Alan Moore (creator of Watchmen...for those of you who stuck with this just 'cause you're hoping for jokes) probably wants nothing to do with it". And considering what he said in the New York Times today, I'd like to think that he isn't (oh great, so the link requires a log-in...ok here's what he said:
"I tend to take this latest development as a kind of eager confirmation
that they are still apparently dependent on ideas that I had 25 years
ago...I don't want money. What I want is for this not to
happen. As far as I know, there weren't that many prequels or sequels to
Moby Dick."
This confirmed my initial worry. But at the same time, DC has called on some very talented people to do the mini-series...and they're doing a prequel story (which is at least marginally more acceptable that a sequel...because seriously), but I don't know how I feel about it. DC has been re-booting a lot of their series of late, and this makes a lot of sense (take something like Green Lantern: the series has been running for decades, and the storylines have expanded almost to the point where it's almost impossible for someone who hasn't been following Green Lantern for a while to get started--thus something like "Green Lantern: Rebirth" makes a lot of sense--you can atract a new (perhaps Ryan Reynolds loving) set of readers to expand your business). Watchmen is a single book--a book voted as one of Time's top 100 novels of all time. A story which you can pick up and read tomorrow, knowing absolutely nothing about it, and follow it through to the end without a problem. And it's over. Why restart something, without the original creators? Desperate for a new story? I'm sure there are hundreds of indie books out there that you could turn into a franchise if DC put half the resources behind it, that they're putting into these prequels. I guess maybe that's why I don't run a comics company--I like the idea of promoting something new (remember when I complained about North 60? THAT was DC cancelling something with potential...why?) rather than re-using something that the creator doesn't want re-used to try and score some quick money based off an established brand.
Unless this means we get Rorshach Pepsi commercials and/or plush toys (collectable spoons!!!).
Then I take it all back. Hey, despite all of this, if the mini-series turns out well (and based on the talent involved, it could) I may give the books a try...but I don't know if I want to support something that just seems so much more money oriented than a need to tell a story.
Speaking of which....
*sigh*
So...this is happening...our ***favourite*** Star Wars film is FINALLY joining the 3D circus. Awesome. I can't wait for some more sweet sweet Jar Jar Binks-->remember when he got numb and talked constantly when he got caught in that beam? LOL Classic Jar Jar... And you know what the best part of this is? Lucasfilm has claimed that this is the test Star Wars film for 3D...which means that if I even want to see Episode IV in 3D (tell me, oh Star Wars fans, that you don't want to see the trench run in 3D, even just a little bit...or the second Death Star attack in Return, or even the giant robot camels in Empire...yeah, I know they're AT-AT's (I didn't have to look it up, I have an Empire original release blanket, thank you very much) but we all thought they looked like camels before Seth MacFarlane brough it up), fans of Star Wars have to support the worst film in the franchise at the box office AGAIN.
Now I'm sure it won't flop (it's a Wars film after all...people will go), but that does hurt the geeky soul a bit. It'd be like if instead of Prometheus, Ridley Scott decided to see if there was still some Alien franchise love by re-doing Alien: Resurrection (I know it was directed by JPJ, save your geekmail) or they re-released the Trek movies in 3D starting with Nemesis. OrBring it On with Fight to the Finish (CHANGE IS HARD!! Both Dave and Dean know what I'm talking about there *snaps fingers*)...
Oh well...at least I've still got Battleship to look forward to this summer
-S
PS: If that was too geeked out for you, I don't really care, but it was either this, or my talking American politics...and no one wants that ;)
I'm guessing 5.
That's right. Dolphin Tattoo's are their operatives' badges. So that cute girl you were talking to on the boat when 'Flipper' started showing off? Yeah, make sure you check her calves for these symbols of our coming doom. And if you see someone with a dolphin tattoo, I want you to go up to them, and in a loud, clear voice say: "NO, YOU CANNOT HAVE MY FISH!"
Now that's not to say that it doesn't seem like that small child is thinking about murdering those diesmbodied hands who are applying "jam" to that enriched bread...actually ok, hold on that one might be a bad example as the more I look at this one, the more I'm pretty sure that kid is evil.
