Another fun day. This one was at the home of Nicolas Cage's character "Edward", perhaps a tip of the hat to Edward Woodward who played the main character in the original. Also saw Ellen Burstyn on set prepping for her role as Summerisle, the role played by Christopher Lee in 1973, who it appears is not in this version as rumoured. Sad. Anyway, we worked our tales off again. Its shaping up to be a decent film. You can feel it in the air on set. Kind of cool.

As I'm only a 'day call' PA right now they don't need me on Tuesday (Monday's a holiday). But I may get called later on in the week. Maybe I'll be working on my birthday.

X-Men 3 is crying for people to work so I may fire of a resume to them, but I'm not sure I want to work on such a big production and get lost in a sea of PA's. I'd rather be on Masters of Horror or Fido. We'll see what happens when I contact them. My buddy Wayne who works locations on various shows thinks I can stay busy all summer. "Cherry picking", as Carol called it, is kind of fun and a luxury people don't usually have. I'm going to milk it.

Holy crap! What a load of fun we had yesterday on day one of The Wicker Man starring on of my favourite actors Nicolas Cage, Ellen Burstyn (the mom from The Exorcist) and Christopher Lee (Lord Summerisle from the original 1973 version of The Wicker Man and Dracula from the British Hammer horror films as well as a ton of other cool flicks).

Our first location was a real-life truck stop in Langley BC. The locals really had a treat when Nicolas Cage made himself available to them shaking their hands and posing for some photos. It was nice to see that a guy as busy as he is could let his guard down and give some time to his fans. I was the PA at the cast area for the afternoon so sadly I had to hang out around Nicolas Cage.

The crew I'm working with is pretty cool too. Everyone else seems really switched on and enthusiastic about being on this show, as am I.

I owe a big thanks to my friend Louise in accounting on the show who passed along my résumé. You rock Weezy!

More on this show as it goes along. We're closer to home today and shooting into the evening. Fun! Fun! Fun! It's nice to be working in "The Biz".

Wired News: Hollywood Plots End of Film Reels
Interesting article. The potential for this technology is staggering, I haven't read the 176 page PDF that was included yet, but am more than interested enough to give it a whirl. Probably as dry as a popcorn fart but you never know. I might get me some more book learnin'.

The 20 Hamburgers You Must Eat Before You Die: GQ Features on men.style.com

Surprise, I'm not American. LOL! Thanks to Sicarie's blog for the link.

CBC Arts: 'Karla' screening 'exploitative': family lawyer
Gee, do you think the filmmakers are thinking about cashing in on the recent press? There's no way. Producers aren't interested in money at all. Right...

Last Friday I got a call to go out and work as a PA on Smallville's 2nd unit this week. I thought "2nd unit? Piece of cake". You see, normally, 2nd unit stuff is easier - a smaller crew, a lot of pick ups and stuff not using any actors and often no sound etc. I didn't take into consideration in my calculations leading to my cakewalk analysis that Smallville has a lot of action involving huge stunt sequences and special effects. So, what I saw when I arrived on set blew me away.

CBC Sports: Armstrong wins 7th straight Tour de France
I guess having one nut tucked behind your weiner really does make you more aerodynamic on your bike.

Congrats Lance!

In other fake news thousands of pro cyclists are lining up for elective orchiectomies. Orchiectomy? Why it's not called a testectomy is beyond me. Perhaps because they know guys really won't do the research and wouldn't show up if it sounded like your were going to have a ball cut off.

Crazy Frog Baseball - Comedy Flash games from Something Wrong

Just click and drag the bat to kill him, click reset and repeat.

Top 10 Web fads - CNET.com

Too bad the Mahir site is down due to bandwidth being exceeded... There has to a mirror. Oh wait - I Kiss You!

All of the 2005 IDEA Award winning designs can be found on the business week site. There are many extremely interesting and ultra-practical designs, not the least of which is a Roomba... Yes, Carol a Roomba. *sigh* I wish the stupid thing would just get here already so I can stop hearing about it.

The Big Picture: Why are Movie Theatre Revenues Declining?

Some interesting reading for sure. A little bit more food for thought around the business of film. I just wrote a whole shpiel about my ideal theatre with interactive movie choices, built in cellphone scramblers, big seats with two armrests and headphone jacks etc etc...

What would you ideal theatre look like?

Oh and why am I up at this hour? The new jerks next door sound like they are bowling on the hardwood and watching their TV really loudly. I think we have to move again. I can't sleep at all. Shit.

Tiger shark 1100+ pounds = Eeeek!

'Star Trek' Star James Doohan Dies - Yahoo! News

Thanks to Bill for the link.

It was 36 years ago today that Neil Armstrong (who I share a birthday with) set foot on the moon as the first human lunar visitor. Check out Google Moon - Lunar Landing Sites and zoom all the way in on the Apollo 11 site for a neat view.

Thanks to ewarz for the link.

Satan You scored 85% Pride, 75% Envy, 85% Ambition, and 75% Deceitfulness!

You are Satan, the consummate villain, and the ascendant figure in the unholy trinity. Throughout history you have been called The Serpent, The Accuser, The Devil, Lucifer, The Prince of the Power of the Air, and The Dragon, among other things. Your “compatriots” in the unholy trinity, the Antichrist and the False Prophet, are merely pawns in your futile struggle with God. Though, they probably don’t know this. This is because you are a master of deception; indeed the Bible calls you “The Father of All Lies”. You are also very ambitious, and you strive to be in positions of the utmost authority. Unfortunately, it was impossible for you to obtain the highest title in heaven and this is part of the reason why you decided to leave. Of course, you couldn’t just leave by yourself, so you managed to use your deceptive abilities to get one third of the angels in heaven to join with you in revolt. God put down the rebellion and expelled you from heaven. To most people, it would seem foolish to start a war against God, but pride can sometimes cause people to do foolish things. In heaven, you were the most beautiful and powerful of all angels and you were well aware of this. Unfortunately, you let your pride consume you and your passions led you down the road to perdition. After you were expelled from heaven, you let another one of your attributes consume you—envy. You knew that you could never defeat God, but you could attempt to destroy humanity, his most beloved creation. Your goal is to bring as many people as possible to suffer in Hell with you. Fortunately for you, but unfortunately for the rest of us, you’ve been endowed with all of the attributes necessary (deceptiveness, confidence, ruthlessness, and ambition) to do a terribly good job at this.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 95% on Pride You scored higher than 94% on Envy You scored higher than 88% on Ambition You scored higher than 89% on Deceitfulness

Link: The Which Biblical Villain Are You Test written by MetalliScats on OkCupid Free Online Dating

This test of evil comes to you thanks to Brother Phil's blog.

Thanks to Bill G we can watch this video and this video too of the amazing farting evangelist. I'll call and pledge $50 bucks just to hear him fart a tune.

but a 300 lb Bull Mastiff. I wouldn't want to have to clean up after him.

We just saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Short review: Weird, but in a good way. Love Johnny Depp. Can't wait until Corpse Bride in September. That is all. Move along.

Our friends Ric and Viki from Morrin AB, a.k.a. the middle of friggin' nowhere, have fired up free blogs for themselves at blog.ca. I've linked to them on my 'friends' menu so I can follow all the happenings of these two flatlanders. I'm not sure how much I like blog.ca it looks like blogger is a slicker and more robust option for a free blog. Either of them are great for beginners. Anyone who has a need for a creative outlet or an itch to write should try blogging. It has helped me keep writing even when I'm creatively as bunged up as a constipated old lady.

Spaceflight Now | STS-114 Shuttle Report | Mission Status Center

T-minus 3 hours until the first shuttle flight since the last tragedy. Everyone's holding their breath to see if these rickety old shuttles can still do it.

More info at nasa.gov

UPDATE 6:08 pm PST - Launch scrapped due to faulty fuel switch. Fizzle.

Call me Super-nerd! I can burn DVD's in a single bound (or 6 minutes) with my brand spanking new Plextor PX-716A

I was having trouble sleeping early this morning, but fell back to sleep. I suspected something was going to happen today and it has. Upon awakening at 8:00am I found I had received an email from my birth mother, Dianne, who lives in Berwick, Nova Scotia.

Dianne sent me all of her contact information and a link to pictures of her and my half-brothers from JP's website for his cute as pie son and daughter (the eldest half-brother who I look a bit like). I'm not sure yet if they're cool with me posting their pictures here, but when I get the go ahead you'll see them too. Apparently I'm most like my youngest half-brother, Phil, who's artsy and a blogger too. You can count on a link as soon as I get it.

Late this afternoon we finally connected over the phone. What a wonderful phone call. I am so grateful I have been able to start in this direction at all. It has taken some doing to get up the nerve to begin this whole process but with the experience I'm having so far I'm looking forward fearlessly to more.

I felt a connection right away and our conversation was a mind blower to say the least. She seems like such a cool person. The more I learn about Dianne and her (my birth) family the more connected to planet Earth I feel in a way I never have before. I'm not an alien (as far as I know to this point) as I have suspected. There are others 'like' me.

Being a product of the 60's as I am now so sure about explains my bent toward hippidom and that, ahem, lifestyle. Dianne is proud that I'm a Beatles fan and not an Elvis man. :)

On a really interesting note, Dianne's mother, my biological grandmother, the war bride from Amsterdam, came from a family that was Jewish and converted to Protestant when the Nazi's started their insanity before and during WW2. Most of the family is 'just gone' as a result of Hitler's final solution. The one 80+ year old great aunt (who still drives) did survive the war although in a concentration camp and will not go to Germany to this day. That makes me a quarter Jew. Oi! Who knew? I always suspected on a deep level and have even discussed it with Carol prior to knowing as I have felt a special affinity to the Jewish people for as long as I can remember. Now I know why.

I'm looking forward to more contact and meeting this whole new 'side' of the family. My biological father may be a different story. I know his name now and will start poking around. I'm not going to hold my breath or plan any kind of result. We'll see how it plays out. I'm just glad to be having this experience at all. Keep praying for me.

Eat Hufu - The Healthy Human Flesh Alternative!
It's tofu for cannibals who are tired of all the read meat. You can be a vegan cannibal too with hufu.

The alphabet in a creepy funny way. I miss Edward Gorey.

More here... good for a laugh.

BBC NEWS | UK | London rocked by terror attacks
Moselle are you okay? If I remember correctly you're a train commuter.

Upon arriving home absolutely bushed from 'Fire Mountain' I had a special delivery letter waiting for me on my desk. I knew immediately what it was even before reading the info on it. When I opened it I saw I did contain the biographical letter I have been expected from my birth mother and the form (I will send tomorrow over night delivery) for direct contact approval by me. The information I read has me reeling. Although very emotional I feel extremely positive about continuing on toward making contact with my birth mother. It has taken me until this point today to feel together enough to write a bit about it.

A lot of the letter I'd like to keep private, medical information and some personal feelings, but I'll give you all the general low down and now some specifics. As every adopted child hopes that someone out there misses them, my birth mother misses me still. Its actually comforting in a strange and totally self-centered way. She did worry about me and whether she had made the right decision. Its a gift to be able to share with her the wonderful childhood I did have to ease her fears.

What have I learned?
- My birth parents never married and have no contact (I guess I'll find more out later)
- My birth mother did marry an RCMP officer but divorced 15 years ago
- I have two younger half-brothers, JP (John-Paul) who is moving to Alberta to work in the oil fields with his wife and son and new daughter (call me uncle Mike), and Phil who has a degree in Theatre Arts and has acted in various plays (Surprise! Another actor in the family)
- My maternal grandmother, recently deceased, was a war bride from Amsterdam so I have family there, in Belgium and England
- My birth mother is an accounting/payroll clerk at the town hall where she lives, she is also executive secretary and a volunteer firefighter for the local fire department. (I have also done this)
- She loves to laugh, read science fiction, watch movies and listens to classic rock and heavy metal (all things I like too!)

I finally know that I was born at 7:44 am (I always knew the date [August 5, 1969] just not the time) and that I spent three days with my birth mother and that her friend smuggled a camera into the hospital for her to take my picture at 1 day old which she still has!

Finally, she had named me Chrstopher Jude and, as I had suspected ever since I found out, the Beatles song, Hey Jude, was and I quote, "my inspiration and a way of keeping the special memory of you in my heart".

As you can see. So far so good. I am feeling emotions I've never felt before so I don't even know what to call them yet...

Bear with me.

Lance Armstrong is wearing the yellow jersey at the Tour de France again (of course) and the French are pissed (as usual). The following photo and caption were found in Fark.com's comments on the story above:

It's The Dalek Song...

Carol just screamed, "That's creepy!!" Muhahahahahahha!

First Happy Canada Day all. It's Canada's birthday! I worked all day. Following are some pictures of some behind the scenes stuff of the past two days. Making movies is fun stuff. Sometimes the action the camera doesn't catch is just as entertaining.

On Thursday, as well as more helicopter stuff we had a visitor to set...

He meows and talks a blue streak but was shy and didn't say a word around all the new folks, but he went from person to person with out any argument and was very friendly and gentle. I'm not sure why my hair looks so stupid. It must have been the wind at the end of the runway...

More pictures after the jump.