mike browne's old blog

Common sense is not so common. ~ Voltaire

Trade Forum... Bah! Let's go to VIFF

Sep 30, 2005 by Mike Browne in Filmmaking | 1 Comment
The trade forum yackety yack looks rather boring today. I'm going to see Toeing the Line, a showcase of canadian short films at VIFF at 12:30.

Especially of interest is InConvenience a 16 minute short directed by John Penhall (I worked with him on Daingerfield, Fire Mountain and The spiritual Guilt Trip). I've seen a rough cut of the short and really liked it.

Here's the premise:

When a Chinese storeowner finds a misplaced winning lottery ticket, he literally takes cover from his guilt and perceived fear of retribution.

Here's a still of Henry, the lead:


Blog reader, drama Dave, also makes a humourous appearance in this as well.

For more info on InConvenience and showtimes click here --->

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Interview with Ray Liotta

Sep 28, 2005 by Mike Browne in Filmmaking | 4 Comments


Now that's cool! I just spent an hour and a half in the second row in the beautiful new Vancouver International Film Centre theatre listening to Ray Liotta, star of Goodfellas, one of my favourite films, talk about acting and the movie business at The Film and Television Trade Forum.

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Zombie film quiz

Sep 27, 2005 by Mike Browne in Zombies | 3 Comments
Guardian Unlimited Film | | Zombie film quiz
I got 8 out of 10.

Lamest Canadian

Sep 26, 2005 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment
eFrank - Lamest Canadian
Looks like my favourite Canadian to despise, that arrogant Canadian Tire jerk off, leads the pack. Hooray! I want to club him like a baby seal.

Would you believe...?

Sep 26, 2005 by Mike Browne in Downers | 4 Comments

Don Adams, TV's fumbling 'Get Smart' agent, dies at 82. He missed it by that much.

The Film & Television Trade Forum

Sep 26, 2005 by Mike Browne in Filmmaking | Add comment
I'm done with The Spiritual Guilt Trip. I learned a lot (not all of it fun) but am grateful to have had the experience. Starting on Wednesday I'll be at The Film & Television Trade Forum networking and learning more about "the biz". For $275 I get 4 days of film and TV business blah blah blah from people like Ray Liotta from Goodfellas, James L. White known most recently for penning Ray, the Ray Charles story and Neil LaBute, the director of Wicker Man. If you're going and want to meet up for coffee or lunch fire me off an email and we'll connect.

Funny Office Slang

Sep 24, 2005 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment
OfficeSlang.com - Funny Office Slang

Whilst working at the place that shall not be named I do admit I often endulged myself in CROP DUSTING - Surreptitiously farting while passing thru a cube farm, then enjoying the sounds of dismay and disgust; leads to PRAIRIE DOGGING.....

Yes, it was me and you all deserved it.

Learn to Dance with Napoleon Dynamite

Sep 19, 2005 by Mike Browne in Movies and TV | 1 Comment
Flash » Learn to Dance with Napoleon Dynamite
Hehehe! Time to watch this one again!

50 Worst Songs...Ever

Sep 18, 2005 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 3 Comments
VH1.com : 50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs...Ever

Some of these I wish I had never heard even once. Good list VH1. However we appear to be missing "Copacabana", "The Macarena", "Mambo #5" and "Who Let the Dogs Out?". They are definitely top 50 material.

DVD Aficionado

Sep 17, 2005 by Mike Browne in Movies and TV | 1 Comment
Check it out... I think I might have missed a few but here's our DVD collection at DVD Aficionado - mikebrowne's DVD Collection

Holy crap it took a long time to input all of these. Now y'all know what to get me for Christmas or any other occaision. Perhaps next I'll add to the wish list. Just more to prove that I love movies.

No zombies before 9pm!

Sep 17, 2005 by Mike Browne in Zombies | 1 Comment
Irish TV watchdog orders Zombies to stay dead until 9pm - Yahoo! News UK
How unreasonable! The sooner kids learn that zombie exist and will eat their brains the better. Its a safety issue for God's sake.

Here's the ad for lucozade energy.

I am alive...

Sep 16, 2005 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 3 Comments
This is the longest I've gone without a blog update since I started the thing in 2002. I am bagged, but have been having fun. Working on The Spiritual Guilt Trip has been quite the exercise in stamina. Most of our shoots so far are taking place in the evenings and long into the night, so when I get home I'm just too tired to sit in front of the computer and come up with anything remotely witty to say. I'm completely drained... working with the likes of Ron Oliver, who calls me Rain Man, Tom Arnold, who drinks diet Coke by the case and calls me Barney Rubble, and Leslie Jordan, who tells the funniest stories, has completely worn me out.

On a more negative note, the assholes next door are still here and claiming they have not been given notice of eviction. The music was thumping so loudly when I was trying to get to sleep (after arriving home at 2:30 am from a 14 hour day) that I went over and hammered on the door and screamed at the 'dirtbag / scumbag' that he needed to turn the music down. This knucle-dragger had the nerve to tell me that we need to stop harassing him. I almost grabbed the guy and dragged him into the hallway. What a dickhead. After I went back to our suite I actually felt badly for calling the guy a scumbag, but I guess I shouldn't as scumbag is as scumbag does.

His landlord was supposed to have given them an eviction notice, but we're unsure if that has happened. ARGH! More on this when we find out...

Why I didn't buy the Sin City DVD

Sep 10, 2005 by Mike Browne in Movies and TV | 3 Comments
I suspected this was coming - JoBlo.com Movie News: The real Sin City DVD!

Here's what you get:
The 124-minute theatrical release
The 147-minute extended cut
A commentary with director Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller
A second commentary with Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino
A third commentary containing Austin Premiere crowd reaction
A 15-minute film school with Rodriguez
A Movie in High-Speed Green Screen feature
17 uninterrupted minutes of Tarantino's segment
Footage of a Sin City cast/crew party
A 10-minute cooking school with Robert Rodriquez
4 featurettes on the cars, special effects make-up, costumes and props, a featurette on how they convinced Miller to assist with the film, a featurette on casting, a featurette on Tarantino the guest director (sigh)
Trailers
Bloopers
An interactive game
1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen
English DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround tracks

Yeah, I think I'll wait until December 13th.

Top Ten's

Sep 09, 2005 by Mike Browne in Filmmaking | 3 Comments
Ron, our openly gay director on The Spiritual Guilt Trip, is constantly making jokes about his sexual orientation while on set. He's hilarious! When he and Tom Arnold start trying to one up each other I nearly pee my pants it's so hilarious.

Ron's most recent coup is having Letterman do a Top Ten List on Tuesday for rejected names of his gay detective drama, Third Man Out.
The list is after the jump ----->

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A new show and movie musts

Sep 06, 2005 by Mike Browne in Filmmaking | 2 Comments
I started the new show today. It's a Christmas MoW for ABC called The Spiritual Guilt Trip, starring Tom Arnold, who just happened to be wearing the glasses from his IMDb photo, Andrea Roth from one of our favourite shows, Rescue Me and directed by Ron Oliver (here's his personal site). The script has a few giggles and the actors and director are up for a fun shoot methinks.

Read more after the jump -------->

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A City Underwater

Sep 06, 2005 by Mike Browne in Downers | 4 Comments
Keith Olbermann of MSNBC was on a rant last night on his show, Countdown. I love this guy. He's not afraid to call it as he sees it. Apparently, government officials don't even know the difference between a city and a state. You can listen to the audio, watch the video, or read the transciption of Olbermann's comments here - onegoodmove: A City Underwater

More of this please.

And enough of this race issue bullshit. It looks more like a class issue. The lower classes, many of whom are black in New Orleans, were slammed by this tragedy. The mayor of New Orleans, who also happens to be black, did not include any plans to extricate those without personal vehicles, the poor, the elderly, the mentally and physically handicapped, using public transit during his 'mandatory' evacuation of the city. It's heartbreaking to watch people who obviously couldn't have helped themselves in the first place have to be rescued terrified, confused and near starvation, and more than a week later than they should have been.

Class is colourblind. Perhaps we should all try to be for now and just help these people.

Donate now at the US Red Cross, Canadian Red Cross or the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund

Kanye speaks his mind

Sep 04, 2005 by Mike Browne in Downers | 3 Comments
Yahoo! News - Kanye West Rips Bush at Hurricane Aid Show

Here the video to prove it. Holy moly. The look on the faces of Mike Myers and Chris Tucker nearly killed me. Myers looked like he was going to barf and Tucker looked like he was thinking, "Please don't cut to me..."

Sometimes the stress of a tragedy such as the one in Louisiana brings out the worst in people.

Donate here: The Canadian Red Cross

Thanks to Xero for the heads up on the Kanye story.

Hurricane Report

Sep 03, 2005 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 4 Comments
NEUROTICALLY YOURS CARTOON: HURRICANE REPORT
Squirrel is on a rant...

Thanks to Etrigan for the link