Turkey

We bought a turkey before Easter. I roasted it and served it for supper with Allan. I put it in the roaster upside down and the breast meat was much juicier and the bones in the back came out simply and quickly, making carving a breeze.
Went to Talkies afterwards. "Hackers". A bit of a turkey too. 

Big scanner, Big problems

To scan William's Pud graphic novel, part one completed after over a year's work, I borrowed Allan's old scanner which has a nice large platen. However, I found that my computer could not see it. I tried it on the Lynex downstairs and on William's Windows 7 and those didn't work either. Finally I pulled out the XP laptop and low and behold, I got it working. I needed to use a third party driver. To get the book he drew in to sit flat, I need to hold the overhanging cover open by installing a microphone stand beside it, as well as putting heavy books on top of it. 

Snow! What the......#$%^&*

This photo only shows the beginning, but we got a bit more than a bit of snow today. Good news, I still have the winter tires on. Didn't feel in the mood to do pinhole photos with Risa for International Pinhole Photography Day, but then remembered that I had a pinhole hood for my SLR so could do lens-less images the new fangled way.

End Game

No spoilers.
I bought Avengers Endgame tickets five days in advance and we went to it for the 3pm screening. Lots of fun. I especially appreciated the quiet times when there was lengthy conversation and contemplation and less blowing shit up. 

Winnipeg visitors

Leslea, Leif, Brianna and Teagan were in town visiting to celebrate a landmark 100th birthday. We lunched at the MAG and enjoyed the black light prints. Notebooks look like they belong in Pulp Fiction. 

tax time

I had no grants and less than the usual number of other income items this year, and the same with Margaret, so taxes were generally easy. That doesn't mean they were easy. Program crashed on my a few times until I got common sense to save things. All done. I get something back. Margaret pays a bit extra. 

A cold reading

William had Griffin on the phone and Xander and Emma in person for a cold reading of the screenplay he and Griffin have been working on. I kept my nose out of it. Went painting in the morning. 

Easter

Mom hosted Easter supper today. Dad seemed in good health, eating ham and ribs and cheesecake. Sean brought Sarah (bravely meeting entire family at once).
The day began with chocolate and mochacinno and William reciting the entirety of his new "Call of Cthulhu" book, done in the style of Dr. Seuss. Very fun (and strangely accurate).

Mike and a new game

Mike is in town for the weekend.We went for ice cream and to the comic store where I picked up a Lovecraft book William wanted and a used game for two bucks called [d0x3d!]. It seemed very confusing from the instructions but quickly proved to be straight forward. Probably not the sort of game we'll play repeatedly, but worth $2. 

Eggs and flowers

We went to Marla's for egg colouring today. I didn't really participate but had some nice conversations with Janine and everyone. On the way back we stopped at our regular hillside to find crocuses. Very windy. They were in bloom but not as many as some years. The little barn is still holding together.

Fourth Year Screening 2019

Great screening at the Artesian tonight with the fourth year film students. The collection included a couple of strong experimental films and documentaries but seemed more focused on comedies this year. While everyone deserves kudos for jobs well done, I wanted to point out how well "Flow Play", a group project headed up by director Vincent Dupuis turned out. I'd read the script 8 months back and felt it had promise if, and only if, it was handled in some very particular ways to ensure the comedy worked. Otherwise it threatened to be very corny. Fortunately, the material was very well sculpted and it was quite a lark. Good job. The program closed with "Pothad" by Curtis McGilivrary which also skirted the edge between absurd brilliance and corny trivia and again it came out on top. I'm hoping to see this character return. 

Canadian Film Day

My extremely busy term ends abruptly with my schedeuled introduction of "Window Horses" by Ann Marie Fleming as part of Canadian Film Day at the Archer Library. Classes have been over for a week but duties carrying over into this week included interdis grad reviews, BFA interviews, and numerous other meetings. I still have grading to do and lots of other little things, but the heavily scheduled events are far fewer.
I started a new painting class this morning.

Post Shazam coffee

Went to Shazam.  Not bad  

ps: tried to post a blog through my tablet along with a photo while having coffee but the photo got lost somewhere. 

Filmpool grant submitted

After a bit of glitching around the portal submission system (I've used portals before but for some reason this one closed on my and wouldn't re-open), I submitted an application for Filmpool funding for "The Gentleman Farmer" to cover a bit of stock, processing, and transfer costs. I've tried to be modest as there are many very deserving filmmakers around. Fingers crossed. 

Backyard Baker

I had my doubts at first, especially when all his breads at the beginning seemed to be overly fancy seven grain bs things, but with the straight forward baguettes and the raisin bread which is to die for, I've bought into the idea of the weekly pre-ordered artisan "Back Yard Baker" model. 

Neutral Ground

I threw out my back the other day and even though it is getting better, I found myself ready to pass out from fighting off the pain about an hour and a half into the Neutral Ground opening tonight (Katherine Boyer: Labour is the Body; Time is the Bridge). Lots of good conversations. Sorry to have had to duck out.

MAP open house and J-School screening at University

Christina, Jingyi and I went for lunch at the Creek Bistro today. Jingyi needs to go home in a few days to visit family.

The BFA exhibition for the graduating visual art students took place on campus instead of at the MacKenzie for the first time this year. The dip in prestige was compensated for through the opportunity to show off their quite large and far- ranging facilities in an open house happening concurrent to the show opening. We had a great conversation with Kevin about his stretched condoms, a work that is incredibly evocative but difficult. William and I took in a lot of the open house in but then dashed over to the Journalism Department where Trevor's documentary students, including the three grad students I worked with this year, showed their final projects. Nice chat with Wayne Mantyka who ate cookies with us in the front row.

Seema in town

Our old friend Seema Goel was in town for a short trip. She's been in Winnipeg for the past four years but we've not had a chance to see her until tonight. Robin invited a bunch of us to NDH for a pot luck. David and Sylvia were there, as were Charlie and Loretta, Jeannie and Ed, and others. It was interesting to hear about her son's interest in dressing up (suits and Harry Potter mostly) and about her role UofM in the science department teaching art/science topics.

Developing "Pud Letter"

William, Allan, and I worked on a modification of the game "Love Letter" and its insane version "Lovecraft Letter" to be based around William's Pud characters that we'd call "Pud Letter". We are insisting that it not just be a re-skinning but have unique rules and I think we made some interesting break throughs. In particular, we are looking at the number 2 as it relates to "double bubble", and the idea that gum, and perhaps cards, can be hidden under the table for later use. I also think we will consider the set of discarded cards in front of you as a bubble that can grow, can be compared, and that might burst. 

Coffee with Jon

Classes nearly over so I managed to take a coffee break with Jon Tewksbury. No agenda. He doesn't even like coffee. 

Jingyi defends!

My grad student Jingyi defended her MFA today. It's been a long road and there are still some things to fix, but she was successful. Quite a day. So busy that we didn't manage to go out to eat, as is tradition, but rather I went back to my classroom for the final day of one of my Film 200 classes. Still so busy but the end is near. Congratulations Jingyi. 

Birthday

My birthday.
It may seem odd, but I was quite happy to spend three hours of my birthday, which lands on Sunday, at work. 16mm films had come in on Friday and I wanted a video copy of them to give to students in class on Monday, which would take place after a thesis defense. The day after my birthday is too complicated and I was stressing about it, so a bit of weekend work became stress relief.
I barbecued ribs, some special imported ones Margaret bought at the monthly Red Meat Wagon sale this weekend. They were f'n good.

I got ice cream at Dessart Sweets. The weather was perfect so there was a line up. Worth it.
Kevin, Geremy, and Allan came to our house for a game. Mooky dropped by for a surprise visit and Margaret whipped up the best cupcakes imaginable.William made me a very inspired card.

Very good day.

Last push for last week of classes

While I don't have any actual lectures to really do this week, I do want to hand back projects with grades as well as present edited versions of all in class projects that we shot for the students to see and to possibly take copies of. The 16mm film finally arrived in late Friday afternoon so I need to get that transferred on Monday, even though Jingyi's defense is scheduled for that day (only got confirmation yesterday).
Tomorrow is my birthday, and is Sunday, but my only chance of catching up is to head to the office and get the last films rendered and get the 16mm copied. Probably also use a sharpie to correct the major mistake on the posters I hung last week. 

Grad student presentations

I learned a lot about the grad students in my class today as they each did an artist talk (based on some approaches I outlined and demonstrated last week), talking about their work, their life, and the way things fit together (although it is never that simple). Went to the "India Palace" afterwards (old Melrose Place on south Albert). Fairly mild but good, except for the butter chicken which tasted too much like Campbell's tomato soup.
We began class with my presenting of the results of last week's stereoscopic photography which I had developed at London Drugs, then I scanned them at home and laid them out in photoshop and finally printed them out in the "while you wait" printer at Walmart (the weak link certainly - they only do glossy and the colours were not rich).

Slate new location opening

The Slate opening in their new space on 13th Avenue was huge. We were there for almost two hours and could barely navigate the crowd most of the time.
William was inspired by the Jonas Mekas film we saw last week and has decided to document art events with his digital camera. 

Student film shoot 3

In the final group shoot, Granny ruthlessly kills the gangster "Red" after disguising herself with Wolf's face. "I've got too many grandchildren anyway" she explains. 

Student film shoot 2

The Tuesday student group is larger so I had a section of them break off and make a separate film, a mocumentary, on the periphery of the main shoot. Both worked well. Wolf and Red are competing artists forced to collaborate until Wolf kills Red and then kills the curator. However, the ghost of Red possesses the curator and curses Wolf to only exhibit in the student show. 

Student film shoot 1

Film shoot for the first of the three Film 200 groups went well. The story was supposed to be prompted by Little Red Riding Hood but became a beauty and the beast thing which then became even stranger as Red became a police woman, played by a large male student, and the beast was a drunken character with a bad British accept bemoaning his "urges".