Griffin in town recording

 Griffin and Kae are in town. We recorded the last necessary voice for the radio play with him, and then William recorded a huge loop scene for Griffin's feature film. 

Party night

 I spent twelve hours editing audio today for the radio play. While I wanted to stay in the groove, I also wanted to do a bit of holiday stuff. We headed to Carle Steele's place for a mix of in and outdoor fun as they burned stuff in the fire. Then we headed to the Truszkowski's for some wonderful cakes and squares. Running a bit late on both so we headed home in time for me to edit another two hours. 

Worst advent calendar ever

 Margaret ordered this for me so that I could open up a miniature camera. Not only did it arrive almost three weeks late, but .... oh my god, I don't know what to say. William articulates it better. Watch his unboxing video:  

Allan for supper

Allan is heading out of town for the break to visit friends and family as usual. We caught up with him over some steaks (too cold to bbq but did so anyway) as well as attending Ayesha's reading of her play at the university. 
 

Radio Drama recording

Over the past couple of weeks, Geremy, William, and I have been writing a radio drama for a bird people chrismas special to air on CJTR. We started recording voices a few days ago, but hit our peak today with half the voices covered in the studio. Pictured here are Jon Tewksbury (two voices) and Thomas Parham. Earlier today was Ken Wilson. William recorded three of his own today, and two of mine. It will air on the evening of the 24th at 6:00 pm on 91.3 fm in Regina. 
 

Promote William's workshop

William will be hosting a workshop about using foam core in January at Neutral Ground. We took some snap shots of material for promoting it. 
 

Decorate tree and purchase new fish

Tree up, watered, and decorated. Bought a new molly at Pat's Pets. Our prior one died. The guy at Pet Smart would not sell me a fish because my ten gallon tank is the right size for just my cat fish. He doesn't care that my cat fish is sociable because it is labeled as "slightly aggressive". Since I had an early catfish die of anxiety when left alone too long, I reject his assessment.  I walked out of that store and won't shop there again. 
 

Coffee with mom

Coffee with mom today. Drove around to about five places trying to find things open but, being Monday, many coffee shops and most art galleries are closed. Found a place, but ultimately had most of our conversation n the car. 

Bought a tree over a week ago and finally brought it in this evening.
 

Lunch at mom's new residence

We arrived early for lunch at mom's residence - a special event for family - and spent some time in her room. Margaret and William had not yet seen it. She's changed some art around since last week. Food was excellent. 
 

More art prep

 So many things to cut for William's show. One problem is that the efficient way to do everything is in stages, which results in none of the boxes being presentable until near the end. Therefore, it looks like nothing is ready. True, there is still a LOT of stuff to prepare. The white foam core that he bought from Gails is not available anywhere. It had a writable, matt surface but all the white that can be purchased is shiny and glossy. However, the black is all matt, including the inexpensive stuff from the dollar story which has been great for supporting pieces. 

Coffee from Kristin

 George returned from an Ottawa trip and brought some gifts from William's cousin. 

MAP party

 Holiday party for the faculty today. The dean's office turned on a fireplace channel for the projection but Risa had them change it to the "Shit Fireplace". Interesting conversation with the dean about what happens at other faculty council meetings as he never has a chance to go to any of them.

Broken mug

William's favorite mug, which we bought on the east coast in July of 2010, broke today. It was actually their third of these mugs that we had. Cannot find a replacement online. 
 

Vice

Got a new vice for the metal table in the garage. Margaret ordered a nice one from Lee Valley last week but it is too thin to fit on that surface so I put it in the basement on my new bench there. 
 

Car fixed

 The other day we got the car back from auto body. When we were getting the winter tires on at the dealership in the fall, another customer backed into ours, so we needed a bunch of scratches fixed. Looks good now. Brutally cold out though.

Bruce Labruce new film

Bruce presented his newest film, "The Visitor", at the RPL tonight. Decent crowd, although I didn't stick around long. It struck me as a bit of a Jordolowsky-style thing. 
 

St. Nicholas Day

 Who's the wise guy who filled our shoes with junk again? 

Moving mom

 With movers, we moved mom from her condo into the assisted living places next door. Everything went smoothly. We had worried it would seem over crowded, but it looks and feels really good. 

Governor General Awards

 

For the first time, the Canada Council hosted "Governor General Awards" for the arts is moving its presentation venue away from Ottawa and will hold the functions and accompanying gallery exhibition in other cities. The first of those is here in Regina. There was very little promotion unfortunately, so although it is one of the most important art events of the year, there were still empty seats. The event was tight and interesting with many short art talks. Prime Minister Carney has been the first PM to actually address the GG awards directly this year and sent a message calling Regina "the cradle of Canadian culture". Got quite a reaction. 

Snowman

 Margaret and William built a couple of snowpeople this week. 

Bruce Labruce in class

 Today Bruce Labruce came to speak with my Film 400 students on the last day of the term. It's been 15 years since he was last here. It was different, and still amazing. Perhaps more thought and ideas towards how the subject matter evolves within a person's career, rather than 15 years ago when the subject matter seemed much more of a reaction to situations. 

Building 1/6 scale stuff

Building lots of chairs and stuff for William's project. Margaret jumped in with help on some paint.