In addition to be a rather lazy writer and blogger, I’m also pretty lazy when it comes to socializing. I’m one of those people who needs a lot of time to recover from going out and being around other people. So after doing so much and then going straight back to school where I am swamped with writing work, I think it’s understandable that it took me so long to do a write up of last weekend.

Last Saturday evening I went along to Hot One Inch Action at the W2 Perel Gallery on Abbott and Hastings. The button-trading expo is now in its sixth year and was a welcome addition to the increasingly dark nights here in Vancouver. Fifty local artists design unique one-inch buttons (the kind you wear on your lapel) and they are displayed all along the walls at the gallery. There is a bar, a DJ, dancing, and for $5 you get a bag of five random buttons (entry is free). You can buy as many bags as you like, and trade the buttons with other button-traders to collect the ones you really want.

My buttons: I obtained among others the coveted family band portrait and ninja with a flower. My favourite is the hockey player, with the nonsensical caption “my kung fu is strong.” I had a few more that I gave to my friend later that night before I got a picture of all of them. I also have a doubles of the family portrait and the hockey player that I’m going to send to a friend. The one I’ve got the most use out of so far is the girl with the antlers, which I’ve worn to school and work and received lots of compliments on!

The last one on the bottom wasn’t part of the 50 original designs, but a button somebody sneaked in. I liked it anyway!

Some of the buttons quickly become the most popular and increase in value as nobody wants to trade them – the event was replete with people wandering around looking for the popsicles, or the elusive cat-head (a charming fellow with the head of a cat). You can see some of the buttons being made over at Vancouver Is Awesome.

Trading soon became an addiction, and I was eventually trading just for the sake of trading – I was looking for highly-prized buttons not because I actually wanted them but because I knew they were valuable. While the point of the evening was perhaps to socialize and meet new people in the arts scene in Vancouver, I ended up spending the night with my head down and staring at people’s palms, trying to strike a bargain. It was exhilarating! Now I know why stock traders do so much cocaine.

There was a great mix of people at the event, some even brought their kids who had a great time. The trading started at eight and went past eleven, and the time flew by. Hot One Inch Action is definitely set to be part of my yearly arts event schedule, and I can’t wait for the next one.

On Sunday, a gentleman caller and myself went along to The Project by Aaron Bushkowsky, playing down at Performance Works with the Solo collective.

The Project is a dark comedy about the film industry, and it’s far more comedy than it is dark. While the subject matter itself could be preachy and overbearing – a production company wants to do a film about “issues” in Africa, and their African contact quickly turns the tables on them, trying to use the company to finance a revolution in his country.
The characters are more like caricatures of various players in the film industry than complete, human characters, but they are fun, the dialogue is snappy and hilarious, and the actors all did a great job. It’s overall very enjoyable, and at $15 for students it’s certainly worthwhile. The Project continues tonight and tomorrow night.

Monday morning saw me trudge down rainy Granville Street to meet a friend for breakfast at the The Templeton, a downtown ’50s-style diner. My friend was visiting for a limited time only and we decided to have breakfast – since she was staying downtown, I googled downtown diners that were a bit more palatable than Denny’s, and I discovered the Templeton.

What an unexpected treat!

The Templeton is small and friendly, and the authentic ’50s decor is cute and charming. It’s more than just a conversation piece, however, there is a feeling of genuine community and friendliness in the diner. There is a weekly movie night, and the diner is fully licensed and also hosts a big old-timey jukebox (though I’m not sure if it works). There are lots of vegetarian options and the food is definitely a step-up from greasy spoon fare.

I got the blueberry-banana pancakes and my friend got the blueberry-brie bagel. It was one of those things where we both wished we had ordered the other’s dish, but were both very impressed with our own. Unfortunately my camera died after I took one lousy picture at Hot One Inch Action, so I couldn’t snap a picture of my lovely food.

Our waitress was sweet and very wisely cautioned me against ordering english muffins in addition to my pancakes, while a lesser diner would’ve let me spend the money. Our food was swiftly prepared and the service was fantastic. I would go back to the Templeton in a heartbeat and definitely plan to, the next time I have call to go that far for a breakfast, if only just to try that blueberry-brie bagel. I wish it were an all-night diner so I could head there after hanging out downtown!

Monday night found me going to the Rio Theatre’s staff Christmas party at Grandview Lanes Bowling on Commercial Drive.

I haven’t been back to Grandview Lanes since before they renovated in the summer, and every time I’d been there before the place had been pretty dead. This evening it was full of families and friends, and the atmosphere was great.

Upstairs they have the glow-in-the-dark 5-pin lanes, and the alcohol was flowing. Since this was a staff party and everything was paid for, we had a tab on our alcohol, but they have a pretty wide selection and my experience there before was pretty good, price wise. The East Van crowd is a great crowd to bowl with – there’s a good blend of silliness, blue collar-ness and sportsmanship that makes bowling so fun to begin with.

Anyways, that was my weekend! The days afterwards were full of stress and trying to stay on top of assignments, and this current weekend will be spent doing likewise. Fun times!

Scriptapalooza is an annual competition for screenplays, original TV pilots and TV spec scripts. In the TV category there is a $500 grand prize, but the real prize in Scriptapalooza comes in having your script read by a large pool of producers and agents all at once – a tad quicker than querying over and over again.

I’m planning to send in my Venture Bros. spec script, “Ready, Steady, Die!” by the October 15th deadline. I have to go over it one last time and punch up the humour!

The only problem is the pesky little $40 USD entry fee. It’s not that much at all – I’ve paid $50 CDN for the 3-Day Novel Contest in the past, and the Scriptapalooza fee is worth being read by so many literary agents and producers. However, these days I’m but a poor student living hand to mouth, working the occasional late-night shift at the movie house (which is also the only place I get to see movies!) and mooching off the rents.

I thought, would it be totally presumptuous to ask the internet for assistance? I know there’s at least some of you out there, and perhaps a portion of you would be up for helping a new writer out? Perhaps?

If you’re still listening, and you’re willing to take a chance, here’s a handy Paypal link you can use! Every little bit helps! But I won’t be offended if you don’t – there’s plenty of far needier charity cases out there that could use your help!

If I win any prize money, I promise to give the amount raised back to a charity of your guys’ choice. I’ll put it to a poll. I could also promise to do this when i am actually making money and not living hand to mouth, but I don’t know if that’ll ever come true. I hope so! You’ll be the first to know, internet!

At the beginning of 2009 I started a one-year writing for film and television course. It’s a very intense and short course running from January to December with only two full weeks off during the entire year. We are writing constantly, both independently and in collaborations – short films, TV spec scripts, TV pilots, and feature film scripts. There are also some opportunities to collaborate with other departments at the school (through not often enough in my opinion). One such opportunity is the Weekend Film Challenge which happens each term. Teams of film production students are assigned a short script (by the writing students) and have the weekend to shoot it with students from the acting and makeup programs.

Twice my script has been chosen as part of the Challenge. When the films are finished, they are screened at a little awards ceremony the instructors put together. The first time, my script “Round One” won “most outstanding screenplay”, as well as “most outstanding” film, ensemble cast, and a bunch of other categories. It was a really nice introduction to film school, as that was in my first term!

My second Weekend Film Challenge script was shot this past weekend and hasn’t yet been screened.

There are also opportunities to submit scripts to the acting department, digital design and film production department for their projects. Even without collaboration, however, this writing program provides us with a pretty diverse portfolio at the end of the year, if you stay on top of your work and learn to rewrite effectively. So far we’ve written a number of short films, a TV spec script for a show of our choosing, another spec script for a children’s cartoon show, an original cartoon series pitch pack, a full length feature film, an outline for a second feature film, and several comedy sketches. In the coming months we’ll be able to work on more TV specs, another feature, an original TV series pilot and bible, as well as taking courses in writing for video games, graphic novels, journalism, and writing for commercials and web series.

Read more