Is this not about the best thing ever?!?
Oh to be 21 again and know what I know now.
Their website can be found here: The Sea Angels
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Saturday, February 25, 2012
WAS IT FRIDAY THE 13th.....
....and no one told me?
On the way to work it was snowing where I live and then really coming down in the valley. I mean, I sort of expect (if not dread) it at home seeing how if I lived any further up the mountain I'd have to pay for a lift ticket. But I wasn't expecting it to snow the whole drive out.
We are working in a gem factory - they prepare raw gems for machinery and commercial use. The heat has not been turned on in the building for 17 years and so the place is like a walk-in freezer. All the concrete and metal is cold - really cold - and everything absorbs the cold; my chair, my binder and script, and all of the cast and crew. It was actually colder inside than outside and it was pretty dang cold outside. I've shot here once before but it was summer so quite nice to be inside a cool building. But not in February!
Here's a look at some of the massive amount of equipment in the place.
And some suspect chemicals we had to work around. There were 45 gallon drums of hydrochloric acid outside where we shot one scene. Yikes!
Here's a look at our director, on the right, setting up a shot.
Anyway, back to Friday the 13th; at one point in the afternoon I got up out of my chair at the monitors and started off down the hall and took only a couple of steps when I tripped on a cable to the camera and fell headlong onto the hard tile floor. I have bad knees, the right one being particularly bad to the point where I can't climb up anything higher than a normal stair, I can't kneel, and walking all day around London kills it. I fell on it on an icy road when I was about 31 and smashed all of the nerves under the knee cap. It took two years to heal. My doctor told me the knee would give me trouble when I got old. Well I guess I am old because it gives me all kinds of trouble! I have arthritis in it now and both knees have degenerating cartilage. I smashed it again in the BVI when a rogue wave caught me in Devils Bay and slammed me onto the beach, knees down. I couldn't get back through the rocks of The Bath's, I was in so much pain, and had to take the long trail back up to the road (and we walked there from Fischer's Cove!). Anyway, yesterday, I couldn't get up off of the floor for a while and not without help when I did get up. They wanted to send me to the hospital but I refused to go. I had a job to do! Fortunately I sit to do my job on set so it worked out fine. But when I had to get up to talk to an actor, I hobbled like I needed crutches! Today I am not hobbling so much but I'm pretty sore - arms too from bracing the fall.
THEN, when the day was over at 11:30pm (I left my house at 9:30am) I got in my car and my headlights weren't working! The transport guys came and had a look (I LOVE those guys) and figured it was a relay switch. I wasn't sure how I was going to get home in the dark; some of the roads are remote and have no lights. But then I got the bright (no pun intended) idea of trying the brights and they came on. The only thing is, if my headlights aren't on then the brights don't stay on. So I drove home for an hour holding the lever towards me the whole time. My left hand was stiff by the time I pulled into the driveway.
Now I have to go out and renew my car insurance and find someone to fix the headlights. And go play with my baby granddaughter who, at six weeks, is already trying to talk. Cooing and watching your mouth to try to imitate what you're doing. Amazing. Here's a video of her trying hard to talk.
On the way to work it was snowing where I live and then really coming down in the valley. I mean, I sort of expect (if not dread) it at home seeing how if I lived any further up the mountain I'd have to pay for a lift ticket. But I wasn't expecting it to snow the whole drive out.
We are working in a gem factory - they prepare raw gems for machinery and commercial use. The heat has not been turned on in the building for 17 years and so the place is like a walk-in freezer. All the concrete and metal is cold - really cold - and everything absorbs the cold; my chair, my binder and script, and all of the cast and crew. It was actually colder inside than outside and it was pretty dang cold outside. I've shot here once before but it was summer so quite nice to be inside a cool building. But not in February!
Here's a look at some of the massive amount of equipment in the place.
And some suspect chemicals we had to work around. There were 45 gallon drums of hydrochloric acid outside where we shot one scene. Yikes!
The picture on the right is some of the raw gems the factory works on.
Here's a look at our director, on the right, setting up a shot.
Anyway, back to Friday the 13th; at one point in the afternoon I got up out of my chair at the monitors and started off down the hall and took only a couple of steps when I tripped on a cable to the camera and fell headlong onto the hard tile floor. I have bad knees, the right one being particularly bad to the point where I can't climb up anything higher than a normal stair, I can't kneel, and walking all day around London kills it. I fell on it on an icy road when I was about 31 and smashed all of the nerves under the knee cap. It took two years to heal. My doctor told me the knee would give me trouble when I got old. Well I guess I am old because it gives me all kinds of trouble! I have arthritis in it now and both knees have degenerating cartilage. I smashed it again in the BVI when a rogue wave caught me in Devils Bay and slammed me onto the beach, knees down. I couldn't get back through the rocks of The Bath's, I was in so much pain, and had to take the long trail back up to the road (and we walked there from Fischer's Cove!). Anyway, yesterday, I couldn't get up off of the floor for a while and not without help when I did get up. They wanted to send me to the hospital but I refused to go. I had a job to do! Fortunately I sit to do my job on set so it worked out fine. But when I had to get up to talk to an actor, I hobbled like I needed crutches! Today I am not hobbling so much but I'm pretty sore - arms too from bracing the fall.
That's where I smoked my knees. That cable running from the monitors through the doorway. The thin one.
THEN, when the day was over at 11:30pm (I left my house at 9:30am) I got in my car and my headlights weren't working! The transport guys came and had a look (I LOVE those guys) and figured it was a relay switch. I wasn't sure how I was going to get home in the dark; some of the roads are remote and have no lights. But then I got the bright (no pun intended) idea of trying the brights and they came on. The only thing is, if my headlights aren't on then the brights don't stay on. So I drove home for an hour holding the lever towards me the whole time. My left hand was stiff by the time I pulled into the driveway.
Now I have to go out and renew my car insurance and find someone to fix the headlights. And go play with my baby granddaughter who, at six weeks, is already trying to talk. Cooing and watching your mouth to try to imitate what you're doing. Amazing. Here's a video of her trying hard to talk.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
THE REAL WORLD
It's been a crazy busy week at work and with the long commute, I am pretty wiped out. I will write all about it some time in the near future but until then, here's something I found and loved. I thought you might enjoy it too.
I know it's the Mediterranean Sea but it still makes me think of the Caribbean.
I know it's the Mediterranean Sea but it still makes me think of the Caribbean.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
BACK AT IT
The phone woke me up. It was a call asking me if I wanted 'to come and play with the boys' (most of the crew are men who I've worked with many, many times). I was surprised and said that sure, I would.
I've been working for the last three days on prepping for the shoot. Call time is 7am on Monday way the heck out in Abbotsford, which used to be about a forty minute drive from Langley where I lived for 28 years. Now it's more like one hour and forty minutes from where I live. Over half of the movie is shooting there and the other half is in.... ya, Langley. What was I thinking.
I was thinking that I'd be close to my daughter when she had the baby and that I'd get to see lots and lots of them both once the baby was here. I get to see them once a week and now not even that because I am working all week and they keep the weekends for themselves alone. I am going to miss little Malia dreadfully. Good thing that when I am on set I am so busy and my mind is so concentrated on work stuff that I never give even a fleeting thought to my personal life. And when I am off of set I am so blinded by fatigue that all I want to do is sleep. But to think I may not see her till March 8th is hard. She will have changed so much by then.
Wouldn't you miss that gorgeous little thing after a month?!?
I found out today that my ex-husband is going to be the first person ever to babysit Malia when her parents go out for their anniversary next Sunday. I'm jealous.
Monday, February 6, 2012
SUNSHINE
Click on the pictures for the large version - it's worth it.
I went for a walk today with my friend who lives upstairs. She has two dogs and we took them down to the dog path near the water. It was a gloriously sunny day although windy some. The view over the water to Stanley Park was pretty with low lying clouds on the trees.
It's days like this, when I am down by the water, that I really miss boating.
Regardless, times like this it's pretty nice living in Vancouver. But I still miss the Caribbean.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
BARN DANCE!!!
I went to a barn dance / dinner / party for a friend and co-worker's 50th birthday last night.
Having never been to a barn dance before, and never having learned to dance, I was not expecting to have as good a time as I had. What a blast! A lot of the guests were people I worked with on Flicka 3, so it was really great to see them again. And MAN can those cowboys dance. I ended up dancing the whole night and found it really easy because the men were such strong dance partners and leaders that I just sort of followed along. I didn't step on anyone's toes, nor they mine.
When the tables from dinner were cleared away and the dancing started, I was on the sidelines filming the action using a new app I bought for my iPhone, Super8. It is a fun app because the end result looks like an old home movie. Unfortunately, I had no idea it didn't record sound. So the video below isn't quite as good as it could have been due to it being a silent movie (and the focus going in and out for some reason). And it's a shame because the band were fantastic; the fiddler is a North American champion (I think someone said he rates 6th in all of the US and Canada).
I didn't get home until after 4am!!!
I didn't take any photos (too busy dancing) but I know someone who took one or two with me in them so I will post them once I can get him to send them to me.
Having never been to a barn dance before, and never having learned to dance, I was not expecting to have as good a time as I had. What a blast! A lot of the guests were people I worked with on Flicka 3, so it was really great to see them again. And MAN can those cowboys dance. I ended up dancing the whole night and found it really easy because the men were such strong dance partners and leaders that I just sort of followed along. I didn't step on anyone's toes, nor they mine.
When the tables from dinner were cleared away and the dancing started, I was on the sidelines filming the action using a new app I bought for my iPhone, Super8. It is a fun app because the end result looks like an old home movie. Unfortunately, I had no idea it didn't record sound. So the video below isn't quite as good as it could have been due to it being a silent movie (and the focus going in and out for some reason). And it's a shame because the band were fantastic; the fiddler is a North American champion (I think someone said he rates 6th in all of the US and Canada).
I didn't get home until after 4am!!!
I didn't take any photos (too busy dancing) but I know someone who took one or two with me in them so I will post them once I can get him to send them to me.
Piers, Me and Phillip
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