A batch of behind the scenes shots taken during last Saturday's shoot for my contribution to this year's Killer63. Stare in wonder at our high tech clapper board! Ok...it's not a clapper board. We forgot our clapper board, so we made use of the memo board off the fridge. Indie film-making ingenuity at it's best. The title on it is 'The Morning After'. Not sure if that's actually our final title. Both 'cause since then I was reminded that that's already a movie with Jeff Bridges and Jane Fonda in it, and because I think some other folks might have come up with better titles then my idea.

The classy looking black and white shot features our acting duo of Sarah Lavrisa and Mark Singleton. Both are deep in thought...and / or pretending to listen to my direction. The short was shot by Amber Peters (in the red sweater checking out the scene through the camera), who also shot my Killer63 movie in '08 (which also featured Mark's acting, though he died pretty quickly in that one).

And finally, our pale-faced red-eyed Zombie Girl was played by Jennilee Murray (those contacts were such a great lil' touch). Seen here getting some blood make-up touch-up's from super crew member Anne-Marie Kelly.

The tapes are in the hands of my editor as I write this. My schedule is a bit insane, so not sure when I'll actually get to look at what she puts together. That's the good loop-hole about organizing a festival screening, you can miss the deadline and be the last one to get the project done.

Been working on the latest Killer63 short horror film festival for a lil' while now. Have about eight or nine filmmakers confirmed as participants, and a number of other submissions received or on their way in to me. And, have a fancy new logo thanks to K63 alum Brett Kelly (I like it...looks very EC Comics). I'll be shooting my short next weekend, as per usual, at a much later date then I had originally planned. After I get everyone's stuff in, I'm going to slap together a trailer to show at the Mayfair (guess I'll post it online as well).

I'll try my best to be more frequent with festival related updates. Be sure to keep your calendar clear on Friday December 18th at 9PM for the big premiere of Killer63 IV at the Mayfair!

Kind of a last minute entry...but I was stuck working all day, so this is my first chance to sit at the computer. Tonight marks the Ottawa premiere of SMASH CUT at the Mayfair! A film which was directed, written by, features music by, and stars various owners, managers and friends of the Mayfair Theatre (like my geeky movie friend Jennilee, in character in the above photo as Gigi Spot).

I'll be shocked if the place isn't packed tonight. So, if you're coming out, be sure to arrive nice and early for all the crazy horror fun.

Today it was announced via the Ottawa X-Press that the Mayfair was awarded the best movie theatre ever award. My friend corrected me that it was actually: The Mayfair has won the best movie theatre in the history of the galaxy, now and ever shall be, Amen.

Both might be a slight exaggeration and paraphrasing of what actually happened or was printed. In reality, the Best of Ottawa 2009 poll results were published in the new issue of the X-Press, and the Mayfair got awarded the distinction of the 'best alternative to a multiplex movie theatre'. Which is pretty awesome...though the title of the category still seems a bit strange, plain ole' 'best theatre' would be nice. Anyhow, nit-picking aside, thanks go out to the X-Press for the nomination and all the fine folks of Ottawa for voting.

PS - The cover of the issue features Sasha Grey in 'Smash Cut', which was filmed in part at the Mayfair (and screens November 20th!)

The Mayfair Theatre (the bestest theatre in all the land) has been nominated in two categories in the ‘Best of Ottawa 09 Readers Poll’ in the X-Press. Hence, now I will shamelessly ask (because beg is such a harsh word) everyone I know to take a moment, link over to their website, and vote for us as ‘best alternative to a multiplex’ and ‘best film festival’ (for the 'Silents is Golden' series). It should just be a category titled 'best theatre', wording there makes it sound like the best way to see a movie is in a multiplex... which is madness.

I should have posted this request a bit earlier…but didn’t think that a year end poll would close on Wednesday November 11th at 11:59PM. Y’know…’cause I thought the year ends at the end of the year, like say December 31st or so.

Anyhow, if you have a chance to vote, it’s greatly appreciated by me and the rest of your friends at the Mayfair:

X-Press Best of Ottawa 09 Readers Poll

Happy Halloween!!
Time for me to go and supervise some trick r treaters...to be followed by the annual practice of stealing candy from babies.

A couple days ago I read that Nickelodeon had bought 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' from co-creator and full owner Peter Laird. I didn't put much thought into this, being that we live in an age where big companies seem to be constantly buying up smaller companies (like Disney has with Pixar, the Muppets and Marvel). I figured that all it would mean was Nickelodeon would now be producing new cartoons and toys featuring the kid friendly multi-coloured headband wearing versions of the characters.

What I didn't realize, was that it was going to put into motion a chain of events that would lead to the demise in total of Mirage Studios itself. I just read a blog posting from Peter Laird in which he lays this out, and sounds very much like he has no interest in the characters anymore. Sometime in the near future there will be no more Mirage comics it seems. Leaves me kind of shocked and saddened.

I'm pretty sure that I own every comic Mirage has ever produced (not all first printings mind you...but I got 'em in some form). The turtle part in Batturtle comes from my love of TMNT. And at the moment even my favorite goalie on the Senators has Mirage character Casey Jones on his helmet.

I've had the pleasure of meeting pretty much all of the Mirage Studio artists who worked under Peter Laird. All are great guys who have a love of these characters, their books and their fans. Some of my prize possessions are a couple of original TMNT pages by long-time turtle writer and artist Jim Lawson. I look forward to reading all of their future non-TMNT related work.

I'm not sure when the last 'real' TMNT story will come out...sometime mid 2010 it sounds like. It will be a sad new comic day for me indeed when that date rolls around. And never say never I guess. This is not the first time Mirage has gone away. The traditional all red headband original characters could be back someday.

All good things must come to an end.