Sunday, June 26, 2011

Not a Bad Week.

Did another rewrite on a new manuscript; worked in the garden, got paid to spend two days in a winery and a night at a bar—in Crystal Palace— where they fed me. Over-all, not a bad week.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Better late . . .

Little late posting this one. On the Saturday before last I had a bit of an adventure.
I left the house at 7 to go to Toronto. I arrived at 10 and went to the Jazz cafĂ© to check my email and facebook while having a double espresso. Then off to The Revue Cinema for a private viewing of Shaista Justin’s first film Swan Awake—which was the reason for the trip up.
Shaista (author of Winter, the Unwelcome Visitor) doesn’t want anyone writing about the film yet, so I won’t. I’ll instead just pass on my congratulations to her for completing the film and getting it on the screen. I’ve been a part of many projects that never made it that far, as a writer and an actor, and probably in a few other roles, too. So, Shaista, congratulations and good job.
Since the drive to Toronto is a rather long one I made a day of it. Before and after the film I did some visiting, outside the theatre and at the bar, with friends of Shaista, actors in the film, and an artist who had a painting in the film as well.
After the bar I went down to Lee Valley to get some spiral tomatoes spikes for my mom. If they work, they should increase yield and make the plants easiler to care for and harvest. I grabbed a couple other things as well, of course. If you’ve ever been to a Lee Valley store, or seen their catalogue, they have many nifty items that are handy and hard to find anywhere else.
After that I went to the St. Lawrence Market to grab some food to bring back home with me, like a hunter bringing the days spoils. Outside of the market they were having Woof Stock: a huge street fair for dogs. There were all kinds of dogs, from a big purple poodle to a small white chiwawa in a pink dress. There was also a border collie that gave me a hug (probably smelling Oreo) and a Golden Retrieve that I bumped into but who graciously accented my apologize.
There was a huge husky with the eyes so blue they were grey, and may little dogs I almost stepped on, which got me to wonder, Can you really still call them dogs? Anyway, it was pouches galore, all shape and sizes.
By the time I got through Woof Stock the market was closing. I think I ended up with more stuff for Oreo to eat than for myself. Thought I did get some Peameal bacon, sausages, homemade garlic hummus and Portuguese sauce . . . you know, the staples.
When I got home my sister-in-law, Charlette and my niece, Alison, were at the house so I had a brief visit and watched Harry Potter (the first one) with Ally.
It all might not sound very exciting, but really, it kind of was. Gardens, dogs, films, food, visiting, music on the way up and back, and Harry Potter with my niece—what’s not to like?

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Thank you, Dad.

Miss you, Dad. Wish you could've been there when the books came out. Wish you could be here now, in body. I'd doing my best with your spirit.

In Memory.

My Reality

All day doing rewrites, all night bartending at an event where the band was dressed in plaid and the background singers wore sequence. I felt like I was in a Tarantino film; except, at one point, I entered briefly into David Lynch territory. My reality includes imagination. ☺

Copyright © Colin Frizzell 2011. All rights reserved.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

On The Writing Front

I want to say how grateful I am to have been given the opportunity to be a part of the Festival Players' Sounding Ground (a series of five short audio plays) production and getting to work with (however indirectly) fellow playwrights: Krista Dalby, Andrew Binks, Martha Ross and Ned Dickens. For more information on the Festival Players of Prince Edward County, and the production, go to: http://festivalplayers.ca/performances/2011-season/sounding-ground or click on the title of this entry.

There will be more on this in the coming weeks as my blog is going to be taking on a more writing, and creative ventures, focus.

Also, I completed another year with Now Hear This' SWAT (Students, Writers, and Teachers) program. Each year I'm increasingly amazed at the quality of work and, perhaps more importantly, the bravery of the students I work with and their willingness to share; as well as the teachers I've worked with (Christopher Stidham, Laryssa Chmil, Oscar Lopes, Katarina Gulej) their open-mindedness, patience and encouragement—with both me and the students. Their willingness to try new things and to teach me how to improve my lesson plans and communication with the students.

I would also like to give a very special thanks to the team (past and present) at Now Hear This (www.nowhearthis.ca); for their tireless work, organization and promotion of this extremely important and brilliant program: Mark Laliberte, Rachel Hopwood, Jennifer de Visser, Katie Mercer, Katie Franklin, Laura Mendes, Ceri Evans, Pasha Malla and others that I know I'm forgetting and I apologize greatly for that. And to Nadia Young and the Toronto Distract Catholic School Board for their support of the program and for allowing the writers to come into the schools.

I've also had the privilege to have been doing more work with multi-award winning writer/director/producer Ed Gass-Donnelly (Small Town Murders) on a screenplay, Lavender, which I've been working on for a decade now. Ed has optioned the script and we've been working on it together. His ideas, knowledge, attention to detail, faith in the project (and life) and work ethic are inspiring.

Writing, and bringing things to life, is a long, difficult and tiring process. Love is the only thing that can give you the energy to keep going through it. But, the occasional bit of caffeine and alcohol does help, too.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

I have everything I need. If only I could remember where I put it.