54/365

 

54/365, originally uploaded by everythingsjustjake.

At the end of writing my business plan, I am preparing cue cards to present my faux-presentation tomorrow. Having now written my Executive Summary, it is apparent to me that I can- basically- present the entire Plan based on it. The actual, real presentation is on Thursday. I NEED to focus.
I know. This is all terribly exciting. It is to me too. I really enjoyed this “course” but I’m at my wits end some days as I just want to get on with it. Ironically, I have increased my clientele, my business, my repeat customers; I really didn’t expect this. I was busy in December (to be expected) which was a far cry from August thru November. If you have never lived off of credit, I DO NOT recommend it. Life is just a big series of catching up right now. Catching up with bills from the Fall. I’m almost there. But it took too much time, too much borrowing and too much of everything, really. I think that the farce that was the economic scare this past fall was something that was intentional to us, the small business owners. Sorry, Global Economists. Your BS did not work on me in the end. It took some creativity- with the help of the knowledge I gained from The Toronto Business Development Centre- I have realized even more what I have and had to do to survive.
But here I am . Working up to a 30 hour week, in class for 20 hours a week and homework that requires at least 10 hours on top of everything else.
Now- just to add a little desert- I was contacted on Friday by the ex-Exec Producer from a show that I worked on last year; she wants to talk about a pitch for a TV show I sent to her last April. I thought that it had been kyboshed. I realize that development takes time but I really didn’t realize that it takes that much time for Developers (of whom she now is) to realize a great, potential show. Apparently, Tv show developers are inundated with potential shows. Who knew? A lot of you, most likely. I did not. At any rate, I am happy to know that there is still interest.
I am also trying to find time to prep for our meeting on Wednesday to talk about the potential of the show, give examples of treatments and a revised pitch (of which we will potentially do together). I am happy she seems genuinely excited about the possibility. More on that later. I just need to find 10 more hours this week to come up with what I need/ want to be prepared for Wednesday.
Whew.
Glamma has been away for over a week. He was originally supposed to come home tomorrow but he has decided to extend his trip for another week. Very glad for him that he has decided this! So many opportunites on The Coast. Great work, great hob-nobbing, great lectures, great dinners with Emmy and Oscar Award winning makeup artists. Not to mention meetings with Tattoo Artists that are ACTUALLY willing to share their knowledge.
At any rate, my present bed-mates, two kitties known as Baily and M, have pretty much taken over the bed after I retire for the evening. Last night was a night of complete bed-hogging by the two. So much so that I ended up on the other side of the bed. Oh, those cats!
It’ll be an interesting week.
I will try to blog again on Wednesday after my meeting with my favorite EP/ Developer.
So-
Stay well.
Stay warm.
Just Stay.

reaching back to change- Guest Blogger: Glamma

By GLAMMA

It seems amazing to me that one of the most misquoted verses of the bible comes from Matthew 7:1 “Judge not that ye be not judged.”

These days that is exactly what we are doing. It comes from the press; it comes from the media, inundating the masses with twisted conversations, over-blown quotes, and sensationalized stories. Is it human nature that makes us so damn quick to judge?

I hate to pull out of the pages of scripture, but if one really wants to get down to the nit and grit, quoting from verses, why isn’t the following stated more often?

“Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?” (1 Cor 6:2)

Proposition 8 is one topic that needs to be addressed. There are other areas of the world that have already “come to terms” with the whole “idea” of gay and lesbian unions. Internationally, Denmark was the first country to legalize same sex partnerships in 1989. It was only a few more years when Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and France followed in the same footsteps as Denmark. Later, in 2001 the first country to legalize same sex marriages was the Netherlands, followed by Belgium in 2003 and Spain in 2005. In Canada, the provinces of British Columbia and Ontario legalized same-sex marriages in 2003, with numerous other provinces following in 2004. By June 29, 2005, the Canadian parliament passed a bill legalizing gay marriages throughout the country. The countries that offer legal status, sometimes known as registered partnership, that confers most or all spousal rights to same-sex couples are the following: Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Norway, Sweden. The countries that offer a legal status, sometimes known as unregistered cohabitation, that confers certain spousal rights to same-sex couples (and, in some of these countries, unmarried opposite-sex couples): Brazil, Canada, Croatia, France, Hungary, Israel, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland.

Why does change have to be so hard for the world? 2008 we have been given the opportunity of change. Equal rights will only be achieved if your voices can be heard. One voice cannot change the world, but two can harmonize, a group can be a choir, and the masses can be the voices of change.

The late 50’s to the late 60’s were a period in American history when Americans stood together to change thoughts and ideas, what was being said and done, and what needed to change. It is time to join together and raise our hands in protest. Equal rights will only be achieved if your voices can be heard. My American friends I stand and support – you WILL have the rights that we all deserve.

Much Love and Light! Namasté.
XxGlammaxX.

Jake The Gay Stylist

Hi. I’m Jake the Gay Stylist.

Markets implode world-wide. 

What’s your back-up plan?

[And I ain’t talking about some doomsday/ armeagedon/  2012 kind of bull.]

Where are your suitcases packed for? Are you going with Tina Fey (if McCain/ Palin get into power) off the Earth?

Are we screwed?

Poll: Final Presidential Debate

Joe The Plumber has replaced Joe Six Pack. I’m sure he’s upset.

Obama was not in cahoots with a domestic terrorist. 

Was there a clear and present winner for this, the final Presidential Debate?

Canada’s Election: The Day After Tomorrow

 

$300 million of Canadian tax payers money has been spent in just over five weeks after Prime Minister Stephen Harper called an illegal election. $50 million of that can be attributed to a cut, by Harper, to the arts. Harper believes that $50 million would be better spent elsewhere as, of course, all of us who are artists use that federal money to throw and go to galas. Perhaps Harper needed to delve a little deeper to realize that money was there for grants; for film to made; for performances to be performed. Clearly he thinks that we are living in the lap of luxury. Doesn’t that come to mind to you when you think of artists? People living in luxury, drinking Dom Perignon and wearing Dior Homme tuxes, John Galliano gowns and Christian LaBoutin stilettos? Oh, to wish-

I digress-

Today, Canadians are angry and feeling numb. Liberals (can be equated to Democrats) are angry that the Liberal Party has a leader who is a dolt; Conservatives (can be equated to Republicans) are angry that Harper did not get the majority government that he was hoping for while no one was looking (or while Canadians were looking at the US Elections); all-in-all, Canadians are angry that we are at the same spot we were six weeks and $300 million ago. 

Wasted spending in the arts? Harper, my dear: you just proved wasted spending in a bogus election.

Yes. Today we are numb. Today, we are all talking in lower octaves- barely audible, really- shuffling our feet in the leaves. A lot of us are saying: we’ll see a change in a Liberal leader “within six business days.”

But most of us are looking to the day after tomorrow. What will happen with our country with this dufus still in office, running our country, hating homos and arts? What will his relationship be with the next US President and other leaders across the world? GOD FORBID McCain attain power-

The best news to me is that the son of the most amazing Canadian Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau ( from 1968- 1979; 1980- 1984), Justin Trudeau has entered the world of politics like many Canadians had wished he would. Trudeau has won his seat in Montreal. I can only hope that by the time there is another election, he is the new leader of the Liberal Party.

 

 

Justin Trudeau

From my lips to the Universe’s ears-

The Week (or so) in Review: October 4- 15 2008

I’m going to try my best to NOT speak about politics in this post.

I have looked back at my blog over the past year and I realize that I used to talk a lot about my life and what was going on in it; a journal, so to speak.

While politics are the main focus in my life at the moment- so much so that I have lost work because of it- I have gone back to my roots of having a little fun and actually realize my work and focus on the many projects that I have let slide. 

I have returned to my novel, Home Off The Range but in a much different way. Although my editor(s) have been after me for the last 33% of the book that needs to be edited, I have swayed a smidge. Don’t get me wrong: it will get done. But at the advice of an EP and an Agent, it has been recommended to me to screen write the novel. OK. Well. Major shift. Although I always thought the story should eventually become a screenplay, I highly doubted that I would ever have anything to do with the writing of it. Maybe as an advior of sorts but writing a screenplay? Never. 

So, here I am: writing a screenplay. I was SO intimidated by it but as soon as I started, I realized how much fun I was having with it. It is SO different from writing a novel. So much. But I’m so into how different it is; how it is becoming another story, taking into consideration potential budget, how scenes have to be negotiated and coming to a truce within myself of what I can relinquish in the story to make it actually- potentially- have someone interested in saying: “Okay. Let’s go.” It’s a whole new thing.

In the mean time, I have two other projects that have been in a tickle trunk for a while that have jumped out on their own and landed in my lap. One was encouraged by a friend in SoCal who gets life-as-we-know-it more than almost anyone I know. She encouraged one of these projects to sit on my lap, look me in my face and say: “Now’s the time. Make me.” Thank Buddha for friends in SoCal. Why don’t I live there again? See. There are some things I still need to figure out.

The third project was encouraged by another writer friend of mine who is presently in negotiation for an animated series with some big three letter cable conglomorate who shall remain nameless. You know the one. I just don’t wish to jinx things by saying their names out loud. [Yes. I’m spooky like that.] As I work through project one and two, #3 is right there and ready for a good 17- 20 page synopsis. So, it is being done; I’m even making scene breakdown cards in my little recipe boxes. I didn’t expect to conjure that up yet but there it is.

Beyond projects, I am enjoying time with long-lost friends, going to art events (even if they suck), dinners and general symposiums that make us all happy. 

Canada’s winter is upon us. We need to fill ourselves with more than “Trash Wednesdays” and too much other TV. If I’m going to spend yet ANOTHER winter in cold and snow, I have got to fill my time with great projects, great connections and endless filled agendas. I can’t deal with another season of SAD. 

At least this year I am blessed with airline credits. So trips to SoCal or other warm(er) places CAN and WILL be in the cards for us.

In the mean time, here is the week’s politics and economy summed up in a very important video. Complete with winks, unnecessary spending and big-business protection:

Our romance with debt — we’ll pay for it later

Reposted from CNN.

By Margaret Atwood, Canadian author of The Handmaid’s Tale. I recommend everyone GO PURCHASE AND READ THE HANDMAIDS TALE. Amazing how forward thinking Margaret Atwood was/ is. 

 

Our romance with debt — we’ll pay for it later

Posted: 03:05 PM ET

 

Margaret Atwood
Author, The Handmaid’s Tale

Unless we value fairness, reciprocity, and honest dealing, and the concept of balances — for debt and credit depend on them — and unless we are able to trust our systems, we would not be able to have debt and credit — no one would lend, because there would be no expectation of ever getting paid back.

What caused the massive financial mess we are in comes back ultimately to these concepts. The rules were too loose, fairness and honest dealing were violated, the balance was upset. We must now restore trust so people will take their pennies out of the sock under the mattress where they are now inclined to store them.

In my part of the world we have a ritual interchange that goes like this:

First person: “Lovely weather we’re having.”

Second person: “We’ll pay for it later.”

My part of the world being Canada, where there is a great deal of weather, we always do pay for it later. One person has commented, “That’s not Canadian, it’s just Presbyterian.” Nevertheless, it’s a widespread saying among us.

What this ritual interchange reveals is a larger habit of thinking about the more enjoyable things in life: They’re only on loan or acquired on credit, and sooner or later the date when they must be paid for will roll around. It’s pay-up time. Or payback time, supposing that you haven’t paid up.

In any case, the time when whatever is on one side of the balance is weighed against whatever is on the other side — whether it’s your heart, your soul or your debts — and the final reckoning is made.

The financial world has recently been shaken as a result of the collapse of a debt pyramid involving something called “subprime mortgages” — a pyramid scheme that most people don’t grasp very well, but that boils down to the fact that some large financial institutions peddled mortgages to people who could not possibly pay the monthly rates and then put this snake-oil debt into cardboard boxes with impressive labels on them and sold them to institutions and hedge funds that thought they were worth something.

A friend of mine from the United States writes: “I used to have three banks and a mortgage company. Bank number one bought the other two and is now trying hard to buy the mortgage company, which is bankrupt, only it was revealed this morning that the last bank standing is also in serious trouble.

“Now they are trying to renegotiate with the mortgage company. Question One: If your company is going broke, why would you want to buy a company whose insolvency is front-page news? Question Two: If all the lenders go broke, will the borrowers get off the hook?

“You can’t imagine the chagrin of the credit-loving American. I gather that whole neighborhoods in the Midwest look like neighborhoods in my hometown, empty houses with knee-high grass and vines growing over them and no one willing to admit they actually own the place. Down we go, about to reap what we sow.”

Which has a nice biblical ring to it, but still we scratch our heads. How and why did this happen? The answer I hear quite often — “greed” — may be accurate enough, but it doesn’t go very far toward unveiling the deeper mysteries of the process.

What is this “debt” by which we’re so bedeviled? Like air, it’s all around us, but we never think about it unless something goes wrong with the supply. Certainly it’s a thing we’ve come to feel is indispensable to our collective buoyancy.

In good times we float around on it as if on a helium-filled balloon; we rise higher and higher, and the balloon gets bigger and bigger, until — poof! — some killjoy sticks a pin into it and we sink. But what is the nature of that pin?

Another friend of mine used to maintain that airplanes stayed up in the air only because people believed — against reason — that they could fly: Without that collective delusion sustaining them, they would instantly plummet to earth. Is “debt” similar? In other words, perhaps debt exists because we imagine it.

Another part of the human imaginative debt/credit structure has to do with payback time — the time when you have to pay the debt back, or else suffer the consequences.

All major religions have extended this structure to the afterlife, where, if you haven’t righted the moral balances on earth, you must do so after death.

There are no clocks in heaven. Nor are there any in hell. In both, everything is always now. Or so goes the rumor.

In heaven, there are no debts — all have been paid, one way or another — but in hell there’s nothing but debts, and a great deal of payment is exacted, though you can’t ever get all paid up. You have to pay, and pay, and keep on paying. Hell is like an infernal maxed-out credit card that multiplies the charges endlessly.

Jane Devin: Angry and Frustrated

Read Jane Devin’s Blog.

WTF Friday: After the Debate? Angry & Frustrated.

 

Senate Bailout Bill

Have you seen it? Based on the views at this site of all 451 pages of the bill, I don’t think many have actually seen it.

What are your thoughts?

Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You

 

Money. Debt. Loss. Unnecessary gas shortages.

I think that we, the people are being duped. I have said it before. I’m saying it again.

But this is what I don’t understand: Where is the uprising? It seems that at least 75% of Americans didn’t want this bailout- a bold and blatant “one final move” brought to you by Geo. W. Bush. 75% is probably a conservative estimate, actually. 

So where’s the uprising? Why are “the people” not taking over the government that they created to begin with? Reach back to the beginning of the Democratic Republic that became (North) America. Is it working? Have times changed so much that it needs to be revised? Does government need a complete over-haul? 

In my humble opinion, it does.

America has been Democrat vs. Republican for centuries now. There is no Democratic Republic. The American people have become complacent regarding what “governs” them. I lie. Most humans have become complacent; from whatever they come from. I am in Canada. We have become complacent here too.

Money and markets and Big Business has become the rule; the govern that governs the government. Worldwide. Money talks, bullshit walks. But bullshit has now become our day-to-day lives. The basic, simplest of living. There will be none of that. We are in the midst of more than an economic depression; we are in the midst of a world torn. And the hero that we’re all holding out for (be you Democrat, Republican, Liberal, Conservative, Libertarian, Independent, etc) ain’t coming. There is no hero.

[Oh. And NO ONE won the first presidential debate. That’s just a whole lot of BS that we’re being fed by media. Yet, here I sit listening and watching and reading all media. Left, Right and Otherwise.]

This bailout would have affected the entire world. Financial experts from many countries are saying both that it will and that it won’t. But it is inevitable. Regardless of a bailout or plunging markets, we are lost. We have become beyond obsessed- ruled by, really- with finance over all.

We are officially in the midst of worldwide turmoil. No longer are we- in the western world- in the land of the free. It’s a farce. It doesn’t exist. As much as we are still led to believe that it does. West, East. We are officially screwed. 

A blogger friend suggested that the beaches in Costa Rica are looking good right about now to which I responded: If there is an extraterrestrial life, now’s the time to show it’s face. Because I don’t think that Costa Rica- or even the smallest Island in the South Pacific; or even an escape to the Yukon- is going to help protect us or help us forget, for that matter. [I’d still like to be lying on the beaches of Costa Rica!]

Still- my bags are 1/2 packed. To go where. I don’t know. But this is not a world that I’m liking too much at the moment. 

In the (not so) famous words of Carl Sagan’s fictional character, Palmer Joss*: “What I’m asking is: are we happier? Is the world fundamentally a better place because of science and technology? We shop at home, we surf the Web, and at the same time we feel emptier, lonelier, and more cut off from each other than at any other time in human history…”

An article of interest (at least to me): 

http://www.tirademedia.com/collective.htm

*Contact by Carl Sagan