Tag: Entertainment Posts

Entry #26: Guest Entry From Shira Lazar

 Journal

The following is a guest post by the always lovely Shira Lazar. Shira is an amazing reporter based out of Los Angeles, and was nice enough to offer to help me out with a guest posting. You can read more about Shira Lazar on her main site, or head on over and check out her blog, The Pop Report. Thanks again Shira! After a few hours of sleep, I’m back and ready to rumble in San Fran. My fellow Canuck and blogger, Duane Storey, has been doing a 24-hour blogathon for charity starting last night at 10pm and has been getting friends to do guest entries- so here’s my contribution. Last night at the Techcrunch August Capital Meetup, they had this great booth for a company called Etchstar, which engraves phones, laptops, etc with the insignia of your choice. Check out the pics below of my crackberry getting branded and […]

Preparing For The 2008 Juno Awards

Photography

It’s getting close. In just nine days, I’ll be getting on a plane and heading out to Calgary to attend the 2008 Juno awards. I haven’t really had time to let the whole event soak in yet, and to be honest, probably won’t figure out where I’ll be all weekend until I land in Calgary. What I really want to do is provide an insider’s view of what it’s like being at the Junos during the entire weekend. I’m not sure what that means yet, but it will most likely involve tons of photos and the odd video. To that end, I really want to go out and buy a new portable camera, something that can do fairly decent video. I really am looking for portability here, and would just go out and get the new Canon Digital Elph, had I not had a pile of bad experiences with them […]

The 2008 Canadian Juno Awards

 Journal

When the Juno awards were announced a few months ago, I put my name on the list for media accreditation. I didn’t hear anything for a while, so I sort of assumed it wasn’t going through. Today I got an email saying I had a media pass, which means I have full access to photograph the Canadian Juno Awards. I’ll be photographing and writing on behalf of Urban Vancouver, so look on my blog and over there from time to time for photos and a few entries. I still have to sort everything out and see if I can get a hotel room and what not, but it’s fairly likely I’ll be heading to Calgary for the first weekend in April (4th-6th) for the Junos.

Screw By Wire, A Strip Show At 40,000 Feet

 Journal

Curious to know what happens in the cockpit on French airlines when your dinner is being served? You might have though that the pilots were busy doing complicated fuel calculations, or checking safety systems. Think again! The stewardesses are coming up from and putting on a little strip show for the pilots. Added union incentives no doubt. Makes me wish I would have gone to pilot school. You can read more about the strip show here. I’m guessing that lady is in need of a new job.

Bring It On Jack Bauer, Bring It On

 Journal

Yes people, today is a great day in TV land. Jack Bauer, aka Kiefer Sutherland, was released from jail after serving 48 days for drunken driving. Now I gotta say — getting in a car while loaded is a dumb thing to do. I can openly admit I did it as a young adult once and a while, something as a grown adult I now look back on and realize how dumb it was. The trick is of course to plan ahead, otherwise you’ll find yourself stuck in the boonies with no way home. Now, I just refuse to get into situations like that, or at least have the means to pay for a long cab ride if I have to. I do understand sometimes as a kid you really feel like you have no other option, which is why it’s important to think about your way home before you […]

Cloverfield Movie Premiere

 Journal

Tonight I ended up down at the Paramount theatre in Vancouver for a premiere of Cloverfield. For those of you who keep up with such things, Cloverfield has been somewhat of a mystery, relying mainly on word of mouth and a few minutes of raw footage released as a trailer for promotional means. MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD Going into the movie, I basically expected something similar to the Blair Witch Project, and for the most part, that’s exactly what I got. Granted there are a few more effects in this movie, and it is set in the heart of Manhattan, but for the most part it’s just the regurgitation of the formula used for the BWP. In fact, Cloverfield to me really was a rip off of a lot of different movies. First, you have the Bourne Supremacy’s shaky cam that was used throughout the entire film, even in sequences where […]

Cloverfield

 Journal

Photo by miss604 Be afraid. Be very afraid. I’m heading out to watch this tonight with Rebecca, John and John. Rebecca had tickets to the Vancouver premiere and invited me along, which is totally exciting. I’m going on the record as saying I’m pretty sure this is going to suck (the trailer reminds me of a techy Blair Witch Project), but it’ll be a fun suck with a bunch of friends. That sounds dirty, I know. Check out the trailer below: I’m pretty sure the entire budget for the film went into the funky Independence-Day-looking poster, just to attract more people.

Movie Marathon

 Journal

7:36pm – So John and Brennen just arrived for the Friday night nerd-a-thon. We’re debating what movies to watch right now while waiting for pizza to arrive. We have a big list of geeky movies here, some of which are on HD-DVD. Right now the short runners are: The Matrix in HD Dark City Gladiator Desperado Heat Ocean’s Thirteen in HD So we’ll see how it goes. Jeff will probably show up in a bit, and I’m not sure who else. I’m guessing The Matrix will be first just to kick everything off with a bag of kick-ass. My copy of Dark City has seen better days, so I’m trying to rip it to my laptop and reburn it before putting into my HD-DVD player, since it’s rather flaky and doesn’t like scratched discs. Photo of downtown from my place. Taken by John Biehler. 9:11pm Dustin just showed up and […]

Old Star Wars Footage

 Journal

Surprisingly, I have never seen this before.. It’s an old opening scene from Star Wars: A New Hope. I thought it was a complete fake at first, but it looks like it was real footage that was intended to be included at one point. What’s weird is that it’s sort of processed and seems to have been scored, which is unusual for anything that hits the cutting room floor. Possibly some fan added some Star Wars music to those scenes, but the music fits rather nicely which sort of makes me think it was in the movie up until the last minute. I’m having a small HD-DVD movie marathon at my pad tomorrow. Should be fun.

Peter Jackson To Produce "The Hobbit"

 Journal

This is hot off the presses. Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema have reached agreement to make J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” a planned prequel to the blockbuster trilogy “The Lord of the Rings.” Peter Jackson is set to oversee the film adaptation of “The Hobbit.” Jackson, who directed the “Rings” trilogy, will serve as executive producer for “The Hobbit.” A director for the prequel films has yet to be named. Relations between Jackson and New Line had soured after “Rings,” despite a collective worldwide box office gross of nearly $3 billion — an enormous success. The two sides nevertheless were able to reconcile, with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) splitting “The Hobbit” 50/50, spokemen for both studios said Tuesday. I’m definitely glad that Peter Jackson is involved in this project. I think the potential to completely screw it up, especially given the commercial success of the first trilogy, is huge.