How come there's no turkey shaped pinatas?

LEFT: My cousin's kid clobbers a pinata
BELOW: Uncle Bill has LOTS of squash from his garden



My cousin Jackie with a scarecrow from the garden (left)

A cute photo of my Cousin's husband Greg and their little boy I call "bubby" (LEFT)

I didn't get too much sleep today, but last night I did finally tweak up a version of my script, which is great (my draft is a mix of a shooting script and a first draft). Regardless, it came in exactly at the number of pages I wanted, so it's all good.

The sun was up and after sipping some java hit my parents screened patio and for a second, it reminded me of spending a morning at our old house in Florida my Grandfather had. It was going to be a nice day, as we loaded up and went to my Grandparents for Candian Thanksgiving.

I'll do a little bit of a photo "show-and-tell" to explain the rest of the day....

I was there for a photo shoot for my Grandparents. An aunt of mine is looking to make a calendar of all the relatives and offspring with a photo of us for each month of the year. It was a nice idea. On the drive up, I ask my Mom who the photographer was. She informed me that everyone was taking photos. It had taken a bit for it all to sink in, "whaa? no professional photographer??" Sometimes when you work in a world where you're use to creating media and always look for the best in the field, you can sometimes overlook just having simple fun, which is what it was. For some reason when I stood by my Aunt Patty for the month of February, something struck our funnybone as we were giggling just like kids, who were playing with a pinata or something.

Our families all did turkey dinner in my Grandparents basement with another Aunt who does meals for a retirement home running the procedure. It went off without a hook, and the food always at these things is incredible. I swear we must have been Eastern European or something in another life because all my relatives were egging me on to eat more.

It was a fun day, and a good change from the usual "detail" of my life, involving meetings, my day job, and more meetings. The leaves up in the Central Ontario area have turned a golden red with some green foilage as well. My Mother commented, "I can't believe some people from Toronto have never been up this way." And that I would have to agree.

So to all my friends around the world, Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

(PS: I had grabbed this digital pics with a cheapie digital camera that I got my Mom for Mother's Day one year to see if she would "like it" or use it. Not bad pics for a $29 investment eh?)

Это ты объявила войну, but haven't we all? :)

ULTRA BRA - Still "perkele hyvaa" ;)

It was the first time I got to meet up with some friends since June, so I bolted home and had a whopping 20 minutes to myself before having to arrive for dinner. So, I hop in the shower and throw in something that I hadn't played for months. Ultra Bra's "SINÄ PÄIVÄNÄ KUN SYNNYIN". Frick, I forgot how good that DISC 2 is. While soaping myself up, I'm belting out "villiviini" which I was sure a neighbour might any minute try to kill me. But one older neighbour said he actually started liking ULTRA BRA from repeated playing at my place! It's not like I'm playing AURORA or KORNI over and over. Well, that was last month!

Tonight I have NO real commitments, except meeting with my neighbour Cat for some dinner as we enjoy the last real night of "summer type weather". I'd crack open a bottle of Georgian wine, but there's really no red meat in my freezer as I try to finish off veggie burgers and the like, preparing for winter. It will be nice to chill this evening anyhow.

Anyhow, I'm listening to Shpat Kasapi, feeling overwhelmed, and can't wait to split. So I will, and spare you this thread of ka-ka.

October/Summer-Not a Bummer!

Whoa, this weekend was SO nice here! Today alone is 27C! There's an Indian summer going on, which I don't mind one bit!

On Saturday evening, I walked along College Street (the Little Italy area of Toronto) and had myself question if there was part of it blocked off for a street festival or something. There was THRONGS and THRONGS of people out, drinking on patios, throwing up asian noodle dishes in back alleys, etc.... But it was 1 AM when I actually arrived in that area and started walking home! Past Dufferin close to 2, there were some people doing the Macarena and some dodgy Brazillian "sports club" (you find these Ethnically defined "sports clubs" sometimes in the West End and some like the Turkish are "Members Only").

The weekend however was pretty typical for a weekend... Saw 2 documentaries (STEVIE and the seldom seen LEGACY (PBS 2002). Met up with my friend Dmitri who does the "Boogie Nights Again" out in Vancouver (film screenings), plus also did a tour through an abandon Police Station here in Toronto. It's very cool and my friend said, "If you want to shoot something here, as long as you don't f--k up the ceilings, it's OK". There's several floors and it's very cool, so I'm thinking what I could do on a Fred Olen-Ray type budget.

Speaking of film stuff, I'm still hammering away on my short and am now doing the delicate art of casting. An agency gave me a website filled with tons of head and body shots asking me to look through and see if there was anything interesting to me. It's feels really weird however doing it, as it almost feels like "Ebay of People". But anyhow, it's good all the same.

But as October begins, the month doesn't seem to be entering into the bleakness of winter. It's bright, shiny and nice outside. Who can complain?