SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE

You should check out this wonderful little Spanish gem from Director Victor Erice. Mind you, I haven't seen many Spanish films, but this is definitely the best, and one the best films in general that I've ever seen. I'm looking forward to seeing some more of this directors' work.

Overall, this film has a very dark and haunting quality to it which is complimented wonderfully by famous composer Luis de Pablo's score.

This visually elegant "poem of awakening" takes place in a small Castilian village in the early 1940s, as traces of the Spanish Civil War are still found throughout the countryside. Ana (played by 6 year old Ana Torrent) is introduced to James Whale's classic tale of Frankenstein, an experience that forever changes her perception of the world around her.

This has to be one of the most amazing and unforgettable child performances I've ever seen. She really charmed me. Very cute kid. Actually, I don't even think she was acting, it seemed so natural. Now she's pretty hot, there's an interview with her on the extras disc. She was haunted by the experience of that movie for years, so it goes. The other child actor, Isabel Telleria, is also wonderful, playing Ana's sister, Isabel, who's always teasing Ana or trying to scare her.

The other main characters are the mother and father, who don't really have much dialogue in the film at all. The father pretty much keeps to himself most of the time working as a solitary, obsessive beekeeper and the mother spends her time dreaming about her exiled lover.

The Spirit of the Beehive is basically a captivating study of childhood unhindered by the limitations of the adult world. You'll find lots of visual symbolism and metaphor, yet it's never overdone, arty farty or artificial. Everything is tastefully done to perfection, the lighting, the details, the framing, the colors. This is simply one of the masterpieces of cinema.

A MESSAGE

OK, kids! It's high time to vent some frustrations, after I nearly got run over by a car, then 5 minutes later, a guy runs smack into me rushing out of building because he failed to look left and right as he exited the building. So I'd like to say a BIG "FUCK YOU!!!" to the following people. You are the worst pieces of human garbage there is, your existence is not needed and I hope you all die unspeakably horrible deaths. You are:

1. Drivers who cannot wait 3 seconds for me to cross the street, even though the signal clearly indicates GO, so you drive about 3 millimeters from me and sometimes even run into me, then have the gall to honk on your horn at me. I do not give a fuck about your "important" meeting or golf game.

2. People who wear headphones while you ride a bicycle or walk

3. People who drive and talk on your cellular phones at the same time. This includes bikes.

4. People who butt in front of me when I'm in line waiting for the train

5. People who butt in front of me waiting in line at convenience stores, etc.

6. people who fail to look left and right after you run out of a building onto the street

7. people who run in crowded streets or crowded places

8. people who stand in front of convenience stores (or any store) entrances, therefore blocking the entrance

9. people who talk loud while riding public transportation

10. women who sit in restaurants, public transportation and other public places putting on their make-up

11. people who fail to look out the window of a vehicle before opening the door

12. people who fail to flush the toilet in public places, so the next person has to deal with your little surprise

13. people who leave your trays and other shit behind at fast food restaurants, cafés, etc.

14. people who stand on sidewalks blocking human traffic

15. people with pets who don't clean up their shit so that I conveniently step into it

16. people who spit out your chewing gum anywhere else but the garbage bin, so that I can get it stuck to my shoe or my clothing

17. People who stand on the wrong side of escalator when it clearly indicates stand left, walk right

18. people who throw your bikes on top of mine, so that I have to spend 10 minutes fishing it out of a huge messy pile

That's about all I can think of for now, if I think of more I'll add them to the list. Meanwhile, to all the people mentioned above: SUFFER!

Ass Doctor

I wasn't aware that Dr. Assy was a shoe company until I saw this while shopping for shoes on Sunday. Pretty funny, another example of Japanese companies just picking some silly English word off the top of their head and naming a product or a brand with it. Why noy go all the way and call it "Dr. Asshole" or something. Assy. It's just slightly off the mark, but still interesting nonetheless...

cats will someday RULE THE EARTH!!!

I saw this cat near my wife's office. It's there all the time. Waiting. Watching. Sleeping. Cats seem to be able to sleep anywhere, doesn't matter whether it's a pile of shit, on top of a stove, someones's face, TV, under a car. Dogs can't do that, they have to have their favorite blanket, or their gay little doghouse. You don't see so many cats being dressed in gay clothes by their owners either. Y'know why? Because if you try to put that crap on them, they'll scratch you to death. Dogs, on the other hand, being the obedient robots they are, let their owners do it willingly. "HA HA HA, look at that dog with the stupid coat!!!" the cats say sneeringly. Any cat that can sleep in the menu display without asking is OK in my book. Their day is coming, mark my words...

Whathefuck???

This looks like an attractive deal. Get your face cut for 1,000 yen. Sounds like a sweet deal to me. I thought I'd have to do it myself for free. I'm telling ya, what's this world coming to when yousa gotta spend 10 bucks to cut your face?

The Lost CCBE Photos

I have a shitload of these CCBE cover session photos at home somewhere in NB, but I don't know where they are. I gave these ones to my wife (at that time, girlfriend) and she had them in a little album tucked away, that I didn't know about until now, so I thought I would post them. That was a really fun photoshoot. You can see the final photo I chose to use if you flip through my portfolio. I added the picture of Ben Wilson's face pressed against the photocopier later.

Andrew Benjamin was the photographer. To prepare for this photoshoot, I went to the grocery store and bought about 10 cans of cream corn, kethup, mustard, soya sauce, fucking everything and just let loose in the bathroom with all this shit. I stuck porn centrefolds on the wall and blasted them with condiments, you can see a shit sandwich in the corner of the tub, it's fake shit though, I didn't use the real thing, but it looks pretty convincing. All in all, there were about 40 or 50 shots taken. Next time I go back home, I'll dig around for them and post them at a later date. Some of them are pretty hilarious.

BEEF!!!!!!!!!!

1,000 titles booklet COMPLETED!!!

Finally finished! Please go to http://www.fluxdesignworks.com/home/home.html and go the bottom right corner under links and just click-hold the link that says "1,000 titles download" and save as a pdf or you can open it in a browser by double clicking it. If you're cool and have a Mac, you can open it with either Acrobat or Preview. If you have a PC you can probably only use Acrobat, which sucks.

This was a really fun project and I am already working on another 1,000 titles. I gave the titles to my friend, Tyler Landry in PEI to see what he comes up with for illustrations of these titles. We're hoping the next step may be a huge book with my titles and his illustrations. It may just be one of the most bizarre creations ever. I'm looking forward to seeing some of his drawings.

Anyway, let me know if there are any typos, or corrections I should make with the credits or the notes. I'm not the greatest proofreader, so there may be a few errors. On the other hand, it may be difficult to tell anyway, because some of the titles are deliberately spelled wrong.

Enjoy! Comments are always welcome of course!

Wedding Photos

Well, my wife and I had our wedding ceremony almost 3 months ago and I still haven't posted any damn photos, so I figure I'd better put some up. These are just a few of the photos that the photographer took. She took around 1,000 shots, it took us the better part of forever to sort through them all and pick which ones we wanted to send to out parents, friends, etc...

Thanks to the photographer, Melia Sorenson, who did an absolutely fantastic job. There wasn't one bad shot out of the whole lot. She's got the sense for sure. I kew they would be good, but she easily exceeded my expectations.

All of my friends who are wondering why they haven't seen any photos yet, be patient. We're sending out some stuff to you soon...

Thanks again to everyone who attended. Enjoy the shots. If you want to see a larger view, click on the photo...

Note: I got a few emails saying that all the shots don't load. Probably something to do with space, this blog may not handle many images very well. I had the same problem, but I reloaded the page a few times and it worked...