Monday, August 28, 2006

GREEN CAMERAMAN...


I hope you all took my advice and went out to see Bon Cop, Bad Cop. I don’t know how long it’s going to be in the theatres. They never advertise Canadian films as well as the American ones, so I doubt most people know it’s out there. Or they look at the poster and assume it’s going to be crap, which it isn’t.

I had some fun on the weekend, where I helped someone film a documentary covering the selection of the new federal Green Party candidate. I’ve never been to a political rally before, and I was right in there with the CBC, CTV, and CPAC. Wearing my trusty press card I moved through the crowd and shot what I could. You may have seen me on TV. Apparently I popped up on the CBC and CTV footage here and there. My arm sure got a good workout, having to carry around a Sony PD-150 from 9 am to around 6. It’s amazing how heavy a light camera can get when you hold it up for hours at a time.

Now, having spent the day seeing the behavior of the Green Party I have some interesting insights that you might want to consider come election time. They aren’t the wishy washy granola crunching Greens that many believe they are. They aren’t the European style Greens in any way. There seems to be two groups that comprise the Green Party, and the most dominant seems to be the Eco Capitalists. The serious eco-leftists seem to have been pushed aside. Yes I’m sad to say that the Green Party is actually right wing when it comes to economics. They have a lot of support from people in agribusiness, you know people that make money off the environment and want to ensure that there is a sustainable environment for them to continue making money off of. The problem is, is that they are still essentially capitalists. They don’t like a strong government that is going to tell them how to run things through legislation. They don’t want rules per say, but they think they are going to save the world through tax incentives. Though tax incentives can be useful, nothing serious is going to get done about the environment without legislation. Things generally don’t get done unless something dramatic happens that galvanizes public support, or the government passes legislation. Remember seat belts, air bags, product safety standards? Nah, we should do away with all that and let the corporate sector police itself! Throw a few tax incentive bones to guide them in the right way. Pah! So if you want to protect the environment, you might want to reconsider the Green Party of Canada. Do a little research and you will be surprised by how many Green Party people are ex-Conservatives! Hell, the new leader they just elected is a former Brian Mulroney Tory! I have a hard time believing that so many people can change their beliefs so drastically. The Greens sure ain’t Leftists.

Well on a completely unrelated matter, I hit a milestone this week. I passed the 100 pages mark in my book. It’s been going fast and fierce which is good. I’m really proving that having a well laid outline helps. I feel like it’s already been written in my head, so I just sit down and type to get it out of my head. I need the space for all the rocks. I still don’t know how long the first book is going to be, but I figure it might be around 400 to 500 pages. I crossed the 100 pages point and it’s still generally around the beginning of the story where the plot really gets moving. It’s a lot of fun, and I’ve let a few people take a look at what I have so far, which has been favourable. I’m kind of excited because I didn’t realize that I might be writing a fantasy book that people who don’t read fantasy might enjoy. It’s going to be a busy week, so I don’t know how much time I will have to write, but I want to have at least another 30 pages written this week. Maybe more If I get the time.

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