Thanksgiving Dinner, movie update and Smith…

He was here a few days, and then was gone. Chris flew back to Toronto today. It’s too bad he was only here a short time, but I could tell that Ethan enjoyed having his uncle here for a few days. It was nice to have someone from my side here for Thanksgiving dinner last night as well. Leah took the time to cook up some turkey along with a traditional newfoundland jiggs dinner to go along with it. It was Chris’ first Jiggs Dinner and I think he really liked it. Ethan loves it and cleaned his plate in record time. For those who are unaware of what a Jiggs dinner is, it’s a meal that requires a lot of veggies (Cabbage, carrots and turnip) and a pound of curred (salted) beef that are all boiled into a pot at the same time. This way the flavor and salty taste of the beef goes into the veggies, making them the best veggies I’ve ever eaten. I love the meal, and it was a big hit with my brother as well.

After supper, we relaxed that night and hung out and did a few new things with the computer. For my birthday, Chris had brought in a DVD burner for my system. My first DVD burner was successfully installed and Chris also loaded up the software he uses to help out. So last night I burned my first DVD… and it was a complete success! It was fun to burn something that actually plays on the TV now instead of just the computer. I now have the ability to download/create and burn any kind of DVD that I want. This means I can create my own video files which might come in handy if I want to burn my own DVDs after the movies are made. Nice to have that option if that’s a route I want to use when making or producing our own projects. I think I’m creative enough to do something like that, might be fun…

Speaking of the movie, it looks like we’re thinking of nailing down a specific time and place for the shoot. I’m thinking of setting up a two day shoot, giving us a weekend to get the entire thing finished, but I’ve been talking to some of the people involved about using a different day, maybe like two weeks before the shoot for rehersals and a meet and greet with cast and crew. This way we’ll do a read through of the script a few times, and make sure everyone is okay with the story and how it progresses. That way we’ll give everyone a chance to find out what kind of movie it is and then a week or two to read and memorize lines for the big day. This way everyone is on the same page and it will be all right working with this kind of project. I’d like to make sure everyone is comfortable with the film and it’s content during rehersals rather than have to replace someone on the day of shooting. I’m excited about this, as are my prodiction partners. We are determined to make this work, and if it does… plans are already in motion for the next film as well, which is going to be a full lengh feature. We’ve put our heads together and come up with a killer premise, and I’m almost twenty pages into the script already. But one project at a time…

Speaking of movies, Leah and I watched Star Wars Episode III thanks to my Video On Demand feature with my cable connection. It was the third/fourth time I had seen it, but Leah had never seen the movie so it was fun to watch it with her. She actually liked the movie, and I think it’s pretty cool as well. Not as good as the original trilogy, but a lot better than Clones which was pure crap. It was fun to watch the movie with her since we don’t do that as often as we would like. I recored last night’s episode of Studio 60, and I’ll watch that either tonight or later in the week when I have more time.

I’m a little steamed that CBS was so quick to cancel Smith. I was really getting into that show and was looking forward to seeing more. The networks really upset me when they fail to commit to the good shows and give their audience a chance to grow. Not everyone can fly out of that gate, but for the studios lately it’s all or nothing. If you’re not number one after three episodes, you’re axed. This show was being prised by critics and enjoyed by those who watched it, and they didn’t give fans a chance to spread the good word before putting it on the chopping block. It’s hard to commit to a show when the network can’t do the same themselves, and in turn this could be the reason why some shows are not able to pick up a quick audience out of the gate. People are tired of watching their new favorite shows get the axe, so they won’t watch anything new until they know it’s going to hang around for a while. This can cause a Catch 22 for new shows coming out, and you wonder why the new ones are being axed right left and center. Blame that on the hare trigger networks, not the fans. This show had the goods, but was slotted into one of the worst times of the week, and was slaughtered. I think moving to a new time would have been more appropreiate, not cutting it out completely.

I still have some good things to watch later this week. I’m curious to see what the ratings are going to be for Jericho now that North Korea has become a nuclear power. I wonder if this development is causing some episodes to be re-written or reshot to be more PC or being too close to reality. Shark is still doing well, and hopefully no others will be given the axe at least until the new year. But we’ll have to wait and see…

Hope everyone is having a bitchin’ Tuesday, and I’ll be around… maybe.

Peter