From the monthly archives: October 2009
What might have been an impressive photographic foray into the heart of craziness of Halloween in the Village… got rained out. One does not take $3300 worth of camera out in the weather casually. So under the shelter of Lee’s umbrella (Suz was very kind to share) I snapped a bunch of frames at the streams of costumed freaks in retreat. We didn’t get to actually see the parade with our own eyes, but we never really expected to. It’s a pretty major thing, and we didn’t even hook up til 8 or so. From what I’ve seen since on TV, the rain didn’t affect the masses along 5th– still thousands strong. It’s not a cold night. Just wet. So everybody put on a good show.
Next year, we’ll participate. This year, I was home by 9:30 and very happy to peel off the drenched layers and warm up. Though I would not have objected to another look at Jessica Rabbit. rowr.
Staying at Chez Baran is never dull. Jack and I knocked a few back til 4am talking about oh, whatever. Introduced me to Tuaca. Delightful. Yes, that is the word.
And then I got up for another quickie shoot at Redken. A two-parter, total of maybe four hours. No problem. Easy. Then Lee and I smacked down some more great script dev – we solved a problem I’ve been wrestling with for ages. It’s all coming together for this particular project. An actual shooting script for the pilot is pretty much the next step from here. I got a chill just now. Oh yes.
Today was quiet. A couple of short mixes for Redken stuff over at Lee’s, some writing development, then dinner at Rattle & Hum (25 cent wings! and good ones! and I found a non-sucky beer!). Tomorrow I’m thinking I’ll make a foray into Williamsburg. This man needs to find a man cave! For a man and a cat! A man/cat cave! But mostly man! Cave!
I’m beginning to get a sense of the Right vs the Left down here in AmericaLand. You could sum up my impression fairly by saying that the Left favours regulation to protect individuals against unreasonable business practices, where the Right favours the free market above all else (if an individual doesn’t like the way a given company is treating him, he can exercise his Right to Choose, and take his business elsewhere). What that means, in essence, is that if a corporation gets itself into the position where it can casually rape and pillage us all into the stone age, well, congratulations, high fives. Capitalism Works.
But that’s just my opinion. If looking at the simple facts can be called opinion.
In principle, that’s what America The Free is all about — we all equally have the God Given Right to seek our fortunes, and if we win an unassailable advantage over the competition then we’ve earned it with all our hard work and we’re Living the American Dream. The market just happens to be working in our favour. Or something. It sounds great.
Never mind that, in reality, whoever has the power tends to act to keep it that way.
In my opinion, responsible and careful legislation is necessary to protect the individual from the skull-fucking corporations that could not possibly care less about us so long as we keep their bottom line black. The current structure of the health unsurance system is the perfect example. Any company that would let you die rather than pay your claim should not be protected by the Constitution. Full stop.
A less lethal but just as valid example is the current chaos over the principles of Net Neutrality. Put simply, most of us feel that the intertubes should be free, and open, and as unfettered as possible by the trappings of the bloated, twisted, broken system in which most of us have to live. No throttles, no blocks, no filtering, no bullshit tiers. The free market system is based on the idea that if you can figure out how to control a commodity, you can charge whatever the market will bear for access to that commodity. That, again, sounds great. It really does.
The FCC is responsibly and carefully considering regulation which will guarantee equal access to the web for all. This proudly upholds the All-American principle of freedom for individuals. Equal rights for all. No preferential treatment for anyone. Effectively, this regulation would prevent ISPs from filtering any legal traffic in any way. Just like roads. Anyone can use them for anything, so long as it’s legal.
John McCain would like you to believe that this action is actually un-American, a “government takeover” that will stifle innovation. This is absolutely fascinating for me. He and the movement he represents (chiefly made up of the ISPs themselves) are actually trying to convince us that black is white.
Their perspective, though they can’t state it honestly (because it’s not terribly popular), is that businesses should be free to run their business. The government, for better or worse, should stay out of it. This is the sentiment, again, that brought us the ridiculous, murderous profiteering health unsurance system.
To bottom line it for you, they want to be left free to choose (for us) which traffic they like, and which they don’t, and stifle the latter.
To illustrate, this means that Bing could pay AT&T to favour their traffic over Google, and that would be the end of painfully slow Google unless they paid to compete. Bing could then charge us to use Bing as the only show in town, splitting the profits with AT&T. Loser = us. Then it gets proper fucked– AT&T would offer a premier tier, where we could pay for unfiltered (or less filtered) bandwidth, so we could continue to use our beloved Google. So, without changing one single iota of the bandwidth speeds they are currently supporting, AT&T (or whoever) is suddenly making money hand over fist.
Just imagine what YouTube would have to pay to remain the video site of choice. Next up: Microsoft My Video Place, only $10 a month for a whole gig of downstream! And one free video upload a month! Only $50 for the premium service!
And so on.
Look, the reason Google is winning is because they are free and ad supported, but in a nice way. We don’t get splattered with intrusive flashing, popping, noisy garbage like the old days. We chose Google, and Google is mindful that if they treat us with respect we will stay loyal. Google knows that if they offer everything for free, they will have the traffic, and that means eyeballs on ads. And that means money. It’s just smart business. Long view smart. Not gouge you and rape you and treat you like a bitch because you have no real choice smart.
If John McCain gets what he wants, make no mistake, everything you love about the web is history. Only people who can pay will get to play, on both sides of the ISPs. How this is supposed to promote jobs and innovation is utterly beyond me.
PCWorld has a Net Neutrality FAQ right here. Get informed. Use your voice. Before you have to pay for the privilege.
Again, ignore. Just another banner. Also, hi! How’s your day going?
I could post hundreds– thousands of pictures of Vancouver, of BC, of the province where I was born. Home. And I could write endless pages about the awe-inspiring beauty in which I grew up. I have travelled to other places, and seen mountains, and I’ve seen oceans, and I’ve seen rain-drenched forests. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything that holds a candle to BC. Nowhere does the seabed climb to the sky with quite the same grandeur it does there.
It’s good to know BC will be there. Makes it easier to leave.
Over the last couple years I’ve been putting together The Plan: move to New York to partner with Lee Baran and make movies. Great ones. And paradigm-busting TV shows. On October 5th my visa application was approved and we slammed The Plan into high gear.
Bye bye, stuff (again) — (Pics from the first one).
No more leaving you behind, little buddy!
I will really really miss that beer.
So, after a truly exhausting two weeks of boxing, packing, and pounding… er… pavement, ‘everything must go’ became ‘everything must gone’. I said my last see-you-laters to BC, and everything there.
Didn’t see everybody– there just wasn’t time, but I got some QT with Marjorie. Lee & I had a great hang-out with Cara. Jayme kept me waiting! Everybody else will have to come visit. I blitzed to the island to stuff a few crates in the ‘rents attic. Thanked Jen profusely for taking care of Thomas for the three months I was in NY this time. Left the car with Cara in hopes she will have some luck finding a body to take over my lease. Trash tossed. Boxes shipped. Luggage lugged. One last pint with Jayme and Christina (congratulations!) and then Lee and I were on a plane after about an hour of sleep. Thomas flies well, turns out. Once in a while I looked out the window, but there really isn’t much to see in the middle bits except for the occasional Pac Man reference.
And now I’m here. New York City. Your basic centre of the universe scenario. Not that there’s anything basic about The NYC.
No, that’s not my view. I don’t have a place yet. The view from Lee’s really does look a lot like this though:
So. New book. Oh– new movie. Starting now. I’m kind of excited.
You can safely ignore this. I’m playing around with a banner slideshow plugin.
2007 Mazda 3 GX Lease takeover ***
2007 Mazda 3 GX 5-speed manual with low monthly payments of $348.42 and 15 months left on the lease. Near mint condition — just detailed. Great looking car (metallic gray), meticulously looked after and regularly serviced. A pleasure to drive, a short lease commitment, and low payments. I’ll pay the lease transfer fee.
I am moving to New York and can’t take a lease south of the border, so I have to let her go. It’s not easy – she’s by far the best car I’ve ever had. I’ve taken meticulous care of her, and she’s covered by a worry-free warranty and service plan. Even bullet-proof roadside assistance service!
She’s well under her scheduled kms – I’ve been in New York about half the time over the past two years, and even while in Vancouver I only drove cross-town once or twice a week. Over four years you’re allowed 80,000 kms and I’ve driven less than 30,000.
The end of term buy-out is only $10,155.45 (super cheap because of the 4-yr lease).
A few features: 5-Speed Manual, Air Conditioning, AM/FM CD Stereo with Aux for iPod, Anti-Lock Brakes, Passive Immobilizer Anti-Theft, Power Locks, Power Steering, Power Windows, Roof-mounted Airbags, Front Side Impact Airbags, Front Mud Guards
If interested please email Adrian@AdrianTaverner.com with any questions.
Monthly payment, incl. taxes —– $348.42
Original down payment —– $2500
Purchase Option at end of lease —– $10,155.45
Total Mileage allowance —– 80,000 kms
Original lease term (months) —– 48
Lease expiry —– Feb 2011
*** Thanks for the help to all who pitched in to help a brother out. I am lease free and loving New York.
Subject: Premium Processing Case Update
The Vermont Service Center has approved the following
I-129 Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker
that had been filed under the Premium Processing Service:
Beneficiary: ADRIAN TAVERNER
Here comes a new fun thing. A thing that has been gaining momentum in a serious way for two years:
On 09/09/09 I founded Chaos Complex Entertainment with Lee & Matt. Our long term goal is simple. Take over the world, one brain at a time. So far as we have been able to discover, there’s nothing standing in our way. Just have to connect the dots. Nothing to it.
Also in the news (besides Letterman ganking that douche would-be extortionist from 48 Hours – well played, brother!) is the thoroughly awesome visit with Brock & Krista. Top shelf, kids. Top shelf good times. Brock is officially due to enter the payroll. In T-shirts. I suspect Krista will broker the investment strategy. You people are Good People.
So I head back to Hongcouver on the 7th for a couple weeks. Let’s hook up. Could be a long while before I swing through for another sociable, assuming America wants me back. So far so good, by the way. The unions have given me the green light. Darn nice of them. Either they see me as a potential asset or they find me completely unintimidating. I’m comfortable either way. This train is rolling.
See you soon.
