Logic vs Creativenessness......

I was recently told that I am a contradiction in terms. Now, those of you that know me will  have a grand old chuckle about this.  Those of you who don't know me...well, all I can say is I march to the beat of a different drum....in every aspect. When I was created, they broke the mould and crushed it to make sure no more of me could be created.

My friend told me that there are two worlds in my reality that, for some reason, seem to balance out my life. I was told that there is my logical/scientific side. This part of my reality is where I reside in most of the time. It pays my bills, makes me think, and it wows me. It makes me look at the stars and wonder about all the things yet to be discovered that are out there. This world includes my fascination with physics and anything that deals with the reality of things that are just out of our reach when it comes to defining what it all means.

The other part of my world is my creative side. This world has always ruled my life but from a distance. Its been a silent partner guiding me through life. I've been starting to uncover it bit by bit, trying to make sense of this world. I mean, I know I've always been able to act. Its a skill I am learning to fine tune with every project I work on. The writing is a huge deal because up until February of this year I had never written anything that even remotely looked like a story. Now I have zombies running around in WW1 France... or a serial killer lurking in the darkness waiting for a chance to enforce his will on an innocent victim...or even a tragic love story between two life long friends......they are all in my head! I don't have a day go by that I don't pop in and out of those worlds and invent new stuff for my stories. Sometimes I see something in my logical world that helps my stories play out....I get inspired by alot of things around me. Yes, I love my cup of coffee...it inspired me to write this post. (Birdie, that one was for you....we need to go to Starbucks soon!)

And then it made me think...

Where did all this come from? Again my logical world reared its beastly head at me...and laughed! It said to me "SUCKER!"! Touche logical brain....touche! I thought about how hard it must have been for humans to decide to be creative. I really wanted to know the true force behind this side of us that sometimes gets repressed, internally and externally. And after careful thought it came to me while I was thinking about how good that damn orange was.....creativity isn't a decision. Creativity is a calling. Its in your DNA. Its your personality...an extension of you. We sometimes hold in this part of ourselves in contempt because it goes against the grain. The logical people in this world are leary of the creative people but only face to face. The results of creativity entertain the logical. It takes them away to another world, whether it be because of a painting, music, movie, etc. The questions that lingered in my mind was if a logical person can be taken in by a creative person's efforts, doesn't it make the said "logical person" a "creative person?"

 So, as you can see, I am definitely a contradiction in terms. I will never be anything but that contradiction in terms. Its what everyone in my life knows and loves. Its what makes me feel alive and energized. Go out and find that creative side of you whether it be painting, music, writing, etc...just do it! I think you'll be surprised at what you find out about yourself.....

G.

The little production that could....

Greetings! What a week this has been! I did my first live TV interview on Monday in support of Bread Thieves. For anyone that is new to my blog, Bread Thieves is my first feature length film. Some of the cast and crew of the film have been doing TV interviews for public exposure of our awesome film.  I was on the CTV Regina Morning show with Dawn Bird, our producer, and I have to say it was an awesome experience. I wasn't nervous and I attribute it, for the most part, to being used to being front of a camera now. As long as you don't pay attention to the camera you're fine.

I want to dedicate this next bit of blog to the film Bread Thieves. If some of you are not from around Saskatchewan, let me tell you how amazing it is to have a production like Bread Thieves exist and how important it is to have it succeed. Last spring, our provincial government cut an employment tax credit (FETC) from our film industry. I am not going to rant about this because this part is about Bread Thieves. I also like to allow the people from the industry that know more about it do the talking. I do know that when this cut was made, it effectively stalled my new career.....or so I thought.

I was asked to audition for Bread Thieves the day after a Metallica concert I attended in Edmonton. I had to wake up really early in the morning just to get back to Regina in time to attend the audition. I then did my call back audition a week later. I got the call that night and my life changed. I felt like a real bonafide actor now. We started filming in late September and finished in October. I can tell you that the energy was very high. The cast and crew got along famously. It was a great feeling to be around that kind of energy. Now that the filming is done, the editing starts. Now we have a high quality film ready to be woven together and from the trailer I am anticipating that it will be a great movie at a bargain basement price. The only thing stopping us now is money. Now, I am not going to make this blog just about convincing you help to raise funds. I want to invite you to check out our fundraising site (http://www.indiegogo.com/breadthievesthemovie) and see what it is we are going to do with any money raised. Some of my very talented cast mates have made a brilliant video to help promote our fundraising effort. If you can't afford to donate, please share the link with others if you like what you see. Please have a look at our trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUwMEOuVmU8&feature=plcp

 

 

I'll be coming out with another blog this weekend so stay tuned! Thank you so much for all your support.

 

G.

 



The noises in my head.....

Don't be alarmed! The title is metaphorical. I want to start off this blog with one of my favorite quotes:

      "A life spent making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." -George Bernard Shaw

Now thats a loaded quote. I've been told I have no fear when it comes to performing. I would say that it isn't necessarily something related to fear. After I found this quote and I started mulling over its meaning it suddenly came to me. I was willing to make mistakes in the order to live my life instead of doing what I did in the past...which was being complacent with my environment. That is toxic to anyone, and being I am the person I am, it was 100 times worse for me. Was it the fear of losing my comfort zones that kept me from chasing my dream? Was it fear that kept me from living the fullest life I could ever live? And just so you know, I just found this quote this morning so my words here today are fresh and are my initial reaction to something that made my life more clear to me.

Society allows us to feel the failure of mistakes. Its like in sports when an athelete makes a mistake in play that costs his team. How bad does that athelete feel afterwards?  Having said that, I thought about when did this particular trait in us humans became apparent. If you think about it, humans advance more when they are willing to make mistakes. I am thankful of this because if it wasn't for the willingness to make mistakes, the caveman would have never learned how to make that spear or start fires to cook meat. The list goes on and on. Anytime someone goes against the grain a bit and makes profound changes in how they live their life, its another person complacency loses. And thats a good thing!

"The noises in my head" doesn't refer to me going off the deep end. I refer to the noises as the story ideas that bounce around the inside of my numb skull. I have three stories that are in progress right now, and I want to work on all three. The noises are made by plot line changes, scenes, characters, and pretty much anything that involves my writing process. I now have a daytimer that I now use to schedule my time...and yes, I schedule time for my stories. I have found that now I can zone in one on story. As long as I know which story I'll be working on the noise volume goes down.

A little update on Bread Thieves. We just did a press release for the movie this week so this signals another step in the evolution of the film. Now that the press is aware of us we are now booking interviews with the local media. I get to do my first TV interview this Monday morning on the CTV Regina morning show. I'm very excited about this and really want to use this to get people excited about this story we helped bring to life. Seeing how people are starting to embrace the production gives me inspiration to see my own stories come to life.

And now I will leave you with another fitting quote:

                 "A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life" -Charles Darwin


Check out the Bread Thieves website at http://breadthievesthemovie.com


G.

I am not going to write about omelettes....

So I am sitting here eating an omelette thinking about all the things I hate about winter. In case you don't know this, I live in Saskatchewan. I have experienced winters across Canada...but none compare to the ferocious, bitter winter that we have here. We are knee deep in it as we speak! Now, I haven't looked outside and maybe, through a total miricle the snow I got stuck in yesterday will be gone and it will be +25 outside!!

Well, anyone that has lived in Saskatchewan Canada knows that this will not be the case. Yup! Just looked...its not the case. But with the miserable weather comes random acts of kindness. I got to experience this yesterday and felt very compelled to share this with you today.

I was helping out a friend deliver posters for an event here in the city. And of course, I had to drive out into the chaos this city becomes when the first winter storm that hits. I had parked my car on a side street in an area we call the Cathedral area. If you ever get to come to Regina, make sure you go and see all the neat shops and restaurants that reside in this area. I will write about these places later on.... but now on with my story.

So I parked my car on a side street and went and delivered the posters. After about an hour of going back and forth it was time to move the car to another side street. Well, to make a long story short, I got stuck! And here is the cool thing...no more than 30 seconds into me realizing I was stuck, two young men stopped their car across from me, got out of their car and proceeded to push me out. I never asked for help or flagged them down...I didn't even have to get out of my car...they just did it out of concern of a fellow citizen...to help a complete stranger in the time of need. This gives great value to the theory of paying it forward...because now when I am driving down the street and come across someone in need I will definitely help. It was a very warm gesture on such a cold day. A big thank you goes to those guys that helped! Keep it up boys! You do the city proud!

G.

PS: Red Bird, the omelette on the right was definitely harmed during the typing of this blog post.....

In the beginning I was an actor trapped in an IT anaysts body.....

Hi! I want to first of thank you for checking my new blog out. I recently had a friend ask me to guest post on her blog. Once I found out how cool this was I decided to create my own. And here it is...

I chose the name very specifically. I was introduced to this phrase a few years ago when I was working in a call center. Long story short it obviously stuck with me. Given how my life has unfolded over the last year I would say its a phrase that needs to be dusted off and used as a blog title because it truly embodies how my life truly is these days.

I want to use this forum for many different reasons....most of which is to communicate and reach out to people. I also want to engage my readers to help me with a project later on...but we'll start this blog for now and cross that bridge when I'm ready to present it to the masses.

Some of you already know me. Those of you that do, you can totally appreciate it when I say I am weird....but in a good way right? Around 2 years ago I had hit a point in my life where change needed to happen. I wasn't happy and felt very restless. It was almost having a temporary case of ADD. I couldn't concentrate, didn't sleep well, felt discouraged that life was passing me by and that I hadn't done a thing to even make it very exciting. Well, with that being said, the journey I have take to get to this point is not for the weak. I work hard and try to always push myself.

After going through the motions of pointing out to myself that life wasn't progressing, a friend of mine, someone who had been pushing me towards starting up in the film industry, tried to convince me I should start acting in the film industry. Now that is a loaded statement....how does one start in the film industry is a very loaded question. Once that has eluded me for many years. This blog is going to chronicle this journey and show you that if you put your mind to it, anything is possible.

I should have been acting right out of highschool. There were a few things that redirected me. I moved down east to Quebec in 1987 to live with my dad. The school I went to, as fun as it was, was totally lacking in the arts. I went from  a school in Sask that had active music and drama programs to a school that didn't. I was going to go to John Abbott in Montreal but the old story of dad wanting his son to follow in his footsteps and join the military sent me on a different journey. Now don't get me wrong...I was very fond of the military and it was good for me as a young man to experience this, but I knew I didn't fit in right from the start. I spent three years in the navy. Met some awesome people...got to shoot guns and march.

So my friend comes up  to me and shows me the cool picture of her first experience being in a movie. She was playing a corpse. I instantly wanted to be a corpse too! So, I signed up with a group that was scouted for back ground performers for various shows. Just over a month later I got my chance to do background on a show called InSecurity on CBC. I was like a kid in a candy story! I got to learn to act natural, pretend I was talking to someone by mouthing the words watermelon and grapefruit. I learned what everyone's roles were on the crew. It was an experience that set the tone for what I needed to do with my life. It totally changed me!

I then got cast into a show called Edge of War. My first episode I was casted as a Cuban rebel. I was totally excited about this opportunity. But I was taught a very valuable lesson from the moment I walked on set. It was to "Be patient Glenn!" When I got on set, I was told that because I had long hair and that they didn't think this production was worth me cutting it, that I would most likely be far background which meant I wasn't going to really be seen. Was I dejected? Yup! Did I feel like just packing it in and not doing this? Sort of. Did I? NOT!

While my big break came when the weapons handler/pyro effects guy was handing out the weapons. He handed one to me and I immediately, as if by instinct, checked and made sure the weapon was safe. To the uninitiated, they wouldn't catch that. But to the experienced, you know when someone is comfortable with guns and knows how to handle them. This is big to a film guy because the experience shows up on film. From that point forward, not only was I in key scenes  but close ups were normal. The director even thought I had enough experience to lead other actors in a scene. One of my close ups happened to be me firing a machine gun and yelling out "Never surrender boys" in Spanish. The director and crew started calling me Chico...and that name has stuck with some people. I appeared in a total of 3 episodes out of 6.

This year has been a year of milestones. I started writing, did a few shows of stand up comedy, bought a new car, acted in Blood, Lies, and Alibis, 3 commercials, and one short film. My biggest acting milestone came when I successfully auditioned for a role in the movie Bread Thieves. I played a meth head. (Shameless plug: http://breadthievesthemovie.com ).

So...that brings us to now. I thank you for your time....look foward to grabbing your attention later for another posting...

Glenn