un-settled

It says I posted this on September 25 but it's actually October 17 2006. The draft version was posted awhile ago. It hasn't been easy getting to this but here it is.

I finally moved but as I suspected it was not smooth and without problems. The previous tenant wasn't moved out on time, didn't clean and had started painting over his previous paint job only the evening before and wasn't done when I arrived. It was a hack job very poorly done with paint splatters all over the hardwood floors, bad patches on the walls and paint streaks on surfaces that didn't need paint. What a pain! The previous tenant lost his deposit.
As I did the walkthrough with the caretaker noting all the mistakes she pointed out black mold all over the bathroom ceiling and closet. She organized with the maintenance people to get a paint job done. But guess what? It didn't happen. When I finally got a hold of the maintenance guy to find out what's up, he said he "would get back to me".

So the fomerly great apartment I had fought for was a mess. I'm not fully moved in and unpacked. I'm unhappy. I could get the paint done myself but after all the hassles why would I spend my time and money on upgrading the place for a jerk of a landlord. I'll move out in May when the lease is up and spend more time at the studio. Fuck em......



Went to an animation workshop instructed by Amy Lockhart which was part of the Independent Media Arts alliance conference and festival hosted by Video Pool. Had a lot of fun learning DIY low tech/high tech animation techniques. My drawing skills are pretty weak but in the end it didn't matter. It was really fun.



Worked out on a farm near Neepawa with Trip Dance on Herding Instinct, their next production of which I am responsible for the composition of a soundscape to accompany the video and choreography. It was a lovely few fall days as I trekked about recording sound at the site. I also had the luck to spot a rare Cinnamon Bear, lots of Whitetail Deer, some Coyotes and a Red Crowned Woodpecker. And lots of Canada Geese which seemed to be sounding out loudly quite a bit while the tape was rolling. The video is being directed by Danishka Esterhazy whom I've worked with before. A great team of collaborators! I'm really looking forward to getting on with this.

Spent most of September editing the video. Here's a still photo from the final edit. It will be showing sometime in January 2007 at the Winnipeg Art Gallery as part of a collection of video/films grouped under the Blink of the Eye monicker. All these will spin at the Globe Cinema and the Town Cinema Eight as well! The video features the Night Kite as mentioned before in previous posts. I'll be doing more with the footage I shot too.



Most of the last few weeks after the video was delivered has been spent at the studio with a project being made for Plugin ICAs annual Fakes and Forgeries fundraiser auction. I'm building a small Andy Warhol machine in the style of Jean Tinguely which is really challenging my mechanical engineering and metal working skills. It's a lot of fun working on it. Pictures soon.

Back to the Peg

Ever be riding a bicycle quickly down a river path enjoying all that the river bank has to offer and hit a patch of thick sticky mud? That's how I've been feeling lately. Stuck in a slow motion mudpit pumping like crazy and looking forward to the other side of the pit hoping to make it before I fall over or have to stop and get off. I 've been looking for an apartment, something I've never had a problem with before... easy peasy ..no problem .. I thought as I rode through neighborhoods I liked and jotted down numbers to call. None of the agencies called me back when I left a message and a few of the caretakers didn't either. So I shouldered on and found a nice place which I made an application for right away as the For Rent sign had only been put out hours before I passed by, thinking I was done. Nope and nope... they rejected me saying I didn't make enough money at my current job at which point I pointed out that I had also wrote into the application that I was a self employed artist which meant that I made more than enough. I had to give them copies of my tax return, pay slips and copy of a current contract as support to prove it. But oh no... turns out self employed artists were not welcome. Even ones with solid references and a no past problems paying rent. They said I needed a co-signer.... or that I could pay 6 months of rent in advance, approx. 3000$. I guess they thought I would go away at that point. I said no problem, I'll pay the 6 months rent in advance. It was a nice enough apartment to fight for. They said ok but didn't sound convinced. Then 5 minutes later called back and said they could only hold the lease for 4 days. It was obvious I was being jerked around. I said that this was getting ridiculous, told them I didn't have the cash flow to give them that much at the moment but needed a little more time to get the money together. So it went. I spent the weekend in high anxiety. Why is it that artists have to claw their way to get some respect in this world? What were they going to do next? Am I going to have a confrontation at the landlords office? I got the money together on Monday and went down to sign the lease. No more hassles. I still don't feel right though.