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.