The ghost of Christmas presents…

Ah…Christmas!  I do enjoy Christmas.  I think I’ve mentioned before that i am a Christmas Nerd, and how much I really enjoy the season.  Well, except for malls.  At this time of year I hate them.  And so, once again, the year cycles around and we find ourselves in the festive season.

The only thing that would make this year better is…well, snow.  To be frank, I hate snow at any time of the year except this one.  If I had my way, we would have snow in December, and it would be gone a week into January.  But in December, there’s nothing like white fluffy snow, covering the ground.  Especially at night, with the Christmas lights on the houses reflecting on the snow.

And right now, in Toronto, we have rain.  However, if I look out the window at work (which is where I am right now), and I squint…it almost looks like snow.  But then, I go outside and..bleh.  Its not snow.

Ah well.  Its no the first Green Christmas we’ve had.  And sadly, its not going to be the last.

I do have a couple of Christmas rituals.  The ones that are pretty much required are for Christmas eve. I have to watch a Christmas Carol.  Only the black and white version with Alistair Sim will do.  And if possible, a Charlie Brown Christmas.  I could never rely on tv to provide these, so I purchased both, so that I can have a “proper” Christmas Eve.

But the best part about Christmas for me, is the presents.  Not receiving presents.  Giving them.  I give presents because I like to give presents.  I don’t give presents because I expect a present in return.  I give a present because I like you.  I give a present because I just want to say thanks for being a friend.

Sometimes, I think we often get caught up with feeling that gift giving needs to be reciprocal.  That we have to exchange gifts as sort of a quid pro quo arrangement: I give you something, you give me something.  But I think that gift giving is much better when we don’t have to give something, but choose to.  Think how much better off we’d all be at this time of year, if we weren’t giving gifts becasue we had to. Or because it was expected.  But instead…just because we wanted to.

I remember, a few years back, living with some room-mates who were not financially well off.  They got by, but they weren’t going to be doing anything for Christmas, and certainly were not going to be buying presents for anyone.  And they weren’t going to be receiving any.  That didn’t sit right with me, so I bought them presents.  They had told me not to, but I didn’t listen.  Because they were my friends.  And…I like giving presents.

I wish I could give presents to all my friends.  I’m not rich, so I can’t.  There are some people who get presents from me every year.  And there are some who get some from me on a sort of random, rotating basis.  Maybe if I win the lottery tonight, that will change and all my friends will be receiving and ipod or something.  But since that’s not likely, I’ll be getting presents for the “regulars” and for a few select people.

Whether you are one of the folks I have a gift for this year, or not: I wish you and yours the very best of the season. Merry Christmas.

Danger Internet, Danger!

According to BoingBoing, an Australian court has ruled that it is illegal to link to copyrighted material. According to this ruling, if I was to link to copyrighted material, say on YouTube, I’ve committed a crime.

Did you see what I did just there? Yeah, I linked to copyrighted material on YouTube.

Fortunately, that ruling only applies to Australia, but I do have some fear that it does not bode well for the internets at large. After all, the net was built on links. Without links, there would be no Google.

Hopefully this stays in Australia, but with the increase in the power given to the “fake copyright lobby”, I’m afraid it won’t be.

The “fake copyright lobby” are those bulldogs who try to make copyright law more powerful than it is. The copyright laws that are currently on the books were intended to prevent one publisher (for example) from printing material that was owned by another. It was never intended to be used against the individuals.

In the parlance of the internet, linking to something is the equivalent of saying “this is cool”. Why can’t the “fake copyright lobby” see that linking to something isn’t a challenge to their copyright? Its a compliment. Its no different from (as I said above) saying ‘this is cool, you should check it out’.

Actually, I think the “fake copyright lobby” knows this. What’s happening is that its a money grab. Its an attempt by corporations to solidify a hold on information and content. To control, as much as possible, the information that’s “out there”. There’s a small group of consultants, who are convincing the corporations about the benefits of doing so (and these consultants are making a lot of money).

I have an idea. Its a little radical, but maybe it might work: stop treating consumers like potential theives. Encourage their enthusiasm about the work your company and your artists create. If they are enthusiastic, cultvate this enthusiasm. Don’t punish them for loving your work.

I know its crazy (according to the current conventional wisdom), but it just might work.

New podcast. New location.

I mentioned previously that I was going to move the podcast over to PhilRickaby.com. Today, I was fooling around with some text and then decided to record a speech from Richard II, and put it on the podcast. You can find that here. If you want to subscribe to this infrequent podcast, use the following feedburner URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/philrickaby

That is all.

Away from one, on to another

I’m stepping away from the play I was writing.  I’ve known for a while that there are problems with it, but I was trying to fight through just to get to the end.  Re-reading what I had written so far, I have come to realize that the problems I knew of were more serious than originally thought, and I have to do some real re-working of it before I can go any further, otherwise I may damage the entire thing irreparably.  I know what the main problems are: I’ve focussed too much onthe idea and not enough on the characters.  As a result, the characters are saying a lot, but they aren’t really saying anything.  As well, one of the central characters lacks any arc at all.

Fortunately, since there’s no deadline for this piece, no harm is done by stopping and moving on to something else while I work out the problems.

The something else, is a different play, in a style I’ve always wanted to explore: the one actor play.  This is something I have always wanted to explore, thanks to the works of Daniel MacIvor.  Whereas in the past, when I have thought about writing a one-hander, I’ve always considered writing for myself, with this, I’ve decided to start differently and write for someone else.  I’m still working out the themes and the specifics of the character arc, but I’ve already got something solid.

Side note: someone remind me to buy a lottery ticket for Friday.  Yes, I know that the odds are stupidly against the chances of winning, but…hey.  What if, right?

Neat Flickr seasonal easter egg

Thanks to BoingBoing, here’s a neat seasonal easter egg.  Go to any picture.  Add a note to your photo.  Type: ho ho ho hat

It will add a santa hat to the picture.

If you type: ho ho ho beard

It will add a santa beard.

Fun fun.

I’m a Sap, Moving the Podcast, and some rambling

I am a sap.  Specifically (and especially) where movies and television are concerned.  I am pretty much the “target audience”.  When the appropriate moment comes, I am choked up and trying not to show that they “got me” and am tearing up.  I’ve always been that way, as long as I can remember.  In fact, I can remember exactly the first time it happened: I was a young boy, watching the animated version of Charlotte’s Web on tv, and at the end, I wondered why my throat was sore and it was pointed out that this is what happens when you try not to cry…and indeed, I was trying not to cry.  Since then, I cry pretty much whenever the movie-makers tell me too.  In Fellowship of the Ring, when Sam gets pulled out of the water, and says “I made a promise, Mr Frodo. A promise. ‘Don’t you leave him Samwise Gamgee.’ And I don’t mean to. I don’t mean to”, I’m trying not to tear up.   In the Battlestar Galactica episode Flight of the Phoenix (among others), when the crew dedicates the viper to Laura, I’m choked up.  In Superman Returns, when Supe is talking to the Lois’ son at the end of the movie, I’m choked up.

The point?  I’m not making one.  Except to say, that I’m the perfect audience, I guess.

In other news, I think I’m going to move the podcast from here to PhilRickaby.com.  It seems to me that since the podcast is more of an acting focused thing, rather than a general thing, that its better suited to being there.  Of course, I reserve the right to change my mind (especially if I find out that I can’t get it working there).  I’ll update here if it moves so that those who are interested can find it.

Other than that, Christmas is approaching, and I still have a significant amount of shopping to do.  However, on the upside, since I don’t start working till 4pm, that does give me the opportunity to shop during the day and avoid much of the unpleasantness of Christmas shopping.  I actually do enjoy shopping for Christmas.  For me, that’s what the holiday is about. Giving presents.  Of course, its always nice to receive presents.  But, for the most part, I prefer giving.  So, even though I get told not to get presents, I usually do.  I don’t go overboard and give something hugely expensive (i can’t afford that), but I do like to give something at Christmas.  Because to me, that’s what the season is about.  Giving.  Not receiving.  Its not about the commercialism.  Its about friends, and giving, and family (whether your biological family or the family you make), and its about love.

Yes.  My name is Phil.  And I am a Christmas nerd.

Oooh…Shiny

Well, looky what I got in the mail today!

Yes, that’s right.  My copy of my friend Jim Zubkavich’s book The Makeshift Miracle.  I’ve been looking forward to getting a copy of this since Jim announced that it was being released.  I’ve long been a fan of Jim’s work, and I’d seen the comic online (the story was originally told in web comic form, with each “page” coming a different week), but you do lose a bit with web-safe artwork.  The artwork is so much more vibrant on the page.  And its really great to be able to hold it in my hands and read it. 

I read it through again as soon as I got it, and the story was just as sweet and heart-warming and imaginative as I remembered.

Thanks Jim, for the great story, and all the work you did getting this book ready for print.

Nerd!

This is nerd stuff, and probably unimportant to most people. 

I have two main sites.  I have my blog at Grinningskull.com and my “professional site” at PhilRickaby.com.  Both of them have extremely different designs right now.  I’d like to have them compliment each other.  When I look at the sites, GrinningSkull has the more striking design, so I’ve decided that I’d like to make PhilRickaby.com look more like GrinningSkull.

Here’s the catch though (and where the nerd-speak starts, for those of you looking to tune out): both sites use different Content Management Systems.  GS uses Wordpress while PR uses Joomla.  Wordpress and Joomla use very different templating systems, so its not like you can just take one template and slap it into another.  Its a matter of having to take the one template apart, and then put it back together again as a template for the new CMS.

It can be pretty headache inducing.

And of course, that’s exactly what I’m doing right now.  Or trying to do.

For those of you keeping track, yes this does mean that I am not writing at the moment.  The play sits waiting for me to return to it.  This is another project - and yes…its procrastination.  I’m very good at making procrastination look productive.  But I promise I’ll get back to writing soonish.  I have to.  The characters in the play keep popping into my head demanding some attention. 

Un-productivity!

Today I called in sick.  I wish I could say that the reason for this was that I was so fired up with things to write and a fire to do so that I just couldn’t take time away from it. 

Sadly, that was not the case.  I was actually sick.  Yesterday I had a cold-like cough, and today that continued along with the requisite cotton around the brain-stem.  So, I called in sick, and took some Nyquil.

After the Nyquil Coma ended, I was too groggy to do any writing.  The cold-induced cotton had been replaced with sleep-induced cotton, and I just couldn’t focus on writing.

And so, I lay in bed some more.  Then I got up and played some video games. 

Hopefully tomorrow, I will be able to do some writing before work.  This illness thing really saps the creativity out of the whole body!

A must-read for Actors

A while ago, I purchased this book:  The Actor’s Field Guide: Acting Notes on the Run.  It is by far, one of the most helpful books I’ve picked up in ages.  The book is designed so that you can either read it cover-to-cover, or carry it with you and just let it fall open when you need a helpful thought.  Its got great things to say about everything, from auditioning, to acting with a partner, to rehearsals, to dealing with the audience, to the business itself.  Everything in the book makes perfect sense, and for the most part, its all common sense.  But, sometimes, actors forget these things, and its always good to have the reminder.  These are the kind of things that you read, smack your head and just say “of course!”.

I’ve been carrying the book with me for the last week, and every so often I open the book, and read one of the things it says, and every time, I think to myself “that’s something to file away for future reference”.

I highly recommend the book for any actor.