What’s this on my arm? Aw nothin. Just a scratch. *cough* *cough* Really, I’m fine.

The last two weeks have been pretty crazy. Back to work in a studio cubical and also attended the Vancouver International Film Festival.

I started everything off with Monsters, and ended if off with the beautiful, French, somewhat depressing The Illusionist. In total I saw 28 films.

1. Monsters
2. Waste Land (trash is art!)
3. Cold Fish (violently disturbing)
4. R U There? (yes, I am… I’m just sleeping)
5. An Ecology of Mind (documentary on the amazing system theories of Gregory Bateson)
6. Crossing the Mountain (…zzzZZZ)
7. David Wants to Fly (documentary on David Lynch and his association w/ Transcendental Meditation)
8. Tree (needed a dose of good drama)
9. Philosophies of Life (short film collection that I didn’t have the patience to finish)
10. Turn It Loose (breakdancing!)
11. 13 Assassins (live action version Ninja Scroll?)
12. Secrets of the Tribe (anthropologists decimating each other’s reputations)
13. Drummer’s Dream (luckily they were selling copies on DVD at the door)
14. The Man from Nowhere (South Korean action flick w/ a Korean version of Keanu Reeves)
15. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (still trying to “get it”, but the ghost monkeys were sweet)
16. Nénette (I ♥ orangutans)
17. Guido Superstar (love them poop gags)
18. Into Eternity (now one of my fav documentaries)
19. Cell 211 (violently beautiful)
20. Rubber (the killer tire could be a cult classic)
21. Schooling the World: The White Man’s Last Burden (spreading the gospel without thinking of the consequences)
22. Aftershock (wicked earthquake scene followed by Hollywood inspired drama)
23. Cities on Speed (documentaries where the titles say it all, “Bogotá Change” & “Mumbai Disconnected”)
24. When the Devil Knocks (documentary on a woman with multiple personalities)
25. Armadillo (Danish film on the Afgan war)
26. The Repeaters (Groundhog day with 3 addicts)
27. Plug & Pray (I ♥ Joseph Weizenbaum)
28. The Illusionist (French animation from creators of Triplets of Bellville

How to Survive?

1) Bring a water bottle & snacks. You will be downtown all day long, surrounded by Starbucks, McDonalds and $2 pizza slices. Considering you’ll be sitting on your butt all day long, just how much torture do you want your body to endure?

2) Sharpie for the marking up of your schedule.

3) Learn to live without your phone for a few hours. I was amazed at how insistent the staff were in having the audience turn off their phones. I was even more amazed at how difficult it was for us to follow this suggestion. I must say, I only pulled out my phone a couple times to quickly check the time. I swear!

4) Networking. In line I met tons of people that made me regret not having a business card, though we all had smartphones so the problem was easily solved. meeting people in line was also a great way to get suggestions on films. If it wasn’t for the texts from my new friend Michael, I would have missed 13 Assassins, and that would have been tragic.

Speaking of “meeting people”, I finally met my doppelganger. According to Michael Hayward, there may be potential for me playing a younger version of Wallace Shawn (Princess Bride) in his autobiographical documentary.

Don’t forget to click the spots to see photos of the actual billboards & if anyone spots any more billboards, please let us know!

View Cecilia’s Olympic Billboards in a larger map

Also, Cecilia also recently appeared in the newspaper of her hometown, Halmstad, Sweden.

Cecilia and I went to The Whip for Jenn Brisson‘s art gallery showing.  As always, the walls were covered with dreamy/freaky characters. I couldn’t resist getting one to take home! I bought the red puppeteer in the middle.

The bus ride home was comfy. We both looked forward to catching up on sleep.  However, once home I realized that I forgot to pay my bill!!  I decided to take advantage of the non-rainy day we are having and rode my bike back to The Whip.

I stepped inside for less than 10 minutes, paying my bill and saying quick hellos to those that missed during my first visit.  I came back outside to see that my unlocked bike was taken advantage of.  No, it was just taken.

This is the second bike I’ve had stolen.  First bike was my mountain bike which I managed to track down (thief posted it on CraigsList.org ROFL).  My mountain bike sits in the garage and I primarily use a “beater” bike that I picked up for about $100.

My mountain bike was locked up, but I left my beater sitting there because I thought I would be in/out. Jeremy just stopping in somewhere quickly?  Hah… HAH!  Idiot.

Alone for 10 minutes.  Gah.

=================

Lil puppeteer trivia for ya. You know the plant in Little Shop of Horrors? Ever wonder how the lip sync of the plant looked so great?  I just found out that they would film the plant talking and singing in slow motion, 12 frames a second.  Later they speed up the film to 24 frames a second to return it to normal speed.  More info on Fast-Rewind.

Today was a pleasant day at the studio, working on different things and doing my best to kill two birds with one stone.  After I got home, I played around with Linux and Houdini a bit, then snagged all the pics from my trip to Michigan (of which I’ll have to talk more of later).

Finally, here’s a comforting pic that Cecilia took a few months back when Travis and Vic were visiting us in Van.

Here are the tax rates in BC:

Tax rates for British Columbia (this is for the income that you earn at your job or take as a T4 from your company if you own one):

• $0 – $35,716                    5.06%
• $35,717 – $71,433            7.70%
• $71,434 – $82,014            10.50%
• $82,015 – $99,588            12.29%
• $99,589 and over              14.70%

Here are the tax rates for the federal government: 

Tax rates for the Federal Government (this is for the income that you earn at your job or take as a T4 from your company if you own one):

• $0 – $40,726                    15%
• $40,727 – $81,452            22%
• $81,453 – $126,263          26%
• $126,264 and over            29%

RRSP Contribution Limits – 18% of previous year’s income to a maximum of:

• 2009 – $21,000
• 2010 – $22,000
• 2011 & beyond – indexed to average wage growth

2009 Top Marginal Tax Rates (federal & provincial rates combined in BC). This would be income that is above your salary (such as dividends received from stocks or interest from a GIC):

• Interest/Foreign dividends – 43.7% (GIC’s, Term deposits, Stocks from stock markets outside of Canada)
• Eligible Dividends – 19.9% (Stocks from Canadian stock market)
• Ineligible Dividends – 32.7%
• Capital Gains – 21.9% (Sale of a investment property, sale from a stock or mutual fund)

First step is to get myself a BC drivers license.  Which means a little study of the local driving rules n regulations.

Coworker recommend a local ride share organization that is a $500 deposit (that you get back if you leave) and $2.50 per each hour that you borrow a vehicle.  This would mean more trips to big box stores and IKEA.  heh…  oh no.  You can borrow anything from Cooper Minis to moving vans.