Canada's Health Care

I'd like to first introduce this entry by saying it has nothing to do with the show. It will also not count towards the 8 remaining posts I'd like to have done by the end of the month. This may also be considered somewhat of a political post; I'd like to at least address that this is my personal perspective and shouldn't necessarily reflect that of any other individual.

I spent about an hour on youtube yesterday under the search string "town hall outburst". The town halls refer to the public meetings that the Obama Administration has organized in order to have a dialogue with the general public on the sweeping health care reforms. In a nutshell, the nation's health institution will become much more akin to Canada's. In these videos are not only clueless rednecks and selfish do-nothings, more importantly, there's a lot of misinformation being said about Canada's health care.

Shona Holmes, from Hamilton, Canada suffered from a brain tumor and wasn't receiving the treatment she felt she required. A trip to the Mayo clinic and $100, 000 later and she was all better. She seized the opportunity to gain media exposure, trashing her nation's health care in light of her experiences. There's absolutely nothing wrong with her feeling the way she does. She's obviously had a bad experience and it's no lie that a system that serves 31, 000, 000 citizens has a few flaws and horror stories.

I, Dustin Bell, from Shanty Bay, Canada, don't suffer from a brain tumor. I've never had any serious illnesses, but I have been to the hospital a few times for what I'll call... stupid things. Here's what the Canadian health institution has offered me; friendly and capable nurses; compassionate and professional doctors and a completely satisfying experience in which I've never, ever, felt that I didn't receive the care I required. I had to wait in the waiting room for a few hours. Wah. I wanted someone to call 9wahwah for a whambulance, but I had a feeling that would just lead to a big circle. I was drunk. The point is, as an average individual, I've never felt let down by the institution in any way. Never had my faith shaken. Confident that if I needed to go right now, this instant, to the hospital, I would be taken care of before sunrise. It depends on how many people have been cut by beer bottle class tonight. Oh yeah, did I mention it's FREE? Like go to the bar with $200.00, spend it all and wake up in the hospital without a bill FREE.

The biggest issue between the American and Canada health institutions isn't in its bureaucracy, or its market value or the degree of government administration - it's in its philosophy.

The Canadian government generally acts on altruistic and egalitarian principles. As a nation, we believe in the equal value of every human, regardless of their appearance or societal value, and we believe in helping those less privledged even at the cost of self-interest. Americans are generally comparable to utilitarianists, or ethical egoists. They believe in the greatest good for the greatest amount of people, or the pursuit of their own individual interests. Their health care system is modelled after those ideals.

There's obviously a lot of in-fighting going on because this isn't just a change in health care policy - it's a change in their philosophical ideals. Obama won on a platform that included introducing sweeping reforms into the way the nation simply - was. I don't think a lot of people actually anticipated that change requires change.

For what it's worth I do hope that the 47, 000, 000 that are currently without health care insurrance in America do become part of a system that demonstrates altruistic values. I also just thought it was important that I share my experiences with the Canadian health care system and hope it finds some way into American hands/eyes and provides some insight.

Thanks everyone for reading and I hope this encourages you to share your own experiences - they may become important in stopping the minority opinion becoming the major story on CNN.

The Table Read

Unfortunately the table read for Episode 3 has been pushed back again. I'd like to take a moment to talk about disappointments and taking them in stride.

I was informed that people were dropping out of the read last minute for reasons here and there. Furthermore, the venue was going to become increasingly difficult to get to - as a result of cottage traffic. I made the executive decision five days before the reading to cancel it. I'm not going to lie, this is one of the first instances of discouragement and disappointment I've had to deal with on this project. For about 24 hours, I didn't take it that well.

I guess the message I'd like to take away from this cancellation is that everything can't go my way. I haven't put a lot on the line for this project. It's been more or less my baby. I feed and nurture it - but I'm afraid to let other people hold it, see it, etc.. The more people who see it increases the chances of being told that my baby isn't special, isn't beautiful, isn't the best baby in the world. The point of this industry isn't to create something that will transcend those comments - it's to take those comments and either pass them off as unwarranted, or learn from them. Either way, I think this was a lesson in taking criticism and disappointment in stride - and I don't feel like I completely failed or went off the deep end. That being said - there's always room for improvement.

Since then I've thought about ways to make the next dinner even more enjoyable and appealable. I think scheduling the dinner close to the end of the summer was difficult for the academics in my social circle to accomodate; furthermore, it can be difficult to get out to Barrie/Oro - especially on the weekends with traffic. I also admit I wasn't as prepared as I'd like to be for the dinner itself. It was going to come together very last minute.

So what have I been up to since the cancellation? Not a lot unfortunately. I've been spending about 3-4 hours a day at Rogers TV working master control for the First Local News. This is a different experience than videography, and something I think I enjoy a little less than camera work. The switchboard is fun - something I think that will hold relevance in my future work. I've also been learning VTR (which is like a fancy 5-deck VCR, with more controls) and audio. I don't take the opportunities I should to learn more about audio (the soundboard, microphones, etc), because its probably the most relevant skill I'd need to work on for the show.

A few weeks ago I'd asked a friend, L.B. to complete a little assignment for me on Ontario/Canada arts and small business grants. She'd sent me the file last week and I'd wanted to thank her in person before I mentioned it here; but thank you very much again, L.B..

Though I feel like there's a lot of work I'd personally like to dedicate to the show, there are obviously things that fall into the specialized fields of other people, and I'll never be able to complete the work as efficiently as they can. As I move closer and closer to production on Episode 1, I begin to realize just how many other people are going to be involved on this project. I talk a lot about starting "my" production company. Though it'll be mine in the sense that I started it, I have to become more comfortable that the production of the pilot won't belong to just me. In keeping with the baby metaphor - it takes a family to raise a baby. So far, I'm just a single parent.

There are some goals this month I'd like to meet and maybe I can start nailing them down post-by-post. I'm still aiming to have eight more posts this month, bringing the total to a record-setting ten. I'd like to have a concrete vision for the rescheduled table read. I'd like to have episode 5 finished and the dilemma on 5 and 6 resolved. I'd like to have begun applying for grants. I'd like to have selected a crew that's available to work. I'd like to track down a cost-friendly solution to studio-space and sets. I'd like to increase my twitter profile and get myself more attention on that venue.

I think what I'd ultimately like to happen this month is to make the ultimate decision of whether SOUNDTRACK will be my full-time job, or my part-time hobby. So far I've been leaning towards the latter, but a project this big deserves more than a recreationalist. It deserves a professional.

I'd like to close off by thanking everyone so much for their continued support, both on the project and on this blog. Thank you everyone who was planning on attending the table read, but had to drop out for various reasons. I'm not so infallible that I'm without emotional reaction - but I truly understand that things can't always come up Dustin.

I hope everyone's enjoying the changes in weather, the rest of their week and the summer that's coming to a close.

The Watchmaker

It's already August 9th; the table read for Episode 3 is this coming Saturday and this week is all about getting that prepared.

I'll be reviewing the script tomorrow through Tuesday, getting final numbers for attendance and then getting prepared for the dinner itself later in the week. Believe it or not this is going to be a ... long week.

I've been filming a bit more for Rogers TV recently. Saw the Barrie Baycats beat Kitchener and move on to the Intercounty Baseball Semi-Finals. Also did a Celebrate the County shoot in Heritage Park. Apparently Barrie has a small Carribana festival, and a steele drum band was playing in the park. It's actually quite a nice area and depending on how the footage is edited, you might see one of the better-kept areas of Barrie. I believe it's on Saturdays at 5pm on Rogers TV, which is channels 10 and 53 on cable. Barrie OHL starts up soon too, and I think there would be something challenging about filming hockey, so I'm excited to be signing up for that. Plus, it gets me into every Barrie Colts home game this season.

I've been writing Episode 5 lately, and have been wrestling with the idea of combining Episodes 5 and 6 together. I'm not confidant that I have enough material to actually make a 45 page script for Episode 6, but I'm sure that overlapping the plots of both would come out to longer than 45 minutes. It's actually been quite the dilemma that hasn't exactly been resolved.

Episode 5 is coming along great so far. It's the first opportunity I've had to characterize Danielle 'Lidless' Parsons as a tragic villain. I had always intended to her to be ruthless, yet sympathetic. Furthermore, the 'plot' of the show has always been about her political machinations, which are revealed in Episode 5. Though it's fun to write, there's also some critical thinking that has to go into this script that isn't exactly present in its predecessors.

Been doing some local travelling lately; was up in the Blue Mountains last weekend and managed to catch the sunrise from a particularly nice view. Was also doing some very-local sight-seeing at the Lake Simcoe Regional Airport, located in Oro-Medonte. I mention these because I think there's a lot of potential in showing the natural resources of this area in the show. Though there's plenty of shows filmed in and around this area, very few shows take place here. I think it would be fun to try and incorporate the Blue Mountains into the narrative of the show somehow, maybe further down the line, just to have an excuse to go out and film there.

I had intended to have August be my big month for blogging, but in full compliance with the law of economics, as a recently laid-off individual, I enjoy spending money I don't have on things I don't need. This involves a lot of unproductive days. I'll do my best to get a full eight blogs out over the next 23 days and see if I can't make that goal of having August be the most productive month for the blog.

Think that's gonna wrap things up for tonight. Hope you all had good weekends despite the return of the wet weather.

Show Stuff and Thrice

I suppose it's been a little while since my last entry - but rest assured, the time has been spent productively.

Earlier this week, I sat down and crunched some numbers for production. It's going to cost me about $20, 000 to build the sets for Episode 1 and store them for a month. Three weeks will probably be dedicated towards construction alone, so I'll probably need the studio space for two months which brings it up to $25, 000.

I feel its a rather liberal number, but I researched market trends to give myself a fairly accurate estimate. To be honest that number also doesn't worry me. If I can pace prouction accordingly, I can budget costs based on when grants become available. The pilot has to be finished for June 2010 and I think that's absolutely doable at this point.

I was talking to a friend with a business degree, M.B., who's starting his own financial company in the next few weeks. We're going to talk later about how he can go about helping me start the production company - so I've found the only 'business consultant' I can afford. As boring as that paragraph sounds, it's actually very, very good news because I was admittedlty intimdated by this process as a whole. I realize that although I understand basic aspects of business, economics, etc., I am definitely not prepared to proceed into this alone. It pays to have good friends.

E.B. is writing Episode 4. He'll possibly be contributing a writing commentary when he's finished his work on the script. I hope it's going well for him, but there's not much more I can speak on about Episode 4, so you'll have to wait for E.B. on that one.

Meanwhile, I've also been writing Episode 5 - 'In Media Res'. This is perhaps going to be the funnest episode for me to write, because I haven't worked out a lot of the minutia of the plot so far. But I do find what I've already written has worked out very well and I'm happy with the spontaneity that I seem to be demonstrating in this particular script.

I'm by no means winging it - this has been the most important episode in the back of my head. This is the reveal of Lidless' intentions. Somewhat. I came up with my McGuffins today (a term referring to a plot piece created specifically to drive the plot forward), and I think it ties in perfectly with the world I've set up so far. I had never had a specific motivation for Lidless kidnapping Davis besides the obvious uses of his intellect - but a specific reason came into my head today that doesn't necessarily need to be revealed in the miniseries to still be satisfying.

This episode takes place almost entirely from the perspective of Eve's kidnappers and the people responsible for orhcestrating it. We see the levels of power that Lidless has influence in. We see the both the tenacity and consciences of her associates. Furthermore, the episode foreshadows a weakness in her precognitive abilities that won't be revealed until Episode 6's conclusion.

Though I try and keep the content Canadian on this blog, I'd like to talk about the latest Thrice album for a number of reasons.

Thrice is a foursome band from Irvine, California and broke onto the scene in 2001 with their debut album, Identity Crisis. They've managed to evolve their style from hard-rock to experimental and still maintain a devoted following. Their latest album, Beggars (2009) was recently leaked through a mishap over at Vagrant Records. The album leaked nearly three months early, and I'm sure was a devasting blow to not only the band, but the production team behind the album.

I'll be honest - I downloaded it and I'd like to give it a short review at the end, so if you're looking for that, scroll down.

Free downloading (I won't call it illegal because it is simply - not) has had a devasting impact on the CD industry. I say specifically the CD industry because I do believe the music industry as a whole is doing fine (recession considered). The point is, owning a CD has absolutely no physical value anymore. If I were to buy a CD, I'd only want it for the sentimental value it holds. I want 'that' CD. Adding incentives to purchase the CD that can't be provided through the internet is what will revive the recording industry - which is exactly what Thrice will be doing with their latest album.

The album will see a digital release on August 11th through iTunes, shifting from its original release date of October 13th. Their statement was somewhere along the lines of 'releasing a CD earlier than planned is easy, changing a marketing strategy isn't'. Thus the band is going to release the album with bonus extras that would not be available through the promotional leak on its intended release date.

I was going to buy the album anyway. Thrice is one of those bands that I liked to own the CD, I don't have many of those but I definitely have a sentimental attachment with actually owning those albums. Seeing it on a computer screen isn't enough for me. I probably won't even listen to the CD itself, but I just like to have it. The record industry will survive on that alone - it will just reform into a smaller market. Movies hated TV, Radio had cassettes - media changes - get over it. Go make money off your Blu-Ray concerts, Rock-Bands and Ring-Tunes - all products established well after the internet caused damage to falling record sales. Thank you for waiting until your money was at risk to get innovative.

The fact is, and I could expand on this for far too long, so I'll keep it short; the increasing availability of affordable recording equipment is ending the record industry - not the internet. Thrice recorded this album in the basement recording studio of guitarist, Teppei Teranishi, largely on instruments that they constructed by hand. There is no problem with the music industry, there is only a solution - it's called artist independence and its happening more every day.

But alas, the album - reviewed.

Though its hard to say where Thrice peaked so far, I think the last album I was genuinely enthusiastic about was Artist in the Ambulance (2003). Vhessiu (2004), and The Alchemy Indexes I-IV (2008) were excellent demonstrations of their talent for creating refined music - but it had lost that hard rock feel. They didn't have many 'rocking out' opportunities.

Thrice returns to their hard-rock roots with three albums' worth of melodic experimental music behind them - combining the two for one of the most innovative, yet solid rock albums of the 21st century. The shear talent this band represents is just ridiculous compared to other bands that are gaining exposure these days. This album brings some of the most elegant, industrial notes a guitar can produce and finds them in a home in a rock album that is as bar-setting as it is purely enjoyable.

Of note, the tracks, All the World is Mad, The Weight, Circles, At the Last, In Exile, Talking Through Glass and Beggars are worth checking out even if you're not familiar with the band. So check out Beggars (2009) and hopefully introduce yourself to a band that's continued to impress for nearly a decade.

Hope everyone had a good weekend, and that you enjoyed this monster of a post!

P.S. I met someone this weekend who thought Thrice would be a more appropriate boys name than Thrace. I've been put in a quandry.

The Ailing Music Industry

There are forces within the music industry that often complain that internet downloading is hurting sales of records. Though this may be true, there are also many more opportunities for musicians and their producers alike to make money in the era of new-media.

One such obvservation I've made is the release of several artist exclusive editions of Rock-Band and Guitar Hero. For instance, AC/DC, Aerosmith and The Beatles have all, or are in the process of releasing editions of the game that exclusively feature a track-listing by that artist. They must produce significant revenue, because they keep coming out.

If regular albums aren't selling anymore because of the internet - than the problem needs to be reassessed. The internet is here and it isn't going away. Thus, neither are free downloads. The solution is to offer an incentive to get the consumer to buy the product.

Bear with me here. Instead of Artist 'X' releasing their album with fifteen tracks onto a CD, or Vinyl - why not release it directly and exclusively into a Rock-Band or Guitar-Hero format?

The traditional business model for the music industry is broken - but the solutions are everywhere. A band releasing their new material exclusively to videogames would be at the very least, an unprecedented attempt to generate revenue, but also an interesting experiment in the increasing saturation of video-games into Western culture.

small tidbits

tidbit the first; f--- the emmys. f--- mad men. f--- everyone who thinks its a better-than-average show. f--- people who grew up in the 50s and think anything based on the 50s is the best thing ever. f--- them.

< rant >
sorry, but nominating one show for four out of a possible five writing nominations is just f---ing stupid. but you managed to do it in the same category for both drama and comedy! i hate the emmy's and am boycotting you for the rest of my life. I f---ing HATE THE EMMYS
< /rant >

tidbit the second; my first act of delegation as soundtrack's showrunner; EVAN BAWKS IS WRITING EPISODE IV! i thought it'd be fun to mix it up and see what someone else brings to the table so wish him luck.

tidbit the third; your absolutely 100% free moment-of-zen;



its not enough to live to survive - you have to survive to live.



busy weekend coming up but i'll see if i can't squeeze in a post at one point. hope you're all having a great week and got fun weekends ahead of yourselves :)

Dustin Takes You On a Tour of the Broken Social Scene

another music-themed post! i stumbled upon an awesome opportunity this past weekend to go see a free show put on by toronto's own broken social scene!

i don't know if you've ever heard of broken social scene, but if not, here's a quick rundown. broken social scene was formed in toronto in 1999 by kevin drew and brendan canning and rose to prominence in canada's independent music scene.

there's a word that gets thrown around a lot in the music biz, 'superband' or 'supergroup' which is, a musical group that was formed from members of previously successful music ventures. while broken social scene certainly includes talented members from previously successful bands including but not limited to; feist, metric, jason collett, amy milan, the new pornographers and stars, they have all found varying degress of success parallel with the scene itself. was broken social scene famous because of its talented musicians, or were the talented musicians famous because of broken social scene? a difficult relationship to analyze, but without a doubt the members of broken social scene are some of the greatest musical minds this country has to offer.

we arrived at the harbourfront centre in toronto's downtown 2 hours before showtime. we were also some of the last people to find seats! the stage had near-perfect placement near toronto's waterfront and had a perfect breeze blowing through it to cool down the otherwise hot day. after patiently waiting (by that i mean drinking 7$ heinekein tallboys) we were greeted by this:



i saw this song once performed on the tonight show with jay leno and i thought it was impressive then. what a GREAT song to demonstrate the musical abilities of this group. one of my favorite things about broken social scene is the fact its a near indie-rock orchestra. fire-eye'd-boy was a great way to remind us all of that.

this - is musical - bliss



7/4 shoreline is one of those few... a handful, maybe less than five, perfect songs. to see broken social scene in its entirety, including the wonderful leslie feist, perform this song was one of those few great earthly pleasures i'll ever get to enjoy.

as i said previously, broken social scene is home to acts such as feist and metric and you better believe they were both representing their non-bss success!





kevin drew also showed off some of his own solo stuff! like this absolute beauty that's been thrown around in circles under the title 'untitled 2' or 'MTV'. when it came on i was immediately entranced by the tune and wondered why i wasn't familiar with it (as a devoted broken social scener) - but as it turns out i was introduced to a new tune by an old favorite.



kevin drew himself called this their themesong! i have only this for commentary: "oh-oh-o-oh-o-o-o-ohhh-oh-oh-o-oh-o-o-o-ohhh-oh-oh-o-oh-o-o-o-ohhh-oh-oh-o-oh-o-o-o-ohhh"



the real reason i love broken social scene comes down to a few select words.

park that car.
drop that phone.
sleep on the floor.
dream about me.

it was a wonderful concert. the greatest thing about seeing a band like broken social scene is i think they genuinely want to be there as much as their audience. never before have i seen such comradery on the band's behalf. it looked more like a reunion between close friends than a band's first time on stage in its entirely in more than five years.

thank you broken social scene, if this ever reaches you, thank you. it takes a lot of brass to put on a free concert these days and you definitely know how to bring the goods.

i'd also like to thank the following youtube users for allowing me to link to their videos.

fcharlesuck, harbourfrontcentre and phantium