As you can see from the video above, I’ve done a complete, one-hundred-percent turnaround with regard to Apple. I know there’s at least one internet friend out there who is going to seriously take me to task for this, and there may be others as well, but all I can say is… what’s done is done.

I can’t fight it anymore. Mac has what I need, and I’ve gone and gotten it.

It’s going to make my creative life one helluva lot easier, and I’m going to be able to do some serious editing when I finally capture the footage I need for my documentary. Yeah, the one I’ve been saying I’m going to make for at least a couple of years now. The one about my father, music, and André Gagnon.

The documentary is moving closer and closer to becoming reality. All the signs are pointing to it coming together within the next few months. I have my new camera, which takes HD video, and now I have a kick-ass video editing tool.

It all bodes well. Now I just have to organize a road trip to the wilds of Québec and start a-shootin’.

It will happen.

Mark my words.

Let’s keep it real out there.

–First off, how would you describe yourself?

I would describe myself as a pretty happy person, someone who enjoys the adventures of life and who is genuinely interested in knowing what brings other people joy. I much prefer diving into an authentic conversation with someone and getting to the “real” stuff without too many of the usual pleasantries getting in the way. I laugh at myself easily and frequently—a good belly laugh goes a long way, and I’m a firm believer that laughter truly is the best medicine.

I am very sensitive to the emotions and energies of others, and yes, I sometimes get verklempt at a mere TV commercial, but let’s blame that on the hormones, shall we? I am fair to a fault sometimes (it’s the Libra scales!) and a good listener, though I do my fair share of talking too… some of it, admittedly, to myself. I’m starting to feel like I’m answering a questionnaire for a dating service, so I’m going to move on to the next question…

–How has creativity come to play such an important role in your life?

I spent a good portion of my childhood in my imagination, so that’s probably where it all started in the caverns of my wacky mind. Then I found out I had a singing voice and became involved in school concerts and musicals, but that’s a whole other story. Suffice to say if I am not doing something creative, I am stifled, I am stuck, I am stagnant.… all of the “s” words. Of course, I don’t always clue into that until I start to get stuck, stifled, or stagnant, but it usually doesn’t take too long for me to figure it out and do something to get back on track.

There are so many ways to be creative, and for me, because I am easily overwhelmed by the amount and range of inspiration I receive, it can become a balancing act (there are those Libra scales again). But when I finally get out of my way and choose something to actually do instead of being a deer in the headlights, it’s reallllly rewarding and leads to much better flow in all areas of my life. Easy to say, not so easy to consistently follow through with, but that’s all part of the game, yes?

–You have a number of areas in which you create: Singing, acting, painting, making videos. And I may be missing some. How do all these facets work together in your creative life?

I think of it like a wheel of fortune in my mind (minus the big money prizes from TV) with a different creative project on each of the spokes, and on any given day, I have no idea where the wheel will land in my mind, but I kind of like to go with what I actually “feel” like doing as opposed to what I think I “should” do. My brain works visually—I see ideas for stage plays, commercials, I see color and light and design and paint and fabric, and all things that are aesthetically pleasing catch my eye. I am also greatly affected by music and have a strong connection to the cosmic consciousness—or whatever you’d like to call it—through singing. It is an indescribable feeling for me when I can express myself vocally, and I don’t necessarily mean in front of an audience, though that can be pretty powerful and amazing too. I am most joyful when I’m at home, by myself and singing at the top of my lungs to whatever song I’m drawn to that particular day. I hear music that I attempt to capture by various means; I hear words that turn into poems and songs; sometimes I’m compelled to pick up a paintbrush and do something with color, and many times these things can happen simultaneously… did I mention I’m sometimes overwhelmed?

–Part of my reason for starting this project stems from my belief that creativity is inextricably tied in with respect, freedom, and peace. Artists seem have an understanding of these things that can be somewhat lacking elsewhere. Can I get some thoughts from you on that?

I think the reason artists have an understanding of these things is because of their connection to that creative power—they are more at peace with themselves and have no need for the drama that goes on around them. For me, I think there needs to be more respect for the expression itself and not so much focus and judgement on whether something is deemed “good” or “bad”. Freedom of expression, yes, but I think it’s more important to acknowledge the act of creating—going from thought to action. It’s easy to get stuck in limbo there, even more so if you think you’re going to be judged negatively before you’ve even put the paint to the canvas or the pen to the paper. That’s why painting like a kid is so great—you can give yourself permission to not be perfect, and that can be a wonderful thing. I have no idea if that even remotely answered your question, but there you have it…

–It seems that governments are paying less and less attention to the arts these days. What’s your take on this issue?

My take on this would be a double take. Seriously. It’s sad but true; the very things that move us, bond us, and inspire us are being slowly stripped away because of budget cuts and ignorance. Sometimes I feel like we’re all part of an iceberg that is slowly melting away, and we’ll be swimming with the polar bears looking for a place to perform if we can’t wake people up to the reality of our dissolving culture. I don’t know about you, but I’m not a big fan of cold water so would rather find another way… will have to get back to you on what exactly that is, but I’m working on it in my own way.

–I’ve heard it said that that the best way to read a culture is to look at its art. What do you suppose future archeologists might surmise about our society?

Yikes—that’s a tough one. I don’t know how qualified I am to answer that, considering I’m a bit of a hermit and may not be “up” on all that’s going on around me artistically, but I’d like to think that regardless of the era, there are still connections being made to people from the art that is being created—that’s what it’s all about, yes? If it’s not affecting anyone, including the artist who is doing it to begin with, we’re in serious trouble. I don’t think that’s the case, though—I believe people are expressing themselves in so many ways that future archeologists can’t help but see we are a society that is thirsty for expression. I think the fact that it is becoming more financially difficult for many to do that only increases the desire and passion to put something out there that will be our own “mark” within our communities and perhaps (hopefully) the world.

–In your experience, is technology really helping us as much as the pundits tell us it is? Or is everything just moving too fast nowadays?

I think technology can be very helpful in that it opens other creative doors in the world of computer graphics and recording, but it can also be detrimental in that we may sometimes be relying too much on the ideas and options within certain programs as opposed to using our own imagination or tapping into that creative place to see what inspirations await us. We can definitely get more done, and at a faster pace, but there is something to be said for the slow, steady flow of ideas that is born naturally and not prompted by the tools of the trade that do the thinking for us sometimes.

–Finally, to end on as big a question as I started with, what’s your guiding philosophy?

I’m no Buddha, but I’m convinced if there are too many obstacles, it’s time to look for an alternate route. Oh, if only I’d realized that much sooner in life, I would have saved myself a great deal of angst, but where’s the fun in that? We get an idea in our heads and charge forward without thinking of whether or not it’s going to further us on our journey—then when we get frustrated with the obstacles we encounter, we sometimes forget to ask ourselves why we were doing it to begin with. Oy vey.

Yes, at times we’re being tested to see if we’re truly doing what we’re meant to be doing, but other times, it’s a giant wake-up call to ask ourselves what the heck it is that we want to be doing. Just because you’ve received an inspiration for something doesn’t necessarily mean you always have to act on it—I have scribblers full of ideas I’ve received (which will one day go into a book) but if I dropped everything and tried to make them all happen I’d lose my mind I’m sure. So, if I’m feeling reallllly passionate about a project and it keeps repeating like a rinse cycle in my head, I take that as my cue to do something about it and trust that if it’s meant to be and I stay in the joy of it, I’ll eventually get there.

It’s been said a gazillion times before but “go with the flow” really sums up my guiding philosophy—I always try to trust my emotions to guide me through whatever roller coaster ride I’m on, and they’re almost always right… right?

Margot’s latest CD, a collaboration with guitarist Georges Hebert, is entitled Testing the Waters. You can purchase a copy online at her website.

And here’s a video Margot did as an entry in the Cheetah Power Surge TV Commercial Challenge. Did I mention she’s talented and creative?

The HP Photosmart M437

Thankfullly, most of them came out pretty well. Well enough that I felt inspired to post them on my blog. I received some nice comments from readers (including a photographer friend of mine, whom I deeply respect and whom I am interviewing for this blog’s Voices of Reason Project… no, the project is not forgotten… it is still in progress), and I got to thinking how nice it would be to get back into photography again. Time was, many years back, that I worked at the camera counter of a department store and learned quite a bit about photography from the experience. I took some fairly experimental pictures back in those days, and my Lawrencetown adventure stirred in me that old familiar longing to get out and start a-shootin’.

The Yashica FX-2

But dammit, I wanted a viewfinder. The little HP Photosmart takes nice pictures and all, but I wanted something with a bit more chutzpah, something a bit more flexible. I still have the old Yashica FX-2 SLR (which I like to brag is “fully manual”) that I got in 1976 or 1977, not long after it came out, but having become accustomed to taking digital photos, I was loath to go back to the hit-and-miss-and-wait world of film photography.

So I started doing my research. I originally wanted to get a digital SLR, but they’re fairly pricey and generally require multiple lenses for any kind of focal length variety, so I started looking at higher-end point-and-shoot models, of which there are a fair number.

The Canon Powershot SX20 IS

My research led me to the Canon Powershot SX20 IS, which is a mouthful to say, but mouthwatering in terms of the sheer number of features it possesses. It’s one helluva camera, and I’m tickled to finally own one. I bought it three days ago, and I’m absolutely staggered by the number of shooting modes it has and the number of parameters you can change in each of those shooting modes. It’s a little mind-boggling, to be honest, and I’ve only scratched the surface thus far.

The main features that appealed to me were threefold: 1) It has a viewfinder, 2) it has an incredible 20-times zoom (that’s optical zoom, without digital assistance), and 3) it takes High-Def video with stereo sound.

Those features alone would probably have been enough to sell me on the camera, but there is much, much more. First off, it shoots at 12.1 megapixels, has a fold-out 2.5-inch LCD display that will turn to just about any angle you might need, and sports a built-in flash that you can fold down when you’re not using it. You can also hook the camera up to your TV with either a video cable (supplied) or an HD cable to show off your video clips or run a slideshow.

It’s pretty freakin’ amazing.

Okay, so the viewfinder is no great shakes. It’s a video viewfinder, not an optical one, so the detail is not nearly as sharp as in the LCD display. But it’s a viewfinder; it let’s me compose shots in bright sunlight when the display is washed out. Most of the time I’ll be using the diplay, but when I need the viewfinder, it’s there. End of story.

The number of shooting modes the SX20 IS offers is nothing short of staggering. I’ve been shooting mostly in “Auto” mode, just while I become familiar with the camera, but it has “Portrait” mode, “Landscape” mode, “Night Snapshot” mode, “Sports” mode (which allows you to take multiple continuous shots of a moving subject), and “Scene” mode (which itself has a mind-boggling array of sub-modes). Not to mention “Movie” mode.

For the purposes of this blog post, I’m going to focus (haha) on a couple of modes that I find particularly interesting: specifically “Sunset” mode and “Color Accent” mode, both of which are sub-modes of “Scene” mode.

“Sunset” mode basically enhances the reds and oranges in the shot. It’s the perfect mode for sunsets, because, well, when you’re looking at a sunset, you want to see deep reds and oranges. Yes, it’s a cheat, but the results can be dramatic. The shots I’m including here were taken earlier this evening, and despite the fact that they were taken only a few seconds apart, the colors of the sky are much more dramatic in the second image, which was taken in “Sunset” mode.

Sunset, taken in Auto mode

Sunset, taken in Sunset mode

Another mode I find intriguing is “Color Accent” mode. Now, this is not something most people would use all that frequently, but it’s a cool effect, and it makes certain types of shots really interesting. Basically what it does is allow you to pick a color somewhere in the scene and turn everything that’s not that color to black and white. It always makes me think of the scenes in Schindler’s List where the little girl’s coat is bright red in an otherwise completely black-and-white motion picture. Again, I’m including some sample shots that I took earlier, where I chose the red of the couch, and everything that does not have that red in it is rendered as black and white.

Living Room, taken in Auto mode

Living Room, taken in Color Accent mode

One final feature that I’d like to touch on is “Macro” mode. This is not a shooting mode or a sub-mode of “Scene” mode, but rather a focusing mode that’s available in some of the shooting modes. It doesn’t work in “Auto” mode, “Landscape” mode, or any of the submodes of “Scene” mode that assume you’re taking a wide shot. But when it’s available, it allows you to move the camera extremely close to the subject. There are two macro settings: “Macro” and “Super-Macro”. “Macro”, according to the manual, allows you to move as close to your subject as 50cm all the way down to 10cm with the lens at maximum wide angle. In reality, it allows you to move in much closer than that. “Super Macro” allows you to move in closer still, from 10cm right down to 0cm. At 0cm, the lens is actually touching the subject, and it still gives you sharp focus.

Penny, taken with Macro focusing

Penny, taken with Super-Macro focusing. You can even see the dust.

In reality, you can only get so close to your subject without the camera casting a shadow across it. In the right lighting conditions, however, this feature could work phenomenally well.

I’ve only scratched the surface here, but suffice it to say that the Canon Powershot SX20 IS is one incredible piece of gear, and one that I’m going to be exploring as fully as possible as I reacquaint myself with the wonders of photography.

I’m even tempted to start a separate photo blog. We’ll see…

Let’s keep it real out there.

Here goes…

Paddytum, by Tricia Heighway

Every once in a while, you read a book that just sits entirely right in your brain. It fits, it’s comfortable, it makes itself at home and weaves its way into your psyche. Paddytum, the début novel by Tricia Heighway, is just such a book. I finished reading it last evening, and I was sorry it had ended. It was a sheer and utter delight.

Paddytum is the story of man who is rudely awakened from his dreary existence by his stuffed bear, who tells him in no uncertain terms that he’s wasting his life and had better shape up if he doesn’t want to end up a corpse before he’s even dead. More than that I’ll not tell you, as the rest of the book is as whimsical and engaging as the premise. It’s also touching, heartfelt, silly at times, and incredibly funny. Oh, and there’s that supernatural stuff, too. Not to mention a mystery.

I have the great good fortune to know Tricia Heighway. She and I both joined the Protagonize.com community fairly early in its evolution, and we, along with a fair-to-decent number of other writers, all jumped in and helped each other hone our craft. Paddytum began its existence as a story on Protagonize, and everyone who read those first eight chapters clamored for more. We all wanted to know what was going to happen.

Well, we now know. The feedback was plentiful and positive enough that Tricia (or Trish, as we lot calls ‘er) decided to take the next step and turn Paddytum into a novel. Unfortunately, she had to remove the story from Protagonize to do it properly; fortunately, I now have a copy of it here by my desk.

Tricia lives in England with her husband, daughter, son, cat, and gerbils. Paddytum is printed by Hirst Publishing and is available to order from their website.

Voices of Reason

The Voices of Reason Project is nearing an auspcious beginning. A rather hectic couple of weeks has kept me from doing as much work on it as I would have liked, but I’m getting back on track. As a matter of fact, I have my first two interviewees roped in.

Yes, you read it right. Two interviewees. I had two creative friends in mind from the very beginning, and when it came right down to it, I simply couldn’t choose between them. So I asked them both. And they both accepted my invitation. So, I shall be writing up some interview questions and emailing them off shortly. I’d like to build a bit of momentum here.

There’s a kind-of-funny story involved with this preliminary activity. You see, even through all my thinking, pondering, reflecting, and finally emailing, it didn’t strike me until earlier today that my two interviewees, while not related, have the same surname. I don’t even know if they know each other. It’s a bizarre coincidence, and my mind reeled a little bit when I the realization hit me.

So, be on the lookout for interviews with singer/actor/comedian Margot Sampson and photographer Patricia Sampson. They’re two highly creative gals that I’m sure will have a few things to say about their processes and about how creativity works in their worlds.

I’m looking forward to it.

My Little Ubuntu of Joy

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I removed Windows XP from my home computer and have installed Ubuntu. My website was hacked twice, and, despite running virus checkers and malware checkers on my system and finding nothing wrong, I still couldn’t shake the feeling that it was something sinister running on Windows XP that was providing my FTP password to someone, out there, somewhere.

So I decided to install Ubuntu, which is a flavor of the Linux operating system. Not only is Linux run on a significantly smaller percentage of home computers out there; it is also safer by its very nature than Windows XP. Basically, you have to explicitly allow a program to run on your system before it can do its thing. Windows XP is a much more open, trusting system. And it’s everywhere, which makes it the juiciest target for virus and malware creators.

So far, the transition to Ubuntu has been fairly smooth. Getting my wireless network connection working was a bit of a hassle, but beyond that, things are working well. I’ve had to replace some of my trusty old Windows programs with Linux equivalents, and installing things is not quite as straightforward as it is on Windows XP, but I’m an experienced computer user, and running some programs using a command line window doesn’t bother me at all. As a matter of fact, if I have to do a little bit of digging to find out how to get something to work, I find it a bit of a challenge, and getting a new program to run is all the more satisfying when you’ve had to do a bit of research first.

Also, if I’m really stuck, and there’s no Linux software that works like an essential Windows program, I can run the actual Windows software (most of the time) using the Wine emulator, which is a software layer that allows Windows programs to run under Linux. Quite cool.

My main problem right now is that there is no Linux printer driver for my Lexmark X2330 All-in-One printer/scanner combo. Fortunately, I don’t do a lot of printing, but unfortunately, when I do, I can’t. We do have another computer in the apartment, with a printer attached, but damn, it’s inconvenient to move files from one computer to the other.

So, while I feel my computer is safer now, and functionally I’ve been inconvenienced only a little so far (i.e. not being able to find an exact Linux match for some essential Windows program), I’m really quite liking Ubuntu, and I have no plans to switch back to Windows any time soon.

That’s it for my updates this time around.

Let’s keep it real out there.

That’s the nutshell version. You probably don’t want to know the gory details.

Of course, this switch of operating systems is going to come with some growing pains. Some of the tools I’ll have to use now will be different from those to which I’ve become accustomed on Windows XP. For example, I’m typing this text in a program called TextRoom, which is similar in basic functionality to my beloved WriteMonkey, but lacks a metric ton of WriteMonkey’s features. I hope that maybe, someday, if I’m very, very good, Iztok will port WriteMonkey over to Linux and allow me the freedom to jump around my document (like a monkey) and quickly export my Markdown formatting to HTML or RTF.

In the meantime, I’ll use the Perl script provided by the Markdown site to convert my text files to HTML and paste the results into my blog posts. It sounds cumbersome, but it’s really only a few steps. Given all that, however, I’d still prefer WriteMonkey. But I’m done with Windows XP, so I’ll have to make do.

But all that’s just an aside, really. I little bit of “What I’ve Been Doing With My Week”. Other than training in the new job, that is.

I’m here to revisit the idea that I put forth in my last blog post: The Voices of Reason Project.

As I mentioned there, I intend to interview a creative person that I know, and have that person introduce me to another creative person, whom I haven’t met. I’ll then interview that new person, and they will in turn introduce me to yet another creative person, and so on, and so on, the idea being to cover a wide range of creative endeavours and gradually meet people of “greater and greater influence”.

What I’m going to do here is to lay down the ground rules for this project in a bit more detail. I’m going to spell out what I expect of my interviewees and what they can expect of me.

So here goes.

Each interviewee will agree to:

1. Answer a series of questions, via email, about creativity, his/her creative endeavours, and larger societal issues such as peace, respect, and freedom.
2. Return the questions, along with his/her answers, via email, to the interviewer (aka Faltarego, aka myself).
3. Provide, via email, a digital copy of a photograph of himself/herself (i.e. a “headshot”).
4. Grant permission for his/her answers and headshot to be posted on the faltarego.com website in the form of a blog entry.
5. Contact another creative person, whom the interviewer has not met and who is likely to be interested in the project, and provide that person with the internet address of this agreement and the email address of the interviewer.

In exchange for this kindness, the interviewer (that’s me) will agree to:

1. Conduct all correspondence in a courteous, respectful, and professional manner.
2. Keep the questions short, relevant, and to the point.
3. Post the interviewee’s answers in their entirety, editing only for spelling, grammar, and punctuation, provided said answers contain nothing that could be construed as hate speech or endorsement of illegal acts.
4. Provide internet links to any websites, articles, images, or videos the interviewee wishes to promote, provided those sites are relevant to the interview and fall within the general spirit of the project.
5. Send the interviewee a Faltarego.com t-shirt as a token of gratitude for his/her participation in the project.

That’s the first kick at the can, anyway. I’m sure I’ll modify this as I move closer to doing my first interview. And I’m sure my lovely readers will notify me if I’ve made any glaring blunders or omissions.

A new milestone for the blog: This is the first post to contain anything even remotely resembling legal-ese. Not something I aspire to make a regular feature, but a notable first, nonetheless.

So, now to find my first victim. Oh, who will it be? Who will it be?

Now that I’m back on track technologically (I hope), I’ll make some speedier progress with this thing. I’m accountable now. It’s gotta happen.

Thanks for reading.

Keep it real out there.

(And if I ever do get to interview people of note, I promise I will do my research about them before I ask them any questions.)