I am really honored to be among the awesome panelists selected by Michael Geist for his video contest C-61 in 61 seconds. The goal is to create videos raising awareness of the many flaws with bill C-61, commonly referred to as the Canadian DMCA act. The last time they tried to ram this idea down our throats was the subject of the last Galacticast we released, so you know the issue is near and dear to my heart.

Simply out, Galacticast could never have come to be without the fair use and play policies we all execute in our daily lives. The portability of media, the rapid turnaround time, the out and out parodies - all these things would be killed in sad, silent ways if this bill is not stopped. And while I am now thinking that more original content is the future our our brave, little show, it will work under the same principles of openess and fairness that we have always believed in.

To read more about the bill, check out Michael Geist’s informative blog and the amazing Facebook group that has grown up around the cause.

Our Galacticast video The Supermarios was screened at the Mississauga Independent Film Festival on Sunday, July 13th, at 11am in the Short Program B category. I would love to see some footage of this!

Special thanks to brothers-in-arms Matt and Jeff Campagna. Read of their awesomeness in The Globe and Mail.

Casey and I were interviewed by the LaPresse. To my embarassment, I am quoted heavily and seem to have inspired the title of the article. Here’s the original and the translated.

A few days after Casey I too am now listed on IMDB. It’s for our cameo appearance in Six Reasons Why, the post-apocalyptic spaghetti western love song to Sergio Leone by the talented Campagna brothers.

Now to fill that listing up with more roles.

Note: everyone should have a partner like Julien; awesome guy as a friend, coach, and internet rock star.

While I am moving on to 5.6s (and many people say that climbs at Allez-Up are rated one level lower then they would be elsewhere), there were a couple of 5.5s that I hadn’t tackled but looked really fun.

The first was a doozy:

There are a few areas I need to work on as a climber, and this wall hit that all.
In summary I need to:

• Develop my arm strength to maintain grip while I swing legs over.
• Trust the wall and use it as leverage for my feet on occasion.
• Go for foot and toe placements that are less “secure” then a flat rest.
• Stop being a pussy!

First time, I totally wussed out when I reached the overhang. Second time, after seeing Julien go for it and fail, I did the same myself, trusting the rope. Third time, figured out the foot placement that Julien was using and succeeded to make it to the next overhang (is that the right term)? My final attempt had me placing my hands on the final hang, but by that point my arms gave out when I tried to lift myself over.

The second 5.5 was MUCH easier:

It was a straight run up, with only a bit of difficulty to get around the overhang. I had to ask for a “take” to do so, but in the end, reached the top. Next time, I am going to try to make it without stopping.

One note; bouldering is fucking hard!

Seriously, I can’t even get started! Any advice?

photo courtesy of Simon Law under Creative Commons License BY-SA

For those who don’t know, Casey’s laptop, a $3300 Macbook Pro, was stolen out of her luggage after our return from Las Vegas this weekend. Our luggage actually was delayed/missing for a day which makes the theft all the more suspicious. When it was finally delivered, the bag was half-open and dented, so clearly someone broke into it. The laptop is her (and mine) primary means of making a living as a video producer, and contains much sensitive corporate and financial information, as well as the “keys” to our online kingdom.

Now, we have changed all our accounts and filed a claim with Air Canada, as well as with the police and our insurance. However, Air Canada does not supply any direct way to contact and receive updates for these claims. Instead, upon submitting the online claim form, you receive a message informing you it will take 30 business days to respond to our claim. Again, there is NO other way to address these issues with Air Canada.

This is unacceptable in the case of a theft, where every day decreases the chances of finding an answer.

Realistically, we know we probably won’t get the laptop back. I mean if the person who took the laptop SOMEHOW hears about all this and decides to call/mail us and/or return it, no questions will be asked, and everyone gets a happy ending. But we know that is not going to happen …

And while some have suggested raising funds for us to buy a new laptop, we really can’t accept that either. There are so many people out there who need your help before us. We rather you give money to them on behalf of us.

But what I am hoping you can help us with is reaching senior management of Air Canada to address the ridiculous treatment they are giving customers who are caught up in what is a worst case scenario. Thomas Leroux sent me to a nice post about how Air Canada’s CEO Montie Brewer is open to this kind of discussion; we would love to be put in touch with him via e-mail or Facebook.

We want to ask how would he or his VPs feel if their valuable luggage was violated and those who they have entrusted to care for it provide no open lines of communication to let them stay on top of the situation. It is no secret that so many people are dissatisfied with their treatment by airlines, but to have a most fundamental service broken, that is shameful. And given the feelings of being victimized that this kind of event generates, why would they leave their customers out in the cold?

So if you, or your friends, or your friends’ friends can let us begin a proper dialogue with Air Canada about this situation, please reach out to Casey (Facebook, Twitter, Pownce) or myself (Facebook, Twitter, Pownce). Hopefully, if we can’t have a happy ending, we can have an “improved” ending with regular updates on our claim.

Why it’s me!

A “brief” stop over at the NextNewNetworks turned into a guest-star appearance on Indy Mogul, one of my favorite shows. Run by kindred spirits Erik Beck and Justin Johnson, it’s not only a wealth of DIY movie making projects, but genuinely funny too. Check out the magic!

Everyhipster has heard of Getting Things Done by now, David Allen’s task organization and workflow system. I tried implementing it last year, but fell off the wagon quickly, not finding good software to centralize everything, especially on a Mac. Like the sweet Melissa Gira once told me, Getting Things Done became another thing to get done!

Resolving that became the first thing I got done this year.

My requirements were straight forward.

• The software should be Mac compatible.
• Have minimal of fuss to get going.
• Stable (who would have thunk it>)
• Synchronizes with iCal, as my calendar and phone all do

That last requirement was a personally major one, and surprisingly where so many of them failed.

I first tried iGTD. It has a following and honestly, GTD was right in the name, how could I go wrong? Setup was fine, and it seemed to sync with no problems … most of the time. And I could easily enter data … most of time. Sadly, with increased frequency, iGTD would forget a whack of tasks I had just entered when I clicked onto another project. That and quirkiness with Leopard literally bugged me.

I should have stopped using it when the beauty-outmatched-only-by-her-brains Micki Krimmel abandoned it. She moved on to kinkless and other systems for a while before developing her own with OmniOutlinerPro. I, however, am “Teh Lazy” and can not maintain the discipline over a free form system. My hunt continued.

I settled on Inbox for a couple of days and fell utterly in love with it. Hence, the rest of this post will now use the metaphor of software as women I am seeing. Inbox looked like an elegant hottie, with the GTD workflow as the central navigation. The idea of automated collections that pull in items to process from folders, queries, mail, etc is sexy, and SEEMED to answer the synchronization question. It also has the nice touch of allowing tasks to have subtasks, and to mark those task groups as serial or parallel.

The romance died over three major flaws. First, like iGTD it was not stable though it would not crash as consistently as that program. And I need to be in a stable relationship when it comes to my data. Secondly, while the idea of automated collections is solid, the choice is limited to services on your Mac, which is really disappointing. Why not speak to Gmail, or an RSS feed? If you don’t like my friends, we can’t be together.

But what really killed it for me was the supremely flawed synchronization. Here is the scenario. An automated collection grabs your to-dos from iCal. Ooooh, we can do it anywhere! You then act on them, assigning them to projects or scope, or archive and delegate. Work it baby! You can sync it back to iCal, completing the circle. 69, dude!

But wait! The next time your automated collection runs, all those processed to-dos you just added? They come right BACK in as NEW items to process!

Baby, I am afraid this is not going to work out.

I spent too much time trashing duplicates. Inbox is fail.

I decided to fool around with smaller applications next, thinking looking for something completely different would help me find one true love. There was Anxiety which floats your iCal to-dos on your desktop. Very pretty, but I couldn’t use it for the same reason I couldn’t follow Micki’s solution; relies too much on myself, and I need discipline.

Ghost Action was my next try, and I was very close to settling with it. While not as flashy as some of the others, it forgoes the pretty for ACTUALLY WORKING. Two-way synchronization was perfect, to-dos could be brought into projects, and contexts mapped to iCal calendars. Small footprint, small price point, yet big results. Why did I not stick it out? Sadly, my hot love affair with Inbox ruined me, so I had come to love subtasks and parallel grouping. And to be perfectly truthful, yes, looks do matter. Thinking I could do better, I moved on.

I stopped at the Things website … and moved on. Sorry, no iCal synchronization, no play.

Finally, I took a look at OmniFocus, from the creator’s of OmniOutliner and built with the input of leading GTD advocates. And love bloomed anew! Literally it does everything perfectly for me. I can view tasks by project or context. It has a clear processing mechanism. Tasks can have subtasks and be marked as serial or parallel. And the synchronization is perfect; I can control whether I bring in all or just the next items in each context, and it marks the iCal to-dos with the project name. Again, perfect.

Mind you, at $80, this lady is an expensive broad to get with. But you don’t need to buy the rock right away, as you can try it out for a couple of weeks. But at this point, I am ready to commit to a long-term relationship!

1. Producing Daily? Well I have managed to keep up with my daily self portraits. But I have been awfully slaggy (declaring that a word) on my blog posts. But not for want of trying. But I giving myself permission for a reset. D+.
2. Getting Things Done? I’ve collected all my projects and have started going through my lists. Interestingly, I want to write a review of GTD software for the Mac. B+
3. Sharing More? Y’know, looking back at my posts, there are too many about me (like this one!) Which is fine given this is my site, but I should mix it up a bit more. D+
4. Get Fit? Blasting through on this one. I have my workout plan, I swim, walk where possible, and have now started a martial art. Still feel I can do more though, or at least more regularly. B
5. Appearing in a movie? Ummm … I really should be posting the list of what I want to do, yes? D-
6. Making a movie? Oh, yes A
7. Enjoying Friends? Remotely still, but feel the need for a shindig soon. C+
8. Open Galacticast? Still thinking on this one. The problems are how to control the logistics, and the quality of the thing, when you hand over something you’ve built to others. But I think its part of maturing as a creator, and it has to be done. Have to extend my deadline. D
9. Solved the Rubik’s Cube? No, but I have found instructions. B-

Well, still getting things off the ground. But there are 50 weeks ahead of me. Back to blogging!

photo courtesy of Atanas Entchev licensed via Creative Commons BY-NC

In and around sorting the medical drama that has resulted from Casey taking a punch to the face (more on that later) I had an opportunity to sit down with my friend and former personal trainer Dino Masson. Dino was half the formula that made my last fitness kick a success, where I went from 215 lbs down to 175lbs. He tailored fun workouts, provided ample encouragement, was a confident, and just a great person.

Want an idea of how awesome he is? When I called him for medical advice on Casey’s condition right after the assault, not only did he give wise instructions but also said to call him the next day to provide an update, and even offered to come over and give a physical checkup. And he lived half-an-hour away.

I don’t know if he is taken ladies, so have at him.

Anyway, mid last year he landed an awesome job that takes him around the world so we had to end our sessions together. But he was in Montreal for the holidays and offered to put together a new program with me. When I asked if I could share it online, he was all for it. So here we go.

It’s a 3-day a week workout, with the same muscles exercised each day BUT with radically different goals.

Day 1
The goal is to build strength. Many sets, but with a small number of reps and heavier weight. A 1 minute rest between each set, and a 1.5 minute rest between exercises.

1. Bench Press 5 sets x 5 Reps
2. Squat 5 sets x 5 Reps
3. Chin-ups 5 sets x Max (I aiming for 3 … go me!) & 2-3 negatives.
4. Leg Curl 5 sets x 5 reps

Day 2
After a day’s rest, the next set works more for tone and targets specific muscles, as well as broken into supersets.

1. Superset 1 - 4 sets x 10-12 reps
   1. Dumbbell Press
   2. Close gripped Seated Row
2. Superset 2 – 3 sets x 10-12 reps
   1. Dumbbell Step-ups
   2. Leg Curl on Swiss ball
3. Superset 3 – 3 sets x 10-12 reps
   1. Dumbbell Seated Press
   2. Barbell Curl
4. Superset 4 – 3 sets x 10-12 reps
   1. Close grip Bench Press
   2. Crunches on Bench + Weight

Day 3
Finally, the 3rd day is plyometrikineticalsomethingsomething … well its about working movements. Much larger super-sets

1. Superset 1 – 3 sets x 10-15 reps
   1. Jump Squats
   2. Chin-ups with feet on floor
   3. Push-ups
2. Superset 2 – 3 sets x 10-15 reps
   1. Leg Press
   2. Dumbbell Push Press
   3. Dumbbell Curl
   4. Dips feet on Bench

Abs
Finally, my daily abs routine, taken from the Abs Diet.

1. ½ Crunches + weight
2. Leg raises
3. Side obliques + weight
4. Bridge
5. Superman

Whew! I am jazzed to start this today (after a goodnight’s rest). I would also be curious to see if anyone would wants to follow along and compare results.