I've tried hard to keep myself focused.... But then I come across some scissors, then some paper, and then its just a free for all with bits and bobs flying every which way. Cutting, gluing, inking...
punching, gluing....
more cutting, inking & gluing....
Ahhhhhhhhh that was fun~ I made a banner saying "Artsy Fartsy"
I hung it up... and hated it. Isn't that how it goes sometimes? I'll try hanging it over my window next. 
I'd better stick to getting things organized.
Benjamin Franklin's Daily Schedule:
Or…
Thomas Edison's approach:
"I usually failed my way to success."
Last week, BellMedia, owner of CTV, TSN and 26 other Canadian broadcasters, turned up at the CRTC hearings on vertical integration in the media.
They spent most of their time making themselves giddy over how all-powerful they were becoming and at how holding onto exclusive control of all their content over all manner of media platforms was the only way to achieve world domination -- er -- a bright future for Canadian culture.
And in the process, they revealed that they don't have the first clue about how vertical integration works.
No matter how smart these guys think say are, they didn't think up "Football Cops".
"Football Cops" stars NFL quarterback brothers, Payton and Eli Manning, both still earning millions calling plays for the Indianapolis Colts and New York Giants respectively.
And although they remain foes on the gridiron, they now stand shoulder to shoulder in a new series about street cops with a difference.
No, not psychic powers or impossible intellectual skills. A REAL difference!
As characters Mike Tahoe and C.J. Hunter, the brothers play former pro-quarterbacks, both raised as orphans in a home for wayward boys, who returned to the mean streets of their youth to "give something back" to the community.
Clear-eyed and dedicated, they take on violent criminals, street gangs and international drug cartels armed with nothing more than a football.
I'm sure the American Prime-Time programming buyers for CTV are kicking themselves for not being able to get their hands on "Football Cops". But there's a reason for that…
It's the exclusive content of DirecTV and the National Football League, an inspired marketing campaign to sell subscriptions to DirecTV's "NFL Sunday Ticket" access to every single NFL football game every Sunday for the entire season. A service this American version of a BDU (cable/satellite company) offers "AT NO EXTRA CHARGE" with the added caveat -- "Get every game every Sunday on your TV, computer, cellphone or iPad".
Canadian readers of that last paragraph probably felt like they stepped into some alternate fantasy universe the moment a BDU ad included the words "at no extra charge".
God knows how any of them can contemplate the possibility that one fee allows to access content on pretty much any platform they want as well.
Why, the concept is practically -- Netflixian!
But it reveals that while Canadian BDUs like BellMedia have spent recent months contorting themselves to justify all the new charges they'd like to levy for delivering content Canadians already paid to produce or could find elsewhere cheaper if given the freedom to do so, they missed an opportunity to create some real vertical integration.
You see, BellMedia owns TSN which has broadcast rights to the Canadian Football League which kicks off next week, although barely hyped anywhere but on TSN.
And if the company had any creative skills among those mapping its conquest of media platforms, it might have come up with an equally inspired way of getting more people to subscribe to its services.
But they didn't.
Because they don't know what being creative means.
Which is one of the key reasons why their business models are beginning to show fatal cracks no amount of CRTC duct tape will be able to repair.
As "Preposterous!" as Canadians getting access to whatever content they want in any way they want might be to the boys at BellMedia, that day is already here.
It came from the same part of Left field that spawned "Football Cops".
Whatever you want at no extra charge. Now that's how you really -- Enjoy Your Sunday!
Miss Chloe felt the large hat was a bit much for her brother to wear to the party....
She tried her very best to convince him that it wasn't a good look for him, but it fell on deaf ears....
Miss Chloe, being the resourceful girl that she is, grabbed the hat and plunked it on her very own head to show him just how funny it looked.
Jonathan grabbed it back and forcefully put it back on his head... "Drat," said Miss Chloe, "foiled again."
While walking to the party on the very-very narrow path...
Miss Chloe came across a sign pointing the way to the very place she was wanting to go. GASP... The signs were in French! Miss Chloe and Jonathan can't read French.... or English for that matter. The cat who was sitting on top of the sign post wasn't any help at all. What to do? What to do? 
"Lets just go home and play with our bubbles," said Jonathan.
Which was perfectly fine for Miss Chloe as her brother did all the work making the bubbles, and she got to play~
Jonathan was not amused.
On that note, Miss Chloe grabbed her brothers hat and ran off, all the while laughing hysterically saying, "I'm the evil Doctor Porkchop."
After wrestling his hat back from his sister and placing it back on his head.... 
Miss Chloe, in her sweetest voice said, "You gotta love me, I'm da baby."
Which was met with a cold shoulder from her brother....
Hmmmmm, I got an idea!...
"Watch brud-da, I'm going to eat this bubble just for you."
Bubbles sure don't taste as good as they look....
While laughing at his sisters puckered up face, Jonathan noticed the time.
"My heavens! My cartoons are on," exclaimed Jonathan. "I'm outta here!" "Wait for me brudda!" yelled Miss Chloe.
Cartoons, animal cookies and a drink box and all is right with the world once again~
Television networks have an uncanny ability to make us believe things which aren't true.
At least twice in my own lifetime, powerful media conglomerates have whipped up patriotic frenzies surrounding non-existent threats like the Gulf of Tonkin incident and Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, assisting both Democratic and Republic Presidents in getting the United States into a war.
Closer to home, entire broadcast entities owe their existence to spreading the belief that the Toronto Maple Leafs will win the Stanley Cup -- THIS YEAR!
While truth is always the first casualty in war and spinning it helps die-hard fans drink the Kool-Aid, building on the flimsiest veracity is what keeps broadcasters in the black.
Just recently, news helicopters and satellite trucks descended on the sleepy town of Hardin, Texas, drawn by the report of a mass grave and bloodstained house containing dozens of mutilated corpses, including those of children.
As the anchors excitedly ad-libbed around the sketchy facts they'd gleaned from "sources close to the scene", you sensed that newsroom graphics designers were already hastily reconfiguring posters from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" to augment the visuals.
This was going to drive ad revenues and ratings through the roof!
Unfortunately (for the networks) it turned out there weren't any bodies, neither mutilated nor whole. No blood. No tiny corpses under gurney blankets. Not even a crazed psycho on the loose.
To make matters worse, it seems the original tip came from a self-described "Psychic" who had just had -- a feeling.
The pursuit of a juicy story that viewers won't be able to resist has often conspired to embarrass TV journalists. But even when broadcasters miss a story, they can make you believe they were all over it.
A couple of summers ago, a cluster of deadly tornados descended on several suburbs of Toronto. Despite having recently won $150 Million in new funding for local news, not one of Toronto's major television outlets provided spot coverage, let alone the kind of second by second tracking and warning anyone familiar with storm coverage in the United States is used to seeing.
Despite the reality of what they were actually broadcasting (detailed and confirmed by several viewers here) within a few weeks, the local CTV affiliate was running ads that included clips of the storms as it proudly (yet with humility) announced its receipt of a "prestigious" Edward R. Murrow Award for its coverage of the event.
Now, I don't know if the Edward R. Murrow Award is an actual journalistic prize judged by the rigorous standards of its namesake or just one of the many media trophies that get handed out because you paid an entry fee or promised to turn up for the ceremony.
But I do know what CTV was broadcasting while people were running for their lives -- and it wasn't the news.
In a business that operates as much on perception as reality perhaps none of that should surprise us. And yet -- not being able to separate perception from reality can lead to expectations far removed from what actually comes to pass.
This week, BellMedia took the unprecedented step of purchasing the television rights to the works of three fairly well known Canadian mystery writers.
Normally, independent producers or studios will option the rights to a literary work, be it a novel, magazine article, comic book or whatever and then convince a network to help develop or produce it.
But in its press release, BellMedia made the point that, while the works would be parceled off to independent producers, these purchases showed its commitment to bringing more Canadian content onto Canadian television, computer and mobile screens.
And while the optimist in me thought that was a good thing and was pleased to see a few Canadian novelists and their eventual screenwriting counterparts get paid for their creative endeavors; my pragmatic side was wondering why this was being treated as some kind of big deal and the cynic permanently ensconced on my shoulder saw darker forces at work.
For starters, let me make it clear that I think William Deverell, Giles Blunt and Robert Rotenberg are all terrific writers deserving of far larger audiences than their current sales numbers might indicate they have. I've read at least one book by each of them and they're all masterful story tellers.
Yet in the hard-nosed world of optioning book rights, their aggregate numbers would not be considered a safe basis for an already risky investment.
Because in the world of making television and film, a good book doesn't necessarily result in a good final product, nor guarantee even a modicum of success. Sometimes great books turn into utterly unwatchable movies.
In the last year I can find numbers for, 2009, Hollywood studios and producers purchased the rights to 45,181 new works of fiction. Yet the number of major releases based on literary material numbered 125, the equivalent of one day's publishing.
Some of the books that made it to the screen in 2009 had been making their way there for years, in some cases decades. In fact, only 1% of books optioned ever get to Principle Photography and some of those never find a distributor. Many more don't attract an audience and never earn a dime.
If that mathematical formula applies North of the border, what's 1% of 3? Or even 1% of the 8-10 books that fall within this deal?
You begin to ask why such a deal is even newsworthy. Twenty years ago, Alliance or Atlantis were buying book rights every day.
And in the film business, having a good story ranks far behind execution and marketing, two skill sets Canadian networks are not known for owning.
There are any number of extremely talented Canadian screenwriters who'd give their right arm for the opportunity to adapt one of these novels. There are lots of talented directors and actors and technicians who can realize those scripts. But given the track record of BellMedia's networks, you have to wonder how committed the company will be to the investment required to give these novels a fighting chance, let alone their due.
As much as I want to believe that there are new winds blowing across the Canadian television landscape and that new owners are determined to increase their commitment to Cancon, that's not what I see.
BellMedia's flagship network does not have a single new Canadian drama on its fall schedule and spent as much or more as it had in the past on buying new American product. What's more, their executives continue to harass regulators to lower levels of Canadian programming or allow them more leeway to disguise it.
If William Deverell or his Publishers have visions of hefty paydays dancing in their heads, perhaps they need to ask their assigned screenwriter, Andrew Wreggitt, how much effort CTV put into promoting his recent award winning work "Mayerthorpe". Or they could call the Writers Guild of Canada to learn how much money Canadian screenwriters are earning in royalties from BellMedia product.
So, as much as I'd like to be optimistic, I can't shake the feeling that BellMedia's press release was primarily designed to curry favor as they entered yet another round of regulatory hearings with the aim of elevating their corporate status through the perception that they actually had a commitment to Canadian content.
In the end, I think we'll discover that BellMedia purchased their book options with the help of a development fund that's either government supported or to which they are merely one of many contributors. Their development of the project will be similarly financed, as will the production.
In the real world, good films and TV shows are not made from press releases and perception, but from passion and commitment and taking real financial risks.
One of my favorite books of the last decade, for example, will finally make it to the screen this fall.
When I first read Michael Lewis' "Moneyball" I could instantly see the movie. It was smart. It was funny. It had an incredible feel good ending. Despite its appeal to a narrow niche of baseball statistic nerds, it made that world enormously entertaining for everybody else.
The book became an instant best seller and ignited a studio bidding war. Yet it has taken eight years to get onto the screen.
A-list directors came and went. Shoot dates constantly shifted. Financing got shaky. The screenplay went through numerous drafts and bears the final credits of two of the highest paid and most admired writers in Hollywood, Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin.
In the end, there are some who believe it only got made because Brad Pitt and a stellar supporting cast hung in because of their own love of the original material.
But despite all that -- most people don't think "Moneyball" will be a hit. Its backers are resigned to waiting quite some time to make their money back -- let alone maybe make a few bucks.
But the studio is still pulling out all the stops to promote the film. Everybody involved remains passionate and committed and willing to continue the risk.
And those attributes are not the first that come to mind when I watch BellMedia executives like Mirko Bibic and Kevin Crull lay out their corporate master plan for the CRTC. Plans that really have nothing to do with championing Canadian artists or film-worthy literature or even understand that for some things to succeed what once worked needs to be done differently.
It was floor to ceiling bins, so to force myself to display things, I added vintage sheet music to the top area. I am working hard on giving my studio an cuter look for an open house of sorts being held next month. Better late than never on getting started! Isn't that sheet music divine? Its from the early 1900's. 
Project #2.... I've also been working on another Alice in Wonderland prop for this years Mad Hatter tea party--- being held this Saturday. In previous years I made props using foam core, this year I used a piece of plywood. Here it is with the first coat of every color......
This past Sunday while sailing... yard-sailing of course. I came across a couple who were moving and selling everything in their house and yard. I bought a fabulous wheel barrow for only $10--- and after drooling over their flagstone patio.... I asked if it was for sale. "Sure, $20 was the reply.".... SOLD! my new wheel barrow and I got to work. Kismet? You betcha! All of this pictured below, plus a truck load more! These are the small pieces, the bigger pieces are still on the truck ;-P I guess this is Project #3.
Like I need another project...
To give it a little character, I dirtied up the edges with black and brown ink pads instead of sanding the edges. I used double sided sticky tape and adhered some pages from a Sears catalog to the backs of each cubbie. I think it turned out cute. It was a NICE release from some of the angst I was feeling while taking on the HUGE project of painting my wall-to-wall cabinets. Tomorrow I'm going to the hardware store to buy some trim to add to my cabinets a.k.a. bookcases... to make them appear to be a built in unit across the back wall of my studio.... a.k.a. my daughters old room. The only upside to this huge painting project is I get to set up little vignettes when the paints all dry on the shelves. Hooray for happy stuffed shelves full of stuff I love. Nuts, I guess I better get back to painting or its never going to get finished. Oh..... I thought I'd share this funny.... at the hardware store where I bought the paint, the clerk said, "Looks like you've got everything you need. you've got the paint, brushes and "him" to paint for you." Hysterical! I laughed as I corrected him that I was going to do the painting. Do men paint?
I really like Sheepdogs. I've owned a few, befriended several more. And they all seem to match my own basic world view. Have fun. Try to get along. Don't take what people think of you too seriously.
I'm not exactly sure what first attracted me to them. But I have a theory that they remind me of my first favorite toy, a kind of rocking horse thing of a character named "Punkinhead", whose copyright clearly lapsed sometime before this guy came along.
I also really like Saskatchewan. Because I grew up there.
Saskatchewan can be a dismal place. Sometime around February, when you wake up to your 40th straight day of temperatures below minus 40, it can make you wonder why God doesn't like you very much.
But then Summer comes and you watch a sunset with a Pilsner in your lap and your back to the Midwest night and you feel like maybe you're in the best place anybody could be.
So imagine my excitement when I heard that there was a band from Saskatchewan called "The Sheepdogs".
Excitement heightened by seeing a picture of them and realizing that bands from Saskatchewan in 2011 look EXACTLY like Bands from Saskatchewan did during my rock 'n roll youth of the late 1960's.
Y'know, it might be that the Fountain of Youth is actually hidden somewhere in Saskatchewan -- made harder to find because it's frozen solid for eight months of the year.
Anyway, it turns out said musical "Sheepdogs" are now finalists in Rolling Stone Magazine's "Pick the Cover" contest, in which you vote online for your favorite band and they end up on the cover of Rolling Stone garnering all the attendant fame and fortune Dr. Hook used to sing about.
And given what I've been hearing about all the DRM shackles that'll become mandatory should the new Copyright Bill (C-32) pass unmolested. Given that all the major Canadian Music labels have been officially outed as seriously screwing their artists. And taking into account the new CBC Fall schedule. I decided that it is imperative that "The Sheepdogs" win this contest and get to escape the country.
I mean, seriously, C-32 will pretty much hand over all their creative rights to some record company middle man. Even if they earn royalties, they'll never see a penny of them. And a couple of years from now, they'll be just like Tom Cochrane, singing "Life is a Highway" twice nightly in some Casino showroom while the CBC uses whatever hit they had as the contestant audition piece for the next season of "Cover Me" -- which by then, along with "Battle of the Blades" will be all that passes for Canadian Content on the tube.
You can vote for "The Sheepdogs" here. And it's imperative that you do.
Not only because it'll help some Canadian artists get out of the country while the gettin's good. But it'll prevent Rolling Stone from losing what's left of its credibility and turning completely into "Tiger Beat".
Seriously, "Rolling Stone" -- ??? Whatever happened to the guys that discovered Jimi and Janis? Remember who championed Daniel Ellsberg for revealing "The Pentagon Papers"? Are there no more Ralph Steadmans and Hunter S. Thompsons left in America?
Or maybe they're all in Saskatchewan, helping "The Sheepdogs" pack and get across the border so real rock 'n roll can be heard in the world once more.
Whatever you think of "The Sheepdogs" music, vote for them. Give a fellow Canadian artist a chance.
Release the Hounds. And Enjoy Your Sunday.
I picked up the blue perfume bottle, the vintage magnify glass and the stack of vintage sheet music for fifty cents each. The gold and glass relish tray was $1 and the Virgin Mary alter was only ten cents.
Here is a photo of where I house my tin collection. I'm going to start filling up those tins with vintage jewelry for my grandaughter who really likes "Nana's pretties" She is such a love~ 
Well, I am currently working on painting the massive wall of shelves in my studio-- which I pinky swore last year -- to do-- for this year. Ugh. It is such a HUGE undertaking, thats why I'm blogging instead! I am also wanting to create some large wooden Mad hatter pieces for next Saturday's Mad hatters tea party, plus make a baby blue dress for Alice a.k.a. Miss Chloe~ Then and only then, will I start to work on the 7 tags I am needing to make for a tag swap. Hmmm.... I may need some chocolate to get me through this~
