Blog posted by 'police officer from the suburbs':

Sometimes you just have to accept that someone said it better. This is a letter from an anonymous police officer present at the Vancouver riots. No one could have said it better.

Dear 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup Rioters:

Please stop saying you're sorry. Stop posting YouTube videos begging for forgiveness. Stop writing letters asking that society cut you some slack and leave you alone.

While you were drunk and flipping cars, I was driving with all of my emergency equipment on to get into Vancouver.

While you were throwing anything you could get your hands on at the police, I was pressure-testing my APR and standing in the middle of the tear gas.

While you and thousands of others disgraced Vancouver and its surrounding population, I stood shoulder to shoulder with a couple hundred men and women, whom I trust my life with, ready to address your indiscretions.

You came up to me like you owned the streets in your drunken stupor, thrust your middle fingers in my face and shouted obscenities; I didn't snap you in half.

Actions speak louder than words. You started "harmless" fires.

You torched other men and women's cars whom you'd never met and never did you wrong.

You assaulted firemen as they arrived to try and deal with your "mistakes."

You took limited, valuable emergency resources away from good people who needed them. You endangered more lives by tying up emergency services than you ever considered.

You started fights. You stabbed people you'd never met because they somehow made you angry.

You gave men and women trying to protect property life-altering concussions.

You brought paramedics into the tear gas and exhausted them trying to save people they'd never met.

You showed up to hospital emergency rooms crying because you'd been exposed to tear gas. You got obnoxious and demanded to be treated like you were somehow dying.

You knew it was a riot, you chose not to leave, you chose to stick around and breathe the tear gas in. You took nurses and doctors away from people who needed their care to live. People they'd never met but work tirelessly to save. You demanded to be treated as if you were better than the rest of society.

You'd tell me that the emergency services personnel I speak of are paid to do this job and chose to be there. You're right. We give a damn about people we've never met and property that isn't ours, that's why we do what we do. You disgust us.

What brought a tear to my eye, after the gas had cleared, was standing in the middle of an intersection at about 3 a.m. the only people I'd seen for the last 30 minutes were other police officers, until a shopkeeper brought us a case of water.

Then I saw a random person with a broom clearing the sidewalk. I had a duty to respond -the citizens of Vancouver immediately afterward could have just left it up to those paid to deal with it.

They didn't just stand by -they came out in force and cleaned up after your indiscretions. Everyone I saw that early morning thanked me. I was only doing my job.

I have the utmost respect for all of the people from Vancouver and the surrounding areas that came downtown and volunteered to clean up after you.

You owe Vancouver and the surrounding population more than mere words.

Don't you dare ask for our forgiveness without taking responsibility.

You can't fix life-altering injuries with an "I'm Sorry". You can't repay someone's car loan with a YouTube video. You ask that people leave you and your family alone but you offer no way to replace priceless losses.

You'll sleep soundly in your bed tonight because men and women like me will always be there to deal with your poor choices.

You have no idea how fortunate you are, even after we arrest and charge you. Even though you disgust me, if you call for me in the middle of the night I'll respond. I'll protect your life and property because it's right and it's what I do.

The evening of June 15, 2011, fellow emergency services personnel, my brothers and sisters, left our families at home and while grossly out numbered stood to fight.

The morning of June 16, 2011, the true heroes emerged to volunteer their time and restored my faith in humanity.

Actions speak louder than words. What are you going to do about that?

-a police officer from the suburbs, who was called in to serve and protect on that night; a proud Vancouverite

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Blog posted by 'police officer from the suburbs':

Monday

Writing for Commercials

Next term I am taking a writing for commercials class. People have said this means I'm preparing to sell out and abandon the art of writing.



See, the thing about art is that it can be anything. That's the whole point.

A Four-Legged Family Friend Died

Near this spot are deposited the remains of one who possessed Beauty without Vanity, Strength without Insolence, Courage without Ferocity, and all the Virtues of Man, without his Vices. This Praise, which would be unmeaning Flattery if inscribed over human ashes, is but a just tribute to the Memory of Boatswain, a Dog. ~George Gordon

RIP Kelti

Say A Little Prayer

Our Father, who art in Canada Hockey Place, hockey be thy name. Thy will be done, GOLD to be WON on ICE as well as IN THE STANDS. Give us this day our hockey sticks and forgive us our penalties as we forgive those who crosscheck against us. Lead us not into elimination, but deliver us to victory, in the name of the fans, CANADA, and the holy puck..AMEN!!

This is why I love internet.

The Who's Baba O'Rielly done by only things that exist on ThinkGeek?





...so that exists.

I love the Internet

Part of why I love the internet is that I can randomly remember things I loved from my childhood and relive them. Like this little gem:



And yes, I still know all the words.

Marilyn & JFK

When I've had a particularly bad day...or string of bad days as it were...I seek out the things that make me happy. I have made quite a collection of these things throughout the years.

There are very few that make me happier than this picture:

Wait...

The emo kid who played John Connor has an 'As The World Turns' tattoo?

Funny Girl

So I recently, as in just now, decided I should write about all of the movies I watch, maybe not all 'cause I watch like...four a day, BUT about some.

My brother, who is probably the best brother in history no offense to your brother, got me a Netflix membership for Christmas, okay not Netfilx but the Canadian one. STILL. best brother.

So I went online one day and made a list. Most of it is musicals. And today along with a cheque from my grandmother I got the first movie in the mail. Maybe it was yesterday, I didn't check the mail yesterday.

It's Funny Girl.

Admission time: I've never seen it. I know all the words to all the songs and I used to sing them with my mom in the kitchen while we baked cookies....yeah we're the Cleavers, so what? And I know that as a fan of musicals I should have seen it by now but I didn't.

This movie is ridiculous. Like...ACTUALLY ridiculous. And so very very awesome. Barbara Streisand is the shit. For reals. My aunt Terry always had an obsession with her, it was actually one of the first things I knew about her and I'm pretty sure my Grandmother does too...and I kinda get it. She's kinda fantastic.

Also it's a flashback. I don't know why that makes it better, but it does. Think about it. Stand By Me, Shawshenk....yeah....fact.

Leave it to the Brits, they know best.

I went home for Christmas. I baked a ridiculous amount of food. It almost feels like that's all I did. But that isn't true because I learned to play the ukulele too. He is red, his name is Banjo, and my parents thought it was ridiculous that I bought myself a ukulele four days before Christmas. What they don't understand is that being whimsical is so much fun.

I didn't get to see everyone that I wanted to see while I was home. Which always sucks, but it's always hard to find the balance between friends and family and mental health time by myself. I didn't get to hang out with D and Aaron though, which sucks. BUT I'm headed home for Spring Break and I will see them then!

What I did do is spend a lot of time with family and extended family. I hung out with my sister and Grayson and Alex. Grayson is apparently a little person now? I don't know how that happens but it's weird. I didn't get to go see a movie with my sister but we'll work it out for next time.

I did go see Avatar when my brother was back. That was cool. Predictable but cool. It's kind of annoying how I can't really watch movies anymore without deconstructing them as I do, but it makes me feel smart so that's all good.

I spent New Years with my parents. It sounds lame but it was awesome. We made a ridiculous amount of appetizers and a couple pitchers of frozen margaritas and watch Canada kick some USA ass in the IIHF. WE lost the championship later but we don't talk about that. Then we watched some of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame show, saw Simon and Garfunkle, they were stoned. It was pretty epic. Then I went to the basement and talked to some friends before crashing at like five after twelve.

I probably stayed home a bit long, people were on my last nerve when I got on the plane so I'm gonna try to keep my time home limited. Then I spent a good seven and a half hours in the Calgary airport. Everything was closed but Banjo was in my backpack so we rocked out despite getting funny looks like people had never seen a ninja ukulele party.

And then there was the birthday. It was pretty mellow, I went out for dinner where we both got a little tipsy and stumbled our way back to my place for a food coma. The next day I had school and it was pretty sweet. THEN after class everyone went to Shenanigans, on a Wednesday which happens to be karaoke night because it was Tyler's birthday and my birthday and James' birthday and Holly's birthday kinda...anyway tehre was a lot of birthday. And my cousin Dane showed up which was wicked and we were all chillin' havin' a good time when I turn around and my brother is there.

And that's where I lost it. It was the best thing ever. So I ditched my friends and hung out with my brother and Brian and Josh and Dane and Cass. Until they left. And I stayed. And got a bit sloppy.

And as for school well...

Up until yesterday I had perfect attendance. And it was awesome.

Homework and sick days do not mix. Unless of course you took a sick day to get homework done, but that's not really a sick day.

List of homework I need to do for this week:

1. workshop pages for 3 first acts...and then mine but I don't plan on doing mine, that seems redundant. Especially considering I was only supposed to write my first act. Well my first act is like...four pages long. Maybe. Then they told me that i needed to hand in 15-30 pages. So, i explained to them that my first act is super short, and was informed that is unacceptable. And to that I say Kramer vs. Kramer jerkface. So I wrote 18 pages into the script, it doesn't end with the first act and I will catch shit for that later but who cares? My script. My rules.

2. Read Shawshenk Redemption for Adaptation. I have read Shawshenk before, the short story not the script...why would we be reading the script for an Adaptation class?, and I love it. I really do. The problem is that we only have course packs and it's very clear that an intern just typed it straight out of the book and didn't spell check. Stephen King doesn't misspell his character's names randomly. He just doesn't.

3. Documentary one-sheet. Of course this needs to be done with my documentary partners and since I wasn't at school yesterday I have no idea where we're at. I will be emailing them shortly but the likelihood of me getting anything done today is very slim.

Homework I need to do for next week:

1. Write 30 more pages of my script and fix up everything that gets work shopped on Thursday.
2. Write a sketch centered around a good character. I am not good at sketch. That's all this class has taught me. Sketch should be left to the British because they do it best.
3. Read the first act of Romeo and Juliet. If I decide to read it again. I'm still not sure, I figure if I can do the opening monologue I shouldn't have to reread it. But there's a test. And I like getting good grades. Almost as much as I liked having perfect attendance. Shit.
4. I have no idea what we're doing next in documentary. Probably trying to contact someone which should be interesting...
5. Read and workshop four other first acts. I love workshopping. I really do. I like working on other peoples ideas more than mine. This has been pointed out to me as something relaly bad for feature writing and really good for tv writing...so...yay?

Apparently I'm ridiculous when I'm sick. I don't know if that's true. I don't feel any more ridiculous than always. Maybe everyone else is ridiculous when I'm sick...that makes more sense.

So glad that no one killed Amanda Palmer

.guh.

Hey wouldn't wear the mask...

Just in case there was any doubt that my nephew is coolest/cutest kid in existence...

Blocked.

Writer's Block is NOT OKAY when said blocked person is in Writing School!

Not okay at all!

The current homework list:
- springboard for an animated series...I didn't get to pick the series.
- Two feature outlines...both of which I already pitched so I can't come up with a new one now even though I'm not particularly partial to either of them. And they're both just rough ideas. I barely have an idea what they're about and now I have to go to outline. Why can't I take another tv class?
- Read the script for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and then write enough notes for a ten minute presentation about the movie. I read the script. I'll make notes as soon as I'm motivated...
- Dialogue. One age of dialogue filled with conflict and subtext. DONE because I'm awesome like that.
- the first 20 pages of my Fringe spec. Which is due tomorrow at lunch. Which I am done because I've been working on it forever. And it's awesome and I love it.

So really I'm just saving the hard stuff for last. Which was probably not the best idea I've ever had. And now I have writer's block and I can't seem to get myself motivated to do anything but watch tv. Which could be counted as homework technically...but it's not even good tv.

on an unrelated note...I want this shirt.


AND it's Mo-vember! So if you can grow a moustache you should.

Well that's one way to tell the parents....But it's only half the time!

SO.

Term Two just started. So far I have a wicked outline for my Fringe Spec, a short script that I don't entirely hate, and three feature ideas to take to the pitch fest on Thursday. Which I'm not too worried about. Thanks to Kelsey and John I can pretty much pitch anything. My final project was to pitch a movie based on the logline: An ancient and powerful wizard competes in a gritty innercity basketball tournament with the help of his magical talking bong. It would've made millions.

Term two means that I actually go to pages for my spec, which is crazy exciting. It means I go from pitch to outline to treatment on one of my features. It means I develop an animated tv pilot. Along with having a dialogue class, another genre study class (crime!), and something else....but I forget what. All in all it means a lot of reading and a shit ton of writing. I'm stoked.

Also we got our new campus today. See the writers dind't really have a campus of our own, we got sent to basements and boardrooms with slidey walls, and wherever they cold fit us. It sucked. It caused crazy amounts of confusion. BUT NOW! Now we have our very own floor, still on Hastings but you can't win 'em all. And its pretty! And new! and there's sixty inch flat screens in every class! And our very own theatre with blackout curtains! And a lounge with leather couches and a tv and racks of movies! and a kitchen and a bathroom without coded entry! It's all very exciting. I'll post pictures maybe.

I've been looking into fellowships for after school is done. Even though school isn't done forever. I'm not too worried about the competition, the only thing that worries me is getting a work visa. That seems complicated. And hard.

OH! My condo? Awesome. Like woven from strands of awesome universe particles. And no one uses the pool, which is weird...but good 'cause then I can swim all i want. Downside: the giant poster of Roberto Luongo that stares into my windows all day...supercreep. I should post condo pictures too!

Talked to my younger cousin today, she's coming out with her mom and brother next weekish. Apparently she's getting another tattoo, one on her ribs. A plant of some kind with the script "tuesday's child is full of grace". Which prompted me to figure out what day of the week I was born on.

I was born on a Sunday!
You wanna know what Sunday's child is full of?
I sure did!
Turns out Sunday's child isn't full of anything:

"But the child born on the Sabbath day,
Is fair and wise and good and gay"



*cough*

Can I Kick It?

So Justin and I had an awesome change rolling party after I got home from the boat (that almost 200 dollars, be impressed). The boat trips have been frequent lately, and awesome. Tonight it was just me and Carling and Nevin and Brady and we had a fantastic time despite the fact that we got to the Marina and Carling's boat was missing. We found it. No worries.
I have a wicked summer 2009 soundtrack in the works. Someday soon I will uploads it. That was plural on purpose by the by. I also have a few choice videos from this summer that I won't be uploading but will make me smile when life sucks.
Tomorrow is my last night in Kelowna and as much as I'm excited for new schooling and new place (y'know my condo? the one that isn't ready? yeah...that one) and Van...I'm having a lot of fun and I don't really want to leave.
I really wish that this place had air conditioning.

Why yes, yes I would like to date your avatar

Just in case anyone was wondering why I have an epic crush on Felicia Day....of course I'm not sure why anyone wouldn't....

If he gets up, we'll all get up, it'll be anarchy.

I've been trying to stay quiet about John Hughes dying. There are people who knew him, and until now I've left the speaking to them. As for me, I'm just a kid who watched all his movies. Not just watched. I memorized them. I studied them. I learned from them. I grew up on those movies. When I got the text from Beth that he had died something hit me like a semi: John Hughes is the reason I want to be a writer.

I think that's all I need to say on the matter.

.guh.

So I haven't left the condo in like...two days...so I was searching stuff on the internet and I found some pictures that broke my brain. AND NOW I'M SHARING

Think of it as homework...or a summer reading list for film school

TV that I have watched this summer because I know that the internet really wants to know what I'm watching when I'm not in school...a LIST in alphabetical order:

Battlestar Galactica Season One

Criminal Minds Season One
Criminal Minds Season Two
Criminal Minds Season Three

Dark Angel Season One
Dark Angel Season Two

Entourage Season One
Entourage Season Two

Firefly Season Only & Serenity

Ghost Whisperer Season One

The Guild Season One
The Guild Season Two

Leverage Season One & everything that has aired so far in Season Two

Xena Season One
Xena Season Two
Xena Season Three
Xena Season Four...I just started Season Five so I dunno if I'll finish the series...look funny bits!





What's next on the roster you ask? Well in the queue I have:
24
Mad Men
Merlin
Dr. Who
Skins
30 Rock....
OH Sopranos...
and keeping up with Leverage, finishing Xena and Entourage
AND Beth and I are gonna watch Battlestar again 'cause she hasn't seen it.

What did you think I did this summer? Camp?