My Love is a Red, Red Spy

Way back in 1992 or so, Edmonton's Film and Video Arts society (FAVA) was holding a short film contest, and I decided I wanted to compete. I enlisted a bunch of my friends from the University of Alberta Star Trek Club and the Bleak House of Blahs to write and shoot My Love is a Red, Red Spy, the first in a planned series of adventures of Government Grant, my spy/civil servant alternate identity. Jeff Shyluk and I wrote what is probably our second-best screenplay (after Toilet Chase) and we were ambitious enough to secure props, scout locations and even include a car chase with a stunt. 

Poor Ron Briscoe took the brunt of the abuse in this film - I had him flung into a snowbank and he had to crawl across an icy parking lot for the film's climax. It was minus 30. 

For some reason I think Colin Dunn was originally enlisted to cameo as Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, but I don't think that's him at the beginning - it appears to be Jeff. 

Shot and edited on VHS, the video and sound quality are far from high definition, and at a couple of points you can even hear me saying "cut!" I'm also a little uncomfortable with some of the rather juvenile sexism, even though this is supposed to be a James Bond parody. But I think some of the gags are still pretty funny, and I enjoy seeing my friends act. I think they're pretty good! 

Gaming and Guiness VI

Stephen Fitzpatrick has already blogged at length about G&G VI, the annual "friend summit" he originated over a half-decade ago. I described last year's gathering in detail here. This year, rather than retread old ground, I merely present a selection of images that capture a small smidgen of the fun we had.

First, the participants:

G&G Guru Steve Fitzpatrick

Host Mike Totman

Swag organizer, graphic designer and chef Peter Harris.

Warhammerhead Scott Friel

Island Mike Parlow

Jeff "The Flash" Pitts

Rob "Mr. Intensity" Day

Earl J. "Tries to Fit In" Woods

And special guest Dave Ticheler of Grande Prairie

As usual, I was working for the first couple of days of the festivities, unable to get away from work when the Legislature is in session. But I did arrive in time to snap a few photos of this year's impressive Warhammer 40,000 battle, with new winter terrain custom-built by Scott:

Once the war between fascist humans and demonic monsters was over, we enjoyed a more earthbound pastime: the racing game Formula De. I usually do pretty well at this, but this year I flamed out big time, taking a corner too fast and wrecking my car.

Usually we attend a film on Friday night, but this year we decided instead to attend the Rammstein concert. I can't say I appreciated the music much, but I certainly admired the showmanship and spectacle of this very energetic German band.

Scott's brother Dustin sometimes drops in on G&G; this year, we saw him only at the concert.

Our little geek festival formally concludes with Circvs Maximvs, the Roman chariot racing game. We always begin by watching the chariot race from Ben Hur, then do our best to emulate the gripping action of that amazing Charlton Heston epic. As noted last year, Mike, Steve and Pete crafted an amazing custom game board, trophy and chariot teams, turning a fairly simple papercraft game into something epic.

As last year's reigning champion, everyone was out to defeat Jeff this time. But he evaded all comers and once again won the laurel wreath. I finished last, an improvement over last year, when I didn't finish at all, crashing out.

By the time Circvs Maximvs concludes, the guys are usually drunk enough to indulge in Rock Band, AKA "home karaoke." I don't really have a good excuse.

Mike usually gives me the finger whenever I try to take his picture, and yet for Steve he does this.

As always, G&G was a year's worth of fun packed into just a few days. I'm grateful to Steve, Pete and Mike for handling the organizational heavy lifting, and the others for just being there to have a good time.