I had a spiritual experience in the theater yesterday. Facilitated by Marion D’Cruz.
Surrounded by an audience of awkwardly dressed students, she walked, danced and Gostan-ed Forward about the room, recounting her artistic history in the most natural way.
‘Is what I do called ‘dance’?’
She threw that question at us and just waited. Sipping from her plastic [...]
Archive for the ‘Everyday Heroes’ Category
Penipu Chilayu!
Posted in Everyday Heroes, Muses, Recipes for Creativity, tagged art, dance, marion d'cruz, performance, retrospective, theatre on 2 November 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Case of the Curious Casting Call
Posted in Everyday Heroes, Recipes for Creativity, tagged abuse, courage, creativity on 28 September 2009 | 1 Comment »
M: So what was your movie about?
G: Domestic abuse.
M: Abuse? Why on earth did you make a film about abuse?
G: Because I have first hand experience.
M: Come on! You?!?
G: My father used to do things to my mum. It used to really piss me off. So I made a film about it.
M: Does your father [...]
The Reluctantly Retired Stunt Man
Posted in Everyday Heroes, Muses, Recipes for Creativity, tagged actors, committment, pain, sacrifice on 23 September 2009 | 1 Comment »
At 15, Beto began his film career as a stunt man. (Let’s ignore for a moment the fact that a 15 year old is allowed to do stunts on a film set.)
I learned a very important lesson from Beto: You can take the actor out of the stunt, but you can’t take the stunt man [...]
“She knows I is a Production Guy”
Posted in Everyday Heroes, Now where do I put this?, tagged filmmaking, location, near death, production, sacrifice on 16 September 2009 | Leave a Comment »
There was once where Ah Leong went for 3 months without seeing his 5 year old daughter.
Then she called one day, “Daddy, have you forgotten that you have a daughter?!”
He laughs out loud with an “Oh shit man!” as he tells me this.
I am, of course, perplexed. If my daughter said that to me, would [...]
A breed unlike any other
Posted in Everyday Heroes, Now where do I put this?, tagged production, sacrifice on 12 September 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Movies tell stories.
But behind every production there are a thousand other dramas, many of them far more heart-breaking, inspiring and funny than anything ever put on screen.
Francois Truffaut once famously said, “I want a film I watch to express either the joy of making cinema or [...]
I try to not get personal but this time…
Posted in Days of Solitude, Everyday Heroes, Gin and I, tagged anniversary, filming, love, marriage, production, sacrifice, shoot, wedding on 11 September 2009 | 6 Comments »
It was my wedding anniversary on the 1st of September.
I spent a total of 3 minutes with my Gin.
I rushed into the house at 7.57am after a night of intense shooting, smelling terrible and looking even worse.
“Hi honey, happy anniversary, I need to use the loo.”
We were both rushing.
2 minutes later I scrambled back to [...]
Flattened
Posted in Everyday Heroes, Now where do I put this?, Spirituality, tagged big questions, death, difficulties, illness, sickness, Spirituality, suffering, terminal illness, tests on 20 April 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Jolene was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. Soon after they did an MRI and discovered little spots in her brain, liver and bones. As far as the best professionals could tell, her fate was sealed. She was not supposed to last more than a few months but it’s 4 years on now and she’s [...]
Really, how are you?
Posted in Days of Solitude, Everyday Heroes, Muses, tagged cancer, healthcare, love, medicine, mental health, nursing, patients on 17 April 2009 | Leave a Comment »
At about 11pm every night, just as the other patients are falling into a deep sleep, Susan would get out of bed and start making a racket.
She would walk up and down the halls in the ward, talk to people, disrupt the work of nurses and prevent the ill from a restful recovery sleep. Her [...]
Me Tarzan, you…?
Posted in Everyday Heroes, Muses, tagged animal activist, animal rights, career, jungle, life decisions, rainforest, true purpose on 18 March 2009 | 1 Comment »
Okay, her name is NOT Jane, it’s Loretta.
And it’s not a chimp up there, it’s an orang utan.
But this is as close one can get to a tree swingin’ Jane in this day and age.
Loret was a budding law student when I first met her. She had failed to get through her final year multiple [...]
Deceitful, Manipulative, Threatening
Posted in Days of Solitude, Everyday Heroes, tagged Baha'i, iran, love, persecution, religion on 10 March 2009 | 1 Comment »
The words above are but some of the accusations being hurled at these friends and their communities.
Today, all those in the picture above are going to be put on trial by an extremist regime trying to systematically exterminate the Baha’i community in Iran.
The Ayatollah needs an easy target to victimize, harass and oppress. If they [...]
