Canadian girl out and aboot

I've been busy this week, but it's been good. On Tuesday, I hawked "Ricepaper" at a reading by Denise Chong. Denise Chong is a BC writer who wrote The Concubine's Children, a story about her mother's childhood and experiences as the daughter of a concubine. I think I read the book years ago, but I don't remember it very well.

Denise was a wonderful speaker. Usually I hate it when authors break up their writing by talking in between, but Denise was an excellent storyteller and really made it work. She was compelling to listen to, and very open and honest with the audience. She also talked about writing about personal material, and letting the world read it. I really needed to hear this, because I've been nervous about my own poetry collection. The first section is a collection of poems based on my own mother's childhood, and I'm nervous about how my aunts and mother will react. Denise made me feel more comfortable with the idea, and I had a good conversation with my mom about it this weekend.

Film class is wonderful. This week we discussed "Magnolia" and its storytelling techniques. I still don't care for the movie, as I think it is bloated. It's definitely not my style of storytelling, but I do have a greater respect for P.T. Anderson after the class discussion. About half the class liked the movie, and the other half did not. We had an excellent discussion about narrative structure. Learning about the different forms of narrative structure in terms of film has been very useful to me as a writer. I know that plot structure has sometimes been a weak are for me, and studying it in another medium helps me to look at it in a new way that I've already managed to bring over to my fiction. I plan to read a lot more about screenplays and screenplay writing, but I feel little desire to write one right now, preferring to concentrate my efforts on short stories and the novel I'm brewing up.

One thing I did ask my teacher is how one becomes an adapter. I would love to take novels and adapt them for the screen and think that I would be particularly good at it because of my love for both mediums and my love of editing. Unfortunately, you have to be a fairly accomplished screenwriter and have your own original material before most places will hire you on. I find that many of the book to film adaptations that I tend to like are ones where the writer was heavily involved in the creation of the screenplay.

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This weekend I also watched "Honey, we're killing the kids", which I found fascinating. It's a one hour reality show on TLC in which families with weight and exercise issues have to undergo lifestyle changes given to them by nutritionist Dr. Lisa Hark. The parents are shown a computer projection of what the kids will look like at age 40 and each week, Dr. Hark delivers them some tasks to do to become healthier. Aside from diet and exercise changes, families have to focus more on healthy communication patterns and habits. It's pretty interesting.

I also watched the first episode of "Alice, I think", which is a new Canadian series that I've been anticipating because I loved the books by Susan Juby. The casting was great and the tone was similar to the books, which means it's sort of a dark humour. It's about a teenager who starts high school in the small town of Smithers, BC after she's been homeschooled for years. I hope to watch more if I can. It's on the Comedy Network right now, which means I can only watch it if I happen to be home when it's on. I might just have to catch it again when it's broadcast on CTV. (If you do watch it, look for [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]'s husband as Marcus)

Remember how I got Tommy Chong's phone number?

Well, I just called him up to see if I could still do an interview with him the next time he's up in Canuckistan and actually got the man himself!!

He should be up here sometime in June, to get ready for his book tour and see the relatives. We had a short chat and he told me he remembered me and gave me his e-mail address so I can contact him again to set something up.

My heart is still pounding away from the adrenalin I got from my nervousness.

Short version- Remember how I've been wanting to interview Tommy Chong and have been trying to get some contact information for him? Well, I met him and now I have his cell phone number.


Long version- As I normally do, I spotted a man who looked like Mr. Chong. The man was accompanied by another man. I followed them up the stairs and over to the gardening section. I waited patiently for a few minutes, until Tommy's companion stopped talking.

Me- I'm sorry to interrupt. Are you Tommy Chong?
Tommy- Yes, I am.

Me, shaking his hand- Hi, my name is Alexis K. I work for Ricepaper, an Asian Canadian magazine and I've been trying to get a hold of you for a while. You have that new biography coming out and I would really like to do an interview with you. I have been trying to get through to you, but you're a very hard person to find.

Tommy- Well, the feds found me. (Laughs)

Me- Well, yeah. (laughs)

Tommy- "Would you like some contact info?"

Me- I would love it.

Tommy walks over to the counter and grabs a pen and a post-it. He writes his name on the post it and hands it to me. I see that he has written a phone number.

Tommy- That's my cell phone number. You can call me on that.

Me- Thank you. Where are you living now? (I asked because I didn't recognize the area code he wrote.)

Tommy- I have a house in West Van and one in the Pacific Palisades.

Me- Thank you so much. I really appreciate this. Have a good day.


He has a white beard and his hair is completely white now. He also has a wonderfully rich voice, a great laugh and really warm brown eyes.I hope to heck that he gave me his real phone number. He seemed genuine, and I don't see why someone would give out a fake phone number. Now I have to do some research and figure out some questions to ask!

*When I told my roommate the story, she said that having Tommy Chong's phone number almost gives me cult status.