Before I show you the videos, I would like to point out my favourite quote by Brett was this one from last posting (emphasis mine, link added),
“I had the great privilege of working under Dan Sullivan, under Jim MacDonald, under David Wilson. People who went on to become icons of the industry were my training ground. That was my learning curve … was working under people where Integrity and a handshake meant everything. And so as a model, it meant a lot.”
Last year, I had wonderful chats with five successful Canadian business people Arlene, Jim, Kevin, Laurence,Robert (”Dragons” to the fans of Dragons’ Den) and Dianne (host of DD).
This year, I had the great pleasure to chat with Brett Wilson, chairman of FirstEnergy Capital, the newest investor in Dragons’ Den. As a bonus to me, we chatted at Brett’s beautiful home (some pictures in this post).
The following are part of my video chats with Brett. Feel free to leave a comment or feedback. Enjoy.
I will be posting the other video chats next week. Stay tune.
For the life of me - Mountaineer chronicles his Everest rescue by Calgarian Andrew Brash and defends those who left him for dead
Quotes from Yves Saint Laurent (1936 - 2008) * "I participated in the transformation of my era. I did it with clothes, which is surely less important than music, architecture, painting ... but whatever it's worth I did it." (2002) * New York Times slideshow and obituary
I had thought it might take me a few weeks or a month or two to arrange an interview with Calgarian Brett Wilson, chairman of FirstEnergy Capital, entrepreneur extraordinaire, and newest CBC Dragon. So I was surprised and delighted to hear from Brett this morning (a Sunday) inviting me to have a chat with him in his home (wow, my first visit to a Dragon's home, a true Dragon's Den).
And as expected, I had a nice and insightful chat with Brett. And he was as nice in person as I have heard from others and seen from his interview with Dragons' Den host Dianne Buckner.
It will take me some time to process and upload the videos. So here are a few photos for now. Stay tune for the videos and more photos.
I loveallkindsofgoodcomedies and I’ve always been curious about how comedies are created and the working of stand-up comedies as a business. I am excited and lucky that Calgary-based comedian Carmen Stockton has kindly agreed to help me to look into the funny business of stand-up comedy. (You can see a clip of Carmen’s comedy on Comedy Central here.)
In the beginning of this creative journey of cooperation with Carmen, l want to get to know more about her and we ended up chatting for 2 hours on and off camera.
In Part-1a, Carmen and I talked about many things including,
* How Carmen started doing comedy. Her trouble of doing “comedy” in class in grade 9 and what happened when the teacher found out.
* Her marriage, at 19, to a vacuum cleaner salesman with a lazy eye.
* Her first two shows - Rubberneckin’ (1993) and Afterthoughts (1995).
* And her leaving comedy behind (she thought at the time) after two years at that point and became a hair dresser.
In Part-1b, we talked about many things including,
* Carmen’s treasured comedy bag with all her notes, notebooks and ideas for her show. A look inside Carmen’s comedic mind.
* The material for CBC Comedy Festival in 2007. And how she created the show.
* Carmen showed the working notes that helped her remember the flow of each and every joke in the show. She walked through a three-minute joke in particular and gave us some interesting insight. (Note: This joke is in the Comedy Central clip.)
* Talked about the use of teleprompter in telecast performance.
* The poodle (Carmen’s step-mom) segment.
* Writing lots and lots as many jokes will never work.
In Part-1c, Carmen and I talked about many things including,
* The story of her comedy bit “Jesus Christ Carmen”.
* Carmen’s style of slow-burn comedy. A story teller of dry humour.
* The stories of Carmen’s four trips to LA to try to be a comedian there. [K: Very honest and insightful.]
* The logistic of a Canadian comic working in the US (especially in recent years).
* What bought Carmen back to Calgary from her most recent 2-year stay in LA?
* Coming back to become a comedian once again after 6.5 months of being a hair dresser.
* Carmen talks about her up-coming trip away to just write her new 45-minute show call Waiting to Exist. The general structure of the show.
By the way, after doing the researches, chatting with Carmen, and watching some of Carmen’s clips and performances, I have quickly become a fan of her. She has worked so hard. I wish Carmen will have a creative and fruitful trip in creating some wonderful comedy in the next few weeks. It has truly been my pleasure to be in this creative journey of cooperation with Carmen to look into the funny business of comedy.
P.S. Special thanks to my friend Christine Cheung for connecting me to Carmen.
*******
Carmen Stockton Bio
Carmen’s comedic career began in 1993 when she wrote, produced and starred in her first one-woman show Rubberneckin’. This was a love story for the ages; the haunting tale of her falling head over heals in love with a rubber sex doll. In 1995 the curtain rose on her second show Afterthoughts, the lighthearted look back on her not-quite-forever-marriage to a lazy eyed vacuum cleaner salesman. In 1998 Carmen took her unique comedic voice into the world of stand up comedy. She won the Yuk Yuk’s new talent competition in 1999 and during that same year was invited to perform at the prestigious Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. She has twice been featured on CBC’s nationally broadcast radio program Madly Off In All Directions in 2001 and 2003. In 2004 Carmen drew critical acclaim for her Canadian television debut for the CBC Comedy Festival and was invited back to film another gala in March of 2007 (airdate tba). In 2005 she made her American television debut for Comedy Central’s Premium Blend. After living in Los Angeles for the past few years, Carmen has come home to Canada…plastic surgery free and is now feverishly working on her new show Waiting To Exist scheduled to delight audiences in Spring of 2008.
City of Calgary 8:13 AM MDT Thursday 10 April 2008 Snowfall warning for City of Calgary issued
10 to 15 cm of snow this morning.
An intense and very localized snow storm has positioned itself over Calgary. Amounts of 10 to 15 cm can be expected before the snow tapers off later this morning. Areas just to the east and north of Calgary may also receive amounts of 5 to 10 cm.
Few days ago I spent sometime talking to Calgarian Ralph Maclean, a Hong Kong veteran who fought for Hong Kong in the Canadian army during the Second World War. In fact, Ralph was captured by the Japanese army and became POW for 3 years and 7 months. His love of Hong Kong has continued to this day and he actually visited HK in recent years and was part of a HK-made documentary about that war and these HK vets.
The reason of my chat with Ralph was that he was really upset and disappointed of what he saw how the Chinese government has mistreated the Tibetans and jailed other innocent Human Rights activists in China. He read this article “Olympics? I will not run, jump or dive in China” and wanted to hear our thoughts on it. So I called Ralph to share with him my thoughts.
I told Ralph that, in my humble opinion, having the Olympics in Beijing and the torch relay around the world can actually bring some unintended but needed attentions to Chinese Human Rights problems, the Tibet stalemate, and even Chinese investment in Sudan (which indirectly prolong the genocide in Darfur). The protests in London, Paris, and today in SanFrancisco created an unprecedented international platform to focus on, I repeat, Chinese Human Rights problems, the Tibet stalemate, and even Chinese investment in Sudan.
Membership to World Trade Organization, host country of the Olympics, de facto “Factory of the World”, etc are achievements that the Chinese should be proud of. At the same time, it is about time the Chinese government also starts to respect human rights, helping to halt the genocide in Darfur, etc.
Sebastian Coe, the chairman of the London Olympic Committee, has described the Chinese officials guarding the Olympic torch as “thugs”, piling more embarrassment onto the Games’ organisers. [...]
Lord Coe made the comments as a member of Channel 4 News staff was attempting to contact him over the telephone and they were accidentally connected via the switchboard to a private conversation.
“They tried to push me out of the way three times. They are horrible. They did not speak English … I think they were thugs,” he said.
In a statement, Channel 4 News said: “By chance Channel 4 News had attempted to contact Lord Coe’s press office via their switchboard and was accidentally connected to the conversation he was having with a colleague, a 2012 press officer Jackie Brock Doyle.”
Genie Award-winning Radiant City offers an entertaining look at life in suburbia.While Evan Moss zones out in commuter traffic, Ann toils away in her dream kitchen and the kids play sinister games amidst the fresh foundations of monster houses. Developers call it big business, but the Moss family call it home. Welcome to the neighbourhood and welcome to Radiant City -an entertaining and startling look at 21st century suburbanites and suburban sprawl.
I first saw Gary Burns' Radiant City at Calgary international film festival. (See a trailer here and more info on filmmakers here.) It is a very interesting movie and I quite liked it. Feel free to leave your comments or thoughts on the film in the comment section. And I will share with you my thoughts about it.
By the way, Gary is a Calgarian and it has been my pleasure to run into him a few times in Calgary at movies or industry events. Gary is a really nice guy.
Warning, there may be spoilers in the comments. So please considered yourself warned. (smile)
It was real nice to meet and hear Ryan Spencer Reed, photojournalist and contributing photographer to the Darfur/Darfur multimedia exhibit, spoke when he was in Calgary opening the exhibit. As I blogged previously, I found some the following videos in Ryan’s site,
In the following video, Ryan tells the story of how one of his photo was used by Newsweek very differently in its international edition and in its American edition. To me, it is a telling story of how US media are tailoring their story to their own national interest.
Here is my interview with Ryan where he shared with us his emotional experience in taking pictures in Sudan, and what can actions can people in the west take to stop the atrocities in Darfur (SudanDivestment.org).
After the Calgary chapter meet up, I interviewed Michael for a few minutes. The following is my first face-to-face interview in my Kempton’s Virtual Cafe series. I hope you will enjoy them and learn as much from them as I did.
Michael Geist Interview - Part 1 of 7
Michael Geist’s impression of meeting Fair Copyright for Canada Calgary chapter members.
Michael Geist Interview - Part 2 of 7
Michael gives an update on the copyright bill.
Michael Geist Interview - Part 3 of 7
Michael explains how to use “Access to information” as a tool to investigate and find out more information. (For example, www.onlinedemocracy.ca is a site that keeps a record of existing ATI requests.)
Michael Geist Interview - Part 4 of 7
With blog entries like “30 copyright things you can do” and “The Copyright MPs”, I ask Michael if he has always been politically active?
Michael Geist Interview - Part 5 of 7
How did Michael first get interested in internet law? And his view on the growing interest of the academics and general public in technology law.
Michael Geist Interview - Part 6 of 7
Michael talks about how internet is getting the voices of many people heard and reshaping our political processes, etc.
Michael Geist Interview - Part 7 of 7
Michael talks about current interests and focuses (including a discussion about ioptout.ca , a site that lets people opt out of annoying polling, “exempted” calls ).
P.S. Many thanks to Michael for meeting the members of the Calgary Chapter of Fair Copyright for Canada even after a non-stop day of workshop and seminar. And then spending another 30 minutes to chat with me. Thanks also go to the members of the Calgary Chapter who took time to meet and chat about Copyright and technology law issues to keep ourselves better informed of these important issues.
I had a wonderful experience taking part in the master-class with the documentary filmmaker Allan King this past Saturday. If you love documentary film making and have a chance to take Allan's master, I highly recommend taking it. Allan has been making documentary films for over 50 years! You can check out his website for his filmography, bio, and his collection trailer.
Just learned that Michael Geist, the man who makes Copyright "sexy" in Canada (and probably the world) will be in Calgary this Wednesday to give two talks. So I immediately contacted Michael and he was wonderful in agreeing to a "meet up" so Calgarians can have a chance to meet and chat with him.
Please sign up at the Facebook event so we know how many people are coming.
Date: Wednesday, April 2, 2008 Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm Location: Starbucks Coffee at the downtown Westin Hotel Address: 320 4th Ave. SW, Calgary
After months of work and organizing, the Darfur/Darfur multimedia project is finally in Calgary. Starting today until Friday March 21st, every evening from 7:00pm -11:00pm, one hundred fifty photographic images will be projected on the Glenbow Museum building façade facing Stephen Avenue mall with three powerful projectors. The exhibit, presented by Afrikadey and Glenbow Museum, provides an avenue of informing Calgarians about world affairs through art. Hopefully this will motivate action to alleviate the sufferings of Darfuris and other people around the globe who are victims of wars.The following is a brief summary of the schedule for the first four days (full schedule downloadable here from Afrikadey.com site),
Saturday, March 15, 5:00pm Walk for Darfur organized by STAND (Students Taking Action Now for Darfur) a symbolic walk from Shaw Millenium Park in solidarity with displaced Darfuris forced to flee to refugee camps.
The walk from Mewata Armory will proceed east on 8th Ave. SW to the Glenbow Museum to view the exhibit. Come join the students.
Sunday, March 16, 1pm - 4pm Free film series in the Glenbow Theatre - “Sand and Sorrow” (see film clips) narrated by George Clooney and “The Long Journey Home of James Nguen” directed by Rick Castiglione (Rick is a Calgarian and plans to be at the screening).
Sunday, March 16, 7:00pm Sen. Romeo Dallaire and members of Engineers Without Borders join the audience at the exhibit.
Monday March 17, 7:00pm Prof. Syed Soharwardy and members of the Muslim community will be present to view the exhibit. Prof. Soharwardy will speak on Muslim unity.
From the front page of Ottawa Citizen today (emphasis added),
As the Harper government prepares to introduce tougher new copyright rules, the Conservative party is being accused of using the theme song ["For the Love of Money"] from the reality TV show The Apprentice without permission of the record company that owns it.
At a press conference on Sunday, the Conservatives presented an election-style attack video about the alleged costs of Stéphane Dion's spending promises, set to the musical refrain of "money, money, money, money, mo-ney."
The Harper government and Minister Jim Prentice, who is the minister in charge of Copyright reform, should really know better than to use a copyrighted song without proper permission in a public performance that they know will be broadcasted and not just a private small function.
Yesterday at around 4pm, a group of us volunteers were having a rather serious meeting to talk about details of bringing the Darfur/Darfur multimedia project to Calgary at the Good Earth Café on 11 St. SW and 15 Ave. SW (pictured above). And then to the pleasant surprise of us and everyone else in the café, a charming bride in a beautiful wedding dress (an A-Line style dress?) walked in with her bridesmaids, groom, and groomsmen.
The beautifully charming bride and the group must have stayed for at least 5-10 minutes taking pictures and ordering coffees and snacks before they left. Sorry my fellow volunteers, I was paying way too much attention on what the bride was doing and was paying less attention to what you were saying (I did take notes (smile)).
I so much wish I had my good camera and snapped a few unobtrusive pictures to share with you here. The scene was charming, very happy and warm.
To the happy married couple, I wish you all the happiness in the world for many many years to come. I will treasure the beautiful pictures of you both in my mind.
To couples that are getting married in the future, may I suggest you visit some favourite hangouts of yours (coffee shops, restaurants, etc) and take a few pictures in full wedding dresses and tuxes. That should be fun and memorable for you and everyone that saw you. (smile)
Again, my best and warmest wishes to the married couple I met yesterday at Good Earth.
Kempton has worked as a software engineer for ten years in two large Canadian projects. After that, he attended the University of Calgary to earn a MBA degree and acquired some management consulting & entrepreneurial skills. With his MBA, he then decided to jump field and made a documentary. With no formal training, his first documentary "Long Hair Revolution" received funding from the National Film Board of Canada and was screened at the Calgary International Film Festival. Currently, Kempton holds what Charles Handy may call a "portfolio career" - blogging, business consulting, online content creation, etc. See his personal blog at WordPress (where I've posted my email address).
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