The first idea was from an artist I know named Olin Unterwegner. I think this is a good cause, but I really didn't want to choose a topic that was so political.
It would be good to let minorities vent about how twisted the world is right now. I told Olin that the idea would be considered if I can figure out how to make a div that
people on the web can post a response to, but it seems like it will fuel hatred and fighting and I'm not really ok with that.
Then a fellow student in the same authoring class chimed in saying he was struggling with topic ideas too. His name is Tom P. Anderson and he is also a first-time film director
who owns a film company called Mahilum Films. We talked about James Cameron and how it takes him ten years to make a new film. It took Tom and I around two years to wrap up our films.
Well....mine still needs a couple scenes and then it goes off to a New York sound engineer.
Right in the middle of our conversation, Mia Tyler, daughter of rock star Steven Tyler messaged, "You lost me at 'I am studying'". A few years ago I stayed at her place in Los
Angeles while we had a meeting with Rough House Pictures. I'm not sure if she thinks it's lame to go to school, or she is just saying she never studies, but recently she has been
posting about these crazy, loud neighbors who she complains about as she tries to turn up her music to drown them out. I responded saying that could be what the website is about.
She said, "like" so I hoped that meant she was ok with it. Not sure.
Next Tom and I talked movies and it was on to see if there would be any more ideas.
Next we have Shelly Miller. I remember her from back when I would do stand up comedy at a place called Sukis Bar and Grill. She's a sweet old lady that all the comedians would
call "Mom". She had a great idea, if I knew much about him, to do a biography website on former mayor Bud Clark. I didn't know much about Bud so I started researching. I found
out that he is the guy on the classic poster called "Expose Yourself to Art". In it, it shows him doing exactly that, opening a trench coat and flashing a Portland statue. He also
owns the Goose Hollow Tavern which I have never heard of. This idea was good enough to be in my top two favorites.
Next was a very random idea from a old high school buddy of mine who owns a (soon to be opened) bar where he will be serving his brewing company's finest micro-brews in Vancouver.
He had the idea to do it on pickles. Specifically baby dill pickles. This is the least shocking of the ideas so I put it in my top two picks in first place. I asked him if he was just trying to make
a dick joke, but he said he wasn't. It turns out he loves dill pickles and says there is probably a unique history about them going all the way back to the vikings. I looked it up
and sure enough pickles do have an interesting story. I might want to talk about why everyone fights over what is better, sweet or dill pickles.
Then my funny, but morbid brother Ty chimed in with his idea about a strange funeral business that employs a ventriloquist to puppeteer dead loved ones one last time before
they are laid to rest. This is sad, but if this wasn't a school project I would draw original drawings of this to look like a "Creepshow-style" graphic novel/brochure guide. I didn't
officially want to pick this idea because it's too gross for the class and other students may be going through a death in the family so it's a no-go.
The last post was by local legend of Vancouver Jared McClanahan. I distinctly remember going to grade school with him and his sister Jamie McClanahan. I think I remember him
getting in trouble for vandalizing a wall-ball wall at the elementary school I went to. He is the only Trump voter I have on my facebook, but I keep him around because some of
his posts are funny. He had a perfect, but challenging idea of me doing a storytelling website about all the Vancouver Bar Legends. I know one guy who drinks heavily at Peking Garden
in up-town Vancouver named Dancing Dan. I have made a cartoon about him called "Juke Box Wars". There are funny bartenders and characters all over Vancouver. You just have to
know where to look. This idea is great, but too time consuming to make all the drawings in two weeks. Sorry Jared. I will consider this for a Christmas break idea, but hopefully
the Vancouver Legends won't find out about this if I do.
