way down upon the Fraser river, far, far away

Far away from my place, another week on the WWE film, "Santa's little helper", this week it was a straight shot Cambie St. from our base camp (circus) to downtown for my cast and director pick-ups.

We were situated beside the mighty Fraser River for the week, looking west you can see the Richmond, with the Oak Street bridge in the foreground.

This sky-train bridge runs from downtown to the airport.

Looking east

Log booms on the river always fascinate me for some reason.

This sandpiper is wondering why the "circus" has come to it's part of the world.

a Christmas movie needs snow, right? but this is the only evidence of the white stuff I saw today. Where did they find it in May, outside a hockey arena?

on set , Santa, sans snow, is taking a break

hey, that tugboat took my log boom!

One of my duties is to pick up actors at the airport. Today my pick got help up in customs for over 3 hours. I can't go anywhere in case I miss him, and these Clayoquot welcome statues were starting to talk to me!

When they are filming inside a house, I choose not to go in, with all the crew and actors and director, I start to get claustrophobia.

But I did sneak a peak at lunch. In the movie this is the house owned by the lead, and WWE star, Mike "the Miz" Mizanin. 

another film parking pylon succumbs to the mighty Teamster drivers! (an inside joke)

Out caterers on this show have treated us pretty well, breakfast and lunch are always good eating.

random, this Christmas wreath was on a park bench right across from the house we were filming at. 

Somewhere along the line, I picked up a nail, and ended up with a flat tire. While I was at the tire shop, I saw this headline on the t.v. in the waiting room. Go here to see the story.

Alleys fascinate me as well for some reason. I was going for lunch with my brother in the downtown eastside close to Hastings. Walking back to my car, I watched a guy (by the blue on the left) on his hands and knees for over 1/2 an hour, oblivious to everything going on around him. My brother told me he is probably coming down from a crack high, and he is feeling around hoping to find some more, how sad.
Makes you appreciate what you have, and to get to work on a feel good Christmas movie.

Dont sweat it, Santa!

Another week on the WWE film, "Santa's Little Helper". How did the stars, Mike, "the Miz" Mizanin and Annalynne McCord end up on the floor of my car? (well, I ended up being a follow vehicle when the actors were driving around Maple Ridge in one of the scenes. The camera monitor is shown here, and I was driving the director, the director of photography, the script supervisor, the executive producer, and the assistant director behind the "picture car")

The week started at this entertainment center in Langley, the Great Escape. (our cable truck, which has all the cable to power up the productions when we are on the road is hogging the parking out front)

I know I am getting old. When I went in and saw all the games, laser tag, jungle gyms, tree forts, and a bunch of other kid friendly things, I thought, no thanks!

Definitely a zoo, albeit, a different kind of zoo.

and then just like that, we move from the man made to the natural, filming moved to Maple Ridge Park.

a lovely creek runs through, although, even with internet, I cannot find the name of this body of water. Never mind, found it, Allouette River!

The scene today was at Wildplay. (hey, I'm a poet and I don't even know it!)

This place was wild. People pay to play in a  tree top obstacle course.

The scene today was a challenge between two elves competing for the illustrious title of head elf.



One of my Teamster brethren, Anthony, looking all sheepish bringing a smart car in for one of the scenes tomorrow. (don't blame him, I personally would not be caught dead in one of these thangs!

Omg! The stunt elves are shooting a scene high above.

The boom lift was in place to transport the actors and stunt people up and down

all for the love of Santa??????????????

The next day the filming was on the road in Maple Ridge. The two leads spent all day in this little smart car, as the crew chased them up and down the streets.

We had to pull over and adjust some of the equipment, and these horses came running over to see what the heck was going on!

We ended the week in the historic town of Fort Langley. (the scene is a youth center is scheduled to be demolished, but at the last minute, miraculously, a special couple arrived to save the day

You better believe! Mrs. and Santa Claus save the day! (the crazy thing was, it was a record setting day, today, it got up to 27 Celsius, I guess the snow will show up in post production.) Hence, don't  sweat it Santa.

I racked up a ton of kilometres with the cast and director vehicle this week, time for some maintenance at Mr. Lube. (no link, not thrilled with their pushy sales tactics).

Round and Round we go..............

Week two on the WWE film, Santa's Little Helper. Today we were in the resort town of Whistler, aka: "the north pole"

Santa's workshop was in this private ski lodge

There's my Teamster buddy Tracy babysitting the director's dog, Skittles.

Apparently it was not sunny enough at the North Pole

Beside the lodge, the Skunk Cabbage was starting to bloom.

I had to leave Whistler early, so my ride was the utility van for the show, which seemed kind of familiar.

Oh yes, it was used as a picture vehicle on the zombie flic, "Dead Rising"!, which I worked on last year.

I had to leave early so I could get to the airport to catch a flight. That's mine, AC 156, 22:30 to Toronto

Gate 49 and on time. It was an interesting flight, at least to me anyways.  Boeing 777, 450 passengers, my section had 10 seats across, no room of course. At the height of the flight we were 37,000 feet up and doing a speedy 1000 kmh!

Ahhhh, the red eye, landing in Toronto just as the sun is coming up. No time to sleep because..............

It's straight into meetings and training for the 2015 Pan-Am games torch relay, which will travel around Ontario for 41 days (representing the 41 countries that will participate) .

Part of the meeting was on sensitivity training. Jake and Lonnie joined us. Lonnie (a paraplegic)  (behind the chair) was one of our endurance athletes on the 25th anniversary Rick Hansen relay in 2012. Lonnie is also a B.A.S.E. jumper. Check this link out for an example. Jake, a  quadriplegic, (fell off a roof) did an incredible job as a host for the Rick Hansen relay, travelling with us for the entire 9 months.

People are starting to gather outside of the Corus media building.

It's a test event, so the gang puts together the torches, let's see if they work

success! (the real event does not start until the end of May)

Kind of a slick view of the C.N. tower from my hotel room.

a fading icon on the water at the foot of Yonge street, Captain John's seafood. It is now closed, check this link out to see the whole fascinating story.  (F.Y.I, the area around the ship smell like sewage, just sayin.)

Day two, more meetings, try and stay focused Monty!



 I can't! "Sugar Beach" is waiting right outside the window!

The view from the 8th floor.

This painting was commissioned for the torch relay. Even in this pic, it has a 3-D effect.

Saturday morning, our fearless leader, Otto, is lighting the lanterns that will light the torches for our test run in Hamilton. (The actual flame for the Pan-Am games is in Mexico City and will be flown up to Toronto at the end of May)

The practice torch bearers. Reminds me of being on the 2010 Olympic torch relay, except the clothing, 2010 was definitely a Canadian winter experience.