THE GGN JOURNALS – KICKSTART MY HEART…

December 31st,2012.. a new beginning awaits. The summer & fall has come and gone and it’s been a hell of a ride. Have you ever just been picked up by life and carried around in it’s grip and you just have no idea where you’ll end up or what journey this will bring? Let me just begin this journal entry by saying that this question is the ride I’m still currently on with this film and it’s process to get it out to the general public. I’m rounding second on 6 plus years I’ve been working on this project but to tell you the truth I’m still passionate about it. This documentary is something I felt I needed to make and the people I’ve met along the way have touched me in some way and made my perception of the world a better one. Sure we have our ups and downs with these encounters but ultimately I’ve learned something that I can apply to other things in my life. It’s really fuckin’ hard making a movie on your own dime… I’m not going to lie. You put yourself in to debt, start working crazy odd hour jobs to make time to make the film; you need to find the ultimate patience because you are usually on favors and people’s kindness with putting in those extra free hours to get the movie done. In the end it’s all about that final result. Does your movie have that impact you were looking for? Do you feel good about it? Was it worth the 6 plus years of work? Of course it is; when you commit to something that your passionate about you have to follow through to build confidence in yourself and allow the people who helped you along the way know it was not for nothing. I highly recommend taking the seat belt off if you have dreams clawing away at your brain. You need to try at least… life is too short and that is the one thing I truly learnt this summer and fall as I went through some serious highs with finishing the film but hit some serious lows as well with certain relationships in my life ending. People you think your going to be friends forever suddenly are gone and it’s not necessarily a bad thing but it’s how random life can be as it can change so quickly. You appreciate that time you did spend with them… it was amazing. It was indeed an interesting year. As we head into the winter the hustle for awareness heats up. GGN heads into film festival season for 2013 as well as some special screenings at WMC and a few universities. We just signed a distribution deal and are so close to the finish line. The one thing that stands in my way is my final post session which has been on hold since are sneak peek back in May. I do have a private link of the film on vimeo which I'm willing to share with you if you take time to read this BLOG. The private LINK is - https://vimeo.com/42656103 / PASSWORD is ADMITONE - Feel free to check out the film and understand what has been created... which brings me to my question to YOU! I need your HELP! In the immediate we are trying to raise these final post-production costs through Kickstarter.com. Let me tell you about the campaign… We have 50 days left of the campaign to raise 15,000 dollars through the art fundraising site known as Kickstarter. This site is a unique place where people are actually raising some serious funds for their projects. The kickstarter.com community seems to embrace the talented underdog that can’t rely on the studio system. GGN fits this bill as a passion project documentary… not a Die Hard Dance floor blockbuster where Bruce Willis takers over the turn tables and kicks some German techno ass and saves the world from Deter domination. We don’t have those studio bucks and my credit cards have reached the max. With this campaign we hope to raise awareness of our quality project and give something back in the process to the people who support us. What this means is that we have an incentive plan built in to the donation system. This is what makes this particular site more user friendly. You not only get that good feeling when you help people we have some cool incentives which include an amazing WMC DJ experience at the top of the list all the way down to owning the movie with any donation you make. The trick with Kickstarter.com is that you need to reach your money goal or you get none of the cash you raise. You could be only hundreds of dollars away you need to make that goal. Our hope is we go beyond our goal… 20,000 would really help the cause but I have to be realistic and create a goal that’s hopefully more attainable. My hopes when you see our new video asking for support as well as just a look at the site, the other sneak peeks on our youtube channels, as well as the great music the global DJ community is giving to us for YOU the listener and party-goer! Check out are soundcloud page for that.. Everything can be found on in are ABOUT US section on are site - www.groovetheglobe.com Check out this KICKSTARTER LINK to get you on your way to helping the GGN cause – http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/59867650/the-global-groove-network Any donation you can provide would truly be appreciated. We don't have a lot of time so please pledge right away if it feels right. We need to create momentum with the campaign so the more backers immediately always helps. Again.. no donation is too small. It's the gesture and help that is truly appreciated! Thank you for your support and until next time…

GGN JOURNALS - MY SUMMER SOUNDTRACK

June 27th, 2012 As we approach the end of June and the summer has officially begun, I can’t help but start putting together some play lists for my summer soundtrack. Every year I like to reflect on the music and artists that I’ve been listening to over the course of my 35 years on this planet; it brings back memories and creates new ones, which always helps me creatively, as a writer and filmmaker. These play lists symbolize more then just genres of music but have become reflections of my collective inspiration and a journey into my perception of popular culture. This perception is something that is important to me as a filmmaker because I feel that if I want to tell a story to the world I need to understand what society is responding to. I know what I like when it comes to music but what I’ve been doing recently, is sharing with people, through the social media world to help deliver me more options. When I started this documentary process I had certain outlets to discover music. These were great outlets and still are, but as GGN has grown and I have met more people I have been introduced to many more outlets that has exposed me to some killer music. House music obviously became something of an ocean of possibilities because of the GGN brand but I started also getting exposed to a lot more stuff through people because of the message in the movie. What has been really cool, with the power of the internet and these new social media outlets, is that the art of sharing music has evolved in such a way that music has really became universal. Of course this also means garbage music can hit you in a bigger way but ultimately the positive meaningful stuff that makes it onto my I-POD is because of this stuff that is continually sent to me through GGN. This summer thus far has been particularly abundant since we finished the film in May… Dance Music in North America has blown up this year and the influence of the all mighty bass beat in pop music has been significant. I know this won’t last, because as with all cycles of musical genres, especially electronic music, it seems to implode from exposure and make its way back to the underground. I still can’t help but enjoy these moments though because right now seems like such a personal feeling of reflection because of the themes in my movie. Back in the late 90s Toronto was going through something similar with the Rave Explosion and popularity electronic music had for the generation x crowd. With big festivals like Digital Dreams and VELD being put together with big sponsorship dollars this summer, great ticket sale demand, and genuine interest in dance music from the youth of today, I feel like I’m in a time warp. The experience has evolved but it’s essentially the same. The Global Groove Network film feels incredibly relevant right now and I’m excited to screen it for audiences because I think it’s very relatable. Everyone has a soundtrack and after reading this I hope you’ll put some time in by creating your own 2012 summer soundtrack to reflect on your years down the road. What I thought might be interesting is to give you a list that I just recently created of tracks that reflect me and what I like to feel at this moment in my life. I have many play lists on my I-Pod to define my mood but what I thought would be good is to give you some tracks that are part of the soundtrack for my film. These tunes all have strong memories attached to them when I was making this documentary and if you like electronic music both chill and up beat there should be a tune or two that you’ll want for your future play lists. GGN SUMMER SOUNDTRACK – 1. Flowers – Armand Van Helden 2. Dream Machine – Mark Farina 3. Big Love – Pete Heller 4. Show me the Way – DJ Sneak 5. Bushes – Markus Nikolai 6. Riders on the Storm / Pink Solidism – Yonderboi 7. Under My Sensi – Boozoo Bajou – Satta 8. Feel Good Song – Rocket Empire 9. Cry (Just a little) – Bingo Players 10. So Much Love – Fedde Le Grand 11. Feel so Close – Calvin Harris 12. I Don’t Care – (DJ Dan re-edit) 13. We Live for the Music – Robbie Riveria 14. Back in the Wild – GreensKeepers I hope you enjoy the track selections… Everything is available on I Tunes. Support the music and the artists that make it by buying it and not pirating it. Check us out on SOUNDCLOUD for more great music and mixes from the DJs involved in the film that are available for FREE… LINK: http://soundcloud.com/groovetheglobe Until next time… ARE YOU LISTENING?

GGN JOURNALS - TESTING, TESTING, 123...

March 18, 2012

Life can be such a rollercoaster sometimes. The unpredictable ups and downs, winding curves, and the speed of time that can put the weight of the world on ones shoulders like a G-Force tornado of stress. For myself, 2011 ended well but as 2012 began I have been on a rollercoaster ride that has almost made me sick from the constant tests that life has been throwing at me. In three short months I was beginning to lose faith in myself because of how many overwhelming challenges were being put in my path. As of today things have settled down but with our upcoming premiere of the film in May, I feel and hope I’ve survived the worst. Fingers crossed!

To get you up to speed on what it takes to finish a film you really need to understand commitment. Commitment is a scary word for most and as you get older it can become more of a challenge. You get into your routines, you have to schedule your life around paying bills, and if you have kids… kids is a realm of time consumption that is hard to dictate! Lucky enough I don’t have kids at the moment, I couldn’t afford the time needed, but to be honest I look at my film and the six year commitment that I’ve made to it as something like raising a child. You have to teach your film how to talk through story… you have to support it financially… cuddle it and give it love so that it can be the best movie it can be. Now being a documentary it becomes almost like a troubled child because the story isn’t as clear as it would be with something more scripted. You have to be patient… sometimes wait on the right relationships to happen with your baby to make it grow and become the adult you want it so much to be. This documentary experience is something I had no idea would take me six years to accomplish. I jumped in and didn’t think it through. Based on my past film making experience; I thought two years tops. The time went by in a blink of an eye…

The last few weeks especially have been very tiring and stressful even though this should be a time of celebration. On March 5th we had our first official TEST SCREENING. Even though my editor’s father passed away the week before he was able to deliver a cut for me and honor his commitment. My luck with my editing staff has been one of the biggest stresses for me over the years. I’ve had great editors work on it but commitments were always challenged because it wasn’t a huge paying job. Independent films are tough and the biggest reason for failure always comes down to money. Along with the test screening stresses the week before with my editor’s dad’s death I was downsized at the job I was doing, that was helping to pay the bills. You see I worked in a restaurant as a server for the last 4 years, a small restaurant. The owners duped me in to believing they respected me and instead didn’t have the balls to talk to me about it and served me a letter from a part time manager. It was so tacky and a true blindside. All this happened at the worst possible time because of the financial commitments we made with starting this film. My wife and I have been paying off six-figure debt for the last 5 years going after this filmmaking dream and because it was my initial dream, I feel over responsible. Along with these things happening, my wife’s mother fell very ill, our landlords are trying to rack up the rent on us and my wife was rear ended by someone texting which gave her whiplash. It was truly the weirdest chain of bad luck happening all at the same time… I was so stressed out that I couldn’t enjoy the test screening and my accomplishment because now I was faced to hustle and find a new job. I felt like I was getting a daily pop quiz that I didn’t have answers too.

As the month of March starts to wind down I can say that things are starting to get back on track. The comments were great at the test screening and with our final tweaks happening this month the sound mix is only two weeks away! The sound mix and color correction are always the last things done and always give a director some ease. The finish line is close; with a date in May booked for our premiere in Toronto before the film festival circuit, I’m starting to get excited. Along with the screening coming together I managed to only be out of work for 3 weeks, thank god! The cool thing too is I was ready to leave the last place in June 2011 after the owners disrespected my wife during a fundraiser event for women’s cancers at their restaurant. I was sticking around due to seniority and the bigger picture of time management to get the film done… I was sacrificing my sanity in a big way with these people. Now that it’s over and I’m working in a new place that is great, I reflect on it all as just being a TEST.

Tests are handed out daily to all of us. The one thing we always need to remember is that tests help us learn and make us stronger. Can they suck? Of course! But as I look back at some of my journal entries over the years I realize they had purpose. Don’t give up on your dreams and don’t let people bring you down. Life is a beautiful thing when you begin to understand it more and grow wiser as the years go by. Until the next entry… Stay cool party peeps!

If you would like to come to our Premiere on Friday May 11th in Toronto please feel free to email me at courtney@admitone.ca. The space is limited so let me know ASAP. For all the updates on what’s new with us…

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PS.

And remember... The restaurant you should never go to is CAFÉ CALIFORNIA in Toronto. The food is inconsistent, the décor is from 1988, and the owners are FAKE as FUCK! There is too many great restaurants in TO that deserve your love! Cheers!!