San Juan Bautista, California: Where you hope your actors have good memories!

A Facebook page I know has a cover photo of a place very dear to my heart: San Juan Bautista. 0:)

Lovely place in the Californian countryside where I have spent many hours with friends and joining in local activities. We had been hoping to film there for "Story Ark" but it turns out the property we were hoping to use has now become unavailable.

http://www.sanjuanbautistaca.com/

The Plaza Hotel is in the San Juan Bautista State Historic Park and if you enter through the saloon, you'll find a hallway leading down below street level. At the end is a wonderful private cinema, one of the first in California: That's where we were hoping to film. Sadly, we've been told this is because of the instability of the ground beneath the old property where the basement cinema is situated.

Still planning to include the old private cinema in the plot but we'll either have to recreate it as a set or find another one in an historic property somewhere else.

Hoping maybe the actor taking the role (of the character who was going to use that room) may have some ideas! He used to live in San Juan Bautista and returns there every so often. He knows the private cinema involved so hopefully he remembers it well enough for us to create some computer generated sets or can get together with our Arts department to build a set.

Otherwise, in that case, it may be back to the drawing board (so to speak) and creating it completely fresh: Always a bit disappointing when you had something particular in mind that you wanted to make happen! 0:(

Ellen 0:)
Ellen F. Walker

Man does not live by bread alone! 0:)

Finally getting back to having more in my life than work as a Journalist and Executive Producer or Conceptualist! Finding time to get some reading done; even if most of it is research related and joined at the hip to productions and assignments. 0:)

In that light, I have various articles and interviews I've promised and I need to catch up on, now the work load is shifting away from being focused completely on Production and Newspath work. I owe so many articles, interviews and manuscripts it is wayyyyyy beyond a joke.

An article requested by a magazine covering Ken Duncan and his work wasn't able to be completed and that was for Ken's 25th anniversary a few years ago. I owe him that one! We managed to get the interview fitted in but the article was placed on hold.

http://www.kenduncan.com/

Which reminds me that I bought an autographed copy of one of Ken's books back in 2001. It was a gift for someone I'd organized to conduct an interview with for an article in an Australian magazine that had been unable to get an interview previously.

My brother (the editor of the book) also sent a signature to be included in the gift. I'd been told by the interviewee's family members that this person loves Australia and as he'd only had 2 days working in Sydney and Melbourne previously, I thought a photographic book might entice him to visit our fair shores over a longer period.

http://www.koorong.com/search/product/great-southland-ken-duncan/0958668132.jhtml

Also gave him a copy of one of my books as well. 0:)

http://www.bookdepository.com/Looking-for-Dad-Ellen-Frances/9780613305655

Actually, I left it with a relative of the interviewee (someone who was interested in writing a children's book) and apparently it has only now been passed on.

So! Short version of where we are up to here, the way we left it was that he was going to contact me when he was able to do the interview. In the meantime, the magazine the interview and article was organized for has ceased to exist! However, I'd love to accept his recent offer to buy me a coffee so we can catch up. 0:)

Looking forward to it!

Ellen 0:)

What cost "sponge fingers"?

When one admits to a stranger in a supermarket that one's heart rending sigh (rendered before a heavily laden shopping basket) is caused by having spent the past few days doing nothing but shopping for Christmas Day's celebrations, that is probably the time to take stock.

If all appears lost by one's inability to find one ingredient that one is seeking for exactly one recipe, it's time to take a coffee/tea break and take stock.

What are you doing it for? Who are you doing it for? When the celebration seems anything but celebratory, it's time to take stock.

While I (the stranger/journalist checking out the Tim Tams for Dad) spend the evening sipping tea and checking out the new Vanilla Tim Tams while taking stock, having bought the mince pies and sparkling apple juice, rather than having made them from scratch! I'm thoroughly enjoying taking stock (admittedly while working at the same time). 0:)

Methinks I'm very grateful for those creating our family feast this year and hope that if they are lacking any particular ingredients, they improvise rather than stress! 0:)

Ellen 0:)

Jingling bells and cicadas! 0:)

Came across someone bedecked in all their Christmas frippery and finery the other day. She had all the gear: Christmas T-shirt, apron, Santa hat and dangling earrings.

The earrings were what particularly caught my attention. They were dangling silver balls with green and red centres, resembling something along the lines of a bunch of grapes. When I complimented her on her outfit and mentioned the earrings in particular, she told me that she'd forgotten having bought them and had come across them again during a cleaning session. Sadly, she only feels able to wear them at Christmas given their green and red centres but at least that keeps them special and valued for that time and their particular relevance. In short, they make her feel good and encourage her to get into the Christmas spirit! Always a good thing. 0:)

And looking around at the number of people in streets and shops dressing up in all kinds of Santa and silly hats, I am reminded that this is the one time of the year when people really give themselves permission to relax their "adult" mindset and to allow themselves to enjoy "childish" antics and activities; letting their hair down and giving themselves permission to remember what being a "child" is all about, catering to the child still living within. It's a precious thing that once a year becomes the norm for many who wouldn't allow that for themselves otherwise!

Then there was yesterday! My overseas readers wouldn't know this Australian Christmas carol:

http://tww.id.au/christmas/carol-day.html

"The north wind is tossing the leaves.
The red dust is over the town;
The sparrows are under the eaves,
And the grass in the paddock is brown;
As we lift up our voices and sing,
To the Christ-child the heavenly King.

The tree ferns in green gullies sway;
The cool stream flows silently by;
The joy bells are greeting the day,
And the chimes are adrift in the sky,
As we lift up our voices and sing,
To the Christ-child the heavenly King.


Note:-
A north wind in Australia is a hot wind.
When it is not hot, it is hotter. "


It's summer here Downunder but in case we forgot it was summer, yesterday was sticky, hot and humid, broken occasionally by light showers of rain. Whereas in the U.S. Christmas is often heralded by Salvation Army collector Santas and volunteers ringing their bells, here the Salvation Army have choirs and various instrumental group combinations playing for coins and donations.

However, where I was yesterday, any conversation or music of any kind was completely drowned out by the local cicadas screeching out their own carols to the warms winds whipping the eucalyptus into a frenzy! I had dropped into a favorite second-hand bookshop where I know the owners, to see how they are doing and wish them a merry Christmas but it was hard to talk over the noise of the cicadas in the surrounding bush!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada#Cicadas_in_Australia

I know the area well and it is not unusual for a patch here or there to be populated by local cicadas but this entire township from end to end has been completely taken over by the creatures! Every clump of trees seemed to be doing their best to drown out the next and the natural cacophony was incredible! People struggled to be heard above the clatter and the noise was almost painful to the ears it was that loud.

I mentioned this to my friend and she laughed. "I don't notice them," she said. "They're actually a relief to me. I've had tinnitus for years but I look forward to Christmas when I can't tell whether it's me or the cicadas and I can blame everything on them!"

Blessings in disguise? You can never tell when somebody is secretly celebrating what others might miss! What's a cicada's carol to some is quite possibly screeching to someone else. I enjoyed the cicadas more after our conversation! 0:)

Ellen 0:)

Celebrations galore!

'Tis the season to be jolly, regardless of what you celebrate.

So! How do you celebrate and what do you celebrate? Personally.

There were some years when I spent my Christmas season alone due to work and personal limitations. It wasn't exactly my choice for that to be the case but it did make me think about how I celebrate when there is only me, myself and I.

Think I'll spend some time considering that over these next few days and chatting about it here.

Starting with the first dedicated Christmas (and holiday) shop I ever encountered:

http://www.susanschristmasshop.com/

A chance to think about what suits you when you celebrate and exactly what aspect of your holiday/s you are celebrating.

What to choose when there's nobody else to chose for!

What would you personally celebrate and how?


Ellen 0:)

Clunes: No tourism? Create your own! 0:) Booktown comes to the Australian countryside.

Driving through country Victoria, I am frequently reminded why I should always have my camera ready and in prime working order! Just outside of Clunes are the most remarkable ruins. Well OK. By older civilization standards, we probably have no right to call them "ruins" as such.

But how old does a building wreck have to be before it's earned the title "ruin" and it being considered to be justifiable?
However, I digress.

Surrounding Clunes in country Victoria (Australia) are what remains of a by-gone era. The ruins are well known leftovers of the Victorian 1859s Gold rush and the mines created then later abandoned.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clunes,_Victoria

I didn't have long to finish a piece of research I'd been working on when I was there; oral history isn't the easiest resource to collect at times! Not quickly at any rate. But I had organized this a long time before so had to act fast while memories were willing to be shared.

Clunes is a remarkable place! The people themselves are one of its most precious attributes. It's not a whole lot larger than it ever has been and tourism is not as great as it could be but they work hard to make the most of what they've got!

One of the local farmers also owns and operates the only motel in town. He rides in on his motor bike to check you in and make sure everything is as it should be. He'd only recently joined Wotif and was having a bit of a hard time getting used to checking his e-mails all the time. A couple and he had been playing "phone tag" trying to catch each other all day but they must have headed off somewhere else. I was asked to keep an eye out for them and direct them to where their key could be found; for which I was offered a free night's accomodation! Very hospitable! 0:)

Just down the road is "The Lee Medlyn Home of Bottles." It's in the old State School No. 136. The locals have done a great job of turning this into a museum detailing local history and well worth visiting as well as being the Information Center for local tourism and all-round "good guys" for helping lost tourists looking for their motel owner! 0:)

Only gas/petrol station in town pumps the Unleaded for you and if they aren't sure where you are supposed to be going, are willing to get out a map and work it out for you. Not really sure how/why somebody living in the town wasn't sure where the road was (the one running alongside the station) but I'm surmizing he had his mind on other things and it wasn't the middle-aged woman driving round looking for directions for a road printed on a twisted road sign so it was facing into the dirt! But he was kind enough to try to help and I did eventually work out which road was which! 0:)

It's a small town and many of the buildings retain many of their original architecture and features. i.e. ancient stamp machine. But make sure you get there in enough time to spend something at the eating establishments: It's one of their solid sources of income.

Why am I speaking about them in particular? Because of their remarkable ideas for bringing further tourism and attention to the area. It was one of the locations for Mel Gibson's "Mad Max" ("Road Warrior") first film as well as "Ned Kelly" among others. I can only imagine the actors hanging around the main street in the hours after filming; depends on whether they like watching sheep or not! Watch out locals: Nothing like bored actors to drive some to tears! *chuckle*

However, the good people of Clunes got their heads together and decided to re-create their town in the style of European Book towns and while I have never appeared there (only too happy to: author/storyteller more than happy to return to Clunes), I'm told the Book Fair is an experience to be desired by everybody involved.

http://www.booktown.clunes.org/

"Like" them on Facebook for up-dates!

Next year's event is promised for May 3 and 4, 2014. Not making any promises but I'm putting it in the diary just in case I'm able to get there this time!

Ellen 0:)

Bay Area news crews and journalists working in danger.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57605166/san-francisco-bay-area-tv-news-crews-hit-by-series-of-brazen-robberies/

"...Bay Area television stations, including KPIX, regularly hire security guards for news crews in areas that pose a security risk, especially in light of the numerous recent incidents. The bulk of the previous incidents, however, have happened in Oakland, where journalists have been robbed and accosted, some in the middle of the day, reports the San Francisco Chronicle....Among the most brazen incidents, according to The Guardian, happened when "a KPIX crew was filming outside a school in Oakland at noon and were live on air when five men descended on them and grabbed the camera from their tripod."(Watch a recording of what viewers saw at left.)

The reporter was allegedly punched in the face before the robbers sped off in a Mercedes.

Last month a different TV news crew was "robbed at gunpoint of its camera equipment in West Oakland, with journalists made to prostrate themselves on the ground as the assailants fled."..."


I've lived and worked in Oakland CA as a journalist. I've also lived and worked elsewhere. One of those making comment at this article said:

"Oakland, reporters should go someplace safer like Afghanistan."

Really?

I have walked the streets of Oakland at night (going to and from a job) as a middle aged white female and felt safer than I do in my own hometown of Melbourne Australia. I've also taken a train at night (even midnight) in the area and felt safer than I have elsewhere: The sheer numbers of people around make a difference.

I wouldn't necessarily anybody do these things as an exercise, I had become known as a local not a visitor. But there are areas in every city one is sensible to avoid!

I don't believe it's Oakland who are the problem and mine is an informed opinion having got to know the city and its people over years. My perception is that it's the media who have a massive image problem.

Let me ask my readers a simple question. How do you regard the "media"? What is your opinion of "the media"?

Now let me ask you. What are the media (who represent "everyman" and "everywoman") required to be in your estimation?

Are they/we required to both cover and carry the world?

Ellen 0:?
Ellen F. Walker