"Nova Scotia Open to the World article with Greg Hemmings"

This has been an abnormally great year for free publicity! I have ZERO marketing dollars for HHP, so I am always stoked to have some press opportunities. Recently I have been featured in three differencet magazine publications; Nova Scotia Open to the World, Halifax Magazine, and Innovations Magazine! Take a read, if the words are too small just click on the image and it will expand!

"Air Canada Breaks my Heart, and Filming ECMAs!"

February 25, 2009

Halifax – Deer Lake, Newfoundland

Air Canada Breaks Greg’s Heart

I just left the Halifax tarmac on a small Air Canada Dash 8 commuter plane enroute to the republic of Newfoundland! Yes it is that time again, the East Coast Music Awards. Hemmings House Pictures has been hired again to film many of the acts for Aliant.net. This year we are up for our second nomination for best DVD of the year. Wes Jagoe hired me years ago it seems to film a live video project from his living room, and now it has surfaced and a nomination is in our name!

“Get lit, Feel the power on the one, don’t sit, wait for the thing to come…”, thanks Daniel Lanoise. Great music always sets the mood right for my airplane journaling! Speaking of airplanes, I need to vent.

This journal since its inception has given so many props to Air Canada, I have written most of my blogs on Air Canada planes, or in Maple Leaf Lounges. In fact if you did a word count on this whole blog you would see multiple positive references to Air Canada.

SCORE CARD

AIRPLANE – 48

AIR CANADA - 26

MAPLE LEAF LOUNGE – 20

AEROPLAN - 8

I say positive references because I am addicted not to crystal meth, or peanut butter cookies, but rather to Aeroplan points. I have travelled enough on Air Canada that my Aeroplan fetish has pushed me to the point where I am finding myself paying more money to fly Air Canada just to get the damned things, not only that, I usually upgrade to higher cost fares to maximize my points potential so I can keep my “Elite” status…OK

HOLD ON…

This is where the story gets depressing. I feel like I have never flown so much in my life as I did in 2008, I was all over the place. 2007 was a big year of flights, but 08 I was sure was going to be the chart topper. So I get an envelope in the mail last week with my new Aeroplan card that pretty much tells me that I HAVE BEEN DEMOTED back to “Prestige” status! WHAT??? Are you kidding me? I have been stripped away of everything that I hold dear to me…Maple Leaf Lounge access, priority boarding, business class line access, P-I-M-P status! ALL GONE within the 2 seconds of me opening up an envelope that I was expecting to be filled with “Aeroplan Elite” membership perks like upgrade certificates and pats on the back and so on.

Many of you readers might say, “Suck it up you spoiled prick…live like the rest of us and use the public washrooms, pay for your drinks and food, and wait for your flight on the uncomfortable terminal seat!” Or others may comment, “Greg is not an elitist snob, I am surprised to hear that he is upset!”. Well I am not upset, I just feel like I have been kicked out of my own band, or I have come back to my home that I have built and there is a new lock in place with a sign saying SORRY GREG, YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE ANYMORE!!!”. I feel abandoned, I feel humbled, I feel sad.

So why am I writing this pathetic post? Well I am hoping that someone from Aeroplan finds this blog via Google Analytics, or Google Alerts, or maybe by one of my faithful readers will post a comment as a message of support in this blog so I can take it to Air Canada and say, “Look, the whole world thinks that Greg deserves his Maple Leaf lounge privileges back!”. So if you are in the Aeroplan team, please know that I fly on Air Canada exclusively in and out of the country, even though this pathetic flight to Deer Lake cost me $1,200 in cold hard-earned cash for Steve’s Ticket from Saint John NB, and $800 for mine from Halifax….so yes, I just spent $2,000 on flights with Air Canada to get two of us to go to the ECMAs, and for me to have a chance to write in my blog as I fly Air Canada instead of West Jet or Provincial Airplanes.

Want to know the frosting on the cake? I get the Air Canada Web Savers every week, after we bough the $2,000 worth of tickets, I got a friendly little email from Air Canada with a special offer from Halifax to St. John’s for $79.00…I am sorry, that is just worthy of me shedding tears, a very cruel joke Air Canada. You have made me a pathetic, and humbled little blogger. To put sprinkles on top of the frosting of the cake, I am a stock owner of Air Canada, and to add some extra chocolate fudge on top of the sprinkles onto of the frosting on the cake, I purchased my Air Canada stock 2 days after 9/11…thinking in my universal wisdom that buying Air Canada would be a brilliant investment when the value of airlines stock sunk so deep…well I risked it and invested a couple handfuls of thousands into Air Canada and now my Air Canada portfolio is worth like 70 bucks. Ha, so much for me is a gambler. Is there any room for a candle on top of the cake? The last 2 times I travelled to Hawaii Air Canada lost my luggage, so I am travelling in the winter with winter clothes in Hawaii going for a snorkel in my snowsuit. I don’t complain though….why? Well because I am “Elite” status Aeroplan member and I appreciate the efforts they have made in assuring I have my Guinness and Scotch ready for me to go with my split pea soup and veggie dip every time I end up in the Air Canada Maple Leave Lounge. But those days are long gone. I will stop being so dramatic, you know it’s only for comic relief in these trying times of “being a young entrepreneur just trying to find my way!” ha ha.

Previous to the Heart Break

7 notable points of interest

• The last few weeks have been nuts as usual, I made two trips to New Brunswick, one to attend the Arts NB board meeting. I was asked this year to sit on the board, I was honored to except. Here is a picture of the board members!

• The well at my Acamac house went dry, I had to pay $11,500 to drill deeper, good thing I have a Visa Avion to pay for it with 18% interest. Oh well, at least I will get more points to travel on AIR CANADA more. FAAAAACK! I am seriously thinking about selling the legendary house; the place that Hemmings House Pictures was born, and the place of many legendary parties…I will miss it. I have hired the Mawhinney Group (www.MawhinneyBlog.com) to list the property…gotta pay off my credit cards. Well Drillers and Air Canada are sucking me dry. Dry as a desert, not a dessert (like cake and frosting and sprinkles and chocolate fudge and candles), a desert, similar to those you find in Egypt and other notable land masses covered in sand, cacti and non-water sources.

• Andrew is rockin the edit of Kardinal Sinners for RUSH HD to be delivered March 15^th, the show is rockin. We have found some heavy interest in the USA for the show, pursuing with much piss and vinegar. RUSH HD has been an absolute pleasure to work for / with so far. So nice to work with a broadcaster that doesn’t waste time with politics, and who is honest.

• We have moved our office into the Power Post building in Halifax on Hollis, and our new office on Prince William Street in Saint John is an amazing spot. We are all feeling “it”. This is the year, this is the year, this is the year.

• Jessica is very pregnant, she looks very cute, and baby peanut is kicking like mad, she is the funniest little alien! I can’t wait to meet her May 5^th! What a trip fatherhood is going to be. We had our pregnancy pictures taken last week by Jen MacLean, they look very cool.

• Jessica and I had some heavy meetings in Saint John yesterday and Monday, we made the drive through the craziest snowstorm in the history of the Trans Canada highway. I had a very significant meeting that is taking Hemmings House one step closer to having an international presence.

• My brother Mark took Lauchlan and some other Photography students to Mexico last week, very cool adventure and learning experience for Lock dog. A Cactus literally fell on my Brother Mark’s head.

“Do you realize that everyone you know, someday will die, and instead of saying all your goodbyes, let them know that you realize that life goes fast, its hard to make good things last, you realize that sun doesn’t go down, its just an illusion caused by the world spinning around…do you realize, you have the most amazing face.”

Thanks Flaming Lips for always uplifting…Wayne your bubble makes me smile and laugh. Time to go film the ECMA’s.