"LOST in Hawaii on THE BEACH with OBAMA"

January 25, 2009

Hawaii, Vancouver, Toronto, Halifax

VANCOUVER

It was very early in the morning, so early that I was writing in the past tense…another red eye flight Eastward, second one in 2 days. Jessica and I are sitting on the tarmac in Toronto after a 20 minute excursion to the Maple Leaf for espresso and granola. Only a few hours ago we where on Robson street in Vancouver having dinner with our old friends Miller and Erika (aka the models), as well as super old friend Sarah Hedar, one of the best editors West of the East. Sarah goes way back with Jessica and me to early high school days, but even more interesting, Sarah and I used to live in a $500 class C Ford El Dorado motor home for a year in a half whilst attending film school in the Niagara region. We first lived in the leaky excuse for shelter (that just happened to have a 454 under the hood), on a vineyard in the lush Jordan Valley. We where about 45 minutes away from school, so we had to hitch practically every morning, I had just sold my little green 62 VW Fastback to purchase the motorhome, and there was no way we where going to drive the ole beast the distance every day…she wasn’t even insured, let alone registered in my name or road worthy! This motorhome was named Ethel, and Sarah and I lived a life of trash for sometime on that vineyard. Hipple Farms let us plug into one of their harvester houses reserved for Mexican workers typically, but now utilized as a place to park, plug in, and eat grapes and peaches. The saga of the motorhome ended abruptly one year when someone pretty much stole our home and used to as collateral for unpaid drug debts (see earlier blog posts…for the REST of the story!)

Why were we in Vancouver? Finally I had the chance to film the very last bits for what we are calling the “educational component” of the Airplane Journals. After the ICF conference in Montreal, we took some of the feedback and decided to make another cut of the documentary and edit it in a very point formed, educational manner. Earlier in the day Alison Hendren met with me and we went up to an amazing condo that overlooked the city and the Rocky Mountains great setting! We filmed for a few hours and I am pleased to announce that we are completely finished filming the documentary, over 2 years later! It’s been a helluva trip that’s for sure.

HAWAII
It was convenient for me to stop in Vancouver as Jessica and I where flying back from our 1 year anniversary to Hawaii, Kauai to be exact. Honestly, after one of the most intense, grey-matter-oozing weeks of my life in Banff, the week in Hawaii was welcomed with open arms for me to shut down completely and enjoy Eden. Jessica needed this trip even more than I, the medical system is completely backwards in its philosophies on work ethic and employee care. 30 hour shift work days, 21 day - no weekend runs…not to mention the pressure on pregnant residents to work all night call shifts beyond 28 weeks…it is surprising to me that they put their training doctors through this hell…trust me, if there is one thing that I know about work as an employer and an employee is that a tired worker is not an efficient or happy one.

Jess and I met in the Vancouver airport after my day of snowboarding at Lake Louise. We flew into Honolulu to spend our first night in the big city. We stayed at cheap hotel a block down from Waikiki Beach, just a few buildings down from the Grand Hyatt, the hotel that I have such vivid memories of when I was in grade three. My folks to us to Hawaii back then because my father won the trip through his wood stove business, he was one of the manufacturer’s top sellers. I have crystal clear memories of that trip, in fact I actually wrote my first journal on that trip at such a young age, I would love to find that journal! The next morning we flew to our favorite island in the world, Kauai. This will be my fourth time to this island, and Jessica’s third. I can’t believe it was two years ago that I asked Jessica to marry me on the cliffs of the Waimea Canyon….and here we are now, so much has gone down in that period of time!

This was the first time that we didn’t stay on the Hanalei / Princeville side of the island, we found ourselves this time renting a small, self contained cabin in Poi-pu, a minute’s walk from the Grand Hyatt Kauai. The Grand Hyatt is the closest place to walking in the Garden of Eden that I have ever experienced in a non natural environment, what luxury! Jess and I of course pretended we where guests and used the hot tubs, hammocks and beach!

Every morning we watched the sunrise, and every evening the sun set…what away to re connect with creation and value the light of day. Watching the cycle of the sun really humbles you and puts you into a place of better understanding, what the hell do I have my blackberry on? I just twittered as the sun rose a post saying, “The sun is rising over the Kauai skyline, it is a new day, in two minutes Obama will sign his inauguration papers, it is truly a new day and age in the world’s political scene, hope has been reborn”
Ok, so I am now using Twitter, It took me forever to get onto Facebook, but now I am completely seeing the communications advantages of using things like Blogger, Facebook, LinkedIN, Twitter, YouTube etc. Like the new day of sunrises and Obama, we are living in a new day, a new age of digital media, and digital mania. I guess I should jump in? As am independent filmmaker I am learning it is crucial to market yourself on a grass roots level, this is the tool, if you have content, they will come. Web Guru Gavin McGarry inspired me last week at Banff to let down the pride and join the ride, so here we are, I’m a full fledge Tweeter now. My Twitter name is greghemmings, same for my LinkedIN and Skype.
Vacation for my mind is difficult, the Blackberry has made it possible to bring work with you anywhere in the world, which is great because without it I wouldn’t be able to run a business and travel as much as I do, but sadly, with it I find it impossible for me to truly relax and enjoy the peace of mind that non-communication affords you maybe only once a year on vacation. The next morning sunrise I found myself on the phone on a conference call to LA and the UK to discuss an upcoming TV series idea we have in development involving the legendary Cannonball Run in Europe, more to come on that series at a later time. It does sound pathetic that I used…
oh….looks like I am hard typer, ha, the lady in front of me on the plane just turned around and asked me to be more gentle, I guess the speed of my typing has vibrated from my keys through the computer base, through the flip down table, through the plastic lining of her seat, through the cushion of her seat, and into her delicate over sensitized body…eeek. …anyhow, you get the point about the Blackberry, its annoying and extremely efficient, reminded me of when I first negotiated the Fight Network Deal for Wrestling Reality on the gondola of Kicking Horse in Golden BC, we are living in the future (as Andrew Tidby always says www.tidby.com).

Speaking of Wrestling Reality, Jess and I went to watch Mickey Rourke’s latest feature “The Wrestler”, WOW. What a great movie, so inspiring, very sad, very REAL. The timing of the movie is brilliant for our shows Wrestling Reality and Kardinal Sinners…I am heading to Washington next week to Real Screen to try to pimp these shows out a bit, the wrestling buzz is out as we speak, hot cakes.

Another sunrise took Jessica and I to a very remote beach down a maze of dirt roads through sugar cane fields, the beach was amazing, some squatters living in tents cooking their breakfast, a few hikers, a few early birds. The tents reminded us of last time when we came and tenting the island, such a beautiful think to tent besides crashing waves, a truly holy experience. We met a couple on the beach who like us where enjoying a week away from reality, we walked the beach together and found some Hawaiian Monk Seals, in fact, we saw these seals basking on most of the beaches we visited! They are endangered, so it was a real honor to see them. Our new friends, Tate and Mike where from Oregon and we became quick friends, in fact we decided to meet up two days later to hike the Napali Coast together (well at least part of it).
No vacation of mine is complete unless I have a business meeting or two, again pathetic I know but it’s the life of a salesman right? We went to visit the Princeville Resort, our favorite hotel on earth. They shut down a few months ago to renovate the whole luxurious estate one tile at a time. The place was a skeleton, completely stripped to the bare bones, we had to wear hard hats. Jess and I where the 2nd “civilians” to be given a tour of the work in progress, again quite an honor. I want Hemmings House to help the Princeville for their video needs, anything to get back to Kauai! It was a real positive meeting, we will see where that leads us. Every step we make in our life leads to doors, the more doors that are opened, the more opportunities for adventure are presented. This opportunity was rooted a few years ago at the beginning of this blog whilst filming Planet Luxury, the episode about the world’s most expensive acoustic guitar, the Martin D-100! A cat named Jon who lives on the island owns a wicked collection of Martins, including pre war editions. His friend, now my friend, Ken Emerson (Google search this slack-keyed guitarist, he is an amazing player) played Jon’s D-100 for us on the luxurious beach of the Princeville Resort overlooking Hanalei Bay, looked and sounded wonderful! In fact I emailed Ken a few days ago to see if he was to be around, and as it turns out he is now living in California collaborating with some of the Cowboy Junkies! Looks like I’ not the only Canadian interested in the Hawaii connections!

RELAX. That’s what we did, on the beach all day, playing in the waves, drinking local beers, strumming the 6 string, playing in the waves, Hanalei (see Puff the Magic Dragon). I hooked up with Mitch Alapa and the Hawaiian Surf Adventures crew again for another surf lesson, I managed to get into the groove this time, the trick? Bigger waves are easier!!! Surfing is a part of my life that I haven’t lived yet, stay tuned!
We met up with our new friends on our last full day to see the sunrise over the Napali Coast, is you don’t know what the Napali Coast is, go check it out, look at the pictures online, they are stunning! A few days earlier Jess and I drove to the top of the Waimea Canyon to see the Napali Coast from the other side, today we will see it from within! We hiked a couple miles up the mountain, down the valley to the first beach with crashing 6 foot waves that could be heard throughout the jungle. We watched the season premier of LOST the night before, Jess and I felt we where living the experience! Because Jess is prego and I am, well, a real slow hiker, we said goodbye to our new friends and let them hike on ahead of us. Good thing for us to slow down because the trail was muddy, rocky, and STEEP! When we got to the bottom of the valley to the first beach, we realized that we had to get across a river, there was no bridge, just strategic jumping rocks, pregnant wife and all, we made it across, it took a while to make it safely mind you. On the other side a tanned and shirtless guy named Grey clapped at our success traversing the river, he told us that he calls this “Hippy TV”, watching tourist try to perform such strategies! We hung out with Grey for a while, he was just finishing his breakfast, he was on his way beck from the mysterious hippy commune at the end of the 11 mile hike. Grey has been living off the grid in the commune for 4 years now, living off the land, hunting wild pig, goats, fish. Him and his “brothers and sisters” live a life VERY similar to that depicted on the movie “The Beach” with Leonardo DeCaprio, in fact the scene where they jump off the waterfall and one of the local residence clapped at their successful entry into the secret paradise was brought to mind when our new friend encouraged our river traverse! Grey invited us back to the commune next time we visited, I hope to be back to Kauai within the year, so I will be travelling with backpack and tent again for sure to make the Jungle hike to the “REAL” beach…I just hope that I don’t start seeing in Nintendo-vision!
On our way back to reality, (i.e. the main land North America) we had a chance to stop over in Honolulu again for a few hours. As it turns out my real good friend Todd Monroe is crewing on a sailing cargo ship, picking up from where Captain Paul left off! The owner of the boat is an old friend from the days when I was sailing on he Avontuur in Suriname, Brad Ives. Brad is one of the most interesting cats I have ever met. Jess and I went to have dinner with them and the crew on the docks of Honolulu in the port. I hadn’t seen Brad in 8 or 9 years! I really want to a documentary on him and the crew of the Kwai (that’s the ship’s name). The last time I saw Toddy, him, Chris Gorman and I did a cruise for 10 bucks a day on Celebrity cruises to Bermuda, all with long hair, beards, powder blue tuxedos, and a never ending supply of a strange lemonade and dark spiced rum mixer in tall Nalgene bottles that made us the super champions of shuffleboard, kicking the butts of even the most agile white haired shuffler on such a cruise. My days of getting stellar deals like that are long gone, but one for the memories for sure.
Jessica and I had a wicked time with Todd, Brad and the rest of the crew, had a great meal on the water, then said goodbye and hopped on the ole airplane for a red eye trip eastward towards Vancouver…goodbye Hawaii, hope to see you again very soon.
(This post is dedicated to the memory of my sister in law Sue’s father Ron who past away yesterday as he and his wife Gail were visiting their son - and my old film school roommate –Jeff and family in Japan. Ron had a stroke and passed on in the presence of his whole family. Rest in peace Ron.)

"North American Media Executive Leadership Program"

January 14, 2009

BANFF - Vancouver - Hawaii

The North American Media Executive Leadership Program is what I am decompressing from as I write, now still flying over the clouds of the pacific ocean as the West-bound sun leads us westerly to the paradise we now as Kauai. I am chasing the sun! As a side note I just licensed 3 of my older documentaries to an online channel called www.factualtv.com . I’m ready to experiment with the new digital age. TV seems to be dying, but the more I think about it, TV will never die, it will just have competition. Time to climb the format and platform mountain and be prepared to try new avenues of distribution. Relevance? Well the documentaries I sold the license to where Rubarbicon (Grand Theft Bus), Psalm 67 (Missionary trip to Belize), and my Chinese adventure, “Chasing the Sun”. My thoughts of Westward sun chasing started when I flew from Saint John to Hong Kong for that documentary, when was that? 2004?

We are going to Hawaii today as it will be Jess and my 1st anniversary. I started decompressing yesterday with a great session of riding at Lake Louise. I am ready to re-decompress for the next week in health, in relaxation, in surfing, and eating I-Tal for I & I, Peanut, and Peanut Shell.

This will be my 4th visit to Kauai, I want to end there, whatever that means, I think part of my spirit lives on that Holy Island carved and injected by the Soul of the World. So why the need for decompression? I can’t sum it up in one blog, I may have to seep it out through the week, if the spirit leads I hope to read and write as I process my new vision and mission statements. The leadership program has bent my way of thinking, and the outlook on leadership that has guided me…and my company. I am certainly inspired, confused, tired, used…it is 2009, the time has come to F-O-C-U-S. I am scattered, and thrive on the unknown. It is healthy and dangerous at the same time. The fact that I am going to be a father in May, and that I have a crew of such loyal and talented staff at Hemmings House Pictures tells me that I need to wrap my experiences and adventurous wanderings and cave crawlings up into a package and learn wisdom and focus on leadership and growth.

What was NAMELP? It was another great stretching experience, similar to the NSI’s (National Screen Institute) Global Marketing Program…so much networking, so much learning, so much stretching. NAMELP took me to the Buffalo Mountain Lodge on Tunnel Mountain in Banff for a week. Myself and 10 other emerging and established leaders in the North American television scene gathered to improve skills on leadership, share experiences and enjoy the snow covered Rocky Mountain panoramic views and outdoor hot tubs. Without getting into too much detail, within 5 days we all came together as incredibly close friends from complete strangers. We were all put into positions that have helped us grow tremendously over a small period of time. Although quite pricey, I really recommend this leadership program to any serious media exec, or emerging producer. Lay in down friends.

What did I walk away with besides a larger network of great peeps in the industry, and an amazing input of great information? I walked away with the concept of getting out of the clouds and rising above to look down and have a keen eagle’s eye, sharp, focused, and limitless.

After 5 days of 14 hours a day sessions, we all partied together at St. James Gate and the famous Rose and Crown in downtown Banff. The next morning I awoke and it was all over. Intensity…reality, what now? Implementation? Must process first, my brain has melting, it is time to sop and harden the melted bits, pour it back into a mold and reshape it to a focused and passionate shape of leadership and innovation.

So I started my new groove of getting back to the bass and focusing by meeting with my dear friend Nikki and her friend Erin to hit Lake Louise for a great day of riding. It was warmish, but at the base it was foggy and wet. It took 2 minutes on the chairlift and yet again I arose through the cloud ceiling and popped my head out through the fluffy blanket to be welcomed by HUGE mountain tops and the welcoming and warm sunshine that is the giver of all life on our flat planet. It was super nice for Jan 15th, well above freezing, and the snow conditions where perfect. Yes I have stopped drinking alcohol during the length of Jessica’s pregnancy, but I have made a few exceptions…Southern France, Christmas, and only a few very special occasions….um, yeah, at the mid point up a huge and awe inspiring mountain in a t-shirt after a full morning of tackling black diamonds, time for a beer! One of the tastiest ever, not the Brahma beer is the best crafted beer, but it was the settings. God is good to us for beautiful mountains, beer and leadership programs, amongst an infinite list of other wonderful and amazing things.

Back home the boyz are taking care of the days…the finishing touches of the JSB DVD are done, we are finally able to release it in a few weeks! Super stoked. Keep an eye on our news section at www.hemmingshousepictures.com for updates. We shot all of Kardinal Sinners for RUSH HD before Christmas, now the time has come to meet a great challenge start editing and deliver on time for a March 15th deadline…rockin. Lauchlan and Stevo are cranking out the corporate / commercial grooves, and also putting the finishing touches on the Airplane Journals documentary After Hawaii, I have to stop in Vancouver and get a few more interviews from Alison Hendren for a last little addition for our documentary, all in accordance to the feedback we received at the International Coach Federation’s summit in Montreal.

There is a law student “small-talking” very loudly to his neighbor behind me, Hey Rosetta’s album just finished, and my computer is almost out of batteries. I have a new book called “the Pilgrimage” also written by Paulo Coelho. They say in the reviews that this book actually rivals his other book the Alchemist which I read a few flights ago.

ON THE IPOD...

"One Love, one heart, lets get together and feel alright, here the children crying, saying, give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel alright, lets get together and feel alright."

"Sunday's River of Peanut Banff Clouds"

Jan 02, 2009

Christmas and Sunday River Maine

I can’t do it. I thought that I would have peace from my self-imposed pressure to write a blog post whenever I fly. Well here I am, on my 4^th plane segment since I said that the “Airplane Journals” where finished. I think I started this writing adventure in May of 2006, why stop now? There has been a lot of exciting moments since I last wrote.

First of all Christmas was a blur, Jessica and I worked until Christmas Eve, drove to Saint John for Christmas day, then cruised to Sunday River for a couple days of riding...all I can say about that trip is that it was the warmest December snowboarding I have ever experienced, 15 degrees Celsius at the top of the mountain… climate change? The clouds where low lying, and the second the chair lift cracked the roof of the foggy cloud cover, a rush of summer heat styles surrounded us! Clouds! Clouds! CLOUDS! I love clouds. In fact, I am looking out the airplane window right now as we fly out of Vancouver, we just cracked the clouds and now it’s a sunny clear day with an ocean of white vapor flowing and lapping against the shorelines of the once mountains of Vancouver and Washington State, now turned small islands in the ocean of the care bears. There is something very significant about clouds this week, but back to the bass…

…It was an amazing two days of being outside and loving the air, the snow and hanging with the family. My beautiful and pregnant wife rocked it on the wanker two plankers. She has become a great skier! The hottest pregnant skier that side of Montreal I would argue. Speaking of pregnancy, we just found out that Peanut is a girl! I’m going to be a father to a little girl. WOW. Like everything I see to encounter, I am ready to jump out of the plane, fall through the cloudy cover, and see what’s underneath…see if the parachute opens…

NO WAY…

Ok, this is weird; as I type I am listening to the Hey Rosetta! “Into Your Lungs” album, (www.heyrosetta.com) I am listening to the tune called, “We Made a Pact”, and the second I wrote “parachute opens”, the lyrics in the song go:

“The Parachute not opening, closer to oblivion…”

Why and how does that happen to me ALL THE TIME??? What is it called when that happens? Hmmm, I may have to look into this deeper at some point! I’m not sure if the messaging of my parachute in Hey Rosetta’s song gives me much encouragement, oh well, this album is one of my favorites this year so it’s all good right?

The cloud metaphor runs deeper and deeper, the only way you will see how is if you stick with me, jump out of the plane with me and head down a few more paragraphs, as long as I don’t find myself going down a tangent, I will go deeper.

"A New Blog- Dear Peanut-Wrestling O-Town"

To my faithful readers! Thank you very much for following the "Airplane Journals". It has been quite a trip really, 2 years of blogging from airplanes. Why do I blog? Well initially I think it was to preserve my memories of my experiences because, well, I forget things really easily! Better I write in down right? Now that I am preparing to be a dad I am realizing that to create a journal for my child (currently named Peanut) to read about some of the interesting things that dad experienced when he was younger. Legacy? Maybe. I also have finally broke down and gave into the social marketing and media scene, yes I got a Facebook, LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/greghemmings1), Twitter (twitter.com/greghemmings) , and of course my blogger that you are reading right now. I am starting to fully understand that in this globalized world we live in, we each individually need to market ourselves in every way possible to stand out from the crowd.

So welcome to my next evolution of my personal blog. I am calling this series "Dear Peanut". To be honest if you have read the Airplane Journals, you will know many of these up coming stories already, but this time they will be written far cleaner and more concise! Haha, I am trying to steer away from my stream of conscious writing styles! I will also be writing a more business related blog to coincide with this one in the near future, so please keep checking in!

Dec. 16, 2008

"Wrestling O-Town"

I am once again on the road, this time driving back home from a week long tour from Sydney to Ottawa, then back to Saint John. It is Dec. 16^th and we just finished filming our latest TV series for RUSH HD. The TV show is called Kardinal Sinners; a series about the life and times of independent professional wrestlers as they travel from town to town abusing their bodies, and getting paid less than the cost of a Happy Meal just to feed their passion of entertaining people in towns all across the nation.

When I read Jack Kerouac?s ?On the Road? when I was in high school, I never thought I would actually live the bulk of my adult years on the road, or on airplanes traveling the globe filming the weird and wonderful, the educational and the inspirational, but here I am on the road again, this time with a group of 5 muscle bound, testosterone filled Alpha males?Jack would be proud!

In the last few months I have traveled to Italy, France, Hawaii, and all over North America filming a documentary about business coaching. I flew to the arctic to film the affects of climate change in a small remote Inuit village. I released a documentary that I shot in Belize about a group of missionaries from Saint John Vineyard church. I have been on the road filming more concerts and rock?n?roll DVDs than I can count?oh, and I managed to fit in getting married in the Cayman Islands, and finding out we have a little bun in the oven!

Two years ago I was approached by 2 professional wrestlers to see if I would produce a television series about their bizarre lives, in and outside the ring. It was a very strange idea for me as I had never been a wrestling fan when I was younger, in fact I really didn?t like it at all. I could never understand why so many of my friends would stay inside Saturday afternoons for hours watching a bunch of half naked men pretend to fight each other. My interests growing up were playing music, sailing, biking, building tree houses?pretty much everything BUT wrestling.

As I have grown older, and developed my career in television, I have found great interest in making documentaries about adventure, subcultures, social issues, and anything that documents people?s passions. It didn?t take long for me to see this possible wrestling show as a real cool opportunity. We found a broadcaster (The Fight Network), and raised the finances needed to produce the show and tour around with a group of 12 wrestlers, television history in the making! Funny part of this story is that I became not only a producer of wrestling television, I also was propelled into the role of a wrestling promoter! The Vince McMahon of Acamac! I booked the venues all over Atlantic Canada, got the insurance, liquor licenses, security, transport trucks, stage lighting, fog machines, marketing, tickets, ?I got involved with everything except getting into the ring!

"The End of the Airplane Journals?"

Montreal – Halifax

Nov. 11, 2008

I flew into Montreal 2 nights ago. The International Coach Federation is going on all week, man it’s been a whole year since Long Beach ICF conference…that was Halloween last year, more than a year ago! I remember seeing Wu Tang that time! Brilliant. The Executive Coaches Summit went down Monday and Tuesday and it was here that I previewed the Airplane Journals documentary. It went over really well actually…it took me two whole years to film it, and the last few weeks to assembler it. It still has some tweaking work to be done but I feel that it really had a clear message; executive coaching and the coach approach helped me grow my business from a single operator to a full time staff of 6, plus a few contractors and interns over a period of less than two years. As I explain in the documentary, I in no way feel that I have found my success yet, or as it is written (maktub) in the Alchemist , my “Personal Legend”, but the journey I am on has proven to be fulfilling and adventurous, so much so that it keeps my heart alive.

It is not the destination, it is the journey…that cliché has been a motto of my life, one that I have understood from a very young age. The first time I realized it is when I built my tree house with a few of my best friends, it took us about 5 years to build it into its perfect completion. Building the tree house kept us outside, kept us active, kept us young. When the tree house was finally completed we had no use for it…the journey had ended. This continued all through my life from restoring my old VW vans and taking apart and rebuilding my motorcycles, to producing and editing my documentaries. The process of producing a documentary is so thrilling for me, but the completion is anticlimactic. I will watch my own work two or three times, but have no use for them after that. It is a strange way of life but it is one the God and again referencing The Alchemist, “The Soul Of the World” has bestowed upon me to realize my personal legend.

I have referenced the Alchemist in this post because I started reading it on the plane ride to Montreal, I am now a few pages away from finishing it. This is such a soul strengthening book, an adventure that I can learn from. The passage that I love the most is as follows;

“…because I don’t live in either my past or my future, I’m interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you will be a happy man….”

“…life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we are living right now.”

Paulo Coelho has written many books that inspire, The Alchemist is the one that has kicked me in the butt and brought me back to the place where I can be reminded what my life purpose and philosophy is. My life is the life of a young boy building his tree house, building it bigger and better every year, continually creating, and adventuring until the sobering day when the adventure is over and the goal has been realized.

The Personal Legend

The Airplane Journals has been such a great experiment in celebrating adventure, recording history, and inspiring myself and others to try to live life to its absolute fullest. Many times I feel that I am not a good steward of the life I have been given, rich with blessing and opportunity, but it has been this journey over the past 2 years as I have written this blog on countless airplanes criss-crossing the world, growing in experience, and meeting people of all backgrounds and inspirations. I love people, I love nature, I love life. Love and the Soul of the World is something that I need to (step back and breath) think about more often than I do. Last night I spent the night with my old brother from another mother, Fun Pete and lovely Lindsay. They found a piece of paradise in the woods just on the outskirts ofMontreal. Fun Pete was my cabin mate in the Caribbean when I worked with Celebrity Cruises. The Zen and peace that came with waking up to trees, the sounds of nature, water…brought me back to what I feel my personal legend is…connection with creation. Connection on every level from nature to spirit to life. I bounce in and out of enlightenment (mostly out) as I live this busy and thin ice life that I live. My heart tells me to jump in the river without knowing if there are any dangerous waterfalls or rocks to head, just jump in with faith…that is how I have found myself living. I would not have made any of these realizations if I didn’t take the time to ponder and use my time on planes to write this journal. There are so many other experiences and adventures that I want to write down so my baby “Peanut” will be able to read about when he or she gets older, and when I loose my mind, I will be able to use this as a tool to bring me back to a “present” of the past, which is today, November 11^th, 2008; Remembrance Day. Today I close the Airplane Journal and will begin to start a whole new adventure in self discovery. Give praise and thanks to the Most High.

POST SCRIPT:

Thanks for hopping on board with me, following my blogged life! Please watch the documentary that coincides with this blog. The Airplane Journals will be available early in the new year (2009), stay tuned.

Also I will be continuing to blog, the Airplane Journals has been a great experience and I hope that you, the reader, will continue to follow, and see how my grammar and spelling improves! Ha ha

"Back to the Base...Ideas Festival, Kardinal Sinners"

BACK TO THE BASE

“…Lets re assemble”. Any Fat Tala fans out there? Memories of driving down route 9 from Calais to Bangor, aka the “Airline”. Those where the days when fat was spelled with an “F” and Tala meant “the BEATS”!

Back to the base because a lot has happened since Cannes. A lot of regular stuff. Stuff that doesn’t really need to be mentioned but I will anyway cuz that’s what I do, I ramble, and when I am at an airport it looks like I am writing something kinda important to my fellow travelers, me and my new blue Argyle sweater, very self important you know, oh and my new London shoes and tweed jacket I bought on our last Antichrist episode filming in England. I only capitalize the Antichrist because it is a name, not because the Antichrist deserves a capital A. Alberta beef deserves a capital A because Alberta is a province, and we capitalize province names.

We filmed 3 more segments, the final ones, for the Antichrist episode. We filmed this deadly death metal band called “Thy Flesh Consumed”. Their drummer’s kick drum is faster than a machine gun, wicked band, literally! Ha-ha, they would take that as a compliment! We where supposed to fly to Norway and film Gorgaroth; the black metal band that burns churches and embodies the spirit of the Antichrist fashions. Apparently we blew the budget in Laramie when I was abducted, so we couldn’t afford to send us to Norway, so we got the local boyz from Thy Flesh Consumed to discuss religion and metal, and what the idea of the Antichrist really is.

We filmed them in their studio as they where recording their latest album, then checked out their jam space which completely took me back to the old days of jamming at “The Local” on King Street in high school, every room was a different band playing and practicing at the same time. Everything from our band “Playdough Fish” jamming Tea Party and Zeppelin covers, to Rooster Soup playing hippy Rock, to Hemlock playing progressive art rock and punk and death metal bands in the rooms between. That was back in the days when the Saint John music scene was at its height...wow, what memories, every weekend we would put on live shows there with headliners from across the country and even the world playing all ages shows in our gritty smoked filled, puke stained venue that we called “The Local”. The Local was the Wiesel Shoe Shop years before, you may remember me mentioning in a previous blog the project I produced with Gary Davis, whose family owned and ran the Wiesel Shoe Shop. His son Anthony, Mike Long and I and others put these shows on back in the day, had a great time doing it as well.

BACK TO THE PRESENT. We also had the opportunity to film at the Cathedral in Halifax. We interviewed the priest there about the Catholic Church’s stance on the Antichrist, it was a cool perspective. The Father there leans more towards the naming of an age, a time that is represented by the name of the Antichrist. Interesting theory, one that I didn’t have a hard time dismissing. We finished production, the Vision series is now complete.

Over the few days that I was home, which where only a few, I had a chance to check out Google Alerts. A very cool program that sends you email notification anytime a word or phrase that you predetermine shows up on the internet. I decided to type my name in to see if there are any other Hemmings’ out there that where of interest! And there where!!! There are a ton of Hemmings’ around the world, mostly in the UK, that are amazing people! From TV producers, actors, journalists, doctors, scientists, and my favorite…LLOYD HEMMINGS! A Reggae legend! I emailed Lloyd, he is an old Trench Townrocker from the Kingston Jamaican ghettos. He played with Bob back in the day, I found great recordings of him that date back to the early 70’s. My bred-ren! My cousin! So Lloyd calls me on my cell phone last week as I was driving back toSaint John to edit Airplane Journals with Andrew. He now lives in San Diego and plays mostly in Southern California. We had a great conversation about reggae music, being “cousins”, working on projects in the future, it was great. I really want to meet him sometime. He blessed me in the name of Salassie I, Ras-Tafari…if there is one thing I want to learn from Lloyd is the truth and deepness of the Rasta beliefs. They mirror mine so closely, except I don’t understand the part about Haille Salassi being the 2^ndcoming. I want to better understand that part of Rasta belief.

IDEAS and KARDINAL SINNERS

Last Wednesday (today is Sunday) Jessica and I drove fromHalifax to Saint John. Obama won the night before! PRAISE JAH! Wow, I am truly relieved, I now hope he can handle the mess that the Bush Republicans made, man what an embarrassing time in our history. I wonder if Bush has any idea of how much he fucked up the world scene.

I spent the day with Andrew as he was in an editing frenzy trying to get the Airplane Journals documentary ready for delivery which was this morning so I could take it and screen it in Montreal, time is tight! That night Jess and I went to St Andrews to the “Ideas Festival” which was a venue with a bunch of real amazing panelists, discussions etc about the creative industries, the future politics etc etc. Thinkers, politicians, idea people where all there. It was a great experience actually and everyone had the same feeling of hope with the previous night’s results. Hemmings House was a major sponsor of this event and we where proud to be part of it. We filmed all of the key notes for the Ideas Festival. My friend Tim Coates who put the whole event together is also the lead on the 21inc. leadership organization that Jessica is involved with.

Jessica and I stayed with Jamie Steele at Salty Towers for the night. The next day we bolted back to Halifax, the following morning I hit the road again to Eskasoni Indian Reservation in Cape Breton for the filming of the first Kardinal Sinners episode. It was quite the experience finding the reservation, we got lost, it took us 6 hours to finally get to the location. The venue was PACKED with kids, it was rowdy and loud, just the way a wrestling match should be! But where were the teen and the adults? Not sure…the place was packed with involved kids, it was cool. I didn’t understand the amount of 7 year olds with chewing tobacco, but that’s a whole other discussion. By coincidence this reservation is the same one that the young boy who narrating my Melting Lands documentary was from! Sadly we were unable to reconnect.

We checked into a slummy but perfect hotel in Sydney. Shot some interviews in the cloudy room of the young wrestlers…it was good to see them again, these where the guys we shot Wrestling Reality with. Peter, Mike, Titus and the legendary Bushwhacker Luke (from old school WWE fame) where at the Delta bar causin’ a raucous. It was funny hanging out with the Bushwhacker…he is one of the highest paid wrestlers in the history of the business, and he likes to lick people’s faces…no kidding. Here we go, round two, the final event? Hope not…not yet anyway, I hope this series is a knock out and we take home the belt (the one made of plastic, not platinum of course).

"Sail Away Captain Paul...Peanut Hemmings"

November 9^th, 2008

Halifax – Montreal

I am writing this foggy early afternoon from the Halifax Maple Leaf Lounge preparing for my trip to Montreal to finally release the “Airplane Journals” documentary that I have been working on since I started this blog which goes by the same title. As far as I know this will be the last flight I take before 2009 and I feel it is an appropriate time to close the Airplane Journals off with the premier of the documentary at the ICF Executive Coaches Summit tomorrow. My flight home I think will be my last post in this journal. I think it will be appropriate to start a brand new one to start the New Year.

I must first make mention of the passing of Captain Paul. If you have been a reader of my blog you will have read about some of my Caribbean adventures aboard the “Avontuur” tall ship sailing the seas with cargo from South America and throughout the islands, trading by the power of wind, muscle, and strong mind.

Captain sailed off into the next life this October 4^th, 2008. He was an incredible man, and had a ridiculous impact on my life, on my love of adventure, on my hard work ethic, on my philosophies, and on my love for the open seas.

Charlene Hamley, the lovely woman who hooked me up on the ship in the first place sent me a book mark that she lovingly put together in Paul’s memory. On it reads;

SEA-FEVER

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

By John Masefield (1878-1967).

Once I find my Avontuur Journals I will be sure to transcribe them and post them.

Thank you Paul for having such a huge impact on my life and on the lives of all who cam in touch with you!

WITH DEATH COMES LIFE.

The Circle of Life has once again shown itself in a timely fashion. Coinciding with the death of Captain, Jessica and I found out we are PREGGO!!! Yes there is going to be a little Hemmings! If it’s a girl I hope for the names Irie or Kaya…If a boy Noah, or Jude! Some have rolled their eyes at these suggested names, but I dig them! I especially like Irie and Kaya, Irie cuz everyting is Irie, and Kaya because it’s a beautiful name, and it’s a great Bob Marley tune, and because the meaning in several languages is beautiful. (It is also a slang term for ganja in Rasta! Ha)

We are praying for a healthy baby, I am stoked to be a dad! Send us positive vibes and prayers please!!! November 9^th is today’s date and Jessica is over 15 weeks now! Our due date is May 5^th. Again, hoping and praying for a healthy little Hemmings. A few blogs ago I mentioned that I wasn’t drinking alcohol anymore, well this is why!!! I am going to try to go dry for the length of Jessica’s pregnancy. I broke my dry spell when I was in Cannes (responsibly of course!), so now I have bent my rules so that I will be dry anytime I’m in Canada! Ha ha.

"MIPCOM, Castles, Monty Carlo's Flying Circus"

October 18, 2008

Cannes – Nice – Frankfurt – Ottawa – Halifax – Bed

I have been drifting in and out of deep deep sea fishing REM sleep patterns on this flight. I am exhausted. Matt, Tidby and I had a week…truly, the week of weeks. After I realized that my upgrade certificate wasn’t going to get me into business class pods, I realized the best way to fight the absolute discomfort of the small quarters that economy class provide would be to sleep, I had a Gravol, I am listening to Sigur Ros, and the late 2 in the morning Monte Carlo night in Monaco and 4 am awakening for the Cannes to Nice to Frankfurt segments have led me to the point where I am right now…very sleepy. I was told this weekend that Iceland is going bankrupt, also the same for the Bank of Scotland, which apparently is the financial backer for the great CTV amalgamation…no wonder they aren’t commissioning anything these days. The US market has fallen to depression status over the last few weeks, and the ripple effect is very apparent in the broadcast industry as I was made aware of at MIPCOM this week. Corporations aren’t buying advertising, people aren’t spending money on products that need advertising, Christmas ad space has not been sold yet on the Canadian and American networks…our widgets that sell product (I like to call them my artistic endeavors…but no, we as producers are just a fun vehicle for advertisers to ride in and exploit with) are at great risk. MIP had 33% less attendees this year, it was weird being at the worlds largest market and it looking like this, last April for MIPTV the place was packed! Are we producers dropping like flies? Dropping it like its hot?

The gloom does not end there. We, as New Brunswick producers, have been awaiting a solution to our provincial tax credit system update. For quite some time NB had the best tax credit in the country at 40% of labor, that’s huge, but now that NS has 65% and they are oober aggressive, the NB market is quickly disintegrating. We have a NB Film summit coming up in a few weeks called “The state of our industry”…I hope it isn’t going to be a eulogy.

Most of the active NB producers are considering making the move over toNova Scotia to stay competitive. With Singapore, China and India rocking the animation world at pennies for the dollar, animation companies like FatKat will only survive if they can compete by returning 65% of labor back into the budget. Gene, the owner of FatKat, and I spent a few good hours late Thursday night with French beer in hand, knee deep in the lapping waves of the Mediterranean discussing the problems, possible solutions, and consequences of moving out of the province. It will be really sad if we all have to do this to stay afloat. Gene, like myself, and like Dreamstreet, and Tidby Pictures are faithful NB producers and have all been helped tremendously by the province, the municipalities and our agency, Film NB. We are just trying to get up after being punched pretty hard that’s all. It is funny; I told Gene that I am an entrepreneur through and through, a serial entrepreneur. I have all intentions to keep fighting for this even if it means I am fighting for a job that hardly pays me, but allows me to stay in control, Being an entrepreneur can be seen as a curse, you pay your employees way more than yourself, you look out for their well being of first, your house is on the line, real glamorous huh?

This week has been a wonderful market mind you, don’t get me wrong. We started our week with a meeting Sunday morning, but then the rest of the day we swam in the Med, drank beer on the beach and body surfed…this was truly the first and last day of summer that I have experienced this year…it was wonderful, it felt right, even though it is almost November! Cannes is beautiful, the palm trees, the Panini’s, the everything! It was rad to hang with Tidby, Matt and Gene in this environment. Usually I am at MIP on my own, but having a posse to check out cool restaurants with, and check out parties with is where it’s at….two turn tables and a microphone.

Matt and I rocked a ton of meetings, we brought 30 projects, but the real wins were the advancements of Wrestling Reality, Kardinal Sinners, Airplane Journals, and Etiquette Guy. We supposedly got o camera for Kardinal Sinners in 3 weeks; we are not financed yet…typical. Let’s see how we make out!

On Friday we said good bye to the Palais and headed WAY up into the high Alps of Southern France. There is crazy snow at the tops of these peaks, snow that lasts all summer…what a climate; this is where I need to live. The small towns in the middle of nowhere that literally hang off steep mountain side cliffs and have no other civilization for miles took my breath away. The road went straight up for a good 2 hours, peaked at 1.8kms, all zig zag, not even room for 2 cars, every time another car came up the other way we had to negotiate space very tactfully to avoid rolling over to our demise down a 5000 foot vertical drop. Who built these roads anyway? We found this ridiculous castle perched at the top of this super high mountain, we where above the cloud line at one point! The castle ruins where I amazing shape, most likelyNorman style castle. Tidby later did some research on the castle;

“First, in Google Earth go to Lat 43°47'45.18"N and Long 7°17'42.48"E

Notice how you can see the remains of the village all the way back to the field? It was called Chateauneuf. First record, 11th century. The current village at Villaveille was Roman. It was abandonded for the new village of "Châteauneuf" (Castellum novum) perched at the top of the hill to the south. "Châteauneuf" was in turn abandonded in the 18th century, and the previous old town (Villaveille) became the current village (the one we drove by and stopped for lunch only to find that the place was closed). The village was part of the fief of the lords of Châteauneuf.”

The great courtyard, the remains of watch towers, tons of underground tunnels, man it was an explorers dream! Gene hit a bunch of money for next time that he came with his little boy to find, I left a bunch of business cards in the nooks and crannies of the stone and mortar! Ha ha. Last time I did that was in the ruins of this amazing old English style cathedral with no roof in Bermuda, I had a tradition of buying Elephant & Castle beers at the local shop and having a road pop on the way to the beach at the ole ruin I would put all of my bottle caps in a little hole in the stone wall. Years later I would take Tidby, Miller and Nat on a cruise to there and I proudly showed them my collection, they didn’t find it that interesting! Ha ha. It’s all about leaving a legacy right?

Later we made it to the country of Monaco, money drips here, palaces, mega mega yachts, more beautiful people, and ridiculous casinos. We had dinner, went to the casino, I dropped 5 Euro, lost in my first spin, Matt invested 23 Euro, and won 300 back….how do people do that? Monte Carlo was fun, we all dressed up in suit and ties, admired the Lamborghinies, the Mazerattis, the Porsches, the Bentleys, the Rolls. Casinos and gambling culture doesn’t do it for me, Tidby either. Back in film school at Niagara we would go to the casino often actually, but we wouldn’t gamble, we would drink free juice and listen to jazz bands play. Yes.

Driving back down the massive mountains zig zagging, swerving, sweating, breaking, exhilarating, we found an English radio station. They played Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry…Be Happy”. Man I forgot how great a tune that was; it spoke to me after a grueling week of meetings trying to figure out our place in the future of a volatile industry Thank you Bobby. And thanks Bob Marley for writing; “3 little birds, upon my door step, singing sweet songs, melodies pure and true, this is a message for you, don’t worry, about a thing, cuz every little thing, is going to be alright,”…”don’t worry be happy now”…Xavier Rudd; “I want to be free, free to be, free to see”…”Jah Live!