Author Archives: manpans
Sidekicks is Released!
Two years ago I wrote and filmed a webseries about superhero sidekicks called…well, Sidekicks. It was a project funded mostly by love and muffins and we ended up filming it in Errol’s backyard.
I’m pretty sure I wrote about it here in this blog. I didn’t even check that link. I hope it’s the right one!
The original plan was to have it ready to go a few months after filming wrapped up. Then our DOP/editor Clayton got a paying gig touring the world filming a documentary which of course he took because travelling around the world to exotic locales would be a really stupid thing to turn down.
But then he came back! Life finally settled down enough for all of us that we could turn our attention back to our little webseries that could. And now…our first episode is OUT to the public! And you can watch it here!
I will admit to being more than a little nervous releasing it. Watching my own work is always the most difficult thing to do and I can’t help but notice all of the areas I could have done better.
Basically, I feel like it’s opening night and I am having my classic Manda “It’s not too late to bail” nervousness. But we’ve come this far and I’ve been told that apologizing for your art is not the way to go. And I AM proud of our work. I wanted to write something about friendship and we did so.
So here it is! Episode 1! We will be releasing weekly! If anything, watch it for Errol’s performance. He continues to crack me up and is awesome to work with. I’ll probably have something more poignant to say the last episode. For now, HOLY CRAP OUR WEBSERIES IS DONE! ENJOY!
Game Distractions: Kathy Rain
I love the wonderful experimentation that’s been going on in video game narratives in the last few years. But every once in a while I crave a good nostalgic classic adventure game of ages past. Kathy Rain turned out to be the perfect way to spend my downtime.
Taking place in my beloved 1990’s, Kathy is a hardened, sarcastic and witty journalism student who visits her hometown after finding out that her grandfather whom she lost touch with has passed away. Naturally, not all is as it seems and Kathy soon finds herself elbow deep in government cover-ups, cults and good old fashioned super natural entities. Read the rest of this entry
Canadian Capers: Night at the Wedding
Last September I and a small group of fellow escape room enthusiasts took it upon ourselves to create a large scale escape event that incorporated more story and interaction as well as puzzles. It was called Night at the Speakeasy and was a huge amount of fun. The feedback was so incredible that despite our exhaustion, we decided to make another event! It would be called Night at the Wedding and we decided on April.
It was, once again, a huge amount of work but so worth the effort. April 9th has come and gone and we honestly could not be happier with the results and the people involved. It was fantastically fun! Read the rest of this entry
It’s Springtime!
It has been a while and I could go on and on about all of the things that have been keeping me busy/lazy.
Instead though I am going to celebrate the end of this far too long winter. Celebrate with me. I know all Canadians do this on the first warm day.
Tea Time
A new video! The first in a long time! I decided to try my hand at editing again. It…mostly worked :D. I am still a big dummy when it comes to using the program. But I am still pleased with the result 😀
I have this problem often when I buy a tea. I may or may not have burned my tongue doing this.
Casa Loma: King of the Bootleggers
I have been to Casa Loma in Toronto twice now. Both of those visits were for escape rooms. One of those escape rooms just happened tonight.
This particular escape room, King of the Bootleggers, is set in the 1920’s during prohibition. You play a team of bootleggers looking to cash in on the lucrative business of forbidden alcohol. Being that the mafia is involved, there are of course obstacles in the way like snitches, guns and far too many bruised egos. Read the rest of this entry
Doctor Who: Face the Raven
Warning, the following contains extreme spoilers. It also is a very raw unedited piece of writing that probably could be better organized. But ah well.
So….let’s talk about that last episode of Doctor Who.
Night at the Speakeasy Post Mortem
Well, after four months of planning, practicing and stressing September 19th came and our speakeasy event finally happened! And it didn’t crash and burn! Quite the opposite! It was a rousing success!
Two weeks later, my brain is somewhat recovered from the insanity of it all. It seemed like a good time to finally get some thoughts down on the evening. My previous blog post dealt with the actual creative process of writing for an interactive medium. This post will deal more with how the actual event turned out. Read the rest of this entry
A foray into Interactive Story and Escape Games
Over the last year and a bit Errol and I have had a new obsession: Escape Games. Twelve year old Manda has become insanely jealous of adult Manda for getting the opportunity to physically experience adventure games (let’s face it, that’s what they are). We simply can’t stop going to them and with Toronto being one of the meccas of the escape world, there doesn’t seem to be any shortage of new ones popping up. We enjoy them so much we even started a blog reviewing them.
Well one event led to another and before we knew it, we suddenly found ourselves helping to plan our own escape event. A live, large scale, one night only escape event called A Night At the Speakeasy happening this Saturday, September 19th at the Gates (66 Gerrard St E.). Look! You can see the website here! Read the rest of this entry
The War on Cardio
I have an issue.
I missed using this guy
Almost a year a go I decided to sign up for a Boot Camp. It was a desperate act, one spurred by my sister’s upcoming wedding in which I would be a bridesmaid. There were other reasons too such as wanting to kickstart a fitness regimen that would allow me to begin my quest to fit into that awesome dress from that very brief period in my life I was a size 10…glorious times indeed… Read the rest of this entry
Thoughts from the Test Chamber 