We got some e-mails on this episode that felt that Sam’s rightous indignation was a little “over the top” in this episode. Little did they know that this is pretty much almost a verbatim transcription of something that happened to one of our crew, whose identity as a curmudgeon I’ll protect until the end… it was Jason.

Oh yeah, also one of the most famous DED scenes ever. Whatever.

With any luck normal uninterrupted service can… not resume… occur for the first time ever, perhaps?

Thanks for sticking with us - lots of great Dead End Days to go!

NOTE TO PODCAST VIEWERS: Our apologies for the recent problems with the podcast feed. We believe we’ve sorted out all the issues and will re-start a regular update schedule next week. In the event of future outages you can always check www.deadenddays.com for updates.

Something has gone mortally wrong with the podcast feed for the website - so until the weekend, episode 17 & 18 will be viewable in the lovely main page video viewer, but not on iTunes.

Our crack ninja-coders are working around the clock to fix this, by which I mean I’ve thrown up my hands until the weekend!

Dead End Days celebrated another landmark last week - when a sizable portion of past cast and crew gathered in San Diego, California to celebrate the wedding of DED’s own Chad Thompson (Bruce) and Jennie Reichert (awesome PA, and long, long, looong time RocketAce supporter).

Rather than re-write what I’ve posted (better) elsewhere - check out the details (and a snazzy photo gallery) at the main RocketAce site:

Congratulations Chad and Jennie (at RocketAce.ca)

Hope you all enjoy!

I’ll have to ask him about that.

So yes, Larson makes his grand appearance in this episode as the director pulls off a wonderful “Batman Table” joke… which is harder to do than it looks. Also this episode really shows off the warm dulcet tones of our 1960s CBC shotgun microphone which started dying completely shortly after we shot this episode. I believe we bought a cake with the frosting caption “Our Mic Sucks”.

And lets not forget Jill’s lone appearance. Was she going to be a bigger character? Did she have hopes, fears, dreams of her own? Why was she in that closet? These are things we will never know about the enigma known as “Jill”.

Given that this episode contains a very mysterious, very iconic phone call (that’s been used in pretty much every trailer for DED that we’ve ever cut), it may surprise you to know that my favourite part about this episode has always been, and remains, the two audio ads off the top for “Morgan Strump Funeral Services” and the Johnny Numbskull show.

The former was recorded during a snow-storm when we couldn’t shoot and were just messing around singing catchy jingles. The latter contains a royalty-free sound effect called “man groaning” that I am pretty sure has never been used in any other project. Ever. Listen to it. It’s ridiculous. What could you possibly use that for? We considered trying to fit it into the mix a challenge.

The rest of the episode is pretty good too… I guess.

To make up for the break, I’ve thrown the remainder of Day one up NOW! And we’ll start in next week with a proper twice-a-week schedule. Thanks for sticking it out - Day Two is where things really start to pick up, so your patience will be rewarded!

I’ve messed the video encoding up on episodes 12 an onward, so I’ll need a couple of days to re-do everything. We’ll get caught up this weekend, and then back on track for next week. Sorry about that - I had created a new process to streamline everything, but it meant that one tiny little error got replicated in a bunch of files. I should get a couple of months ahead this weekend - so the schedule should be fairly consistent here on out!

The new episode will be up tonight (EST)… sorry for the delay, I made a mistake in setting up this weeks auto-update and didn’t notice until the e-mails started coming in!

Episode 11 was originally webcast on February 13, 2004

Episode 10 was originally posted on February 6, 2004.

Episode 09 was originally webcast on January 30, 2004

Episode 08 was originally webcast on January 23, 2004

Episode 07 was originally webcast on January 16,2004

Epiosde 6 was originally webcast on January 9, 2004

<em>Dead End Days</em> episode 04 was originally webcast on <a href=”../welcome-to-the-future/”>January 2, 2004</a>

<em>Dead End Days</em> episode 04 was originally webcast on <a href=”../should-auld-aquaintance-something-something/”>December 26, 2003</a>

It’s going to take us a couple of days yet to sort out our podcast feed on iTunes - but in the meantime if you use a non iTunes reader you can subscribe to the podcast feed at:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/DeadEndDays

Dead End Days episode 03 was originally webcast on December 19, 2003

Episode 02 was originally webcast on <a href=”../right-back-atcha/”>December 12, 2003</a>

Episode 01 was originally webcast on December 5, 2003

Episode 00 was originally webcast on December 5, 2003

The site logs inform me we are just a hair over a month away from a significant multi-year anniversary of the creation of everybody’s favourite resurgent romantic zombie marketing adventure that we (thankfully) chose not to call “Bonesuck” (more on that fun topic in the commentaries in the lovely scriptbook and DVD sets on sale at finer websites near you… just over to the right there to be precise).

Thanks for keeping things exciting still, we’re all very grateful for your support. I suppose we should come up with some kind of special event to thank you when we hit the anniversary proper… hmm….

Both have been flying off the shelves since Christmas, but we now have (finally) stocks of both in stock so orders are shipping off in a timely manner.

And if you don’t want to shell out the cash, keeping us flush in “bling” and “groceries” - keep your eyes on MoviesOnline.ca as we just might be giving away a copy (or three) over thereabouts.

We are awaiting our stock from the manufacturers, so orders at this point are “pre-orders”, however we expect to be able to start shipping in 7-10 days, so get your orders in now to ensure you’re the first to receive these amazing goodies!

Please note that due to the limited amount of stock we will recieve prior to the Christmas shipping deadlines, we strongly suggest those looking to buy holiday gifts pre-order as soon as possible. Our initial stock will sell out, and it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to get in more prior to the holidays.

The exact same Day we’re proud to also make available “Dead End Days: The Complete Scripts” a huge (480 plus pages) paperback tome including the complete unabridged scripts for the entire series, plus commentary, alternate and draft versions of scenes, an introduction by me, and lots of never-before-seen photographs.

For more info on the DVD or Book you can check out this thread over at our forums.

Of course the biggest announcment from the past weekend was the surprise launch of a brand-new Rocket Ace serial next week! Cerealized is quite different (in style, tone, and content) from “Days” but packs a lot of the same offbeat humour and sharp writing. There’ s a teaser trailer up now over at the official site at www.Cerealized.com

Hope everyone is well!

Download away!

There is, of course, one big procedural changes - Days is now in “re-runs” so only two episodes will be available at a time. Each week we’ll rotate through the series and specials chronologically (don’t worry, we aren’t inflicting the “Decision 2004″ political ads on anyone again). Hopefully this will be less of a horrific burden once our excellent DVD package takes shape early this fall. I make no apologies - you kids and your “internets” were watching me out of house and home, and you’ve had a long time to download to your hearts content!

On Thursday we bid a fond adieu to “ash” our heroic server for the last two years. At the time I was setting him up, I just needed a name, and I had just watched Evil Dead - but it was an appropriate one nonetheless. Big, dumb, solving problems through brute application of slightly out of date technology. I couldn’t have fit the big guy better if the case was powered by a chainsaw engine.

Pris, the new girl on the other hand is a completely different beast. Not as overpowered but nimble, new technology, and completely schizophrenic just like her namesake (she actually thinks she’s several different servers at once). Hopefully she acquits herself as well as her predecessor.

So… yeah. Welcome to old and new friends alike to Dead End Days part deux. Enjoy your stay.

Feel free to stop by the forums and say “hi”, or swing over to rocketace.ca to see what new goodies we’re cooking up for later in 2005 (including the delayed, but still very much in-the-works “Days” DVD-set)!

Enjoy the Show!

Alright, on to the promised “things people want to know about D.E.D.” or more exactly “things people want to know about where we’re going from here”:

Is there going to be a DVD?
This is by far, the number one question we’ve been asked over the past couple of weeks. Of course the mailing list folks know this already but the answer is: absolutely. We’re already hard at work to try and have something available ASAP in 2005. As soon as folks heard this was the case the forums were abuzz with further questions: Are we going to try and re-edit the entire series into a single movie (no), will there be extras (yes), how many discs will the final set be (unknown), will there be a lot of extras (yes), will it be ready before Christmas (no), what will it cost (as little as possible), will there be a lot of cool “must have” extras that will make me laugh (yes). If you want to keep up on the status of the set (or provide input into the ultimate product) go sign up to the forums, ’cause that’s where we’ll be asking for feedback and input on the exact form the DVDs will take. Booyah.

Is the full series going to stay available?
The entire series will be available at least through the end of the year. Closer to the DVD release we’ll likely try to reduce the ongoing bandwidth costs of the site by retiring the venerable “Ash” and only making a couple of episodes available each week… we’ll see how that goes. Regardless, the wacky insanity will continue over at the Dead End Days forums as long as folks want to make use of it… we’ve become too attached to those particular crazed monkeys to put it out to pasture.

Can I copy or share the series?
As long as no money changes hands, and the copyright information in each episode stays intact, consider yourself free to copy or share the quicktime and windows media files however you see fit. File swap them with friends, burn them to CDs, host them on your own website, whatever you’d like.

If you are a video artist (or budding filmmaker) and would like to mash up, remix, recut, sample, or otherwise mess with the source material - just drop us a line. Some of our music agreements prevent us from distributing the series under a creative commons (or similar) license, but we can discuss individual requests on a one-on-one bases.

What’s next for Rocket Ace Moving Pictures?
Well that’s a secret isn’t it? We’ve already got a series of new potential projects in the works, all very different from “Days” but hopefully as cool. If you want to stay up to date on what we’re up to - sign up on the mailing list, as we’ll use it as a way to let folks know what the next cool Rocket Ace concoction is.

Of course we’ll keep the front page updated with any exciting news from Rocket-Ace-Ville and I’m sure we’ll be talking again soon!

Until next time, true believers.

Tonight, on a very special weekend edition of “Dead End Days”…

Okay… I’d like to thank you all for coming out this evening… It’s great to see such a good turnout. Before we get started, I’d like to thank you all for your patience, I hope the extra couple of hours of polish show off. May I suggest you all find a comfortable position, adjust your lighting, stretch a little. Perhaps you’d like to close your office do and/or mute your phone? Might I suggest a refreshing beverage or some popcorn to accompany the show?

All right then everyone ready?

Enjoy.

Throughout the past 497 days (give or take) the one constant of my life (maintaining through time, space, and moving into a brand new house) has been four cans of Guiness that were a “Thank you” gift from Jay for letting him crash in Rob and my apartment when he was in Toronto in June 2003. They never got drunk in June so we took them to Calgary to celebrate the launch of “Days” with Jay over the Christmas holidays… And forgot to drink them. So back to Toronto they came and sat on my shelf.

The need for a “thank you gift” was pretty suspect as Jay had actually come to Toronto specifically to join Matt and I in developing this germ of an idea I had (in France of all places) about re-inventing the “serial adventure” on the Internet. Someday in a tell-all moneygrab autobiography one of us will write about the wild debauchery, the excesses, the roller-coasters (both literal and figurative) of that particular visit - but at the end we had put together a nifty project plan detailing jobs and goals and responsibilities for a thing called “Dead End Days” and the bare bones of a story arc to act as a guideline for the next 48 scripts. Kind of. Originally Johnny Numbskull ended up falling in love with his personal assistant and Bob Zombie (everyone’s favorite alley-dwelling foot dragger) was in it a lot more, but I digress. Jay wanted to call it “Bonesuck”. Thankfully, at the time “Bonesuck.com” was already registered. The hook of this “Dead End Days” story was to tell a story “between” the stories that normal horror movies tell. A story that would take place after most “zombie movies” end, and (at the same time) before most “zombie movies” start. A story “between apocalypses” if you will.

As is always the case with a creative venture (and as I comment in our press kit (which has more background on this kind of “start up” stuff, for those who like this kind of navel-gazing) had we truly known what it would take to get to this point we probably would have just bought an x-box and played some DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball instead.

Finishing a creative venture (especially one as all-consuming as “Daze”) is a double edged sword. You cannot imagine how many months we’ve all wished for this day as we glare at each other over the 150th consecutive crappy rushed dinner when we’d all rather be doing anything other than cutting out labels for brains cola cans, or logging the fifth hour of footage, or cutting around the crazy potatochip-eating street guy who wandered into the middle of the episode 4 shoot and violently refused to leave. I’m not even going to start on getting up at 4 in the morning on a Saturday knowing that you’re going to be shooting at least 30 hours of the next 48. Given that you’d think reaching the end, limbs intact, would be euphoric - right?

Partially, but at the same time, finally having to put down the pen and admit that a project is done, complete, all you could (and did) do is, in many ways, a sad thing. Over time you can look back at your project with fresh eyes and appreciate it in ways you never can “in the moment”, but when you finally hit the finish line your mind is still fresh with all the things that frustrate, that never were, the compromises, the constraints.

Which brings me to all of you (especially those who stick around to read these things). Creators often thank the audience as an afterthought, a kind of nod to “the consumer who makes it all possible”. I’ve always looked at our audience a little differently. Tucked away in the back of that “project plan v1.0″ was a clause stating that I clearly reserved the right, at any time, to pull the plug on the whole thing.

I didn’t put that in as an egomaniac, who wanted to hang it as some kind of continual threat over the head of Matt and Jay, nor a “sword of Damocles” incentive to sell more t-shirts or something; It was purely functional. The ultimate goal of “Days” was partly to improve as a filmmaking team (we all have the so-called “mad phat” individual skills, but had not yet honed a Voltron-like ability to use them together efficiently in collaboration … I still don’t know if we’re “Voltron-like”, but you can at least now make out some kind of rudimentary torso). I didn’t (and don’t) care so much about the total numbers of our audience, but rather if it was growing or shrinking. If we couldn’t continuously grow an audience over the course of the year, we weren’t improving our product, therefore we weren’t meeting our goals - and we could better use our finite energies elsewhere. The fact that month after month, you guys out there continued to watch (and continuously increased - to this very day) was the feedback that told me the project was worth seeing through to the end.

So when I say “Thank you” to each and every one of you - it’s not for just being ego gratification that all artists desperately need for someone (anyone) to “look at the cool thing we made”, but for being (ultimately) the boss that kept the green-light on the project and let us see it through to the end.

To everyone who posted a link to the site, or had a kind (or even a harsh) word posted somewhere else on the Internet - I’m very grateful. Thank you.

To everyone who watched from home, or work, or school (or had friends burn and mail them CD’s) you guys made us feel like doing our best on each and every episode and I can honestly say we gave you the most that we could every time out.

To everyone who bought a shirt, or a sticker, or used the Amazon links to the right, know that thanks to you Ash (our server) never wavered, never buckled, and kept serving up “teh funny” throughout the end. Actually I think Ash was down for all of 15 minutes in the entirety of the run of “Days”… So I guess he (somehow it’s a ‘he’) gets the mad props as well.

To the crazy folks over on the forums I’d say something nice, but it would turn into some twisted perverted joke so how about we just keep on keepin’ on?

I can’t begin to thank the volume of brilliant talented people who made “Days” possible but I would like to point out the Herculean contributions of Robin and Rob - two folks who got sucked into this more by living arrangement than by choice and were absolutely indispensable. Both have put up with more than you can possibly imagine, and contributed more than they know.

So where do we go from here?

For the answer to that question you’ll have to pop back next Tuesday for one last production journal where I’ll talk about where “Dead End Days” and Rocket Ace Moving Pictures is going from here. We’ll also answer any questions you maybe always had about the show, but didn’t know where to ask. Speaking of which, feel free to send any questions/comments/congratulations to info@deadenddays.com

So that’s it for the maudlin look back, and the heartfelt thanks. For those of you feeling a little down that we’re coming to the end, weep not for us. There is some sadness, but it is overwhelmed by thankfulness, gratitude, and pride. Besides, there are three chilled Guiness’ in the fridge and I think it’s finally time to crack those puppies open.

Project co-creators (from left) M.Hoos, J.Rothery, and B.Fox, shortly after project inception (July 2003) when they were not yet household names, and laboured in obscurity.

Even at this early point their genius was evident, although the mental stability of J.Rothery was suspect, M.Hoos had already started drinking, and B.Fox made one damn fine latte.

You may recall, back in special edition #1, we told you we didn’t want to stumble with our final episodes, so (even with two weeks of hard post-work poured into the beast to date) we still need one more night to whip the monster finale into shape. The mailing list will (as per usual) be the first to know as soon as we upload the new episode!

Consider this a fine chance to relive old memories in the archives. Why not let us know your favourite episode in the forums?

See you soon, we’re doing our absolute best to make it worth the wait!

Thanks to everyone who ordered, I can’t wait to get my hoodie in!

Well here we are. It’s… been a long time. You… look nice. Thanks for coming back, I know I have been really busy lately what with the last episode going up this week and all. I’m sorry if it seemed as though I was ignoring you. I hope I haven’t made you too upset with me.

Did you do something new with your hair? It looks different. Good different.

We’ve been through a lot together this year. I still can’t believe it myself, that all of this happened in just one little year. I… We… couldn’t have dreamed of doing this ridiculous thing that we did if it weren’t for your faith in us. So just in case I haven’t said it enough… thank you.

I guess most of all I want to let you know that all I wanted to accomplish with this whole sordid business was to make you smile. Just spread a little sunshine to the secluded cubicles of your downtown office when you should have been working, or into your cramped dorm room when you should have been studying or into your broom closet when you should have been caring for those elderly people you get paid to look after.

Look, since we’re being honest with each other there are some things that happened over the last year that made you laugh or that thrilled you, that I, as the director of this fine internet serial, may have taken undue credit for. So, I think it’s only fair to let you know about some of the people we’ve been in bed with over the last year.

First of all I need to point out the enormous effort made by one of my very best friends, the very handsome, talented, but, to many’s dismay, not gay, Shane Arbuthnott. This is a guy that dropped everything, packed his backpack, kissed Mom and Dad goodbye and moved clear across the country to a city with far less wheat and far more smog and skyscrapers than his hometown. Why did he do it? Quite simply, because I asked him to. How do you like that? Since day one of his arrival he has acted as the assistant director and assistant producer for Dead End Days. Never missing a meeting and never complaining about the shitty and mind dulling tasks we often tossed upon him. As well as handling all of the scheduling, actor co-ordination and general upkeep of spirits, Shane was happy to be the voice of morality on DED. Not that we often heard that voice over the barrage of profanity the rest of us would use at all times during production. Lets not forget that on top of his administrative duties and his role as colour timer, Shane also provided this show with a fantastic performance as our reluctant but oddly lovable hero Eric. I cannot say enough good things about Shane. I am thrilled, proud and honored to have had him as a close friend and collaborator over the last year. I will miss him, but I am confident that we will continue right where we left off as soon as we go into preproduction on our next project “Dead End Days 2: What’s that Smell?”.

I must also confess that I have been having a long distance relationship as well. We talk over the phone a lot, because it’s so hard to see each other. If you’ve ever picked up the phone only to have the person on the other end suddenly hang up right away… It was probably him. Him Who?… Well I Uh… Alright it’s Jay! Okay? Are you happy now? You know who “He” is! Yes Jason Rothery, the writer. Keeping up a relationship with someone across the country from you is hard, but it was so worth it. Jay worked so hard to keep us all entertained. All year long I couldn’t wait to get the first drafts of scenes to review. He always surprised me and he always made me laugh. Jay, like the rest of us entered into this project with next to know experience writing for film. He has challenged himself, beaten himself to death and grown more this year than I’ve ever seen him grow. I have to admit this relationship has been going on for some time. I am very proud of Jay and am thankful everyday for his weekly contribution to this crazy train of ours. Just when I thought Jay was totally creatively tapped he has rebounded and shown up with a true new lease on life as we head into pre-production on our next project “The Cockswain”.

And finally my dear, I must admit that we owe this ridiculous dead end year, not to me, but to the guy behind the guy, behind the guy, the coffee guy. Brad Fox is quite literally the man. The boss. El Capitano. And I can say with complete confidence that I will never find a better boss, creative collaborator or friend than him. Going into this project I was concerned that he, being the only one of us “employed” in this industry he would be far too busy moving and shakin’ elsewhere to give us the time needed to make this thing happen. And the truth was that he didn’t have the time for us. But instead of sacrificing his job for the project or the project for the job, He magically made more time. He went from working a 40 hour week to an 80 hour week all so that he could have the pleasure of exhaustion induced hallucinations. He was our producer, director of photography, sound editor, camera operator, art designer, props maker, web designer, merchandise manager, and bok choi master. He is also of course the editor of the content of this website and my mushy speech of praise and admiration has probably been erased by now. Fuck it! He’s the reason we’re here and he’s the reason we have the opportunity to finally bring our next project “Dry Dock” to the screen. Enough said.

Well there you have it. It’s all out on the table. You know who you were sharing me with. You know who’s involved, you know what we tried to do for you. And now that it’s over the choice is yours. Turn your back on us, walk away and pretend you’re able to forget all the good times, the warm fuzzies and the honest laughs, Or do you stick around? Watch you favorites again, laugh at Sam and Bridget, rage against Joell or root for Eric and purchase our DVD (Coming soon)?

The choice is yours. But if this is the end… thanks. It was great. I had fun.

And the sex was pretty good.

So…. See you around.

Okay.

Okay.
…
bye.

M.

Well we warned you, and sure enough here’s one last special edition for you kids. There’s been so many new users popping up on ye olde forums lately, that we figured a succinct story recap was in order before the big payoff.

Also if you’ve been waiting until the last minute to order DED Collectible clothing, it’s cheap, it’s diverse, and it’s only until Sunday. Check it out.

I will admit that I’ll miss writing these early morning rants to you guys, mostly because I’m a loudmouth who likes spouting off about things and, given the format and hour, nobody expects me to be coherent. However, I will admit that my mental topic bin has been running a little thin lately. I find myself starting themes that it turns out I wrote about (often far more eloquently) previously. Not even counting production journals, and other “one-offs” I’ve now been keeping these weekly rants up for over a year. I tip my hat to any of you that have taken the time to read these witless ravings, you truly forge your traditions in the spirit of your ancenstors.

In flipping through Thursday nights past, I did come upon a recent post that’s maybe not entirely true, specifically my fairly recent assertation that there has been no media that has fostered surrealisim like the Internet. Whether foreign ad executives took this as a slap in the face, or whether it was just my youthful ignorance finally falling apart - this week I’ve been bombarded with strange wonderful television ads from foreign shores. Firefox and I have been long in agreement that “great” ad’s from an entertainment sense probably are ineffective in increasing sales of a product, but since I’m not here to get you all to buy someone elses junk - what do I care.

It turns out that last weeks sexy Ronald McHottie was only the vanguard of a slew of cool ads. Some suggest a mythical quest to rock out, this one teaches us some disturbing dance steps, and another how to break out some different types of moves. Just don’t get so wrapped up in the non-stop excitement and incredible production values
That you forget the simple beauty of life that surrounds us everyday.

In the end maybe making a cool short surreally entertaining video is like building a car, it can really only be best accomplished by massive companies with industrial interests and huge amounts of capital.

Oh wait. hmm, hmm, Oookay. Never mind.

See you on Tuesday for a production journal… One… More… Time…!

Note: Photos included below!

When Brad asked me to write a production journal this week, I originally intended on writing a thorough and well-reasoned argument as to why I am, by far, the superior of the Fox brothers. However, after threatening to leave me out of the credits (as well as punch me in the head), I decided to go with my second idea.

As anyone who has ever been on the set of a Dead End Days shoot would know, one thing that you can almost always expect to see is someone clicking away with a digital camera throughout the day. Usually, this person would be myself (between holding the boom, setting up equipment, and generally taking measured doses of abuse from Brad). These photos were primarily intended to be a resource for future promotional materials (which they have been), as well as a continuity aid. However, another thing that they have become is a method of documenting our production process itself. Since we are a low-budget (i.e. “no-budget” or “out of our own pockets”) production, we couldn’t afford the luxury of having someone with a camcorder record our “making of” process. We do have our stills, though, which are actually not a bad alternative.

Over the course of the last 14 months, I estimate that we will have taken over 900 Dead End Days-related photos, and will probably surpass the 1000 mark by the time production has wrapped up in a few weeks. These photos have been regularly shared with Dead End Days cast and crewmembers, but never really with our viewership at large. Browsing through this collection allows for a fair bit of retrospection regarding the project, and today, I will share a few of these shots for the enjoyment of our viewership at large. Enjoy!

Ahh, the infamous Dead End Days pumpkin. It was carved during Halloween 2003 by the multitalented Robin Voaden for a party celebrating the beginning of the project, the official release of the prologue episode, and Halloween itself. Aside from being cool in its own right, it also reminds me of how far Dead End Days has come in the last 14 months, from ticking clocks to zombie fights.

Our intrepid Director Matt checks out Eric’s stash of zombie merchandise. Some may not realize it, but Dead End Days was not scripted out from beginning to end before we started shooting. The central plotline was established, and the creators (Brad, Matt, Jay) had a pretty good idea of how things would play out, but nothing was set in stone. This was demonstrated by the fact that several secondary plotlines were added, removed, or changed over the course of the 48 episodes. Probably even more surprising is the fact that aside from the three creators and Shane, none of the rest of the cast or crew really knew where the story was ultimately going. The DED masterminds tended to be pretty tight-lipped about it, partially because the plot could change at any time, but also because Matt felt that uncertainty would help to get a more genuine reaction out of the actors. Thinking back to when we started, it’s interesting to see how Days slowly evolved into the finished product it has become.

Here we see our original makeup guru Lindsay turning Chad into Bruce. Makeup has been a central aspect of Dead End Days from beginning to end, and while it’s been a lot of work for the people involved (artists and actors alike), and increased the amount of time and effort involved in a typical shoot, it has also added what I think is a pretty unique quality to the project. Many independent zombie-related films and shorts are horror-oriented, which means that gore and realism are emphasized above all else (often even eclipsing characters and plot). The classic-style “white face” zombies used in Dead End Days tend to deviate from this norm, although like every other aspect of the production, the quality and complexity of the makeup work has improved dramatically as the project has advanced.

Here is “fearless leader” and his expensive toy, taking a short break from bossing me around. Yes, that is the very same camera that the entire series has been shot on. In case there are any film-tech geeks out there, it is a Panasonic AG-DVX100. It shoots on MiniDV, as do many top of the line consumer-grade camcorders. The big difference, however, is that the quality of the picture is generally much better. Additionally, it has a feature that simulates the “24 progressive” mode featured on more expensive professional-grade DV cameras. In plain English, that basically means that it has the ability to produce the film-like quality that viewers familiar with the series will know (and if a DVD ever gets off the ground, let me assure you – 24P looks awesome in full resolution).

Here’s some of the gang doing their best “Reservoir Dogs” impression after finishing off an episode of shooting at the Cranium Caf

Perhaps you are here only for the new episode, in which case I stongly suggest you go here post-haste!

I spoke with Jay this week, more by accident than design. He happened to call while I was the only DED staff member in the teleconference suite in the Southwest annex. To improve the acoustics the teleconferencing suite has a completely separate ventilation system, which makes it one of the few rooms in our entire complex where I can sneak off to with a Montecristo #4 and a glass of scotch and not have the maintenance facilities union heads calling the next day to claim I am creating an “unsafe working environment” and demanding hazard pay for their members.

I had only planned on browsing through the upcoming Christies auction catalogue, so whiling away the time talking to Jay was a much nicer option.

He had only called to check if the motor pool had finished repairing the larger of our corporate jets as he wished to entertain a certain young lady on the weekend and had grown tired of the assorted craft available through our West coast hanger. We chatted about issues of the day, and Jay shared some juicy gossip from a gala benefit he had held at his investment property in Seattle before conversation turned to his political epic production journal from last week. In the course of sipping from a large Swarovski crystal goblet of Cristal (how apropos) Jay commented that - for the late hour and lack of preparation I do my Friday “new episode” posts were remarkably lucid and well thought out. I don’t know if my guilt showed immediately, after politely thanking him I “remembered” a previous commitment and immediately butted out the remaining third of my ‘Cristo and bid Jay the best of evenings. As a man who has made his fortune on reading the emotions of others, I have no doubt he saw through my ruse immediately, but was too much the gentleman to press the matter. I felt increasingly guilty throughout the week. Not even granting a half-days holiday to the third world textile workers who labour in the “Dead End Days” factories manufacturing fine garments could appease the cloud upon my brow.

However mere days later my worst fears have come to pass, and I know now that only a full confession will allow me to retain some measure of my former dignity. For as many years as I have claimed that these nightly communiqu

I have no idea how I’ll look at myself in the morning… see what you’ve done to me? Oh lets just do this:

“We still need about a dozen orders to give the green light to our Dead End Days custom clothing sale, and since we all really want our black hoodies - I’d like to point out that DED clothing is the perfect gift for this holiday season.”

You recognize it’s not even mid-November yet, right? Huge discounts, endless clothing style and colour choice - what more do you want (oh yeah… my dignity back… but not as bad as I want those black hoodies!)

Though Dead End Days has a political slant, it is not, by and large, a political film. Though I take pride in layering some level of social or cultural or political awareness into the various projects I’ve worked on, I’m always conscious not to digress into manifesto territory. The goal, I suppose, is to keep our stories relevant. I want these stories to mean something to people with whom I share a social or cultural or political experience, to reflect the experience of living in the world today. For better or worse. I’ve always likened my approach to writing as presenting one side of a debate that is, ultimately, left unresolved. I don’t like to preach, and I don’t like to pander, and I would never presume to have all the answers. It’s enough that I know I’m always right, there’s no need to gloat.

Since Dead End Days is not a political project, I’m wary of using the Production Journal as a soapbox to discuss political issues. Brad assured me that given his myriad tangents on issues of technology and graphic novels and aardvarks, I’m entitled to use this platform as I see fit. Despite this, I’m still wary. But then, there’s really no point in pretending that I haven’t been as consumed with the recent American election as most people in most countries. This election was a really big deal. The stakes were high. The conflicts clearly defined. You want high drama, you want characters, you want action – I give you the American electoral process. Six months, man. Six long months. And now it’s over, and it was so, so close.

I’m reluctant to offer my thoughts on the subject. Firstly because that seems to be what everyone is doing right now, and I take great pride in not doing whatever the majority of people are doing. Secondly because the idea of inciting a heated political debate makes me tired. I’m sure that most of us have long since overdosed on heated political debates over the last weeks and months, and not but a miniscule few have custom-molded high-tech transmission devices attached to our backs piping Karl Rove’s sweet, dulcet whisperings into our left inner-ear canal to calm our nerves.

The thing is, I really don’t have much thought to offer on any other topic at the moment, and I’m due for a purging, so if you’ll kindly indulge me…

I am a political person. I am an armchair activist. I stay informed. I write letters. I write essays. I think and read and write about politics a great deal. My parents are socialists. I am a socialist. I have watched the evolution of the Bush presidency and contemporary American political discourse with a great deal of curiosity and dismay. Now, so it seems, another four years of curiosity and dismay are to follow. I don’t want to presume to know what Mr. Bush et al have in store for term two, and I don’t much care to know. Medicare and Social Security will inevitably take a hit. I imagine the environment will not be well looked-after. Seems likely that the abstract concept of “terror” will continue to play a concrete role in the forefront of the national consciousness. Lots of people in Alberta are worried about beef, and relieved that the “isolationist” Kerry was defeated. I’m not. I’m worried about a civilian death toll in Iraq that’s now over six digits. I’m worried about more preemptive military incursions. I’m worried about gay people (being singled out, not getting married – anyone who gets married has sown the seeds of their own destruction and gets no pity from me). But whatever the cabal have in mind will invariably make me sad. Luckily I’m not one for the “one fell swoop/give it to me up front” school of bad-newsery. Draw it out. Lets suffer.

Now, as much as prior to November 3rd, people are talking election. People are talking Bush and mandate, Kerry and defeat. Being a socialist, and reading primarily leftist pinko commie news sources, Kerry’s failure to win is, not surprisingly, the dominant topic of discussion and debate. Did he fail to capture the public’s imagination? Were his policies too obtuse? Did he wait too long to address the smear campaigns directed against him? Was he a flip-flopper, or did he simply insist on giving nuanced answers to complicated questions? Should any politician ever give the public nuanced answers to complicated questions? Did Kerry fail to grasp the fundamental public precedent for presidents – that they be glowing, charismatic, movie-star, father-figure, gun-slinging, ceremonial figureheads, but not necessarily intelligent, thoughtful, pragmatic, and dignified. Clinton with his African-American midas touch. Ronald Regan with his twinkling eyes and warm smile. Bush with his confident swagger and moral “clarity”. I’ve read many times that the last thing the American people want their president to be is a politician. It’s the ugly, malformed peons in the Senate and Congress who take care of all the grunt work. The president can “hire smart”, he need not be so. Ultimately, so they say, it is not so much what a president does, but how he makes the people feel. Successful presidents make the population feel good. And who doesn’t want to feel good? Who doesn’t want to feel confident and optimistic? Who doesn’t want to be reassured by a good-looking, morally sound, movie-star leader that they are a great and righteous and dignified people, following the yellow brick road all the way to the promised land – an emerald city wrought with free markets, hard work, family values, fiscal wealth, and God’s gift of freedom?

I’ll admit I was never sold on Kerry. Though he certainly had his moments, he never quite shook that stiff, dry, stuffed-shirt aest