50 Tasks
1. Visit a bookstore (1/5)
AND
3. Purchase a book
7. Visit a bookstore: MacLeod Books (3/5)
8. Visit periodicals section at VPL
9. Get a library card and take out books: VPL
10. Attend a screening for an award winning film: The Sound of Music (2/5)
11. Visit a bookstore: Kinder Books (4/5)
12. Find a typo: "he put Slemmon' watch charm in his pants pocket" (Writing Fiction, Janet Burroway)
13. Watch a (significant?) film: Lurker (3/5)
14. Watch a (significant?) film: The Long Walk (Stephen King) (4/5)
16. Got Cathy Stonehouse to sign a second copy of The Causes
17. Watch a Canadian film screening: The Art of Adventure (VIFF) (2/5)
18. Attend a discussion on culture (KPU Surrey Gathering Place)
19. Visited Vancouver Writers Fest
20. Visited a bookstore: Upstart & Crow (5/5)
21. Attended a reading: We Survived the Night by Julian Brave NoiseCat
22. Attend art exhibit (Paintings at Richmond Public Library and Richmond Culture Centre)
23. Visit archives for research (Richmond Archives)
24-33. Volunteer at Lumiere Festival (2x5 hours)
34. Took out a literary journal from the KPU Surrey Library
35. Reading: Corina Chong (3/10)
36. Watch a Canadian Film: Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story (2024) (3/5)
Documentary of a transgender R&B / Soul singer who rose to prominence in Toronto in the 1960s, and effectively disappeared from the public eye in 1971, and passed away in 2019. I wish they just used acting or classic animation for the footage, as much of it clearly uses generative AI filters; it felt like they did all the work they needed to, and slapped AI on it, just giving it an icky, needless touch. Fascinating story though, and I am surprised I never heard of her music; probably the most interesting trans story I've heard so far. Part of why I dislike biopics is that they often sanitize history for a clean PG-13 rating. Documentaries are often less cleaned up. This one did a great job of bringing to light what life must have been like for Jackie Shane during this era: racism and transphobia was extreme and normalized back then. Powerful ending with the surviving family who had been kept away from her do what they can to revive her story.
37. Watch a Canadian film: Les affames / Ravenous (2017) (4/5)
A zombie movie set in Quebec. I was surprised at how engaged I was through this. Zombies aren't my thing in the first place, and somehow, so many movies manage to make zombies fresh. But then again, it feels like the bad zombie films are endless. As a wimp, this one made me jump with nearly every jumpscare, especially the silly fakeout jumpscares. The acting felt decent for such a low-budget film; I understand that film isn't cheap, and they don't get that many chances at getting shots "just right" and that they don't have the same resources or expertise on set as the Hollywood films I'm used to watching more regularly. Still, it manages to be better than 95% of the films I've watched in the past decade. The acting is solid most of the time, but a little stiff in brief moments. The comedic elements felt a bit at odds with the dramatic moments; they felt like moments of tonal whiplash rather than being a weaved-in bit of the structure; Sean of the Dead managed to be everything at once, whereas this one more so feels either tense, or dramatic, or funny, but rarely more than one of these at a time. The lighting (Game of Thrones could have taken notes on this), establishing shots, and pacing worked well to build tension and dread, but the framing was often too flat or predictable; too much shot-reverse shot for a director who felt like he wanted to push the envelope in all the other aspects of the cinematography. If I weren't such a wimp, I would praise the subtle sound design as well, but the jumpscares were unpleasantly loud. I'm not often one to notice FX in films, but the gore was surprisingly effective for such a small-budget film, especially the part where Vezina gets his head blown apart with a shotgun.
38. Watch a Canadian film: Ginger Snaps (5/5)
This one was surprisingly fun. I shouldn't even have to really say this, but I appreciate the goofy dog violence stuff; I've been blindsided before by real animal violence in media (two jumpscares in SCP; one is of a real skinned dog's head, and the other is a close-up of the smiling woman in the image's hand holding some of the gore).
The teen melodrama is amusing. It feels like Catcher in the Rye meets Buffy meets Heathers with werewolves. Have to appreciate a silly pun for a title as well.
I love how it breaks the rules all the time. The filmmakers here aren't afraid of looking stupid or occasionally failing to land a joke here and there; they are committed to the bit, and the actors are all on the same page, and it lands way more often than it comes short. The anticlimax of Brigitte curing Jason is one of the most amusingly cheeky moments in the film.
39. Make a social media account and post
This one here.
40. Comment on an issue of Quill & Quire
Yeah, so it looks like the magazine doesn't exist anymore. It's just a blog site now. Kenneth Oppel is one of the few living local writers who I'm familiar with, and I found a copy of Inkling recently. Perhaps I will check out Best of All Worlds at some point. Honestly, I wasn't crazy about his prose, but rather the subject matter of Silverwing. Oppel was writing bat protagonists before anyone else. Heck, back in World War II, President Roosevelt greenlit Project X-Ray, a program that had scientists strapping bats with napalm, in hopes of being able to train them to firebomb Japan; the guy leading the project framed bats as a creature that God put on this Earth for the sole purpose of doing as much, and the supposed "bat-lover" scientists thought it was a noble mission for the creatures - that is to say, killing Japanese civilians. And now we're heading back to that political climate. But bat compassion has come a long way since Oppel wrote his YA animal xenofiction novel. There was a setback with covid with morons lighting caves on fire and killing bats in droves; I suppose these people aren't familiar with malaria or pollination.
You can't mention Oppel without bringing up Silverwing. It's to him as District 9 is to Neill Blomkamp; in perpetuity, his works are always "from the man who brought you Silverwing."
An alien zoo sounds relevant in some tangential way, though; I don't recall what the word Billeh told me was, but I think it must have been "zoomorphism," ascribing humans with animal traits. That's something I've taken a liking to, especially quietly while doing guest service work at the movie theatre.
Apparently, he is making a statement on the current political climate with his latest work, alluding to climate change deniers, science deniers, etc. That's another element that has me intrigued. The fundamentalist family I lived with gave me COVID three times. I isolated for nine months and nearly lost a long-term friend who thought I was being "lazy" rather than "responsible."
It seems Oppel is frustrated with the stupidity in the world, and that he's aiming to tell a story of humanity working together to solve big problems that threaten our survival. I would probably be a bit too cynical for that, which is probably part of what keeps me firmly in the lane of writing anthropomorphic animals and fantasy creatures.
I've still got three Silverwing novels to work through as well as the graphic novel adaptation, before I get to Inkling and Best of All Worlds.
You know that thing they say about how you suddenly start seeing something everywhere when you first bring your attention to it? It's not around more, but it seems that way due to a selection bias. People say that about Joker cars. Kenneth Oppel is my Joker car Baader-Meinhof phenomenon.
41. Comment on Poets & Writers (Sep/Oct 2025)
How to Write When You'd Rather Be Online by Ruth Madievsky
"Your online obsessions are your offline obsessions, and sometimes it helps to put the thing that's stopping you from writing your book into your book. Nothing is too lowbrow."
I've been struggling with social media addiction. I've been doing something strange lately. Been rolling around in the mud arguing with conservatives on Twitter and Quora. It's kind of like the genAI at Lumiere: it happens to train some decent skills, but the process itself is numbing and likely counter-productive. I applied this approach earlier this semester: Funny Animals was a low-brow sitcom, essentially, where I satirized myself and my grievances. Was it great? Not really. But I think it's getting me somewhere to great, eventually. Or at least great for some people. Know your audience was something we covered in the Salesses reading covering his opinions on craft.
"How to Protect Your Time" by Ananda Lima
Yup. This is a skill I need.Task-switching is an absolute nightmare for me, and I am easily distracted by the people around me. I've cut most of my family and friends out of my life this semester and I try to make my Downtown Van trips lengthy so it's only moderately confusing rather than a complete concussion grenade to my brain.
Put the damn phone down, I have to think to myself; it's gotten bad lately. I hate Twitter and yet I use it every day. I need to actually sit at the computer and type, and work on my homework until my brain gets tired. Go out for a brief walk. Come home. Plug away at it some more. It's simple to plan, but hard to execute. Uncle Billy, who I don't even talk with anymore, was trying to get other family members to ask me to be a live-in maid for my disabled grandfather when he comes down in January. I said "No. I'm a student. I'm busy." It's nearly impossible to balance homework as is. I need to maintain that distance so long as I am busy.
Cutting Uncle Billy out of my life was one of the smartest things I ever did. I no longer have to worry about him showing up at my place while I'm in the middle of a shift bombarding me with texts asking me where I am; "I'm busy, fuck off." He lives up in Prince Rupert and he feels entitled to my time when he comes down. He's a complete drain.
It's nearly impossible to keep things productive when that side of the family wedges themselves into my life. I'm the only one with good savings and good investments. Meanwhile, they struggle with addiction problems. Uncle Billy was doing cocaine with my dad, and my dad was doing fent before he died. I don't think it's unreasonable to cut family out of one's life. It's often the right thing to do.
"Who and what do you love? What do you live for?" Well, I'm not exactly subtle, am I? Animals. Now, I wouldn't expect a society where everyone is like me to function. But I think I'm an important outlier. We don't care about animals or nature enough. And it's going to take a lot of focus and mindful exercises to execute my goals in a manner which doesn't push audiences away.
"How to Keep Writing When You're Convinced Your Book Is a Disaster" by Crystal Hana Kim
Haha, pigeons dumb. Let's ignore their incredible navigational skills which we used for message delivery back in the day.
Okay, maybe that's enough of beating a dead horse for one review.
This article does raise a good point. Pettiness is an incredible motivator. I like to think of Uncle Billy when I write. I like to remind myself of how I made more money on investments than he did as a union worker for the Prince Rupert ILWU. When I think of how far I've come directly in spite of him and his suggestions on what I do with my life, it fills me with a vigour unlike any other. It fleshes my work out in a way that is ugly and textured. Spite is my drug of choice. Call it an instinct.
There's another article on how to "kill your darlings."
Do we need to cover this anymore? The concept has been a cliché for years now. I like taking a sledgehammer to my works regularly. To a fault. Sometimes my third draft is mostly amalgamating what worked in drafts 1 and 2 with some additional material to make sense of them.
42. 50, 100, 250 word bios.
250
Jon E. D. Robinson is an artist, writer, entertainer, and musician whose works usually involve animals. His works often aim to challenge domineering narratives, empowering marginalized narratives and covering taboo topics such as paganism, therianism, animism, and anarchy with an open mind. Jon is mixed Tsimshian, born in Prince Rupert with family from Gitxaala, though he was raised Protestant by his mother, Angie, who had animosity for her heritage. Jon has found himself interested in his heritage, as it better aligns with his views on animal ethics and environmentalism. His proximity to Christian fundamentalists and their views on identity, science, nature, and autonomy have pushed him to be critical of fundamentalist ideologies and towards writing spirutal themes, despite his agnosticism. Jon is agender and bisexual, and he enjoys discussing gender with his trans friends and working with them to write in trans characters into many of his projects. Jon previously studied Biology and he enjoys incorporating scientific facts on animals into his animal xenofiction projects. Having been parentified to raise his nonverbal brother Robert from ten to eighteen, Jon sought animals as an outlet and escapism from the unique struggles of human society. Following the tragic death of both, Jon began incorporating narratives critiquing the government for failing to adequately aid disabled children and their caretakers, as well as showing a long history of bias and attempted cultural genocide of indigenous peoples. Gyiloom dza 'nisgatga yets'isk.
100
Jon E. D. Robinson is an agender bisexual mixed-Tsimshian artist, writer, entertainer, and musician, who is passionate about promoting animal compassion and critiquing the normalization of animal cruelty and exploitation. From the age of ten, he helped raise his nonverbal brother Robert alongside their mother, Angie, and following their tragic passing in 2014 he began incorporating narratives critiquing the government and authoritarian systems. He is not well-versed in Tsimshian culture, but he is learning, and is especially intrigued by how it aligns with his compassion for animals. Gyiloom dza 'nisgatga yets'isk.
50
Jon E. D. Robinson is an agender bisexual mixed-Tsimshian artist, writer, entertainer, and musician.
His works often revolve around animals, and has begun studying Tsimshian culture. Jon lost his mother and younger brother in 2014, and he tries to repurpose his grief to write fiction to help others.
His works often revolve around animals, and has begun studying Tsimshian culture. Jon lost his mother and younger brother in 2014, and he tries to repurpose his grief to write fiction to help others.
43. Indie company logo
Also available in vector form - infinitely scalable. Meant as a branding umbrella for any video games, merchandise, self-published works, etc.
44. Shut Up and Write
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