Sasquatch Doritos - It's Gotta Bite!

My sons talked me into helping them to make a 30 second TV commercial for a new (undecided) Doritos chip flavour. Since I had a Sasquatch costume rented already for next weeks shoot, we decided to use that. And I ended up being the one to wear it. At one point I picked up my youngest son and twirled him around on my shoulders, throwing him down several feet away. It was a great feeling. But since he's 112 pounds, I felt it later, before bed. It was worse in the morning. The completed version, I uploaded at 5:00 a.m. is below. Have a look for a good laugh, and give it a vote.

Guerrilla Film Festival Competition Time Again

Last year we won the Mount Washington Guerrilla Film competition with the short we made, entitled, Free Spirit. Is was adapted from a portion of the book I'm working on now. We had only 48 hours to shoot, edit, and submit the 4 minute production. We overcame the problems of technical mishaps, an injured lead actor, endured very little sleep and were able to finish it. This year, thankfully, they are giving us more time. We can shoot over days, or even weeks, as long as it is shot on Mount Washington, and doesn't run over eight minutes in length, and is submitted by March 28th. So now the pressure isn't so great. But were trying something a little more challenging this time around. Larger cast, more props, bigger budget.



We're doing a Sasquatch Film. The idea came to me about a month ago, when I was thinking about the idea of a movie about a born-again Yeti. I wrote it down, and had almost forgotten about it when, one day, suddenly, a seven foot co-worker stepped into my office. The light came on. "There's my Sasquatch!"

I just happened to bump into this big guy a couple of days later and asked him seriously if he wanted to play the role, and he said, "Yes!".

I went out this past weekend to find a costume that will fit our lead tall. Not an easy task. I was able to find costume rental place in Campbell River, about forty-five minutes drive away. I've negotiated to have it for until the 22nd of March, and I only have to pay $45.00. God's favor is on our side. Should be fun, no matter how it turns out.

Celebrating son's 16th birthday with sushi

It's hard to believe that my son Andre is 16. Soon he'll be able to drive. Time has passed so quickly. To celebrate this occasion I took him and eight of his friends out for sushi. I thought it would be a nice memory to take into manhood, eating raw fish, surrounded by friends, using chopsticks, in an oriental atmosphere. They had fun, but one of them ended up sick-to-his-stomach, so I left the evening wondering if maybe I should have gone with the standard pizza and burgers. Below is some video clips of the night. Enjoy.

Free The Children

If you haven't heard about this organization yet, you should. It's called Free The Children. My sons high school is raising money to build schools for children in Kenya, Africa through this program. Reaching out to the Maasai Mara. One of the characters in my latest book is Maasai, so I was happy to see this. They're selling cards and other art work to raise money and they will be hosting a dinner in March to raise more funds to build schools and provide clean water there. It's great to see the youth of this generation getting excited about social outreach. If you have the time take a look at the video below, it will touch your heart.

Davos, Switzerland debates

When I heard about the Davos debate competition taking place on YouTube this week I was moved to put in my two cents by responding to their question of a possible economic recovery in 2009. In many ways it relates to the topic covered in my book "A Silent Violence" - the extreme poor. I believe they need a bail out just as much as the car industry and the banks of North America. They have been living in crisis mode for decades, and they've been dying of disease, starvation, AIDS and malaria. There is so much untapped potential in the developing world - future doctors, inventors, teachers, and artists are there, but they require investment, they need schools, and proper health care for them to be able to reach their potential.

The better videos submitted to YouTube will be shown to those attending the World Economic Forum - C.E.O.'s world leaders and non-profit executives. Who knows, maybe my little video will catch their attention.

Highlights of 2008

I spent the first week of 2009 looking back on 2008 with a heart of thankfulness, remembering all the good things that occurred this past year. I've attempted here to rank the top three.

1) One highlight that really stuck out was the fun two week summer vacation we took visiting some of the tiny gulf islands and the west coast of Vancouver Island. It was quality time with my wife, Olivia, and our teenage sons, Andre and Colt, along with some of their friends; camping, hiking and jumping off cliffs and waterfalls. There's just something about that adrenaline rush you get when you're flying through the air that makes cliff jumping so invigorating. Nothing else compares. Maybe it's the realization that you're still alive after falling 40-50 feet into fresh water. I also had my first solo kayaking adventure this summer too, while researching the book I'm presently working on. An overnight journey that went around Valdes island. Beautiful weather. Surrounded by nature. Coffee made over a hiker's gas stove. Who could ask for anything more. Times spent with family and friends rank the highest in my highlights for 2008.

2) We took top prize at the Mount Washington 48 Hour Guerrilla Film Festival with our 5 minute short, Free Spirit. Cast and crew worked together in miraculous ways to see this completed.

3) A Silent Violence was published, after working on it for three years. Two spent writing and one year in editing.

Revenge of the beast - an Alan Smithy film

This past weekend I made a mockumentary film, entitled "Revenge of The Beast, An Alan Smithy Film". Along with a group of friends we shot this no budget production using my new Canon Vixia HF100, a hi-def video camera. The level of adrenaline and humor on set was high and the performances were top notch. We ended up with something subtly amusing, which is what we were aiming for. We're entering it in the YouTube/Sundance Film Festival, Project:Direct 2009 contest (You can watch it in the YouTube player below).








On another note, this week I heard from my publisher that they're putting out the press releases soon, and I now have the official release date for A Silent Violence of January 17th, 2009. I'm hoping to do a book release at the Coles bookstore here in Courtenay, once it's added to the Chapters catalog.

Better World Books

I just found out that the bookstore, Better World Books is selling, A Silent Violence. They're much more than a bookstore though. They're partnering with literacy programs which help struggling areas of North America and the developing world. Half of their profits go towards these types of charities. So if you're planning on buying my book, why not purchase it from Better World Books, and give to a non-profit cause for children at the same time. Check out Better World Books for yourself and see some of the unique initiatives they have going in Africa, and other places or watch the video below:

Yesterday Thirty Thousand Children Died from Preventable Causes

"Today almost thirty thousand children will die from preventable causes, including, malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS. Tomorrow just as many will perish. This tragic fact inspired author Rob Sargeant to write his latest book, A Silent Violence. He wanted to give these children a voice, in a world that seems to ignore this catastrophe.

Author Rob Sargeant wrote parts of his new book, A Silent Violence, while serving with the Canadian Armed Forces in some of the harshest climates on the planet: from freezing Alert, in Nunavut Territory, to the sweltering hot deserts of Southwest Asia. He wrote the first draft over a two-year period between 2005-2007, and spent another year in rewrites.

“The story has a very international flavor, so being in the contrasting climates of the Arctic and a desert in Southwest Asia while writing definitely helped,” Sargeant says. “It gave the story more authenticity.”

Relative to this time and generation, A Silent Violence, is a fictional tale about an Irish rock star, Liam, who mails out over a hundred invitations to some of the richest and poorest people on the world, inviting them to attend an all-expenses-paid, secret banquet in Toronto. By doing this, he inadvertently sparks the interest of the CIA, and an ambitious surveillance expert, Brad Jones, is dispatched to investigate this strange get-together, to discover why the meeting is surrounded by so much secrecy. He and his sub-agents monitor the movements of the guests, which include an AIDS orphan from the Philippines, a Tanzanian young man, a famous Italian opera singer, a Texas oil tycoon, an aging Hollywood actress, and a billionaire American computer software genius. After learning the truth, Brad has to decide if he will release it to the rest of the world in an exclusive news story, or if he will keep it a secret, and walk away a less wealthy, but much better person.

“A considerable amount of time was spent in research, before a first draft was completed, because I had to find out where these characters came from, how they would talk,” Sargeant said. “I was inspired to write this after a conversation I had with my younger brother, John, about the fact that every day thirty thousand people in the developing world perish from preventable causes, including malaria, AIDS, and malnutrition,” he continued. “This is a catastrophe that is rarely reported by the media, that’s why the book is entitled, A Silent Violence.”

A Silent Violence (ISBN-13: 9781607034827) is now available for purchase from Barnes & Noble’s online bookstore, and will be added to the catalogs of most booksellers, for ordering in the coming weeks."

This was my latest press release. Comments? Suggestions?

XO Laptop Give One Get One Campaign

This summer I took my XO Laptop, received earlier this year through the Give-One-Get-One campaign, on a camping and kayaking trip along the west coast of Canada. I was doing some research for a book that I'm writing. The laptop held up well in the hot and moist conditions. While on the shoreline, one time I was able to pick-up the internet, with its built in WIFI. There must have been a house nearby with unsecured access. I used it in internet cafes on Vancouver Island too, without any problems (the video processor is slow when it comes to watching YouTube, etc). For the children in the developing world this will be some amazing educational tool. The Sugar environment is very user friendly, and the Journal application keeps track of all activities, so it's easy to go back and make changes. The XO comes equipped with an SDHC slot, so memory can be expanded from 2-16 gigs if you so desire, but with the sugar platform 2 gig is plenty for getting you around. To be part of this years Give One Get One campaign visit: XO Laptop. Have a part in making a child's future much more promising.

Smokey Mountain

"Since he was six years old, Lucio had lived alone on the streets of Manila, Philippines. He looked after himself the best way that he could, sleeping in doorways at night, and working Smokey Hill during the day.

On occasion he could gather enough scrap metal to sell for food if he spent the day rummaging at the huge dump that smoldered continuously on the outskirts of the city. He taught himself how to turn old computer parts into colorful jewelry, and succeeded in selling some of it to the naive wives of rural farmers and tourists at the Manila marketplace. On a good day he could afford a meal from a roadside stall. Sometimes to quench the burning hunger in his stomach he would eat discarded food scraps, competing for them against the skinny cats and rats in the back alleyways of the restaurants and taverns." (Quoted from my next book, A Silent Violence)

One of the characters in my next book comes from Smokey Mountain, a real place in Manila, Philippines. He's a twelve year old boy who has lost his mother to AIDS. For six years he has been living on the streets. He could be one of the kids in the video above.

Reading To Kids

If you're having fun, they'll have fun. That's my approach when it comes to performing a read before an audience of kids. Today I had a chance to read the first chapter of a work in progress to a group of them in Courtenay, B.C. and we had a blast. At one point I needed a volunteer from the audience to play the part of a cat. Everyone put their hand up, but I picked only one girl from the group, and she did a great job playing the role (considering that it was at the spur of the moment). A couple of other younger kids must have gotten jealous when they saw her. They began to crawl around on the floor like cats too. I continued reading, watching this, hoping they'd stop, but I finally had to pause for a few seconds to round up all the kids crawling around. Once back in their seats, I read the paragraph again, and continued on to finish the chapter. Lots of fun. Can't wait to do it again.