 I had the privelege of meeting Cory Allen Michael Monteith a few times. I remember my 1st meeting, which I blogged about breifly in this post ( http://canadagraphs.weebly.com/1/post/2012/03/a-few-pics-of-glee-star-cory-monteith-in-vancouver-may-2011-with-his-band-bonnie-dune.html ). I also remember my last meeting with him. The last time I would meet Cory was at back of the East Of Main Cafe for a Project Limelight Society event that he attended with Virgin Group philanthropist Richard Branson. Cory was very involved with the Project Limelight Society. With his last retweet on the social networking site Twitter, tweeted a photo of him sitting inside the East Of Main Cafe that his agent had taken. The last week or so, I have started dabbling with a blog post about Project Limelight after being there again recently. I had found the old Cory & Richard photos of them leaving the event that day had them in my "to edit soon" folder for posting. I recently had visited the East Of Main Cafe for another Project Limelight event that featured speakers Candice Elzinga, Gillian Horvath & Peter Deluise. They gave their time to talk for 2 hours to enthusiastic fans & future film personnel about their experiences, just as Cory had. I actually had a good time at it. They were fun & informative to listen to. With his growing fandom from his work as jock-turned-musician Finn Hudson on "Glee", Cory had become the unofficial poster child for the Project Limelight Society. He probably brought more social attention to the project than anyone else thru his attendance at the small cafe on East Georgia Street for various events & his tweets & interviews where he talked about it. Project Limelight Society runs a free program for youth from the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, which is home to the lowest average income in Canada, to work with professionals in the arts, acting & music industry. Their goal is to help these youths achieve goals of performing on a stage. to boost their confidence, or, give them a chance to showcase their skills for loftier aspirations. MANY people in their program have either dealt directly, or indirectly with various types of substance abuse, and surely this is 1 of the reasons Cory felt so passionately about their cause. It is sad, and disappointing that Cory died so young. Its even sadder, and even more disappointing when you realize how much he tried making the world a better place compared to many of the egotistical & vapid celebs who sadly get too much attention. Cory Monteith had issues with substance abuse. He had gone into rehab repeatedly & even stated once he was lucky to be alive. Cory clearly wanted to give others the hope he seemingly found, and he also tried to turn things for himself around. I respect that. It is rare for me to actually feel too much sorrow for deaths that are overdose related (not that thats been confirmed in this case at this time). I really feel most of the time the people had options they refused to take to avoid that outcome. Ilive in an area, the downtown eastisde, where deaths from OD's are very common place. But I do this time. I do, not because he is a celebrity. Not because he was nice to me. But because he tried helping others with his fame, and he tried to help better himself. He got a 2nd chance & tried to make it count. He got his highschool diploma in 2011, despite not really needing it as his acting career was soaring, but it mattered so he did it. Whether its on Glee Whether its with his band Bonnie Dune Whether it is him giving his time to causes like Project Limelight. The world lost a truly good person. The world lost a great talent. The family & friends of Cory lost even more. If you want to post any condolences, you can do so & I will make every effort to print them out & pass them on to Project Limelight next time I am over there to pass on to his family...whether they get forwarded to the family, I can not say. But I'll try my best. Want to learn more, or donate to Project Limelight Website - http://www.projectlimelightsociety.org Twitter - http://twitter.com/ProjLimelight Rest In Peace Cory. My Condolences to your family, friends, co-workers & fans. Here is my photos of Cory from my last encounter. An encounter he did not have to give to me & the 2 fans & 2 photographers waiting, but did. He could have just as easily got into his vehicle in the private garage he was already in & ignored us, but he didnt. He came out, he signed, took photos & thanked us for coming out. I will be donating 1 of the Cory Monteith autographs I have gotten in the past to Project Limelight to auction off for their charity. I will try to keep you informed if/when/how they decide to auction it if you are interested in it. I will do a blog later on about my encounters with Mr. Branson, Mr. Deluise & others. But I really felt in light of last nights events, this post needed to be made now.     
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By now, if you are a fan of any of the TV programs done in Vancouver, or even just a fan of TV & movies in general. You have heard or read about the uproar in the filming community of British Columbia over the fact the current Premier of the Province, Christy Clark, has essentially washed her hands of the multi-billion dollar industry & is happily letting it die. More disturbing, she has gone as far as to have facebook comments protesting this decision deleted from her facebook page...by the 100s & maybe even now 1000s. A website devoted to screecapping & cataloguing the deleted posts http://www.ninja12.com/cc/ is so long, I couldn't read it all in 1 sitting (and its a read worth reading) An article early this morning by political journalist Bob Mackin http://www.biv.com/article/20130110/BIV0103/130119995 caught the eye of many, especially in the industry. The groundswell of anger & frustration from the deleted comments moved into a plan of action, as tweets, tumblr posts and of course a petition were created to demand action from Christy Clark. Currently, the petition http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/SAVE_BC_FILM/?wgxOzcb (yes, I generally mock online petitions...but it is still a way to make your voice heard) has garnered over 3,500 signatures in about 24 hrs. It's goal is 10000 signatures, and at its current pace, probably will get there by tomorrow or Tuesday at the latest. From the handful of times I stared at names rolling across the screen of recent signees, mostly Canadian, I saw many connected to the B.C. filming industry that I was familiar with lke Callum Keith Rennie, Crystal Lowe, Erica Cerra, Tanya Hubbard and Frank Cassini scrolled down the ticker in the time I watched. I saw a few others, who work behind the scenes, whose names I recognize also pop up. These are not millionaire actors who are griping over losing a couple thousand dollars. These are people making a barely livable wage in this province, and more specifically VANCOUVER, recently called the most expensive city in North America, angry that she wants to eliminate their jobs all together. For every Jensen Ackles, Jennifer Morrison, Robert Carlyle or Joshua Jackson making millions annually from the B.C. film industry, theres 100s more who make not much more than you or I, put in far longer hours than you or I (I often talk to crew on set who have put in 16+ hour days...then do it again the very next day) & do not have the luxury to just fly off to Los Angeles, Toronto or New York when things dry up here. They have families, secondary jobs, small businesses (many in the industry have invested heavily into it with businesses HERE that will surely have to close up if the industry continues failing) & responsibilities HERE. Tweets from actors & actresses on the Save B.C. Film Campaign "Primeval New World" actress Crystal Lowe https://twitter.com/RealCrystalLowe/status/290562419875528704 "Eureka" actress Erica Cerra (2 tweets) https://twitter.com/AirikahChaira/status/290526320335659009 https://twitter.com/AirikahChaira/status/290615372858654720 "Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes" actress Chelah Horsdahl https://twitter.com/chelahhorsdal/status/290537138813014017 Actor & Producer Kenji Maeda https://twitter.com/kenjimaeda/status/290557782401376256 "Glee" actor Patrick Gallagher https://twitter.com/PatrickGman/status/290579555683561473 "Continuum" Actress Jennifer Spence https://twitter.com/SpenceJen/status/290581532349964289 These arent millionaires, these are all actors you have likely seen on TV or movies, who work a handful of days a month when things are going well, and might work 1 or 2 days, maybe even none, when things are not. Without a film industry in B.C. these people, who have trained to be actors & actresses, who care so much for the industry, would either be unemployed or forced to move out of the Province that they have called home & developed roots in. They are just a fraction of the industry too. There are writers, stunt people, entire crews who build & tear down sets, make up & hair stylists, publicists, casting agencies, location scouts, CGI specialists, artists, prop makers and countless other professions directly tied to this industry....not to mention 100s of other smaller sub-sections of industries that survive because of the addition of the film industry here, such as hotels, drivers, police, medical, fire staff, reporters, and yes, even us lowly autograph hounds. The reality is, there are few large or small industries in Vancouver that arent affected directly or indirectly by filming. The loss of this industry would have a large trickledown effect throughout the entire province. I was so annoyed, I made a tumblr blog post...something I almost never do, because I wanted the message to reach the broadest audience I had available & twitter just doesnt do it in 140 characters.... here was my statement on there... http://canadagraphs1.tumblr.com "British Columbia Film Industry is responsible for 100s of films & television shows you all know & watch. I have posted tweets at Christy several times over the past months of different newspaper articles, tv reports & blog posts about the struggling film industry.
NONE of them did she ever everrespond to. Make matters worse, the Premier FOLLOWS me on twitter, and I even contacted her via DM if she wanted to discuss this privately...still no reply to that attempt either. It is blatantly clear, she HATES TV & Movies & wishes they would go to Ontario, Louisiana or California... which has happened in droves over the past couple years. To say the industry needs a massive boost right now is a gross understatement. There is an election May 14th, but what damage will Christy have inflicted by that time? (NOTE- I edited this section.... it previously said 2 yrs till next election. Thanks to those who corrected my inaccuracy). It will consist of shows that were already here before the intentional murder of the industry started and no new, fresh shows will come to open up spots of employment for the 1000s of unemployed people in the industry this Province worked so hard to build through the 80s & 90s. It is hard for me to believe I am saying this, but it is possible Christy Clark is a worse Premier than Gordon Campbell, a man who implemented laws so absurd it nearly financially cripled myself & many others who are in the low income backet. Christy Clark seems to have no business sense. She seems to be oblivious to the fact there is a multi-billion dollar industry in her Province that is slowly moving to places where they WILL give tax breaks. Christy Clark would rather tax it, have it leave, create 1000s of unemployed workers surviving off Unemployment Insurance & Welfare, instead of working in an industry that has made B.C. a desired place for people to visit (tourism $$), relocate to & do business in. If you WANT shows like Supernatural, Once Upon A Time, Arrow or Psych to keep making the quality products they have been making... you need to have your voice heard. Sign the petition, blog about it, tweet about it, comment on Christy Clarks page & make her P.R. team know we wont quietly heed to her tyrranical actions. This is an industry with MONEY, POPULARITY and MANY OUTLETS to have its VOICE heard. My recommendation to Christy Clark... BACK DOWN from your demands to kill the industry before you end up portrayed as an incompetent, addle minded, crazy person character on 1 of the shows.... afterall, they have the power to make it happen. .. and if you keep poking the bear, I am sure 1 or more of them will make it happen. Other articles referring to this campaign that I've seen today... http://www.timescolonist.com/film-tv-gaming-left-out-of-bc-jobs-plan-1.44327 - Victoria Times Colonist http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2013/01/save-bc-film-petition/ - Vancitybuzz http://vancityfilming.com/save-bc-film/ - Vancity Filming http://www.facebook.com/GlobalBC/posts/10151322419517808 - Global TV story on the noon news http://www.globaltvbc.com/video/save+bc+film+campaign/video.html?v=2325159573#stories - Save B.C. Film twitter account (200+ followers already) https://www.facebook.com/savebcfilm?fref=ts - Save B.C. Film Facebook page (already 1200+ likes) http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/savebcfilm |
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All photos posted in this blog are shot by Canadagraphs. Permission to use the photos on your site, blog, tumblr, facebook or other online outlets is allowed if you follow 3 rules 1- DO NOT remove any watermarks on the photos, this includes cropping around them, Without prior written permission or emailed permission from this site. (contact form is on the left) 2- Credit this blog page or the individual blog post in your posting. 3- DO NOT use more than 4 photos in your post. If there are more than 4 photos you want to use....please ASK FIRST about using more than 4. If you would like to use photos seen here unedited, contact me thru my contact page, and depending on your need I may be able to accommodate smaller requests. Depending on the orders/photos, I may charge a fee for my time (usually about $2-5 an image depending how many you want) AuthorThis is the blog section for celebrity encounters & set reports on events that dont have their own sub-category on the left side. Archives
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