On that same Saturday we will also be hosting a public screening at the historic Revue Cinema here in Toronto. Showtime: 11:00 am.
Here’s the poster for the show.
Not bad, huh?
Limited copies of the poster will be printed, signed and sent to our generous Indie Go-Go donors. There’s still time for you to get yours by visiting our Indie Go-Go campaign page and making a donation.
If you are in the neighbourhood – that would be Parkdale, west end of Toronto – and if you’re up for a family friendly matinee screening of a Christmas classic then come on by. After the screening there will be a brief Q&A with Ruffus – live on stage! The pay-what-you-can box office proceeds will be donated to the Toronto Public Library Foundation.
The holidays are fast approaching and I made a promise last year that our Ruffus The Dog’s Christmas Carol would be finished and released by then. Here’s how you can help make it so.
When we started the project we attempted, through Indie Go-Go, to raise the full $8,500 we expected we could scrape by on to make the whole thing work and release it to the world. We only managed to achieve $2,090 but that generosity from our supporters convinced us to carry on and go ahead with the shoot. I’ve blogged about that before – here and here and here – and here’s our original Indie Go-Go pitch.
Well now, after almost a year of gradually, inexorably (if not continually) working on the post production of the show we are coming down to the wire. The many favours and dedicated sweat equity contributed, in addition to the much needed cash, have carried us almost to completion but once again we find ourselves in need of real money to ensure the project gets finished at the level of quality it deserves and to enable us to release it to the world on time for the holiday season.
The show will be released online for free streaming and downloading with the option to buy DVD copies, songs, posters, calendars, t-shirts and (hopefully) a graphic photo-novella. But it’s gotta all be done and ready for release before December 15th.
Our clock is ticking.
If you can contribute that would be freaking awesome. If you can’t you can still help us with word-of-mouth, just telling people about the project.
Full Disclosure: When I refer to “we” on this project I am mostly referring to “me”, since I’m the guy who has always chosen to wear too many hats. Hey – I got a fat head – might as well use it, right? But I always say “we” because I am not a one-man-band; I rely upon and have benefited from the extraordinary generosity of my friends and family – all of them colleagues and collaborators in this work with me. I couldn’t do a thing without them.
Thanks in advance for your generosity. If you have any comments or suggestions or if you have any questions please feel free to post them here or via email.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back in the basement and keep working on the show.
I wrote this in response to a lot of social justice issues that were bouncing around our city that year – none of which, alas, have been resolved to anyone’s satisfaction or needs – and was also inspired by my readings of (and brief correspondence with) Prof. Jack Zipes.
This story seemed to be a good mix between a classic folktale that advised for and supported a local xenophobia to ensure the safety of townsfolk when confronted by unknown individuals who seemed all too ready to prey on the unsuspecting – and some of the uncomfortable realities we seem to have trouble addressing in our current day to day lives.
It’s too easy to continue to prey and profit upon the blind fears of the unknown – and far more difficult to explain the community and individual need for compassion and necessity of learning what (or whom) something (or someone) actually is before passing judgement.
Heady stuff, perhaps, for a kids puppet show.
But I figured if you’re going to tell a well worn tale you might as well wear those tattered shoes upon a path less trodden and, in doing so, perchance take your audience to a place they might not have otherwise found.
This is especially true with young audiences. Present them with classic literature, iconic stories, archetypal characters, and then put those stories and characters in the context of the world(s) our young audiences inhabit today – the impact will (hopefully) be more meaningful, long-lasting and most certainly resonate more deeply throughout the rest of their lives as they grow up and away from kids puppet shows and begin their own walk upon the paths offered to them by the so-called real world we all must eventually, inevitably and inexorably inhabit.
It’s all about context.
Don’t worry kids. It’s just a puppet show.
And yes – there are monsters in the real world. They do prey upon you. You must beware them – and know them for who they really are. But know them truly – and don’t be afraid to look closer – and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Sometimes those who cry wolf or demand the destruction of a monster – are monsters themselves.
So there.
Cheers.
P. S. Apologies for the opening ad in the video. If it’s irritating and you hate it – say so in the comments and I’ll drop it like my trousers at a – uh – nevermind. Just leave a comment.
P. P. S. If you – or anyone you know – want to see more tales like this please visit our IndieGoGo site where we’re trying to raise enough funds to make our own version of Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol”. Many thanks. Tell your friends.
Here’s the widget:
UPDATE:Cory Doctorow very kindly gave us a mention over at BoingBoing with a nice snippet from this post, an embed of the Troll video and the info on our efforts to raise funding for our Ruffus version of “The Christmas Carol”. Thanks, Cory!
After what seemed like an eternity I have finally got the Ruffus The Dog web site up and running.
The only caveat I’ll offer is this: It’s a start.
More material will be added of course – we have a lot of shows to post – and I also have to get cracking on writing (and recording) the storybooks.
We’re going to be putting a fair amount of behind-the-scenes material on the site as well but that’s mostly about the production of the original shows. In addition to that I’m going to provide some documentation here on the history of the show and about the process we’re going through to make all this new stuff happen.
As the year progresses we’ll find out how successful we are at our fund raising efforts to produce new episodes for release online. Fingers crossed.
Tell your friends. Digg it. Tweet it. Shout it from the rooftops.
Many thanks for your patience.
Cheers.
P. S. I’m really liking the music store set up using Bandcamp. You can listen online, download, embed – it’s really great.
I'm going to be slowly making some changes to the website both in format and content - and I'm pretty sure even the URL will change.
It's going to be more of a personal news aggregator with a featured video blog from yours truly. We'll see how long that lasts. So bear with me - thanks.
It's going to be more of a personal news aggregator with a featured video blog from yours truly. We'll see how long that lasts. So bear with me - thanks.