Michael Hinman, you suck, eh?
Michael Hinman, you suck, eh?
Dec 03A buddy sent me a link to a set-visit for Tin Man, a re-imagining of the classic Wizard of OZ books. Exciting stuff. Only, reading the article was kind of like eating ashes. Of poo. While watching someone prepare more poo ashes for you to eat in the future.
Why? Well, it kind of depends on where you’re sitting right now I guess. Look around – if you’re in a state, this probably won’t mean anything to you. If you’re in a province, it’s a different story.
Right there, in the first paragraph of Mr. Hinman’s recounting;
The first time I heard about “Tin Man” was the first time I saw some scenes from the production. We were on the set of “Flash Gordon” just north of the American border near Washington state, and we were given some sneak peeks of the miniseries in the chamber of Ming the Merciless.
It’s called Vancouver, Mike. I know, because I’m soaking in it right now.
I’m kind of used to the taking-for-granted attitude some American’s have regarding Canada. I’m kind of used to it, because, well, I’m Canadian. The occasional snobby American doesn’t have to know where a percentage of their electric power, fresh water, or lumber comes from – it’s enough that we know about those percentages. Also, our mom says we’re cool.
And at the end of the day, we have excellent ties to the larger group of American’s, the cool ones that can name some of our cities – heck, they may have even visited one or two, or have relatives up here. In blue states, it’s not only alright to marry a Canadian – it’s kind of hip.
But then there are the rare, foil embossed, one-per-box Americans, who just make us mad. Think about that again. Make a Canadian mad. Now tremble! No? Ok, that’s fine.
Hinman, is one such chaser card.
…and a group of soldiers led by “Battlestar Galactica” alum Callum Keith Rennie (what isn’t this guy in anymore?) come to get D.G. (Zooey Deschanel) and take her away.
Well, Canadian shows, for starters – mostly because he’s appearing in pretty much everything filming in Vancouver (that little town across the border from Washington) or Toronto (that little town across the border from Michigan.) He’s one of our A game actors and he is in ur hollywoodz, makin’ ur moviez. Thanks for paying attention, Hinman.
What’s my point? I don’t have one really. As I said, it’s not new – I sat in on a press junket for Arnold Schwarzenegger, when he screened Sixth Day for all the crew and their families – he rented four theaters to do it. Whatta guy, I said. And during the conference, he was asked about working in British Columbia – his response, to paraphrase, was that he enjoyed it and he saw a growing bond between Hollywood and Vancouver. Mere years later, he was governor, stumping on the idea of keeping Hollywood jobs in Hollywood, and boo Canada. Nice.
Nothing I can say will alter who Hinman is and I’m not interested in trying. But I think it important to call him on it. After all, like water, power, lumber, comedians, and geese, a percentage of his job exists because Canada is pumping out genre TV and film constantly. He said it himself – he was on a set visit for Flash Gordon. Flash Gordon brought him to Vancouver. It’d be nice if he could mention it.
So, in short…
Take off, Hinman. You hoser.
Well, maybe you should get YOUR facts straight before you start the name calling.
I admit. I’ve only been to Vancouver twice in my life, but I can tell you that I know where Vancouver is and that “Flash Gordon” is NOT filmed in Vancouver. “Flash Gordon” is filmed in some very small town called Aldergrove. That town, by the way, is about four miles from the American border, which makes my description as being just north of Washington state completely accurate, and your claim that the main sets are located primarily in Vancouver as inaccurate.
I may not be big on seeing everything around me, but I certainly know where I am and where I have been.
I find it rather interesting that you would describe me as being someone who has no interest or knowledge in Canada. This past year, I’ve been to both Vancouver and Toronto — the latter when I was visiting my hometown. Yes, I grew up just a few hours from Toronto. Yes, it was in America, but as a kid, we went to Canada quite often, and I like being there.
I know exactly who Callum Keith Rennie is as well. The statement wasn’t made like “OMG! This guy is famous!” It was making a point that CKR is making a lot of appearances in programming that we are covering, including “Battlestar Galactica,” “Bionic Woman” and now “Tin Man.” “Tin Man” was interesting because I was surprised to see him there, but since I enjoy him as an actor, it was great to see him there (even if he doesn’t know the proper way to hold an iPhone).
I am a big fan of having production in Canada, and to remain in Canada. We toured several sets while we were there, and I can tell you that I have never been treated so well on an American sets as I did on the Canadian sets. In fact, it was awesome going around Vancouver and seeing all the location shooting taking place, and just how vibrant of a city it is.
I do hope you allow this to be posted, but if not, then that’s your problem. You seem to be someone who judges first and asks questions later, and I’m sorry to see that.
If you ask a lot of the Canadian genre media, they will let you know that I am a huge supporter of Canadian production, and I do know where things are.
But hey .. thanks for playing.
We will now, officially, split hairs.
Aldergrove is part of Langley Township, which is part of The Greater Vancouver Regional District. Smallville is filmed in Vancouver. And not (Kansas requires that same outlying farmland near Aldergrove.) Reaper is filmed in Vancouver… though technically Burnaby – not that anyone but a local could readily tell the difference without a map. The truth is, unless you’d said Aldergrove in your article, one would pretty much have to assume you were diminishing Vancouver.
But I now have two points – 1) You’re right, you’re not exactly a fair target. And 2) the anger had passed by the time I hit post. I’m not that interested in arguing with you, for most of the reasons you yourself outlined. You’re not a good candidate for Canadian national Two Minutes of Hate. And it’d rather be on friendly terms with you than not, but I got a little hot under the collar.
I stand by my broad point. For all the filming done in the GVRD, we’re still this red-headed stepchild to Hollywood. I know – I’ve been the Disney backlot and I’ve seen the trucks with the No Maple Leaf stickers (like, the Ghostbusters logo, or No Smoking, only with a maple leaf.)
It pains me even more, when you recount how well you’ve been treated on Canadian sets – I hear that all the time. John Woo was over the moon with the Canadian set designer on Paycheck, because they ingeniously built the giant sets to be pulled apart to suit his daily camera set-up whims. And while I understand that a Canadian job here is not an American job there, how is it the fault of the Vancouver industry for being as attractive as they are? How does that translate into anti-Canada stickers and what does it bode for the future?
Which you aren’t responsible for – and I can see now you weren’t intending to cause a slight.
I’ve seen your site, I’m a semi-regular reader (the aforementioned friend tends to distill high points to me, so there’s not much point in being a daily reader) and I know you cover a lot of the genre filming in and around Vancouver. That you have ties to Canada, just kind of makes the whole thing slightly bitter – the anger remains, but the target, being unfair, isn’t very satisfying.
You have my respect for your daily upkeep (no mean feat, I know) and my apology, for what it’s worth, for dragging you into the mud.
Though, next time, maybe specifically show Aldergrove a little love though, huh? After all, as you said, they treated you well.
Haha, maybe it’s splitting hairs, I don’t know. All I can say is that my talk about “Flash Gordon” was more of a fun tidbit to add to the review, sharing the first exposure I had to this miniseries while sitting in Ming the Merciless’ chamber. 🙂 Could I have mentioned Aldergrove? Sure. But it’s lack of mention was not out of a way to dismiss Canada, it was simply not germane to what I was writing.
I know how you feel about how Canada is slighted, and I definitely was not trying to do that. I wrote quite extensively about the Vancouver press tour, and how the Canadian productions are so strong. I was even interviewed by other reporters extensively about the trip, which I think was a rather successful one for SciFi Channel.
SyFy Portal pulls in thousands of readers each day from around the world. We can’t be geographically centric, because it just wouldn’t work. I would love to talk about the Tampa-St. Petersburg market, which I have called home now for nearly 12 years, but even that would have limited interest on SyFy Portal. I do what I can to make everyone happy, but to concentrate more on the shows and movies, and less on everything else.
Just to let you know, two of our writers live in Vancouver (we also have writers in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New Jersey and even Scotland).
To me, Vancouver is the greatest place in for genre filming in the world. I mean, it’s where the best episodes of “The X-Files” were filmed, it’s where both Stargate series are written and produced, it’s where Battlestar Galactica is filmed, it was where Dead Like Me was filmed, where Bionic Woman was filmed, hell, I could go on for hours. 🙂
Everybody is going to have their opinion on where filming should really happen at, but we are not biased in that way at all. I personally don’t care where the filming happens, as long as the filming is happening. If it happens in Hollywood, great. If it happens in Tampa, great. If it happens in Vancouver, Toronto, even Edmonton … awesome.
Just please don’t be too quick to call people a hoser when in reality, they may be the first person to stand up and completely agree with you. 🙂
If it helps, Hoser can also be a term of endearment. So, let’s just go with that, and put the whole thing behind us.
I’m keeping my eye on Schwarzenegger though.
Haha, and you should keep an eye on him. 🙂
I did write a rare mid-week column talking about all this, and hopefully that will help give you a perspective on where I was coming from. 🙂
http://www.syfyportal.com/news424507.html
This was a shockingly peaceful catfight between two online genre writers.
Can we PLEASE get a Hitler comparison here STAT?
Hahaha! It was, wasn’t it? I ‘ve been known to not only participate in online battles, but I’ve even picked them. But Chris here is actually pretty intelligent, and he expresses himself well. 🙂 No need to pick a fight with someone like that. 🙂