<![CDATA[Port-Foley-o - J-Fo Blog]]>

<![CDATA[Port-Foley-o - J-Fo Blog]]>Wed, 25 Jan 2023 19:50:02 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[My first international credit! Go me!]]>Wed, 13 Oct 2021 16:42:28 GMThttp://justinfoley.ca/j-fo-blog/my-first-international-credit-go-meHi folks. In the spirit of not being dumb and shooting myself in the foot, there isn't much I'm going to say about this. However, it's something I'm very excited about, and I want to kind of announce it, and I know that I'm safe doing what I'm about to do.
There's this interesting documentary mini-series about Ireland that's going to be airing on RTE (Ireland's version of CBC or BBC), and it's going to have a Newfoundland component. What I'm excited by is the fact that I had the absolute pleasure to serve as the field producer and director-of-sorts for the Newfoundland unit. It will likely be very brief, but it's still really cool to have a hand in it all the same.

If you want to read more about the project itself, you can do so on the Irish production company (New Decade) website by clicking here:
http://www.newdecade.ie/cameras-roll-on-the-island-1-8-billion-years-in-the-making-with-liz-bonnin/

Alright, that's it from me.

]]><![CDATA[On Cancel Culture and Accountability]]>Wed, 03 Mar 2021 15:44:27 GMThttp://justinfoley.ca/j-fo-blog/on-cancel-culture-and-accountabilityThis isn't an easy blog post to write. For some people, this won't be an easy blog post to read. I have always been a left-leaner, politically speaking. I still am. But I'm struggling these days with a number of actions and activities that other left-leaners participate in.

Last night, I witnessed Twitter's latest foray into Cancel Culture, with the hashtag of #RIPJeremyRenner. I was mortified. Look, I know what Jeremy Renner has said and the way he's acted in the past and I agree that in many ways he is, as we Newfoundlanders say, a "Juice-Arse". But you do NOT "R.I.P." someone who is not dead. It's not funny, or acceptable, to "kill" someone just because you don't like them. There are better ways to hold someone accountable. I wholeheartedly support the concept that we need to demand better from our public figures. I agree that we must not exemplify and glorify racism, sexism, homophobia/transphobia, and instead must call it out--but my God, World--we are not judge, jury and executioner. When did it become meaningless to apologize? When did it become criminal to make a mistake, even just once? We've abandoned all hope that there are people who are open and willing to learning? We refuse now to believe in people who legitimately strive to be better?

People like Harvey Weinstein, and even more recently Joss Whedon--they are people who, for a long time abused their power and have only "stopped" because they were caught in the act and finally called out by enough people. I strongly support the "cancelling" of individuals such as this because they need to learn that this behaviour is intolerable, no matter how strong they think they are. They know what they did, and they did it deliberately. There are others, however--I don't watch the Bachelor or any of its derivatives but my kids' mom does and she talks to me about it. A contestant attended an Antebellum party in high school, and was called out about it--and she apologized very profusely. Other than that, there's been no history of racism from this person, so I feel (you know, as a Person of Colour myself) that if someone makes a commitment to be better, give them the opportunity. I mean, I get it--some people just love dressing up in costumes and legitimately might not be aware of the history. If anything, hold the school accountable! But there are so many people who just want to condemn her as evil and racist--in particular, another former contestant named Taylor, who has been dragging Rachel as well as Chris Harrison (who had somewhat defended Rachel, similar to how I have--Taylor wants Chris to step down permanently). Taylor wants to hold these people to such a high standard (that's great), and because they fail to reach it (in her eyes) they should be erased.

But here's the rub--Taylor has a history of making tweets that are racist, homophobic, fat-shaming, rape-shaming, etc. Someone found them, and now TAYLOR is being dragged, and guess what? She's SO sorry, and is asking for the same forgiveness that she didn't think that these other two people (who's "sins" were far less) deserved.

We Leftists look at Trump, and Q-Anon and other extreme Right-wingers and see morons with a cult-like mentality, however I am very saddened to say that there is a quantity of people on the left who are equally nuts, albeit with the opposite perspectives. Leftists who feel like it isn't enough to not like Trump supporters, you need to hate ALL Republicans (even though Lincoln was a Republican and he's the one who ended slavery, it was the Democrats at the time who still wanted it)...there are some who even believe that if you identify as straight, you are somehow homophobic because you're "closing yourself off to accepting same-sex love". Some of the Left are becoming just as intolerant as the Right, and I'm not okay with that.

Not that anyone actually READS this bloody thing, but for what it's worth, I'm calling on the world--Right, Left, Centrist--to sit the hell down and chill the hell out. Take a damn breath. We need to start learning how to listen to one another again. We can still disagree--but it's not ok, it's NEVER ok, to stop listening. And we've ALL gotten really bad for that now. We're all making things worse instead of better. Hold people to higher standards, 100%--but stop being so arrogant as to believe that you've got the right to dictate what happens to someone's career. Because just remember, just like Taylor who wanted to make a big show of herself as being "so woke"--you might not smell like a rose either. No one's perfect.

Honestly--the next time I see an #RIP for ANYONE, they better actually be dead. Have some fucking class, and stop acting like miserable brats.

]]><![CDATA[COVID-inspired Creativity?]]>Wed, 17 Feb 2021 16:36:20 GMThttp://justinfoley.ca/j-fo-blog/covid-inspired-creativityHi gang. Long time since I've posted anything here--as is my usual. But that's okay, no one ever really reads these things anyway...do they? I mean, nobody ever comments or anything so I feel like an old man yelling at clouds here. But it's okay, because I'm still having fun anyway!

Ok, onto the purpose of this post: For a long time, a VERY long time, I've been feeling creatively stifled. Not by anyone in particular but just by life in general. My ideas weren't working out or I didn't know how to express them or create them, or I'd just been too busy helping other people express their creativity--which I love doing, don't get me wrong--but I had pretty well stopped seeing myself as a creative.

But no more! I'm delighted to announce that, due to having pretty well not much else to be at due to the COVID Pandemic and its related shut-downs, I've been able to buckle down and get a couple of creative ventures into a stable form that allows me to very soon start pitching them and hopefully bring them each to life, with a third concept growing in my brain like a child in a womb! Because I want to pitch these ideas and have them still be novel when I send out the pitch, I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about them right now. I'll tell you that one is a non-scripted, factual adventure series, and the other is a pilot episode for a superhero comedy series. The third idea that's not yet fully developed is a kid's show with a lot of zany characters.
And in the words of the immortal Forrest Gump, "that's all I have to say about that!".

I know I say this a lot but this time I REALLY mean it--I'm going to try and be better at this blog. Now that I actually have some cool things to talk about, I will probably be talking about it more. That's just math, right? Or science...either way, in some discipline, it makes sense.

Tootles!

]]><![CDATA[I'm a Daddy!!]]>Mon, 02 Dec 2019 08:00:00 GMThttp://justinfoley.ca/j-fo-blog/im-a-daddyWhat an amazing few days. On Nov. 29, just a few minutes after updating my homepage to say I'd be a dad within a matter of days, I got the call to head into the hospital because I was going to become a dad THAT afternoon. Around 4:00pm, my twin children were born--my son and daughter. They are BEAUTIFUL, their mom is beautiful, LIFE is beautiful!!

I won't be posting about them a whole lot here because I want to respect my family's privacy--but I am the proudest dad on the planet. Just a couple days old and they're already so happy, look at the smile on the little dude!

My son and daughter, born Nov. 29, 2019--it was Black Friday, so we got the 2 for 1 deal :D

I would imagine that my blog will not be updated any more than it currently is, given the sudden lack of free time, and sleep, that will now be part of my life. But stick around, my site will still be active--and maybe I will put some more blogs up later. Who knows?

And really, who cares? I know how many of you read this thing--not even a cricket! :p

]]><![CDATA[Alert: I get to be a real actor on tv!]]>Sat, 02 Nov 2019 18:56:40 GMThttp://justinfoley.ca/j-fo-blog/alert-i-get-to-be-a-real-actor-on-tvHey there everyone!

I've been hanging onto this information for weeks/maybe a couple of months now, but I can finally reveal the secret: I'm going to be making a guest actor appearance on this week's episode of Hudson and Rex! Not as a background performer, which I have done several times before, but as an actual actor--they put me in a trailer and everything! :P

At this point, I can't reveal any details about who I am (other than I play a guy named John Gore--that's all you get to know!!) or what I do, but you can watch it on Tuesday night at 8pm EST on CityTV and see for yourself!

-Justin
]]><![CDATA[I'm gonna be a producer]]>Mon, 04 Mar 2019 08:00:00 GMThttp://justinfoley.ca/j-fo-blog/im-gonna-be-a-producerIf any of you started singing, I'm so proud of you!

So, yet again it's been another very long pause between blog entries. I just suck at this--plus, I'm not entirely convinced my life is that interesting to people in the outside world (although, I recently learned that CBC sometimes reads my blog so I guess I really should be making a better effort at this...) ANYWAY--I'm doing a blog entry today because I actually have important things to talk about.

I'm going to be serving as the producer of short film called Melody. The script was written and will be directed by dear friend Anna Wheeler, and it's based off a short story by Lisa Moore, who is an incredible and notable Newfoundland author. Her novel Caught was recently converted into a mini-series on CBC (which I got to work on as Assistant Locations Manager!) so getting the chance to produce the conversion of another one of her stories is just delightful. Casting was completed a short while ago, and we're on the road to finishing our crewing and locking locations. We go to camera in mid-April.

All updates can be found at the website shortfilmmelody.com but I will try to put more info here as well.

Alright folks--til next time!

]]><![CDATA[YES B'y's, TedX and more!]]>Tue, 29 May 2018 23:36:26 GMThttp://justinfoley.ca/j-fo-blog/yes-bys-tedx-and-moreHey there friends!

So, the last time I posted a blog, it was a pretty introspective and melancholy entry. I'm sorry if between that posting and my lack of updates since then has been in any way concerning--but I still work under the impression that no one actually reads this blog and my whole website is basically an extension of my repressed narcissism. (I'm kidding!)

Since then, things have been picking up pretty well--I'm taking some time away from film and tv. One of the main reasons is because there's not that much available locally right now--and that ties into my other reason, which is I'm trying to move into something that's a bit more stable and predictable. So I've stuck my nose into another industry--the bar industry. (Yeah...way more stable. It's Newfoundland!)

My very good friend Tara O'Reilly (with whom I went to school for almost our entire childhood/teenaged life) opened a new bar in late March called Yes B'y's, and I've been brought on as the entertainment manager. It's an exciting and entertaining opportunity for me because I'm getting to do a lot of Justin Foley Entertainment-branded events at the bar, and I've also picked up some shifts working as a bartender too. They also are home to the province's first (and so far only) oxygen bar, O2 Brute! (Love that name!), where I work as the assistant manager. It's a great new place and I'm having a real great time being part of the crowd there, so if you're ever around, come down and check it out. Our kitchen has some amazing food--prepared by the same folks who ran the catering on many of the shows and films I've worked on--and we have some great music and events happening there several times a week.

It's also been a pretty busy while with TEDxStJohn's, back again for another year of networking and motivating/innovative speaking. I'm super pumped to be returning again for a third (or maybe forth I've lost count...) year as Director of Production. We're back at BMW this year, where we haven't been since 2015, but it's going to be great. The talks are incredible and we're familiar with the space.

]]><![CDATA[Introspective for a day]]>Sat, 31 Mar 2018 16:42:00 GMThttp://justinfoley.ca/j-fo-blog/introspective-for-a-dayI'm not sure what the primary source for my feelings are today. Maybe it's because I've been sick for two weeks and I'm just feeling lousy...maybe it's the weather...I don't know. All I do know is that today, on the cusp of my 31st birthday, I'm feeling really defeated and introspective, which is not something I generally allow myself to indulge in.

It's not that I think there's anything wrong with feeling negative sometimes--it's a legitimate feeling and people have their ups and downs. It's just that there are so many positives in my life, I feel like an ass when I'm dwelling on the negatives. Anyway--what's going on is I'm thinking about the course of my life so far. In summary, around age 7 I figured out I wanted to work in film and television and I devoted my life toward that goal. In my early-mid twenties, I reached that goal and even to this day I still work in this field--I should be happy, right? And I am. But I've gone from realizing my dreams in my early-mid twenties to losing a LOT of money trying to expand on those dreams and help other people achieve their own dreams...and now I'm about to proceed into my thirties and I'm no closer to digging myself out of that hole than I was when I first fell into it, and that just really burns me.

My financial situation isn't the greatest, to put it extremely mildly. That's no surprise, because the entire province is in the same position pretty much. The economy is fairly lousy here, and it's been that way for some time--basically everyone has the same complaint as I do. And there are a few options I have, and the one that seems to make the most sense has been the one that I'm the most resistant to...but now I'm starting to wonder if I should consider it more seriously.

Maybe it's time to leave this province. I've worked my ass off here for ages, trying to build opportunities for myself and others, with little return because the nature of this place is that there's not a whole lot of money going around--what I do here, I could be doing anywhere else and be making more money at it, but I've always decided not to leave because of my deeply rooted love for this province as well as the belief that here people know who I am and there's a reputation I've cultivated here that helps me--if I move somewhere else, somewhere bigger, that whole reputation is useless and I just fade into the masses. Ego--something that I typically don't let into my life...but in reality shapes a lot of my identity. Here, Justin Foley means something. Doesn't mean a thing anywhere else.

Anyway, I don't have the answers yet. I just needed to purge my thoughts for a bit--and since I barely use this blog the way I should be, I figured it was the perfect place.

Cheers.

]]><![CDATA[Bingo Sorvino: Wedding Coach is LIVE!]]>Sat, 09 Dec 2017 01:27:49 GMThttp://justinfoley.ca/j-fo-blog/bingo-sorvino-wedding-coach-is-liveFor those of you who are unfamiliar, I've got a party entertainment company called Justin Foley Entertainment, and one of the proprietary characters is Bingo Sorvino: Wedding Coach. Bingo shows up at a bachelorette party or bridal shower and puts she-who-shall-soon-be-wed through an hour-long training session, to the amusement of herself, her closest pals, and of course, me!

Check out the vid!

I'm still cracking up over the last line! Not because of Bingo necessarily, but morseo because Tori Locke and Spencer Bellows, the actors portraying the couple, are absolutely incredible and their subtle reactions of confusion are just so perfect. I'm super lucky to have gotten them to come on board. The rest of the crew were Trevor Linehan who shot this, Jared Dodd who was our sound guy, and my brother Seth Foley who was basically a one-man army of keeping stuff under control (they call those guys "PAs" in the industry). Everyone was a volunteer, because I had no budget for this, this was a first-time thing for me and for what I paid for this (which was nada) it turned out extremely well! Not bad for the first commercial I've ever written and produced, hey?

Anyway, that's the news for now on my home-front. Getting ready for Christmas now, so I better get back at it--my family is really cracking the whip here!

Damn, I'm reading all this and in my head it's all coming out in Bingo's voice...crap...I'm going to stop now. Have a good one, all!

]]><![CDATA[Thanks Lori for reminding me about this thing!]]>Wed, 08 Nov 2017 15:02:12 GMThttp://justinfoley.ca/j-fo-blog/thanks-lori-for-reminding-me-about-this-thingI don't know if I'll ever get any better at remembering to use this thing, but I'm trying. I swear I actually am interesting...I'm also just busy and these really cool things that I wanna talk about take up all my time and mental energy. So, huge shout out to my pal Lori who's offered to remind me to use this blog--Lori, you rock!

So, what's new and interesting? Well--Justin Foley Entertainment isn't getting much work right now. That's fine, it's my own fault for shutting it down in the first place when I was among the "kings and legends" of the local party entertainment world. It's right that I should have to fight to get my footing back. That's how it should be. So I'm not giving up. JFE is going to keep on keeping on, and updates will keep happening.

What else? Halloween! So, you guys might be aware that I enjoy cosplay. I'm not big into it mainly due to time issues, but now that I've stepped back from my organizing duties at various sci-fi conventions, I now have more time to have fun with it. Anyway--for Halloween, I built a devil costume based on the Prince of Darkness from Legend. Most elaborate build I've ever done, and it turned out great. I need to do more of this, for sure.

I really wish I knew how to make this picture smaller...

Anyway--onto the last and biggest piece of info: Opera on the Avalon's "Into the Woods". I've been hired on as an Assistant Stage Manager for this show. This marks the first time I've worked in theatre as a non-performer in a very long time. Perhaps it's even the first time...and in some ways it's very similar to working in film but in other ways it's quite different. The people for whom I'm working are great--they're actually very lovely people who are mentoring me in the way the theatre works and they keep on building me up, countering my constant worry of screwing it up. Also, the performers are spectacular. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the story of Into the Woods, it's rooted in the classic fairy tales (Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Cinderella--so forth), but with it's own story and quirks. It puts Cinders and her family, Little Red and her family, Jack of giant-killing fame, Rapunzel, the with and the two Prince Charmings (they're brothers) into a shared universe which is actually led by a nameless Baker and his wife, who represent the "everyman" of the fairy tales--and in this story are the protagonists. The show is really funny--at times it's deliberately riffing on fairy tales, and other times the humor is subjective (to the audience, to the cast, to the director--it could go either way). What I can tell you for sure is that it's going to be a fantastic show that anyone with an interest in opera or musical theatre definitely won't want to miss. The show is being presented at the St. John's Arts and Culture Centre from November 23-25, 2017. If you want to buy tickets to the show, you can do it online HERE and ticket prices range between $30.00 and $100.00. Sadly, I couldn't tell you what the difference is, but I'm sure it's something.

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