We're Totally (Not) OK

Actor and acting teacher Rachel Bailit not only gets generous with her time and expertise, she also helps us understand what generosity has to do with the work of an actor in our chat about demystifying method acting and how to balance the use of our own selves and memories in our work with the ability to let go and stay attentive in the moment. Pull out all your masks and shove this in their earholes and then go get the vaccine.

ONE COOL THINGS:

Rachel: Communicating through Ancient Greek vases.

(Rachel's "Sense Memory in Art tour discussing an ancient Greek Amphora" video)

Cales: Kintsugi & vaccines

Rachel Bailit:

www.rachelbailitteaching

www.Rachel Bailit.com

IG: @RachelBailitteaching

FB: @RachelBailit  and @actingforanimators

Clubhouse: Methodacting

Rachel’s book reco:

Acting : The First Six Lessons

by Richard Boleslavsky

Theme music by Tessa Good & Petr Balaz

Send your cool things & Qs into:

https://anchor.fm/wtnok/message

Justin’s been taking on more responsibility with his new puppy; Cales showers then gets back into no bra forever howwillshemakeitbackoutinrealworlds; and thank goddesses for our guest who is the ever-delightful, brilliantly-witted, comically-inclined Dena Jackson. Friends, she’s a breath of fresh air and talking to her feels like talking to heart. Shove us in the tunnel tubes to your own heart and listen to Dena talk about comedy, reiki, and tiny egos with loud voices.

Also, it’s t bitty’s birthday (date recorded)! SO HAPPY BORN DAY TO THE QUEEN. 👑

COOL THINGS:

Dena: mindfulness showers

Cales: home herbs & mood mail forewarning!

Justin: wins it all again with puppy Aspen making a guest appearance! THAT FACE! 🥺

Dena Jackson:

Denajackson.ca

Twitter/ig: @denatalks

Theme music by Tessa Good & Petr Balaz

Send your cool things & Qs into:

https://anchor.fm/wtnok/message

Story’s all around us — selling us, buying us, moving us, halting us. But what the heck is it? How do advertisers and screenwriters and friends and fam use it? Gimme the basics, WTNOK!

New friend and long time Story Creator Rodrigo Portaro breaks Story down into basics. He also shares his own story about leaving a career that was making him sad and finding his new path in life, helping others tell stories. Shove us in your earholes to listen to the… story.

Rodrigo Portaro:

Site: https://rodrigoportaro.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RodrigoPortaro

Instagram (but it is in Portuguese): https://www.instagram.com/rodrigoportaro/

COOL THINGS:

Rodrigo: www.academiadatrama.com.br

Justin: Christmas music, meow! Don’t matter that it ain’t Christmas! (Just cuz it’s April don’t mean it ain’t currently snowing in Canada, baybeeee 😂)

Cales: Unplug. (Especially when the universe forces you to when you get too wrapped up in being busy.)

Rodrigo’s Recommended Books:

Theme music by Tessa Good & Petr Balaz

Send your cool things & Qs into:

https://anchor.fm/wtnok/message

From frequencies and ethics around shaping sound for film to working with masters and having an actual dragon as a part of production, composer David Federman chats with Cales about the work they’ve done together and the journeys he’s experienced along his trajectory as a music maker in the film industry, including all the Spanish dancing and concussions along the way!

COOL THINGS:

David: I'm the arranger/orchestrator of Back and Forth (music/book/lyrics by Dayjan Lesmond), which is a musical about... totally not being okay. It explores the artist's journey and struggles with mental health... and by the way, we have a dragon. Avail to watch here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5GpsWoKb2k

Cales: Meet yourself where you’re at. 

Justin: sneakin’ in there via Happs audience member Frank’s “⏱” post (fun lil Easter egg for ya beauty live viewers!)

Additional links:

David Federman:

@federmusik on FB, TW, and IG.

federmusik.com

https://soundcloud.com/federmusik

https://federmusik.com/blog/

https://federmusik.com/2021/03/21/inside-the-federmusik-double-edged/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIBNvCpLukI

“The Monster in Me”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyG492Ilxvg

Theme music by Tessa Good & Petr Balaz

Send your cool things into:

https://anchor.fm/wtnok/message

Captivating. Keen. Killin’ it with the analogies. We zoom-sat-chat with Jessica Schmiedchen to hear how she balances being a mom with her role as a CBC TV exec and all the notes in between (specifically, those given around the dinner table). AND! The coach you never knew you needed until you got a platinum pixie cut!

COOL THINGS:

Theme music by Tessa Good & Petr Balaz

Send your cool things into:

ZOOM DATE with Meagan... ok not a zoom date, we’re still on @happsnews but we talk about zoom dating. And life as a talent agent. And a cat that walked out of a house fire as the sole survivor.

Down to earth gab fest full of real talk, peloton and mugs of wine. Shove us in yer earholes, babes.

Meow.

COOL THINGS

Cales: Saje essential oils (they’re delicious).

Meagan: Library

Justin: Dumplings from scratch

Theme music by Tessa Good & Petr Balaz

Send your cool things into:Not

Is art in the doing or in the result; in the act or the product? This was a night-long conversation Cales had with her grand pal Donis & we decided to continue it on in a WTNOK episode to not only watch Cales’ head almost spin off its axle, but so y’all could be privy to how effing cool of a pirate Mike Donis is — filmmaker, director, editor, actor, and yes, an actual pirate. Shove us in yer ear holes for clarification (& antics). 

Donis on  Instagram: @mikedonis 

“ on Twitter (which he never uses): also @mikedonis 

Check out more from his composer for “Pete Winning” here: http://aarontsang.com/ and on insta: @aarontsang.music

Cool things:

Donis: “For my own mental health, I wake up every day at least two hours before I have to leave home. I essentially just sit by myself for the first hour, before starting to get ready to leave during the second hour. No matter how early I have to get up, 95% of the time I do the two-hours thing. It helps me feel settled before gearing up for the day.”

Cales: jeans (but also something significantly deeper, mentioned mid-ep, which none of us could remember by the end, so maybe not so deep actually, but rather than re-listening to her own voice again, yay, a fun Easter egg for you!)

Justin: Drawing as an act of mediation! 

Theme music by Tessa Good & Petr Balaz

Send your cool things into:

https://anchor.fm/wtnok/message

Dav, like Cales, doesn’t necessarily care for labels, though several deem her a sensational journalist and we feel confident enough saying she is a delightfully passionate conversationalist and bright, shiny soul!

This gal can not only talk up a storm but has the gumption and confidence to keep advancing her own conversations on her own platforms, even in the face of adversarial voices. She opens up about personal prompts to want to be vocal, political plies that fuel her fire, and references one of Cales’ favourite poets with a quote we cannot help but share here again:

“The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”

COOL THINGS:

Theme music by Tessa Good & Petr Balaz

Send your cool things into:

TRIGGER WARNING! Sensitive topics discussed!

Watch this Ep on Youtube: https://youtu.be/aljOWzfVcLM

Has isolation offered us a sense of “more time?” Have social apps that “bring us together” made us feel “less alone?” Has having these technologies at our disposal or even roofs over our heads left us feeling “less stressed” or “more put together?” Honestly, NOPE.

Today’s guest makes us feel OK about not always feeling OK, opening up about personal moments of vulnerability — being homeless, having packages arrive in the middle of an interview, pushing forward in the fight to fight the good fight that often feels like a fight with yourself.

Revolution has his own @HappsNews show, where he aims to create space for good conversation with good-hearted people and, as he was the one who introduced us to the platform, he also shares a bunch of things he loves about the community!

Find more of Rev here:

COOL THINGS:

SEASON 3!

WE MOVED! We’re LIVE! We’re on @HappsTV! And we also forgot to introduce ourselves in this episode because we were SO FREAKING EXCITED. So allow us to do so now. 

Hello, and welcome to We’re Totally (Not) OK. 

But that’s OK.

A podcast about the intersection between mass media culture and mental health. 

I’m Caleigh Le Grand.

And I’m Justin Van Lieshout.

And we promise to try to remember things that make you feel comfortable and nostalgic and just plain informed because basics, right?

WE’LL NEVER FIGURE IT OUT AND WE’LL NEVER GET IT DONE AND THAT’S OK!

We’re hashtag blessed to have a dear friend, Gavin Michael Booth, as our first episode for season three, because he’s literally perfect for our podcast — a filmmaker who just released his film precisely dealing with intricacies of mental health. Gavin tells us about some of the challenges he faced putting together his double-single-take feature film (yes, you read that right), shares his insanely adorable dog (which you can actually see if ya head over to Happs TV to catch the broadcast replay), and we all get to interact with fans who watched and commented live-time while we conducted the interview!

Check out more of Gavin's work:

https://www.instagram.com/gavinmichaelbooth/

https://twitter.com/GavinBooth

http://gavinmichaelbooth.com/