Short Production Films have just released their first music video. From the Vimeo page:

Sailor’s Ode is a music video/short film for Amy G. Dala, a four piece from St. John’s, Newfoundland. Sailor’s Ode is available on their self-titled debut album available July ’09.

Sailor’s Ode was written and directed by Alex Mugford. With Brad Batten behind the camera and a team of producers made up of best friends, Sailor’s Ode is sure to make you rock the fuck out.

The video has an interesting visual style, sort of like the cut scenes from an old gangster video game, with dialogue appearing on the screen, the frame always moving, sometimes closing in on a certain area for emphasis.

Done on a budget of love and free time, the cast and crew of the Sailor’s Ode music video manage to deliver what at times feels like a full scale cinematic experience thanks to their obvious commitment to realizing Mugford’s vision. You get the impression that this is more than just a production company — this is a team.

I’ll be keeping my eye on Short Production Films. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing more of what they have in store.

Sailor’s Ode from Short Production Films on Vimeo.

[via Alex Mugford]

Surely you’re familiar with Droppy the Water Drop. He’s the City of St. John’s’ water conservation mascot, a water drop with a mouth and eyes, two white gloves for hands, wearing rubber boots and a sou’wester.

In no way does he resemble Buddy the Bus. He’s Metrobus’ free downtown bus service mascot, a headlight (I guess?) with a mouth and eyes, two white gloves for hands, wearing rubber boots and a sou’wester.

Seriously, is this the best we can do?

Somebody for the love of gravy please make a comic strip out of these two characters. If you do, let me know and I’ll gladly run it on Signal.

Finally, there’s a place in St. John’s that serves authentic Afro-Caribbean food. At the top of Long’s Hill, next to the convenience store, Toya International Market and Specialty Store is where you can order such deliciousnesses as jerk chicken with rice and peas, jollof rice, curry and roti.

I’ve been craving jerk chicken with rice and peas and curry ever since I moved back home to St. John’s from my Afro-Caribbean neighbourhood of Camberwell in London, England, almost two years ago.

Some friends and I ordered from here yesterday and it is awesome — highly recommended.

Please note that it’s strictly take-away. Inside is a shop that offers Afro grooming products in one room and dried goods in another.

There’s no question that immigration in St. John’s is on the rise, and Toya International Market and Specialty Store is yet another check mark on the long list of reasons why that’s great.

Metrobus has a new service available for folks downtown, a bus that circles round every 20 minutes that you can hop on and off of as you please, free of charge.

The bus is called Buddy, and in case you weren’t sure, he’s a total newf.

Look:

What with his rubber boots and sou’wester, he’s just like us — so we can relate to him!

Not convinced? Just get a load of how he talks just like us, too.

Yes b’y, you read that right..free transportation in the downtown!  Some people think free is too good to be true, right?  No b’y.

The only thing missing from the Metrobus’ marketing campaign here is the delicious pun (which I can’t believe they missed): how ya gettin’ on?

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of navigating the Metrobus website, this whole Buddy buffoonery likely comes as no surprise to you. Even just getting to the Buddy website was an exercise in ridiculous clicks.

This:

Leads to this:

Which leads to this:

Which finally takes you to the details you were after. Details you might have thought you’d land on after the first click, figured definitely after the second click, and kind of stopped caring about anymore by the third.

Details that ultimately add up to this: Buddy is a free bus service that circles around downtown and does so every twenty minutes.

But in case that’s not enough for you, they’ve managed to cram in a Q&A page, a schedule page, a map page and more.

Despite Metrobus’ best efforts to make the new Buddy bus appear to be a total waste of time, I actually think it’s a decent idea, harkening back to the olden days of the downtown streetcar. Buddy is a ten week pilot program, so whether or not it sticks around depends on how useful it proves itself to be.

Here’s hoping Buddy’s marketing campaign and website are in no way determining factors.

The 9th anual Nickel Independent Film Festival capped things off Saturday with a big day and night of films followed by a boisterous party and awards show at The Gypsy. Patrons, producers, organizers and volunteers rubbed elbows and raised glasses to another successful festival gone by.

While we all look forward to what Nickel #10 will have in store for us next year, here’s a look back at Saturday and the final hours of Nickel #9.

The day got underway with a special children’s matinee, replete with balloon animals!

Saturday night’s final screening was followed by a quick dismantling of the festival gear, then off to the awards show and party at The Gypsy.

The awards went as follows:

Best Drama: Desert Trains

Best Animation: Elephants

Best Music Video: Throw Me To The Rats

Emerging NL Filmmaker: Christian Sparkes (Ten Days)

Audience Choice: Jordan Canning (Countdown)

Best Performance: Lead Actor in Land Gewinnen

Special Jury Award for The Spirit of Independent Filmmaking: Magritte Moment

Best NL Film: Heartless Disappearance Into Labrador Seas

Congratulations to all the award winners, and to everyone who screened at this year’s Nickel.

Special thanks goes to Jamie Lewis for continually providing us with an insiders look at the festival with his fantastic photography, and to the organizers of the Nickel for granting Signal an all access pass to all the screenings and events. It’s been a lot of fun, and I’m already looking forward to doing it again next year.