#7 University years and making films with Betty Xie

Taking you all back to March 2022 when I recorded this episode with longtime friend Betty Xie. Betty is a career coach for creatives, a fundraising consultant and a filmmaker. Throughout the years, I’ve often benefited from Betty’s advice and counsel and I’m glad she has professionalized it! In this conversation, we take you back to 2012 when we first met and talked through the various film projects we worked on (and how I inspired a character in one of her projects). For the ~full experience~ you could check out the films in the links below and the photos.

Me, Betty and Yang in 2014
Me, Betty and Yang in 2023 (on a big day!)
Guest Links – Betty Xie

Website: https://www.xiebetty.com/

Instagram: @bettyxcoach

Everyday Talent Podcast: https://www.xiebetty.com/podcast

Listen to me interviewing Betty on her podcast here

Watch Uprooted: The Plantemic on CBC Gem (Canada only)

Watch The Home Promised (2015)

Watch the Stand Up Man (2017) trailer

Consider this a retrospective

The Home Promised in 2014
Stand Up Man in 2016

Directed and edited by: Aram Siu Wai Collier
Lead Casts: Daniel Jun, Daniel Daegun Lee, Rosalina Lee
Produced by: Tony Lau, Betty Xie, Aram Siu Wai Collier
Director of Photography: Kevin C. W. Wong
Read more here.

Credits

Music: Mayday by Jar of Flies
Recorded using Zencastr and edited with Descript

#6 Being overly sincere with Gavin Sutton (aka Tennyson Wolf)

This was an episode recorded in the earlier days of the conception of this podcast in March 2022. In the episode, I caught up with singer-songwriter Gavin Sutton aka Tennyson Wolf, who introduced me to podcasts and without whom this podcast might not exist (sounds dramatic but true). We talked about how our lives intersected, the photos I’ve taken of him, friendships, making music as an independent musician and what we’ve been watching & listening. We covered quite a bit!!! There’s also a special follow-up with first guest Ammar at the end.

Guest Links – Gavin

Gavin’s music: The Heights, Tennyson Wolf

Listen to Gavin on producer Adam Newcomb podcast The Recording Story where they talk about the songs Lonely Walks and Yesterday’s Me

Mentions

Jack’s Mannequin – I’m Ready

Monet Van Gogh (@professional_artist_official)

Lee Pace talks about Pushing Daisy for Vulture

Podcast: You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes, Reply All, Aunty Donna, Dead Eyes, Mystery Show (Ep 4 Source Code), S-Town, Serial

TV Shows: Pushing Daisies (starring Lee Pace and created by Bryan Fuller, who made Hannibal after!!!!), Halt and Catch Fire (AMC), Sex & the City And Just Like That (HBO), Veronica Mars, Schitt’s Creek, Ted Lasso (HBO), Mozart in the Jungle (Amazon, created by Jason Schwartzman & Roman Coppola whose name I completely forgot), Sherlock (BBC), What We Do In the Shadows (FX), Pieces of Her (Netflix)

Movies: Scream (2022), The Power of the Dog (Netflix, 2022), CODA (Apple, 2022 – An Academy Best Picture!)

Related

Pilot with Ammar, Turning 30 series

Consider this a retrospective

2014

These were taken on a medium format camera (a Mamiya C220 TLR that looks like this)

2017
2018

This was most likely an “in-between” photo I had no idea it would become an album cover lol.

All the covers Gavin asked his friends to recreate (hover for the artist’s handles on Instagram)

@mego_leo_draws
@cassjstn
@terry.tamb
@tetsuichi.png
@professional_artist_official & @braithwraith
@melissarovere

Gavin had some vinyl records made… which means I can say “my work was used on an album cover” ?

2021

If you made it this far, you deserve this gif of is Millie the chow drooling.

Credit

Music: Mayday by Jar of Flies, This Side of Midnight by Tennyson Wolf
Special Thanks: Ammar Keshodia
Recorded using Zencastr and edited with Descript

#5 Turning 43 and being a parent with Aram Collier

In a special three-part series to commemorate my 30th birthday, I asked 3 friends to share their experiences being in their 30s. In the last episode of the mini-series, I talked to friend, mentor, filmmaker and festival programmer Aram Collier about his 30s from the perspective of a 40-something and a parent. The topic of potential parenthood and relationships with our parents came up in the first two episodes so I was really excited to hear what Aram had to share.

Guest Links – Aram Collier

Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival
Stand Up Man (Feature film, 2017)
Common Factor Media
The Backstory Podcast
Oakland Warriors Podcast

Credit

Music: Mayday by Jar of Flies
Recorded using Zencastr and edited with Descript

#4 Turning 35 and taking a break with Eunice Bae

In a special three-part series to commemorate my 30th birthday, I asked 3 friends to share their experiences being in their 30s. This is Part 2 of the series with Eunice Bae, who turns 35 in a couple months and also the podcast’s first official female guest!!! In this episode, Eunice reflects on her early 30s and we talk about how she’s navigating life & career at the moment. We also talk about solo travelling and other observations.

If you haven’t listened to Part 1 yet, please do! There’s one more episode in this mini series so subscribe and check back soon.

Guest Links – Eunice

Instagram @eunibae
Newsletter: https://letters.byeunice.com/

Mentions

Girls’ Night In
Eunice’s newsletter “on my relationship to friendship”
Worakls Orchestra live at Château La Coste in France for Cercle
What is People Ops?

Related

Best Friend Therapy (s01e05): Special Occasions

Credit

Music: Mayday by Jar of Flies
Recorded using Zencastr and edited with Descript

#3 Turning 30 in a pandemic with MilenPS

In a special three-part series to commemorate my 30th birthday, I asked three friends to share their experiences being in their 30s. My first guest is Milen Petzelt-Sorace, who turned 30 during the pandemic! We talked about how his first year of being 30 went, how we feel about parenthood and our relationships with our parents! Do you also have big/small feelings about turning 30? Let me know!!! There are TWO more episodes in the series so keep a set up those push notifications so you don’t miss an episode!

Guest Links – Milen

Website: https://www.milenps.com/
Tiktok: @milenps
Milen’s music: MilenPS, The Frame Defect

Mentions

Olivia Rodrigo & Avril Lavigne – Complicated (in Toronto not Ottawa like I said)
Billie Eilish & Hayley Williams – Misery Business (Acoustic) at Coachella
James Bond music on Wikipedia

Credit

Music: Mayday by Jar of Flies
Special Thanks: Ammar Keshodia and the mysterious office we used that will remain unnamed for now
Recorded using Zencastr and edited with Descript

#2 Started my career with Adam Elmakias

I talked to music photographer Adam Elmakias about how our paths crossed all those years ago, what it was like working together and what’s been going on in our lives. Adam quizzed me on some popular stat problems and showed me some Magic cards! And maybe the only thing we wish you take away from this conversation is USE A PASSWORD MANAGER!!!

Guest Links – Adam Elmakias

Adam’s Website
Find him on Twitter
Follow him on Instagram
Adam is the host of Don’t Sh*t On the Bus Podcast
Adam co-runs a creative talent agency
Adam on the Punk Rock MBA Podcast with Finn McKenty (Jan 2020)
Adam interviewed by producer Connor on Don’t Sh*t On the Bus (September 2021)

Mentions

1Password ($620m USD Series C Funding)
Lens Bracelets
Photo things: before Instagram, there was Flickr, and we learn off-camera lighting on Strobist, photo storage service SmugMug
Adam’s Blog (no pics but stories remain)
Marielle Heller’s work: Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018), A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood (2019), The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix, 2020)
Adam’s Favourite Podcasts: Lords of Limited and Limited Resources
Draftsim
Screenshot for our Pack 1 Pick 1


(click to enlarge!)

Republic Of Pie in Los Angeles, CA (I had to look it up after the pie talk)
Shout out @kellymason @colinkent @connortherealgaskey
Open-source Password Managers

Episodes of the DSOTB Podcast Jessie Enjoyed

Ep 34 – Partners in Art ft. Yungblud and Tom Pallant
Ep. 39 – What Does a Music Publicist Do? ft. Katy Cooper (Sum 41, Papa Roach, Lauren Sanderson)
Ep. 51 – What Does a Tour Promoter Do? ft. Brittanie Delava
Ep. 54 – What Does a Booking Agent Do? ft Dave Shapiro (Sound Talent Group)

Credit

Music: Mayday by Jar of Flies
Tech Help: Adam Elmakias
Recorded using Zencastr and edited with Descript

#1 Pilot with Ammar

In the pilot episode of I Am Thinking About You, I talked to my friend Ammar about what I want to do with the podcast, how it came to be, and receive some podcasting advice. I basically asked Ammar to be on the show as a proof of concept for the podcast and I think it works!

Guest Links

Find Ammar on Twitter @akeshodia
Ammar’s podcast Three Course Cinema Club

Mentions

Halt & Catch Fire (AMC, 2014-2017)
Station Eleven (HBO Max, 2020)
Middleditch and Schwartz, Ep 3. Dream Job (Netflix, 2020)
Roderick on the Line
Chris Gethard (His podcast Beautiful/Anonymous is my FAVOURITE!)

Credit

Guest: Ammar Keshodia
Host: Jessie Lau
Music: Mayday by Jar of Flies
Tech & Editing Help: Ammar Keshodia
Recorded using Zencastr and edited with Descript