"Compelling, heartwarming, and addictively readable…

This charming picture book by Regan W.H. Macaulay and Kevin Risk serves as an early lesson in self-realization, acceptance, and individualism. Doubtful and lonely, Libby, a cactus plant, looks at blooming flowers in Abigail’s garden from her spot on the windowsill and wonders why Abigail doesn’t caress her the way she does those blooms. When confident and pretty Violet moves next to Libby, the latter loses whatever little confidence she possesses. But an alarming incident forces Libby to embrace her uniqueness. The authors portray Libby’s anguish over her spikes and lack of blooms with skill and perception, and Gordon Bagshaw’s charming, eye-catching illustrations both mirror and deepen the text. Libby, with her vulnerabilities and gentle nature makes for a memorable protagonist. Told in a gentle tone and illustrated with energetic, colorful images, this engaging picture book is ideal for brand-new readers. Young readers will welcome this tender celebration of individuality and self-discovery." -- The Prairies Book Review

In celebration of the release of the Space Zombies:  13 Months of Brain-Spinning Mayhem! DVD back in 2016, we decided to create A NEW WEB SERIES! - A Man of Great Importance Explores the Scary Changes, and Social Decline, and Secret Horrors of Our World, and He Doesn’t Like it One Bit (in 13 short episodes).

The world as we know it is always ending…then it becomes something else, inevitably, something worse.  And then that ends and it all goes to hell and changes yet again!  Let a Man of Great Importance, the official Narrator of Space Zombies!, all around know-it-all and “told-you-soer” advise you in 13 episodes. He will steer you through the madness that is life, before your inevitable demise.  It’s almost as if he’s clairvoyant…but he’s not!  Because that would be crazy.  Crazy, and an infringement on other folks, both human and fictional of character (cough, cough … Criswell! … cough!).

Yes, Triple Take brings you short episodes of “Advice” and “Warning” regarding many possible apocalyptic and conspiratorial scenarios from this Moral Man of Space Zombies:  13 Months of Brain-Spinning Mayhem! (originally “aired” on a weekly basis August 2nd, 2016).  Don’t forget to subscribe to Triple Take’s YouTube Channel … you have to.  For your own good, and the good of humanity!

You will find Episodes 1 & 2 on the tripletake.net website, but to get all the ill begotten advice you could ever want from this man, you MUST subscribe! Sign up for Triple Take’s monthly newsletter through this special portal, and not only will you receive great Frankenfiction content, you will also receive eleven more ludicrous episodes directly in your email inbox!

The film BLOODTHIRSTY was just released this past Friday April 23rd on VOD and iTunes in North America, and I got a chance to speak with the director of this spooky, evocative film...

Check it out on her blog HERE!

www.tripletake.net
And it’s a thing of beauty…check it out, along with all we have to offer (products AND freebies!)
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So, what is Triple Take Productions?
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Founded on July 29th, 1993 by Regan Macaulay and Rob Downes (in order to produce John Mighton’s play A Short History of Night at Oshawa Little Theatre), Triple Take Productions is a Toronto-based theatre, film, and television production company that produces uniquely Canadian comedic and often genre-based theatre, short films, feature-length movies, and scripts for the stage, cinema, television, and online.Triple Take is dedicated to telling stories where gut-busting comedy collides with the fantastical, horrifying, and speculative. B-movie, sci-fi fantasy, and horror aficionados take note, you will find the glory of the ludicrous in our theatrical productions, short films, feature movie, and published scripts and books … we go anywhere our imagination takes us.
We also co-produce with other distinctive theatre and media companies in order to enhance our range in genres and the substance of our projects.
In our 20th year, we expanded into publishing and licensing of plays and screenplays previously produced by Triple Take, or written by writers affiliated with Triple Take (including our 2006 Fringe of Toronto and Best of the Fringe hit, It Was Kit and one of our two 2010 Fringe of Toronto plays, The Aquarium). We have also published the script and a novelette adaptation for our feature film, Space Zombies: 13 Months of Brain-Spinning Mayhem! (which previously aired on SPACE and Drive-In Classics and is now available to on DVD, Amazon Prime, and tubi).

Today we both got our first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine! AstraZeneca!

A rather wonderful film I reviewed during last year’s Blood in the Snow Film Festival is being released in the US this Friday April 23rd, and on iTunes and all major VOD platforms in Canada! 

It’s called BLOODTHIRSTY and it recently garnered 2 nominations from the Canadian Screen Awards: Best in Original Score — Michele Osis and Lowell, and Best in Original Song — Evan Bogar, Justin Gray, and Lowell.

So, I thought I’d re-post MY TAKE for BLOODTHIRSTY from my Blood in the Snow Film Festival 2020 blog series, just two days ahead of the film’s release. I will also be interviewing the director, Amelia Moses, so be sure to look for that post later this week or early next week! ...

Director Amelia Moses tells story of Grey (Lauren Beatty, also in Bleed With Me), a singer-songwriter who chooses to record her next album at the remote studio of the infamous producer, Vaughn (Greg Bryk, also in this year’s Parallel Minds). Vaughn is brilliant and charismatic but also mysterious. Meanwhile, Grey finds herself haunted by visions of becoming some sort of vicious animal. She must find out if the monster is outside the cabin, in the studio or inside her own body.

MY TAKE: Loving Lauren Beatty in both the films she's in this BITS season! But is she beauty, or is she the beast? A lovely film where you get to watch the musician and her music change as she changes...but are these alterations psychological or are they real? And what is with her new producer/mentor? He helps her grow, but into what...and why? I think you'll enjoy finding out all the answers to this gorgeously haunting film.

A brand new band has been formed by a group of canine pals. They’ve got singers and a few cool instruments including a tambourine, a saxophone, drums and guitars. They even have a fun name, Dog Band. It looks like the band is ready to go, except for one small problem… they can’t decide which type of music to play. To overcome this obstacle, they visit all their friends and get a few ideas. Dog Band meets with all sorts of animal buddies and are given a wild assortment of musical types to ponder. The musically-inclined animals also introduce Dog Band to a nifty assortment of instruments and give little demos of the suggested musical genres.
Exuberant and bold, Dog Band is a terrific book for young ones who love either music or animals.The illustrations are adventurous and expressive, bringing to life the diverse potpourri of animals and their realistic instruments. Gwyneth the saddle-shoe-wearing guinea pig has to be the most adorable illustrated rodent ever conceived! Not so much about a plot or an adventure, Dog Band is more about possibility and wonder. Fueling the imagination, there is so much to learn in this ambitious and colorful story. From out-of-the ordinary names to unfamiliar music styles, parents will have their hands full answering questions from inquisitive little minds. Quirky and smart, Dog Band is a modern children’s book that really stands out!

-- Nicky Flowers, April 16, 2021 for the Indies Today Book Reviews ... read the original review HERE!

“An insecure cactus learns to love the spines that make her different in this picture book... 
...Veteran author Macaulay and debut children’s book writer Risk use a straightforward style, with British spellings (colourful) and vocabulary (parcel) that may give young American readers pause. The bright illustrations provide plenty of context for figuring out unfamiliar terms. The pronunciation for Lobivia Jajoiana (“Low-BIV-ee-uh Jah-joee-AHN-nuh”), Libby’s cactus species, is helpfully provided in the dialogue. Bagshaw’s highly textured digital art mixes realistic details...with cartoonish faces on the plants. This technique effectively offers readers a connection to the protagonist (while never making the feline’s flower-eating too scary). The moral of valuing your differences—even when others initially judge you because of them—comes through clearly.
An engaging, beautifully illustrated tale of believing in yourself through the eyes of a cactus.”