Thursday October 5, 2006
Alrighty... the new website is going to launch tonight. Fingers crossed, people!
Posted by kim at 2:44 PM | Read Post | Comment (1742)
Wednesday August 30, 2006
I know we keep saying this, but I'm going to say it again anyway incase any of you are wondering what's going on with the website.
I AM working on a brand spanking new Thumbs Out website and it should be up very soon (and no, it's not just a new look. It will be a new website with new content). Pictures, film information, it's all coming soon. I'm sorry it's taking a while. With all the hooplah of Alex and I moving to our new loft/office, school starting up around the corner and everything else, it's hard to find time to sit down and work on this project. It is coming though!
Posted by kim at 12:28 PM | Read Post | Comment (1820)
Tuesday August 1, 2006
I wanted to take the time to thank everyone who helped in any way to make this project a success.
Thank you to all the people who picked up the teams, checked out the website, told a friend about the project, or even just sent us good vibes.
Also a big thank you to Hostelling International-Canada. They were very welcoming to us, and left everyone with many lasting memories.
We stayed at the following hostels, and if you're planning a trip you might want to check them out as an affordable and fun alternative to an expensive hotel room.
Halifax
Montreal
Toronto
Thunder Bay
HI-Winnipeg Ivey House Hostel
Banff Alpine Centre
Vancouver - Jericho Beach
Vancouver Central
Vancouver Downtown
Thanks again everyone. Stay tuned for more video podcasts, updates, and fundraising events.
Posted by alex at 10:15 PM | Read Post | Comment (479)
Wednesday July 26, 2006
While trying to hitchhike back to Banff, AB, Alex and I got stranded in Merritt, about an hour outside of Kamloops. The result was this: time to edit episode four! Enjoy!
Click picture to view
We have finally made it back to Banff and will be back home in Toronto in a few days. More updates will come as soon as we arrive, get some rest and move to our new loft/officespace.
If anyone out there have run into one of the racers during the trip and have some interesting stories and photos to share, please send them our way! We do enjoy hearing things from the other side of the hitchhiking fence. To those of you who have already done so, thank you! The pictures/stories were great and we will feature them on the new website coming up soon.
Posted by kim at 1:11 AM | Read Post | Comment (2500)
Friday July 21, 2006
Hey everyone!
Well as you may or may not know the prize has been awarded to the winning team. Who won you ask? Well we're keeping that under wraps until the film comes out.
We are taking a short break from the website to enjoy the west coast before heading back home and getting down to work on the film. The podcast is coming very soon. Sorry for the tardiness but there have been a few delays such as hospital visits, lack of net, and other fun stuff like that.
We will have a new layout for the site in the near future, but don't worry the team blogs are still open and we expect people will continue to blog about life after the race. Kim and I will continue to blog, we will write about the whole production process.
Thanks for tracking us and please keep in touch.
Posted by alex at 12:02 PM | Read Post | Comment (489)
Tuesday July 18, 2006
Just to let everyone know, we have all made it to Vancouver safe and sound. The racers are catching up on some well needed sleep and will be celebrating the conclusion of their journey with an all-you-can-eat sushi dinner.
As for the winner of the title of Canadian hitchhiking champion... well we'll leave that as a surprise for now.
A new podcast will be up, hopefully tomorrow. We'll be celebrating at the HI-hostel in Jericho Beach then.
To all the drivers who have gotten us this far, thank you. You made the journey safe, fun and memorable.
Posted by kim at 9:45 PM | Read Post | Comment (515)
Friday July 14, 2006
We made it to Alberta!
Team Zero was first to arrive at Calgary just in time for the Stampede fireworks. While they were first to arrive, Team ?? beat their travel time of 15.5 hours by less than an hour. Attempting to Spoon and The Dreamteam arrived in the wee hours of the night, placing them in 3rd and 4th place, but are tied for first place with 24 points each. Team Icebreaker and Team or Bust took a few interesting detours, which placed them in 5th and 6th.
For the next few days, the teams will be taking a well-needed rest. Some teams are spending their time in Calgary to enjoy the final days of the Calgary Stampede. Team Zero and The Dreamteam are camping in Banff, and Team or Bust have gone to hang out in Edmonton. On the 16th, the teams will regroup at the Banff Alpine Centre to start off the final leg of the race.
We crossed over nearly the entire country in less than two weeks and now we're preparing for the last stretch. The points are now in, and they will determine when teams will be leaving. Since the Dreamteam and Attempting to Spoon are tied for first, a tie-breaker to be done in before the big race will determine who leaves Banff first. The departure times will now be at full hour intervals. Whoever makes it to Vancouver first wins the prize.
Posted by kim at 9:00 PM | Read Post | Comment (4543)
Tuesday July 11, 2006
We made it to the fifth province on our itinerary: Manitoba. We have made it to Winnipeg, a lot earlier than expected so we get yet another day off to explore the city.
The Dreamteam is still in the lead, followed closely by Attempting to Spoon. While Team ?? and Icebreaker left a little bit later than everyone else, they still managed to arrive within 12 hours. Team or Bust had some interesting experiences (including a strange encounter with the US border), but are here in the hostel safely. Team Zero was the first to leave of the pack, but due to a long detour that took them to a lumber yard an hour north of the highway, they arrived in last place.
Posted by kim at 11:04 PM | Read Post | Comment (637)
Monday July 10, 2006
The rest of the teams have finally arrived and the rankings are in. Check it out.
Posted by kim at 11:24 AM | Read Post | Comment (488)
Monday July 10, 2006
After finally finding time to sit down and edit a little podcast together here in Thunder Bay, we are pleased to inform you that we now finished Episode Three: Meet the Racers.
Click picture to view
If you haven't subscribed to the podcast either on iTunes or Myspace, then please do and spread the word. I also apologize for the longer waits for each episode to be finished. Even if they are, indeed, edited in the most basic way they still do take time to put together. If we find more time hanging out in a truck again then we might be able to do more. In the mean time, well... meet the teams!
Team or Bust have arrived the hostel earlier this evening. We are still waiting for Team Icebreaker and Team ?? We are told that they are somewhere along Hwy 400, on the outskirts of Sault Ste. Marie. We'd like to thank all the drivers who have sent us emails after picking up one of our hitchhikers. It really helped us communicate especially while in a large area with hardly any cell phone signal... Please keep in touch!
Finally, a quick plug to my friend, Ben at Patrick Grey. He drew us a pretty sweet comic strip for the race. Check out his work. He's an amazing writer/artist.
Posted by kim at 1:08 AM | Read Post | Comment (493)
Sunday July 9, 2006
We started our journey to Thunder Bay yesterday afternoon at 2PM. We left from Barrie to avoid the Toronto traffic. The Dreamteam left first at 2:30PM and were the first to arrive in Thunder Bay this morning at 8AM, making them the first place winner again! Congratulations, Dreamteam!
Team Zero arrived in second place after nearly 24 hours of hitchhiking. Team Attempting to Spoon is just around the corner and should be arriving any minute now, placing them in third place. Team ??, Team Icebreaker and Team or Bust are still on their way. Provided that they don't get stuck in Wawa, they should be in here soon.
Posted by kim at 3:06 PM | Read Post | Comment (3737)
Friday July 7, 2006
We have all finally arrived in Toronto after a long day of hitchhiking from Montreal. Some teams found it easier than others, but everyone is here, safe and sound. Team or Bust left first at 7AM, but was given third place points (4) for having more time spent on the road. Dreamteam, who left the hostel at 11AM this morning was able to sail through to Toronto with the least amount of travel time. Team Attempting to Spoon remains in the lead, adding five points to their name for finishing in second place. While Team ?? and Team Zero took turns hitchhiking from the same intersection, Team ?? were the lucky ones who caught their ride early. Team Icebreaker and Team Zero were stranded in the city for a while, but eventually made it to Toronto at around 1AM this morning.
We are taking a well-needed day off in Toronto tomorrow to rest up for the next big leg: Thunder Bay. The route will take us to some of the notorious hitchhiking "no-no's"... including the legendary Wawa, Ontario. We'll see how that goes...
Posted by kim at 3:05 AM | Read Post | Comment (10123)
Wednesday July 5, 2006
Just to let everyone know that all teams have arrived safely at the checkpoint. The DreamTeam, followed closely by Team ?? arrived in the late afternoon. While the DreamTeam arrived earlier, Team ?? was awarded with 3rd place for having less time spent on the road (they left Halifax at 12noon while the DreamTeam left at 7AM). Team or Bust arrived at the hostel closer to 9PM, although from what we are told, they seem to have the most amazing stories to tell about their trek.
Tomorrow morning, we head off to Toronto. Tonight we explore this great city of Montreal.
Posted by kim at 11:26 PM | Read Post | Comment (538)
Wednesday July 5, 2006
If you live in the Vancouver area, please tune in AM690 (CBC Radio One) between 5-6PM(Pacific) for a live interview with Josh Gautreau, founder of Thumbs Out. It should be a fun time.
If you hear it, give us some feedback on what you think of the entire project!
Posted by kim at 3:53 PM | Read Post | Comment (286)
Wednesday July 5, 2006
THE RACE HAS BEGUN!!!!!
The racers are now thumbing their way towards Montreal, QC from Halifax, NS. So far, Team Attempting to Spoon, Team Zero and Team Icebreaker have arrived in the Auberge de Montreal hostel. Three more are still on the road.
Online blogs are still down, but will be up shortly. Some teams have journals on their myspace too, so you may see their blogs on there.
Another thing we have changed is the structure of the race itself. Given the staggered starting times that the teams have leaving the hostels, the winner of each leg of the race is now determined by a point system based on time spent on the road. The team who takes the least amount of time getting from checkpoint A to checkpoint B will earn the most points (6pts) and will be able to choose their own departure time. Whoever receives the most points by the Calgary pit stop will be able to choose their departure time. From there, the race to Vancouver will be determined with who arrives there first. This gives the hitchhikers a fair advantage, more opportunities to catch up if lagging behind, AND more room to strategize (as certain times on certain highways may be better for hitchhiking than others). So far, Team Attempting to Spoon and Team Zero have tied for first with about 16 hours travel time, followed by Team Icebreaker in second with about 27 hours travel time.
Thanks for checking us out and tracking our progress! We're extremely excited to hear that so many people are finding out about our race. In fact, yesterday morning in Halifax, we were woken up by the CBC Newsworld, who wanted to film us leaving the hostels. We were also featured on The Toronto Star yesterday! So thank you!
Posted by kim at 3:10 PM | Read Post | Comment (3202)
Sunday July 2, 2006
Belated Happy Canada Day and greetings from Halifax, NS! We just arrived here today and the rest of the teams will be arriving by tomorrow. The race starts in two days.
So, we're having a few technical difficulties with the website. Hopefully this will clear up before the race starts, but if not... sorry. We are doing the best we can. There will still be team blogs and podcasts though, it is just a matter of fixing the glitches.
Speaking of podcasts, we finished a rough version of episode two while on a plane to Halifax. With there are some glitches on our podcast page, you might only be able to view it on the myspace blog (http://www.myspace.com/thumbs_out) for the time being. Fingers crossed, it will be up on iTunes very shortly. In the mean time, you can also view the new podcast by clicking the picture below.
EPISODE TWO: PODCAST ON A PLANE!
Posted by kim at 5:10 PM | Read Post | Comment (210)
Saturday June 24, 2006
On Friday, June 30th, we invite you to our final fundraiser before the race. All proceeds will go to the film production. So if you want to have some fun, drink cheap and share some talent on a friday night, come and make an appearance at the Thumbs Out Open Mic Night in Toronto!
Posted by kim at 12:21 AM | Read Post | Comment (1326)
Tuesday June 20, 2006
This past weekend has been very awesome. We held two fundraiser keggers, both last minute and had some success from it. We're now very close to covering our budget goal for miniDV tapes. Thank you for the great time and the help! I hope you all enjoyed the beer and the party!
More good news: Thanks to the help of Chris of chatetheory.com, we now have the podcast up on I-Tunes. For all you lucky individuals with video ipods, you are now able to load 'em up and show them to friendly strangers on the subway.
episode two will be up by the end of next week.
Posted by kim at 8:25 PM | Read Post | Comment (1470)
Thursday June 15, 2006
Some sad news. We have lost a team. Due to personal reasons, Lindsay and Kristan from Team Red Dingos have decided to back out from the race. We are very sad to see them go. We will miss you, and thanks for everything, guys!
The team count is down to six. A small group, but we're still strong. We're still excited. We will be out on the road in two weeks.
Posted by alex at 5:54 PM | Read Post | Comment (598)
Saturday June 10, 2006
Thanks to the guidance of Justin from publicbroadcasting.ca and Casey from galacticast.com, we were finally able to shrink down the podcast to a more downloadable size. We still haven't gotten the hang of this itunes business, but you can now subscribe to the podcast via our myspace blog for now. And, since we now know how to embed a quicktime file on a webpage, behold the official PODCAST PAGE! Keep checking in. Spread the word.
Posted by thumbsout at 2:22 AM | Read Post | Comment (3540)
Wednesday June 7, 2006
We are finally done the first episode of our official video podcast. It has a roughly edited aesthetic to it, so don't expect anything fancy, but it will give you a little look at what we're up to during the production. This first episode is more of an intro (hence the title: An Introduction) of what's to come. More coming soon. It will get more intimate.
At the present moment, we are still trying to figure out how this whole podcasting technology works so loading it onto your ipod won't work just yet. This is more like a video diary for now. So alas, here it is. You will need Quicktime to view this first of many video podcasts. Enjoy.
Click to view
Posted by thumbsout at 1:22 AM | Read Post | Comment (823)
Tuesday May 23, 2006
The past few days have been eventful. On friday, we had our first fundraising night, a Superhero kegger. We made enough to cover miniDV tapes for two teams. Thanks guys! This is definitely a good start.
More teams were also added to the Thumbs Out family. There aren't many spaces left, but if you're still interested in joining, then contact us. We will be closing the offer on June 1st, even if we don't end up with ten teams. We need from that time onward to plan for tapes and pitstop lodging, so there will be no more submissions for teams after that.
Posted by thumbsout at 12:32 AM | Read Post | Comment (6152)
Wednesday May 17, 2006
Just to let you know, there's a new guestbook for this website, so if you have any feedback to share, this is an excellent way to do it!
Also coming soon: more team profiles! Podcasts! Sponsors! And lots more! Thanks for supporting us and spreading the word!
Posted by thumbsout at 11:37 PM | Read Post | Comment (15436)
Thursday May 11, 2006
With pre-production well on its way, filmmakers Kim and Alex (aka. Team Zero) have created an online production journal in order to document the progress of the project from a more personal, uncensored perspective. You can check it out at http://thumbsout.livejournal.com.
We are starting to look for sponsorship in order to raise money for the film equipment fund. If you, or anyone you know are interested in helping us out, please email us! We are going to be providing some great advertising opportunities to sponsors as well. More details on this will be up very soon so watch out for it.
Posted by thumbsout at 3:34 AM | Read Post | Comment (666)
Tuesday May 9, 2006
Well, we just had our crew meeting for this week, and we've come up with a lot of ideas for the project. A lot of little glitches in the plans are now cleared up and everything should be good to go!
After reading and hearing about other Canadian hitchhiking experiences, we've realized that the itinerary may be a little bit short in travel time. We've decided to stretch the time by adding an extra three days to the journey, giving more time between longer legs such as Toronto to Thunder Bay, Calgary to Vancouver, etc. That way we get to relax a little and enjoy the all-Canadian terrain.
Also, a lot more things will be coming up in the next few weeks. We're looking to get the rest of the racer profiles up ASAP. Remember, there are still few spaces available for adventure seekers to join, so email us if you're interested.
ATTENTION MUSICIANS: At some point, we will be holding a contest to give some of you a chance at getting some of your music out there by having it featured in the film! This being an independent project, we're really hoping to include some awesome indie music in the soundtrack. It's happening really soon, so keep checking the site out for further info.
That's all for now folks. With less than two months before the race, we're all getting really pumped up!
Posted by thumbsout at 12:58 AM | Read Post | Comment (2726)
Sunday May 7, 2006
It is alive! Finally, welcome everyone to thumbsoutcanada.com, the official site for the upcoming Canadian hitchhiking extravaganza happening this summer! Thumbs Out is an independent film project where we will be testing the trademark goodwill of Canadians. Teams of young explorers will be travelling from ocean to ocean using only a stretched out thumb to get a free ride. How else can you really get to know a country effectively? It all happens in July.
With only two months left before the race begins, we are really working hard to get everything organized, this website being one of them. Since this is an independent project, we are taking the amateur approach to it. That being said, please be patient with us. The website is still under a lot of construction. More will be coming shortly. For now, please enjoy the site and help us promote this adventure! Thanks everyone!
Posted by thumbsout at 11:21 PM | Read Post | Comment (1883)
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