So I started writing a short post for The Green Chain blog to say goodbye to Babz and to thank her for… being Babz… and I kept writing and I kept writing and then I showed it to David Beers, my editor at The Tyee…

And because of their active comments section, I think that’s probably a better place to read it. Here’s how it starts…

Babz Chula was not my first choice for the role of “the protester” in The Green Chain.

I wanted someone with Babz’s warmth, Babz’s politics, Babz’s signature feistiness, Babz’s sense of humour, Babz’s ability to light up a screen and Babz’s passion for small Canadian movies, but I wanted someone… old.

I needed someone old.

I’d never seen Babz look old. I couldn’t imagine her looking old.

I first met Babz when I interviewed her a lifetime ago. We met at her place in Kitsilano. I think she spent most of our visit advising me on the responsibilities she felt came with my job as a theatre critic. I recall her telling me that when she was growing up a neighbour named the Barbie doll after her. That doesn’t seem to be true, but I believed it. Wouldn’t you?

For the rest of the story, visit The Tyee...

Merry everything to everyone in The Green Chain Gang and I hope this finds you and your loved ones enjoying the holidays and gearing up for a fantastic New Year. As I sit here in Vancouver, with my car looking like a popsicle, there are no excuses left for not ramping the blog back up so… here’s the latest for your holiday amusement…

The Green Chain is ready to roll… And by roll we mean on film, real live 35, coming soon to a theatre near you (assuming you live in Canada). Feb/March 2009.

Yes. Really.

It has been a long, wild, ride (thanks to the demise of our original distributor, Christal Films — RIP). But we’ve got a fantastic — and enthusiastic — new distributor lined up (official announcement happening soon) and the blow-up to film is complete. And it looks real purty…

Meanwhile, my book – Never Shoot a Stampede Queen, A Rookie Reporter in The Cariboo – just cracked “the BC Bestseller’s List” at # 8. It’s a humourous memoir about my adventures as a baby reporter in BC’s wildest western town, Williams Lake. And that’d be the time when I met the characters – and discovered the world – that inspired The Green Chain.

To buy the book — it is the perfect Xmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa present — and/or get more info and/or check out the blog where I chronicled my recent return to the Cariboo, please visit www.stampedequeen.ca.

One of the more exciting moments on my recent book tour for Stampede Queen was showing “the logger” segment of The Green Chain to an audience at New Caledonia College in Prince George — a community where they take their trees seriously — and loggers were in the house. The response was phenomenal — with some viewers in tears, FOUR invitations to show the film in Prince George and a crowd that desperately wanted to see the next link in the Chain…

Speaking of loving trees… The Green Chain podcast has been on hiatus for the Fall, but we’ll be ramping back up in January and I have some truly amazing guests on tap talking about everything from saving our old growth forests to whether trees can save us from the weather. Please, please, please subscribe on iTunes or set an RSS Feed at The Tyee.

When the movie opens, the podcast is going to be magic for us. But the editors at The Tyee will be a lot happier if they see they’ve got a few more subscribers who are tuning in for our tree talks.

And speaking of buttons to click… if you’re on Facebook, please join The Green Chain Gang – and invite all your friends and enemies to do the same. It’ll help us spread the word fast when it’s time to start rolling out the movie. And having lots of members is likely to encourage more theatres to book the film.

And please join the site for Never Shoot a Stampede Queen while you’re at it.

You can also join The Green Chain site at MySpace.

And please update your blog feed to this one, as we’ve moved hosts to thegreenpages.ca. (Thank you Rex Turgano from greenpages– our personal Cyber Santa).

And if you’re still looking for the truly perfect holiday gift — please donate to the Babz Chula Lifeline for Artists Society to help out a true national treasure.

All the best in ’09 and Mahalo.

MLY