A Visit to Dominic's Film Set

As fate would have it, Dominic Monaghan is here in my home town of Ottawa, Ontario for a few weeks to shoot a movie called The Day. He has been spotted at several well-known Ottawa locations over the past week including Algonquin College and the University of Ottawa (where he held Q&A sessions with students), the National Arts Centre (where he attended a performance of Romeo & Juliet), the Rideau Center shopping mall, a downtown pub, and various restaurants.

This weekend I received a tip that a film crew had closed down a road in the small town of Vars, which is about 20 minutes from my home. Given that film shoots in Ottawa are quite rare, I threw a few LOST items (including Charlie's pants) into my car and drove there with my daughter to check out the situation. Despite the clouds and rain, this was an opportunity I didn't want to miss.

Although there was indeed a film shooting in Vars, it was not The Day. It was instead a film called La Sacrée, touted as the very first Franco-Ontarian comedy. Coincidentally (and I love this coincidence given LOST's propensity for overloading names) the director of the film is also named Dominic -- Dominic Desjardins.

Although slightly disappointed to miss Dom M, I had the good fortune to speak with a local resident whose home was used to shoot several scenes of the movie. She mentioned that the house had in another life been a branch of the Royal Bank, with the bank on the ground floor and the bank manager living directly above it on the second floor. Here's the fun part -- my Father had also been a bank manager and our family lived directly above the bank that he managed. Crazy, huh?

So, although my quest to meet Dominic Monaghan continues, I did get to visit a location shoot and had a very nice conversation in the process. I've included some pics from the visit below.

For more about the film check out La Sacrée's Facebook Page

The stretch of road on which they were filming was closed off.

A couple of rental trucks and several cast and crew cars lined the road.

The filming location.

The bank manager lived directly above the bank, and even had a concealed peephole in his floor through which he had a direct view of the bank's safe. It's a little hard to see here, but this is a view of the 2nd-storey floor, with the bank safe's door below. (The safe is still in place and the current owner uses it as a pantry.)

Fro Design LOST package

Fro Design has issued quite a few LOST prints over the last year. I decided to pick up their LOST package of twelve 11x17 posters. I particularly like the first four prints below.

John Lennon Pen by Montblanc

While overseas recently I spent a little time window shopping at an enclave of super-exclusive boutiques. One item that caught my eye was a collection of pens from Montblanc tied into Lennon's 70th birthday.

It is hard to know what Lennon himself would have thought about his association with pricey luxury goods -- like Dylan, contradiction and inconsistency were an integral part of his character and his charm. Perhaps he would have been disgusted, or perhaps he would have been delighted to find another way to move money from the fortunate to those in need.

Although I didn't spring for the pens, I did pick up this slick promotional book which has some fantastic visuals of the man...and his pen.

Best. LOST. Prizes. Ever.

What could be better than winning a Locke's Secret screenprint signed by Damon Lindelof? How about winning said print while also helping a Nashville family rebuild their flood-damaged home? Sounds good, yeah?

The signed Locke's Secret is one of many fantastic prizes that are part of a raffle organized by The Kharma Initiative. Check out full details here.

Giving feels good, and giving then winning feels glorious. If you can spare a dime, brothah, this is the place to spend it.