I'm teaming up with Canadian Ryan Bruce Levey of Vagrant Films to do a theatrical release of Fagbug in Canada. If all goes well with our plan we'd do one in the states after.

The plan is to set up a 17 city National tour that would focus on 1 week theatrical runs in Canada’s 3 major markets, TORONTO, MONTREAL and VANCOUVER.....

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Additional markets across Canada would happen as follows:....

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First Leg....

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Toronto ON – April 9-15^th....

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Oshawa, ON – April 13^th ....

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Windsor ON – April 15^th....

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London ON – April 16-17^th ....

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Kitchener-Waterloo ON – April 18^th ....

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Guelph ON – April 19^th ....

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Kingston ON – April 21^st ....

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Ottawa ON – April 23-25^th ....

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Second Leg....

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Montreal QC – May 7-13^th ....

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Charlottetown PEI – May 11-12^th ....

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Halifax NS – May 14-15^th ....

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Third Leg ....

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Winnipeg MB – May 25-26^th ....

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Regina SK – May 28-29^th ....

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Saskatoon SK – May 30^th ....

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Calgary AB – June 2^nd ....

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Edmonton AB – June 4-7^th ....

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Vancouver BC – June 11-17^th ....

So a man named Bret from California who's in my film and is also a VW lover sent me this link: http://newbeetle.org/forums/photos-new-beetles/31875-junior-2003-nbc-gls-2-0-mellow-yellow-3.html#post513445

it has a pic of this car from Perry, IA



with this written next to it:

962 days later, the Fagbug DVD is finally for sale on the website www.fagbug.com just go to the store link at the top and buy your very own copy!!

SO yesterday I arrived in Selinsgrove, PA around 1 PM for a showing I had at Susquehanna University. I had a booth with the Fagbug outside in a visible area from 1-4 PM. About 50 people came up and engaged with me and asked questions. It was as if the students and faculty had never seen anything like my car. There was a lot of excitement around it. One woman asked if I would get another car wrapped if I were to crash mine. I told her like everything else I'd have to process that if and when it were to happen. Several people bought the film and stuck around for awhile chatting it up with me looking at the notes and processing the story. I got a really great feeling from everyone there. I went to drop Hoosick my dog off at the hotel before dinner on campus then we went over to where the showing was going to be. It was a smaller crowd, around 10-15 but again everyone was engaged with great feedback and questions. They were impressed with how neutral I stay throughout the film while talking to people who have opposing viewpoints and asked about how certain shots were filmed. We discussed where I'm at with the project now and how I'm looking to find a musuem for the car or maybe I will make my own fagbug musuem which will be a longer term plan or goal but the more I realize there is no place for it the more I am thinking that's probably what I'll end up doing since I continue to collect the notes people leave and go further and further with it, it will only have more things to share and tell.

When I went out to my car this morning I caught someone red handed, leaving me a note. That was the first time I ever caught someone in action, Note 62 was the first time I ever saw someone leaving one. It was kind of a new experience to have an immediate person to process it with and speak to as I was getting it and also to see in person that moment, not wonder who they were.

IT was a friend of the tattoo shop across the street (Drastic Pleasures) who dropped off a note he wrote. Not the guy who dropped it off but the owner. I said thank you and told him I save and laminate all the notes. He began to walk away and I said wait a minute let me read it. In the note the man who wrote it related to me with being stereotyped for having a tattoo shop in a small town and said to stop by for a free tattoo and donation. So I stopped by to thank him for the offer. There were about 4-5 guys in there hanging out. The owner also does music set up for bands like Motley Crew, Van Halen, and Spin Doctors. He gave Hoosick a new toy to chew on and gave me a $20 donation.  I gave him a copy of the film in exchange and he popped it in. He told me he lived in LA for awhile so I showed him the LA section of the film and 8 minutes after that. They asked about the ending of the film so I showed that part to them as well. While we were talking, a man came in to the shop. They thought he was a customer. He asked if I was the owner of the bug. I said yes. He politely asked if it was okay for him to take a picture of it. I said sure. After that, he spent a few minutes outside and came back in. He thanked me for what I'm doing with the car and just said especially around there that it really means a lot. I shook his hand and told him I really appreciate it. A few minutes later, the phone rang. One of the guys said, it's for you and handed me the phone. I was like for me? Hello.

It was someone from the mall who worked at the A T & T there who asked if I'd stop by there on my way out of town. I agreed, not sure why it's kind of a bizarre request. He was a nice guy though. He saw the car on the way to work and turned around to take a pic of it and told me he was a VW fanatic. He wanted to know how I decided to do what I did. I think he related to it because he works with two gay men and gets a lot of slack because of it but thought the car was really cool. He is on a VW site and wants to post a thread and also talk about it on this radio station he's a part of. It's been on so many things like that at this point it's too hard to keep track of most of it.

Did I get a free tattoo and take the owner up on it, no, but he said anytime I want to come back I can get one. I have two tattoos but both of them I knew at the time I was meant to get them and don't want any unless I have that feeling about it and I don't really forsee that happening, although it was a very kind offer. I was like why would you want to give me a free tattoo, he just thought it would be nice. I get to see often that people will step out of their box when they see you are and it's a mutual respect to acknowledge and participate in that.

So Maine was my 45th State I took the Fagbug! Pretty crazy that in 2 years and 7 months I've been to 45 states with the fagbug. States I haven't been with the Fagbug are: North Dakota, South Dakota, Louisiana, Alaska and Hawaii.

so i just got done doing my 2008 taxes, i filed to do them late. this was my first year being on my own 100% fagbug for the most part. people often think i'm profiting and making tons of money i'd just like to share this to show the reality of the situation. i often get the question where do the proceeds from my merchandise go? it's interesting for me to see it all laid out. i often thought that i don't make much off merchandise because you put so much money into it to order enough or to get a good enough of a deal but then it takes forever to sell that much. so it is neat to see in merchandise i spent $1696 on t-shirts and stickers and made back only $1204.89 in sales.

even with sales and individual donations it still barely covers what the merchandise costs. mostly it is to get the word out there and promote the idea behind the story, creative visibility. it took me from noon to 10:30 PM to go through all my receipts and get my tax information together. stressful. it's obviously very late for 2008, but I've never been independent before and had to file my own taxes as my own business person. i think now that i know what i'm doing it will be a lot easier for 2009. in the end i owe around $250 plus whatever the late fee is. my friend katy told me one day to just post my expenses to help silence the skeptics who accuse me of pocketing all this money. it's a lot of work and it's what i've been doing full time, it's a lot of my own money i front and put out there so in my opinion whatever does come from it like any other person who works full time on something i deserve it. truth be said though, obviously it is far from being in a positive anyway after 3 years.

here is my total income:

U of Georgia $1,500
U of Missouri $1,000
Misericordia $1,200
Vassar $1,000
NC State $1,500
USC $1,000
UI $2,250
UW $4,000
UCA $1,500
Sage $1,000
Avon $600
job in fl $640
donations $777
hd radio sponsorship $5,000
VW of America sponsorship$12,001.87
online sales $1204.89
Total $36,173.78

here were my expenses for 2008

editing $8,000
news footage for film $1250
music for film $500
merchandise $1696
hotels $931.05
video camera $396
video trans  $81
food $796.8
post office $802.44
office $910.04
dig cam $147.8
car unveiling $3170
laptop adapter $153.58
laptop cover $37.93
cell $989
film festival submissions paid by check $2535
film festival submissions paid online $2180
dvds/printer $570.38
car payment $3192
car insurance $1404
tolls $142.7
driving tickets/legal $1692
miles (talks) 15,915.26 miles = $9319.43 reimbursement
miles (everyday) 15,000 miles =  $8775 reimbursement
           
total $49,672.15

As I was leaving the hotel in Alfred this morning I got note 63, well I didn't see it upon leaving the hotel, about 10 miles down the road at a stop light I did. Most people leave them on the driver's side window under the windshield wiper. This one was on the passenger side all the way to the right. It was written on the back of the mini flyers Craig was handing out the day before to promote the fagbug showing.

let me start by saying i could write a story similar to this everyday about how driving my car impacts my everyday functioning. i don't write about them because they are such a fabric of the experience and it's just a non stop thing, but for someone to get what it's like to drive the fagbug this one story illustrates all of that best.

so after being in DC for the reel affirmations film festival I drove back and went out for drinks with a friend, after drinks i had to go the bathroom so we went to one gas station they were closed, as i was pulling out of there to go find another one because with every creeping second the urgency became quite evident that i had to pee uncontrollably, i can't even recall a time where i had to go the bathroom this bad in maybe ten years, you don't realize until your in the situation how horrible it is and there are no places open or with restrooms around, it was after two, so on the way out of gas station numero uno, a man pulling in yells out to me, "wait a minute." i guess for some reason he felt like he really needed to talk to me. i had to go so bad i ignored him, left the gas station and was on a hunt for another one, that was my goal, and my needs came above his at that point as they most likely should but in other situations its not as cut and dry.

went to gas station number two, no restrooms, are you serious? as i open the door to go back outside, i am realizing i can't see myself holding it any longer, i see a hotel across the street and think i can make it just in time to get there not a second longer, at that time, the man from the gas station blocks away comes up to me and tells me his sons told him to find the rainbow bug they saw (they were not in the car or with him) he asked for us to pose in front of the car, i was like i have to pee i am not posing i gotta go, i will take a quick photo of you in front of the car, proof you found it then i seriously have to go, went to the hotel the guy said i couldn't use it because it was "inside." obviously hotels have bathrooms, they have hundreds. i was like omg are you kidding me right now, so in the end found a grocery store but its laughable to me how crazy people go over the fagbug like hi its just a rainbow bug and says fagbug i know its shocking and a once in a lifetime chance to spot it and talk to whoever drives it but for me i have these interactions like thousands of times a month and also am a person who has to pee.

ran into a gay protestor i met over 2 years ago on my original fagbug trip in allentown, PA. i just moved back to syracuse recently and went to kinkos to print something out and noticed him, his daughter came up to me after to talk to me, then after that he joined us. she continued to try to pursued me against homosexuality and asked if she could prove jesus existed would i change and no longer practice being gay. i was like are you seriously trying to convert me, the one who drives the gayest car out there, its kind of funny to me, guess i'd be like the ultimate score or challenge.

they protest at colleges and we do totally opposite things in terms of educating people about our positions or raising awareness about homosexuality, they attempted to convince me to believe in god and disputed the bible and said anything else isn't truth, i acknowledge that there are many religions, many types of people in the world, none better then the other, that we can have different viewpoints and sometimes it isn't about changing our thoughts it's about getting to know each other, but at some point i feel we need to respect that we come from a different place and the goal isn't necessarily to make someone who they aren't. just like i want to be accepted i accept their stance and have no desire to attempt to really push an argument over it. anyway, i was in a hurry, it was cold outside and my car so many times stops me from getting from a to be and keeps me in conversations longer then i want to be in sometimes. we took a picture together, hugged, and i got this pamphlet...

A friend of mine from my hometown of Phoenix, NY told me she was at D Donuts in Mexico, NY which is like 20 or so miles from Phoenix and was waiting for her sandwich and overheard an older couple talking about the fagbug and saying how my parents must be so proud of me for standing up for what i believe. she wanted to tell them she knows me. and told me later that it was neat that it's touching people of all ages. they must have seen my car in phoenix or something. small world.

then she posted something on facebook and a friend of hers said she saw it across the street from my sisters house.

i was at my sisters when my nephew got dropped off from school and he was like aunt erin don't be here at this time, he was embarassed because everyone was looking, the next day i was there again just to bug him, well not really i was using their internet hanging out there, and laughed when he got there, he said oh well people didn't say things that much, i guess one person did, but not as many, then later that day i picked him up from karate and all his little karate friends said nice car justin and laughed. its interesting to see how kids deal with it. we emptied out some of the things i brought home since im going to move home to syracuse for awhile and i showed him a framed artwork a middle school in MN gave me after doing a prentation there he was like don't come to my school, and my niece was like you can come to mine. lol.

also on my way back to albany, a girl i parked next to on a thruway stop was like your car says fagbug on it like telling me as if i didnt know. lol. i was like yeah, i'm aware. she said i just have to ask why? it was funny. i don't feel like giving everyone the full story anymore but i give a snyopsis and refer people to the website.