I'm not there
It has been a nice weekend and it can be easily summed up in 2 words - biryani and tennis. I cooked Sindhi Chicken Biryani on Saturday and that basically took up a big chunk of the day - shopping for ingredients and the cooking. The result was delicious and now I have enough for 3 days. :-)
And today was tennis - Dan Grade and Fraser Ross, ex-classmates from South Seas days came over and we had a doubles tennis match. Lance & Me v/s Fraser& Dan - and we won the match 7-5; 3-6 ; 6-2. It was a hard fought victory especially considering that we were down 5-1 in the first set. All bones are still in place and nothing is broken or pulled at the end of the game, so I am happy. After the game all of us went and saw '
I'm Not There' and it was a good movie- fantastic acting and fantastic everything but it was half an hour too long.
So that was my weekend - pretty much. I did some other small stuff but those 2 things sum up my 2 recent days of life.
Thats me for now.
Amit
Labels: Food, Movies, Tennis
Rejection
The word "rejection" was first used in 1415. The original meaning was "to throw" or "to throw back". [Courtesy: Wikipedia ] On that note here is an interesting link about
Rejection and also on ways to
building resilience to rejection.
The work on REJECTED is progressing at a good pace for the past 2 weeks. Serena and me had a bit of a hiatus on the script through April as it was a busy time for both of us but the work has started back in earnest and now we are half way through the script. It has been an interesting process so far as we don't really know where the story is going - maybe a vague idea but no storylines set in concrete. And the way the script is shaping up has been a pleasent surprise as it is flowing well and at this point I can't see any flab in the story and both of us are making a conscious effort not to put in any filler material into the script. I have set the initial deadline of end of July to have the script ready and I am hoping that we will hit the deadline. Will keep you posted on it as work progresses.
The trailer for 'THE DARK KNIGHT' is fantastic. And after you have seen that check out the
Jokerized version of the trailer here. This is going to be the movie for the american summer season (besides '
Tropic Thunder'). I saw '
Lars and the Real Girl' couple of nights back and it was a sweet little movie - it was probably a bit too long- maybe by 20 minutes odd - mainly because you kind of figure out what is going to happen. But it is still worth watching just to see Ryan Gosling's terrific performance as Lars.
Thats me for now.
Till later,
Amit
Labels: Movies, Rejected, Script
600
Well I forgot to mention it when I hit 500 posts, so I made it a point to give 600 it's due respect. 3.5 years and 599 posts later, which gives me an average of 171 posts a year, I am still blogging - that means I must be seriously insane. No one has asked me to shut it down or abused me for what I write, so I am presuming people like watching train wrecks in slow motion or they enjoy reading the banalities of the daily life of some complete stranger (this obviously doesn't apply to my family since I am not a stranger to them yet). Either way I will keep writing as long as I can.
The momentus occassion is also marked by the introduction of a new flatmate in our flat. His name is George - the unique thing about him is that he is a
white tailed spider. Lance was the one who noticed him first and pointed it out last night. I asked him why he didn't kill him because they are not exactly harmless to which Lance's response was that the spider had a personality. I told him that I didn't care if it had a personality as it was a white tailed spider and that is when he told me that he had named it George. And also pointed out that I certainly couldn't kill it now since now the spider had a name to go along with his personality. I am still grumbling about it but I guess I can't kill George - we just have to wait for him to move out of the house of his own will.
That's me for now.
Till later,
Amit
Labels: Random
2 Days in Paris
I saw
2 Days in Paris today and it is a nice little quirky film. It was thoroughly entertaining and Julie Delpy really holds the movie together - as an actor as well as the director/editor. I also played badminton for the first time in 2 years and it was grueling but fun at the same time - I held up pretty good - no muscle pulls and no injuries except for a blister on my right palm which was the reason I lost the second set.
Thats me for now
Till later
Amit
Labels: Badminton, Movies
Ironman
Well - it is the weekend again and I plan on doing some much needed housework and pending tasks. I still haven't replied to my emails but at this point I can't be bothered. It is one of those phases where I don't like answering anyone - I will get over it soon but for now I am enjoying the freedom of ignoring non-critical mail.
The cut for 'To'ona'i' was locked on Wednesday night and neither David nor me were hurt or injured during the process plus I didn't have to use the knives and forks on David. David won the overall contest of the number of changes suggested to number of changes agreed to and implemented by 11-9 but I don't mind losing this contest at all as the locked cut feels so much more fluid. I encoded the files and passed on the DVD's to Mr. Mamea - now most of my active 'hands on' part is done and it is upto the sound designer to make the short film cohesive by creating an immersive sound design.
I went and saw
Iron Man yesterday and it was a nice experience. The movie has flaws but it works wonderfully well and is great escapist fare. The center of the movie is Robert Downey Jr, who really sells the movie to you and the supporting cast supports his well. And the thing I liked about Iron Man was that in one of the few action sequences in the movie Tony Stark goes ape shit while dealing with his enemies. You never see that kind of brutal assault from a super hero because they are supposed to be 'good'. Imminently watchable.
Time for my beauty sleep.
Ciao,
Amit
Labels: Movies, Post Production, Short film
Awarded
Well - FIVE was chosen as the Best Feature by the judges at DeReel Independent Film Festival in Australia. And yeah I am thrilled beyond words.
Besides that - just mentally preparing myself for tomorrow when I sit down with David to lock down To'ona'i - the short film that he is making. I need to sharpen my knives and forks to combat his nanchucks - it will be one helluva wonderful event I swear. I will write an update if I come out as the survivor.
I have seen the first 4 episodes of Season-4 of Battlestar Galactica and it is thrilling as usual. Seeing the cylon civil war was awesome - they seem to be laying parallels with humanity but I am finding it hard to imagine as to how they will wrap up the story.
Anyway time to hit the sack.
Till later,
Amit
P.S - the new DARK KNIGHT trailer rocks..it rocks real hard.
Labels: Five, Post Production, Short film, TV Series
Back
It has been a week and a bit since I last posted. The last week flew away in various things and I wasn't in the best frame of mind and body to write an update. I put my upper back out while sneezing and that took me a good 4 days to recover from that (it looks like I am 30 going on 80). And how do you manage to do such a thing like that? I don't know - I just somehow managed to do it. And now I am back to the usual story of having to check my backlog of unanswered emails and things to do.
Last week was also eventful in terms of tax returns. I thought I had paid all my taxes but my accountant thought differently as he clubbed together my earnings as a freelancer and my earnings after I joined my current job, together - which meant that I ended up in a situation of having to pay more taxes, which I wasn't happy about at all. The logic didn't make any sense to me and I followed it up with IRD and they advised me the opposite, so hoping to sort this stuff out with the accountant soon.
My new favorite dish is Keema Curry that I have been cooking for the past 2 weeks now. I am using
Shan Spice mix which takes care of all the spices for the dish and the result is mouth-wateringly good. I cooked the same for the pot luck dinner that happened at Rachel's new place, where I went for the house warming party. It was very well received by those who could tolerate the hotness of it {read: green chilli tolerance levels :-) } . Talking of food - I went to Kathryn's {well known screen writer and also ex-colleague from South Seas teaching days} birthday dinner at
Papa's Pizza yesterday and their
'New Zealand Venison Ravioli' was divine. If you get a chance do check out that joint - it is a cozy little place and well worth the visit for that dish alone - I wasn't sold on their pizzas though.
I watched a couple of movies on DVD and they were alright - 'Justice League: Final Frontier' {nice tone} and 'Alpha Dog' {brilliant acting}.What I am really waiting for is the Hollywood summer season to kick off - the movie that I am really waiting for is 'The Dark Knight' - the latest poster has some real balls.
That's me for now.
Till later,
Amit
Labels: Food, Movies, Party
Out Stealing Horses
The book '
Out Stealing Horses' by Per Petterson has been a magical read. It is so lyrical but heart breaking at the same time. The narrative flows like a river and melts your heart and soul with it's simplicity which offers profound insight into the human condition. It is a highly recommended read and it is rare for translations to be as good as this one. The ending breaks your heart and you can judge it by the last line of the book which says 'we do decide for ourselves when it will hurt.'
David and Christina came over last night to pick up the DVD and watched the tweaked cut and I am still alive, so needless to say the cut is almost there - a couple more minor changes and the cut is ready to be locked. Now I get a couple of weeks break from the short film post before David sorts out background stuff and then we will have a couple more days in post for locking the cut down. Now it is time to concentrate on the music video and try and get that organized, so I am still able to finish it within the next couple of months. At this point - I need to test out the post workflow for the music video as it is going to involve a small amount of 2-D animation as well.
Well that's me for now.
Till later,
Amit
Labels: Books, Short film
The Vancouver Film School/YouTube Scholarship Challenge
They are not paying me to put this up or anything but I thought I would post it here as it is a good opportunity.
The Vancouver Film School/YouTube Scholarship Challenge
YouTube and Vancouver Film School have partnered to create an international competition to make film school accessible to everyone. The challenge? Create a short film, animation or pitch addressing the theme "what matters to you." The prize? Three scholarships to any of Vancouver Film School's 14 outstanding educational programs, including Film Production, 3D Animation & Visual Effects, Acting Essentials and more.Submissions close at 11:59PM EST on May 9th, 2008. For more information, visit
www.youtube.com/vancouverfilmschool.
Cheers
Amit
Labels: Movies, Short film
Further developments
The past 2 days have been super busy and I desperately waiting for the weekend. I was supposed to go for an audition on monday evening right after my acting lessons and because the character I was auditioning for was supposed to speak in an american accent I scurried around for an accent coach and I got in touch with
John Dybvig, after recommendation from Mike [my acting teacher]. The time was fixed for Monday late afternoon -straight after work and I was excited. Then early on Monday morning the audition got cancelled but I still decided to go through with the accent coaching as it is something that I had been meaning to do for a long time. So I went over to John's place for my lesson straight after work. The class was extremely helpful and I intend to keep at it, so that I have an additional skill set if need be. After the lessons I drove over to my acting lessons in the evening and then came back home and cooked some Keema Curry to wind down after a long day. By the time I hit bed I was dead tired. A 16 hour day in total.
Yesterday was no less busy as I went home straight after work and started working on To'ona'i. I started implementing the changes that I had discussed with David and I got into the flow of things pretty quick. Editing is not about cutting - it is about intuition and working from the heart rather than from the mind. Anyone can cut but not everyone can make a story flow - it is a craft (like writing or acting or any other creative art form), which you just develop as you gain more and more experience. I made some interesting discoveries about length and the time of a cut, that I am pretty pleased about.
Funnily enough I lost track of time and missed my physio appointment and ran really close to the line with my salsa lessons. The lesson was interesting in the sense that there were more girls than guys at the class - which was a problem as you can only dance salsa in pairs and the steps for girls is different from that for the guys and the fact that guys are the ones who have to lead the dance. It was a good workout, especially after the 2 private classes I took before this group class. A lot of what the salsa teacher taught in the private lesson started to make sense including the observation that kiwi girls are really hard to dance salsa with [not all of them obviously but most of them] and the guy has to work extra hard to make them work to the signals. Kiwi girls forget that in the dance it is the guy who leads and they just have to follow the signals and they try and control the dance. Typical!
Anyway after the salsa lesson, I came back home and went about authoring a DVD for Mr. Mamea and I didn't finish it till 12.30 at night. And by the time the DVD authoring was done and I had tested the DVD on a couple of machines I was on auto-pilot mode and was glad when I finally hit the bed. With post production schedules I hate running close to the line and I always like to keep aside contingency days just incase shit hits the fan - luckily in this case it did not and everything went to plan. So I did have a good sleep knowing that I had done my bit even though it was a 17 hour day and it was my 4th day of doing 15+ hours a day. So yeah I am eagerly looking forward to the weekend but that's not before I hand over the DVD to Mr. Mamea tonight and discuss further post production action on the short film.
Till later,
Amit
Labels: Acting, Food, Post Production, Short film
