March end
It has been a busy few days - it always is with the studio shows at school. Wednesday evening was interesting to say the least - bumped into old acquaintances, went to a farewell party for one of the people I know at TVNZ, went onto another party, discovered a Russian restaurant in parnell (only to find that it was owned by the Russian couple who earlier ran a cafe next to our school).
I kept pushing the US distributor to tell me how 'Memories' was doing and it is not doing too bad but we still haven't made any money out of it. It has been sold to Thailand for DVD rental or something and the distributor is planning to take it to the buyers market at Cannes this year, so small but interesting things happening on that front- hopefully it will provide us a better audience base for 'Nowhere to Love'.
The drinking culture in NZ still amazes me and it feels like decadence of culture. The NZ Dollar is falling rapidly against all major currencies, which is a cause for worry because that affects the cost of living a fair bit with petrol prices going up and commodities prices going up at the same time. Plus obviously means I have to earn more to pay off my student loan - what a bummer. On a positive note - the North Shore city council have decided to buy the Victoria theatre instead of letting it be sold off to be made into apartment blocks.
I cooked some chicken with 'Nandos' sauces and it was yummy...Mouthwatering good. My room has turned into a mess again and that will be part of this weekend's agenda - to clean it up. The days have been so long that all I seem to do is work - go home and sleep - get up and goto work again. I will have to balance it out over the next couple of weeks.
Off for now,
Amit
Labels: Food, Memories of Tomorrow, New Zealand, TVNZ
Orange Roughies
Just got back from the trip to Coromandel and it has been an extremely productive and awesome trip. We meet some really amazing people, ate some yummy seafood, saw some beautiful places and worked really hard on the script and the pre-production details. It was a trip well worth it. To try and describe all of it would be a little hard but before I go into the details it would be worthwhile mentioning that I have fallen in love with smoked fish- that has been the diet most of the time - different kinds of smoked fish: orange roughies (my favorite), kapuka, trevally, tarkihi, mussels (not a fish but still seafood)...There is no place is Auckland that I know of which provides that many wide variety of smoked fish.
Nowhere to Love
We met up with the person from Thames-Coromandel Council in Thames, which is a buzzing little town and he was really helpful. We headed off to Coromandel and started doing the location hunt based on the location list we had and the first day was really really successful as we found a dairy, a pharmacy shop, a cafe, a car workshop, a tow truck, a gas station, several other smaller locations. We also knocked on a few houses and asked them if we could film in their house and were absolutely surprised when people would let us into their houses and let us take photos. Full credit to Richard who did all the hard talking. The trust and the warmth that we got in Coromandel was humbling and uplifting.
We got to taste some gobsmakingly great tasting vegetable pies from Coro Pies. Everyone kept pointing us to Coro Pies and when we went to the shop - Richard couldn't find the pie he wanted, so Rob - the owner of Coro Pies let us taste their special vegetable pie, which they had invented recently, for free and asked us for feedback. I have never ever tasted such tasty vegetarian pie ever and I would highly recommend that you drop them a visit if you are in Coromandel. It is on Wharf road - tucked away besides Coromandel Automotive Repairs.
We went back to our cabin at the holiday park and sat down for some solid script analysis for a good four hours. Inbetween we witnessed an amazing sunset - the photograph below doesn't do it any justice but it was magical and spellbinding.
A beautiful sunset in Coromandel
After a really busy and productive first day - both Richard and me crashed into bed by 8.30 in the evening. We started the day early on Saturday in our effort to try and find more locations and scenic spots we could use for the movie. We decided that we would go upto Colville because a fair few people mentioned about a cafe and a store run by hippies. The drive up was pleasent and found Colville to be a sleepy town.
Has anyone seen my car???? I think it is somewhere over there.
Colville - a sleepy town north of Coromandel
We stopped at the Cafe and had our breakfast. During that time we got a call from Tom Look - the editor of Coromandel Town Chronicle - the local newspaper, since Richard had rung him the day before without luck. It so happened that Tom lived in Colsville and he drove down with Jennifer Greene and we had a long chat over breakfast about possibilities of covering the movie and giving us some much needed publicity in Coromandel. He invited us back to his home-office, which is set in an amazing location. It ultilizes solar energy and Tom has also set himself a dish for internet connection, which he then also distributes across to the town. It was amazing seeing people live off the land in a way - they are more prepared for an energy crisis than any of us living in the cities and towns.
The home-office of Tom
Richard and Tom in Tom's office from where he prints the newspaper
After the briefstop over at Tom's house we procceded to come back to Coromandel to search for more houses but took the 'loop' on insistence from Jennifer that it would take the same amount of time. The loop is supposed to be the circular route to Coromandel by going through Cape Kennedy - man what a trip it turned out to be. The first thing we did was give a lift to a hitchhiker: Kate - a 18-19 year old american girl who had been hitchhiking across NZ for the past 6 months. She was going towards Sandy beach and we dropped her off after a short ride as our ride went in a different direction after a particular point. Our trip back to Coromandel took almost triple the time from Colsville through the loop and to compound our misery the road wasn't solid - it was gravelled all the way. So by the time we got to Coromandel we were pretty drained out from the travel.
Smooth road back to Coromandel?
A scenic spot near Coromandel
A couple fishing in low tide??
We knocked on a few more houses to get permission for filming, ate a few more smoked fish, completed the script analysis and we were pretty exhausted by the evening - all we could think of was hitting the bed. We woke up today morning to the most horrendous weather that one can imagine and we took our trip back to Auckland after grabbing some breakfast and buying some more orange roughies and garlic marinated smoked mussels to have for dinner in Auckland. The weather is the same here in Auckland as I write this update but I am thrilled about the progress that we made on the movie over the past 3 days.
A really bad rain day in Coromandel - a look from our cabin.
I think I will stop typing now and wash my clothes - otherwise will have nothing to wear this week -which wouldn't be a good sight. I will upload the location reccee photos over the next couple of days.
For now,
Amit
Labels: Nowhere to Love, Pre-production
Short
A real quick update - realizing that I haven't been able to update in a while now. I am going down to Coromandel again - this time with Richard - one of the other producers for 'Memories'. We are planning to meet up the council guys and later spend time in the town trying to find specific locations for filming.
The week till now has been extremely busy with studio shows at school and then more auditions for the movie. It has been stressful at times but news for the first time in the year always is. The new workflow with server playout has definitely streamlined the editing process a lot.
The reconfigured PCR
Students making NEWS
I got a shock when I accidentally ended up on the commonwealth games website and saw that India is currently No. 4 in overall medal standings. I also got another surprise when one of the students commented on how indians are a deceptive lot - I let the comment pass as a joke but pre-conceived notions that people have always surprises me. Just shows that all of us are discriminatory one way or the other - race, religion, culture or sex.
The next update will be in a couple of days - once I come back from the second coromandel trip.
Till then,
Amit
Labels: India, Nowhere to Love
Punisher
I have cleared 5 rounds in 'The Punisher' - a playstation game. That has been my achivement for the day. My flatmate bought himself a second hand PS2 and I must say that video games are addictive - especially first person shooter games. I can see now how kids can sit in internet cafes playing games the whole day plus their swearing and shouting is just an outlet for their hyperactive energy levels. I had to forcefully shut myself out of the game otherwise I could easily have gone on for another 3-4 hours.
After my unsuccessful stint at cooking 'Schezuan Ginger Chilli Chicken' - a chinese dish, I went and bought myself a pizza (my fav - pepperoni on a thin crust..yummm). The chicken dish would have been cool if it was cooked in a non-stick wok as with the current preparation it just did not work out. Maybe someother time.
The rest of the weekend - I have done a lot of sleeping and reading. Somehow reading anything technical takes a lot of my energy and thus my tendency to sleep to recover my energy. And yeah - watched another episode of 'Interpid Journeys' -Myannmar with Jon Gadsby and it was interesting in a very different way. I don't know if I have said this before but Intrepid Journeys is a fascinating and a kiwi look at the world. You should definitely check out this great adventure.
Here is an interview with one of the producers of the show - will give you an idea of the spirit of the show.
Good night,
Amit
Labels: Food, TV Series
History of Violence
I am feeling really sleepy because I have had a late night and then I started off the day really early - doing script notes for the next draft. It has been a pleasently rewarding process as I sink more and more into the story. It is going to be a different and unique movie. The kiwi tendency to imitate hollywood story structure and the need for over dramatic story plot points still surprises me. It is amusing to hear people's standard reactions to the story.
I watched '
A History of Violence' and it is an awesome movie. David Cronenberg has created a small masterpiece, which touches on the culture of violence. The movie is slow paced and lulls you into a sense of security before jollting you out with its concentrated amounts of violence. The performances from all the lead players is fantastic and the movie really does leave a mark on you. It is a must watch. Oh yeah...the movie tickets at Hoyts are 8.50 till 29th March - to counter the dip in audiences because of the commonwealth games. I will probably catch another movie tonight.
Watched another couple of episodes of 'Intrepid Journeys' - this time covering Cambodia with Kerre Woodham and Egypt with Marcus Lush. Both of them were really entertaining but the one with Kerre Woodham is definitely the more personal and moving one.
Off to do some more reading and watching.
Amit
Labels: Movies, TV Series
SD card and other things
I got a 32MB card from Parallel Imported..when i bought the camera, it did not have the 16MB SD card it was supposed to have. It so happens that some countries do not give the card with the package and the one i bought did not. So i was obviously a little agitated and talked to them on how selling a digital camera without a card is like selling a car without a steering wheel. The analogy seemed to make some sense to the store manager who gave me a 32 MB card since they could not find a 16MB card. It won't carry many pics but it is good for capturing small silly stuff - in low resolution.
Anyway - i was so excited that the first thing I took the photo of was completely random. Have a look:
Amit..
Labels: Random
Hmmmmm
I got some music samples from the music composer from Spencer and they are awesome...the movie has just come alive in my head. I have been listening to them for 2 hours straight and can't get enough of it.
I tried dumplings and they are nowhere close to momos in their taste - the only thing which is similar is their shape and look - nothing else matches. Momos have a really unique taste, which is hard to describe.
Amit
Labels: Music, Nowhere to Love
Tuesday??
Hmmm..i vaguely remember saying that I will update the blog on Monday about whats happening with 'Nowhere to Love'. The biggest thing is that we now have
egal representation, which solves our paperwork/legal headaches. The rest I am not a liberty to disclose yet - will do when the time is right.
I bought myself a new digital camera- a
Panasonic FZ5 but haven't got the chance to use it yet as the shop I bought it from forgot to put in my SD card into the package. I will get it off them tomorrow. I also bought a 1GB SD card from trademe as the provided 16MB card won't be able to save more than 5 hi-resolution pics. I feel like a 5 year old with a new toy, except that I don't know how to use it right now. That last sentence brought back memories of me as a kid submerging a brand new digital watch into a bucket of water, to check if it was really waterproof as the package advertised (it wasn't - the watch stopped working)..heeheee.... i won't do anything that stupid with the camera.
Good night,
Amit
{
correction - thanks for pointing it out Lucas - it is not eagl...i meant legal ...still the carnivorous bird though :-) }
Labels: Nowhere to Love, Random
Sleepy Sunday
I have been a bad boy today..I was supposed to reply to my huge backload of emails but what do I do: I sleep - for most of the day. I have think I will start answering the mails straight away and maybe I will cover some ground.
I have uploaded some more photos from the trip to India- this time specifically the short trip through to Amaravati and Guntur. Amaravati is considered a holy place and four days after we went there - there was this massive buddhist event happening there:
Kalchakra, so the security was no doubt really heavy and there were a lot of buddhist monks roaming around. After Amaravati - I somehow managed to convince everyone to do a brief stopover at Loyola Public School in Naalapadu (a township near Guntur}, since I wanted to check out the school which had a huge impact on my personality. So
here are some pics from that day.
I found a place where they cook some nice won-tons which have meat filling in them.. The reason I liked those are because they tasted like Momos - one of my favorite dishes. Momos are a north east indian delicacy and here they are called Dumplings (I think) at the chinese restaurents. I should check out one of those soon and then make a comparision between them.
Off to answer some mails now.
Amit
Labels: Food, Holiday, India
Exorcism
Time loss again!!! It is saturday already. Busy days. School has been extremely busy. I was so tired yesterday that I fell asleep while reading 'Nemesis' - a novel by Issac Asimov. I have a lot of reading to do over the next few weeks and I am looking forward to it, especially since those books deal with directing actors, which is always a tricky business.
I am dreading to go and watch 'Memories' at Rialto incase I am the only one sitting in the theatre. It is stupid I know but I can't help myself in this matter. Just praying that people do turn up to see the movie.
I had a last game of badminton with Lance, Becks and Dean this evening, since Lance is going to UK for a few months to work on a couple of docos. It was a tough evening for me because I had hurt my hip bone yesterday at the gym. It wasn't anything serious - I simply ignored the 'WET FLOOR' sign while taking a shower at the gym and found that it was really a wet floor as it slipped from under me. (:-) So understandably I wasn't as agile during the badminton game but it was still good exercise.
I cooked some Cajun Meatballs today and my flatmates were drooling over the aroma. Yumm...it tasted good. I also watched '
Exorcism of Emily Rose' on DVD and it was an interesting movie. The end seemed tame and kind of anti-climatic as compared to the first 2/3 rds of the movie. Anyway I think I am babbling now...there is exciting things happening with 'Nowhere to Love' and I will update on whats happening on Monday.
Bye for now,
Amit
Labels: Badminton, Books, Memories of Tomorrow, Nowhere to Love
Memories
I got a pleasent surprise when the awards that we won at Microcinema Film Festival turned up in mail - properly framed and all, so it was a real surprise. Speaking of which 'Memories' opens for a small 2 week limited theatrical run at Rialto from tomorrow. Let's hope that a few people show up over that timeframe.
I also gave a verbal submission today evening to the North Shore City Council in support of them buying Victoria Theatre and giving it to the
trust to run it. It is a heritage monument, situated in Devonport. It would be sad if the council makes the stupid decision of not buying it - which would mean that it will be sold off and made into apartment blocks. I hope that the people on the council will have the vision to see beyond money and petty politics.
Amit
Labels: Memories of Tomorrow
Intrepid Journey
The time passed so quickly over the past 3 days that I might breifly touch on a couple of things which happened over the period.
Saturday and Sunday have been days of going to random parties - saturday evening went to a house warming party of one of flatmate's colleague. I still find it disconcerting walking into a room full of complete strangers and trying to strike a conversation. Those of who know me - know that I am not a party person at all, even though I see the point that it is a good way to catch up with old friends and make new friends. I somehow feel like a fish out of water. So the weekend was bizarre in that way. Most of the sunday was domestic stuff - washing clothes, ironing them (yeah i seem to be doing it often now), cooking, cleaning room, sleeping but later in the evening - I caught up with Lance over a pot of Mussells and a belgian beer at the Belgian Beer Cafe. After that we went to a farewell party of one of Lance's friends at some Jazz bar on High Street.The music was cool and so was the ambience but I was still a fish out of water.
Monday has been busy at school, then a major pre-production meeting with Rich about 'Nowhere' and auditions for the role of 'Roger' later in the evening. By the time I got home yesterday night I was shattered beyond belief and I slipped into deep sleep straight away. The pre-prod meeting was fantastic though - we broke new ground and the momentum is now building up nicely. Richard's magic is at play and Coromandel council seems to be responding and I will be going down there again - this time with Richard to do the finer location reccees and also possibly meet the council people.
I have been catching up with some episodes of '
Intrepid Journeys' on DVD {which I missed the first time around on TV}. It is without doubt one of my favorite adventure travel shows. The ones I watched recently were 'Borneo with Tim Shadbolt'; 'Vietnam with Robyn Malcolm' and 'Syria/Jordan with Danielle McCormack'. The one i enjoyed the most was the journey through Borneo - mainly because of Tim Shadbolt, who is a wonderful person. The one that was most entertaining was the journey through Vietnam with Robyn Malcolm. You should catch it on DVD if you missed the series on TV earlier. I think they have commissioned more series of the programme, which I am eagerly looking forward to watching.
I just got back from playing an hour and half of badminton with Lance. It feels refreshing playing after a long time. Becks and Dean had to cancel at the last moment, so Lance and me played singles all the way through - I didn't know that I could last that long since I haven't exercised for a while. It was real fun.
Off to bed as my eyelids keep closing on their own.
Amit
Labels: Badminton, Food, Nowhere to Love, Party, TV Series
Weeks Fly
It is the end of another week and there is a chill in the air - looks like the glorious summer has come to an end. I can't believe how quickly the week flew away. The positive development on the movie front that I was talking about in the last post - well, we now have a new producer on board the movie and it is awesome because I get to spend more time on doing the directorial stuff right now and there is someone to shoulder the workload and keep the project on track. I will be updating the 'Nowhere to Love' website sometime soon.
I watched '
Hostel' yesterday night and it was an interesting movie. It is marketed as a horror movie but to me it really wasn't. It takes a good chunk of the running time to get started and the first half of the movie feels like an american road trip movie with it's fixation for drugs, drinks and sex while the second half of the movie feels like a thriller with a couple of really intense graphic violence scenes which really make you squirm in your seat. There has been way too much hype about the movie and I think it doesn't fulfill the expectations that it promises. It is a decent movie with some chilling moments but nowhere as scary as the promos make it out to be. The movie was made for US$ 5 million and marketing budget for it was US$ 18 million - why don't the numbers make sense to me? It has earned back a total of US$ 50 million, so that is a nice profit I would say.
School is as hectic and time consuming as ever and things will only intensify over the next couple of weeks. I need to finish cleaning up the rest of my room. My flatmate's girlfriend has temporarily gone home for 3-4 months and there is quite in the house - which I am really happy about (i.e the quite in the house).
I am off to start a lovely saturday morning and will write later (if there is anything to update).
Amit
Labels: Movies, Nowhere to Love
Private Parts
There is a lovely article which I came across Chud.com and I thought I would mention it here since I think it is a really relevant article and kind of reflects some of my thinking on how a major motion picture studio let a movie like 'V for Vendetta' be made. You can read the article
HERE. I watched an old movie called '
Private Parts' yesterday night and it was funny. It is an enjoyable watch incase you run across it at your video store.
I have finished watching the audition tapes - not once but three times and I am just juggling the choices in my head before I make the short list for the second round. Have more auditions lined up but this time for the role of 'Roger'- which should be interesting. There has been another major development with the movie (a positive one for once) but will mention it once things are clear and sorted out.
Good night,
Amit
Labels: Graphic Novels, Nowhere to Love
