The Dark Knight soundtrack is fantastic and the only way to describe it would be that it is consistently surprising and moving. The best way to listen to it is on a good set of headphones where you can hear all the tiny instruments that can cause chills down your spine or send your mind soaring. Needless to say the score is epic. You can listen to the soundtrack online for free HERE but since these are low-quality mp3's you can't really get a feel for the clarity and delicateness of the instruments used in the individual pieces.
I tried Astanga yoga yesterday evening for the first time and needless to say it was exhausting, challenging but good. I don't think I have sweat that much in that short amount of time in recent times. And it was good that I lasted the entire session, so i'll definitely go back again.
I finished transcribing the dialog list for FIVE on Sunday and it was a satisfying feeling. I mailed it off to the finnish distributor, so that they can now translate it into finnish subtitles. I also adopted a couple of Orangutans - which basically means that I have paid for upkeep of 2 of our closest primate relatives being taken care for by The Australian Orangutan Project. We share 97% of our genetic make up with these gentle creatures and yet we have driven them to extinction. The thing is that individuals can make a difference - even a small step taken by you can add up to big things in the bigger scheme of things. A lot of times it is our complacency and inaction that can make things worse. So yeah instead of debating too much about it, I went ahead and supported a cause.
I am still half deaf and my ears are still ringing after the awesome outing yesterday night and it was so much fun. I went to the gig with Sara (Lance's girlfriend) and Angela (my TVNZ colleague) and we first met up for dinner at Sri Pinang - the awesome malaysian eating joint on K'Road. The food was great as always but it did take a little while longer to come out this time around. I think the reason for the delay was the 2 tables right beside ours which had american tourists and an american film crew respectively, who ordered huge amounts of food. The wait was agonizing but it was worth the wait as the food was so yummy when it finally arrived. After the scrumptious meal, we walked to King's Arms where the gig was being held. I was worried that we would miss start of the gig as we got there around 8.45PM but as it turned out we were early and the cover band wasn't due to play till 9.15PM.
I had never heard of the cover band before. They were called Glass Candy and their music was great - it was a mixture of a lot of beats, synths, vocals and more. It definitely gets your body moving. It was a double bonus to be told by the singer that it was their first gig overseas and that they had gotten their passports only 4 days prior to this gig. The place that we were standing was right next to a massive speaker and you could feel the beats move your body without any voluntary effort from your end. It was great though as it was right up near the stage and you could see what was happening on the stage. To read what they are all about you can check out this article.
The three of us standing right next to the speakers
Glass Candy
The madness
By the time Glass Candy ended their play it was sweltering hot inside the pub and we had to walk out into the garden for a bit to get some fresh air. It took about half an hour for the technical crew to setup the equipment for the main gig but I was back in again within 5 minutes as the pub was filling up fast for the main gig. And when CSS came out the pub was packed to the brim. The band was missing one of their players but he joined the stage towards the end. The band blew the roof off the pub- not literally, but in the way they belted out their numbers. It had the whole dance floor shaking and moving. Angela decided to go to the back of the pub where there weren't as many people while Sara was in the front for the first couple of songs and then moved to the back of the dance floor while I stuck it out in the front.
Lovefoxxx taking the stage
CSS
Girl Power - Adriano is missing in action
Luiza reaches out for the audience
Lovefoxxx belting out another track
The dance floor
By the end of the night, everyone was wanting more from the band and I reckon that it is always a good sign when the audience had a good time and still want more. The gig was worth it - 2 international bands playing in a nice cozy club in Auckland - what more can you ask for. And it was probably the most physical exercise I had ever done in a couple of months time. So I guess I don't mind the ringing in my ears for the next couple of days.
3 of us at the end of the gig - you can see my sweat drenched t-shirt
I am super excited as I managed to get my paws on the tickets to the CSS gig happening at King's Arms next week. When I gave the ticketing company a ring this morning I found that the Wednesday tickets had sold out and Tuesday ones were selling out fast, so I am pretty happy that I managed to get the tuesday ones as that's the one I had originally planned to attend.
In other exciting news, I will be making a music video for an indie experimental band called Sora Shima. They are based in Hamilton and are doing some lovely stuff. I loved one of their tracks so much that I got talking to Jason, one of the band members and I put the idea forward about having a crack at making a music video. They agreed to let me have a go at making a video for 'Hovercraft' - a 1.15 minute track. It will be a couple of months before the music video is ready as I am trying to put some really visual impact into the 1.15 minutes. I think it will be a good one if the idea get translated successfully from page to screen. I can't wait to get cracking on this one.
I am off to South Island for 5 days to attend a friend's marriage and will be back Monday - so I guess that will be a long update about the trip but till then will leave you with a link to buying soundtrack of FIVE on iTunes. Click on the button to be redirected to it:
Well - it is leap year and it would be a shame not to post today. I was looking at any myths and traditions attached to a leap year and the only one I could find was that women can propose marriage to a guy in a leap year. Another interesting article to read is here.
Another piece of random info I found is that the band CSS is playing a couple of gigs in Auckland in March. I might go to it - time and money permitting.
Also a big shout out to Ilke Gers - who designed the poster and the DVD slick for FIVE. She launched her website and you can check out more of her work there.
So what do I write about? Movies? My movies? Books? Well - I guess the big thing for me is that FIVE soundtrack is complete and it has been mailed off to the company in US. It will only be available as a download instead of as a traditional CD as that reduces headache for me by not having to keep constant track of orders and mailing the orders, especially considering that Unkreative Artists is not a record label. It also keeps the costs down. I am pleased with the overall soundtrack as the compilation is rounded off nicely by trimming down on the dead spaces and ambient undertones, so what you get is 36 minutes of eventful music. Big thumbs up to the composers - Spencer Powell, Jamie Newman and Andrew McMillan as well to Benji for compiling the soundtrack beautifully.
I mailed off the DVDs of FIVE to 2 different outlets, so I can make it available for DVD quality download for PC as well as for portable devices like ipod and PSP; along with normal DVD sales. So more status update on that once those things go live. But before I stop on this topic - here is a thought for consideration 'Grace is Gone' - an independent movie starring John Cusack was picked up by Weinstein company for $4 million (that's $ 4,000,000) and to date it has earned back $37,000 in ticket sales. It will probably make that money back through cable TV sales and DVD release but it still highlights the plight of independent cinema and if you don't have a name on board the movie then you can but just hope. There are examples where smaller movies have made it huge but those you can count on your fingertips.
I watched 'Charlie Wilson's War' and it was an OK movie - the acting is brilliant but somehow the truncated runtime on this one seems to have done more harm than good. Tom Hanks is brilliant and so is Philip Seymour Hoffman. The last 20 odd minutes of the movie kind of spoil the real nice build up. It is a good watch neverthless. It was weird seeing the movie because in the book 'Ghost Wars' that I read recently Charlie Wilson was in the book for 4 pages out of the 600 page book.
I am loving the tennis lessons - I think for me the best part of learning a new game is trying to master a skill which you never thought you had. I reckon serving is the hardest bit in tennis (even though it only accounts for 4-5% of the game time) - it takes a lot of skill and precision to get the ball in correctly. Forehands are fun and probably constitute about 80% of the game.
Anyway I will probably go off on a different tangent, so will stop for now.
Oh forgot to share one of the songs that is my favorite nowadays - I am head in heels in love with the first minute of the song - it is amazing what voice and minimal instruments can do. It is called 'Straight Line' by Silverchair. [To check out hi-rez video check their website under the Multimedia Section]
There was this song which was plays in the background of the new YahooXtra advertisement and I just couldn't get it out of my head - it was enchanting to say the least. A little search and I found the song. It is called 'Fidelity' by Regina Spektor.
For a better quality video you can visit the official website and check it out there.
'Memories of Tomorrow' is the movie of the week at www.film.com this week and you can view it for free between 30th Jan'2007 and 5th Feb'2007. So if you do want to watch it you can check it out HERE.
(Currently listening to Julie Delpy sing 'Je t'aime tant' from the OST of 'Before Sunset'. The beauty of listening to a song in a foreign language is that you don't know what is being said, so you are guided in your emotions entirely by the tone and spirit in the singer's voice.)
My favorite artist for the moment is Jose Gonzalez and his music is enchanting. Currently listening to Veneer - his debut album and it is enchanting. Different sound and different melody. There are lots of awesome tracks on the album but my favorites for now are 'Lovestain' and 'Heartbeats'. You can listen to the music samples HERE.
It has been a couple of extremely busy days at school with planning and crewing for term-4 in progress. It really drains you out so completely that it is hard to stay awake later than 9.00 PM (or in some cases having an evening nap and then falling asleep by 10.00 PM).
I finished reading a feature script by one of my friends - it was a page turner and an absolute gem of a script to read - funny, gentle and felt complete. Now I have started reading the book 'Two Hands of God' by Alan Watts and it is proving to be a much easier read than I thought (plus it is interesting as well).
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.
