Musings of an Idiot

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

posted by Amit @ 11:20 PM 0 Comments

Long long day

Feeling a tiny bit tired after the long 17 hour day yesterday and it is going to be another long one today. Yesterday - we had the TVNZ Regatta straight after work and it was fun. There were a couple of moments where you actually had to work but overall I did feel a bit useless as all you do is sit on one part of the boat to balance it out. The good thing was we had a relaxed and experienced skipper and first mate and fun team mates, so it was well worth the experience.












Straight after the race - I raced off to watch my good friend and acting classmate- Claire's play 'Dead Meat' which she wrote and directed and it was great. I also got to meet a lot of new people within the acting community. It was put up as part of Smack Bang Theatre which is supporting new and innovative New Zealand theatre and writers. And after the play went to a farewell drinks party for Dave - another acting friend and ex-classmate. And again it was a pleasant surprise catching up with a lot of people including old film school classmates.

So all in all it was a really long day and today is going to be no different - not as much with social commitments but with work.

Till later,
Amit

Labels: New Zealand, Party, Random, Theatre

posted by Amit @ 7:44 AM 0 Comments

Weekend in Pics

Yeah - it has been a busy week and I can't actually be bothered with writing an update right now.

Till later,
Amit

Labels: New Zealand, Party

posted by Amit @ 11:49 PM 0 Comments

300

I finally visited a dentist after 15 years this Monday and it was a pleasant experience for a change. My last experience was a bit of a nightmare - which put me off dentists for a while. The dentist I visited was easy going and constantly communicated what he was doing which made the whole process easy plus he was also very gentle while cleaning the teeth. I would happily recommend him to anyone who is afraid of visiting a dentist.

Wednesday evening was farewell drinks with the gumtree gang as Mark and Ellen were returning to Germany. It was great catching up with everyone since I had cut down on my socializing a lot since work on 'Five' started. It was also a bit sad seeing friends part ways but I guess that is life.








Watched '300' last night and it was an entertaining watch. Technically brilliant but what let's it down is the adherence to the graphic novel to the word. The voice-over kills any cinematic moments and emotional build ups as things are dictated to you. Overall it was still a really good watch but it didn't leave me the satisfying feeling at the end.

It is a national shutdown again with a very long holiday weekend but I am working right through it - which isn't bad as I am taking the weekend off the next weekend, when the rest of Auckland will be back in Auckland :-)

Also here is the opening scene from 'Five' - it is work in progress (sound;color correction;tiles) but atleast it will give you a feel for the movie.



Anyway - time to go to work.
Till later,
Amit

Labels: Five, Party, Random

posted by Amit @ 2:15 PM 2 Comments

Induced Insomnia

Some people just can't sleep. And I am not one of them. I sleep like a baby 95% of the time and it takes a fair bit of noise for anything to wake me up, which can be testified by my numerous friends and family members who have tried waking me up when I am in deep sleep. Special mention to the time in Delhi when I fell asleep in the afternoon while mom went out shopping. I woke up to loud banging on the door and opened to see mom all flustered. I didn't understand the big deal but it turned out that the entire neighboring apartment flats were helping mom in pounding the door for close to 30-45 minutes before I opened the door - I barely heard the noise. In retrospect - i actually find it really amusing that I can sleep like that.

So what am I doing typing this blog at 4.15 in the morning? INDUCED INSOMNIA - involuntary too.... Now I can't go back to sleep, so thought I might as well update the blog and start working on 'Five'.

Friday night was fun - first went to a farewell party for Kirstin and Karen (& Jerome) - who will be leaving New Zealand soon. After that caught up with Anita, Marjan and Andy for a different kind of workshop for 'Five'. Extremely productive and it served the purpose I was intending it to. Here are some photos from there:


On saturday the one thing which really shook me up was seeing a cat run over by a car. It happened like this - I took a turn to get onto a main road and slowed down immediately as I saw a cat make a run for it to get across to the other side. It was running pretty fast but the first car coming from the opposite direction hit it and I saw bits and parts shatter. I didn't look in detail because I was afraid on what I would see but at that moment it really sunk in as to how temporal all living creatures really are. We live a fragile life in a fragile world and it doesn't take much to shatter that fragility.

Have a look at this news article: Sailor 'shocked' by killing of Iraqi and also this one "Prominent Russian reporter shot to death"- is it so hard to value human life? Talking of which - you must have the spate of school shootouts in the US. Well, guess what Bush says Govt will work to secure schools. So what are they going to do now - post military personnel in the schools? I think someone needs to revisit the documentary 'Bowling for Columbine' - as a society people have such a short attention span.

Till later,
Amit

[P.S - The soundtrack for 'Pulp Fiction' isn't bad at all. Also check out a music video from a NZ music group called Minuit - they are definitely one of my favorite NZ music groups - Ruth has an enticing and different voice. I used one of their tracks in 'Memories of Tomorrow' - with permission ofcourse.]

Labels: Acting, Five, Introspection, Memories of Tomorrow, Party

posted by Amit @ 3:54 AM 0 Comments

Crazy friday

It was been a wild friday evening/night. There was a free advanced preview screening of 'Borat' and a few of us friends decided that we would like to catch it before it's general release which is a good 2 months away. And the whole evening turned out to be heaps of fun.

First caught up with Barbara, Julia, Ian and Kirstin over a dinner and then moved onto getting into the line to get the free tickets. Jim was one of the first ones there and he was top of the line while we decided to be fair and joined the queue at the back. Andrea and Karen and Jerome joined us there. So after a good 1 hour wait in the line, we got our free passes and watched the movie.

How was the movie????

Well let me put it this way - by the end of the movie my jaw and stomach were hurting from laughing. The movie is pure genius - it is simple in its storyline but complex in its intentions and is a whole heaps of unadulterated fun - nothing is sacred in this movie. The screening was a huge success because the whole crowd was laughing constantly through out the movie and it was a full house. You've got to watch the movie when it comes out.

After the movie - we went to a club to see a drag show....the drag show itself turned out to be boring but the experience was great. I think my head is still hurting a bit from all the pounding music in the club. I think the fever I had yesterday is almost gone.

Anyway, will leave you with a couple of photos from last sunday.


Till later,
Amit

Labels: Movies, Party

posted by Amit @ 9:25 AM 0 Comments

Nacho Libre

Finally the end of the term - I am supposed to be at the end of the term party right now but somehow I can't get myself to go there. Really bad of me but I can't help it. Parties and me have never gelled together - I avoid most of them until it is absolutely necessary and critical. My car is now in nice working order - I got the stereo fixed and had my old stereo replaced with a stereo that my old flatmate, Greg, donated to me when he got himself a new car stereo. It feels so good to finally have music in the car (after 3 years). So I am definitely a happy chappy at the moment.

I did watch 'Nacho Libre' though and it was a movie I can't seem to form a strong opinion about - it has some good bits and has some average bits. It definitely doesn't leave as strong an impression as 'Napolean Dynamite' - directed by the same director. It feels episodic and somehow doesn't really gel together nicely.

As a sign-off note - we have secured permission to shoot at the location we want for 'Five' and it is an exciting development. I also had a couple of meetings to try sort out an insurance cover for the shoot and also had a meeting at Val Morgan to explore possibilites of advertising in the cinemas to build up to the Theatrical/DVD release. I have sketched some concept teaser posters for the characters in 'Five' and hopefully will be designing some within the next couple of weeks.

Thats me for now.
Till later,
Amit

Labels: Five, Movies, Party, Pre-production, Publicity

posted by Amit @ 8:09 PM 0 Comments

Global Frequency

There was this failed TV pilot titled 'Global Frequency', which Warner Bros. decided not to convert into a TV series and somehow the pilot was leaked onto the internet and it spread rapidly using the P2P network. And because of that the pilot gained more audience and popularity but Warner Bros. still want to dissuade it from being spread around as they own the show. Technically speaking they are absolutely right that they own the copyright, so it would be copyright infringement if anyone downloads it but the thing which makes me think they are not really thinking is that it is a 'FAILED' TV pilot, which they have already written off and if it then becomes popular they have everything to gain from it - even from releasing a DVD version of the pilot just as FOX did with releasing the DVD set of 'Firefly' - which they had cancelled after the 1st season {and the DVD set went onto build such a huge audience base that they later made it into a movie}. Check out the article by WIRED NEWS which lets you get a good idea of what the issue is.

Personally I think Warners did the right thing by passing on the pilot because it has some terrible dialogue and passable acting. The SFX were well achieved and the show loked slick and beautifully shot but just terrible dialogue and too much exposition in the pilot kills any interest or possible excitement to see a whole TV series based on it. I can't see what the fuss is about.

I don't know if I mentioned this before but 'Memories' is getting a DVD release in Australia on 10th July. It is definitely exciting news as that means that it gets one more screening outlet - you don't want to make a movie which no one will ever see. So till now it has been released in NZ, US/Canada, Italy, Thailand and now Australia (not counting the pirated versions on chinese websites available through any P2P network) - not bad for a 'no budget' first feature with everything been done on a 'learn as you go' basis. The DVD cover for Australian DVD is based on the US DVD and I am not particularly a fan of the american DVD cover - I much prefer the NZ DVD cover. Thankfully the DVD itself is the NZ version - which has way better encoding and picture quality and obviously has special features that the american DVD doesn't have - including one audio commentary by Benji and one audio commentary by Lance and me {I hate doing audio commentaries}. You can buy the Australian DVD from HERE.


I also keep forgetting to mention that there is a rat in our house and it is annoying - not because we get to meet it daily or anything but because it keeps scurrying around at night making these random noises. I think Benji tried to bait it by putting a glass of Vodka mixed with some soft drink {the plan was to get the rat drunk, so it wouldn't run around so much} but the rat apparently is a non-alcoholic animal. How do we know it is a rat? Well it bumped into Angelique's leg last weekend when we came back from rock climbing and also there is lots of rat poop in the pantry which Benji and Tim share. We did put some rat poison a month back but the rat seemed to like it and has eaten quite a lot of it - the result - more rat poop. Don't know what to do about it for now.

Went into the city with Benji so we could have a couple of drinks and get away from the house for a while but it turned out to be a really weird experience - the city was really quite - almost as if someone had evacuated most of the city and all we encountered were streetside church groups singing loud songs which just sounded like cacophony. Maybe the church groups drove away anyone wanting to enjoy a good time out in the city with their bad and loud music.


Anyway time to hit bed. My closing thoughts for the day - each day is worth living even if things don't particularly make much sense sometimes.

Till later,
Amit

Labels: Memories of Tomorrow, Party, TV Series

posted by Amit @ 11:02 PM 0 Comments

Saturday again!!!

Finally - a relaxing day (in a manner of speaking) after a hectic last week. Thursday/Friday were super-hectic at school, so today was definitely a welcome change. Benji and me had a house warming party yesterday night and it was a good get together - international students from this year popped in and a few people from our 2003 batch came in to warm the house up. It was good fun.

Today, I went out to do some more location reccees along with Benji and Richard but couldn't find anything good.


We went through Pokeno, Tuakau, Pukekohe and then couldn't think of any other places to go to after that. None of the places had the charm of Coromandel or even came close, so the thought is to stick to Coromandel.




The fifth draft for 'Nowhere' came through and it is definitely the strongest the story has ever been till now and it is exciting to see the story develop nicely. Now have to step up the pace on other departments, especially acting. There have also been some more exciting developments with regards to financing and hopefully the deal comes through.

The whirlwind of life's paradoxes are adding more riddles. Only the warmth of the gas heater in the lounge seems to be real at the moment.

Till later,
Amit

Labels: Nowhere to Love, Party, Pre-production

posted by Amit @ 11:00 PM 0 Comments

Vengeance

It has been ages since I have updated and time has flown so quick that I did find myself surprised that it took a good 4 days before I got the opportunity to update the blog. Because of the short week - the school has been really hectic and the next week is going to be a long one. The past couple of days have gone into socializing - the most socialization I have done in a long time {in such a small span of time}. Friday afternoon had a couple of drinks and played pool with students, friday evening was staff party and the whole of today was gone in a fundraising gym event {had a half an hour spin class which was fun} and a BBQ at Allie's place later on.


I went and saw 'The Omen' remake alongwith Benji {who is now my new flatmate} and it was bad - it was well made and stuff {for US$ 60 million} but the pacing of the story was off, the build-up and payoff was missing and the casting of Damien, Robert Thorne was simply wrong. What was right was the casting of Mia Farrow as Mrs. Baylock and that is about the only good thing I can think. I much prefer the book which was a real page turner.

David M. lent me his series of 'The Preacher' and it is an engrossing read combined with stunning art work. It again deals with religion and spirituality but not in a way you would expect. Bizarre, unexpected and daring are the ways to describe it - and that is after reading just the first volume of the 9 volume collection.


Managed to watch 'Sympathy for Lady Vengeance' on DVD and it was good - the visuals are stunning and the story builds up nicely towards the end. I must say the beginning of the movie is confusing with story jumps into past,present, future, fantasy and reality one after the other but once the story settles down it shapes up to be a powerfully violent movie revolving around communal revenge and personal vendetta. The ending was kind of overdrawn and gets back into the confusion which reigns at the start of the movie. But still a worthy follow up to 'Old Boy'.

It is kind of a weird way to sum up 4 days but I think I will leave it at this. I will possibly upload selected photographs from the last studio shows and parties over the next day or so.

Till later,
Amit

Labels: Graphic Novels, Movies, Party

posted by Amit @ 6:18 PM 0 Comments

V

I tried to update the blog yesterday but was really tired after a hectic first 3 days at the school and simply crashed into bed. It is the last week of the term and as always time flies away at South Seas. The studio shows are done for the term and all of us went to the pub down the road to celebrate (I had boycotted that pub since late 2004 when we had a big incident with a drunk maori guy). It was a good evening.


After that I went and saw 'V for Vendetta' (after getting a mail from David M, who wrote that he approved of it's faitfulness to the source) and it was an awesome movie. It does stay faithful to the spirit of the comic book and is incredibly powerful, especially the scene dealing with the awakening of Evey intercut with awakening of V. The movie is beautifully shot and moves at a brisk pace, even though a lot of it is not action but dialogue. I am now sure that this movie is a mistake by the studio, which did not know how to back out of such a potentially risky topic/subject and ended up putting it out so that they can make money out of it somehow.

Enjoy some random patterns that I managed to capture in-camera (I did not photoshop the images or anything, except for changing the image size to fit on the blog). It is fun experimenting with the camera and trying to do different things than just capture moments. I even gave the photos a name :-)


Things are progressing well with pre-prod for 'Nowhere to Love' and going through more meetings, auditions and basically production process as well. Time is near to start making critical choices. Anyway I better get off my bed and get ready to go to school.

Till later,
Amit

Labels: Graphic Novels, Movies, Nowhere to Love, Party

posted by Amit @ 7:24 AM 0 Comments

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

posted by Amit @ 10:51 PM 0 Comments