Musings of an Idiot

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Holiday Work

The year seems to flying past faster than I give it credit for. The business presentation went really well and I am pretty happy with how it shaped out in the end. The next major thing I can remember after that is the shoot for Tessa. Tessa wanted to make a video for her Phd presentation and that involved me sitting behind a red screen and then do a narration afterwards. Angelique and Xien helped out with that and it was good fun. Here is an image from that shoot (courtesy: Angelique)

Silhouette mine

One of the fun processes for making a shoot happen on 'Moments' is the borrowing of cameras and radio mics and I've been lucky that I've had supportive friends. I had to go and pick up one of the cameras from Simon but ended up having a few drinks at Dan's party, which is where Simon had lodged himself and it turned out to be just what I needed to relax a little so I could plan the shoot for 'Moments' between Tarun, Lorraine & Matt on sunday.

Mike Lowe & me having a chat while Simon poses

Enjoying the afternoon sun and a conversation

The sunday shoot turned out to be lots of fun even though it was an improvisational scene. Tarun was funny as hell and there were a few points where I couldn't control my laughter even though I was behind the camera. Alan George - a guy I met on the shoot of 'Rhodes 2' did the second camera and I am yet to digitize the footage but know from the shoot that we have enough material for me to edit a nice scene together.

Straight after the shoot was a drive to Lance's parents place for a christmas dinner with them and Tania & Andrew and Lance & Tai & her mom. It was an amazing evening with lots of great food and great conversations and laughs. Here are some pics from the evening.

Gorgeous Sunday afternoon

Tania, Andrew & Lance

Tai's mum, Tai & Tina

Chris looking through binoculars

Through the looking glass

Chris cooking some sausages

After the feast

Clouds rising

Andrew, Tania, Tina & Chris while sharing puzzles and stories

Tai's mum, Tai & Lance

Tai & me - she is not that tall - she is standing on a couch. :-)

Watched 3 movies recently - 'Avatar'; 'Observe & Report' & 'The Wackness' - Avatar was an amazing 3-D experience but the story was pretty average and predictable. It's a good watch in 3-D is all I can say. 'Observe & Report' was pure genius and so was Ben Kingsley in 'The Wackness'. Next up is 'Sherlock Holmes' when it releases later this week.

I finally did a fitness test after 2 weeks of recovery from my left shoulder injury and it was a mixed one but tending towards positive for most of the part. My weight is 65 KG's but my body fat %age has gone down to 15% {from 16.5%} which means I have gained more muscle mass. The downside of the test was my VO2 max levels - which have gone down to 48 {from 49.8} and I guess I need to jump straight back into getting my cardio levels up again after this extended break.

That's me for now.

Till later,

Amit

Labels: Fitness, Movies, Party, The Moments In Between

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Weekend in photos

The weekend has been long and fantastic so I'll try and let the photos do all the talking for the most part. And to get things started here are a few arty pics I took over the weekend time frame with the theme being 'RED'

FRIDAY NIGHT:
Lippizanears play Jazz Music @ Wine Cellar Backroom. Underground music scene with the musicians improvising the pieces in front of a live audience. Fantastic music and a very unique experience. Also got to catch up with Tahi {one of the actors from 'FIVE'} as well as Andrew {one of the composers on 'FIVE'}.

To the Wine Cellar

Improvised music gig

Symphony of sound captivating the audience

SATURDAY MORNING:
I had to cancel this weekend's shoot and the workshop because of continuity issues with the talent. It looks like the next window of opportunity to shoot that scene will be somewhere late in December and if not in February. Canceled shoot meant I could attend the Grey Lynn Festival. Awesome food stalls and I tried atleast 6 different kinds of cuisines. I wanted to try more but my tummy was full. Some awesome drum pieces from different bands and some unique stalls where you could pick up some cool stuff. It wasn't cheap though and I managed to pick up 2 very small items that I needed for my room for $2 each.

Kids gravitating towards the drums

An artist making a sculpture

Hungarian Candy

People just chilling

Food stalls

A drumming band captivate the audience

Knights and kids

Group drumming

People checking out the stalls

Walking

Hula Hoops

Craft stalls

The main stage and the people

SATURDAY EVENING:
Boxing class as usual which also turned out to be one of the toughest classes in a long time. After the boxing class - the core bunch of us who have been doing it for a while went out for some drinks on Sale St. Cool venue - expensive but a good vibe and the food was awesome. Ended up coming home around 12.00 at night.

Steven, Kit and Kelly

Dennis waiting for the food to come through

Kit obviously telling something exciting to Kelly

People on the dance floor

Kelly, Sara and their friend {I can't remember his name} enjoying the amped up music

Me sharing a laugh

Dark and mysterious

Walking towards the car

SUNDAY MORNING:
The first order of the day was a catch up meeting with Kathryn - who is one of the country's top script writers and was also my colleague when we were teaching at South Seas. We hadn't caught up properly in almost a year and a bit, so it was a breakfast at The Fridge in Kingsland. The Chicken n' mushroom pie at that place is amazing. Very divine and one of the best pies I've ever had. Also bumped into Richard - one of the producers on 'Nowhere to Love' - the project that I was doing that got shelved in 2006. It was brief since he was rushing off somewhere but we intend on catching up sometime soon.

Quite morning in Kingsland

The Fridge

Sunday afternoon went into grocery shopping and doing some cooking. And earlier this evening I went and had drinks at The Malt, as Dave de Lautour - one of my friends {who was in the same acting class for a while} had come visiting Auckland briefly and was returning to LA tomorrow. It was a good catch up as I got to catch up with other friends from the acting class as well as from the film school.

All in all a fantastic weekend.

Time to catch up my beauty sleep as a 6 day week beckons.
Later,
Amit

Labels: Auckland, Music, New Zealand, Party

Friday, February 06, 2009

Man Wired

It's been a week since I last wrote and it feels like it's been a month already or something. Lots has transpired between then and now. First up was the house warming party which was great as Nic {the male part of the new couple in the flat} had a couple of bands come and play live music for us since he played in both those bands and it turned out to be a chill party. It got messy towards the end though as people do stupid things like throw blueberry cakes at each other - which we had to clean up the next morning anyway. I was the last one to go to bed at the party at about 4.30 AM in the morning when the last people left. Thankfully no one threw up in the house and no one created a nuisance either and it was good catching up with some old friends and meeting new people. The next morning was hard work cleaning up the mess but luckily Lydia - my other flatmate chipped in and we got through most of the cleaning in a couple of hours.

The band playing at our house warming party in our lounge

Trumpet player

People enjoying the music

Dancing on the floor

Magic

Dance floor converted into a table tennis room

People mingling and chilling

Acting classes are coming to an end - another 6 weeks and we are finished with them. It will be a strange feeling but it is good that they will come to an end - which would free up some time for me to pursue my film projects. Alex Samuel - a film school friend, has come on board as producer for the couple of projects that I am developing and we will be going to Mumbai, India in October for a business trip. I've gotten my leave approved from work and booked my flights straight away as there were some good deals going and my current tickets are approximately half the price of the tickets I paid for on the last trip. I am excited about the whole thing and the script reworking starts in earnest from next week.

Benji and me finished shooting the rest of the music video and it was a good experience as we went up the Sky Tower - which is the highest building in Auckland and shot a time lapse and also some other cool stuff. I have a good feeling about this music video. Benji finishes the rough cut next week and will take it further from there based on what's needed. Here are some of the pics of Auckland I took while I was up there on Sky Tower.

Auckland Downtown

City of Sails

Crossroads

Benji getting some shots

Louis Vuitton Cup overlooking Auckland

Rangitoto [adormant volcano] in the distance and you can see ferries going across to Devonport

Through the viewing glass

CBD Apartments

More apartments

A man enjoying the sunset

Illusions & Reality

Auckland CBD at night

Auckland by night

Benji after an exhausting shoot

Me - happy after the shoot

I've now tried 2 gyms and I have decided on the one I like and my fitness regime kind of starts later this month. Time to get fit and improve my stamina as well as get my aerobic capacity up. Lance and me found a few new tennis courts which are astro-turf and playing on them is awesome. We've had a few games and will probably have more I've sold off my Nintendo Wii and paid off my credit card bill that was overdue because of all the extra shopping that I did in India. I watched 2 movies in the meantime - 'Man on Wire' & 'Valkyrie'. 'MoW' was an awesome doco and really pulls you into it's dream and it enforces the power of dreaming the impossible and then going about achieving it. 'Valkyrie' was a good thriller and surprisingly well made and well acted but it misses a couple of emotional beats because it doesn't explore some key motivations and philosophy. I is still an important historical document of sorts. Well worth a watch.

Louis Vuitton Cup is taking place in Auckland and I walked down to the viaduct to catch up with Lance's family who were enjoying the afternoon there. It was a fun way to end what has been a hectic week and I am tired and glad to have a couple of days off now.