Time for introspection and quiet, so I can think things through in terms of where I am headed. To help me in the process I bought 3 Volumes of 'Rediscovering Intrepid Journeys' TV Series and Michael Palin's New Europe from Dymocks on Queen Street which had a closing down sale of 40% off.
Battlestar Galactica came to an end this week - finishing off it's run in a philosophical but controversial way. It was an exciting journey overall - exhilarating, unpredictable (at points predictable), engaging, flawed, challenging but entertaining all the same. It definitely marks the first time I've seen a TV series run through to it's proper end and I am glad that they did end the series even though most of the 4th season was rushed through at various points so that it could come to an end.
Here is to a successfully concluded sci-fi series which rose above it's genre to create some compelling television.
It was nice to have a couple of days doing nothing. It is good to recharge the cells every now and then. I did nothing for most of the weekend. On Saturday I caught up with Benji in the evening to finalize the changes to the music video in order to finish it by middle of next week. We walked down to the city to grab some dinner and I was annoyed at the fact that in NZ they close all the main shops by 6in the evening. Surely on the weekend it makes more business sense to have the shops open later so you can attract more business but strange are the ways of the world.
As we kept walking I was pleasantly surprised to i that they had blocked off Upper Queen Street for a free concert as part of Auckland Fringe Festival and there were food stalls and all. It was nice seeing stuff happening in the city. They need more of that happening to create a sense of fun and culture in the city. I had some Jamaican food which was tasty and now I am just sitting down to finish reading a script that Angelique {an old friend of mine} had written as part of the package to take with me to India.
I bought 'Planet Earth' - the award winning TV series and I plan on watching it sometime over the next few weeks.
I'll leave you with some pics from the fest downtown. Enjoy, Amit
Secret little hideaway for the kids
Not so secret I guess. :-)
The Jamaican food stall
Auckland City Hall on the left
Performances on stage - in the background the Imax theatre
Well - I was supposed to write an update late last week but I lost track of time and here I am with a brief update. Last friday I was invited to a wakeboarding trip by Dean and Lance and I decided to give it a go even though I have never done it before. It was a great day and the trip was awesome. It would be an understatement to say that I was a tad nervous [albeit excited] doing the whole thing since I have never really been in the ocean before but everyone on the trip was pretty supportive and helpful. I didn't get to wakeboard as I couldn't get up on the water but I did give it a good shot and hopefully in another 2-3 times of trying I might be able to do it. I am glad I did it.
Wakeboarding
Russel drives the boat as Greg looks at Dean wakeboarding
Dean wakeboarding
Dean helping me with the board
Me trying to remember all the instructions from Dean
Scary but exciting
Dean helping me putting the board on again after the first unsuccessful attempt
Giving it another go
Almost did it but not quite :-)
Floating in the ocean
Trying to get back onto the boat
'What do you mean I can't lie there for rest of the trip?'
Happy to be alive
Motuhie Island landscape
Ferry picking up tourists from Motuhie Island
Empty beach at Motuhie
Lance trippping out hanging upside down
I decide to give it a go as well
Perfect day for adventure sports
Auckland City in the horizon
The shoot for the TV commercial has been postponed till later this weekend and I am excited. Other than that my acting classes workload has increased dramatically and most of the free time is going into staying on top of that. Besides that I watched an australian TV series called Underbelly - it is a good watch even though it still has the TV feel to it. The other series I am watching is Deadwood - which is brilliant. HBO does some awesome TV programming. Watched 'Quantum of Solace' last night and it was mildly disappointing - Daniel Craig is fantastic as Bond but the rest of the movie was pretty pointless.
The political unrest in Thailand and the recent bombings in India is a little worrying but here is hoping that things sort themselves out. 10 days to go and the trip is on.
The house looks like a war zone right now with all the stuff in various states of packing for the imminent move later this week and surprisingly enough I am looking forward to the move. I hate moving because it always costs more money than you plan for and it also puts your rhythm and schedules off-track for a good 2-3 weeks. Lance found us some new flatmates - a french/thai couple (Naam & Yanik) and a kiwi girl (Lydia)- it'll be an international flat for sure.
Serena has dropped out of writing REJECTED because of time constraints and her own priorities, so I'll be doing the next draft myself (atleast for now). It is a weird feeling because our collaboration was very fruitful and creative but at the same time I guess I'll have more control of the characters and the storylines now that the structure is in place and I can see the product as a whole. Interesting process to go through nonetheless.
Entourage is back with it's fifth season and it rocks. When finances permit there are a few TV series I would like to own: Entourage; Seinfeld; Arrested Development - atleast these are the ones I would pay money to own full sets.
Well - maybe not that random. I found that my average resting heart rate is 57 bpm and my blood pressure is 105/70. Not bad I guess. My car gives me 14km/litre - which is again not bad at all considering the rising petrol prices. Time taken to finish the first draft of REJECTED has been 3 months (including the 1 month break) and we finished it 18 days before the self-imposed deadline.
Watched a couple of movies - 'In theValley of Elah' {was an OK watch - Tommy Lee Jones performance makes this predictable movie worth watching.} and 'Kung Fu Panda' {Hilarious with awesome kung fu combined with brilliant voice work by Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman combined with great animation}.
I also finished watching the first season of 'Flight of the Conchords' which is brilliant and funny. One of my favorite songs from the series is 'Mutha Uckers' and there are so many classic scenes through out the series that it is hard to have a favorite scene but still here is one really funny one.
Seven Periods with Mr. Gormsby is one of the best kiwi TV series that I have seen in a long long time. It is politically incorrect and very very funny. I am surprised that a gem of a TV series like this never got a 3rd season and worse still the second season DVD hasn't been released yet.
On the other hand I wasn't too sold on Weeds - an american TV series that has completed 3 seasons and has been commissioned for a 4th season. It is marketed as a dark comedy but the comedy element is pretty subdued. Currently I am watching 'Flight of the Conchords' which is proving to be pretty funny. Quirky funny, especially if you know what NZ culture is like.
You know that there is nothing good on at the movies when you don't even think twice before watching complete crap like 'Don't mess with the Zohan'. I flatly refuse to see 'The Happening' because I think M. Night Shyamalan pretty much lost touch with the audience when he made 'Signs' and everything he has made after that has been pretty bad in terms of story. The Dark Knight's release date has been pushed back in NZ by a week and it is pretty annoying.
One of my favorite songs nowadays is 'I Know, I know' by Tegan and Sara. You can check out the song here. I am now back upto 85% of my normal level and it feels good to be almost normal again. Serena and me made small amount of progress on REJECTED but it is already looking better as I went back and fixed some story threads to bring a cohesiveness to the story. I got stuck writing the ending of the movie and it so happened that Serena had an idea on how to bring it to a conclusion, so she is writing the ending. Overall I am thrilled beyond words with the team work that we have been able to achieve in writing this script - no conflict, no egos, just pure creative instincts, listening and responding combined with lots of fun.
Well lots of paperwork and tasks that have piled up over the past few weeks and it is time to get through them and sort them out. But first of all is paperwork, which is the task for this weekend.
Shan Bombay Biryani Mix is way better than MDH Hyderabadi Biryani mix. I cooked with Shan spices earlier this week and cooked with MDH spices today and the difference is quite a bit. Cooking with Shan spices takes longer time and also involves a lot more prep but the results are spectacular. On the other hand cooking with MDH was easy but the taste is alright - it is nothing special. So from now on it is just Shan spices - no matter how time consuming the cooking process is. The biggest time consumer is chopping onions - I was there was some easy way to have fresh chopped onions without going through so much pain and tears.
The Incredible Hulk was a fun movie and way more enjoyable than Ang Lee's version but there were some plot contrivances that were annoying and the end battle between Abomination and Hulk was anti-climatic and felt truncated. Overall the movie could easily have gone on for another 20 minutes to provide more cohesiveness but it seems Marvel has their heart set upon providing movies under 2 hours whether the story takes longer to tell or not [case in the point being Iron Man - which had similar pacing problems].
The Mist turned out to be one helluva movie - it drops you straight into the mist and the story gets going without much ado. It amps up the tension and the horror within the store to the point it becomes claustrophobic. Thomas Jane and Marcia Gay Harden's performances are spot on and just turn the stakes up a notch. The CGI is a bit suspect but not to the point where it distracts from the story. And the ending seems too calculated but still a good one if you don't analyse it too much.
I have finished watching the 10 episodes of Battlestar Galactica Season-4 and the mid-season finale was mind blowingly good. Probably one of the best episodes in a long time. Too bad that the show now goes on a hiatus for half a year before it returns with the remaining 11 episodes.
Well I think I am almost at the end of my flu sickness that plagued me for the better part of a whole week - another couple of days and I think I'll recover from that (fingers crossed). There seems to be this bug going around because a lot of people seem to be coming down with it, especially at work, so naturally I am glad that I am almost through with it. One of the best home made remedies for chest congestion (as suggested by my sis) is to drink hot milk with turmeric and black pepper added into it. Don't forget to sweeten your milk by using sugar but using Manuka honey is even better.
I have watched a few movies over the week but never had the energy to update or write anything about them. '21' [Average and the only real highlight was Kevin Spacey chewing up scenery] ; 'Dan in Real Life' [Good with some real lovely performances, especially from Steve Carell]; 'Joshua' [Awesome performance by Sam Rockwell and the kid who plays Joshua]; 'Hostel 2' [Pretty brutal to watch and sick to the core] and now I am really waiting for 'The Incredible Hulk'. In between all these movies I also finished off the second season of 30 Rock and it was awesome. It is great to see a show that keeps gaining momentum as it goes plus it is pure comic genius.
The script for REJECTED is back with me and I think I'll take it easy this week before I get onto the last stretch of the first draft. I am currently streamlining the earlier part of the script to accommodate for the many developments that have happened with the story as it progressed. It looks like the script will be about 120 pages odd at this stage as it is sitting at 98 pages right now. I still don't know how it will come to it's natural conclusion but at least I know what the end of the movie is now. The river will form it's own path I guess.
I had the most amazing fish recently - The Fishmonger opened up a branch in Birkenhead and I tried their New Orleans Blackened version as well as Mediterranean rub version. Both of them were yummy but I prefer the Mediterranean rub better. The thing I liked about it was that they are not deep fried like most of the fish and chips outlets do it, rather it is cooked on a hot plate which makes it a healthier eating option as far as a takeaway is concerned.
I have been using this free script writing software called CELTX recently and it is proving to be such a handy tool. I usually use Final Draft but recently switched to Celtx because it is free and it is available for use on portable drives. The biggest difference I found between Final Draft and Celtx is that it is much easier to write scenes in Celtx because of it's intuitive nature. The only drawback I can see at this point is it's limited support for other script writing softwares. You can read about Celtx and download it from HERE.
It has been a busy week and the next couple of weeks are equally busy,so I haven't had the chance to update anything. I pulled my calf muscle while playing tennis on tuesday evening and since then I have been taking it slow with running. The shoulder pain is a lot better and it comes and goes. This year has been terrible for me in terms of physical ailments - hamstring injury, back pain, neck pain, calf muscle injury..what next? It's like I am falling apart. :-)
The upside of things is that work on REJECTED is progressing at a good pace and we are just at the end of Act-2 of the movie, so needless to say I am pretty excited. Once the first draft is finished I will start thinking of how to get the movie into production either later this year or early next year.
I watched the entire first season of 30 Rock and it was an awesome watch.I am glad that it is coming back for a third season. It is hard to find intelligent comedy series and the only other examples I can think of is Arrested Development, Seinfeld and The Office. I've heard good things about 'Freaks and Geeks' and I plan on checking it out when I get the chance.
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.
I cooked myself some Lahori Fish and it was really really yummy. The fish I used was Orange Roughy - which is delicious in itself and it was the perfect choice for the dish. It has been ages since I have tasted proper fish kebabs andthe instant batter that I used to cook the fish was so good that my mouth is still watering thinking about the dish. Next on my 'to try' list is Tikiya Kebab. I have the batter mix packet - just have to try it out sometime this week. Yummmmmm......
I finished reading 'Marvels' and 'Kingdom Come' illustrated by Alex Ross and they were both alright. The artwork in both the books is stunning but the story on the other hand has similar themes in both the comics - even though they belong to different comic book universes. Both of them were critically acclaimed graphic novels when they were released but I don't think they hold up today as the stories didn't really tell anything unique.
I also finished watching season-9 of Seinfeld as I had never ever seen it and I still think it is one of the best TV shows ever. It is still as irrelevant and as funny as it was when it first screened. Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David are comic geniuses unlike any others.
I saw 2 movies today 'Cashback' and 'Waitress'. Cashback was an OK movie - too long for it's own good even though it is visually very stylistic without sacrificing emotions. Waitress was awesome movie - very funny, touching and devastating at the same time. The performances are fantastic from everyone, especially Keri Russell. It is a simple story very well told. It is really sad that Adrienne Shelley's {the director of the movie} life was cut short in a suspected murder before she could see the release of her movie.
I also finished watching Season-4 of Entourage and it was bloody fantastic as usual. The only episode I didn't really like was Episode 1 - which felt like a filler episode. Damn it -thats the problem watching good shows - you want more and then have to wait ages before you get the next fix. Now that the writer's strike is over I hope that BSG's last season is aired in full - start to end instead of breaking it up into 2 parts.
I finished Season 3 of Entourage yesterday and it was gold. I can't wait for Season 4 DVD to come out. On the book front I am reading 'The Brief Wondrous life of Oscar Wao' and it is hilarious and touching at the same time.
On film making front - I was in final negotiations with an international sales distribution company for them to pick up FIVE to sell it to international territories excluding NZ/Australia but that has fallen through for various reasons. I still have another sales representation offer from a French company but that is on the backburner for the next 6 months when both the parties will look at the offer again.
I finally finished reading 'The Saudis' and it was exhaustive but interesting at the same time. It was similar to 'Ghost Wars' in terms of the details and you can visualize the place in detail. I love journalistic books that are written well. I checked out the wiki page on Saudia Arabia and it looks like the second oil boom is on, now all one can pray for is that they use the money in a better way than how they used it last time around.
The plan to try out some geared investments ran aground as I enquired at a couple of banks and finance companies about taking a personal loan for investment purposes. The finance companies flatly refused while the banks have such prohibitive interest rates that it doesn't make any sense borrowing on that high of an interest rate as the investment goes from moderate risk to super high risk and the people who are earning off you taking the risk is the banks.
I am 3/4th of my way through the third season of Entourage and it is bloody fantastic. It is smart, funny and unexpected. The thing which makes it work is the chemistry between the lead characters and also the acting - which is top notch.
I also just came back from seeing 'There will be blood' and it was a great epic. Daniel Day Lewis is God. He is brilliant and he just sets the scene on fire. I think he will definitely take the best actor at the oscars - if not then there is no justice in this world. Go watch it.
I just recently watched 'FARGO' - which has been on my to-watch list for over 3 years. For one reason or the other I never picked it up or would give it a pass for something else but I sat down and decided to finally watch it. I loved it. It is fantastic and the dark humor is hilarious and the accents and mannerisms are great. It is a definite classic and a must watch for so many reasons.
I saw this year's set of 'Child of Our Time' and it was fascinating to watch. It is a great social experiment but the question which immediately popped up in my head was - would the camera affect the behavior of the children? At this point - it doesn't seem to impact on them too much but what happens when they grow older. I guess we will just have to wait and see each year.
I lapped up the entire first season of ROME in a day. It is a fantastic series and it is supposed to be historically accurate as far as depiction of the roman society in that era goes. The thing which makes the series work above everything else is the acting. I have already seen most of the second season when I was at work earlier this year and the only episodes I haven't seen is the last episode of Season-2. I will see them when the DVD comes out for rental.
It is a new year and things ought to be different, no? Well - nothing has changed for me yet. I made 2 resolutions last new year and I managed to get one of them done while the other one has disappeared into the ether for now. I haven't made any resolutions for this year yet but will do so in due course of time.
It is that time of the year here in NZ where everyone goes crazy doing Christmas shopping and closer to Christmas the entire country comes to a virtual standstill. The main streets are decorated with various stuff and it just kicks in the point that we need periods of extravagance like these to connect with people we care about. If only we could connect with people and be good to each other all the time.
I just watched Battlestar Galactica: Razor - it was an interesting watch and adds a little more plot detail before the last season kicks off. The only thing that bugged me is that they did not add more threads to tie it up tighter to Season-4.
I had a day off work today and it has been a nice relaxing day. Played some tennis with Lance {he started teaching me how to play the game and this is the first time ever i put my hands on a tennis racket, so was nice to lose the set 6-5}; watched the BSG movie {refer to above paragraph}; lazed around and have now started reading Mister Pip by Llyod Jones, which is turning out to be a fantastic read.
Maybe I should get some pending work done tomorrow. :-) Till later, Amit
For some reason I have been having massive trepidation since this morning and I can't seem to shake it off. Why? What? How? I don't know.
I finished watching the rest of Season-3 of BSG and overall the season was a little bit slower than the first 2 seasons. Off the last 8 episodes - there were another 2 filler episodes and it was frustrating at times but the season ends with a big bang and now have to start the agonizing wait for the final season. Rumors have it that they will screen first 10 episodes from early 2008 and then the show takes a break with the rest of the episodes airing in 2009. I hope the rumors are wrong and the screen the entire Season-4 in 2008.
For now here is the promo for Season-4 - DO NOT PLAY IT IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN SEASON-3.
One of the screening times for FIVE has been changed and now the screenings are on 19th October @ 10.30Pm; 20th October @ 10.30AM and 10.30PM. The entry is priced at $5 to cover the costs for the theatre.
On other completely random note - the housing affordability in NZ is at an all time low - here is a report for it. Add to it the state of economy, rising inflation and cost of living and the tightening credit market influenced heavily by the global markets - owning a house is a pipe dream. Maybe if you are married and both husband and wife are earning atleast NZ$ 2000 each week in take home pay - the prospect becomes a reality but otherwise welcome to the rental market. Anyway..................
Season-3 of BSG arrived in mail yesterday and I have watched 12 episodes of it - couple of episodes were filler but the rest of them were right up there with the rest of the series. Bigger post later - for now that's the lot and here is a pic I took earlier this evening. This was taken just down the road from where I live.
Opening Scene of the series - this is how it starts
Thankfully the series is going to end with Season-4 - which means a proper conclusion to a fantastic TV series instead of a lame way to close a series after dragging it on forever. I finished watching Season-2 and I can't wait for my Season-3 disc set to show up in mail.
I am officially addicted to Battlestar Galactica - I managed to get my hands on the first 8 episodes of Season-2 and it was satisfying as ever. Now that the craving is high and the product is scarce (the series always seems to be booked out at the local DVD rental store) - I went ahead and bought the entire DVD set: the mini-series, season-1, season-2 and season-3. Now just have to be patient and wait for them to arrive within the next couple of weeks. This TV series is a keeper.
The weather has been playing havoc recently and it finally brightened up today. Add the extra hour of daylight (courtesy: daylight savings being moved forward by 2 weeks) and the evenings are now great. I am eagerly awaiting my next lot of free days so that I can try and cut down my 'to do' list atleast by half.
A view from Rakino's on High Street
Tranquility
I did a couple of interviews with print media over the last week and hopefully it will give FIVE some much needed publicity. And if you are in Toronto on the 12th of October by any chance then you should check out the movie at Camera Bar (1028 Queen Street W).
I watched 'The Kingdom' yesterday night and it was a decent action flick. Very well executed but in the end it wasn't satisfying coming out of the movie theatre. Something is missing from the movie but still it is a fairly decent watch- you never get bored.
Well my list of things 'to do' went down from 29 to 20 but now it is back up again to 25. And I haven't helped the cause by spending most of my free day today watching Battlestar Galactica - which has proven to be an awesome sci-fi show. I started off by watching the 3hr mini-series and followed it up by finishing off all 13 episodes of season-1. The experience was awesome - the mini-series was a shot of pure adrenaline and does take you out with it's first scene. The thing with the TV series that I liked is that it is great drama and sci-fi just provides the perfect setting to amp up the stakes. I would highly recommend it to anyone.
FIVE just got selected into DNA Film Festival in Toronto - which is exciting. Other than that it is all OK. :-)
I am feeling dizzy – not mentally but physically – must be something I ate today. It has been a few extremely busy and eventful days – I would say almost 17 hour days for the past 4 days and it feels great even though I am a bit tired. I might take the day off from everything tomorrow – just to chill out.
I caught up with David M. and his family on Sunday afternoon for lunch. The homemade bread was an awesome treat as it was so yummy. It was nice catching up with them after a long time and having a good yarn.
Sunday night was weird in a manner of speaking – I was coming back from work around 12.00 at night and about 200 meters before the house I saw a girl walking in the middle of the road – asking for a lift. I pulled over but then another guy walked up and started talking to the girl and she looked like she knew him and the guy was giving out really aggressive body vibes. I rolled down my window and asked if everything was OK. The girl said 'Yes' but was giving a really weird body vibe as well – like she wasn't comfortable with the guy but had no option but to say 'Yes'. I said 'Fine' and drove away but as I was pulling up to park – something with the whole situation just didn't sit right with me. So I got home and asked Benji to come along with me for a drive - there was no way I could do this on my own - I definitely needed support if things got out of hand. I quickly explained the situation to him and asked him if he minded if we drove around to just make sure that nothing bad happens to the girl. We drove around a bit but didn't find anyone but just as we came close to the house we realized that we hadn't checked out one road close by and drove back up that road. And surprisingly the girl was there – asking for a lift and she seemed really scared. We asked her if we could drop her off somewhere and she said she wanted to be dropped off in the city. She must have been on serious drugs or something because she was extremely paranoid (she thought we were going the wrong way) and had massive blackouts while we were trying to ask her where exactly she wanted to be dropped off and just wouldn't respond for ages. She was giving out a really weird vibe and I think both Benji and me were happy when we finally dropped her off in the city before coming back home. It took a good half an hour to shake off that vibe. I don't get it – why do people do drugs? Whats the fun in that – especially if you can't stay responsible for yourself anymore.
On Monday I got to watch 2 episodes of the new series of 'Intrepid Journeys' (one of my favorite TV series) and it was awesome – the first one was a journey through China and Pakistan with John Tamihere – which screened on TV and the second was a journey through Iran with Mary Lambie – which I got to watch while doing a dub for that program. I think I enjoyed the episode with Mary Lambie more because of her energy and infectious charm. Sometime over the past week or so (I can't remember when) I finally managed to watch 'Hustle and Flow' – which was a movie really well thought out and well executed. So it kind of raises my hopes for 'Black Snake Moan' since it is by the same director. The movie really kicks ass because of the acting – especially from Terrence Howard as well as the supporting cast.
Sometime last week I was talking to John Davies – the man behind Arkles Entertainment (who picked up NZ/Australia rights to 'Memories') and he said that he would like to see the assemble edit of the movie this Tuesday (i.e yesterday), so he can decide if he wants to pick up the movie or not. Ever since then I was frantically working away on leveling up the audio as much as possible – since it gives a bad impression [even at an assembly stage viewing] if the audio is uneven (or not even audible). Benji helped out with that on Saturday and Sunday evening and carried on working on the audio while I was away working at TVNZ. So when I did finally encode the version for viewing – it wasn't too bad at all. I caught up with John yesterday morning and watched the cut with him. I got heaps of creative feedback from him and all of it makes sense, so I am going to implement those changes and I think that will definitely lift the movie up heaps. The other good thing that also came out of it was that John will be picking up the movie's DVD rights for NZ/Australia. So it is definitely exciting news and at the same time there is heaps more to do before it even gets to the stage where we can share it with the rest of the world. One of the other primary aims is to try and meet the deadline for Auckland International Film Festival. So yeah – lots more work to do on the movie over the next couple of months. The current cut now stands at 81.5 minutes and once I implement some of the suggestions I picked up today I think the length will go down to 75 minutes odd before adding the other elements which will then beef up the duration to 80-85 minutes. Better to have a tight cut, interesting movie rather than a loose cut movie.
'The Fountain' finally gets released here in NZ from Feb 15th and it is going to be a painful few days before I can get the time to watch it. So on that note – I will take leave for now. And yeah – Happy Valentine's Day – in all it's commercial craziness and artificiality.
I seem to veering towards watching more and more TV series on DVD. I recently finished watching the 1st seasons of 'My name is Earl' and 'Absolute Power'. Absolute Power is typically brilliant British comedy about the world of PR and politics. Dry humor laced with brilliant performances make it a good watch. I still can't get my head around British T.V series' typical season running only 6 episodes. It usually takes atleast 2 episodes for any series to find it's feet but the British ones are really over as they start getting better and better. Case in the point ' The Office' - which ran for only 2 seasons. 'My name is Earl' was funny and charming as it tends to be. I think it works so well because of the cast- especially Jason Lee and Ethan Suplee.It will be a while before I am able to watch Season-2.
Editing a movie while trying to make a living is definitely challenging but thats the name of the game. I edited another 6 minutes of the movie and nothing new or fascinating to report. And incase I did not write it in one of the last few posts - I am now freelancing at TVNZ in the VT operations section and it is great fun. The best thing about it is obviously the people I am working with - everyone who has trained me or helped me understand the systems or just stopped by to have a quick chat have been pretty chilled out and open.
In a bit of an introspective mood right now but not going to write any of that stuff up here. Till later, Amit
[P.S - Also to the immature and arrogant person who told me that working in cinetape was a joke - here is something for you incase you happen to read this post - GET REAL ]
I am feeling exhausted right now and am about to hit the bed but thought I would quickly post an update as I won't have the chance over the next few days. On Sunday I finished watching the remaining 4 episodes of 'Heroes' and another 3 episodes of 'My Name is Earl'. Enjoyable..Very enjoyable. I also did some more editing for 'Five' yesterday.
Today has been crazy busy getting pre-production done for this coming weekend's shoot. Got the filming permit sorted, booked the location, booked the extra camera batteries, locked down the second camera and will be picking it up tomorrow, sorted out the audio equipment for the shoot. Besides that I caught up with Richard Collins over Nowhere to Love's script and planning to catch up soon to go over it in detail. Rang up the swimming school to inquire about the new session and found out that it starts again from 12th of Feb - and I might as well get back into it. Over the next 3 days I've got more training sessions at TVNZ and hopefully that will bring me upto speed with the job requirements for doing the freelance work there. And then there was this crazy work seminar with WINZ, which consumed half the day - which I won't even touch right now as it really pissed me off. Overall made a couple of crazy decisions this afternoon and I think it is for the best. Got to follow the instinct.
Later in the evening, I met up with Ayyaz and his family - who are visiting New Zealand and it is their last day here, before they fly back to Canada tomorrow. I met Ayyaz in 2003, through a short film website called triggerstreet and we hit it off instantly. Since then we've been in constant touch and he was one of the composers for 'Memories of Tomorrow'. So it was great finally meeting him in person and catching up about movies and directing and other things. I got back about 35 minutes back and am feeling shattered.
Off to bed for now. Hope everyone's new year has started off on the right step. Till later, Amit
Finally got back to editing 'Five' again and it feels great.
I watched the first 7 episodes of 'Heroes' and it is an interesting series. It is trying to do something different but by the same token it is caught up within the norms of a T.V series. It has some really strong story threads and some really weak threads as well. The most interesting being of the 2 Japanese characters out of whom 'Hiro' is definitely the protagonist of the show (at least in my opinion). It would be interesting to see where they take this series and hopefully it will have limited seasons instead of a long winding, never-ending series. I reckon they should keep it to a max of 3 seasons and end it - that way they will end up with a much stronger series as they will be working towards the end instead of trying to stretch the storyline forever.
I also started watching the first season of 'My Name is Earl' - starring Jason Lee and it is hilarious as well as charming. I have watched 4 episodes till now and there is not one moment where I lost interest or got bored. A really good show and I intend to watch the entire 4 DVD set of the first season within the next couple of weeks.
The later half of today went into cleaning up the bathroom and toilet and kitchen. The bathroom was getting mould in it and clearing up the mould took a long time. It was painful and slow because the spray used for it called 'ExitMould' emits really strong gases and even after having the whole room well ventilated it was hard breathing in there. Anyway - it is all done now and I feel happy about it.
Watched 'Tsotsi' - a South African movie which won the best foreign film oscar in 2006. It was a beautiful movie. Some of the music choices seemed a bit bizarre to me but I think they might fit with the South African culture.The thing which makes the movie really stand out are the performances by the leads combined with a well crafted story. The cinematography is raw and lush and the editing has a gentle rhythm to it. It is a really touching movie and is a highly recommended watch.
It has been a good day as I hit the 48.5 minute mark with the assemble edit today - 10 minutes of assembly in a day. Some days are really good where you fall into the pace while others are slow where you labor through some scenes. But I am pleased overall with the pace that I am doing. Just got to keep it up I guess. It is a long drawn process and this will carry on till the end of April, 2007 - which is when I hope to have the movie finished by.
I found this tutorial relating to working with P2 Media in Avid and thought it would be a really good link to share with everyone. You can check out the tutorial HERE.
I have started watching a TV series called 'Popetown' - an animated BBC T.V series which was made but dropped without screening by the BBC because of protests from the catholic church. I have watched the 1st episode and I found it hilarious. Further updates on that when I finish watching all the episodes.
The whole of saturday went into rebuilding my laptop as I didn't have any anti-virus software installed and it got infected by a Trojan which I couldn't remove. {Note to self - install an anti-virus software this time around}.
In the evening went and saw a movie called 'The King' and it was a pretty harrowing movie. It had awesome acting from everyone involved. It was really well shot but it was a bit too long and missed a fair few dramatic beats. It was an interesting experiment which definitely falters because of the story.
The house is finally in shape - I mean the drawing room is now clean and so can share what the place actually looks like. So here are some pics....
Exterior of house {we live on the ground floor}
Side of the house {you can see the kitchen door and my room's window}
My bedroom
The otherside of my bedroom
The Kitchen
The other side of the kitchen
The bare bones but spacious lounge
The otherside of the lounge
View from the lounge window
The bathroom
The other side of the bathroom
Also finished watching the 3rd season of 'Arrested Development' and it was heaps of fun even though the last couple of episodes were just trying to tie up all the threads of the story since the network had decided not to renew the series. I also got to read the first working draft of 'Five' and it was tantalizing and it will pick up a lot more weight as we go through the brainstorming sessions and workshops. This is definitely going to be an interesting experience in horror.
So yeah an uneventful weekend - in a manner of speaking. Now just gearing up for another week at the school.
There is this completely anarchistic NZ TV show which I found titled, 'Back of the Y' and it is hilarious and outrageous while being gross, ultra-violent and sick. This show was made in 2001 and I recently discovered it on DVD at the local video store and glad that I did. Definitely not for the faint hearted or politically correct people. If you don't laugh at any of the episodes then I would say that you have lost all hope in life.
I have been slowly shifting stuff to the new place and I am amazed at how much stuff I have accumulated in just 3 years time. Hopefully the shifting will be complete this weekend; which is when we move into this new place. I managed to score a second hand drawer for storing clothes for five dollars - which is a bloody good bargain.
On a completely different note - yesterday evening was painfully hilarious experience for me. Benji and me went out to the nearby shopping centre to grab some dinner. Northcote has a good asian population and that reflects in the diversity of the shops in the shopping complex and eating joints. But the one thing that I usually complain about is that the cuisines are kind of modified to suite the local taste buds - which means that anything that says 'Hot' is not really that spicy and if it says 'Medium' that means it is most probably bland. So instead of going for the main stretch of eating joints we decided to try this chinese restaurent that was hidden away amongst other shops. I looked at the menu and decided to try one of the chef's special - which had 3 chillis drawn next to it. You can see where I am going with this...
The majority of the patrons of the restaurent were chinese and only 3 people besides us weren't chinese. Well, when the dish came it was a complete shock to me - all I could see was this massive plate with small pieces of chicken hidden away amongst lots and lots of red chilli. The dish was dry and 'HOT'. It was a great struggle finishing off the dish despite my well developed taste for eating hot spices. Benji tried a couple of chicken pieces from that and it was way too hot for his liking but I managed to somehow hunt down all the chicken pieces from the chillies and eat them. In the end the plate was still full of red chillies glowing in their full bodied redness- on closer look, it almost felt like they were laughing at me. So the lesson learnt from the experience is not to order anything which says 'Super Hot' when ordering from a place which cooks authentic regional cuisine. Anyway - visualizing the dish still makes me sweat, so will leave that thought alone.
On a more somber note - we are living in a world which is inching towards a full blown war threatning to spread across countries and continents. And the repurcussions to the world economy and societies are huge. There is a saying, that I saw on a sign outside someone's office, which said 'Don't underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.' And I think that holds true when it comes to governments and countries. The middle-east conflict is just threatning to be that breaking straw. Let's hope that this doesn't escalate into a repeating pattern of violence for the human civilization.
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.
Australian DVD cover (click to enlarge)
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.
Unshaved and unsure
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.
Tired is the best way to describe how I am feeling right now. School is draining me out at the moment. On the other hand - I have watched heaps of movies over the last few days: Osama; Harvey Krumpet (short film); Small Time Crooks; Hitch ; Clone Wars Vol 1. & 2.
Had a really productive meeting in regards to 'Nowhere' and now just holding breath for the fifth draft to come through. I am fairly surprised that we are at the fifth draft of the script because nothing has changed much with the story but a lot has changed within the story. It is proving to be a really great learning curve.
I am now onto the last volume of 'Preacher' - so yeah I have been doing some solid reading on that and I would say that it is a great graphic novel. I can't stop saying it because I don't know how many people have even heard about it but it is a MUST read.
The more I think about - the more my concept of right, wrong and areas in between are shifting, changing and morphing.
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.
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.
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
I started watching 'Arrested Development' and ended up sitting through 6 episodes in one go. It is a hilarious TV serious. It is cleverly written and is totally unpredicatable. I can't wait to finish the rest of Season-1 DVD's that I have.
Had a get together with the new lot of international students, who will be doing the course this year. An interesting bunch again with people coming from countries as varied as Mongolia, Scotland, Switzerland, Sri Lanka, India to name a few. It is a bigger batch of international students this year and it is exciting. The course starts this Tuesday and it is always an exciting feeling, knowing that a new lot of students will try and reach for their dreams of working in film and tv.
With the casting process - got a few responses from actors agencies and it is encouraging. The process frightens me because it is so critical to the movie - wrong casting can lead to a disaster. Add to it my audition technique is kind of unconventional and does not follow the norm, so have to see how the actors agents react to it.
Got an early morning tomorrow...should be fun...will get to see more of north island tomorrow. Will post pics once I come back. Adios, Amit
Secret little hideaway for the kids
Not so secret I guess. :-)
The Jamaican food stall
Auckland City Hall on the left
Performances on stage - in the background the Imax theatre
Wakeboarding
Russel drives the boat as Greg looks at Dean wakeboarding
Dean wakeboarding
Dean helping me with the board
Me trying to remember all the instructions from Dean
Scary but exciting
Dean helping me putting the board on again after the first unsuccessful attempt
Giving it another go
Almost did it but not quite :-)
Floating in the ocean
Trying to get back onto the boat
'What do you mean I can't lie there for rest of the trip?'
Happy to be alive
Motuhie Island landscape
Ferry picking up tourists from Motuhie Island
Empty beach at Motuhie
I decide to give it a go as well
Perfect day for adventure sports
Auckland City in the horizon
Auckland in Twilight 
Festive Season
Perfect Twilight
A view from Rakino's on High Street
Tranquility
