the friedorange years

Producto-Sphere:
Came up with three riffs today, but non of them make complete songs. Still working on it. Two sentences, but that basically took up my entire day.
Went to Sonny's to check out his Lego people. Got some ideas, will have to write up this movie by the end of next week.
I did do a lot of exercising today. No clouds. Beach. Sun. Water. Nice.

Consumo-Sphere:
ETA Kettle Chips - Barbecue. Have not had a pack of these since I was in primary. Sweet.
Jay Chou's 2005 album - November's Chopin. It has three good songs. This guy just has a bag of old tricks. Sure, the song sound nice, but yeah, nothin' new here.
Woah I didn't watch anything today. Damnit. Time goes by so quickly in Inter-Semester break.

Stuff:


Our old home. We don't live there anymore. Our old neighbourhood. This place used to be awesome.


Now it's full of these pieces of shit.


Where I first got stung by a bee. Bucklands Beach is awesome.

Night.

Superman Returns. OH YES HE DOES. Saw this with David this morning [Thanks for the ticket! I would've paid to see this movie :oP]. First things first:



No I didn't see the Spiderman 3 teaser trailer at this morning's session. But you might, if you go see Superman Returns. Or you can see it online. But really, do see it in the theatres too. Instead of this, we saw the trailer for The Lake House. This new movie starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock is a long way from Speed, but hmmm, I actually may want to see this romance.

Ok ok, I know you're dying to hear about this movie. The Lake House is about these two people who are writing letters to each other and...

OK OK, here we go:

This movie is good.
This movie is very good.
This movie is very very good, if you're me.
[yes, it has its flaws]

What I liked:
Superman Returns really takes its time taking off (very similar to the first Superman film in that respect), but once it does, you [should] be in for a soaring good time. More on that later. I could just go ahead and list all the awesome shots and crazy things he does, but you're going to see this movie anyway, so here's what I will say about what Singer does with this film:

1. Pays homage to the first movie, in every way possible from aesthetics to titles to dialogue to cameos to music.
2. Makes minimal use of dialogue (read: go subtext) - unusual and refreshing in a 'pop-corn' movie. The thing is, this is stuff people should be able to pick up on very easily. So subtext, in a non-pretentious kind of way.
3. Never ever rushes things.
4. Gives the film's denouement a lot of time. This denouement isn't just some cheapo 'sequel-feeder'. Yes, it leads way for a sequel, but it also pays an unusual amount of attention to the film's subplots. It's a bit too long though.
5. Has the guts to tackle the Lois-Superman relationship realistically and end it realistically.
6. Creates an auteur piece. This movie had so many stylistic similarities to The Usual Suspects.
7. This movie continues addressing the issues of the first two movies, yet makes them ring in slightly different contexts.



Ok, I guess I wouldn't be doing the movie justice if I didn't say that the flying looks awesome. Superman's first 'returns rescue' is awesome. There.

Hackman or Spacey? I dunno, after seeing the original yesterday, I thought Hackman had noticeably less personality (and more hair) compared to Spacey, as a Luthor. So I'm gonna have to go with Spacey here... he just seems to be less camp (and having wayyy more fun). The Michael Rosenbaum take is pretty good though.

The bad? I suppose if you're looking for M:I:3 you might be disappointed, since whenever Singer has a choice between showing interior life vs. the big effects shot, he chooses the interior life shot. Also, the movie isn't really about the villain - Luthor and Superman never really 'fight' - because if they did Luthor would get the shit beaten out of him.

Also, I think it was too long (but then again the first Superman film was darn long too), and is also not like the X-Men films in that there are considerably less subplots. It's a 'tame film' in that respect - he doesn't try to fit fifty characters into the movie.

Also, Superman really does exist in a universe of light (this is a positive for me, negative for some) - X-Men, Spiderman, Batman... the all have this creepy dark freak-show element. Superman doesn't. So if you want to see scary mutants and disfigured horror shiznit, this film has zero of that. It also has a decidedly 'cute' (read:unrealistic) personality that could really only apply to the Superman mythology. Also, it depends on whether or not you like 'slow' movies. I usually don't, but I did enjoy this film very much.

Basically what I'm saying is, if you hate the original Superman films for whatever reason (say, gripes with Superman himself or the basic premise), then you will find it hard (impossible) to like this film. But if you do like the original films, then you should enjoy this movie very much.

Anyway, go see this movie. It's better than Superman: The Movie (in which there is no punishment for him changing the history of mankind - essential plot hole), and Superman II (in which the extended fight scene is very much pointless). No, it's not as good as Batman Begins (by quite a long shot), but its the nature of Superman - there are certain things about him that just aren't realistic (like who the hell has fifty gazillion super powers, and talks like an idiot in real life as Clark Kent?!?! why can't anyone tell that he's Superman?). I recommend seeing the first two Superman films before seeing Returns - they're pretty cool and it also means you can go, "Aha! Homage!" whenever one comes up.

Thumbs up.

Producto-Sphere:

• Woohoo wrote lyrics. Took me ages, but I wrote them.

Consumo-Sphere:

• Ok, I wasn't supposed to watch anything today, but instead I watched two things, both unexpected. One was A Bittersweet Life, from the same director as A Tale of Two Sisters. This movie is a thumbs up. The lead actor is very very good, and the story is quite straightforward. It's a revenge tale, but I wouldn't say it has the level of characterisation like Oldboy. In this movie (and many Wong Kar Wai) movies, you can see (hear?) this common 'Asian' aural aesthetic style - the melancholic strings. The movie spends too much of its time on unimportant things like beating people up and killing, and the ending was a bit Deux Ex Machina-ic. But the arc is real nice. The last shot also has a lot of 'meaning' to it.
  

• Saw the original Superman film with my family since I'm seeing the Singer film tomorrow. I remember seeing this film on TV one day when we were supposed to fix our kitchen so our whole family was trapped in my parents' bedroom, so we ordered a few dinner-boxes from the place about 5 mins from our house and gathered round a tiny table to watch Superman reverse time by flying around the earth. I am amazed at how similar Routh's voice is to Reeve's, it's uncanny. Also, this movie has just the right amout of cheese, romance and action. The first hour is superb. Just from seeing the trailers of Returns, you can really see what Singer is going for with the aesthetics of the new film. There should be some amazing homages, with hopefully a new level of sophistication (that the original film lacked). The Donner film is obviously a thumbs up.

Night.

Producto-Sphere:

• Attempted to write poetry/lyrics for the ENGLISH 343 application. Failed miserably. See Consumo-Sphere for explanation.

Consumo-Sphere:

• Jay Chou's first album. Surreal eh, listening to Taiwanese pop. The drums are so shit! Urgh, its frustrating. I thought this would be nice laid back music that I could listen to while I worked. Instead the drumming actually distracted me from writing.
• Got a link from Henry to the Nobody's Watching episode on YouTube, split into three parts (1, 2, 3). From the writers of Scrubs and Family Guy, a self-reflexive pilot for the WB that didn't make it. You be the judge.

How's everyone's holidays going? By now most of us should be wacko wacko free wacko since today was the last day of exams. Inter-Semester break officially starts today (tomorrow?). Life is good. The weather is insanely good. Cold, but oh so good.

Btw, my parents and I went to Turners at the wrong time today. It was pretty funny, the auction was at 12 PM but we went there at 5 PM. We even planned our day around it and chopped up the veges beforehand and so on to make sure dinner was fixed. But then we went there, and there was one car in the car park. Ours.

:oP

Congratulations,

I have reviewed all the dossiers and am pleased to inform you that you
have been selected for FTVMS 303; Introduction to Broadcast and
Screenwriting. Should you still be keen on enroling in this course, you
MUST officially accept your place in the course via email to Denise Tia
(d.tia@auckland.ac.nz) before the 30th June. If you do not repond by
this date, your place on the course will be offered to a student on the
waiting list. Once the acceptances are confirmed we will enrol you off
the waiting list into nDeva. If you are not on the nDeva waiting list,
don't worry about it, we will handle it at our end.

It is your responsibility to make sure that you have no timetable
clashes as this course requires 100% attendance throughout the semester
and the production deadlines are absolute.

Please make sure we hear from you very soon.

I look forward to a creative and productive semester with you.



Dr. Shuchi Kothari
Department of Film, Television, Media Studies
University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019
(14A Symonds Street)
Auckland 1
New Zealand

s.kothari@auckland.ac.nz

Writer/Producer
www.nomadzunlimited.com


YES.

------

Producto-Sphere:

• Finished editing Baguette ads yo. Yeah. Yeah. First thing for holidays done. Next up? Must write original for Ethan Waters music video short 'film' thing before July 3rd. AAAHFH fafjad;l.
  

Consumo-Sphere:

• Nothing. Argh. Yeah. Yeah, I watched nothing. Well, I did spend a lot of time in Producto-Sphere so... damn.
  
• Uppercut Chips. They are good. Too spicy.

Bye, take care.

Producto-Sphere:

• Storyboarded and did floor plan for short film 1 for three hours in the morning, felt awesome. The story is very simple and linear, but it's exactly the kind of thing I want to make to hone my skills.
• Shot a few impromptu baguette ads (replacing the sandals ads) in the afternoon in Howick Village. The weather was awesome! It was so nice being outside. Oh sun! Gonna edit 'em when I wake up tomorrow. So, these were the first things to be shot these holidays. Nice.

Consumo-Sphere:

• I must say I haven't watched anything on my own (i.e. not in a social situation/with other people) since break started. So much of my time is just spent either 'trying' to record covers or planning shoots or whatever. Hopefully I'll have a day of nothing where I'll just sit down and do nothing but watch things.
  
  
  
  
• I did however catch A Tale of Two Sisters at Foxshit tonight.It was about two Korean sisters and their relationship with their apparent stepmum (read: hint hint the woman may just have been the woman their father was having an affair with, i.e. a family friend, which caused their real mother to commit suicide - the rest of the movie's irrational behaviour is the manifestation of Su-Mi's fears). Anyway, my overall feeling with the movie is that it is amazingly shot and that the set design is superb, but the 'imaginary cop-out' nature of the film made the narrative less cohesive than it could've been - with many scenes not needing a logical explanation because of their hallucinated nature. This meant the filmmakers could just insert any number of frightening and suspenseful scenes for the sake of thrilling the audience (and nothing else). But in the end, I think it's a thumbs up movie, because the horror does have a logical psychological core.
  
• Had another Irvine's Heat 'n' Eat pie for lunch. I like these ones - you can actually microwave them without 'em becoming all soft and pudgy if you know what I mean.
  

Sweet, time to go to bed. Night.

Ouch. I just lost my entire post. It was about three pages long. So here's what I wrote all over again.

Producto-Sphere: Went to Turners again was good, got a new number, tried 20 numbers all of which were taken, including 021 HIPPOS and 021 MUSHRO (because there are only 6 letters), met a nice IT girl who helped me out, eventually got a good one that was easy to remember and remotely relates to movies (if you can guess it you can spam me), came up with a clearer idea of the spine for the short film I'm shooting tomorrow, Academy of Strings open rehearsal more about this in Consumo-Sphere.



Middle section where I talk about my new watch: Oh I got a new watch a few weeks ago. It's weird because when I was a kid I loved watches, but then I kept getting free ones from airlines and cereal boxes and they were always shit so I got frustrated and went 'off' watches for a few years i.e. high school. That sucked cos I had to ask other people for the time and they just laughed at me and called me 'timeless'. Actually I got a nickname in intermediate called 'Antique' but that was for something else, I think it was cos I had really good posture when I did lay-ups in basketball and they were annoyed that I wasn't doing funky cross-over shiznit tricks and just scoring so many points and kicking ass. Yes I was very good at basketball the ball would just go swish and all the girls would clap and I would basically run around giving everyone high fives and eating their lunches, people were like - 'Dennis that lay-up was superb, here have my lunch--DENNIS GET THE FUCK BACK ON TOPIC



Well anyway I swore I wouldn't start wearing the watch until after exams were over (how ironic). It is essentially the cheapest properly functioning (read: actually tells time) 'automatic quartz' watch around. Wait its been discontinued. Apparently this one isnt' as good as those fifty gazillion thousand dollar Seiko Kinetic ones cos it loses like 5 seconds a year or something. But yeah, screw that, this thing looks funky.

Consumo-Sphere: Read chapter two of lighting book again because I want to learn properly, some stuff I didn't understand the first time round about vectorscopes and waveform monitors (the chapter was on 'exposure'), ate lots of food at the open rehearsal including mini-sandwiches, curry things (yes that's what they're called) and weird freaky Korean octobus balls, and watched this HBO 10-minute behind the scenes clip for Superman Returns and holy wasabi this movie is insane, the flying is insane and it actually looks good unlike Neo in The Matrix RevoDragonball Z, the shots are insane, Lex Luthor is insane everything about this movie is insane, the casting is actually pretty good (fortunately not insane) - Bosworth (Lois) doesn't do the weird mouth twitch thing like Katie Holmes in Batman Begins, oh btw Bosworth has this condition called heterochromia how cool is that I should make one of the characters in my movies have that.


Flying in the bathroom isn't very majestic, but don't be fooled: Dennis is in fact hovering several inches above the ground (not that you can tell from the photo).

Night.

Just came back from the first meeting for the Untitled Chick Flick. As I've previously mentioned, I am Director of Photography. I'm not sure if that will involve me being camera operator or having to actually do some kick ass lighting, but either way, I want to make sure I know my shit. I need to know more about lighting no matter what.

We watched the C4 National Finals for 48HOURS this year. It was awesome. Ray, the Arthaus one was hilarious! Esp. Loved the guy making coffee/tea. Brilliant. I also thought the badminton one was very cool, and so was the Taika Waititi one (the one man band) and the Dunedin one by the same people who did Mosgiel Tonight last year. The horror one had amazing lighting and atmosphere. I really didn't like the Christchurch one, thought it was pretty shit eh. Great competition this year though, hehe. Oh there was one time travel one that had potential to be awesome but then sort of died very very slowly.

Doing some cam op on Elaine's Crime Fighting Geeks movie? Not sure, depends on if I my own shoot days clash with hers, but hopefully I can make it. Would be good fun. Lots lined up for the holidays, awesome times ahead.

Superman Returns! Yes he does! OH YES THIS MOVIE HAD BETTER BE THE BEST THING THIS SUMMER. Or else I am just gonna be sad. I have not actually anticipated a movie this much since the Matrix sequels (and I was bitterly disappointed). So yeah, Bryan Singer, don't screw this up. Because it really looks like it could be a good movie.

OH YES shooting on Sunday. FIRST piece of shooting this holidays. Fun fun fun. Gonna write it up tomorrow. Turners auctions in the morning. Academy of Strings open rehearsal tomorrow from 3:30pm onwards - feel free to drop in! It's at Te Tuhi: The Mark (opposite the Pakuranga shopping centre). I will be doing weird movements with the scroll of my violin in an attempt to 'lead' *cough cough* ahem. Yeah, so if you don't want to miss that (me bobbing up and down), be there.

Night. Take care.

Producto-Sphere:

• Did some tweaking of the cover, didn't go so well.
• Convinced my mum to start watching Lost and Grey's Anatomy (no small feat).
• Cleaned up my hard drive and defragmented the shiznit out of them.
• Backed up some uh... 'important data'.
• Tested out my video camera and read through the necessary parts of the manual properly.

Consumo-Sphere:

• Chapter two of Jackmans' lighting book.
• Listened to Satriani's Live in San Francisco collection from beginning to end. Awesome.
• Bao. They were good.
  

Wow the average human eye has a resolution of 120 mega pixels. That is cool.

Which movies shall I see at the AIFF this year? Any of you guys up for some pretentious art film? They have Michel Gondry's The Science of Sleep (yes, the one with the big hand) and the Homegrown shorts, which I shall no doubt be seeing. Check out the online catalogue yo.

This break I'm going to end each day with a standardised post. So here we go...

Consumo-Sphere:

• Listened to The Essential Simon & Garfunkel, Haughty Melodic (Mike Doughty), ULTRA BLUE (Utada Hikaru) and A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded (Bright Eyes) from begining to end. Did not manage to watch anything.
• Revisited chapter 1 of Jackman's Lighting book again.
  

Producto-Sphere:

• Cover - fixed drum part, recorded rhythm guitar part, recorded lead vocals.
  --> may need to fix tomorrow.
• Tidied my room, cleared out closet.
• Figured out the list of phone numbers I want.
• Learnt Crosses (José González) on guitar.
• Transcribed Mike Doughty's Madeline and Nine for guitar.
  

Night.

Hi. Well, I actually had hoped that by the next time I blogged there'd be a cover ready for you guys. But no, it's not done yet. But I have an excuse:

It is kind of hard trying to record shiznit at home.

I started recording. Then it starts pouring with rain outside. Then someone starts playing the piano. Then someone turns the hot water on while taking a shower. Then someone decides to nap in the room right next to mine. So on and so on. Alas, part of the realities of living in a 'communal environment'. All is good however, as today I was fairly relaxed and productive. Most of the morning and early afternoon was taken up by tidying my room and cleaning up the house (which I unfortunately ignored throughout exams because I was hardly ever home). I also cleaned out my wardrobe and found stuff I didn't know I had. You know what I'm talking about. Yeah you.

As for the master plan well tonight I'm reading more of that lighting book. Uh, went onto the Turners site again, back to the car hunting again now that I have time. 48HOURS National Final tomorrow night on C4 at 8:30 pm - don't miss it.

I didn't manage to catch the 301 documentaries last night. I did however manage to see The Producers. First off, remember how Steve has this uber-grading system that I adopted? Well, I am going to stop grading films now. I can't be bothered. What I'm going to do is a) talk about them and b) give them a thumbs up or a thumbs down. I mean, honestly, that's what really matters - whether or not you should/could/would see this movie. The rest is really up to you.

So let's talk about The Producers? Good? Bad? Three words: What the fuck. Three more words: Creepy old ladies. Two more words: Roger Bart.

Two final words: Thumbs up.

No one is showering now so I'm gonna get back to recording while I still can. Schweet.

EXAMS OVER.

Good luck to everyone who still have exams left!

Yikes I need to change to On Account. YOU EVIL VODAFONE YOU. No I'm not drawing up a picture this time.

XD - Entourage season 3 episode 2 is awesome! Aquaman opens nationwide and there are rolling blackouts! How not-ironic is this huh...

Spent most of the afternoon recording a cover. It's not done yet, I keep screwing up.

WHAT WHAT WHAT today? Yeah, can't believe it, I am now nearing the end of my degree. Or not. But time is going by so quickly.

Outies. Enjoy yourself.

Just had lunch. Sleepy. Not much study left to do. Finished all my notes and reached the end of my readings book. That course reader is awesome. Everything in it is relevant and interesting, including the lecturer's name. Misha Kavka. *ponders*

Bozo. Bobozo. Bobobozozo. Gunther Kress. Theo van Leeuwen. These people have really cool names. Exam tomorrow morning. How excited AM I. This is the most fun I've had in five minutes. Type type type.



GO YOU NAUGHTY BLOGGER YOU. You break ALL the rules. Naughty naughty boy.

Yes he is wearing Adidas shoes.

Conclusion: The Jap place beside Atrium is too stingy. They suck. But the soup tastes nice though. But wow, if you have a restaurant that is the same size as the toilet we have at home, there's something wrong. Not to mention the potstickers were not exactly 'cooked'.

Dilemma: Should I go to the documentary screening tomorrow night?

*ponders some more*

Going into Uni yet again. Awww. It's good though, this is fun. Hee hee, today is the 2nd to last day of like, of anything. Everything will implode and there will be nothing. Or whatever.

Boo! *jumps out of closet*

Hey what's that? Woah one month of holidays. That is intense yo. Wednesday is seeing stage III documentaries. Thursday is shooting ads. Friday is meeting up with production team for the chick flick. Saturday is Academy open rehearsal. Sunday is foxshit. Monday is... ok ok. But this week is completely mapped out, and that is good.

*thumbs up*

Enjoy the rest of exams. Take care and eat many many pies.

Chris Griffin: Because they are unhealthy and can give you heart disease and... are warm.

Finished all my web notes! This topic is awesome! I am so doing the New Media paper next semester. Luke Goode, yeah, the paper sounds like fun.

Before I take the bus home, I'd just like to direct your attention to a very special day:

November 27th, 2006

Mark this day down on your calendar, something big will happen.

;oP

Ok so I'm back at Uni again. Today? Studying 'digital culture'. To be honest I am finding these readings pretty useful and really interesting. This paper rocks. It's probably going to be the most beneficial paper of my entire degree because of how practical it is. It certainly is the most beneficial paper I've taken so far, so I'm glad they made this a requirement for a Film degree.

What's up today? For starters, exams are almost over for many people, but they're just starting for some. Every post I've done during the past two weeks seems to be exam related, but this period is about to end very very soon. For me? Wednesday. For some, the 27th. For some, today. For some, they're already on holiday. But whatever happens, know this: This semester was bloody tiring. It had the bulk of my 'hard' papers, and was probably the most critical semester for me in terms of getting through my degree, just because it contains the final two 'required papers' for my degree in both my major and my minor, and they both aren't easy, at least to me. In other words, from next semester onwards, I'll have free reign over my degree. Whatever I want to choose, I can choose. Gonna try to make the most of it, but it'll take some thinking. Should I do a language? Should I still take up Women Studies? Should I do linguistics? Sociology? Anthro? Music? Jazz? Exciting times, yay.

As for my degree, well, it seems that I am two days away from completing half of it. Just yesterday it was O-Week, and I was walking around the Quad trying to figure out why I liked chestnuts more than plum pudding. I had sushi that day. It was expensive and didn't taste very good. Everyone was '7th form' and it was scary. Uni is still scary today, but it's more like the reality of 'this is it' that scares me. This is it, there is nothing else. I'm sure there's some movie where that's from (ahhh Garden State) or numerous movies, but it's true - this is it. Wait that's a Strokes song eh?

SIDE NOTE: The issue of saying 'hi' to people. Heheh I'm sure you've all encountered it. Back at Macleans, I didn't say hi to people a lot because I was really shy (I'm still not exactly the most outgoing person around), and then that resulted in the shittiest situations ever, which is when you walk around and you keep seeing the same person but you never say hi to them because you didn't say hi the first time. Then they dont' say hi and you don't say hi and it ends up being a deadlock of 'who's gonna break first'. I think the general theory for people is that it's not good to open yourself up too much, with this applicable to bus seats as well. It's the fact that you don't want to enthusiastically say 'hi' to someone and be ignored because they don't recognise you. It's not a good thing to feel and I know what people mean. As for the bus thing, it's those situations when you see someone you know, then move your bag for them to sit beside you but they choose to sit at another seat or by themselves and be 'anti-social'. It's a defense (defence?) mechanism. Maybe they want to be alone. But yeah, I don't really care these days, I'm just gonna move my bag and you can sit next to me or fuck off if you want. I pretty much try to say hi to anyone I remember to have met before (even if it's once and briefly). Because I'm sure a smile or a nod or whatever is better than thinking, 'Wait, I think I know that person but I don't know them well enough to say hi so I'll just pretend I don't know them and look the other way.' It doesn't really make anyone feel better, but people still do it. Stupid vicious cycle huh.

Back to study.

Wooo, three down. Today's exam went as expected, except they didn't have the poet I wanted to do for the Close Analysis section, so I just chose one poet I didn't know and tried to blab about their poem instead. I ended up leaving an hour early because I had nothing left to write.

Foxshit - we spent like two hours playing the 'six degrees of separation' game with actors. That uh... was cool until we tried to link Chris Rock to Kevin Kline. We eventually succeeded (try it!) but by that time our brains were fried. We then spent the rest of the evening mapping out 'Henry-story' by examining the depths of his room, finding eyeballs, yoyos, suspenders and a lot of photos.

Now that I have one exam left I need to decide whether or not to go into Uni tomorrow. Hmmm should I stay at home and study or should I go into Uni and study. I don't know, I've been going into Uni for days and days now, it's like I live there. Urrrr.

In other news: I am helping out in a chick flick that's gonna begin shooting at the start of next semester as 'Director of Photography'. So I pretty much have the next five weeks mapped out completely for production. Oooo scary, I better do some research and background prep this holidays. I also want to do stop-motion animation, but there are too many things I want to do so I'm just going to stop listing them and hope I learn something by the end of the holidays. The main focus for me will be skill development vs. results driven stuffmaking. 'Stuffmaking' eh. That sounds particularly trendy.

Occupation: Stuffmaker.

Night.

Righties. The morning of the exam. The one that just won't die. Well in a few hours it will die. This is going to be awesome.

In other news, ULTRA BLUE is now my favourite Utada album. I think it's quite clear that her writing improves with every successive album, excluding her US debut (although it still had a handful of 'good' songs). This release has the most consistent aesthetic as an album. Key tracks (excluding pre-released singles): Sunday morning (reminiscent of hayatochiri/hayatochi - remix with what seems to be a Hisaishi homage at the pre-chorus), WINGS, BLUE.

Later. Have a nice day.

Lol been playing Sudoku for three hours. Exam tomorrow, can't wait for it to be over.

See you after the storm.

:o)

zomg so cold

Doing my answers for 204 now. But zomg so cold.

Guitar is good but zomg so col.

zomg so cold

Utada's new album!



Ahhh it's good. I'm not sure if it's my favourite album of hers yet, but I must say she is really consistent. Good good. Too bad I've already heard like half the songs.

Just got home. I should go to bed. Rule of thirds eh. Well, I suppose so. Sorry those things aren't related at all. Academy tomorrow... we... play Henry and Ajita's pieces! Woohoo! Now I really. Want. To. Sleep.

*head falls on keyboard*

Woohoo!!!! I finished my FTVMS 204 Block I notes way ahead of schedule. I thought I'd finish them at around 6pm, but I'm done! Condensed down to three pages for all of the first block, all in half a day's worth of study (4 hours). Love this paper, the stuff's really frickin' useful.

I must've seen the word discourse like a hundred times now, but woah, this is such a good word. Orders of discourse. Moo. Modality. Moo. Ideological systems. Moo. Recontextualisations of social practice. Moo. I feel smart.

As for ENGLISH 210 - bah! Who cares about that when I've got all this fun 204 stuff to read.

I'm officially supposed to be starting my 'filmmaking experiment' today. Well, in the spirit of things, I contacted a few people to see if they were interested in acting in them, and some of them have confirmed their interest. So, what you can expect from this break?

Killer sandals ads
and
Ethan's first music video.

The basic concept for the music video has been worked out and the main character has been cast. I will do more planning once ENGLISH 210 is over. As for the sandals ads, well, they are the brainchildren of master Sonny, and I will begin shooting these early in the holidays as part of Creative Toilet - starting at the end of next week. The Jingle will be done by Mr. Chong.

Yip yip, that should get the ball rolling. As for my manifesto - that'll vary slightly from project to project, but once I've worked out exactly what I want the rules to be I'll post them up here. For now, my June 7th post is a good guide.

Hope everyone's exams are going well. Enjoy your hard earned weekend!

Two nights ago I had the strangest dream ever. Basically in the dream I went onto the Auckland Uni website and saw exactly this:



O_o

It was so vivid, I was like 'wtf'.

:oP

Yo yo Sonny started a blog! The day has come.

Exam today went shit. I bombed so bad you could tell without even reading my script. You could just look at the squiggly lines on the page and know that it was shit. But I will pass this thing. My 'best' paper has turned out to be my worst, but I learnt a lot which isn't going to change when I get my mark back.

Got a letter from Uni asking me to submit a portfolio for ENGLISH 343 entry. Hmm... good thing it's due on 3 July otherwise I'd be screwed.

Bright Eyes. Ok I don't actually like Oberst's voice. But hey, the songs grow on you.

Woohoo! Two exams left. Ahahahahaha, life, good.

EDIT: Pinback! Their new-ish album Summer In Abaddon is really good! Key tracks: 3x0, Fortress, Syracuse, and... pretty much every track. Their backing vocals aesthetic is very distinctive and their music has a relaxed quality that is both 'boyish' and mature. Woooooo. Also, Mike Doughty's Haughty Melodic is very good. The entire album yes. Check them out.

Just came back from an informal post-48HOURS screening session of all the 48HOURS projects that involved Auckland Uni students.

Awesome.

I think there were about six films that screened, and I learnt a lot tonight about...

How cool 48HOURS is.

There was one film in particular that stood out as frickin' awesome - called The Curse I think. Apparently they had a few 'professionals' working on it, but the humour, youthfulness, direction and acting were all great. It was so enjoyable to watch that I was almost crying with laughter the entire time.

The other entries were all really good too. No matter what genre or subject matter, you could just tell that every filmmaker involved in these projects was passionate about telling a good story and having fun. Thumbs up to everyone who made a film. It was also really cool having a Q and A after each film. Can't wait for next year. This is gonna be good.

Exam tomorrow. Yay. Oh I also watched this documentary on Tim O'Brien in the AV Library. That was quite enthralling, really.

Sweet as. I’m back in the Zone. I was a bit freaked last night when Home Drive for EC was down (all my notes are on there). Luckily they are accessible from Uni. I’m sitting in the Arts labs now, everyone else is typing feverishly. I’ve done about three hours of sleeping and two hours of study today. The KE couches are so nice for crashing on. Ah.

ENGLISH 101. I’m looking forward to this exam. I really like the texts we did and I don't care what mark I get. This was one of the most meaningful papers I've taken so far at Uni.

Yes! Got permission to sit my ENGLISH 210 exam on the 18th. That’s great, considering that I’ll be shooting short films by the time the 27th comes around. Woohoo! Glad that I don’t have to go into the trouble of rearranging everything, the 18th is perfect. Having a now more spread-out exam schedule has put me in a really relaxed mood. Today is good.

The Dave Chappelle Inside the Actors Studio interview was quite good, I must say. He hit a lot of key points to do with work ethic and stuff. Time for me to go read some of my notes. Yay. All the best for the second half of exams guys!

Oh yeah - Entourage Season Three. Did I talk about this? Oh maybe not, but the season premiere was hilarious. James Woods playing the villain of Aquaman. James Cameron talking about 'creating a technology to make Aquaman truly breathe underwater'. Haha whatever.

One down. I really enjoyed doing this exam. My first essay was way better than my second one, but yeah, I felt strongly about what I was writing about, so it was a good two hours.

Thursday - ENGLISH 101. Woohoo. I like this paper.

Tomorrow - FTVMS Production Group screening for 48HOURS. This should be good fun. I'm going to study during the day.


Hey, sup, my new lighting book arrived. That's definitely going to be the first thing I start reading this holidays. Well, I read a chapter today, and I'm learning already. I guess that makes sense since I know next to nothing about lighting anyway, this is interesting. One thing is the cover design really sucks shit. But the content is really good though, so I'm happy.

Night. Take care.

This is so hilarious, I have officially done zero hours of study tonight. I better go do that. But first, let me share something with you. And don't worry, I won't be too vague.

:o)

When I first came to Uni, there was this person I met who I really liked, but for some reason things didn't go so well and I ended up just feeling stupid and pathetic at the end of the story. Then I laughed and cried and felt depressed and regreted doing things and not doing things and so on and so on. Then the whole thing sort of just went to the back of my mind but it surfaced from time to time. But I went away and did other things and made friends and looked in the mirror and did all that and it was good.

Then today, something happens, well, I talk to someone (not that person), but just someone (it's not important), and it suddenly becomes clear to me that there was nothing wrong with me. It's an incredible feeling, suddenly knowing that you couldn't have changed anything and that it all happened for the best... and it wasn't you, it was her. Vague? Basically what I'm trying to say is:

Be yourself. If it doesn't seem to be working out, take a good look around and ask yourself if it's really just you, or something else completely. You are ok. I know that when people say, 'Be yourself,' they usually mean don't try to change anything about your appearance or your demeanor (the classic, 'Don't copy someone else cos you think that' scool) just because you don't think you fit in or whatever. That's not what I'm saying. When I say 'be yourself', I am saying, be true to what you want to do.

In other words, if you don't usually find it easy to do something, but you really want to do it, then be true to that yearning and DO IT. Don't be true to your 'demeanor'. It doesn't matter what other people think. I know it's hard, I find it hard too, but if you're true to yourself things will be fine.

That really made my day. There was all this crap going on but for some reason this thought lingered at the back of my mind and now I feel like... exams don't matter. Wow, I can't believe I'm here. Yet another 20 minutes gone to 'not studying'. Yay.

Don't be yourself.
Be true to yourself.

Good night. And good luck.

If you read Henry's blog, you'll know just exactly what happened today. Or if you live in Auckland (but not in the North Shore or Waitakere City). POWER OUTAGE.


Us in our 'escape-mobile'. Ray is savouring what remains of his clean water 'rations'.

The 'please let me pass paper' is now postponed indefinitely. I was so crazily zen-ified and prepared for it. I was in the zone and ready to burn all of my notes and kill things. I had the plan etched in my head that at 12:30pm today, I would have nothing to do, ever, with Renaissance poetry (not that I hate it. but oh so hard).

But no. Now the exam could be held on the 27th! This is so stupid aiya. And in fact it wasn't only me, a lot of other people 'had' (posthumously-hypothetical) their hardest exam this morning. It wasn't anyone's fault, but I could've studied for my other subjects instead of this stupid exam and done better! Now I have a day left. Yo. Arr who cares, life goes on.


Henry holding our last piece of lembas, given to us by the friendly Elfs (elves?) at the Quad Cafe. Thank you Mr Galadriel-Chips-Man.

We were trapped in the city by the crazy weather and the malfunctioning traffic lights. It was hilarious and surreal. Nothing to do but play Mafia in the quad cafe and wait for something to happen.


Our survival group making our way through the treacherous Underpass. We did not encounter any trolls.

Eventually everyone got kicked out of Uni (for no good reason). That was kind of sad considering it was pouring with rain. The moment of the power cut was hilarious. All the computers went off, the elevators stopped, and you heard a massive, 'wtf?'. No eftpos. No warm water. For 50 minutes we had no idea what our fate would be. It was a mix of War of the Worlds, 28 Days Later and the Simple Plan video. Yes, the 'Welcome to my Life' one. I half expected to see people eating each other and new gangs forming and martial law to be implemented. Munchy Mart was closed and hardly anyone had cash on 'em. People were clustering in 'survival groups'. I turned to txt-ing feverishly, which probably wasn't such a good idea considering that it would be my only form of communication for a possible seven-month Castaway real-life homage. I looked for Wilson. I looked for The Others. Either way, I was prepared for the worst (best?). Yes, best - aegrotats. GO AEGROTATS. If they give us aegrotats then, I [heart] Uni. I may be dreaming, but... I mean, come on, a lot of people have holiday plans and are going overseas. You can't force those people to stay back, esp. when the exam timetable's been organised already. But right now it seems like the most likely thing that they'll be doing.


One of the so-called 'survival groups' I managed to catch on camera. They've yet managed to create fire.

Now I have to... study. Doh. Everything's back to normal. Good? Bad? I suppose.


The highly chaotic and tense atmosphere at Kate Edgar Info Commons. A riot is inevitable. Do you see the guy in the background with the massive beard who's stealing food? Yeah, on the left, that guy.

Have a nice rest of your day. Good luck for your exams tomorrow!

My Pre-Exams Projections:

Subject - If nothing goes wrong/If I screw up

ENGLISH 210 - C/D+
FTVMS 202 - A-/B
ENGLISH 101 - A/B+
FTVMS 204 - A/B+

Inside the Actors Studio is so cooole. Today I watched the Dave Chappelle and Tom Hanks interviews. I wish they'd release these on a DVD.

Venting: When someone goes onto your computer and 'takes' your files without you knowing. Then you find out later. Like going into your room and searching for something without asking you first. I don't mind sharing but I REALLY FUCKING PREFER IT IF I DIDN'T RANDOMLY SEE MY MISSING BOOK IN YOUR ROOM AND YOU TREATING IT MATTER-OF-FACTEDLY THAT MY SPACE IS PUBLIC SPACE.

Anyway, other than that it was a pretty good day. Studying at Uni went very well, I enjoyed what I studied. Infernal Affairs was slightly better thematically the second time, but the plot holes just become more glaring and distracting.

[massive rant about the stupid plot holes in Infernal Affairs that I have now deleted]

Good luck for tomorrow's exams. You guys will do great.

Lol, guess what I call my 'study notes'. Cheet Sheats. Basically they're one-sided A4 'factoids', containing one thesis statement, followed by the exact points I am going to make in my essay, and then a list of three to five ways in which this thesis fits possible question types. I have one of these per essay (so for example, three sheets for tomorrow's exam). The problem with this method is that it's very sneaky. The good thing about this method is that you will actually feel very strongly about your thesis and write passionately on it and will have examples.

In short, this method is awesome for getting a B+ in every essay based exam except Age of Shakespeare: Poetry.

In this paper, you actually have to kill some brain cells. I have killed so many brain cells wrestling with these poems. I hope I pass. If I pass this everything will be good.

If I pass.

If I pass.



If I pass. Pass. Give me this C. Please. Just give me the C.

New: Philip has now taught us how to sit.

National Treasure: What an enjoyable movie.

Tomorrow: Last day of 'study'.

:o)

Five consecutive days of 6-hour study-ness really fried my brain.

Productive-o-Meter: 7.2/10

I don't know why I'm studying for a subject I have later and not my first one. Maybe it's because the later one is way more interesting. Today I studied for three hours on The Things They Carried (Tim O'Brien). Now, I don't read much. Wait, I don't read at all. Almost. But this book is awesome. I wonder who has the movie rights to this thing. Cos if they made this, it'd be the best 'Nam movie ever made. That's how frickin' good it'd be. Great great book.

Academy yo. Workshops. Philip still hasn't taught us how to sit.

Everwood Series Finale: Arrrrrr show finished all over ahhhhhh. If any show was getting cancelled, they could not have hoped for a more complete series finale. They wrapped up all teh storylines

I hope the other seasons come out on DVD. Please please please please please.

The CW picked up 7th Heaven.

><

Productive-o-Meter: 8.7/10

Today I went on the Wash home page and was greeted by a massive Ray.



O_0

!

The Fifth Element is such a cool movie. Had two of the most enjoyable study hours this afternoon watching this film. It's so much fun.

There's a Jennifer Garner Club at Uni. But even better, there's a Hanson Revival club. I was going to take a photo of that poster, but they took it down a day later for some reason. I'll put it here when I find it around campus, but roffle.

Have a good night. Enjoy your weekend.

I just realised today how remarkably un-good Hero is as a movie.

Productive-o-Meter: 9.0/10

I am enjoying the stuff. Entourage! Season Three! Back soon! I have three exams next week, and my plan is to do awesomely well on my fourth exam to make up for whatever I get in these ones.

I finally got a video camera [again]. My last camera was the prototype 'indie' prosumer camera - the Canon XL1. It's got a lot of history and a lot of heritage, and before the Panasonic DVX100 came along, it was the camera to get. It was also around NZD $8000 new. Fortunately, I did not get it new. I got it in late 2004. The camera debuted in 1997, so it was essentially seven year old technology. But it was 'the' camera, and I made four short films with it, beginning with Epilogue in late 2004 and ending with the random but apparently audience-friendly The Art of Storytelling in the third quarter of 2005. I learnt to deal with complete manual control and a shoulder-mounted camera. And not a lot of mobility and a slow workflow.

Then came the in-between period, from late 2005 till early '06, during which I borrowed Steve's Panasonic GS120 (at the time their cheapest 3CCD camera) and made another three short films. This was fun, but through making these highly experimental shorts, I realised that there were two crucially important things I needed to do:

1. Take part in as many different parts of the process as I possibly can.
2. Be a great storyteller.

So since around March this year, I've been helping out on other people's shoots. I did a bit of acting in Steve's first short film and extras stuff in the projects of some Production Group friends. I got to do some catering (uh huh) on a short film. I did some camera operating and acting in a few silent exercises, then edited and scored music for Slade's American Grill. And I learnt shitloads.

What's next?


Well, I just spent $715 (of the money I got back from selling the XL1 a few months ago) on a Panasonic GS75.


This is currently the cheapest (and smallest?) 3CCD camera on the market. This is perfect for my little experiment.

I'll be making a lot of stuff. As soon as June 15th passes, the official 'experiment time' will begin. I guess experiment isn't the right word. I think it's best to call it an educational process. Anyway, it will appear to be similar in principle to the Dogme 95 movement. Also check out the official FAQ here. The Vow of Chastity is here.

However, at the core my aims are different. Firstly, Dogme 95 was originally created for 'professional' filmmakers who wanted to be avant-garde. I am not a professional filmmaker. Secondly, Dogme 95 is anti-'sensation' and anti-'trickery'. It is a movement that rebels against Classical Hollywood's aim to make film form 'invisible'. I like Classical Hollywood. And I like self-reflexivity. I do not think it matters. It is form. Thirdly, Dogme 95 is anti-auteur. I am pro-auteur. I am pro-'group-auteur'. Or collab-auteur. Or whatever. Fourthly (fourthly... that sounds... stupid), Dogme 95 has rigid bullshit rules. Like 'you must transfer to Academy 35 mm'. And 'genre movies are not acceptable'. And 'temporal and geographical alienation are not accepted'. And 'the camera must be handheld'. Also, short films are not considered Dogme 95 films. And so on.

But I am still inspired by people such as the Dogme 95 filmmakers who choose to follow a certain philosophy. So for now, for the coming holidays, I want to make videos with a specific philosophy. The general idea:

1. Pre-production must be extensive and detailed.
2. Shooting must be swift and succinct.
3. Improvisation is not encouraged, but can be used.
4. The film will not be experimental.
5. The film will be made with a structuralist approach.
6. Post-structuralism is allowed but should not be the main focus of the film.
7. The film will aim for comprehensibility and completion as a whole.

Once again, these are the rules only for the coming holidays. I may change/add to this list once I finish exams, but yeah, it'll officially start on the 16th of June and finish on the 17th of July, not including post-production time. Mark it down on your calendar. The purpose is not to create rules and stick to them because 'it's cool', but to maximise learning.

-------

Sometimes it's pretty cool when you walk past someone who you think won't recognise you, but they say hi and remember your name too. Things like that make me smile.

Night. Good luck with all your exams. You will have fun, do well, learn loads and feel awesome at the end of it all. If you want some exam tips, check out Helen's post. If you don't wear perfume, start wearing it now. There's still time to study in style.

Night.

Today. Productive-o-Meter: 8.5/10

While I was sitting in the IC commons this afternoon I witnessed a group of people who uh... like 'wasting everyone's time' by hogging computers for no good reason. You guys know who I'm talking about. Those people. Somehow they can justify multi-logins on 4 adjacent computers while they go for a 90 minute lunch break. I was glad to see that all their stuff got moved and other people got to use the computers.

Got my ENGLISH 101 essay back. That went well, but unfortunately I have plussage. Well, it's not unfortunate, it's just that plussage doesn't really matter now. It'd be cool if I got plussage for my other paper. That other other paper.

You know what the worst thing is? When you hear people yelling downstairs but you just can't figure out what they're arguing about. Yeah, that's happening right now. I have no idea what they're arguing about, but they're really loud. Hmm. It's kind of frustrating. You just wanna go down there and call a peace conference. Or at least know what they're going on about.

Tomorrow I am going to study Aphra Behn, Hero and Fen. Yikes, boring post. Don't worry, I'm going to start watching Twin Peaks soon, so expect some interesting posts in the very near future.

Question: Why is the Architecture Studio so nice? Why are their computer screens so big? Why do they get so much space?

Answer: I don't know.

When (notice I say 'when') I get the resources, I am going to donate my money to the FTVMS department of Auckland Uni. I'm gonna start a film resources library and build a film theatre in the Uni so that it can project film films. I'm also going to get them their own massive Final Cut Pro and Avid lab. Honest.

But for now I'm just going to use the Archi resources.

:oP

-------

Oh yeah, First Stop is now available to watch at Wash.org.nz - Many thanks again to Mat for the hosting. Check it out if you haven't seen it already. Ray is in it. Hah! Why is that in bold? I don't know. Star power.

I finished the personal statement part of my FTVMS 303 application. It's double the maximum word limit but there isn't much I can do about it. It just seems like it's the right length now and if I cut anything it won't make much sense. Now I'm gonna have to find a way to articulate my two short film ideas. That's my job for tonight.

I also did up my study schedule for my key three exams today, so I'm glad about that. Productive! Yay!

Have a good evening.

Hehehe... two movies, I don't think I'll even bother giving them grades because... I can't decide.

Broken Flowers - Thank God I wasn't nearly as bored as Bill Murray looked in this movie. Almost.

Primer - a massive 'huh!?!?!' fest. Honestly, this is the kind of movie A-nerds would watch on a Sunday night. Wait, that's what we did.

;_;

Well I'm not quite A-nerd enough. Cos I was 'wtf?-ing' through at least two thirds of this film. Was this film a test to see if I remembered anything from physics? Well then, I obviously failed cos I did not know how or why or what they were doing except that it had something to do with time travel. But I think it was a good effort for a first movie and it looked good for the budget. And the dialogue was naturalistic.

Broken Flowers was funny. I think the ending was the best part of the film. That, and the fifty hours of Bill Murray looking into the side mirrors while driving that we had to endure.

Sup. Writing writing writing application. It's going ok. I think I have down pretty much what I want to say, it's just a bit too long so I'm editing/rearranging my points now. I think I'm going to go into Uni next week to study instead of staying home. I get more done there.

I got my exam timetable wrong. It's 12th, 13th, 15th, 21st. I guess that's good. Pressure.

Here's another Jonze ad for you. Viral marketing again. Don't buy GAP or IKEA. Just watch these ads.



:o)

Just had a meeting with this guy who is making a Sex Ed video that will be played in secondary schools. Apparently it's being sponsored by Durex and they're working with the Ministry of Health to deliver it all around NZ and they want a few Uni students to help them make it. Heehee, this is going to be fun.

In other news, I am wasting money on my NetLogin. I am writing my application for FTVMS 303, and it's wacked. Basically, I take the piss at my genuine reasons for wanting to take the course. Instead of saying, "I want to do this course cos I want to change the world by making great movies," I say, "I want to do this course because I know there are more deserving people than me, but since the world is unfair you may as well give me a place anyway. I am the obligatory 'undeserving admittant'. Tick 'admit'. Cheers."

I have an idea for this movie. It involves a killer robot that gets run over by a bus then spends the next 40 years in a junkyard smoking pot. I will then pan the camera up and film the smoke rings for 30 minutes in one breathtaking shot and conclude with a sing-and-dance number featuring Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Have a nice weekend.

It's so stupid when you do idiotic things. Today I was uploading this 90 MB file onto the internet and I closed the window when it was on 99%. I'm not sure why I did that, but anyway, it's uploading again.

O_o

In other news, tomorrow is the first of our Academy of Strings workshops. Awesome hahah.

Lol, remember how before I said I wanted to get a car? Well, I'm still car-hunting. But for some reason I now want to get editing software/hardware. Uh oh. Yeah, damnit... car so good... car so important... car so convenient... but but but... editing gear is.... geeky! Yeah, it would be so not the right thing to buy a Macbook Pro. But somehow I think I might. Anyways, I'll just not buy anything and that way my money will just sit there bored. Hopefully it'll collect some interest. Although that isn't really useful either. And Student Loan. ARRRRRRRR. Oh well. Hopefully someone will pick up my pilot (which I haven't written yet). Then everything will be 'aok'.

Woah, I can't believe that I am member 29 on the 48HOURS forums. That means I was the 29th member to register... yet somehow I've been so inactive that I currently have one post. Yikes, I must've registered liked three years ago or something.

Who here loves Spike Jonze? *puts up hand* Everything he touches turns to gold. If you haven't checked out Adaptation yet, do so, and if you have a few minutes to spear (or not), throw them in the direction of his works on YouTube. Funny advertisements. Heehee. Like this one:



Night.