Have been spending the last few days (and nights) tinkering a slightly new web design that utilises CSS which is something I’ve been meaning to do for a very long time and now I know why I’ve been putting it off for so long. Ugly HTML coding is so much easier, but most definitely one ugly bitch. Anyway, be a while before thats fully up and running and also more than enough techno mumbo jumbo bullshit for one post.

Tonight is the Hamilton kick-off of It Came From the Swamp! so if your not up to anything tonight, feel like watching some high caliber short films and want to support the local film making community, come on down to the Victoria Cinemas before 8pm tonight. I’ll the be one drunk out front making rude gestures to old ladies and small children.

Back. Got to see a model over the weekend crying her eyes out. Was a wonderful mixture of gross tears and model hotness. Awesome.

Also figured out a bill payment I made a week ago went into the wrong account, so this week will be the hunting down of the misplaced money and whining a lot about it. Not so awesome.

The short film I worked on “Betty Banned Sweets” just had a really nice write up on it in this weeks edition of The Listener (page 46). It’s a really nice write up with lots of praise for the director Micelle and for the main actor, my good friend Matt and thats definitely awesome. I haven’t been kept in the loop on the films progress, but according to the article, it’s soon to be playing in the Show Me Shorts festival that’ll be screening up and down the country from Thrusday through till January. The article can be viewed here, but you need to be a subscriber to read the whole thing unfortunately. And more details on the festival can be seen here.

Speaking of other festivals, my friend Fin’s short film “Killing Time” is playing as part of the Manukau film festival this Thursday. So if your in the area and you’ve got nothing to do, go see it and support awesome. His blog is also something that’s become a regular read for me. He does a much better job of updating his and keep up to date with various news and other weird internet stuff he comes across. Bookmark his site here.

And while my friend Dom has recently lost his show on Alt due to management doing what they usually do of fucking up stuff. He’s now once again a member of the dangerous group that is motorists in Auckland and no longer has to ride public transport like the hobo he secretly wishes he could be. Just thought I’d point that out for the hell of it.

Another long weekend of filming stuff and beating up pro wrestlers. But this Wintec short is coming up on its last weekends, mostly pick ups to be done next week and… actually, yeah, that’ll be it apart from the onlining I’ve agreed to be in on.

After its over, I’m pretty keen to try and sit back, ignore things for a while and perhaps, eventually, as many nice and concerned friends have been brining up recently, to relax with the whole other peoples stuff and try focusing on my own things again. And I agree, but I don’t think my frame of mind is there. Not yet.

But this was a good weekend for a change. Had an interesting and good drinking night Friday, sweet relaxed shooting day on Saturday and fairly full on, but still easy Sunday. Caught up with some old friends, though briefly, still worthwhile, a copy of Sopranos season two I’ve been waiting on for ages now finally came in and already I’m into my semi-marathon watching of its awesomeness again. Oh and to top it off, just discovered that this site is now the first result when my name is googled… stoked!

Meant to post this earlier, but kept slipping my mind. Continual congrats to the good folk of Downending films as they’ve secured themselves a DVD deal for Down by the Riverside, been creating extra features, playing with cover designs (image linked below, I hope they don’t mind) and have been keeping all up to date with their shiny new blog.

Friday was a false start to the weekend, where there was no work, not much that needed doing and just a lot of general creative activities including mask making (which was fun and involved working with paper mache, which I haven’t done in a long time).

Saturday I woke up at seven in the morning after very little sleep, even though I knew I should have and filmed on this yet to be titled wintec project all day until five-ish, six. Had about a half hour to prepare and shot straight out again for more filming, this time at the Great Race masquerade ball. This time with an even heavier camera and a lot more people to dodge.

Eventually finishing up at three in the morning, I got myself a bit more sleep for more filming at eight, which was interrupted a few hours into it by having to rush home and move in a piano. Rush back for more filming and I finish up about four to come home for some rest, catch up with Ross (back from a most envious time in Wellington) and then out to work again for the night, where I was nearly dead on my feet and screwing up an unbelievable amount of amusing times.

Still awake for some reason, I’ve now hit that plateau of so little sleep and exhaustion, I’m not really tired any more and nothing can touch me.

But yeah, the masquerade ball was a very pretty event as always. Being in with the organisers, its actually much more interesting on the behind the scenes of things, than it is as a patron. Mind you, in saying that, next year I’ll just go as a patron, rather than a worker. Its much easier that way.

Meanwhile, there’s now a piano in my room. And a big one at that, it’s actually slightly bigger than most pianos I’ve been around and a bit more than I was expecting. But yeah, it’s in my room. I’ve always been amused by some stories or jokes where someone comes out of something (most often a crazy night out) and some action has come back to haunt them. Out of boredom, exhaustion and being underwhelmed, I bought a piano. And it’s in my room.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the piano. But it’s like this thing I remember from somewhere in family guy (I’m guessing) and they’re saying “if you just ignore it, it’ll go away” and pull out and theres a cow (or something) right there in the room with them… yeah, for me its a big ass piano. I’m gonna have to try and convince the flatmates that it’s a good idea to move the bastard into the lounge instead. The out of placeness and monstrosity of this piano is freaking me out a bit.

Meanwhile Ross had a great time in Wellington being accepted as a shortlister for First Writer’s Initiative (remembered the name this time) and I finally got around to reading his accepted script and it’s got potential to be good. Really good. So all the best as he keeps using that alien brain of his to write stuff (which I’m starting to not do very well anymore).

Actually, the tiredness is coming back to me now. After this weekend and all previous shoots for that matter, I’m now formulating a general set of rules for myself on how I’m approaching anymore filmwork…

No free corporate/wedding/etc work.
Read the script before committing to anything.
Plan the hell out of everything.
Don’t say yes so quick, just because she’s hot.
Don’t compromise so much other regular activities to work on a project.
Don’t buy pianos on a whim.

Actually, it sounds like I’m complaining about working on this wintec shoot, but I’m not. I’m actually really enjoying myself. I’m just so exhausted from doing all the work on my own, which I always seem to get myself into doing and unfortunately prefer it that way. And yeah, people are right, I should take a break for a while, but… actually, there is no excuse, I just should. But I’m a film whore like that I guess. Got another short film coming up, possibly acting in another, possible music video to do too, wanna get onto writing and rewriting some stuff and oh yeah, lots of footage sitting around that needs editing. After those, I’ll take a break. Actually, I’ll probably be accepting more stuff again in no time soon just because I like the person offering. But one things is for sure, I will not to go out buying pianos at the drop of a hat next time.

Filming went quite well this weekend, all in one location and all in one room, we shot for two long days, both times I turned up slightly late, but in the end, we got some really good footage and director Michelle seems pretty happy with it so far.

Saturday night was a wierd one though, I was pretty much exhausted from all the prepping and filming and adjusting and what not, that I actually fell asleep before midnight for the first time in… well a while. But then I woke up at three in the morning and just couldn’t get back to sleep, or so it seemed. I did wake up in the morning, or at least, I think I woke up in the morning. The only explanation was that I was dreaming about being awake and not being able to go back to sleep. Over the course of the day, it turned out that Michelle had also experienced this the night before and thus, kind of a get out of jail for free card for my being late that morning.

But next weekend is more filming somewhere else I’m still not to sure about where. There’s also the masquerade ball I’m to attend and film stuff of, but really, it’s just an excuse for me to dress up all fancy, wear a mask and be all swanky.

Man, the growing pressure of keeping this blog updated, I’m again getting messages that I haven’t updated it in a while and yeah, I’ll admit I’ve been lazy and not keeping up with it, but really, since the last post, next to nothing exciting has happened to me. For the last week I’ve been working everyday for long hours and with nothing much in between. Just coming off a few days off where I’ve basically locked myself in my room, played games and movies and basically tried to ignore the world for a few days. Which for the most of it, worked to a degree, but also I discovered emails and social networking messages can pile up quite quickly.

Anyway, for the next few weekends, I’ll be DPing on that Wintec short film that I was asked about nearly at the start of this year and have been planning ever since in between, which included a test shoot that turned out disastrously bad for my mental health and some minor run ins with the heads at Wintec, cause I’m just annoying like that. But yeah, all to be seen.

Meanwhile, some congrats should be mentioned… friend Ross is heading down to Wellington this weekend? Or was it next weekend? I dunno… hell, either way, he’s one of the shortlisted competitor for the… oh great, I forgotten what its called, the um… writer’s initiative? No? Well, either way, it’s a big thing that for some reason I’ve suddenly forgotten what its called, but its totally awesome and all the best of luck to him and his inhumanly creative brain.

And friend Arthur is heading down to Wellington as well in October to attend some student journalism award ceremony for his articles in the Waikato Uni’s Nexus magazine. I’ll possibly be going down with him just to have a weekend away and just get drunk and hobnob the night away. Possibly.

Anyway, hell, that’s all I’ve got for now. Tomorrow is another day of work and as much as I’d like to think that’ll be something to blog about, instead you can have two videos of hilarity…

First, this lady’s answer is just so smart, it makes Einstein look like a douchebag…

And second, something I’d actually love to see in real life, a business meeting, conducted like it were an online message board or something equally trivial.

Yep, slackness in the posting, but I’ve been working a lot again or still, to have enough money next month for a wintec shoot coming up. Actually, the shoot already started on Saturday and got off to a good start. But the schedule is broken down into weekends only, which for me, means a little work in staying consistent in both energy and levels of creativity. But still, I’m looking forward to it.

But let’s see, Saturday night we held a party shindig for flatmate Fabian’s Birthday at the flat and it was pretty cool. Did a lot of setting up of lights and gels beforehand and it was most pretty and a good night overall. Good people were there, lots of drinking to be had and good friend Daisy and Sean came on down from Auckland to drink with, and that made me happy. So did the cute girl on lap, who’s finally getting a mention on this blog.

Then Sunday was old friend Tim’s wedding to his lady Irene and that was a really great lowkey ceremony. Best of all from it was I got to witness quite possibly the best choice of a wedding song ever… Spice Girls… uh… what the hell do you call that song? ziggazigah? Or whatever the hell it is, that, “if you wanna be ma lover” bollocks. Bad song, but that being played for her walk down the aisle, was fried gold.

And also to mention an eeeeeh! to Nick and Sarah for finally giving birth to their way too cute son whom they’ve been keeping track of the pregnancy here, but its still awaiting the cuteness of photos to come. And not to mention last, Dan and Ester, who are in the UK, they too had a baby girl Maddy (did I spell that right?). Everyone is just growing up, aren’t they?

And as for photos, here are some favourites from the party courtesy of the immaculate Petra Jane. There were other people with cameras there, but I’ve yet to track them down. Stupid drinking… actually the photos are all with me, cause I’m a whore for the camera like that. In front and behind.