Thursday, August 24, 2006

Mondo Mountain Goats!

[#] posted at 3:33 am (GMT +1200)

Huzzah! The new Mountain Goats album, Get Lonely, is finally out so go get your copy and listen to it three dozen times and know the lyrics and the notes and the beats cause there will be a quiz later on and yeah, its worth using up your time for.

The music video to "Woke Up New" is now downloadable in higher res from the director himself here.

Even better, I've just found this resource site where they've compiled MP3 of the Mountain Goats' live preformances over the past years. It's a huge library and my mouth is still drooling at the prospects of listening to so much of Darnielle live. Get shows from as far back as 1994 here.

Labels: ,

* * *

Short Cuts

[#] posted at 3:20 am (GMT +1200)

This week we're filming a bunch of 2 minute short films... on film. Pretty exciting stuff, we get to work with some actual professionals, have really huge crews, each working on itty bitty tiny little details here and there and generally have a good time... most of the time. Only real issue is the really shitty weather we're having to put up with. Really bloody cold.

I'm one of 12 in the writer/directors course that have been picked to shoot on film and I'm getting to go luckly last. By then people are going to be burnt out and can't wait to end the week, so luckily my set ups and everything aren't going to take long. That's my goal for the day, be the fastest shoot of the lot. Don't matter about quality. Just fast turnaround television.

* * *

Thursday, August 17, 2006

The Mountain Goats - Woke Up New music video

[#] posted at 10:36 pm (GMT +1200)

Celebrate! For the new Mountain Goats album 'Get Lonely' will be released next week, but in the meantime, all should check out this new totally awesome music video directed by Rian Johnson, who recently directed the film "Brick" which is one of the many films that played at this years film festival, but missed cause I'm a broke ass student... enjoy!


Labels: ,

* * *

Aphex Twin and Windows

[#] posted at 10:15 pm (GMT +1200)

Being affixed to the wonders of Wikipedia, I came across a page on Aphex Twin and in particular, the Windowlicker single and discovered that the end of the second track, if played and viewed through a spectrogram, you can see the face of Aphex Twin himself. It's a crazy image that plays for just 10 seconds, but it's really cool. To see a sample of it, this guy's page here has all the details.

Meanwhile, deadlines loom and pass over at school as I've yet to turn over a script for a short film to be made at the end of the year. It's like the wonderful life of a real writer as people start demanding to see pages and results and you do your best to justify the delay.

Thusfar, I've been able to come up with a multitude of ideas and storylines and characters etc... but have yet to settle on one that I actually like and am willing to further develop. So this weekend I'm setting myself a goal to get at least one script done by Sunday, else... screw it, else nothing, I gotta write something.

Oh yeah, and a minor happy thing, Microsoft have finally released the hotfix for Windows being unable to hibernate due to "insufficient system resources exist to complete the API". Been waiting almost a year for the bastard and you can finally download it here.

* * *

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Don Hertzfeldt is soon here

[#] posted at 9:49 pm (GMT +1200)

Okay, I'm poor, very poor, being a student sucks more than it used to so many years ago. But that's still not gonna stop me from pre-ordering the Don Hertzfeldt DVD now available for pre-order through his site.

Collecting his animated short films I've laughed countless times at with a bunch of extra features and on a shiny disc, you too can soon own the goodness by ordering it here.

* * *

Children of Men trailer

[#] posted at 9:46 pm (GMT +1200)

Have been pointed to say that the trailer for Alfonso Cuarón's "Children of Men" is out and it looks to be a very good looking film indeed. Hi res trailer downloadable here.

Labels:

* * *

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

YouTube Crazy

[#] posted at 8:35 pm (GMT +1200)

Having become completely addicted to YouTube, I've found myself watching clips, lots of clips, of the Daily Show. It's unfortunate that we don't get it here in New Zealand, it's definitely one of the best shows on. Funny and informative at the same time, it actually provides an objective view to the american news and media. Just search it on Youtube and you shall be rewarded.

Meanwhile, I also found this video on a journalist story which is both scary and true and makes me even more wary of working in such a field.

* * *

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Ugh and Shadows

[#] posted at 7:57 pm (GMT +1200)

Feeling like crap after a night of beer and rum. But look, shadow puppets! Everything is going to be all right.

* * *

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Sam Barnes, 1977-2006

[#] posted at 9:58 pm (GMT +1200)

Just got back from a brief visit to Hamilton, attending the funeral of the extraordinary Sam Barnes. I met Sam during my stint at uni doing the screen and media course and instantly fell in love the guy, which wasn't hard, as Sam was one of those guys that instantly got along with anyone and everyone. I wont say much else about him, but he is sorely missed by all and was taken away from us far too quickly. Goodbye Sam.

If anyone is interested in reading a bit about him and his final months, or just wants to drop a word to his friends and family, you can read his blog here.

* * *

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Geeks Concert

[#] posted at 8:57 pm (GMT +1200)

"PLAY! A Video Game Symphony is a world touring symphony orchestra that plays arranged music from video games." It's also freakin' awesome.

There is like all this different tracks from all these different classic games from Sonic to Metal Gear to Mario to Halo and of course... Final Fantasy. There are some clips on YouTube from the concerts and to hear a full orchestra playing and singing 'One-Winged Angel' from Final Fantasy VII is a very geekish thing to be drooling over, but screw it, I love my games.

And the best thing about it... they're aparently gonna tour New Zealand. No dates released yet, but Australia and New Zealand are listed on their tour and by jove, they better stick to it.

Titles listed in the offical program:

1 PLAY! A Video Game Symphony - Fanfare - Nobuo Uematsu
2 Final Fantasy VIII - Liberi Fatali - Nobuo Uematsu
3 Super Mario Bros. - Suite - Koji Kondo
4 Shenmue and Shenmue II - Sedge Tree - Takenobu Mitsuyoshi
5 Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 2 - Suite - Joel Eriksson, David Tallroth, Fredrik Englund, Jonas Östholm, Bence Pajor
6 Final Fantasy VII - Aerith's Theme - Nobuo Uematsu
7 Sonic the Hedgehog - Suite - Masato Nakamura
8 Metal Gear Solid - Main Theme - Tappy Iwase, Kazuki Muraoka
9 Kingdom Hearts - Suite - Yoko Shimomura, Utada Hikaru
10 The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - Suite - Jeremy Soule
11 Final Fantasy series - Swing de Chocobo - Nobuo Uematsu
12 Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross - Suite - Yasunori Mitsuda
13 World of Warcraft - Suite - Jason Hayes
14 Silent Hill 2 - Theme of Laura - Akira Yamaoka
15 Halo - Suite - Martin O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori
16 The Legend of Zelda - Suite - Koji Kondo
17 Final Fantasy VII - One-Winged Angel - Nobuo Uematsu

* * *

Monday, August 07, 2006

Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny Trailer

[#] posted at 5:13 pm (GMT +1200)

Awesomeness... here.

Labels:

* * *

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Electric Boogaloo

[#] posted at 9:43 pm (GMT +1200)

Goddamn school is driving me nuts. They expect you to make a 3 minute short film called "The Meeting" within the space of half an afternoon and make it about two characters in seperate eviroments and meeting at some point... and make it good.

Actually, that wasn't so hard, except the equipment issued out was screwed and we didn't figure this out til an hour into the shoot and by the time we chased the problem back to school and got it fixed, there was only two hours left to shoot. And being the supreme genius that I am, I wrote a script involving multiple set ups, multiple locations and yada yada yada... and miraculously, it would have almost turned out alright. Had we not lost that one hour, we would have got the interiors shot and had a begining and an ending to the film. Instead, we got a middle filled with funky lights and dreamlike realities. Which look really cool, but pretty pointless when not put into context.

Returning to school, we were told that there will be no reshoots, it's all the camera operators fault and although I got pretty damn pissed off for a while (haven't been that angry in a long time actually), I'm not blaming anyone and have figured out a way to salvage the footage we've got.

I call it "The Meeting 2: Electric Boogaloo"

Labels:

* * *

Trailers

[#] posted at 9:39 pm (GMT +1200)

Two favourites being adapted have finally got trailers up.

First up is the Scorsese remake of "Infernal Affairs", now titled "The Departed". Was skeptic at first, but my faith had waned and now I'm healed. Free us lord Martin! Trailer downloadable here.

Second, the screen adaptation of James Ellroy's "The Black Dahlia". One of my altime favourite books, being done by Brian De Palma and secretly, I wanted to make this some day, but meh... there is always Stardust. Oh wait... trailer here.

Labels:

* * *