Despite my last post which looked ANGSTY, last night was AWESOME. I had a blast. Here is last night expressed as a graph:
(I tried a line graph but the formatting was too hard)
Way to go, Last Night.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
4am blogging, oh yeah.
So here's an idea, maybe I should stop referring to every girl i think is kind of cool or could imagine" getting together" with as "my crush". It really doesn't seem to be working for me.
Also (but unrelated), way to go BFFFL for making things wierd.
Finally, what's with the blanking, Lisa? What are we? Nine?
Also (but unrelated), way to go BFFFL for making things wierd.
Finally, what's with the blanking, Lisa? What are we? Nine?
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Making the Video: HWF's "There's Something in My Eye"
So originally I was going to do some scene setting and blog about the rest of the week, and then I remembered that I am lazy. Basically as far as the week up to Saturday goes:
- I went to Richard Buckner but missed Edith Frost. Buckner was cool but I wasn't really in the mood.
- I dropped a paper for uni out of frustration at my own stupidity.
- I went to the dump shop, enjoyed myself immensely
- We built props and stuff, an activity that ranged from 'enjoyable' to 'fucking irritating'
So anyway, I was woken by my alarm at 5am on Saturday. I had gone to sleep approximately 2 hours earlier and was in someone else's bed feeling extremely sick. I got changed and waited for someone to pick me up. At some point we realized the noise outside wasn't a burglar but was in fact Dutchy. I said my goodbyes and headed outside to join him in the freezing pre-dawn. Dutchy and I drove to Emily's where the band was standing round looking nearly as angry as us. After a brief argument we set off for one of the south coast beaches making a coffee and water stop on the way. We pulled out by some park near the sea and I pretty immediately had to get out and puke. I carried on puking on and off as we went about setting up the first shot.
For me, setting up involved choosing a spot to bury Gemma and then proceeding to model a mermaid’s tail out of sand around her buried legs. It was a pretty sweet-as tail if I do say so myself although I'm kind of scared it won't come out on film. After she was set up and the whale repaired we shot a couple of seconds of the whale just hanging out. I didn't realize at the time but those shots were all pretty much unusable because of my involuntary shaking. I'm trying to get the band to reshoot them now. The rest of the time we were there involved a lot of Gemma getting chased from one side of the frame to the other. In purely formal terms these were probably the best shots of the video.
After that we went over to a neighbouring park and shot Emily’s scene. At this point I was REALLY enthusiastic and happy. The shoot went well and luckily I handed the camera over to Matt (meaning I don't have to scrap anything). I also got to run on a giant hamster wheel that didn't actually move.
After we finished there we had a scheduled break so matt and I set off to get supplies and breakfast while the others went back to him and Gemma’s flat. On our way to the stationary place I came up with the seeds for my next rap project: redoing Tommy Ill songs with the last word of each line replaced with "beard". I’d give you an example but I don’t know any lyrics off by heart… YET. It's set to be a chart topper.
Back at Matt's we sat round trying to warm up for a while before setting up for matt's scene. It was at this point that I decided to fix up the whale, finishing the paint job and adding a proper eye. The problem with this was that I’d already suggested that the band members get in their positions (the bed) and it was impossible to get them back out to help me. This meant that me and Dutchy ended up struggling to fix the whale while the band sat in bed complaining. I really should have laid on the smackdown. After about half an hour the paint was dried and we were ready to shoot. Three things stood out from filming this scene: the fact that it took 3x as long as any other scene to shoot (despite the fact it was pretty simple), the fact that Matt COULD NOT STOP GIGGLING no matter how much we yelled, and me yelling at Matt to strip down to his underwear like a professional. The final result wasn't that great but at least I managed to get Matt to lie on the street wearing only a dress shirt, a bow tie and a pair of very revealing undies.
By the time we'd packed up from that scene the lack of sleep was starting to kick in, time became and issue and we ended up rushing into the Hutt to pick out Will and get the last three scenes done by 6.
This is where it all went to shit.
I was hungry, actually I was fucking starving. The intense over-feeding which my parents had subjected me to since my homecoming had stretched my stomach to the extent that I needed continual nourishment, instead I had had a nutritionally unsound McDonalds breakfast as my only meal since 5am. It was now was now 1pm. This, combined with the lack of sleep made relations with others a little rocky. What was worse was the fact that I’d run out of ideas for Will's scene
Emily's scene had been a matter of convenience, we had a playground scene in the script and HEY there was a playground right there. The problem was that that playground scene was meant for Will, not Emily. Originally, Emily was to be eaten while riding a child’s ride-on toy and Will was to be eaten while sleeping in a playground. Once we got to Matt’s parents’ house (which was the base for the rest of the shoot) everyone expected me to go ahead with the original plan and shoot Will’s playground scene. Unfortunately, I had two completely different things on my mind;
1/ EATING
And
2/ Making a good video
Sadly, the band wasn’t in the mood to let me do either. I refused to shoot a second playground scene, seeing that as lame and repetitive, the band refused to let me eat, having decided that time was too tight for luxuries like food. The result was a wasted hour of arguments and shitty filler scenes. Things got pretty heated and bitter so eventually we decided to move our scheduled break forward and to go get some lunch.
Lunch worked pretty well and we all relaxed a little, we gave up on trying to shoot Will’s scene until I came up with a proper idea and instead set about finishing the props for the final scene. At some point someone came up with the idea of shooting wills scene in the mall. I think it was originally a joke but I latched onto it pretty hardcore, I am always in favour of embarrassingly public and confrontational filming. Somewhere round that point we also realized that we weren’t going to have time to shoot all the scenes that day and thus cut Will’s scene from the shooting schedule. Gradually we ended up cutting out all the other scenes as well until we were only left with Hannah’s. Instead, I spent most of the afternoon mixing fake blood with one quick trip to the mall to do some establishing shots. We finally did Hannah’s scene around 6, everything went off surprisingly well and it felt like we were all nicely reconciled. An hour later I was home and packing for my flight.
Makeup 
I (heart) Gemma's ass
- I went to Richard Buckner but missed Edith Frost. Buckner was cool but I wasn't really in the mood.
- I dropped a paper for uni out of frustration at my own stupidity.
- I went to the dump shop, enjoyed myself immensely
- We built props and stuff, an activity that ranged from 'enjoyable' to 'fucking irritating'
So anyway, I was woken by my alarm at 5am on Saturday. I had gone to sleep approximately 2 hours earlier and was in someone else's bed feeling extremely sick. I got changed and waited for someone to pick me up. At some point we realized the noise outside wasn't a burglar but was in fact Dutchy. I said my goodbyes and headed outside to join him in the freezing pre-dawn. Dutchy and I drove to Emily's where the band was standing round looking nearly as angry as us. After a brief argument we set off for one of the south coast beaches making a coffee and water stop on the way. We pulled out by some park near the sea and I pretty immediately had to get out and puke. I carried on puking on and off as we went about setting up the first shot.
For me, setting up involved choosing a spot to bury Gemma and then proceeding to model a mermaid’s tail out of sand around her buried legs. It was a pretty sweet-as tail if I do say so myself although I'm kind of scared it won't come out on film. After she was set up and the whale repaired we shot a couple of seconds of the whale just hanging out. I didn't realize at the time but those shots were all pretty much unusable because of my involuntary shaking. I'm trying to get the band to reshoot them now. The rest of the time we were there involved a lot of Gemma getting chased from one side of the frame to the other. In purely formal terms these were probably the best shots of the video.
After that we went over to a neighbouring park and shot Emily’s scene. At this point I was REALLY enthusiastic and happy. The shoot went well and luckily I handed the camera over to Matt (meaning I don't have to scrap anything). I also got to run on a giant hamster wheel that didn't actually move.
After we finished there we had a scheduled break so matt and I set off to get supplies and breakfast while the others went back to him and Gemma’s flat. On our way to the stationary place I came up with the seeds for my next rap project: redoing Tommy Ill songs with the last word of each line replaced with "beard". I’d give you an example but I don’t know any lyrics off by heart… YET. It's set to be a chart topper.
Back at Matt's we sat round trying to warm up for a while before setting up for matt's scene. It was at this point that I decided to fix up the whale, finishing the paint job and adding a proper eye. The problem with this was that I’d already suggested that the band members get in their positions (the bed) and it was impossible to get them back out to help me. This meant that me and Dutchy ended up struggling to fix the whale while the band sat in bed complaining. I really should have laid on the smackdown. After about half an hour the paint was dried and we were ready to shoot. Three things stood out from filming this scene: the fact that it took 3x as long as any other scene to shoot (despite the fact it was pretty simple), the fact that Matt COULD NOT STOP GIGGLING no matter how much we yelled, and me yelling at Matt to strip down to his underwear like a professional. The final result wasn't that great but at least I managed to get Matt to lie on the street wearing only a dress shirt, a bow tie and a pair of very revealing undies.
By the time we'd packed up from that scene the lack of sleep was starting to kick in, time became and issue and we ended up rushing into the Hutt to pick out Will and get the last three scenes done by 6.
This is where it all went to shit.
I was hungry, actually I was fucking starving. The intense over-feeding which my parents had subjected me to since my homecoming had stretched my stomach to the extent that I needed continual nourishment, instead I had had a nutritionally unsound McDonalds breakfast as my only meal since 5am. It was now was now 1pm. This, combined with the lack of sleep made relations with others a little rocky. What was worse was the fact that I’d run out of ideas for Will's scene
Emily's scene had been a matter of convenience, we had a playground scene in the script and HEY there was a playground right there. The problem was that that playground scene was meant for Will, not Emily. Originally, Emily was to be eaten while riding a child’s ride-on toy and Will was to be eaten while sleeping in a playground. Once we got to Matt’s parents’ house (which was the base for the rest of the shoot) everyone expected me to go ahead with the original plan and shoot Will’s playground scene. Unfortunately, I had two completely different things on my mind;
1/ EATING
And
2/ Making a good video
Sadly, the band wasn’t in the mood to let me do either. I refused to shoot a second playground scene, seeing that as lame and repetitive, the band refused to let me eat, having decided that time was too tight for luxuries like food. The result was a wasted hour of arguments and shitty filler scenes. Things got pretty heated and bitter so eventually we decided to move our scheduled break forward and to go get some lunch.
Lunch worked pretty well and we all relaxed a little, we gave up on trying to shoot Will’s scene until I came up with a proper idea and instead set about finishing the props for the final scene. At some point someone came up with the idea of shooting wills scene in the mall. I think it was originally a joke but I latched onto it pretty hardcore, I am always in favour of embarrassingly public and confrontational filming. Somewhere round that point we also realized that we weren’t going to have time to shoot all the scenes that day and thus cut Will’s scene from the shooting schedule. Gradually we ended up cutting out all the other scenes as well until we were only left with Hannah’s. Instead, I spent most of the afternoon mixing fake blood with one quick trip to the mall to do some establishing shots. We finally did Hannah’s scene around 6, everything went off surprisingly well and it felt like we were all nicely reconciled. An hour later I was home and packing for my flight.
High-powered
Pre-dawn
S.T.R.E.E.T.P.U.K.E.
Immediately post-puke
Gemma's mint-as tail
MakeupGemma's mint-as dong
Mad propz
I (heart) Gemma's ass THE END
Monday, April 16, 2007
The funny thing about blogging real-life events is that your readers are sometimes your characters
Yay! I managed to log in! Blogger does not like my parents' computer for some reason. I think it is that it was made in the 1920's and runs on punch cards. Punch cards are not IBM compatible even though IBM was pretty big on them back in the day.
There has been some stuff happening lately. Mostly it is essay writing but there is other stuff too. On Sunday I STOPPED WRITING for a while and went into Wellington to have a HIGH-POWERED MEETING about the video. I did not get fired like I kind of expected. Instead I had to talk in very concrete, practical terms about the video. It was quite hard. I liked the video in abstract form. Now we have a shooting schedule and I have a to-do list. I combined the two so now my to-do list has entries like "WAKE UP AT 5am" alongside "BUY JEANS" and "Work out how to convey a whale getting it's heart broken at the realization that a mermaid is in fact a person (via a single thought bubble)" It's a pretty good list. I hope I don't miss anything.
Also on Sunday I saw Richard. Richard rules even though he now looks like a Leb. He has the best job in the world driving a jiant elevator shaped like a train. I got to be one of the guys who talks to the tram driver. I always wanted to be one of them. I also found out the old tram driver is a dirty dirty man. That reminded me of Frank, my former work mate who I haven't seen since I quit. He lives on in my memories/anecdotes as a 64 year-old miming the groping of oversized breasts. He was so cool.
After my HIGH-POWERED MEETING I went and baked biscuits with Elizabeth and Hannah. It was kind of wierd because I still felt rushed and so I was not paying much attention to anything. I think it was my fault that the biscuits sucked, I may have accidently added an extra cup of flour. We watched Gilmore Girls but didn't take much in. I am the worst person to watch GG with as I always talk and complain about the people I hate (April, Rory's new friends, Logan, the writers, even Lorelai these days) luckily the others weren't paying much attention so I got away with it. Mussy did not show up which was a bummer, I don't know if i'll be able to see her before I leave.
After baking I went to Matt's and hung out with Gemma before going back to Emily's and watching Band of Brothers and talking about war heroes. Gemily are so awesome, they are the best team ever. I hope The Huxtabelles actually start making music of their own now.
Nothing much else happened, I had to stay at Matt's because the last bus had gone. I had an enjoyable bus ride the next morning.
Since then I have been pretty much on the computer the whole time. I smell pretty bad and have 12 dirty cups/glasses in front of me. I was going to reward myself with a shower after finishing one of essays but now it seems too late in the day. That is pretty gross, huh?
The essay I finished is pretty mint in some bits but will probably only get a C because my teacher is lame and knows more about Martinique than I do. I came up with a pretty cool idea about different forms of authorship and a text's signifgance existing in social relationships but it wasn't very convincing.
Also, I have fallen in love with a 16 year old who lives in Sweden. She makes the best music I have heard in ages. I will try to write something proper about it once I am less busy.
This post would have had photos but I can't find a USB cable.
Have a GIF instead
Please enjoy its hugeness
There has been some stuff happening lately. Mostly it is essay writing but there is other stuff too. On Sunday I STOPPED WRITING for a while and went into Wellington to have a HIGH-POWERED MEETING about the video. I did not get fired like I kind of expected. Instead I had to talk in very concrete, practical terms about the video. It was quite hard. I liked the video in abstract form. Now we have a shooting schedule and I have a to-do list. I combined the two so now my to-do list has entries like "WAKE UP AT 5am" alongside "BUY JEANS" and "Work out how to convey a whale getting it's heart broken at the realization that a mermaid is in fact a person (via a single thought bubble)" It's a pretty good list. I hope I don't miss anything.
Also on Sunday I saw Richard. Richard rules even though he now looks like a Leb. He has the best job in the world driving a jiant elevator shaped like a train. I got to be one of the guys who talks to the tram driver. I always wanted to be one of them. I also found out the old tram driver is a dirty dirty man. That reminded me of Frank, my former work mate who I haven't seen since I quit. He lives on in my memories/anecdotes as a 64 year-old miming the groping of oversized breasts. He was so cool.
After my HIGH-POWERED MEETING I went and baked biscuits with Elizabeth and Hannah. It was kind of wierd because I still felt rushed and so I was not paying much attention to anything. I think it was my fault that the biscuits sucked, I may have accidently added an extra cup of flour. We watched Gilmore Girls but didn't take much in. I am the worst person to watch GG with as I always talk and complain about the people I hate (April, Rory's new friends, Logan, the writers, even Lorelai these days) luckily the others weren't paying much attention so I got away with it. Mussy did not show up which was a bummer, I don't know if i'll be able to see her before I leave.
After baking I went to Matt's and hung out with Gemma before going back to Emily's and watching Band of Brothers and talking about war heroes. Gemily are so awesome, they are the best team ever. I hope The Huxtabelles actually start making music of their own now.
Nothing much else happened, I had to stay at Matt's because the last bus had gone. I had an enjoyable bus ride the next morning.
Since then I have been pretty much on the computer the whole time. I smell pretty bad and have 12 dirty cups/glasses in front of me. I was going to reward myself with a shower after finishing one of essays but now it seems too late in the day. That is pretty gross, huh?
The essay I finished is pretty mint in some bits but will probably only get a C because my teacher is lame and knows more about Martinique than I do. I came up with a pretty cool idea about different forms of authorship and a text's signifgance existing in social relationships but it wasn't very convincing.
Also, I have fallen in love with a 16 year old who lives in Sweden. She makes the best music I have heard in ages. I will try to write something proper about it once I am less busy.
This post would have had photos but I can't find a USB cable.
Have a GIF instead
Please enjoy its hugeness
Thursday, April 12, 2007
You know that Family Guy episode where Lassie is interrupted with subliminal messages of that bald guy telling you to smoke? Well I hear his voice now and it is very convincing.
Stupid being home and unable to smoke...
I blame coffee and cream for being too delicious.
I think once I'm done with these essays i'll start doing proper blogs with structure and meaning and stuff.
But in the meantime...
Man, Liam Finn's new stuff is actually AMAZING.
And Here's a List:
Five Favorite Songs Downloaded This Week:
6: Screamin' Jay Hawkins - Hong Kong
5: Raffi - Banana Phone
4: The Four Tops - Duke of Earl
3: Men Without Hats - Safety Dance
2: Roy Orbison - Crying
1: Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody
Unchained Melody is actually the greatest song ever.
Stupid being home and unable to smoke...
I blame coffee and cream for being too delicious.
I think once I'm done with these essays i'll start doing proper blogs with structure and meaning and stuff.
But in the meantime...
Man, Liam Finn's new stuff is actually AMAZING.
And Here's a List:
Five Favorite Songs Downloaded This Week:
6: Screamin' Jay Hawkins - Hong Kong
5: Raffi - Banana Phone
4: The Four Tops - Duke of Earl
3: Men Without Hats - Safety Dance
2: Roy Orbison - Crying
1: Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody
Unchained Melody is actually the greatest song ever.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Monday, April 9, 2007
What is fucking lame
Do you know what is fucking lame? Coming home for the first time in months and having to spend the whole time writing about Caribbean folktales. Now I don't just feel guilty for not working enough but also for not seeing friends enough. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.
Saturday night was pretty sweet though.
And I am building a whale tonight.
Saturday night was pretty sweet though.
And I am building a whale tonight.
What are you doing?
Listening to Myspace jug bands.
Listening to Myspace jug bands.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
I have an essay due tomorrow and it is NOT WORKING. I think I will sleep and worry about it in the morning.
I was checking if the photographer who took my myspace photo (the manatee one) had a myspace and accidently invited her to join. Shame. Now she will know that I used her photo without permssion. I guess that's what the internet is all about though.
I almost made a witty observation but then found out it had been made before.
I was checking if the photographer who took my myspace photo (the manatee one) had a myspace and accidently invited her to join. Shame. Now she will know that I used her photo without permssion. I guess that's what the internet is all about though.
I almost made a witty observation but then found out it had been made before.
Monday, April 2, 2007
Hey Chris, how much do you wish you were born pretty much any time before 1850?
Pretty much %100.
Also, how bad do you wish you could ride a musk ox to work?
So bad it hurts.
I think I might buy like a sheep skin or hopefully some cooler animal's skin and wear that all the time.
Till I smell.
And people steer their children away from me on the street.
And I get chased out of town by villagers.
Speaking of smell, Auckland smelled really really good today. Like I actually walked to school sniffing the whole way. I tried to be real subtle but some people were probably like, "Is he sniffing me!?" I wasn't sniffing anyone. At one point I walked past this homeless guy and I was really scared I'd smell him and he'd totally ruin my smellscape. Luckily he was far away. He might not have been homeless anyway. Just a dude who likes trackpants and not shaving.
Top 3 Smells Identified by Chris on His Way to School Today:
1) Honey (I know, what the fuck smells like honey?)
2) Tar
3) Autumn
Top 3 Goo-Goo Dolls Fansite Names:
1) Addicted to Goo
2) The GooHive (from NZ)
3) Enter the Goo
Pretty much %100.
Also, how bad do you wish you could ride a musk ox to work?
So bad it hurts.
I think I might buy like a sheep skin or hopefully some cooler animal's skin and wear that all the time.
Till I smell.
And people steer their children away from me on the street.
And I get chased out of town by villagers.
Speaking of smell, Auckland smelled really really good today. Like I actually walked to school sniffing the whole way. I tried to be real subtle but some people were probably like, "Is he sniffing me!?" I wasn't sniffing anyone. At one point I walked past this homeless guy and I was really scared I'd smell him and he'd totally ruin my smellscape. Luckily he was far away. He might not have been homeless anyway. Just a dude who likes trackpants and not shaving.
Top 3 Smells Identified by Chris on His Way to School Today:
1) Honey (I know, what the fuck smells like honey?)
2) Tar
3) Autumn
Top 3 Goo-Goo Dolls Fansite Names:
1) Addicted to Goo
2) The GooHive (from NZ)
3) Enter the Goo
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