Merry Christmas all.

No smartass comments, no philosophical debates, no rage fuelled rants.

Merry Christmas to everyone.

Knock Knock

So I was woken up at ten this morning by cats.

No big deal. 10's a reasonable sleep in. and normally, I'd agree with you. Except I stayed up till 4 finishing a movie.

Knock knock was part of the Shooting Spree last august. It was just a silly once off that Tony and I had a blast filming. There's continuity gaffs galore, and I think we had more fun filming it than anyone will have watching it, but I like it. Also, it's nice to have something else finished.

Here it is. Enjoy.

HorrorFlix and Customer Service

So the movie that will never end is getting another couple steps towards completion.

I took this weekend off from work - and there seems to be a whole 'nother story in THAT - so we could try and get some filming done. First up, on Saturday, we finally got together to go a shoot the last few shots we needed for HorrorFlix. It was just meant to be a couple of fill in shots, but I was watching the final edit, and felt it needed something. So I came up with a couple quick and simple ideas which we shot with the full intention that, if they didn't work, we'd just cut them out. Luckily, they worked. I've managed to edit all together, and it works really well. Good God, I think we've got a movie.

Secondly, I can up with a silly idea earlier this week that Tony and I shot today. Earlier this year, we tried to shoot a Trop Fest movie, based on Tony's comic character Black Sparrow. Due to unforeseen events, we never go that shot. We got kicked out of the location. After that, I tried beefing up the script to re try later. While I was writing, I came up with this silly idea about Shrink Ray's. Fast forward to know, and I managed to turn that one throwaway line into a complete idea. We shot Tony's part of it today, which was a real challenge. The script was completely dialogue based, which is new for us. IT took us about 5 hours, plus about an hour and ten minutes of tape to shoot 7 pages of script, which equates about 7 mins of screen time. It was also a trick for me, as I have only ever shot one dialogue scene before, and I cocked that up completely. So it will be interesting to see how this turns out.

By the way. Work sucks.

The bane of Celebrity

I hate doing caricatures.

First up, I can't pronounce the word. Don't ever ask me to say it, because I just can not get the damn thing out of my mouth.

Secondly, I just don't like drawing them. Trying to get all the subtle nuances of a persons face just right, but also trying to enhance and slightly lampoon then at the same time is just freaking mind bending.

So what did I say when when I was offered a job of drawing six celebrity caricatures?

What do you think?

An Australian movie called. . .

This may be just me, but that new 'Australia' movie makes me grow a big rubbery one.

Seriously, I just could not care less. Part of it could possibly be the fact of working in a cinema and having seen the trailer and the advertising to the point where it's seared into my DNA. But the thing is, it just does not capture my attention. One bit.

OK, first up. Being a kid in the 80's, every time there was a rainy sport day at school, they would put on some Classic Aussie film. Thanks to the doco 'not quite Hollywood', I have since found out that there were a slate of great Aussie action, thriller and Horror movies made during the 70's and 80's in Australia. Unfortunately, these weren't the ones we were shown. Instead, we got to see things like 'Picnic at Hanging Rock" and "We of the Never Never". Dramas and love story's. Nothing says riveting entertainment to an 8 - 10 year old boy like a story about one woman's struggle for Independence in a foreign land. So, the imagery that they are trying to sell this film with - The dirt, the trees, the rocks, the aboriginals in traditional dress - sends me straight to sleep.

Secondly, the incredibly hard sell this film is getting. It is completely being shoved down our throats. As I sat he writing this, three ads have been on TV promoting it. And I'm a fast typer!! It's now part of the station call sign on channel 9. So every time they go to a new show, or promo a new show, or tell you what show you're now watching, what show you could be watching, what show you might have been watching and what show you probably shouldn't be watching, you get a quick Australia ad shoved down your throat. It's getting to the point where they almost seem like they are insisting you see this film.

Lastly, the pressure this film is putting on itself. It's the most expensive Australian film ever produced, at a time when hardly ANY Aussie film is being produced. Most of the film's financing is coming from the Aussie Film Finance Commission, of FFC. This film is meant to save the Australian Film Industry. That is, of course, if it's a hit. This thing doesn't turn a huge profit, and that's pretty much it for Aussie film. For a long time at least. No, for a guy who is trying to get into the film industry and is dating a girl who also works in the film Industry, that's not a pleasant thought. But that's not where it ends. The film is also supposed to reinvigorate the Aussie tourism industry, as well as re educating Australia and the world about large chunks of Aussie history that is seemingly forgotten. Personally, I knew about most of this stuff. But then again, I also seem to be in possession of some common sense, a trait so rare now days it's considered a Superpower.

All of this aside, even if the above wasn't present for the film, I still don't think I'd be too thrilled by it. The story just doesn't interest me. I mean, some rich, upper class English chick meets up with a lower class, roughneck whom she clashes with, develops a bond with and then falls in love with. Then something bad happens and the fight their way through it. Then Hugh dies. Or doesn't. I dunno, it depends on which ending they're using. You replace the dust with Ice, and it's just Titanic all over again. And didn't we have enough of that the first time around?

Yeah, I should probably wait and see it before I start passing judgement. Maybe I'm just pissed off that the biggest film this season is something I just don't care about. I'm used to a slew of big films coming out over Christmas, and this year there's sweet FA. Maybe that's getting my goat more than anything.

Oh yeah. That "Day the Earth stood still" remake is REALLY going to suck.

Can you hear?

When the city screams out for Justice,

answer back with a whisper.

on the flip side

There are things that make the rest of it worthwhile.

Stuck in the middle with you

OK, so I'm at a little bit of a low point right now.

Ness found this great job on the web for me. Creative Artworker. Film industry. Doing DVD covers. Must love films. Perfect.

We went through so much for my application. Ness completely rewrote my resume. She wrote and updated my cover letter. I redesigned my resume to be a bit more eye catching. We sent it in. I called to make sure it arrived. Expressed my interest. Sent in some work examples. Everything and anything I thought might get me at least an interview.

I just got a response from this women. Wouldn't even accept me for an interview. No other feedback.

What the fuck does it take now? Jesus H Christ!! I've been applying for jobs for the last 18 months or so, and I think I've had two interviews. One was only with a fucking agency for Christ's sake!! Jesus!! All I want to do is talk to these people, show them who I am, what I can do. I'm so fucking sick of this! SHIT!!

And on top of all that, I still haven't found a place to live. I can't even get to the inspection stage with that either! They post the ad on the web, you call up straight away, and they either dick you around for four days until the property isn't available any more, or they leased it just before posting the fucking ad!

All I want is just a decent job and a place to live! Is that too much to ask!!! I'm 34 fucking years old, I've been working since I was 17, I've studied, I've got degrees, certificates, experience, I've actually gone out of my way to get experience in as many different facets as possible. But no one will even interview me, let alone hire me. So I continue to be stuck in this shitty cinema, for crap pay, which takes away all of my options for finding a place to live, because I just can't afford to pay what it takes to get a somewhat decent place! I don't even want anything flash. Just neat, reasonably clean, a kitchen and a bathroom. It's a basic human right to have somewhere to live, why is this so difficult!!

I'm too old for this shit, I really am. This is crap you do when you're 24, not 34. I should be past all of this. Why am I at this point? I'd blame Paula, except it would mean I'd have to acknowledge the moronic little bitches existence.

I've had it. I don't want to play anymore.

The Affirmation

I will have:

A nice, neat studio apartment, 20-30 mins from work and Ness, with a decent kitchen, a clean, tidy bathroom with shower, windows, solid door, private and secure. I will have somewhere to park my car where I don't have to worry about it, be it street or otherwise. It will cost me $180 a week in rent.

I will have this within the next 5 weeks, or before my room mates depart.

I will have the chance to live by myself in my own place, free to have my friends over, to allow Ness to stay whenever she likes and not have to stay within the confines of 'My Room'.

I will have room enough for my bed, my computer table, my drawing table, my TV and components and be able to hang my paintings.

I will have my own space where I can be free to live how I want, rather than always have to be altering my behaviour to fit in with other people's expectations.

This is not asking too much.

Who watches the Watchmen?

I DO!!!!!!!

Well, twenty minute of it at least.

If you're a regular reader, you'd have heard that I don't like my job. Bunch of reason I couldn't be bothered going into right now. However, every now and then, a perk will come along that almost makes up for all the other crap I deal with.

This was one of those perks.

Director Zack Synder is in Australia at the moment, working with a visual effects company on his next project. Guardians of Gilgemesh or something. I dunno, I honestly wasn't paying attention to that part. Zack's current project, however, is the film adaption of "Watchmen", the Graphic novel of Graphic Novels. This is my movie of next year. I'm looking forward to this like no other. So when I found out that we were having a special presentation at work, which included a Q and A with Zack himself and 20 minutes of movie footage, to say I was a little excited is like saying episodes 1-3 were kinda disappointing.

First up, Spoiler alert. I'm about to give away some stuff from the film. If you don't want to know, STOP READING!!!

The footage was in three main sections. There was the opening and title sequence of the film, Dr. Manhattan's origin and history and the jail break. If you've read the book, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

The first part I saw was the Opening and title sequence. The film starts with Edward Blake, AKA The comedian, sitting at home, watching the TV when someone bursts through the door. A fight ensues, one that the comedian comes out the wrong side of. He then gets thrown through a window and plummets to the city street below. This is the event that sets up the whole film, and it's handled beautifully. The fight is fleshed out a lot more than it is in the comic, although there are shots that are taken directly from the comic. One thing I picked up was on the wall of the apartment. A painting hanging there that the comedian gets thrown into is an old glamour painting of the original Silk Spectre. The Comedian having this hanging in his place has a special significance which, if you don't know the story, I'm not going to give away here. When he gets thrown out the window, there is a moment of Zack's trademark slow fast slow motion trick, during which we get a quick close up of the smiley face button which is so significant to the imagery of the film. I know a lot of people were worried about that, but don't be. It works.

After that, they played the title sequence for the film. Big deal, right? Title sequence, so what? If you're a fan of the book, this is going to be one of your favourite parts of the film. This, in a very stylized way, is essentially the history of the superheroes in this reality. It's also a lot of moments that, although they were mentioned in the book, there's never been a visual representation of any of it before. Moments like Dollar Bill's Death or the Silhouette's murder. This will make sense later to non fans. It seems to also show how the inclusion of Superheroes has altered the history of this world. For instance, the plane that drops the bomb on Hiroshima is now called the Sally Jupiter, which is Silk Spectre's real name. I was buzzing like nothing else every time one of these shots came up. The whole title sequence is a fan boy heaven.

The next sequence they showed was Dr Manhattan's origin and History. This segment is essentially Chapter four in the book and is one of the moments I was looking forward to the most. It wasn't till after and I went back and looked at the book that I realised how much they left out of this sequence, because it covered it all perfectly. It's done int the exact same style as it is written in the book. It starts with Manhattan, on Mars, looking at an old photo of him before the accident and a girl named Janey Slater. He starts going back through his history that led him to the point. It covers all of it. The job at Gilla Flats, meeting Janey, Wally weaver - who has been merged with the character of Dr Glass I noticed - The accident, him recreating himself, being with Janey, becoming a Superhero and a crime fighter which includes a scene of the Doc taking care of some gangster type in an extraordinarily gruesome way - I don't want to ruin it for you. It moves forward to Doc ending the hostilities in Vietnam and America winning that war, meeting The Comedian, meeting the other heroes, meeting the new Silk Spectre, Janey walking out on him - you name it. If it was in Chapter four of the book, it was in this sequence. This was obviously an early render, because a lot of the effects weren't completed. Doc looks great though. They seemed to have done him really well.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, Zack has stuck EXACTLY to the comic in regards to Doc Manhattan. So, if nothing else, this movie will go down in history as the first film featuring a bright blue, digitally rendered Superheroes dick in it. The sequence ends with Manhattan creating his little palace on mars. This was no where near finished, but it still looked pretty amazing.

The last bit was the shortest. It was the Jail break. Once again, huge moment in the film. It starts with Nite Owl 2 and Silk Specter 2 in the Owl ship, having just had sex. Watchmen was the first book to really make mention of the Kinky Connotations of Superheroes. I mean let's face it. Superheroes are essentially people who dress up in Kink suits and dominate lesser people. Anyhow, Nite Owl and Silk Spectre break into the jail while there is a riot going on. They have to make their way through a sea of crims in order to find Rorschach. This features a fight scene that reminds you very much of some of the battle scenes in 300, with the whole sped up, slowed down styling. Once again, it works. They finally track down Rorschach, who has rather conveniently managed to get his costume and mask back. He's chasing an old Crime boss named Big Figure, who is a midget. Rorschach has just cornered him in the men's room when Owl and Silk find him. This was the only time we got to see Rorschach's mask effect, and it wasn't finished. At least I hope it wasn't finished. Owl and Silk wait some what patiently while they believe Rorschach is visiting the loo. He comes out and they walk off, followed by a great moment that is taken straight from the Graphic Novel.

This whole sequence was drastically shortened from the novel, and turned into more of an action sequence. I get the feeling they do that with the tenement fire as well. Rorschach sounds pretty good, except there seems to be a little of the same thing that maligned Sin City in the way he talks. Just because it works in a comic, doesn't mean it translates to the real world. Of course, I only heard him say four lines. But hard to make a judgement call based on that.

After that, there was a brief montage of completed clips from the film. Like I said earlier, I got to watch it three times, so I picked up on a few things. One of which was Silk and Manhattan walking through a scene of devastation, which seems to me like it came from the end in New York. Also, Ozymandias looks a bit better in context with the film. He looks way to young in the promo photos they released of him, but he fits here.

Oh yeah. The ending. There's been a LOT of speculation on the web about what has happened to the ending. Namely, the rumors have been saying that Zack has changed the ending. This was covered as bluntly but cryptically as could be during the Q and A. What Zack said was that the ending is the Watchmen ending, but the device for that ending has been changed. This was one of the battles he had to chose to get the movie made the way it needed to be made. What does that mean? Again, this is one for the fans of the novel, but my translation is there's no monster. That had to be replaced with something else. Which, in my mind, is a small thing. Admittedly, I was looking forward to seeing that scene replicated, but I think it was more important to retain the tone and the meaning, rather than a specific visual.

All in all, I was thrilled with the job that had been done on the film. For non fans, this is going to be a great film. You're not going to have to have read the book to know whats going on, and so you won't feel like you're the only one who didn't get the joke. As for the fans, There is one thing I can say to you. Relax. Zack has NAILED this. This is the film every fan of Watchmen has been waiting for. You may not see your favourite panel, or hear your favourite line. But you will see Watchmen, the story as it is know and as it has been told represented up there on the big screen. I for one am more excited than ever in anticipation for this movie. I pretty much can guarantee you won't be disappointed.

And on the flip side, I managed to get my copy of Watchmen signed and gave Zack a couple of my comics for him to read. So who knows? Maybe after seeing the mother of all Graphic Novels on the screen, we might one day see the worlds greatest Aussie superhero robotic rabbit up there as well!

Every tail has a begining . . .

That's a play on words on the title, before I get any comments about using the wrong spelling.

I'd thought I'd lost this. I was going through some stuff at my parents place and found it. This is the original drawing I did of RoboToon way back in 1989. You can see the heavy influence of the original Robocop on him.

This drawing is nearly twenty years old. I think that makes it officially an antique. It's amazing how much my drawing has changed since then. But, after twenty years of practice, you'd want to hope so! If I remember rightly, it took me a couple weeks work to do this. I think I managed to convince a couple of teachers it was for an assignment so I could draw in class. Seems like I was getting in trouble for that even then!

I never would have imagined that this guy would have still been with me after so long. Back then, it was just a silly idea that made me laugh. But then again, aren't they all?

More of the Bunny

I recently - before my untimely eviction notice - invested in a new A3 Scanner. Most of my art is done art A3 or close sizes, so it made sense. I've been making the most of it, much to the chagrin of my rapidly depleting storage space. I've mentioned before that I've started work on RoboToon 3.

So, for your viewing pleasure, here's the first, opening splash page of Robotoon, Issue 3.

Enjoy.

Help me! I'm Homeless!!

So I get home last Friday night and my flatmates need to talk to me. Never a good sign.

It seems that Glen and Therese have had enough of Sydney and are getting out. Way out. Mudgee out. Now, this is not something I begrudge them. Not at all. Sydney is getting rather difficult to deal with. Jobs are getting scarce, Traffic is a freaking nightmare, and the sky rocketing rent prices are getting ridiculous. Part of me envies them some. My friends Chris and Amie moved out to Wagga over 2 years ago know I think, and they're lives have just gone up and up. I have it in my head to take off up to Wagga as well and try my luck out there, except it wouldn't be in my Girlfriends best interests to drag her along and I'm not going anywhere without her.

Sorry Steve.

So they've made a life choice that's the best for them, and power to them. Best of luck, really. But it's left me in a little bit of a lurch. There are four people living in this house. Three are leaving. Which only make sense that I have to leave as well. And as I stated earlier, real estate in Sydney - sucks. It's either too expensive, to far away, or too similar in conditions to a Nazi Death Camp. At least they had showers! All right, yeah. Bad taste.

So, as I pack up my belongings and anxiously search for a room, I can feel that cold, dead feeling in the pit of my stomach that always shows it's head when I don't have a plan. I like new things and I like change. I actually need it every now and then. But I HATE no knowing! I hate it when things are so up in the air like this.

So yeah. I have about 6 weeks to find a new home. So far, things aren't going to well. So I need all the luck I can get. If you have a God, please pray to him for me. If not, can you borrow someone else's?

Random Me-ness

I haven't put any images on this for a while, so here's a bunch.

My Midnight Trip to Wagga - The start.

After 3 hours driving

The Underfiend

Miss Liana

Ed Wood - Fearless Monster Hunter

Me and Vanessa's Dad, Bill, clowning around.




The Prettiest girl in the world.

The Screening

Apologies for the shitty title but it's all I could come up with. My insistence on starting every title in the Mythicman blog with The something-or-other seems to crossed over to infect this blog.

So, if you've been paying attention, I went to a lot of effort and nervousness and heartache over something called The Trasharama a go go film festival. IT was my first ever entry into a film fest, and I was incredibly nervous about it as i anticipated the release of the final shortlist. I was also incredibly gutted when my film didn't make it in. Oh well, I thought, I guess it just wasn't up to the standard of film they were expecting. I'll try harder next year, I thought. Lousy, mother fucking, tasteless cunts, I thought.

One of the upsides of entering was that I got a free pass to go to the screening of the final films. There were only two in Sydney, one at the Paddington RSL, which apparently, only 8 people showed up for. The second was at a place called Mu Messons in Annandale. They are some sort of independent, obscure, small time movie house. There's a lot of way's to describe them, but the easiest and most descriptive is to say some "non conformist", which translates to mean pretentious, inner city toss pots stuck up a sheet and some lawn furniture in their attic and show movies that don't got shown anywhere else simply because no one want to see the damn things. I would have missed the damn place if I didn't see a bunch of guys mulling about the bottom of the stairs with trasharama T-shirt's on who were passing a dooche on the left hand side.

So, after going in, and getting through the confusion of "Free ticket", I found a seat close to the screen and got comfy, waiting for the films to commence. While I was waiting, they showed a trailer for an upcoming feature they were going to present, from the Great Insert-name-I've-never-heard-of. If this guy is "great", then I'll quite happily settle for mediocrity. The film seemed to consist of some overly fat guy eating, puking, fake blood, pissing off dogs, proving himself to be a loser and getting berated by everyone he passes. Then it's revealed to be the auto biography of the director. This is the life these clowns are aspiring too? Jesus.

Enough with the preliminaries, and on to the main event. The films finally started, after of course having to listen to the owner of the venue slagging off Greater Union with every second breath, which makes me think "Ex-Employee", and then the obligatory speech by the creator of Tropfest. He demonstrated his dedication to his festival by showing a tattoo of the Trasharma zombie cheerleader character across his entire back. HE stuttered, rambled, lost his place, shared a few private jokes with his Entourage, and then finally shut the fuck up long enough to let them start the films. The first one was called, I think, Rabbit rage. It was about a guy who was being stalked and haunted in his house by a pet rabbit. In all honesty, I've seen worse. But then things took an abrupt downhill slide. The next one was called Money Shot, which was a 15 sec, stop motion animated porno that ended with, you guessed it, a Money Shot! The wasn't anything after that that really upped the ante - or the quality for that matter. One film was called the day I got Sacked, which just consisted of a guy being beaten up by a giant cartoon pair of testicles.

I swear, I'm not making this shit up.

One film was just a couple of action figures moved about in front of the camera wit shitty cardboard sets. Another was a just a drag show with a gore screen. Another was a rip off or Re-animator. The only reason I could come up with for my film not making it through is that it was good! I actually put a bit of effort into my film, which, I'm sure If I read the fine print I would have seen it, is not something that is appreciated in this Fest.

When Intermission finally came around, I was half tempted to make a run for it. No, I thought, I'll give it a chance, maybe all the good ones are in the second half. Damn me for my optimistic ways. All in all, the entire night was shit. I just kept thinking how glad I was that Tony and Vanessa didn't come along, because they would have had to have paid, and Tony I know would have made a scene trying to get his money back.

About the only thing I got out of the night was the realisation that I never want to waste my time making another film for Trasharama. Which actually really shits me, because there just doesn't seem to be a film festival anywhere around that cater to my interests in film making. I can't stick my head far enough up my own ass to be considered for Tropfest, yet I actually endeavour to make my films as high quality and entertaining as I can, which means I'll never be considered for Trasharama.

Useless pricks.

Another step closer. . .

So I turned 34 yesterday.

I think I preferred 33. There's a bit of synchronicity to it. 34 sounds like you're counting towards something.

I had lunch with my parents and my Pretty Girl, helped dad out with some farm stuff, went for a drive, then sat and watched an old Hitchcock film while Ness slept in my arms. Ness gave me this great book on short film making, and her parents and sister gave me the Marvel Encyclopedia. Mum and dad gave me a huge warm and cosy jacket - lousy timing considering its going into Summer - and a t-shirt they picked up in New York. And I had a truck load of emails from friends on Facebook.

Then today, I received the review of the second issue of Robotoon, which was once again really positive.

Not a bad day on any accounts.

Is this how it ends?

If you've been reading this thing, or just listening to me bitch, you'd have heard how much I hate my job. The biggest reasons are 1) I'm bored, 2) There's no future in it, and 3) the bullshit, hypocritical management style. Recently though, things have been coming to a head. Because of the writers strike in Hollywood a few months back, there's sweet fuck all on at the movies at the moment. This is evident by how much emphasis they put on the release of "House Bunny" of all fucking things. So, no product mean no patrons. No patrons means the company isn't making any money. OR at least, not as much as they used to. With this in mind, the company has been making a whole bunch of "cost cutting methods" and putting them into play. This includes things like only turning on one light in two. Only putting on the bare minimum of staff. Cutting the starting times of shifts so they don't have to pay as much. Stupid shit like that.

What's been worrying me is shift culling. I'm casual. I need 5 shifts a week to survive. They know that. I've told them that. Unfortunately, this isn't just some weekend thing, second job or distraction between uni classes. This is how I survive. This is my only source of income. I am completely dependant on the company for my current financial stability. This is a simple fact of my life at the moment that I REALLY FUCKING HATE!!!!!!!!

I got a message from my boss today, cancelling my shift on Monday. This was because of an order from the Higher ups. I didn't see it coming, my boss could do nothing about it, and it is EXACTLY what I have been predicting. I'm really angry about it. Maybe more so because I've been drinking tonight, but angry none the less.

This is what it comes down to. And it's what I'm going to tell my boss on Tuesday when I see him. This is Strike One. No anger, no discussion, no me going off on rants. Very simple. Strike One. Which means they get two more. They get Strike 3, and that's it. I walk out the door, and they never hear from me again.

I'm on the downward ramp towards three years at that place anyway, so it's long enough. But I'm not taking this shit. If I thought I could walk into another job by the end of the week, I'd quit right now. But the way the world's going at the moment, that's not something I can easily count on. So I have to play this silly little game.

Strike One, fuckers. Your move.

I've been Reviewed!!

I sent my comics off to a lady who had reviewed Tony's comics for him, just to see what she thought. She printed her first review of Robotoon Issue 1 just yesterday.

HERE

It's quite positive, and says some things I've never thought of before. I'm looking forward to seeing what she writes of the next two.

On another note, Tony hung out with me this 'arvo and we were going through some of our films we'd made. Sitting down to check out the cut of Horrorflix, we gutted it, cutting ti down to a more manageable state. I had gotten to a point where I hated it, but now it doesn't flow to badly. I've also done a bit more cutting on the first Fearless Monster Hunters, which makes it work a bit better. Taking a bit of time away, then coming back to a project helps you to get a better viewpoint on things. Clears your head, so you can make a bit better decisions.

We also tried shooting part two of FMH, but stopped half way through. I just wasn't feeling it, it wasn't working out, I picked the wrong location, etc. I have to pull my finger out and get some more things up on Youtube, cause Tony's kicking my ass at the moment. Of course, where he beats in quantity, I beat in quality . . .

I've got about 4 pages of Robotoon pencilled and ready to go. One's Nearly done inking, the others need to be traced up ready. I went to buy some paper today, but the store I went to didn't stock it. Which was annoying, cause I took a special drive out to Liverpool to pick it up. There are two art stores closer to here, but they both suck. I'm going to leave earlier for work tomorrow and try the Art store in Newtown. Fingers Crossed.

Ness is nearly finished her course, so hen she's done, I'm going to get her stuck into making the puppet for 'Aborted'. Yes, I'm really going to make that bloody thing. Let's see Trasharama not include me NEXT bloody year! I also got paid for that drawing of the Sick Forklift I did, more than I was expecting. The money went to good use, buying me a set of specialised lenses for my camera. I still need - want - a wide angle lens and another longer lasting battery. I've got an idea on how to solve my lighting issues, but that will wait for later

Got a few more parts of Mythicman done. Haven't uploaded them just yet. Need to research some facts before they go up. I hope people are enjoying it.

Not much else to report at this stage in the game.

More Mythicman

I forgot to mention. There are a couple more parts of Mythicman up and available.

They're over on the MM blog. Check 'em out if you like.

Mythicman - The Origin

Updates

I have to admit, one of the things I hate about blog reading is the inevitable "gee, it's been a while since I updated this thing" post. We somehow feel guilty because we just haven't been inspired to update, or there just hasn't been anything going on we felt was blog worthy. I think the whole point of a blog is just to be able to write something down when we have something to say, and shouldn't feel obligated to always update.

Of course, with that in mind . . .

Gee, it's been a while since I've updated this thing!

Yeah, I've had a few short posts, and the beginning of the Superman Rant, which I pre-wrote. And I have had a few things happen which I could have blogged about, but when I stopped and thought about how long it would take me to get my thoughts down - truth be told, I simply couldn't have been bothered. I can be a little long winded sometimes, so writing this thing can take a fair bit of effort on my part.

So. A lot of my recent post were quoting on my mental state. I had a really bad bout of depression there for a while. Brought on by my job. I'm over it. The erratic schedule, the hypocritical management style, the work itself, the way it keeps me away from my friends and family and the all over dead end nature of it. I've been getting these huge waves of rage come over me because of it. I'm sick of what it's doing to my life, to my health and to my state of mind. I just fucking hate it! I'm desperately looking for a new job, but I'm not having much luck. Most of the time I can't even get an interview. I wish I knew what I was doing wrong, because I'm getting increasingly frustrated. My beautiful Vanessa told me she has a feeling I'll get a new, better job very soon. I hope she's right.

On the comic side of things, I have a bunch of older, smaller stories which I'm trying to get finished. There's a four page Spider-Duck story, which will be going in the book I'm doing that will reprint the original online strip. There's The Death of Captain Cliche, which takes the piss out of the Death of Superman. There's also Coalition of the Willing, which I'd kinda like to get done and gone, but it's further down the line. I also have the pages from the next issue of Ozslaught to get done. And then there's RoboToon 3, which I have started. One page, admittedly, but it's a start.

Film wise - I've been doing a lot of editing over the last month or so. I did a quick edit on a little thing called "Knock Knock", which was a translation of an old gong show sketch. I should get that done so I can get it up on the net. I've been putting a lot of work into trying to get "Horrorflix" version 2 finished. To my eye, it doesn't work. I'm going to get it finished, so its' the best I can make it, but - well, the phrase about polishing a turd comes to mind. I'm still cursing Lisa's name for bailing on us the way she did. She completely fucked us over, and I am not happy! I had gotten the shits with HorrorFlix, so I went back and tried to finish "Fearless Monster Hunters". I love this little thing. It got me inspired, so were going out this weekend and filming another episode. At some point I'm going to redo "Why Not?" as well, cause I still love that film, and would like to have a HD version. There's a show on Channel 31 that is putting out the call for short film, so we're going to start sending off some submissions to that. AS I said earlier, we didn't get shortlisted for Trasharama. I think The Lot is a really good film, but it probably wasn't what they were looking for. I'm going to go to the screening just to see what kind of thing they were after. I'm already planning to try and make 'Aborted' for next year. More on that later.

My health's OK - I'm tired a lot - my home's all right. I'm glad Summer seems to be kicking in nicely. And I'm more in love with my beautiful girl than ever. She's the main thing that's keeping me going at the moment, and I thank whoever for having her in my life.

I'm hungry, want breakfast, and have to get ready for work. This should hold you.

First of many, I'm sure

The short list for Trasharama was finally released.

'The Lot' wasn't one of them.

Pretty much saw that coming.

Mythicman

I'm trying something

http://mythicmantheorigin.blogspot.com/

Don't vote. It encourages the bastards

I've been watching with some interest the build up to the upcoming election in the states. To start off with, this election is significant because we're finally getting rid of Alfred E, uh, George Dubya Bush. Personal opinion, but no one has done more to fuck up the world than this clown.

Some people are born great, others have greatness thrust upon them. Then there are those who get it as a graduation gift.

The current race was interesting for a while, cause it was the Black guy versus the Chick. America was going to have a first in the white house. The first African American President, or the First Female president. For a country who's intelligence and evolution seems to be going backwards, this was a pretty positive step. Unfortunately, Hillary dropped out. But she did put her support behind Obama. I really want Obama to get in. Not sure why, but my money's behind him.

Now, I know NOTHING about his running mate. The old guy with the white hair. But it seems that no one really cares about him. All the interest is around the little lady he's chosen as his potential VP. Senator Palin. The ex beauty queen from Alaska who's pro gun, anti abortion and very evangelical. The lady who shoots reindeer's for fun in front of her kids. The woman who is behind the war in Iraq, because she believes it's 'God's Plan'.

This woman scares the living shit out of me.

This woman is the American equivalent of an ignorant Pauline Hanson. Redundant, I know. But the thing that gets me the worst is that final line about it being God's plan. Anyone who thinks that their right is difficult to argue with. Sometimes they may begrudgingly admit you have a point, but that's about it. Anyone who not only thinks they're right, but believes that God's on they're side, is fucking dangerous. Because they believe that anything that they do is not only justified, but it's 'Morally correct'.

I believe politicians should have a fairly open mind. They have to be able to hear both sides of the argument, then make the best decision from all the facts. This ignorant backwater bitch has already got her mind made up. And NO ONE is going to be able to tell her any differently.

Why is it the Americans have the ability to scare the living crap out of everyone else on the planet?

Time's up

So today is the final deadline for Trasharama. I got my entry in for the first deadline, which was back in August.

This means that they will; finally start working towards the short list. So I should hear - hopefully soon - how my entry went.

This is excruciating. It really is.

The Superman Returns Rant Part 1 - The History

Get comfy folks. This is going to be a long one.

First up, a little bit of back story. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a HUGE Superman fan. I started reading Superman comics back when I was in college, which was also the time of Superman’s death. I can’t tell you why the character captured me, it just did. Superman was one of the few characters that – at the time – had a new book out every single week. I was there for his death and eventual return, I have the wedding issue where he finally married Lois Lane after a 75 year courtship, I've been there through a lot of trials and tribulations in the characters life. And, believe it or not, he’s been there for me. I’ve been able to get through some very rough stuff with a little help from the Man of Steel. My favourite quote of his is not the one that he’s so well know for, but a simpler one. “There’s a right and a wrong in this universe. And that distinction is not hard to make.” And it’s true. There’s shit you do, and shit you don’t do. You already know which is which. That’s something I try to follow. I fail sometimes. But I try. Unlike him, I’m only human.

Anybody wants to pick on me for any of the above, stop reading now.

So, with that in mind, I had been a very close follower of the attempts at trying to get a new Superman film made. Believe it or not, this was a process that had been going on for years. Superman 4, the last Christopher Reeve film, was made in 1987. The film flopped, mostly because it wasn’t a very good film. An original idea for Superman to fight an evil, twisted version of himself was micro managed and focus grouped into Nuclearman, who looked like a cross between a beach bum and a Mexican wrestler. The franchise sort of ground to a halt around then.

After the first Batman film was a hit back in ’89, they stepped the attempt to get a new film into cinemas up a notch. A script had been going around Hollywood, which Kevin Smith took great delight in slagging off to Studio Execs after reading it. I’ve read it. It’s absolutely shit. I think whoever read it took one glance at the cover of a comic and wrote the script from there. Kevin Smith was then hired to write a version of the screenplay. It’s funnier to hear him talk about it.

His version was tossed out when Tim Burton was brought on. Classic Hollywood thinking – if he made the bat work, he could make the Boy Scout work. All superheroes are the same anyway, aren’t they? Apparently Tim worked one the project for over a year before it was scrapped again. What I’ve heard and seen of it, it would have been a fascinating film, but it would not have been Superman. I think that was the closest they got for a while – there was even promotional poster released to cinemas in certain places in the states. But, instead of Superman, we got Wild Wild West. And the world is such a better place for it (Insert sarcasm here).

After Tim disappeared to Sleepy Hollow, several Directors were signed to do the film. McG from Charlies Angels fame was attached, Brett Ratner who destroyed the Xmen franchise with his third installment called ‘Storm, and the others show up’. Or at least, it should have been. All these directors were working on pretty much the same story, which was the death and return of Superman. They wanted Doomsday in it, the wanted Braniac in it, they wanted Polar Bears in it – any thing that would look good as an action figure. There was all this talk about changing the suit – making it black, losing the cape, having the S shield morph into Knives. No, I’m not making that up – changing the man – making him blonde, making him African-American. Some of the casting decisions were just ludicrous. Nicholas Cage was attached for the Tim Burton version as Supes, they asked Will Smith to put on the cape – Beyonce Knowles was going all out trying to get the role of Lois Lane. . . All of this stuff just resulted in sending shivers up the spines of any Superman fan. And of course, while all this was going on, we were no closer to getting a new Superman film.

And then something happened. The announcement came out of yet another new director attached. None other than young Bryan Singer. Bryan, at that time, was very revered in the comic community, for managing to not only turn the convoluted Xmen franchise into a viable and entertaining film, but he managed to capture lightning in a bottle twice, by delivering a sequel that not only lived up to the original movie, but slightly surpassed it. I was working in the comic book store when the news came out. The only way to describe the feeling that came with that announcement was a huge sigh of relief. Fans finally felt that, not only was this movie FINALLY going to get made, but that the character was in good hands. We felt we could trust Singer.

How wrong we were.

More to come.

Never under-estimate the healing power of Mumbles Happyfeet.

Sunday night. At work. Depressed again.

Found the 'Happy Feet' soundtrack CD in a drawer.

A couple playings of Stevie Wonder's "I wish" later, and I was back to me again.

Cool penguin.

Get me the hell out of here!

So I think my job has me on the fast track towards a complete emotional breakdown. How you doing?

Work has been getting me depressed lately. And not just the usual "I'd rather be at the beach" type of depression. I'm talking about life draining, energy sucking, no motivation, crawl up into a ball depression. And that ain't fun.

The thing that gets me the most is that this job doesn't allow you to have a life. It's a cinema, which runs from 9 to after midnight every day, 365 days a year. It's casual shift work, which means you can work any time. Day, mid, night, Monday through Sunday. I don't have a set roster, or any kind of regular shifts, so I can't ever plan anything without up to a month of notice. And don't talk to me about spontaneous.

Yesterday, Ness did her final presentation for her course. She has one last show to work on, and that's it. She's done. I went to watch the presentation, and it was really good and really fun to watch. After it was done, Ness came up to me and said that one of her class mates was having a party to celebrate. Mid sentence I think she realised what she was about to ask, cause she finished by saying "but you can't come because you're working". She's accepted this. She knows how my life works. I don't think she likes it much, but she takes it. But it upset me. I would have loved to help celebrate my girl's achievement. But no. I had to work. Her dad asked me when I was going to come over for dinner again. I had to honestly answer "I don't know". And I LIKE Ness's family. And to add insult to injury, I get a call from my boss, asking me to start earlier today. They don't even think about how it affects you! We need something here, you show up.

And this is the way it works. I get calls from friends, saying this is going on, or this event is on and can I show up, and I always have to turn them down. I'm sick of it! I took this damn job so I could have a life. I didn't realise would have to revolve around and be consumed by the damn thing.

I'm looking for a new job. I check seek every week, send off a bunch of applications - I've finally made it up to getting call backs. But it's just not moving fast enough. I desperately want to get out of that fucking place and away. Truth be told, if it wasn't for Ness, I'd pack up my shit and move to Wagga, take my chances out there.

Anyway, that'll do for now. I've got to get ready for work!

IT begins . . . AGAIN!!

Go help me, I penciled the first page of Issue 3 of Robotoon.

I had the day off today and experienced a boredom the likes I haven't felt for a while. This feeling was palatable, I could feel it on my skin like a rash! I realised later that, after the last month of the shooting spree, then prepping before that, today was the first day off in a while that I didn't have something I needed to do. It always shocks me how much I need that, that feeling of purpose. Without it . . . well, I tend to go a little crazy.

So, after finally cleaning up my room - I forgot there was a rug on this floor - and organising enough that I could get to my Drawing table, I thought I'd make a start. If you're one of the people who are looking forward to this book, don't get too excited. I've plotted this book at 22 pages, and I have three pages to do for Tony's OZSLAUGHT before hand. I didn't do anything for the last issue, which I think hurt Tony a bit. Only He and Tania contributed last time. I don't yet know when the next convention is, but I'm giving myself 4 months to get the book done. The last one took 7. The one before that 12. Years.

ON the flip side, I finally completed my first professional - read, Paid for! - drawing assignment in years. I had to draw a sick forklift for a logo. If you live in Sydney, keep an eye out for this image airbrushed to the side of a van, which is apparently the future destination for it.

ON yet another note, the second deadline for Trasharama is coming up in the next week or so. Hopefully after that, I'll get some word as to how my entry went. I don't mind saying, I'm sweating bullets. I desperately want to be short listed - not win, just short listed.

And for those who are interested, Tony's OK. Really, really hurt, but I think he's made some kind of peace with it. He had a chat to the girl, and even though he doesn't like it, can accept her reasons. You want details, ask him. Not my story to tell.

The end is the begining is the end

Today was the last day of the 'Shooting Spree', which was an entire month of weekends where we went out and filmed. We picked this month because Tony's new girlfriend had to go over seas for a month. Seems redundant now. More on THAT later.

We got a lot done over this month. It scares me a little, how much more stuff we could have done over the last couple years if I wasn't always working weekends. I digress. So the projects we got done were:

Horrorflix V2.0 - The re shoot of our failed Trasharama shoot, which almost became a case of History repeating itself.

Yawn of the Dead - Just a short thing, filmed at Fox studios, which takes the piss out Tony's need for coffee first thing in the morning. We have one more shot to do for this before it's completed.

Knock Knock - This had to have been the most fun we had. A short comedy sketch, based on an old Gong show sketch. The film's funny. The Bloopers reel is funnier.

Dueling Remote's - not the final title. This is possibly going to be the world's silliest Lightsaber battle.

Toilet Humour - I managed to edit this together for Tony. It looks really good, which I was a little surprised at.

We had a few other things we wanted to do but didn't get around to. No big deal, we can get to them later. I'm quite pleased at how much we got done. Have to admit though, this month sort of re-iterated just how exhausting filming can be. We would be out shooting for only about four hours or so, and wind up completely exhausted. We ever get around to shooting a feature, it's going to kill us! I have to finish editing and special effects work on the films before posting them. I'll let you all know when they're available.

Now for the other news. Like I said, Tony and I picked this month to shoot because his girlfriend was away overseas. She was due to get back this Wednesday, which is about three days away. Tony received a call from the girl, who proceeded to tell him he had been replaced, and she no longer wanted to pursue a relationship with him. To say he was devastated by the news is to call World War 2 an annoying skirmish. I drove Tony back to his dad's place a little while ago. If I had to sum up Tony's mood by the time I dropped him off, I would have to say. . .

Angry.

Thank Screaming Christ!!!!!!!

DC Comics and Warner Bros just announced that they will be rebooting the Superman Franchise.

This essentially means that Bryan Singer will not be allowed to fuck Superman up the ass again. We may finally be able to get a movie about Superman, and not the adventures of Captain Whiny Bitch.

Colour me happy.

BTW. The Horroflix Day two post is coming. I'm just taking my time writing it.

Dr Horrible. Pretty darn good.

God I hate Joss Whedon

If you've never heard of it before, Joss has written and produced an online TV show called Dr Horrible's sing-along blog. It's a mouthful, I know. If you want to see it in full, download it off Limewire, or some other peer to peer. There are songs on Youtube, but no full episodes.

Joss has structured this thing, so that in Half an hour, you come to really like this Supervillian wannabe, hate his arch-Nemesis Captain Hammer, and really hope that he gets together with his Laundromat crush, Penny. You're laughing at it, surprised by but enjoy the musical numbers, and completely enjoying the story.

Then, suddenly, he breaks your heart with the last two words of the show.

Why can't I make shit like that?

More of the shooting spree

We got the end of Horrorflix shot today. It won't be the film we planned for or hoped for, because we got let down at the last minute by someone we were counting on. Kinda harsh, but it's the simple truth.

I'll go into details later. I'm really tired, been a long weekend, and right now I just wanna watch a Superman cartoon lying in bed. I wish my girl was here, but I always wish my girl was here.

Festival of fear.

There's a certain type of fear that only goes along with doing things for the first time. Think back. The first time you called a girl, the first kiss, the first MORE than kiss, your first day of a new job, so on. I got to experience - am still experiencing - a whole new first at the moment.

I have finally entered my first ever film festival.

I mailed off the entry for the Trasharama film festival yesterday. I really don't like to think about it too much, cause it messes with my head. Could I have done more with the film? Should I have changed any of it? Was the music right? All these stupid, second guessing questions going through my head any time I put thought into it. But it's too late. The film now is what it is, and now I just have to wait. I've earned a free ticket to the event just by entering, so fingers crossed I'll be seeing my film up on the screen with all the others.

On the flip side, we're filming again this weekend. Tony and I have decided to take another crack at HorrorFlix. We did some filming last week, which all was four naught, because Tony cut his hair during the week without thinking about the ramifications. Dickhead.

Lousy Immune System!!

In HG Wells' classic novel, 'The War of the Worlds', the Martian invaders were eventually brought down by the smallest things on the planet - Bacteria. They had no immunity to our diseases and eventually succumbed.

I think I know how they feel.

I'm sick again. I'm taking the day off and am staying in bed, sweating and coughing.

Not fun

The Shooting Spree begins!!

I'm over the funk I was in. sometimes I'm up, sometimes down. It happens.

Today was the first day of the Swashbuckler Studios Shooting Spree. What that is, essentially, is every weekend this month Tony and I are going to try and get as many things shot as humanly possible. We've been planning this for months. Today was our first day, and even though it started off small, it went well.

We went in to Fox Studios and shot a small piece called 'Yawn of the Dead'. I'm not telling you anything else until it's uploaded. We also briefly got some shots for 'Not another fucking Art Film', which turned out to be lot's of fun. Shooting in and around a crowd as we did was a challenge for me, but apart from some arrogant motherfuckers who decided to walk in front of the camera, it all seemed to go off without a hitch. I'm interested to see the final project. I'm still not happy with my lighting in scenes, even in outdoor scenes, but I'm not too sure how to rectify that just yet. Live and learn. I've also got to remember to check my equipment and take my instruction manual for the camera. Came up short a couple of times with things I just expected to have. It happens.

Any how. That's all for now. More later.

Today is the first day of the rest. . . ah, fuck off.

It's my day off. I'm at home, I'm broke and I'm feeling very lonely, stupid and depressed. And I only just got up.

On the up side, the day can only go up from here.

Morally superior Morons

I'm posting this now, while I'm still a little Shitty.

One of the websites I visit frequently is SUPERHEROHYPE. It deals with comic to film adaptations. Anything and everything on that subject. AS you can tell, it's the kind of stuff I want to know.

As with most news sites these days, there are spaces underneath where people can leave comments. Some of these things can get a little obscure sometimes, veering wildly away from the original subject.

A story I just read was about Bryan Singer's production company acquiring the rights to some new comic book that hasn't even been published yet - there's a whole 'nother rant in THAT one - which is written by a Guy named Rob Liefeld, whom is the embodiment of everything that's wrong with the comic industry. So yeah, at got my back up to start up with.

Now, as anybody who knows me - let me rephrase that, has been in earshot would know, I was EXTREMELY unimpressed with Singer's SUPERMAN RETURNS. That movie was wrong for so many reasons. I have a whole rant, which really doesn't take a lot of persuading to get me to go into, which I will post up here at some point. I don't seem to be alone in this position, as most of the comments that followed the story were about Singer hopefully NOT doing a Superman Sequel. I gotta admit, I agree with them on this. I was checking out some of the comments, when I got to the last one, which went like this.

Posted by: Ender The Xenocide on July 23, 2008 at 11:05:38

Well, first off...this article makes no mention of Superman. All these threads are, are a way to totally rip on movies and the people that make them. I would have to say that NO ONE who posts here as any idea as to what it takes to make an actual movie, that's not to say you may not have read a book on the subject but I bet none of you can honestly that they have worked on a big budget movie so what gives you the right to rip on people who do? The bottom line is that Singer has and does know what it takes. I'm an electrician by trade, and if a plumber came onto my job and tried to tell me that I was wiring a light or receptacle wrong I'd tell him where to go. So every hater out there, get your heads out of your asses and just enjoy what gets made and save the opinions for people educated on such matters.

I, hopefully understandably, got a little shitty about this. So I replied thus:

Posted by: ShannmanLives on July 23, 2008 at 11:38:22

Oh, and by the way, Ender. Who am I to rip on movies, especially Superman Returns? I'll tell you. I'm an audience member, I'm a Superman Fan, and I'm a movie lover. And that's all the qualifications I need. To use your analogy of an electrician, if I paid money to have a light switch installed in my house, You're right. even though I understand the basics of how it works, wouldn't know how to do it myself. But if that light switch doesn't work, then I have every right to complain and want my money back, or want someone else to do the job properly. Even though film is a much more subjective realm, being a creative endeavour, the end result is the same. We, the fans, the people who love Superman and the character he his and what he represents, entrusted Singer to take that character and craft a story around him that reminded us of why we love Superman in the first place. In his - sorry to say - selfish and narrow minded interpretation of the character, Singer gave us a film that bored the average film goer, and angered and annoyed the fans. He let us down. Pure and simple. And we have every right to voice our dissatisfaction! And to say we have no right to complain, simply because we couldn't do it? We know that it can be done! Ironman worked fantastically! Incredible Hulk was a HUGE improvement over it's forebear. And just look at what the Dark Knight is doing, and that's a freaking sequel!!

Here's a suggestion. How about you get your head out of your arse and go back to your wall sockets. Stop trying to set yourself up on a pedestal by posting a supposed Morally superior opinion that just reeks of narrow mindedness and low intelligence!! If you don't like these comments, DON'T FREAKING READ THEM!!!!

As for everyone else, RANT ON!! How much does everyone think JUSTICE LEAGUE is gonna suck!!?!

Small minded twat.

I'm still a little bit ticked off at this clown. I'm sure, if given the chance, I could go on and on about this, but it just galls me. I don't even know how to finish this post off. I've made movies. I know they're not easy! But does that automatically make me more or less qualified to judge others? All that means is I have a slightly different vantage point on which to view things!

You don't need qualifications to know you didn't enjoy something. And you shouldn't have idiots like this fuckwitt telling you you're not entitled to your opinion!! He seems to be yet another forebear of the current mentality that doesn't allow any sort of non conformist opinion or thought. If you don't agree with the "moral Majority", whatever the fuck that means, you're automatically disparaged and frowned upon. And god help anybody who ever speaks their mind. It's just bullshit!!

Sorry all. I'm just getting angrier, and I don't think I'm really making any sense, so I better disappear.


Fucking stupid little twat.

The Unflappable Spider-Duck

OK, this one's for my friend Amie, whom I'm pretty sure is the only person who reads this thing.

We all have our obsessions. Mine has to do with a certain last son of Krypton. Others have equally bent and bizarre things that for some reason get stuck in our psyche's. Amie' has just started developing her latest one, which is these weird little collectible ducks.

So, just because she's such a cool lady, and I like to encourage weird behaviour in any way, here's my very own group of ducks, just for her.

The turbo mini jib

Whenever I have a day off, I always feel a little shitty if I don't 'achieve' something. Doesn't have to be major, I just need to know that I did something with my time.

I started work on this thing quite a while back. I got the instructions off of Indy Mogul. It was mostly a measure of getting my hands on the materials I needed, which depended on me having the money left at the end of the week. Which of course, rarely happened. But last week, I had a spare couple of bucks, so I finally picked up the last of what I needed. So here it is. My Turbo Mini Jib.
Essentially what it is is a small camera crane. Hopefully it will enable me to do some slightly trickier shots. I took it for a quick test run this afternoon, the footage of which is below. It's a little shaky, cause the whole set up is rickety as hell. It's designed to be adhered to the top of a tripod, but I think mine is a little too lightweight for it. I've also gotta find a way to counter weight the end, cause it's a battle to operate.

But I have to admit, I'm quite proud of it. It turned out well, and wasn't as hard as I thought. I just hope all the other stuff I'm building turns out as well.