Let's put a smile on that face!

Got up early.

Made it to the 12 O'clock showing.

It rocked.

That's all I'm saying until more of my friends have seen it.

Friends. GO SEE IT!!!!!!!!!!

So close, and yet . . .

As I'm sure I've mentioned somewhere on here, I work at a cinema as a projectionist. It has it's moments. One of which is sometimes being able to see certain films before they come out. Now, unless you've been living under a rock, you would know there is a new Batman film starting this week, a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins, aptly titled "The Dark Knight". Being a huge Superhero fan and a Batman fan and a big fan of the first film, I have been eagerly anticipating this film.

Now, I can be an extraordinarily patient man, but up to a point. If I need to wait a year, a month, a week and a day for something, then fine. That's how long I will wait. But if I have waited that long, don't you dare ask me to wait a year, a month, a week, a day and 10 minutes. When I get to the point when I don't have to wait any more, I don't want to wait anymore!! The best example of this was when the first Spider-man movie came out. I patiently waited YEARS for that to be released. On the first day, I drove all the way in to where I now work, ironically, to catch the earliest session I could. I was finally in there, sitting in my seat, waiting for the movie to start. The music stopped, the lights dimmed . . . and I had to sit through nearly half an hour of ads and trailers. I was so pent up with frustration, wanting the damn movie to start, that by the time it started, I was mentally willing the opening sequence to hurry up and finish so the movie would start. I had to calm down and remind myself that this WAS the movie. And here in lies my current dilemma.

We had the prints for Dark Knight arrive yesterday. 3 of them. So I have had access to the film for the past two days. And it has been driving me NUTS!! I mean, here it is. This film I have been so looking forward to ever since they announced it. All made up, ready to go, on the platter, right next to the projector. I know how to thread it it up, I know how to set it going. And I've been on close for the last two nights, so it would have been no prob to hang around till after the last sessions had finished and turn it on.

But I can't.

We had an official memo come in from one of the big wigs of the Company, expressly forbidding ANY non-session showings of the movie. So, even after the movie starts, we can't put the film on after work for any reason. Security is so tight on this damn film, that we are even going to have security guards, sent out by the distributor, with night vision goggles watching the audience in every session. We get the film 48 hours before the rest of the world, so any pirate attempts of the film are going to be made in the next couple days.

So all of this added together basically means that I couldn't get the small thrill of being able to watch the movie before everyone else does. Sucks to be me.

Of course, I don't have to pay to see it and I'll more than likely see it several times in the next few days, so don't feel too sorry for me.

Feeling Crowded?

Since I was having a day off, I spent my last $15 bucks today on a DVD copy of the Movie "Tarantula". It was directed by Jack Arnold way back in 1955 and stars John agar and Mara Corday. It also has a brief cameo from a very young Clint Eastwood. A Tarantula grows really big. Panic ensues.

I just watched a scene where they were trying to offer some sort of explanation of why the tarantula got so big. I always loved this part of those movies. At some point they would talk about some actual science theory, combine it with a few other theories that are actually plausible, then mix it all together into a big crock of shit that at least sounds good.

The whit coat guy in this movie was talking about population explosion. HE estimated, given the figures at the time, that the planetary population could swell to 3 and a half billion by the year 2000. Keep in mind that this was a movie, so that estimate probably wouldn't have been conservative. I just checked on Wikipedia, which means it's gotta be true, that earths population by the year 2000 was over 6 B billion. As of July 8 2008, the world's population is believed to be approximately 6,708,700,100. So their estimates were more than 3 billion out.

Next time you go looking for a place to live, might be a good idea to get up real early!!

Back to The Lot

No, I'm not making a sequel. Well, not yet at least.

Tell me something. When the hell did one O'clock in the morning become 'not that late' to me? I just looked at the clock, and it's nearly one. I'm quite tired, could use the sleep, but at some point have decided that one in the morning is to early for me. God knows when I got reprogrammed for that. But I digress

I've put an early version of 'The Lot' up on Youtube. I'll embed it down below. I've been getting some quite positive feedback from it. Heck, the first comment was posted in under 5 mins, praising it. That's a very good feeling, let me tell you. While I was up in Wagga, visiting Chris and Amie, which is always worth the 5 hour drive, Amie - God love her - put it on and made every one watch it. Some had already seen it and really enjoyed it, but none of the others had seen it by then. They all seemed to enjoy it, which is very positive. The one down side that a lot of people have mentioned is the sound. It's choppier than a stormy sea. I fully admit this.

Unfortunately, at this point, sound and lighting are my two let downs. Haven't had enough experience on either to really know what I'm doing. Yeah, I know. Read a book. And I have. I know the theory behind the two, but theory and practice are as different as Ocean and desert. So, like everything else related to this, it's play it and see.

On that note, I've just pent the last several hours here at home playing around with the sound. And I have to say, I think it's working. It's sounding a hell of a lot better, the choppiness is gone, and it flows really well. there's no huge, distracting changes in the background noise anymore, so it's not throwing off the audience. I'm really happy with it.

So, a few more tweaks, possibly a little bit of Music from Miss Lucy and this thing will e ready to submit to Trasharama. My first festival entry.

Wow. Seriously.

The Money-Go-Round

This isn't going to come as a surprise to anyone.

Like many people, I am on the modern day tightrope of life. I'm trying to find a balance between what I want to do and what I need to do to survive. The films and the comics - they all come under the want header. My job, my bills - they come under the need. And like all who do the daily drudge in order to make a living, my cash flow on different weeks can ebb and flow.

This week has been an Ebb.

This is frustrating on so many levels. Just for the normal day to day things - food, fuel - coming up short is extraordinarily frustrating. But that's the least of it. I got shit to do!!

Tony and I have something planned. Not telling what it is just yet, but I'm trying to prepare for it while I have the time. I need to get some equipment built, but to do that I need to be able to buy the equipment needed. It's not a lot of equipment, so it's not that expensive. But when you have no money on you what so ever, it's no different between a minor or a major price tag. No cash is no cash.

God, I want a better job.

R.I.P. Indy Mogul

I think I mat have mentioned this in passing before, but there is a website I visit regularly called Indy Mogul. It's an instructional and resource site for amateur Film makers. They give instructions on how to build props and equipment you can use both in your film and to make your film. The best part is, most of the stuff they teach you to build is out of junk! Just miscellaneous stuff you can either find around the place or buy really cheaply. All the projects they describe are under $50 bucks US. They also provided quick teaching in certain techniques of film making. Quick, easy lessons to help young or beginning film makers their craft. For over twelve months they regularly updated their videos and their site. I have at least two pieces of equipment I have constructed from their plans. It was one of my favourite sites and I visited it regularly.

You ever hear the Phrase "Jump the Shark"? Well, Indy Mogul has done a double back flip up and over a school of Great Whites. It's been slow, but they have completely dropped off. The quality of shows slowly degraded and they started replaying older episodes. A lot of episodes are relying solely on stuff that fans have sent in. The updates are getting fewer and further between.

As a whole, Indy Mogul is not what it used to be. Which is a real shame, because it used to be great.

Check it out if you like.
http://www.indymogul.com/

God help me, I'm lost

Today was my first day off after Con. And did not know what to do with myself!

I've been this way all week. I keep trying to remind myself that I'm not on deadline anymore, and that I don't have to do anything, but I'm having trouble just . . . turning off. So far this week - and this is mostly just nervous energy - I've cleaned my room, sorted my computer table and drawing bench, I've collected parts and started building props, I've done some storyboarding, I've started plotting out the story for the feature length Monster movie I want to try and make, I've done some more redesigns of the Golden Age characters and completed a page of the short Spider-Duck story I'm doing to pad out the reprint. And that's just since Sunday!

The annoying part is, I can't actually concentrate on any one project. I'm all over the place. The ironic part is that I need to calm down and relax before I can start getting any work done again. At least my sleeping patterns seem to be returning to normal.

The Shooting Spree is coming. . .