Gone to America

I’ve been pretty busy this week, but unfortunately not in a very financially rewarding way. The short I’ve been doing for the last while (A Reasonable Hypothesis) has completely wrecked my head. For the first time since I can remember, I’ve been completely sound-blocked. Nothing I have tried has …

I’ve been pretty busy this week, but unfortunately not in a very financially rewarding way. The short I’ve been doing for the last while (A Reasonable Hypothesis) has completely wrecked my head. For the first time since I can remember, I’ve been completely sound-blocked. Nothing I have tried has worked. At all. It’s bizarre. Luckily the director has been working on this short for four years and is very patient – delays are par for the course. He’s been very understanding and helpful, and I think I’ve finally cracked it. After nearly three weeks, my God – it’s only twenty minutes long! What’s wrong with me! It’s been very frustrating, but I think I’m over the worst of it now.

On top of that, for the last two nights I’ve been helping out with the mix of a video installation at a place called Monkeytown. It’s been interesting, to say the least – there are four large screens facing each other, with a speaker at each corner and one suspended in the center. There’s also a sub. It’s billed as 5.1, but it’s not really true 5.1 (that would be LCRLsRsSub) – more “quintaphonic.1”.
The movie (Killer Capote) is about 53 minutes long. There are essentially two movies playing simultaneously. Each image is mirrored on the opposite screen, so that any audience member within the box can see the whole thing without looking behind them – I think. The sound pans around madly, between the speakers, or coming out of multiple speakers, or the reverb coming out the center, or whatever. Phase issues abound, of course, but they’re only really noticable if you’re moving around. It was fun, but it did mean keeping artist hours, which seem to be between 5pm and 3am, more or less. This was a drain. And the setup took about five hours, what with file copying and such, so what was a one night job turned into a two night job.
I don’t really know how it’s going to work – we were working to just one screen, flipping back and forth between the video streams. I’m hoping to go along this weekend, probably Saturday, to see how the whole thing hangs together.

Tomorrow night I think I’m going to some party to celebrate the end of the Q diamond line. I don’t think I’ve ever been on it, so I suppose this is my last chance. I’ll let you know if it was in any way an interesting experience.

And I’m ending the polls. The last poll:

I stated: I’m finishing up the polls.
You responded:

41.6%
Noooooooooooooooo! 33.3%
Oh, really? 25%
But… But… Oh, whatever. 0%
Sorry, what? I was distracted there for a second. 0%
Fair enough. 0%
About time.

12 votes. I’m sorry to have caused so much pain. I was going to hold a poll about what to put up there instead, but nobody made any good suggestions, so I won’t bother. I’m going to leave a minimal holding poll in case something occurs to me I want to hold a poll on, but I won’t be checking it or updating it except in exceptional circumstances.

I have my new hat! All’s right with the world…

Thanks to all those who emailed or otherwise let me know they appreciated my work on Timbuktu at the DIFF. Of course, none of you commented, as I asked. What an unruly bunch you are.

I’ve been 29 for a week now, so I’m nearly over it. I went out and got drunk on Saturday, which was fun, but not that much different than any other Saturday. I was torn about whether or not to make a big deal out of it. In Dublin, given …

I’ve been 29 for a week now, so I’m nearly over it. I went out and got drunk on Saturday, which was fun, but not that much different than any other Saturday. I was torn about whether or not to make a big deal out of it. In Dublin, given a bit of notice, I feel I can whip up a half decent piss up, but here I just don’t know enough people – I don’t have critical mass. Any drinks session I try to arrange here will exist in a precarious state – if even a couple of people can’t make it it will very quickly be “cosy” rather than “mad”. And cosy is fine, unless you’ve been selling people on mad.
So I decided to pretty much let it go, but then people kept telling me I had to do something, so I played it safe, and just told a few people where I’d be on Saturday night – the Ear Inn. If people showed up, well and good. If not, I’d just have the ordinary Saturday drinking, which is great anyway, and that’s pretty much what happened.

Timbuktu is on tonight in the Savoy – if anybody’s going along post a comment and let me know how it went.

I’ve decided to finish with the polls. I’m just bored – I realised I hadn’t even checked the results of the last one for ages. Here they are, just for the record:

I asked “What’s the best response to the question ‘Cold enough for you?’”

You answered: 64.2%
No. No it isn’t. 21.4%
Actually, I find it far too cold. 14.2%
Almost!

14 Votes.

Now, I need something else to put in that space. Please post any suggestions as comments, and I’ll run one last poll so that people can vote. Or not, if nobody comes up with anything good. Or anything at all. There’s a holding poll in place for the moment.

And teaching at the NYFA seems to be back on the agenda, after I met with Andrew Bellware, who’s been teaching production mixing there. But probably not for a couple of months. And Andrew is one of the few people who reverse-engineered my email address and found this website without me telling them. Hello Andrew! John Daschbach did the same thing a couple of months ago. He’s the guy who wrote and directed the first short I did over here, and I have him to thank for my G4. I still have to give him back his DATs, come to think of it.

******EDIT****** OK, the thing I was specifically linking to seems to have stopped working, so let’s just forget the whole entry. Please go about your business. There’s nothing to see here. Sorry.

******EDIT******

OK, the thing I was specifically linking to seems to have stopped working, so let’s just forget the whole entry. Please go about your business. There’s nothing to see here.

Sorry.

I’m twenty nine today, and I just want to say, in no uncertain terms, that it stops here. I refuse, I absolutely refuse, to hit thirty until I’m good and ready. I don’t know when that will be, and I don’t much care. Not soon. I didn’t really plan anything, so …

I’m twenty nine today, and I just want to say, in no uncertain terms, that it stops here. I refuse, I absolutely refuse, to hit thirty until I’m good and ready. I don’t know when that will be, and I don’t much care. Not soon.

I didn’t really plan anything, so I was delighted when Julian and Lisa showed up last night at 11:30pm with a cake and a bottle of Jameson and a cake. I really was surprised – I had to get out of bed! I think Julian had tried to plan something bigger, but I was very grateful for the gesture. I’ll be going out and getting drunk on Saturday to celebrate properly, in the Ear Inn. I seem to be going there pretty much every Saturday, so nothing new there, but this time I’m inviting all the people I’ve met along the way. Should be good.

I promised a general snapshot of where I’m at, so here it is. There will inevitably be some repetition of material from earlier posts. Live with it.

I’m working on a short at the moment. This is my third one, and the pay is gradually increasing. If it keeps up, I could probably even subsist just on shorts for a while. I’ve stopped pursuing the NYFA. They might give me a ring at some point, but they pay so little that it’s not worth pursuing while I’m working on other stuff.
There are a couple of other shorts in the offing, and a whiff of a low budget feature or two for me to either supervise, or hack some backgrounds onto. Same thing, I hear you say. Oh yes, very witty. There was a whisper of a few days on another feature, and even the vague possibility of some foreign travel for work purposes, but they both melted away. I’m definitely feeling a lot more optimistic than I was six weeks ago.

I’m still living in East Williamsburg, in a predominantly Purto Rican neighbourhood. I’ve figured out where most of the shops and so forth are, so it’s all good. My room is a mess. My ProTools system is set up just by my bed. My bed is a mattress on the floor. I don’t have much storage, so pretty much everything else I own is strewn about the place. Next purchase – bookcase.

My roommates are Andras – a friend of Julian’s – and JV, who has lived here for a while. Andras was born in Hungary, but grew up in Germany. He lived in the same town as Julian (Munster) but they didn’t meet until they came to New York. He’s also married to an American, but she’s studying in England. Andras is completing his PhD in Economics at Columbia University. JV (Javier) I see less of, as he works nights. He’s been very friendly and welcoming. He’s delighted to have somebody else to split the rent with!

I don’t really have much of a routine. I’ve been going out less and less because of the biting cold. Julian comes here every so often and teaches me to cook, occasionally we go for a drink with Andras. On Saturdays I tend to go out drinking with Conor Brennan and his crew in the Ear Inn. I was told to contact Conor by Alan Gilsenan, and I’m glad I did. He’s introduced me to a lot of people, and bought me a lot of Guinness.

Myself and Julian occasionally go out to interview people for a book project. Julian asks the questions and I bring along the expensive recording gear. It’s another good way of meeting interesting people, and a good way of staying in touch with people you encounter briefly – “Hey, can we interview you?”

I drop in to C5 occasionally – all the shorts I’ve worked on have come from there, one way or another. I feel if it keeps up this way I’ll be employed by osmosis. The poker games have ceased due to changing circumstances, perhaps temporarily, perhaps not. Time will tell.
Occasionally I get a name or a phone number of an editor or a sound guy, and I go and meet them, and we swap cards. It’s all a question of throwing rocks up a hill. Some of them will roll back down, most won’t. But you never know which are which, so you just have to keep throwing rocks up the hill.

This website has really become my hobby. I don’t know if that’s a good thing – I probably should be going to the gym – but hey. It’s educational. I’ve even started my own webcomic, which I call After the Party. I was inspired by Dead Funny, which made me realise exactly how little artwork you really need, although that looks a lot better. I’m using ATP Autosite 7.2, which is great and free. That’s where the name comes from – After The Party. I couldn’t be bothered trying to change the name of the default installation directory. The first one is here and I plan to update daily until I either get bored or succumb to increasing international pressure to stop sullying the web.

It is entirely without merit. Enjoy.

Oh, and I watched the Superbowl in a bar with Conor and some Broadway actors, which was fun. I completely missed the whole Janet Jackson thing, which was a bit of a shame. And I have a new phone number. If you need to know it, email me. I’ve gone for a Cingular contract. That T-Mobile pre pay was bleeding me dry, Catherine Zeta Jones notwithstanding.

Here are my Oscar picks. This is the first time I’ve ever sat down and done this. The full list of nominees can be found here.
I’ve picked for all the categories, even the ones where I haven’t seen any of the films or know anything about the craft involved. ...

Here are my Oscar picks. This is the first time I’ve ever sat down and done this. The full list of nominees can be found here.
I’ve picked for all the categories, even the ones where I haven’t seen any of the films or know anything about the craft involved. I’ve gone for who I think should win, not for who I think will win.

Here goes…
< !more>
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Hmmm, Bill Murray was really great, but Johnny Depp invented a whole new stereotype, and that ain’t easy.
Johnny Depp – PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
What, no Hugo Weaving? Agent Smith – best performance, hands down. But he’s not here, so…
Djimon Hounsou – IN AMERICA

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
OK, I’ve only seen one of these films.
Samantha Morton – IN AMERICA

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
She should win every year.
Marcia Gay Harden – MYSTIC RIVER

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
OK, maybe Finding Nemo was “better”, but this was way more original. And charming as hell.
THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE

ART DIRECTION
For the Galapagos.
MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Not my field, but that hasn’t stopped me so far. This had a real striking look that I remember.
COLD MOUNTAIN

COSTUME DESIGN
Uruk Hai.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING

DIRECTING
Tough one. Peter Jackson should have won for “The Fellowship of the Ring”, but he didn’t. He shouldn’t get it this year, but he probably will.
LOST IN TRANSLATION

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
I haven’t seen any of these, but I know some people who worked on this, so…
THE FOG OF WAR

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
No clue. Going by name alone.
ASYLUM

FILM EDITING
Who really knows what goes on in the cutting room?
CITY OF GOD

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Haven’t seen any of these, but this sounds like it might strike a chord.
EVIL

MAKEUP
Accept no substitutes.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING

MUSIC (SCORE)
Oh, I don’t know.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING

MUSIC (SONG)
I haven’t heard it, but I know it’s the best.
“A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow” – A MIGHTY WIND

BEST PICTURE
Not for this, but for all three.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
I haven’t seen it, but I met the animator at the Cork Film Festival a couple of years ago and he was very pleasant.
HARVIE KRUMPET

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
Haven’t seen it, but it sounds like it has a punchline, and those shorts are always the best.
SQUASH

SOUND EDITING
How could you go wrong?
FINDING NEMO

SOUND MIXING
For all three.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING

VISUAL EFFECTS
For all three.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
Riveting.
CITY OF GOD

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
After careful consideration… Go Kirsten!
IN AMERICA

I want to put a $1 accumulator wager on these picks, but gambling is illegal over here! And the online sites can tell where I am by my IP address. Grrrr…

Also, I’ve been reading over my last few posts and I notice they’re distressingly free of interesting details about my life, which after all is the entire point. I’ve been blinded by the trees! I’ll post a summation of where I’m at soon.