Gone to America

Ooh, a week since my last post. This is what happens when I’m working, I guess. Still at R*. It’s becoming less and less clear with each passing day precisely what my role is there, or how long it will last. I’m doing about four different things for them, on …

Ooh, a week since my last post. This is what happens when I’m working, I guess. Still at R*. It’s becoming less and less clear with each passing day precisely what my role is there, or how long it will last. I’m doing about four different things for them, on two different projects. It’s still possible I’ll be done by the end of next week. Or not – it’s been over two weeks since I came on to help them out for a day and a half. The work itself isn’t high level at all, but it’s a fascinating process to be involved in. And hopefully I’ll be getting some more free t-shirts.

I’m teaching a little as well. It’s actually quite convenient – the NYFA has opened up a new post production space a block away from the R* offices on Broadway, so I’ve been able to duck out for a couple of hours, teach a class, and get back to work for the rest of the afternoon. I’m also involved in a long distance script collaboration or two, and I’m trying to get a short done.

Once again, I find myself a lazy person trapped in the career of a workaholic. I like being in New York anyway, but earning money here is great. I haven’t actually been paid yet (the freelancer’s lot) but I will be. I still have enormous debts, but if things keep going like this they’ll be actually manageable soon enough. If things keep going like this.

I’ve started doing Yoga again (friend, former neighbour, former assistant, DJ, singer-songwriter and Yoga instructor Eileen Gogan used to let me practise with her occasionally). I guess it’s something to do with turning thirty. I went along to a beginner Vinyasa class last Sunday, and it nearly killed me. It took me fifteen minutes to walk there, and about thirty to walk home again. I intend to go along tomorrow. This means I won’t be able to drink too much tonight, which is probably a good thing. Maybe I’ll get wasted on Sunday instead. (Monday is President’s Day – R* don’t need me but I’ll be teaching at the NYFA in the afternoon).

In blogging news: I’ve upgraded to WordPress 1.5. It’s pretty cool (for me, I doubt it’ll make any difference to you) . It was a fairly painless upgrade, but the Archives page still hasn’t really recovered. I’ll probably fix it eventually. As soon as someone tells me how.

I’ve reviewed Million Dollar Baby. I can’t be bothered to go through my Oscar Picks post and edit in the link. I’m getting quite a few hits from people Googling Oscar Picks 2005, which might explain why this site has been running like molasses the last few days. Why does nobody ever comment? Well, I guess I don’t comment much either.

I met Deb at a screening a few nights ago. She writes about it here. Also present were Rebecca and, of course, Julian. Julian has a photograph of we four merry bloggers, but he hasn’t put it up. The picture was taken by Marcie.

This is funny. Because it’s true. Oh, so true. Although I’d given up on FrontPage before I started blogging.

The R* job is continuing, I had a very promising meeting in Magno which will hopefully lead somewhere, I wrote some more and I’ll be teaching at the NYFA again in March. But those things aren’t important right now.

Oscar picks! These aren’t predictions – I …

The R* job is continuing, I had a very promising meeting in Magno which will hopefully lead somewhere, I wrote some more and I’ll be teaching at the NYFA again in March. But those things aren’t important right now.

Oscar picks! These aren’t predictions – I have no idea how the Academy works. I freely admit to not having seen most of the films – if I’ve reviewed it, I’ve linked to the review. Just because I didn’t review a movie doesn’t mean I haven’t seen it. Sometimes I just can’t think of anything to say, sometimes I can but leave it too long and forget, and sometimes I’m just lazy. Films here that I saw but didn’t review include The Aviator, Collateral, House of the Flying Daggers and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.

I will base my picks on the following criteria, which I believe closely mirror those of actual Academy voters:

1. Do I know any of the nominees?

1. Was I involved in any of the movies?

1. My actual opinion

1. Other peoples opinions

1. The Righting of Past Injustice

1. Best title

1. Blind prejudice

And so, without further ado…

I’m in Birthday Recovery mode. It’s not so bad. The hangover is finally fading, and I keep finding generous presents in my pockets (I put them in there while drunk). Thank you everybody! And there’s still time for the rest of you, obviously.

I’m also earning quite a lot at R* ...

I’m in Birthday Recovery mode. It’s not so bad. The hangover is finally fading, and I keep finding generous presents in my pockets (I put them in there while drunk). Thank you everybody! And there’s still time for the rest of you, obviously.

I’m also earning quite a lot at R* (predictably the day-and-a-half turned into a week-and-a-day-and-a-half). It’s not really a sound editing job, though. Some minor Pro Tools usage is involved, but it’s really more to do with database design. Oh, well – it’s good to branch out. I wonder is this violating the NDA? I’m not really revealing anything. Maybe I’d better stop anyway. Any lawyers out there?

2005 is looking good so far – R* came through, I have two promising meetings about other work coming up soon, and an offer of more teaching in the NYFA. And I suppose I’ll get used to being thirty eventually – everybody else seems to manage it. It is the first birthday I’ve had where I genuinely felt closer to death, but I’m sure that will pass.

Ok, now I’m really locking down on the site design for a while. When the menus extend they break the layout at the bottom, but I’ll live with that. I might try and fix it if I can figure out how. And I might add a “favourite posts” section, so new readers can get some sense of what’s going on without having to wade through the entire thing. But that’s it. Anyone have any favourites to nominate?

Congratulations to Catie and Mitchell Riggs on the birth of their son, Luca! A fellow Aquarian. I don’t believe in that stuff, but Aquarians are easily the best. Catie and Mitchell produced and acted in a feature I’ve been slowly doing the sound post on in my room since – what – July? I’ll finish soon, I promise.

Before I start – cough Wishlist cough.

Last night at about 8pm I got a call. “Are you free tomorrow?” Well, yes. “Friday?” Then too. So today I was back in R*, working on some of the preliminaries for their next game. It’s not much work (although they’ve already extended the …

Before I start – cough Wishlist cough.

Last night at about 8pm I got a call. “Are you free tomorrow?” Well, yes. “Friday?” Then too. So today I was back in R*, working on some of the preliminaries for their next game. It’s not much work (although they’ve already extended the amount of time they want me on) but it’s welcome. And it bodes well for them getting me back on for a longer period when it really gets going – whenever that is. The NDA I signed last time is still in force, so that’s all I’ll say about that.

It’s kind of ironic that the main reason they’re getting me in this early for a short period is the stuff I used to use to procrastinate. I’m not working for them at the moment because I’m a good sound editor – although knowing Pro Tools is part of it – but because I also know how to use Excel and Filemaker Pro. I only got comfortable with those programs as a way of avoiding work (“Well, I guess I’d better start editing… Or I could redesign the database for spotting the ADR! I guess I’d better try and find some wriggle room in this budget… Or I could try and figure out a way to make the spreadsheet automatically total up the overages based on the date!”) and now that’s what makes me employable. The next thing you know they’ll be looking for someone who both knows how to use Pro Tools and set up a blog site.

I just hope I get enough work out of them to pay the taxes on the work I did for them last year.