We just bought a new minidv cam.The idea wasn't mine but cecile used her latent force powers to over ride mine. I hate it when it happens.But then again my mind has been very weak for the past weeks. I was in power books reading THE REVENGE OF THE SITH novelization which I thought to be infinetly better than the film. I dont know if the film was that BAD! Or the novel was that REALLY GOOD! I was reading it standing up because there were 20 people who thought it was a good idea to sit down while reading.I had the thought but I came in too late.
PHONE RINGS ( TUNE OF DANNY ELFMAN'S BATMAN THEME! )
CECILE: " I'm looking atthis video expo and saw a digicam and they're around 25 thou.Im thinking that we should get one."
FLIM: " But we already have one! "
CECILE: " Yes but its too heavy and cubersome."
FLIM: " Its a professional camera."
CECILE: " Well my point is that i want something that I can operate. I see how you have to fiddle with knobs and switches just to use it."
FLIM: " Well there's a novice mode switch in there."
CECILE: " And its too heavy for me to carry around when we go on vacation"
Initially I didnt take well to a 2nd cam. But then again if teh cam would be mini dv and would have that incredible low light enchanment mechanism, why not? A 2nd cam would always be...handy.
FLIM: " Is it minidv? "
CECILE: " Let me ask..."
Faint mumbling in teh background as I went back to the description of COUNT DOOKU's RANCOOR leather booths.
CECILE: " its video 8."
FLIM: " Yeah thats why its so cheap."
CECILE: " Is it good."
FLIM: " Not really. But if it were minidv..."
CECILE: " I'll go check..."
She calls back after a few minutes.
CECILE: " They have a mini-dv."
That's the clincher.
Three days later I bought the cam. Its very small and compact. but the controls are somewhat...i dont know how to say it.
Im used to a camera that I can control everything.Right down to the sound level and the the shutter speed. But this camera is for novices and many an instance that I would scramble for teh controls and much to my dismay be informed that i can't control that particular aspect.
But with this cam I can do shots that would make me have seconds thoughts if I were using the expensive one.
Now the next step is getting the case for the cam.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
I designed and made this years SINGAPORE 18th INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL picture logo or picture motiff or whatever its called.It appears in their banner poster,program, t-shirt,caps and I dont know what.As before I made it using paint. The often neglected program that comes with any windows application.Funny enough I got strange and intresting results. I dont know why I waste my time playing it with it when obviuosly there are more sophisticated painting and drawing proigrams out there. My answer I guess would be is..." It's there! "
I would have made alink to the sight but I dont want to derpive those who are curios enough to see it, of using their search engines!
That's what they are there for.
I would have made alink to the sight but I dont want to derpive those who are curios enough to see it, of using their search engines!
That's what they are there for.
Monday, March 28, 2005
SITH HAPPENS
I saw REVENGE OF THE SITH 3 times already. The first time was with Cecile and her mother on opening night Wednesday and the following day with Selina and my sister and her fellow pathologists in one row.
I have to say that visually this has the strongest opening scene in any STAR WARS FILM TO DATE. As always we have a shot of STAR DESTROYER but this time it's a bird's P.O.V and there are WAR DRUMS banging on the soundtrack ( This was initially what Lucas had planned for the beginning of EPISODE 1V but never used.One of his AKIRA KUROSAWA influence)and then BANG! An eye popping battle scene above corusant. The battle scene reminded me of my dark roller coaster ride on MAGIC MOUNTAIN! Hell yeah, I loved that scene. I told myself…it’s off to a rousing start …hope it follows thru till the end.
But alas the potential for REVENGE OF THE SITH being the best of the prequel movies turned to SITH when the scene with ANAKIN and PADME by the balcony came.
ANAKIN: “ I LOVE YOU! “
PADME: “ No…I love you! “
I don’t know if that was accurate since I couldn’t remember that much either …the people in my row were groaning so hard or maybe it’s my brain’s CRAP Filter’s fail safe device kicking in.
But I still held on… I mean this is just a minor speed bump right? I mean this is GEORGE LUCAS directing. He may have made a goose crap fest of EPISODE 1 and
II But he made THX 1138, AMERICAN GRAFITTI and EPISODE 1V ( Which is for me still the best STAR WARS ever! ) but no one can do it in threes…
And there was that concept of his, “ Symmetry” which he drops more than once in the EPISODE 1 AND 2 commentaries. Saying that he intentionally reprises plots, lines and character arches in the entire saga so that they can illuminate and play off one another.
In the original trilogy we see LUKE SKYWALKER turning into a JEDI KNIGHT
In the new trilogy we see his father turning into a SITH LORD. They both become that in the 3rd movies. They both have their right hands cut off in the second movies.
Anakin gets to be the third wheel when PALPITANE BLASTS LUKE WITH HIS FORCE LIGHTNING in the 3rd film. Again he gets to be in the sidelines when PALPITANE FRIES MACE WINDU.
In JEDI he tips the balance by hurtling PALPITANE in the shaft. In REVENGE he cuts off WINDU’s hands to save PALPITANE
So in following this mindset I thought and assumed, “ All right. Lucas deals in role and plot reversals. And if that is so… since in the original trilogy, the best films were NEW HOPE AND THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and the turkey was RETURN OF THE JEDI…then that must mean REVENGE OF THE SITH will be the best film in the New trilogy since PHANTOM MENACE and ATTACK OF THE CLONES were TOTAL SITH!
This was my mind set when I watched that awful scene in the balcony. No …just a speed bump! It’s still going to be a good film.
So my BRAIN CRAP FILTER worked over time. I tried desperately to ignore plot inconsistencies like when MACE WINDU and YODA and OBI WAN are on a craft
On they’re way to their rendezvous with the WOOKIE CONTINGENT.
MACE: “ I don’t trust the two of them together (ANAKIN and PALPITANE)
But when information of the rebels being defeated in UTAPU reaches MACE whom does he send to palpitane to deliver the message? ANAKIN
BRAIN CRAP FILTER: “ FEZZZETH!”
FLIM: “ NO! Maybe the JEDI COM LINK IS OFF LINE OR Mace must make sure that ANAKIN and PALPITANE meet and let PALPITANE WEAVE his black magic woman spell on him some more and if ANAKIN over comes it he passes the test of the flesh or something.
And when many armed GENERAL GRIEVIOS confronts OBI WAN WITH HIS MULTIPLE LIGHR SABERS he doesn’t even scratch the Jedi master. Because despite having multiple arms and weapons he uses the light saber one at a time…
BRAIN CRAP FILTER: “ FEZZZETH!”
FLIM: “ Ahhh…Shut up! General Grievous isn’t up to his old killing and fighting self ever since MACE WINDU messed him up in eth CLONE WARS cartoon.
By the time ANAKIN stands beside MACE WINDU as the latter is fending off the force blast from PALPITANE My Brain crap filter has been working on over load and is shedding some light works by its own.
But alas …my belief in this film went the way of the dodo when ANAKIN TURNS INTO DARTH VADER.
PALPITANE: “ I NAME YOU DARTH VADER! “
ANAKIN SKYWALKER: “ Thank you, my master.”
BRAIN CRAP FILTER: “ FEZZZETH! COUGH! BARF! PYING! BRAIN CRAP FILTER OVER RIDE! ”
FLIM: “ BRAIN CRAP FILTER! DON’T LEAVE ME! “
BRAIN CRAP FILTER: “ SORRY KID YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN! ‘
PALPITANE: “ I NAME YOU DARTH VADER! “
ANAKIN SKYWALKER: “ Thank you, my master.”
This was the most important scene in the film…nay not only the film… and not only in this prequel trilogy but in the entire saga. THIS IS THE MOMENT! For years every fan has wondered what could have driven LUKE’S FATHER to turn to the DARK SIDE OF THE FORCE.
Love is mentioned. Still feasible. I know there are those who would betray their friends for the love of a woman.
But the way he turns…
Too suddenly and too drastically…
I mean come on.
There’s still a wide gulf between turning on your friends and massacring small children.
Yeah yeah yeah! Lucas made a foreshadowing of it in ATTACK OF THE CLONES when ANAKIN wiped out a tribe of TUSKAN RAIDERS. But these creatures killed off his mother.
And lets face it,it’s easier to kill a baby tuskan raider that cries, “ WAYERK, WAYERK! WAYERK!
Than a small child that comes up to you with his baby blue eyes and a scared look and says, “ MASTER ANAKIN what must we do? “
Even ADOLF HITLER in his most intense, made sweeping commands of killing the Jews but he didn’t mention, “ kill the small children as well.”
Its somewhere in between the lines. Because killing children, even no matter how much of a bad ass villain you are is simply too….” Inhuman”
That’s why rapist and child killers are often sodomized and butt fucked in prison by the hardened criminals.
CRIMINALS: “ I killed a banker and his wife when I crashed their palatial digs but I didn’t kill the children… its too messy. But you, you sick fuck you rape small kids… YOURE SCUM! SO I’LL BUST YOUR ASS! “
Even if ANAKIN turns to the dark side. His fall shouldn’t have been that complete. There would have been small residues of his old self. Trying to fight back the thing that he is slowly becoming.
The death of a person's character doesn’t happen over night.( Unless you witness the brutal killing of your parents right in front of you. That could be traumatic enough.But that's still open for debate.)It happens in inches. And by the time your personality under goes a full transformation, the change is so subtle that you hardly remember the person you once where.
Of course movies do not have that luxury but it could have shown some small character nuances to remind the audiences that the old Anakin was still there.Desperately hanging on as the SITH tendencies slowly engulf him. His good side disintegrating like a small island in the middle of the SITH STORM
The conflict of what he is and what he is becoming could have been a greater narrative spectacle than the opening battle scene or that "order 66" montage.
Either GEORGE LUCAS is not emotionally equipped to portray that transformation or he simply does not have the time becomes he has run out of time! He spent most of the film's running time on corny jokes and long drag out battle scenes and the establishing shots that are too long, to dwell on that most over looked element in telling a story, the human element.
When watching the film I was totally shocked to see the lengths that he would go to show us where the characters are.
In pre-CGI days. There would just be a few seconds of a tie fighter-passing overhead the death star to tell us that we are in the emperor’s domain and then cut to the emperor sitting on his chair.
But now that he is using digital technology, his establishing shots are not just a mere second. He would start out with OBIWAN boarding a craft. Then the craft would leave the star destroyer. Then the craft would enter the planet’s orbit, and then it would enter the planets surface. And then it would enter the ravine and then it would enter the landing plat form and then OBI WAN would be leaving the cockpit. And then he would Land on the landing plat form with his own two feet and then he would be greeted by the AMBASSADOR.
AMBASSADOR: “ WELCOME JEDI TO UTAPU.”
This immerse style montage would work for an amusement ride like the opening battle scene but not for a film which claims to be the fall of ANAKIN SKYWALKER.
So screen time was used up on action set pieces and to paraphrase MALCOM in JURRASIC PARK2, “ Yes, at first its OHHH and AHHHHS. Then later there would be screaming and running! ”
Many have said that it’s a bad film. And I have to agree with them. But the worst part is that it could have been the best STAR WARS FILM EVER MADE.
If only GEORGE LUCAS paid more attention to the most pivotal moment of the film, when ANAKIN SKYWALKER turns from promising JEDI KNIGHT to promising SITH LORD.
If only George Lucas didn’t have to over extend a story that could be told in only one movie instead of stretching it to three films. Just so he could have a trilogy.
If only George Lucas retained people in his production team who could still say no to him. Like his ex-wife MARCIA LUCAS the editor of NEW HOPE and RETURN OF THE JEDI. Or GARY KURTZ the producer of NEW HOPE and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Guys like these who weren’t afraid to tell him “ NO! THAT IDEA SUCKS! NO LIFE FORM NO MATTER HOW LOW IN THE FOOD CHAIN WOULD SAY, NO BECAUSE IM SO IN LOVE WITH YOU!
If only George Lucas delegated the writing of the scripts to writers better than him. He did in EMPIRE STRIKES BACK AND RETURN OF THE JEDI and the IDIANA JONES TRILOGY.
Why can’t he do it now? Or he could have hired a team of STAR WARS geeks as a story guide panel and he would ask them questions on the STAR WARS CANNON so when writing the script he doesn’t step on his own rules and guidelines made so many years ago that surely he must have forgotten most of them.
LUCAS: “ I have this idea of C3PO being created by ANAKIN SKYWALKER.”
GEEKS: “ Nahhhhhhh that wont fly. Threepio and artoo form such a very distinct relationship in the original and prequel trilogy that it would be too dumb for VADER not to realize hey, these are the 2 driods that I used to hang out with when I was a kid maybe I’m missing out on something here.
If only George Lucas restrained himself from playing with his high tech machines.Spends to much time and attention in building living and breathing worlds that he fails to create living and breathing characters.
Sometimes I wonder if Portman and HEYDEN weren't computer generated. With the way they act…one can never tell.
There is so much more to bitch about in SITH but in the end does it really matter? It’s the end (if we are to believe him that this is the last STAR WARS MOVIE) so we are stuck with two trilogies. One that illuminated me when I was a child and inspired me and the other that made me realize that sometimes by having everything you have nothing.
But all is not lost. With the way things are ,technologically speaking, he’s going to change the new trilogy and beef it up for good or for worse. There is still hope. But then again that light saber swings both ways and one day you’ll yelp in HORROR as you watch the NEW DIRECTOR'S EDITION OF NEW HOPE and see that ALEC GUINESS never existed and in his stead,EWAN MACGREGOR goes thru his paces.
SITH HAPPENS……..BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
I saw REVENGE OF THE SITH 3 times already. The first time was with Cecile and her mother on opening night Wednesday and the following day with Selina and my sister and her fellow pathologists in one row.
I have to say that visually this has the strongest opening scene in any STAR WARS FILM TO DATE. As always we have a shot of STAR DESTROYER but this time it's a bird's P.O.V and there are WAR DRUMS banging on the soundtrack ( This was initially what Lucas had planned for the beginning of EPISODE 1V but never used.One of his AKIRA KUROSAWA influence)and then BANG! An eye popping battle scene above corusant. The battle scene reminded me of my dark roller coaster ride on MAGIC MOUNTAIN! Hell yeah, I loved that scene. I told myself…it’s off to a rousing start …hope it follows thru till the end.
But alas the potential for REVENGE OF THE SITH being the best of the prequel movies turned to SITH when the scene with ANAKIN and PADME by the balcony came.
ANAKIN: “ I LOVE YOU! “
PADME: “ No…I love you! “
I don’t know if that was accurate since I couldn’t remember that much either …the people in my row were groaning so hard or maybe it’s my brain’s CRAP Filter’s fail safe device kicking in.
But I still held on… I mean this is just a minor speed bump right? I mean this is GEORGE LUCAS directing. He may have made a goose crap fest of EPISODE 1 and
II But he made THX 1138, AMERICAN GRAFITTI and EPISODE 1V ( Which is for me still the best STAR WARS ever! ) but no one can do it in threes…
And there was that concept of his, “ Symmetry” which he drops more than once in the EPISODE 1 AND 2 commentaries. Saying that he intentionally reprises plots, lines and character arches in the entire saga so that they can illuminate and play off one another.
In the original trilogy we see LUKE SKYWALKER turning into a JEDI KNIGHT
In the new trilogy we see his father turning into a SITH LORD. They both become that in the 3rd movies. They both have their right hands cut off in the second movies.
Anakin gets to be the third wheel when PALPITANE BLASTS LUKE WITH HIS FORCE LIGHTNING in the 3rd film. Again he gets to be in the sidelines when PALPITANE FRIES MACE WINDU.
In JEDI he tips the balance by hurtling PALPITANE in the shaft. In REVENGE he cuts off WINDU’s hands to save PALPITANE
So in following this mindset I thought and assumed, “ All right. Lucas deals in role and plot reversals. And if that is so… since in the original trilogy, the best films were NEW HOPE AND THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and the turkey was RETURN OF THE JEDI…then that must mean REVENGE OF THE SITH will be the best film in the New trilogy since PHANTOM MENACE and ATTACK OF THE CLONES were TOTAL SITH!
This was my mind set when I watched that awful scene in the balcony. No …just a speed bump! It’s still going to be a good film.
So my BRAIN CRAP FILTER worked over time. I tried desperately to ignore plot inconsistencies like when MACE WINDU and YODA and OBI WAN are on a craft
On they’re way to their rendezvous with the WOOKIE CONTINGENT.
MACE: “ I don’t trust the two of them together (ANAKIN and PALPITANE)
But when information of the rebels being defeated in UTAPU reaches MACE whom does he send to palpitane to deliver the message? ANAKIN
BRAIN CRAP FILTER: “ FEZZZETH!”
FLIM: “ NO! Maybe the JEDI COM LINK IS OFF LINE OR Mace must make sure that ANAKIN and PALPITANE meet and let PALPITANE WEAVE his black magic woman spell on him some more and if ANAKIN over comes it he passes the test of the flesh or something.
And when many armed GENERAL GRIEVIOS confronts OBI WAN WITH HIS MULTIPLE LIGHR SABERS he doesn’t even scratch the Jedi master. Because despite having multiple arms and weapons he uses the light saber one at a time…
BRAIN CRAP FILTER: “ FEZZZETH!”
FLIM: “ Ahhh…Shut up! General Grievous isn’t up to his old killing and fighting self ever since MACE WINDU messed him up in eth CLONE WARS cartoon.
By the time ANAKIN stands beside MACE WINDU as the latter is fending off the force blast from PALPITANE My Brain crap filter has been working on over load and is shedding some light works by its own.
But alas …my belief in this film went the way of the dodo when ANAKIN TURNS INTO DARTH VADER.
PALPITANE: “ I NAME YOU DARTH VADER! “
ANAKIN SKYWALKER: “ Thank you, my master.”
BRAIN CRAP FILTER: “ FEZZZETH! COUGH! BARF! PYING! BRAIN CRAP FILTER OVER RIDE! ”
FLIM: “ BRAIN CRAP FILTER! DON’T LEAVE ME! “
BRAIN CRAP FILTER: “ SORRY KID YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN! ‘
PALPITANE: “ I NAME YOU DARTH VADER! “
ANAKIN SKYWALKER: “ Thank you, my master.”
This was the most important scene in the film…nay not only the film… and not only in this prequel trilogy but in the entire saga. THIS IS THE MOMENT! For years every fan has wondered what could have driven LUKE’S FATHER to turn to the DARK SIDE OF THE FORCE.
Love is mentioned. Still feasible. I know there are those who would betray their friends for the love of a woman.
But the way he turns…
Too suddenly and too drastically…
I mean come on.
There’s still a wide gulf between turning on your friends and massacring small children.
Yeah yeah yeah! Lucas made a foreshadowing of it in ATTACK OF THE CLONES when ANAKIN wiped out a tribe of TUSKAN RAIDERS. But these creatures killed off his mother.
And lets face it,it’s easier to kill a baby tuskan raider that cries, “ WAYERK, WAYERK! WAYERK!
Than a small child that comes up to you with his baby blue eyes and a scared look and says, “ MASTER ANAKIN what must we do? “
Even ADOLF HITLER in his most intense, made sweeping commands of killing the Jews but he didn’t mention, “ kill the small children as well.”
Its somewhere in between the lines. Because killing children, even no matter how much of a bad ass villain you are is simply too….” Inhuman”
That’s why rapist and child killers are often sodomized and butt fucked in prison by the hardened criminals.
CRIMINALS: “ I killed a banker and his wife when I crashed their palatial digs but I didn’t kill the children… its too messy. But you, you sick fuck you rape small kids… YOURE SCUM! SO I’LL BUST YOUR ASS! “
Even if ANAKIN turns to the dark side. His fall shouldn’t have been that complete. There would have been small residues of his old self. Trying to fight back the thing that he is slowly becoming.
The death of a person's character doesn’t happen over night.( Unless you witness the brutal killing of your parents right in front of you. That could be traumatic enough.But that's still open for debate.)It happens in inches. And by the time your personality under goes a full transformation, the change is so subtle that you hardly remember the person you once where.
Of course movies do not have that luxury but it could have shown some small character nuances to remind the audiences that the old Anakin was still there.Desperately hanging on as the SITH tendencies slowly engulf him. His good side disintegrating like a small island in the middle of the SITH STORM
The conflict of what he is and what he is becoming could have been a greater narrative spectacle than the opening battle scene or that "order 66" montage.
Either GEORGE LUCAS is not emotionally equipped to portray that transformation or he simply does not have the time becomes he has run out of time! He spent most of the film's running time on corny jokes and long drag out battle scenes and the establishing shots that are too long, to dwell on that most over looked element in telling a story, the human element.
When watching the film I was totally shocked to see the lengths that he would go to show us where the characters are.
In pre-CGI days. There would just be a few seconds of a tie fighter-passing overhead the death star to tell us that we are in the emperor’s domain and then cut to the emperor sitting on his chair.
But now that he is using digital technology, his establishing shots are not just a mere second. He would start out with OBIWAN boarding a craft. Then the craft would leave the star destroyer. Then the craft would enter the planet’s orbit, and then it would enter the planets surface. And then it would enter the ravine and then it would enter the landing plat form and then OBI WAN would be leaving the cockpit. And then he would Land on the landing plat form with his own two feet and then he would be greeted by the AMBASSADOR.
AMBASSADOR: “ WELCOME JEDI TO UTAPU.”
This immerse style montage would work for an amusement ride like the opening battle scene but not for a film which claims to be the fall of ANAKIN SKYWALKER.
So screen time was used up on action set pieces and to paraphrase MALCOM in JURRASIC PARK2, “ Yes, at first its OHHH and AHHHHS. Then later there would be screaming and running! ”
Many have said that it’s a bad film. And I have to agree with them. But the worst part is that it could have been the best STAR WARS FILM EVER MADE.
If only GEORGE LUCAS paid more attention to the most pivotal moment of the film, when ANAKIN SKYWALKER turns from promising JEDI KNIGHT to promising SITH LORD.
If only George Lucas didn’t have to over extend a story that could be told in only one movie instead of stretching it to three films. Just so he could have a trilogy.
If only George Lucas retained people in his production team who could still say no to him. Like his ex-wife MARCIA LUCAS the editor of NEW HOPE and RETURN OF THE JEDI. Or GARY KURTZ the producer of NEW HOPE and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Guys like these who weren’t afraid to tell him “ NO! THAT IDEA SUCKS! NO LIFE FORM NO MATTER HOW LOW IN THE FOOD CHAIN WOULD SAY, NO BECAUSE IM SO IN LOVE WITH YOU!
If only George Lucas delegated the writing of the scripts to writers better than him. He did in EMPIRE STRIKES BACK AND RETURN OF THE JEDI and the IDIANA JONES TRILOGY.
Why can’t he do it now? Or he could have hired a team of STAR WARS geeks as a story guide panel and he would ask them questions on the STAR WARS CANNON so when writing the script he doesn’t step on his own rules and guidelines made so many years ago that surely he must have forgotten most of them.
LUCAS: “ I have this idea of C3PO being created by ANAKIN SKYWALKER.”
GEEKS: “ Nahhhhhhh that wont fly. Threepio and artoo form such a very distinct relationship in the original and prequel trilogy that it would be too dumb for VADER not to realize hey, these are the 2 driods that I used to hang out with when I was a kid maybe I’m missing out on something here.
If only George Lucas restrained himself from playing with his high tech machines.Spends to much time and attention in building living and breathing worlds that he fails to create living and breathing characters.
Sometimes I wonder if Portman and HEYDEN weren't computer generated. With the way they act…one can never tell.
There is so much more to bitch about in SITH but in the end does it really matter? It’s the end (if we are to believe him that this is the last STAR WARS MOVIE) so we are stuck with two trilogies. One that illuminated me when I was a child and inspired me and the other that made me realize that sometimes by having everything you have nothing.
But all is not lost. With the way things are ,technologically speaking, he’s going to change the new trilogy and beef it up for good or for worse. There is still hope. But then again that light saber swings both ways and one day you’ll yelp in HORROR as you watch the NEW DIRECTOR'S EDITION OF NEW HOPE and see that ALEC GUINESS never existed and in his stead,EWAN MACGREGOR goes thru his paces.
SITH HAPPENS……..BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
The shoot was very surreal. It started with the agency lashing out on my cinematographer.
We were setting up a shot with my cinematographer. He is very young and I like his lighting style. Hell I like anything that’s new.
He lights the scene and asked me
CINEMATOGRAPHER: “ Direk, what dya think? “
I look at the viewfinder.
Looks like a bleached bypass shot. Not bad.
FLIM: “ Yeah…let’s do it! “
I go back to the monitor. The agency girl looks at the view finder and goes to the cinematographer.
I watched from my vantage point. She returns. She’s huffing and puffing.Sensing something strange I go back to the camera.
CINEMATOGRAPHER: “ DIREK! I’M QUITING!”
FLIM: “ WHAT? WHAT’S HAPPENING HERE ? “
CINEMATOGRAPHER: “ SHE CALLED ME AN AMATUER! SHE SAID THAT THE LIGHTING WAS TERRIBLE AND THAT IT LOOKS LIKE WE ARE IN THE PHILLIPINES! “
FLIM: “ LAST TIME I CHECKED WE ARE IN THE PHILIPPINES! “
CINEMATOGRAPHER: ” THAT'S WHAT I SAID! I ASKED MY ASSITANT TO GET THE KODAK CINEMATOGRAPHER’S CALENDER! I SHOWED HER MY PAGE WHERE I WAS FEATURED! BUT SHE DIDN’T EVEN LOOKED AT IT! I CAN’T TAKE THIS! I’M WALKING OUT!
FLIM: “ THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE! WHERE’S THE LINE PRODUCER? “
Line producer walks in and she asks what’s the matter and tried to placate the really angry and disturbed cinematgrapher
CINEMATOGRAPHER: ”I HAVE BEEN LIGHTING FOR 5 YEARS…AND NO ONE HAS EVER SAID THAT TO ME…, AN AMATEUR! I DON’T NEED THIS SHIT! “
This is what I miss?
We were setting up a shot with my cinematographer. He is very young and I like his lighting style. Hell I like anything that’s new.
He lights the scene and asked me
CINEMATOGRAPHER: “ Direk, what dya think? “
I look at the viewfinder.
Looks like a bleached bypass shot. Not bad.
FLIM: “ Yeah…let’s do it! “
I go back to the monitor. The agency girl looks at the view finder and goes to the cinematographer.
I watched from my vantage point. She returns. She’s huffing and puffing.Sensing something strange I go back to the camera.
CINEMATOGRAPHER: “ DIREK! I’M QUITING!”
FLIM: “ WHAT? WHAT’S HAPPENING HERE ? “
CINEMATOGRAPHER: “ SHE CALLED ME AN AMATUER! SHE SAID THAT THE LIGHTING WAS TERRIBLE AND THAT IT LOOKS LIKE WE ARE IN THE PHILLIPINES! “
FLIM: “ LAST TIME I CHECKED WE ARE IN THE PHILIPPINES! “
CINEMATOGRAPHER: ” THAT'S WHAT I SAID! I ASKED MY ASSITANT TO GET THE KODAK CINEMATOGRAPHER’S CALENDER! I SHOWED HER MY PAGE WHERE I WAS FEATURED! BUT SHE DIDN’T EVEN LOOKED AT IT! I CAN’T TAKE THIS! I’M WALKING OUT!
FLIM: “ THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE! WHERE’S THE LINE PRODUCER? “
Line producer walks in and she asks what’s the matter and tried to placate the really angry and disturbed cinematgrapher
CINEMATOGRAPHER: ”I HAVE BEEN LIGHTING FOR 5 YEARS…AND NO ONE HAS EVER SAID THAT TO ME…, AN AMATEUR! I DON’T NEED THIS SHIT! “
This is what I miss?
I’m going to direct a television commercial again. Something I turned my back from 10 years ago.
After years of being my own boss, now I have a client and an agency I have to satisfy.
Artistic sensibilities goes out the window. The most important thing is to sell the product.JUST THE PRODUCT! The more you time you spent on the label…THE BETTER! If its possible to have the branding in each and every frame…well and good!
Forget the innovative shots and the interesting angle…YOU’RE SELLING A PRODUCT! THAT’S IT!
This will be interesting! A friend asked me, “ Why are you doing it?”
“ I’m bored!”
Besides its going to be interesting….
After years of being my own boss, now I have a client and an agency I have to satisfy.
Artistic sensibilities goes out the window. The most important thing is to sell the product.JUST THE PRODUCT! The more you time you spent on the label…THE BETTER! If its possible to have the branding in each and every frame…well and good!
Forget the innovative shots and the interesting angle…YOU’RE SELLING A PRODUCT! THAT’S IT!
This will be interesting! A friend asked me, “ Why are you doing it?”
“ I’m bored!”
Besides its going to be interesting….
Saturday, January 29, 2005
So now they are increasing the value added tax. Their reason is to prevent the mounting fiscal crisis that they incurred in the first place. What I saw on TV today made realize that the Philippines have sunk to a new low.
On TV was a panel discussion involving this congressman who drafted the increase. He tried to defend it to a bunch of young idealistic students by saying that the increase would serve them in the end when the government would use the value added tax increase by giving us better roads and better schools. That the students would be given better textbooks and all.
Can’t keep myself from laughing especially when the students asked what’s the assurance
That the money collected would be properly used and not stolen by corrupt civil servants.
Of course no one in the panel was able to answer it. In fact no one even tried. There was this momentary silence.
Even funnier still was when the congressmen claimed that the only ones affected where the rich percent and that the poor would be spared by the increase.
What sane person would believe this shit? Seems to me that the only ones who could swallow this lie are the idiots who drafted it in the first place.
On TV was a panel discussion involving this congressman who drafted the increase. He tried to defend it to a bunch of young idealistic students by saying that the increase would serve them in the end when the government would use the value added tax increase by giving us better roads and better schools. That the students would be given better textbooks and all.
Can’t keep myself from laughing especially when the students asked what’s the assurance
That the money collected would be properly used and not stolen by corrupt civil servants.
Of course no one in the panel was able to answer it. In fact no one even tried. There was this momentary silence.
Even funnier still was when the congressmen claimed that the only ones affected where the rich percent and that the poor would be spared by the increase.
What sane person would believe this shit? Seems to me that the only ones who could swallow this lie are the idiots who drafted it in the first place.
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Today I planned to make chili fired crabs. I ordered the maids to buy two kilos of the damn thing for a budget of 350. She comes back with six crabs in her hands. A measely six crabs. That wont even be enough for dinner.
MAID: “ Ser , everything is super expensive now! “
Yep … maybe the money they steal from us would go to that tsunami early warning device. I can see it now. The warning device would consists of a couple of benches facing the sea and you have two or maybe three idiots ( The president’s distant relatives) staring at the sea and munching junk food and collecting hefty paychecks while they ogle sexy joggers instead of doing their jobs.
I just hope when a TSUNAMMI hits that it will engulf the presidential palace and wash away that small idiot that resides inside. If one is too hope then lets make it spectacular! Wash the entire cabinet, make it a wet revamp!
MAID: “ Ser , everything is super expensive now! “
Yep … maybe the money they steal from us would go to that tsunami early warning device. I can see it now. The warning device would consists of a couple of benches facing the sea and you have two or maybe three idiots ( The president’s distant relatives) staring at the sea and munching junk food and collecting hefty paychecks while they ogle sexy joggers instead of doing their jobs.
I just hope when a TSUNAMMI hits that it will engulf the presidential palace and wash away that small idiot that resides inside. If one is too hope then lets make it spectacular! Wash the entire cabinet, make it a wet revamp!
Writing on this blog is more of a luxury than anything else. To sit down and write tons and tons of sentences costing time which is the most precious commodity. Money isn’t even in the same league. You can earn back the cents but never the time you lost!
I don’t relish the idea of traveling from one point to the other because if you stop and actually counted and catalogued the time you spent in traffic…you’d be shock to realize that its almost 1/4th of the day!
When I do travel, I have tons of books and storyboard papers inside the car. So when we do get in stuck in traffic…you could do some reading or drawing. Another thing is to record the audio commentaries in my DVD collection and play them when you’re in the car.
Its not enough to have them playing in the background while I edit…my attention gets divided!
RETURN OF THE KING EXTENDED EDITION
Got it before x mas. I was somewhat disappointed with the restored 50 minutes. I was expecting it to enhance the plotline or the characters, instead I’m treated to more GIMLI comedy routines that are forced and contrived!
But I’m a completist. So that’s that! The very same reason why I’m going to watch REVENGE OF THE SITH. I’m not betting that it is going to be good but I just want to get it over with.
Then again in the original trilogy the first two were very good while the last, RETURN OF THE JEDI, sucked! And since Lucas claims that he is working with symmetry…then he intentionally or unintentionally might make REVENGE OF THE SITH THE best film of the lot in the recent trilogy!
Now back to work….
I don’t relish the idea of traveling from one point to the other because if you stop and actually counted and catalogued the time you spent in traffic…you’d be shock to realize that its almost 1/4th of the day!
When I do travel, I have tons of books and storyboard papers inside the car. So when we do get in stuck in traffic…you could do some reading or drawing. Another thing is to record the audio commentaries in my DVD collection and play them when you’re in the car.
Its not enough to have them playing in the background while I edit…my attention gets divided!
RETURN OF THE KING EXTENDED EDITION
Got it before x mas. I was somewhat disappointed with the restored 50 minutes. I was expecting it to enhance the plotline or the characters, instead I’m treated to more GIMLI comedy routines that are forced and contrived!
But I’m a completist. So that’s that! The very same reason why I’m going to watch REVENGE OF THE SITH. I’m not betting that it is going to be good but I just want to get it over with.
Then again in the original trilogy the first two were very good while the last, RETURN OF THE JEDI, sucked! And since Lucas claims that he is working with symmetry…then he intentionally or unintentionally might make REVENGE OF THE SITH THE best film of the lot in the recent trilogy!
Now back to work….
TSUNAMMI WARNING DEVICE
The president did it again. Now she wants an early tsunami-warning device installed. She can’t even have the roads fix and the flood situation that happens almost every time it rains; now she wants a tsunami-warning device?
CESS: “ What’s the use of having it? When the Philippines is so small. The tsunami would just wash us away! “
FLIM: “ What do you mean? We’re far from the coastline aren’t we? “
CESS: “ Read the papers. The waters crossed several hundred miles in land! If a tsunami hits us… we’ll be engulfed! Why would she want an early warning device? So we can have a few hours to contemplate our deaths? “
FLIM: “ You totally miss the point! The warning device is for her so she can bolt out of the office and save her neck via helicopter or something!
The president did it again. Now she wants an early tsunami-warning device installed. She can’t even have the roads fix and the flood situation that happens almost every time it rains; now she wants a tsunami-warning device?
CESS: “ What’s the use of having it? When the Philippines is so small. The tsunami would just wash us away! “
FLIM: “ What do you mean? We’re far from the coastline aren’t we? “
CESS: “ Read the papers. The waters crossed several hundred miles in land! If a tsunami hits us… we’ll be engulfed! Why would she want an early warning device? So we can have a few hours to contemplate our deaths? “
FLIM: “ You totally miss the point! The warning device is for her so she can bolt out of the office and save her neck via helicopter or something!
Thursday, November 11, 2004
The funny thing when you're rushing and trying to finish your work and your concepts and ideas are all jelling together seamlessly but there isn’t much time...the universe would look down and say.." LETS MAKE it MORE INTERESTING!
So the first thing that happens is POWER FAILURE! I'm not talking about one that would take out the entire city. Just your neighborhood. In fact three blocks!
Now the thing is ...I have foreseen that card. That’s why I invested in SURGE PROTECTORS and BACKUPS. So I get hit by the power failure. No problem. Switch in the back up power supplies.
Thinking that it would only last for a couple of minutes you sit down and enjoy the darkness and tap your fingers.
After the two thousandth tap you realize...that the universe is not only holding on to its cards close to its chest. Its playing for time. And as the minutes rolled by and start piling up to become hours...You hear the audible beeping of the power back ups slowly getting faster ...and then the imminent....BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!
AND COMPLETE SHUTDOWN!
Ok I lost and the universe wins. What do I do? I leave the table and lie down on the bed. Reassigned to the fact that you did everything and just hope the next morning that you were able to save the data that you were working on before...
So you start working again.
This time you get nailed with a virus.
And its no ordinary virus. Its a virus that gets into and messes up your anti-virus and prevents you from accesing any on line anti-virus sites. Then it disables your firewall.
So kicking and screaming you take out the pc and start the long climb down to Calvary. In the shop you are told that the best way to deal with it is to reformat!
And you do! After three hours of installing which is the real bitchy part about reformatting you go home. Faster than a Japanese could ejaculate. You got the virus again!
And since the warranty of the repair covers a year. YOU HAUL THE DAMN BITCH AGAIN THE FOLLOWING MORNING!
I thought the AVG anti virus which is free and downloadable was going to be enough.
But I was told that it was free! And a free anti-virus wont protect you or is not capable of protecting you 100 hundred percent.
I don’t know why the local and foreign government is so lax when it comes to dealing with THE SICK FUCKS WHO MAKE THESE VIRUSES! BUT IF IM ELECTED INTO ANY GOVERNMENT POSITION THE FIRST THING IM GOING TO WORK ON IS TO PASS A LAW TO HAVE THEM SUMMARILY EXECUTED ON LIVE PUBLIC ACESS TV. After they have been castrated and their balls fed to the pets of people whose lives they have screwed up with.
I remember a few years ago when some geek I knew read in the papers that the guy who made this virus, which screwed up a lot of pcs, was a Filipino. And he said that he found that is cool. That a Filipino can create a virus that was world renown.
And I remember telling that IDIOT, THAT It was that kind of thinking, THAT FUCKS UP The WORLD!
Yeah be cool and popular by doing something that's destructive. Oh sure its cool to disrupt a multi-media conglomerate by hacking or corrupting their data system. OH yeah they can afford to have a system reformat and they have a squad of computer geeks whose job it was to do those kinds of things. But what about the average Joe. The one who just works on his pc to finish the work he wasn’t able to do in the office because he wanted to spend some quality time with the kids and would rather work home and see them play than in the office where pc nerds and mutants rule.
Then the virus destroys that data!
Or what about the housewife who does her budget on her computer…then WHAMMO!
I told that idiot that that SHIT HEAD virus making fuck HEAD! Should have gotten the electric chair!
He should have been made to walk in between two lines of all the people whose pcs were infected. Of course, they are all armed with wooden bats and steel pipes.
I told that idiot that he is probably the same type of person who thinks DRUG PUSHERS are cool! Yes idolize and emulate these fucking criminals! Because that’s what they are!
At least the original drug pusher is trying to make a living. I mean selling drugs out in the streets is not a thing that a person who thinks that it’s cool to be a drug pusher would do
Dealing with six year old kids and dirty cops would be too ‘ UNCOOL for them.
These poseurs would be found in warehouse parties and some street event organized by some popular telecom company.
Same thing applies to these virus makers!
In a party they ‘d say, “ YEAH I was the one who made that WORM that screwed up the computers on the western coast…yeah that’ s me.”
And those in attendance would nod their heads and say collectively,
‘ WOW that’s cool! “
Of course the anti-virus companies have a thing to say about this. When a hacker or virus maker is caught the first thing that happens is that he is imprisoned for a short time. And for him that’s the cool period. His face would be on the papers and his friends and neighbors would say “ WOW that’s cool”
Then the anti virus people would come in and offer him lucrative contract. Of course they need this fuck! Anti virus companies would be nothing without these guys! What’s to protect our pcs from without any viruses?
See the hackers and the virus makers wont propagate without the generous patronage of the anti-virus companies.
You can’t touch the virus makers just yet… but we can screw the anti-virus companies. Don’t buy their legal software…Read in between the dots!
So the first thing that happens is POWER FAILURE! I'm not talking about one that would take out the entire city. Just your neighborhood. In fact three blocks!
Now the thing is ...I have foreseen that card. That’s why I invested in SURGE PROTECTORS and BACKUPS. So I get hit by the power failure. No problem. Switch in the back up power supplies.
Thinking that it would only last for a couple of minutes you sit down and enjoy the darkness and tap your fingers.
After the two thousandth tap you realize...that the universe is not only holding on to its cards close to its chest. Its playing for time. And as the minutes rolled by and start piling up to become hours...You hear the audible beeping of the power back ups slowly getting faster ...and then the imminent....BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!
AND COMPLETE SHUTDOWN!
Ok I lost and the universe wins. What do I do? I leave the table and lie down on the bed. Reassigned to the fact that you did everything and just hope the next morning that you were able to save the data that you were working on before...
So you start working again.
This time you get nailed with a virus.
And its no ordinary virus. Its a virus that gets into and messes up your anti-virus and prevents you from accesing any on line anti-virus sites. Then it disables your firewall.
So kicking and screaming you take out the pc and start the long climb down to Calvary. In the shop you are told that the best way to deal with it is to reformat!
And you do! After three hours of installing which is the real bitchy part about reformatting you go home. Faster than a Japanese could ejaculate. You got the virus again!
And since the warranty of the repair covers a year. YOU HAUL THE DAMN BITCH AGAIN THE FOLLOWING MORNING!
I thought the AVG anti virus which is free and downloadable was going to be enough.
But I was told that it was free! And a free anti-virus wont protect you or is not capable of protecting you 100 hundred percent.
I don’t know why the local and foreign government is so lax when it comes to dealing with THE SICK FUCKS WHO MAKE THESE VIRUSES! BUT IF IM ELECTED INTO ANY GOVERNMENT POSITION THE FIRST THING IM GOING TO WORK ON IS TO PASS A LAW TO HAVE THEM SUMMARILY EXECUTED ON LIVE PUBLIC ACESS TV. After they have been castrated and their balls fed to the pets of people whose lives they have screwed up with.
I remember a few years ago when some geek I knew read in the papers that the guy who made this virus, which screwed up a lot of pcs, was a Filipino. And he said that he found that is cool. That a Filipino can create a virus that was world renown.
And I remember telling that IDIOT, THAT It was that kind of thinking, THAT FUCKS UP The WORLD!
Yeah be cool and popular by doing something that's destructive. Oh sure its cool to disrupt a multi-media conglomerate by hacking or corrupting their data system. OH yeah they can afford to have a system reformat and they have a squad of computer geeks whose job it was to do those kinds of things. But what about the average Joe. The one who just works on his pc to finish the work he wasn’t able to do in the office because he wanted to spend some quality time with the kids and would rather work home and see them play than in the office where pc nerds and mutants rule.
Then the virus destroys that data!
Or what about the housewife who does her budget on her computer…then WHAMMO!
I told that idiot that that SHIT HEAD virus making fuck HEAD! Should have gotten the electric chair!
He should have been made to walk in between two lines of all the people whose pcs were infected. Of course, they are all armed with wooden bats and steel pipes.
I told that idiot that he is probably the same type of person who thinks DRUG PUSHERS are cool! Yes idolize and emulate these fucking criminals! Because that’s what they are!
At least the original drug pusher is trying to make a living. I mean selling drugs out in the streets is not a thing that a person who thinks that it’s cool to be a drug pusher would do
Dealing with six year old kids and dirty cops would be too ‘ UNCOOL for them.
These poseurs would be found in warehouse parties and some street event organized by some popular telecom company.
Same thing applies to these virus makers!
In a party they ‘d say, “ YEAH I was the one who made that WORM that screwed up the computers on the western coast…yeah that’ s me.”
And those in attendance would nod their heads and say collectively,
‘ WOW that’s cool! “
Of course the anti-virus companies have a thing to say about this. When a hacker or virus maker is caught the first thing that happens is that he is imprisoned for a short time. And for him that’s the cool period. His face would be on the papers and his friends and neighbors would say “ WOW that’s cool”
Then the anti virus people would come in and offer him lucrative contract. Of course they need this fuck! Anti virus companies would be nothing without these guys! What’s to protect our pcs from without any viruses?
See the hackers and the virus makers wont propagate without the generous patronage of the anti-virus companies.
You can’t touch the virus makers just yet… but we can screw the anti-virus companies. Don’t buy their legal software…Read in between the dots!
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