Tuesday 9 November 2010

Awesome Polish Tattoo

Was talking about tattoos to a girl at the Goth night Nomi was DJ at, and she showed me this awesome tattoo she had done in Poland (being that she was Polish). I love it... And apparently they're dead cheap out there too :) Holiday to Poland anyone? :)

DJ Mini Nomi

Nomi was invited to do a DJ set at our local Goth Club night :) I know I'm biased, but I thought it was excellent :) it was so funny seeing her (or rather not seeing her) behind the decks as all you could see was the top of her head :)

I'm eagerly looking forward to the next time DJ Mini Nomi takes to the turntables :)

Sunday 7 November 2010

Won't somebody think of The Owls?

I'd seen a few trailers for it and even played the demo of the game on the PS3 but the "Legends Of The Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole" was a total mystery to me. And it didn't let me down on expectations... it is a very beautifully rendered CGI film, with exquisite attention to detail (the feathers ruffled when the wind blew). One scene immediately springs to mind where they're flying through a storm in slow motion, the 3D rendered CGI raindrops and the "wet bedraggled look" of the owls was beyond description... if it's still on where you are go see it!



This was our first outing with the Unlimited cards from Cineworld, and hopefully the first of many, as the more you use them the better value they become. It was a really good experience being able to just pick the film hand over our passes and only pay a token £1.50 each for the privilege of a 3D film. The only thing that besmirched the experience was a member of the audience.

Where we decided to sit (which being late was a very quick selection) was roughly in the middle, and directly in front of a father and his 2 sons. Aside from them and us there was probably another 4 people in the cinema (owing mainly to the early performance and the fact the film was at the end of its run). As with all cinemas (at least when you're not in outrageously priced "first class" seats) the seats are far too close together and the inevitable fidgeting results in the person in front getting jostled, this is par for the course, and by and large I overlook it. If it becomes a regular occurrence, a quick look around is usually enough to shame the offender into staying still. Sadly in this instance it wasn't... I come to the conclusion the guy behind me was blissfully ignorant to the fact his son (who at the age of ~8 years old was sitting on his lap) was frequently banging the back of Nomis chair. So after a couple of jostles in rapid succession I turned around and exclaimed "seriously mate, please could you stop kicking the chair" to which he replied something along the lines of "why don't you move?". Thinking this was enough to point out what was occurring and he'd have the decency to either sit his son on a seat properly (of which there were hundreds) I turned around and resumed watching the film... only to feel yet another nudge in the back of Nomi's chair. Quickly spinning around I said "Why don't you move" to which he replied "we were here first"... now seriously am I in the wrong here? Shouldn't the offending party in something like this move away, not the victim? He knew what was going on and that it was his fault yet was refusing to do anything about it. So I stood up and said "fine" and promptly sat behind him and rather childishly (although not entirely deliberately) gently kicked the back of his chair :-) Oh what a feeling as he stomped off to get the manager :-) Eventually when he came back with the manager in tow I explained the situation calmly to the manager (who was very calm and collected) whist the other guy ranted and raved. Eventually after hearing my side of the story the manager advocated that "you're both here to enjoy the film, so can we all just sit down?" to which I replied "certainly... and I (emphasis on the I) promise not to kick the back of your chair mate". The rest of the film went on with us sitting behind him, and without incident. When we left after watching all the credits we bumped into the manager I had spoken to earlier, and apologised for the display and that how I was amazed at how idiotic some people could be. Thankfully he agreed with me.

Saturday 6 November 2010

On the set of the Call Cutter Trailer



I've acted a bit in the past, but only stuff I've scripted and "on stage" at an anime convention, mostly it's been about the costume and "getting a laugh". This time however it was serious, as I was going to be in front of a video camera, with a crew and acting out a scene I had to get perfect. And most importantly I had to look serious and natural, and not scared rigid like I do usually.

I was vastly helped by the fact I only had to act alongside Nomi and I could ad lib my part as much as I liked as long as I got the general import of it right, I wont go into details spoil it for anyone as I want everyone to see the final cut (watch this space). Suffice to say I was surprised at how I managed to totally block out the fact there was the director, a camera, a sound guy, a makeup girl and possibly a whole host of other people in the room with us and totally focus on the acting. I've never felt a buzz quite like it, and was sad when after several takes the director had got what he wanted.

There was more fun to come though, as we then had to go and get more makeup applied in the form of grisly wounds and copious amounts of blood, the director was thrilled when I said to the makeup girl "yeah just cover me in it I've got a change of clothes with me". Hence the fact I'm covered in blood from having my throat cut :-)

The next scene I thought was going to be far easier to act as all I had to do was lie there and pretend to be dead... wrong, I had to remain perfectly still with eyes open propped up uncomfortably. But it was such fun being covered in all the fake stage blood (which is actually corn syrup and tastes really nice!).



And that was our scenes done... and I must say that was the most fun I've ever had with my trousers up :-) And I can't wait to see the results, and perhaps reprise my role in the film proper and or take up any other offers for parts in other films.

On a side note whilst waiting for my makeup to be done I twittered what I was doing and got a few quizzical "what're you up to?" responses, of which I replied "I'm an extra in a film". That evening after we got home the lead in the film (a good friend of Nomis) told me what a good job he thought I'd done and that I wasn't an extra, but "an ACTOR". I can think of no higher praise than to receive that comment from Rob as he is a superb actor both on stage and on screen, and for him to consider me as such really touched me and made me feel really emotional.