Week of July 4 to July 10

This week zipped by. Just same set-dressing stuff I was doing last week. Waiting for next batch of shots to be turned over. Had a sequence review, taking a look at how much work is left, wow. Nothing much happened during the week in the evenings, playing Stick & got through the batch of latest rentals - 'Inspector Gadget' live action; X2 again (holds up well, great to see this franchise and SpiderMan get the classy adaptations they deserve); Man Called Horse (with the 'savage' sun ceremony, a gritty and well-done depiction of a suspension ritual); Ripping Friends (by John K, mildly funny, that guy tries too hard); and Gangs of New York (Scorsese is such an outstanding filmmaker, he does everything so well & makes it look so effortless that he doesn't get the full respect he deserves. Well, from the Academy. Or Box Office). This week's Kong production diary reviews the trailer. They talk about rushing to build the 'second seawall miniature' which was my shot in the trailer! There's also a shot of the comp dungeon, where I used to sit. . There's a Kong presentation at the San Diego ComiCon, along with lots of upcoming projects, good news for the biz.


Friday - No weekend OT, unfortunately. Met Katie at Kazu japanese restaurant, then had 40 minutes for sushi before going on to Fantastic Four movie. Far better than I thought, wasn't a big fan of the comic, thought it was too cheezy, 'family is what you make it' theme. All the buzz on the movie was discouraging - bad costumes, bad production schedule, mis-casting. The best member of the cast - Julian Macmahon - was playing the best character from the comic - Dr. Doom, but a watered-down, Hollywood version of the supervillian, who was originally a tragic, mysterious magic-seeking and mechanical-scarred monarch. Don't like the idea of him just a corporate greedy guy, or with the backstory that ties him with Reed Richards and Sue Storm, but it wasn't bad in the context of the movie they made. All around, not stupid. Effects held up for the most part too, they could handle the scenes they set out to do.

Saturday - Around town. Weta Guitars, asking if they could build a power supply for my Theremin. (Can't use a regular step-down transformer, it burned it out last time. And they had built me a wall wart last time, which I couldn't find when it came time to pack). There's a club event next week I may play the Theremin at... The shop had a guitar I got my peepers on - a Reb Beach model Ibanez guitar, for only $300 (remember Winger??). Stopped at the Mediterranean Market also.

Evening - met up with Briana, finally. Real nice place she's got, great view of the city w/rooftop courtyard. We met some Weta-type folks at Wellington Brewing Company, watched the final rugby game. Not much of a contest, the All-Blacks won it & sent the Lions home. Didn't seem like much of a party atmo around town, but the separate places were hopping. Then went over to Town Hall for Shihad show, it rocked. 2 opening acts had finished, so we caught Cog's show, and Shihad. It rocked, very loud and great stage act.

Sunday - Wanted to take care of a lot of business in town, some didn't really work out as planned. Thought there was an organ recital at Town Hall, was looking forward to hearing the 2-story pipe organ, but that's next week. There was a chamber recital but didn't seem worth it. Found a farmer's market, but I didn't want to schlep the produce around town. Went through the City Gallery, nice collection, I think all NZ artists, mostly Welly. Spent a lot of time at the library , researching art for my next intended tattoo. Didn't find much at the Central Library,but discovered the Te Papa has a research library, they had the perfect book I was looking for. I want something along the lines of a Balinese gamelan wayang kulit puppet. There are many characters to choose from, I think I'm going to design my own grotesquerie, and instill it with the intricacies found in the leather/wood silhouette carvings.

Then I went to Te Papa, visited the exhibit of the Royal Collection - an assortment of sketches, studies, etc, that have been collected by the royal family for 500 years. Very impressive, fantastic to see. Then I stopped off for groceries, some Indian takeaway, and back to take care of Sunday bizness.