A good friend of mine finally launched her chocolate business, Risa Chocolates. They’re so good, I said that, next time, she should get me to shoot her products because I’d be happy to be work for food. It wouldn't be the first time.
So many of my friends are striking out on their own this year. They’re leaving their office jobs to set up their own businesses and work for themselves. Bad economy or not, a guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do and I’m all for that.
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Tomorrow, I’m leaving for what I think is the last working trip of the year. I was given the choice between shooting Iloilo and Bohol, and I picked Iloilo because I haven’t been. Only to realize that I have been, for an overnight quickie shoot. So now I get to stay a bit longer.
I was looking at the itinerary this afternoon, and it looks like a relatively easy trip. And I thought to myself, great, I can catch up with my reading.
That scared me. I’m turning into an old man who thinks trips are for catching up on reading and not for, well, travelling. So, while I still am bringing my copy of The Three Musketeers, I’m saving it for the downtime.
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There’s a reason why I’m re-reading one of my favorite Dumas novels (after Monte Cristo and Georges). It’s because I’ve read Musketeers and Man In The Iron Mask without realizing that they are the ends of a trilogy. I completely missed out on the middle book, Twenty Years After. Not only that, apparently Iron Mask is only a volume in a traditionally three-volume piece of work. So, damnit, I’ve got ground to cover.
PS William Eggleston is color blind. Crazy man.
December 9, 2008
December 8, 2008
going, going, gone
I am brain dead. But before I got to being that way, I had a great, if not busy, last week.
Last week, I screened my short for friends and family and the turnout was really good. Also, I think they liked it. No one walked out or was particularly obnoxious. People were interested, commenting, asking questions on the technicals, plot points and the ending. I suppose the worse thing for any work is to be ignored so thanks from the bottom of my heart. I’ve also been asked about a sequel. Not that I’ve ever heard of a sequel for a short film. But you know, with the way it ended, it’s not such an out-of-this-world idea… Still I don’t know. There’s a part of me that wants to move on to other stories and there’s another part that’s just easy to tempt.
Anyway, after the midweek screening, there was this legendary, ”industry” party hosted by one of the top post-prod houses last Friday. That was crazy. It was like 1999 all over again. And the thing with this industry where it’s okay to come to work in a t-shirt and a pair of sneakers is that nobody really gets violent. Sure there’s backstabbing, pirating and lowballing, but hey, we still like to party and go home in one piece. No nightclub shootings or parking lot scuffles for the creative types.
Also, a high school buddy got hitched last night. They had a Chinese Lauriat at the reception. Scallops, steamed fish, prawn salad, peking duck ang mango sago! High fives! But the MSG got to me, and I was knocked out pretty quick.
I woke up to today, where I had a postponed pre-prod meeting, a short, relatively easy shoot, and where I’ll have the rescheduled pre-prod meeting after dinner. I’m in a coffee shop right now, drinking just water, because the house is an Internet-less black hole. And the madness that is the rush hour, Yultide season, low-priced gas traffic just makes it plain nuts to go back and forth.
I’m sitting here, my day not quite done, and I’m taking stock of my week ahead.
There’s my full day video shoot tomorrow, which will be capped by a possibly late night, long-haul shoot for an advertising buddy. I’m actually going to try to get that late night shoot moved. Only because, Wednesday, I have to be in the airport by 7AM for a three-day Iloilo travel feature. That’s actually something I’ve been looking forward to (and I still do) but the thought that I’ll be flying in on a Friday night, get through Friday-night traffic during the Christmas season, to get to either a rehearsal for this concert I’m producing videos for, a high school reunion, or that late-night shoot I want to cancel is just killing me in already. Who said foresight was going to save you?
So there, just sitting here, sipping water, thinking how sad it is to start liking the microwaved, hot food of a coffee chain, trying not to remember the comfort of my bed, or the joy of re-reading The Three Musketeers, while waiting for a pre-prod meeting to get going two hours from now, I am brain dead.
Last week, I screened my short for friends and family and the turnout was really good. Also, I think they liked it. No one walked out or was particularly obnoxious. People were interested, commenting, asking questions on the technicals, plot points and the ending. I suppose the worse thing for any work is to be ignored so thanks from the bottom of my heart. I’ve also been asked about a sequel. Not that I’ve ever heard of a sequel for a short film. But you know, with the way it ended, it’s not such an out-of-this-world idea… Still I don’t know. There’s a part of me that wants to move on to other stories and there’s another part that’s just easy to tempt.
Anyway, after the midweek screening, there was this legendary, ”industry” party hosted by one of the top post-prod houses last Friday. That was crazy. It was like 1999 all over again. And the thing with this industry where it’s okay to come to work in a t-shirt and a pair of sneakers is that nobody really gets violent. Sure there’s backstabbing, pirating and lowballing, but hey, we still like to party and go home in one piece. No nightclub shootings or parking lot scuffles for the creative types.
Also, a high school buddy got hitched last night. They had a Chinese Lauriat at the reception. Scallops, steamed fish, prawn salad, peking duck ang mango sago! High fives! But the MSG got to me, and I was knocked out pretty quick.
I woke up to today, where I had a postponed pre-prod meeting, a short, relatively easy shoot, and where I’ll have the rescheduled pre-prod meeting after dinner. I’m in a coffee shop right now, drinking just water, because the house is an Internet-less black hole. And the madness that is the rush hour, Yultide season, low-priced gas traffic just makes it plain nuts to go back and forth.
I’m sitting here, my day not quite done, and I’m taking stock of my week ahead.
There’s my full day video shoot tomorrow, which will be capped by a possibly late night, long-haul shoot for an advertising buddy. I’m actually going to try to get that late night shoot moved. Only because, Wednesday, I have to be in the airport by 7AM for a three-day Iloilo travel feature. That’s actually something I’ve been looking forward to (and I still do) but the thought that I’ll be flying in on a Friday night, get through Friday-night traffic during the Christmas season, to get to either a rehearsal for this concert I’m producing videos for, a high school reunion, or that late-night shoot I want to cancel is just killing me in already. Who said foresight was going to save you?
So there, just sitting here, sipping water, thinking how sad it is to start liking the microwaved, hot food of a coffee chain, trying not to remember the comfort of my bed, or the joy of re-reading The Three Musketeers, while waiting for a pre-prod meeting to get going two hours from now, I am brain dead.
December 4, 2008
December 1, 2008
In the early 1900s, Frenchman Albert Kahn was such a damn rich banker that he sent photographers around the world to shoot anything using the newly invented Autochrome method. The results, gathered from around 72,000 images and 183,000 meters of film, is a rich visual record of the world in the midst of major upheavals. The philanthropist in Kahn believed that his archive of the planet could foster multiculturalism and peace. He did badly during the depression but managed to leave behind a museum to house his precious Autochromes.
The idea of a such a huge project notwithstanding, the images themselves are great. In this time where everyone is used to a having a camera pointed at them, and the making of strong images is a cute pastiche at the least, or a deliberate, post-modern parody at the most, these old/lost world images are striking in their simplicity.
BBC made a documentary (with more of a historical slant) and came out a with a book, The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn: Color Photographs From A Lost Age. There’s another book out on the same thing, The Dawn of the Color Photography: Albert Kahn’s Archive of the Planet, and I still haven’t figured out how they are different. Honestly, I might just end up ordering both.
*Old colored photos give me an excuse to rip off a Cut Copy album title as my own.
secret prospekt
Today, I’m almost literally twiddling my thumbs. It’s a holiday and I can’t do errands because the places I have to go to are closed. So I spent time listening to the new Coldplay EP and checking out PostSecret, and then suddenly, it all clicked. If I had to make a PostSecret postcard, it would say: I really like Coldplay.
Hehe…
PS. Happy birthday Pa, I’ll see you soon!
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