well, i survived 4 months in the edit bay cave and have emerged one happy fella. very "chuffed" as we say in British colonial Kenya about the prospects of The Sea Turtles of Lamu. "excited".
here's the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjYajAydLi8
and our Facebook page for more videos and interviews and updates:
https://www.facebook.com/theseaturtlesoflamu
i don't mean to sound like Little Johnny Sunshine, but i gotta tell you, i slogged for months trying to find this film! for sure the hardest puzzle i've ever had to solve. a year plus worth of footage cut down to a coherent one hour film. nasty business. but before when i was wingeing about no work the whole time, now i am thankful as i never would have finished this! this whole project was a gift from above! i was just too thick to get it at first. but now the film's in the can and it's time to pop the bubbly. we gave birth! and hopefully our little pony will run well in the major film festivals around the world as we find a buyer!
we actually have a couple of leads as to buyers and things are already proceeding so we may have a deal! IDK, keep ya posted!
but since the last blog i went back to lamu for one more rough cut screening and then back to NBO to fix the film AGAIN, and then off to cape town for online doing colour grading and the 5.1 surround sound mix. i took lorella with me who had never been in the first world. she loved driving 140kph! and cape town was radiant as always. i've booked my flight back for june 28th, another one way ticket to a foreign country! south africa here i come. COTW is back on the move, but i have a feeling the Western Cape may be beautiful enough and big enough to keep me there for a long time!
THE THIRD ACT?
my birthday was easter sunday and i have risen from the ashes of a former life! this year i turned 59 and spent the night with my friends delia and andy of Brown's cheese up in Tigoni by Limuru. they have am amazing cheese farm/factory up there. so beautiful. they were friends i met in phoenix in 2005. go figure! 3 years ago i was living in a loft in downtown LA spitting distance from Skid Row, stuck in my life as a washed-up actor and wanna be director. now the sky is the limit and i'm so grateful and blessed to have had this adventure! and i truly feel the best it yet to come in SA! that many things will be redeemed...acting, a voiceover career narrating doco's, writing, directing, shooting, even my black and white photography from the 80's has an interested gallery already! and the play i wrote 6 years ago may see the light of day! plus the country is so amazing.
here's my dwelling for the first 6 months near stellenbsoch:
http://www.papyruslodge.co.za
another gift in how i found this place!
it's funny, years ago i wrote a book called God Is Not a Smart Planner http://www.godisnotasmartplanner.com
and now 10 years later i'm seeing how my life is truly the result of many divine accidents that had all been scripted in advance. and i've been lucky enough to let go of the past and reluctantly go along for the ride, stiff-necked and grumbling most of the way only to find the rainbows and unicorns at the end! as i enter the third act of my life, i feel incredible peace and contentment! the kenya assignment is done! job done and hopefully done well! over 50 projects in 30 months! plus teaching and talent agencies, and mentoring and and and. it's been a great ride, but there is another chapter for me that requires another move. and for me cape town with it's tv & film industry might just be the promised land.
the funny thing is even while i plan to leave kenya, i'm getting interest to play a disgruntled american doctor for the Red Cross for an american TV series shooting here in sept/oct. classic eh? the washed-up hollywood actor in exile in kenya who tried for 30 years to get a tv series gets discovered for an american TV series in Kenya!?!?! i'll keep you posted!
but then again, the doco... if we get in, will be in lots of festivals this fall all over the world...again if we get selected...toronto, bristol UK, Vaasa Finland, amsterdam, Leipzig, France, Rotterdam, Montreal, etc! and more next year! so whether i act or not, my dance card will be pretty busy and the COTW will be back in the air eating up passport pages hopefully doing Q&A! so it's all good!
SITUATIONAL VEGAN?
so whilst in cape town my zurich friends roland and caroline found me on Facebook and popped by our sound mix room. they were in CT as well! they shared how they had gone vegan jan 1 and the difference it made. i'd like to lose 40 lbs and feel fresh again and i've been checking out the vegan thing. 70% of all diseases are from diet. go ahead and watch KNIVES OVER FORKS and FAT, SICK, AND NEARLY DEAD (stream for free on youtube) and tell me you won't look at your diet differently! no more pound of bacon and 4 eggs for breakfast! i'm vegan! with some exceptions...so if i'm home alone i avoid meat and dairy. and if i eat out i avoid meat and dairy. if i'm invited over to a friend's house for a meal, like breakfast recently, i eat what's put before me. i will never be ungrateful for someone else's hospitality! but on my own time, i avoid the big steaks and pork and chicken. sushi i'm okay with, or any grilled fish, and i even splurge and have bbq once a month. but overall, i'm sick and tired of being sick and tired and wanna get healthy. i have a choice...feed my body rocket fuel (green smoothies) or sludge (milk, cheese, eggs, fatty meat). hey, i'm a work in progress and it's boring as hell eating salads and greens 24/7, but i do feel better when i stick to it. and of course less vodka also helps me feel less bloated! but that's the new DDM, better diet, more exercise and stretching in the cape town lifestyle, and generally take better care of myself. especially diet. not quite hard core gluten free yet, i do love my pizza and pasta, but everything in moderation!
60 DAYS TO GO
so i have 2 months left in kenya. i'm dissolving the slingshot Ltd business this month and cancelling the checking accounts. in fact today is Lorella's last day. official lunch at Rolf's Place later! she will carry on her own production business with her boyfriend and i will donate gear to that end so they have a chance to succeed. the first question a Kenyan is asked if they say they're in production is "do you have your own gear?". now they can say they do! no sense in lugging the giant edit bay down to CT with all the excess baggage overages. LoJay will do great with it and is turning into a crackerjack producer.
here are some fun links on her progress:
Kenyan producer Lorella Jowi talks about her journey making the film.
https://vimeo.com/91695857
here's the link for BTS...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2exPGNPONJs
watch our new video for Heshima 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AAJOtd-fNs
so for the next 60 days i feel the work is behind me and i can explore kenya before i leave. road trip! navaisha, nakuru, kakamega rain forest, turi, samburu, nanyuki, amboselli, lake magadi, tsavo, rift valley, just explore and see some of the fantastic country!
CAPE TOWN VIABLITY & SUSTAINABiLITY?
what will i do exactly in cape town? couldn't tell you off hand. fitness and health is high on the list for starters. so maybe July all i do is a juice fast and walk and bike everyday and join Virgin Active gym the next village over for swimming and spinning and what not. but mainly get this body in motion that's been stagnant and stationary for the last 2 years sitting at HQ! time to get fit and slim and feel good! diet is everything! plus get moving! but as far as work, i suppose festivaling the film will eat up a lot of my time. i also may do some freelance editing work at Searle Street Post in DTCT on Final Cut Pro 7. they need occasional editors. and i'll find a theatrical agent for acting work and maybe some voiceover work. i also have some scripts i want to finish and get back into narrative feature work. something will come along. i just need to chill and let things develop. like in a darkroom, let things appear from nothing! i've changed so much i can feel it! 10 or 20 years ago success meant a range rover and a large phat pimpy house in the Hills or in Malibu. now i'm totally content and even excited about a one bedroom fully furnished suite at Papyrus for $650 a month and really want to get a second hand 4 door compact VW Cross Polo. very simple things. and i'm thrilled. i'll sell the safari Prado before i leave and Rent_a_Cheapie for a month while i find a nice Polo. and i'll leave pakapaka the cat with lorella and her family. i'm looking for my own family down there, and i'm sure there are plenty of cats in the Western Cape. to bring paka would be self-defeating. but he has been one fine feline.
well, that's the update. here are some pics! next blog late May!
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| total gift. fingers crossed it does well! |
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| back at peponi terrace in Lamu. |
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| intern Florah slates for Daina's video audition |
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| daina got a partial scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC! she was one of my favourite students at my Master Class. |
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| Aussie couple friend will & laura at The Stable |
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| yours truly laying down film narration in NBO. re-recorded it in CT. |
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| 2 for 1 pizza night at purdy arms every wednesday! yum! (yes that's feta. occasionally is fine!) |
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| en route to Joburg |
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| allan, our colour grading assistant bought this killer bike from the states! |
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| LoJay at Quay Four on the cape town Waterfront |
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| possible new life for some old work from the 80's. Barnard Gallery in cape town. Newlands. |
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| love this Escher-esque building in the Strand, False Bay. |
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| Le Brasserie on the Strand in False Bay. very santa monica! col place! |
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| more le Brasserie. could be a regular in this place! |
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| dear friends paula and flippie have really extended incredible hospitality! |
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| looking back over Franschhoeck wine valley. could be austria! |
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| another amazing vineyard stop for tasting and brunch |
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| Helderberg mountain never gets old to look at! |
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Barry Donnelly was our sound engineer at Waterfront Film Studios. great guy!
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| my voiceover mic. de caprio, nick cage, matt damon, and meryl streep had all done ADR in this same booth. |
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| so nice to have good gear! |
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| our foley artist making baby turtle-running to the sea sounds in the sand box . hilarious! |
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| Lo Jay checks out her first Audi! |
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| top floor of the cape town westin hotel |
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| world cup soccer stadium in the BG. in the foreground the highway to nowhere. the architect blew the plans and later committed suicide. next doco topic???? |
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| at B&B brunch in Stanford, this gal was from Cornwall UK. she posed for me. nice tat! |
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| american buddy matt chancey bought this old 50s replica bike. he lives in Stanford. i might be forced to get one! |
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| amazing country! Stanford, western cape. |
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| stanford church. village of 500? |
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| the coast at Hermanus. very cool spot! |
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| fish & chips at lemon butta! |
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| i recommend! |
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| matt & jennie, yankee friends from nairobi now living in SA! |
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| more Hermanus coastline. |
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| with enough sun the water is bearable. here at Peace Bay. |
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| 15 years ago a friend prophesied that he saw an endless open road in my future. reckon this is it! heading back to stellenbosch from Stanford. |
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| Table Mountain. |
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| south african airways. my new airline. heading back to joburg. |
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| Tombo Intl airport joburg. cool proverb. think i want to go far now. |
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| nice lines at Tombo. |
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| the edit bay at HQ! where the magic happens! |
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| rainy season starting in nairobi. view from dormans coffee, karen crossroads. |
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| last project will be a music video for Gospel Thrillerz rapper Jimmy Joe. |
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| found a great location on our scout |
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| kenyan music vid was the last thing on my bucket list for here. |
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| why not try vegan for a while???? |
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| kwaheri pakapaka. you've been a good kitty. |
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| wrap party bbq! |
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| and b-day cake for Lo and me |
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| moses cooks some kuku...chicken |
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| heading to Zimbabwe for the big derby june 4 to watch my bud Q race. then onto Vic Falls! |
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| NBO race course grand stand. old school! |
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| Lorella and shem on the recent Heshima shoot. |
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| kenya cattle. they have right of way. |
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| garden chameleon popped by. |
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| hmmmm...random evolution from the primordial soup over billions of years or evidence of intelligent design? |
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| where we did our colour grading. very cool post house. thx craig parker! |
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| a vineyard and brewery in stanford. stunning countryside. |
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| sweeping weeping trees at purdy arms. |
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| Almost did the easter buffet at Duri's in karen. |
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| my Producer after a 2 year master course at slingshot prods. congrats loJay! |
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| my Prado stacked up against in old Landy. mine's looking pretty good! |
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| NBO Nat'l park. never gets old! |
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| kenyan shepherd clears the road. now that's kenyan. |
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