MADNESS AT THE OSCARS! Feb/2017

MADNESS AT THE OSCARS! Feb 2017

wow, even following the Oscars online with news feeds and no broadcast was hectic! what a show! and some laugh out loud jokes by kimmel (to Damon: "A Chinese pony-tail movie that lost $80 mil", at Trump: "remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars were racist?", to OJ: "you'll get an extra slice of baloney tonight [for winning best doco]"). anyway, got my hollywood fix from 3am til after sunrise, following all the brouhaha. wish i could have seen it live. looked like a good show. did the tourist bus bit work??? i got killed on my Oscar ballot. like 10 out of 20. oh well, always fun. seemed like an upbeat affair. good for Kimmel, he works hard...even with the false ending. hey, it's show biz. stuff happens! 

meanwhile in cape town, things are a bit humdrum. i've done 2 long-ass days on an int'l film that treats talent like chattel, as if there is no shoot schedule whatsoever. bring me in at sun-up and wrap me at dusk... 'just in case we need you'. rubbish. nothing like a 6:45am call and not working til 1pm. it's happened twice and i have 2 days left on it. amateur hour. everyone covering their butts. beyond lame. chafes my hide. what did michael caine say? "they pay me to wait, i act for free". so, i try to look on the bright side, but it fries my ass. such a burnout sitting around near set for no reason. at least leave me to my caravan dressing room! 

so i guess it proves true again..."the only thing more miserable than an out of work actor is a working actor!". mea culpa. but lame is lame. makes me want to quit the biz. there's no actor's union here so 'you get what get and you don't get upset'. i snuck some pictures on set but i'm forbidden to share them so the project and studio will remain anonymous. okay, my vent is over. pics below.

on a sad note, colleague Bill Paxton passed away on Oscar sunday. my facebook post read: so sad to hear about Bill Paxton. a nicer, more humble and gracious star (and Texan) you will never meet. i did 2 scenes with Bill in 2015 in The Game Changer in cape town and he was instantly like an old friend. 
i was having lunch on the terrace at Mount Nelson Hotel after a director's meeting before with started principal photography and Bill was shooting some "family" pics for props/art dept. as he passed through the patio he saw me and walked right up and introduced himself. i was blown away. 

we talked about our ages...i'm one month older. and we shared a few show biz stories and mutual friends. Bill used to carry a wine cork in his pocket and he would discreetly run his lines with cork in his mouth to help with his diction (?). inspiring to see such an old pro still working on his impeccable craft. i loved working with him. in one scene shooting Bill's coverage, a local actor's cell phone pinged. we all cringed. Bill took a beat and never said a thing. Bill was a great reminder what a difference it makes to be nice to everyone...even a day player like me pretty far down on the callsheet. RIP Bill. thanks for being so lovely. we will all miss you. i'm quite saddened with your passing. you were such a great guy.

so that is a sad note. he was an instantly likable fellow. the whole industry loved him. and it seems death is ever-nearer as close ones around me seem to randomly vanish. it's kinda bizarre. like i know for sure i won't be here in the year 2100 or probably even 2050. but when exactly? we just don't know for sure how long we have. another decade or two? or another year or two? tomorrow is promised to no one. death just looms out there, like the night fog off of san francisco, just waiting to drift in at some inopportune time. my sister heidi died 10 years ago this month (Feb). wow, that long ago? our loved ones fall off as the bullet train of life keeps buzzing on. like Shawshank..."time to get busy living or get busy dying." luckily for me, i still get to laugh out loud at jimmy kimmel jokes. believe me, i didn't take it for granted. Bill's passing kept the evening sobering.

it's also humdrum here as the production season for TV, film and commercials has never really kicked off. the sun is shining but we're not making any hay! and the weeks are flying by without any auditions! we got march, april, maybe may. then finito. it's been dead compared to last year. last year i was killing it, this year it's killing me. tit for tat i suppose. but still, a man wants to work! needs to work! so cross your fingers, hold your thumbs, light candles, and keep reading this blog to see God's mighty hand at work! (i pray! dear Lord, let's go from zero to hero. amen.) sure hope it ramps up. 

meanwhile, under the "make art/teach art" life credo, i am teaching another 8-week bootcamp of HAMC. love my new Level one peeps and i have 4 Level Two girls on scholarship. love them! so, i'm having lots of fun on saturdays again. only 4 weeks left! man it flies by! have a free space donated by CMM church close to my flat in The Piazza. an easy schlep. it's going well. definitely energizes me! i love figuring out the lighting and working with actors, making beautiful images with strong performances if i can. always a challenge! 

the weekend cottage is going well. with not many castings, it's more like the week-long cottage. had some company out for a long weekend and we all just kicked it and chilled out. great pad for unwinding. still unsure if i can handle here 24/7 and leave my flat in town. have a few more months to decide. plus, my immigration status will affect the mix certainly. i'm still waiting for my 8 month appeal process 11 months later. the ole ticking clock. tick, tick-tick-tick-tick. kinda maddening. and us expat immigrants globally aren't getting much love these days. it will take another act of God to get another work permit, this one permanent. yes Lord, one time me, one more time! 

so, the whole Plan B thing is a bit sketchy at the moment. 
no Home Affairs permit status beyond sept. which will make me an "undesirable" and if i don't leave by the due date i'm banned for 5 years. now that would be bad. the cottage would be so overgrown. (joke. but it would.) so, if no new work permit, i think i have to leave country for a retiree permit app. i'm checking on that now. (no, i can stay for that.)

i was wanting to walk the Camino de Santiago this september, so maybe i go do Spain, then France, Portugal, Italy, and just keep camino-ing all over the world. all my pertinent belongings on my back, wine and cheese every day, lots of fellow pilgrims to meet, a new pensione or alburgue every night, lose the 30kgs/2 stone i've been threatening to lose, rent out the cottage, and go true COTW status (citizen of the world). 

IDK man, too many loose ends and moving parts to really dwell on. suffice it to say Home Affairs dictates much of my future. but like they say in Marigold Hotel, "it'll all work out in the end, and if it hasn't...then it isn't the end". (BTW...how cute is the little boy in Lion shouting "GUDU! GUDU!"?). 

so let's shelve Plan B at the minute. stick to Plan A...make hay while it's summer/fall weather. book lots of well-paying gigs. pay off as much of the cottage as possible. teach one more HAMC boot camp before i leave the CBD flat. stay on the Home Affairs immigration agent Ellie. give the TT more TLC. enjoy the days that i have. give more Likes on Facebook.

i actually had a sale on the Sea Turtles of Lamu! hallelujah! to France. i'll take it. not a ton of money, but hey, they like me they really like me! had a crap techie week trying to deliver the film they wanted, the way they wanted it. not progressive but interlaced, upper field dominant, 24-bit sound, DM&E on tracks 3 & 4, full mix tracks on 1 & 2, one version with titles & subtitles and one version with none. alright, no biggie, but my project is scattered over 2 drives (i ran out of room on the first 4TB drive) and i confess a bit disorganized. so i was challenged to say the least trying to glue everything together. then had to Youtube the FileZilla tutorial to upload the 60gig files onto a proxy FTP. took me 3-4 days to get it sorted.

the first movie file took 14 hours to upload, and that's with 100mbs internet speed uncapped! but my shame sensors for being so lame at admin have subsided, i found some local help in a neighbor who is a proper editor, figured out all the proper sequence and export settings, and voila, it's off my plate! plus i sent them all the audio mix files so they can go crazy on their side if they wish! but nice to get a sale, i have since created a tidy Media Manager folder, and i'm ready for more sales. i think i figured it out mostly, for now anyway. big relief to wrap that up. i was a miserable kitten last week overwhelmed with loose ends and no answers. now i'm sorted. thanks carol howell!

and my other doco Finding Messiah is having a screening at Christ Church Kenilworth 11 march as a fundraiser for the cape town youth choir to get to Carnegie Hall in april! please help their cause!
you can donate here:

http://www.ctyc.co.za/donations/

and you can see the doco to see if you want to donate here:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/findingmessiah

so that's about it. had a recent adventure. again, the facebook post:
That feeling when your car goes kaput 2 hours out of Dodge and the small town mechanic says he should have the part (fuel pump?) by next tuesday and you wait 90 minutes for the InterCape bus to rock up for the 3 hour ride home and you wonder if you'll be in your own bed tonight and if you'll still have your iphone. Love the adventure!

so that was fun, er, interesting, er, a curious afternoon and evening with the scary part walking home after dark through the dodgy bus-station part of town. but i made it safe and sound, with my iphone, even though the bus pulled over on the N2 cuz we all smelled an electrical fire and i'm thinking what the heck, stranded twice in one day? so i was quite relieved to get home. it was a long day. and hopefully the TT will be ready tomorrow for pick up. but is the Black Bullet ready for pasture????? 161,000kms. NOOOOOOOOOOO! can't be! she's pushing 11 years old but i love the ready rocket. she cooks! and these 2 lane roads to stanford through the country were made for her, so, i gotsta hope the new fuel pump isn't too dear and nothing more happens! c'mon TT!

now for some pics. not so many, but better than none. enjoy!

viva le turtles in France!
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/theseaturtlesoflamu

mr. Bill Paxton. such a cool, humble guy. RIP Bill.

"we're making movies... on location"

i wish i owned a big grip truck. lighting is cool.

some serious glass on those cameras.

i wish i was a DP but i'm not quite smart enough.

add some color temperature. diffused. nice.

proper dolly rigs.

panavision glass on Sony bodies??? they would flip.

Level Two work in our new space.

love my peeps!

fellow actor from mystery project. sharing my caravan...or i his.

UCT campus. stunning.

the holding pen. luckily i found a bunk in the dorms and crashed.

my first "cruffin", part croissant, part muffin. i didn't hate it.

"Flash"???

the Garden Suite at the cottage. comes with wine.

our "round table" watching playback from last week.

our casting alcove. a cold audition every week.

we did a posh ad for Woolies. "i don't always do my own shopping, but when i do,
i shop at Woolies". 

Zola on sound. Level one doing Soap Week.

i just got a used 5D Mk III from a rental house. smoking deal.

if i only had the Small HD 17" monitor! my eyes are getting old...focus is tough!
but we manage. "okay guys, faster, louder, funnier".

all the bland walls are a challenge, but a fun challenge.

new space has lots of natural light. always helpful.

Beverley audited and may do the next course and help with sales.

some matatu art from the mini-taxi vans in nairobi. their route number. i'm into it.
thanks Lorella!

this is cape town.

everything fits in the TT hatchback. here is the chair from somerset west i was delivering
to stanford when i got waylaid in Caledon.

a 2 horse town.

90 minute view from my bus stop. Caledon. luckily i found Piet the mechanic.

the Intercape bus. with all my homies.

Youngblood gallery gave CTYC a fundraising concert. they crushed it!
kindly help them get to Carnegie if you possibly can!
http://www.ctyc.co.za/donations/

look forward to the next screening on the 11th!

and i am out! hit me on WhatsApp! love hearing from you!
+27726661895