Happy Halloween-ers!

It was October 31st, the people we're staying with are half American so it felt only right that we do something to celebrate the day... What better than a shed load of confectionary on strings, fruit in water and some socks and chopsticks...? Very retro. Jordan was a Redneck, Lee a pirate, Jazz a Red Indian, Levi a gentleman Vampire - and me? The only thing left for me happened to be a Santa Suit. Ho ho ho. (Only 7 weeks away people - not so premature afterall!)

Apart from the delicious goodness of the apples, I still feel a bit sick. Here's a flavour of the evening...

Donuts on Strings: (always gotta love a greasy fried ball of dough in your face...)



The ancient and fine game of Bobbing for Apples:

...and the not so ancient bowl of sweets, dice, socks, scarf and chopsticks game... (how did Jordan get to roll so many sixes???)

Piha

Went for a little drive to a beautiful part of the west coast called Piha (Pee-Haah). It's a volcanic area so the sand changes from gold to black as the land meets the sea. And its unbelievably glittery! Maybe when its normal sand colour you just don't see it as much, but it really is like walking on glitter. There wasn't much there other than the sea, sand and rocks but we whiled away the afternoon with walking, talking and ice-cream eating. Perfect! (on that note - we're really into the caramel Magnums at the moment - if you haven't tried them yet, I thoroughly recommend them! Those of you in the northern hemishphere - Whack on your central heating, throw on a bikini, stuff a magnum in your chops - and you're away!)

We are continually amazed at these little places we come across that are pretty much in the middle of nowhere, have loads of houses and a sizeable population and yet manage to exist without a local shop! I found myself wondering if Tesco would deliver this far... Here's some photos.

Ad Campaign

This is Lee helping out with an Ad campaign. Think he missed his calling! But I can't for the life of me work out which note he's playing?! The campaign was for a series of video ads for on the web. Lee and two other guys spent a couple of days creating these stills to be used in the video. The tag line was "improving business through technology" and eventually this picture ended up with Lee stood in front of a very large speaker. Get it? Get it?? A busker improving his business with the use of inordinately large piece of technological equipment??? They were all in this vein. But I just like this photo - Lee in a very un-Lee situation! (I am guessing the street was in a very quiet location so he wasn't too embarrassed!)

England, my England

I am not the sentimental type
but some things I miss.
Boots the chemist.
Salad Cream.
Post that plops through the door,
rather than left at the top of the drive in a box
(You lazy buggers).
England my England -
You're not that good for many things
but for these small things I honour you.

Disclaimer
It goes without saying that the very best of Britain are our family & friends and we thoroughly miss you, much more than any condiment, however delicious and exceptionally versatile it may be.

"Feed de Burds, Tuppence a Baaaag"

Okay, so I am really into Birds right now. Particularly sparrows at the moment. Maybe its their natural happy disposition that is the antithesis to my melancholy streak, their constant playful flitting or their cute fluffy, fat & fullsome bellies, but I'll come clean - they warm my heart. I guess I have to blame my parents in some part for this turn towards 'avia-philia'. 2 Years spent looking out onto their wild collection somehow enmeshed me with their happy, chirping, little souls. And now I have a new garden in another part of the world to look into. And what's caught my eye? Not the showy parakeets, no! - The little gangs of common sparrows (just like the ones back in good old Blighty) in their too-cool-for-school retro "shades of beige". Good for them.

This penchant and admiration for birds and beige furthers my leaning towards "Old lady Chic". Teacups. Lace. Chintz. If I had my way I'd wear a hat and gloves every day. I'd sit in a rocking chair and eat tea at 4. I'm only a blue rinse away from a collection of figurines... For now though, I am honing a gaggle of sparrows on paper and out of clay. Thought I'd let you have a look...

"Action!"

Well it appears that music videos go and music videos come… OK so this wasn’t really “ours” but Lee and I have just spent two days on the set of a Music Video for a NZ Rap group called Smash Proof.

When I say 2 days, I REALLY, REALLY Mean 2 days! Monday was a 5.30am start and we didn’t get back until after 9.30pm, and Tuesday was a little better starting at 6 and ending about 8...! But this is par for the course with shooting days and although I hate to say it – did we even get off a little lightly???

Lee’s designated position was Assistant Director of Photography for the “making-of” video. (I knew there was some good reason to lug his camera here!) So he was in his element, camera in hand, getting in on the action and seeing it all unfold… I had the auspicious title of Assistant to the Assistant Director and Set PA. (Hmm. An assistant’s assistant? – could I get any further down the chain of command?!!) What this actually meant was that I was everybody’s assistant and had to look after everyone and everything with all the practical details from hydrating, sun-blocking, muesli-bar-ing and basically initiating the needs of the crew and band…..PHEW!

I am convinced that I put in the most foot miles of anyone. I ran here, I ran there. I moved stuff to here, I moved stuff to there. I moved people, I stopped cars. I needed 8 arms and cursed my mere two. I lamented my inadequacy of being unable to bi-locate. I was supposed to know everything but knew nothing…But I had a walkie-talkie and a high vis jacket. What more could an ambitious girl ask for?!

Although it was really hard work and we finished knackered and sunburnt, we both had an amazing time. It was fantastic to see the process of filming a project, and to get to work with some great people. I don’t know whether I would want to (or really COULD) do it every day, but despite the lows and the down times – for those two long days, it was FUN!

The basic premise of the vid was to have the three boys in the band floating round in an imaginary car viewing the state of things in South Auckland. (Its apparently the roughest part of town and is experiencing the same sort of problems we see in urban areas everywhere in the developed world – but compared to some places we’ve all seen, it all looks pretty quaint and nice – especially with the sun shining!) This “floating” look, was achieved by strapping the lads onto chairs which were in turn strapped onto the back of a big low trailer. They were then pulled around Otara whilst the camera rolled… We then went to a funeral home where we did some scenes there with 60 extras. On Tuesday we did the POV (point of view) shots as if showing what the boys were looking at from their car windows – all sorts of different scenarios taken from the lyrics of the song – a drug deal, a kid being shouted at, a tagger being chased by someone, a family mourning a death…etc etc.

The song is called “Brother” and the video is due to be out in about 2/3 weeks so when we see it we will try to get it posted here or at least linked to from here. It will be cool to see it all put together and the maybe we’ll see Lee’s efforts in the making of, too!

I wish I'd been able to take some decent photos but I am afraid this was a "too few arms" situation! Maybe next time?

Things come, things go...

Okay, so the Music Video has fallen through... Aaaarrrggh! We had all put so much effort in its pretty frustrating. Apparently they decided that the song we were to to commit to screen doesn't now "go" with their "New Sound"! Pah! Damned Artists! Flighty little buggers! Who'd ever work with one? ... Who ever be one?

So, we're kind of hanging in there, trying to see what else is about to fall... We're off to work on a concept for a pitch for ANOTHER music vid today, but there's no guarantees we'll get it - and even if we do, no guarantees either, that there'll be any money to make it happen.

So I guess we live, and we learn...

Watch this space. For now though...Thumb War anyone?