New *Elusiv* video

Realising that my original upload of the Elusiv promotional video didn't look that great, I have resized it and changed the codec to match YouTube's suggestions and hey presto it looks and sounds a whole lot better.

Check it out:

The wonders of YouTube-Dunedin Chinese Garden

Making short films to order is one thing, but getting them seen by an audience is the challenge. Having laboured over a short (14 minute) film on the Dunedin Chinese Garden I have decided to let the world see it, albeit in a slightly abridged form . YouTube will only allow 10 minutes so I trimmed it down and hope that it still makes sense. The quality isn't too bad and I hope that something like this will whet the appetite of anyone curious to visit the garden when it opens in Feb / March 2008.

So, here it is:

It itches, looks ridiculous, and we are only halfway

Well, I now sport a ginger moustache that a 14 year old would be proud of. Thankfully I am in a relationship as there is no way I would pull the skin off a rice pudding with this thing sitting on my top lip. I have been blogging out team progress on the official Movember website, check it out.

Follicle fun in Movember

On the back of my last post about Carl Hayman's super-human strength derived from his facial hair, I have decided to start a team at NHNZ for month of Movember. We are known as The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers.

Yes, we will be growing and shaping hair on our top lips for men's health. Its a bit of fun and a whole lot of embarrassment, but the upshot is that a good cause will benefit. A good article about the start of Movember appeared in the N.Z Herald.
To sponsor my painful attempt to groom a Frank Zappa tash, then please follow the following link, and use a credit card.

While my ginger slug is growing, I have attached a photo of my favourite comic book character with a moustache.

The Real Reasons We Lost

In the World Cup wash-up I figured it would be pointless adding my two cents worth. Much better to wait for the dust to settle and some up with some reasoned analysis for the dismal All Black performance.

So, I have listened to all the theories thrown about and I would like to start by discounting a couple:

1. The Ref: Yes he was poor, but he wasn't the reason
2. The Coaching Staff: Yes, they didn't coach drop goals or have a plan B but we should have won the game by then anyway.
3. Rotation and Reconditioning: Quite obviously not all the popular with fans, but that fact remains, we had ample depth and plenty of braun, just no brains.

No, the real reasons are as follows:

1. Carl Hayman's Beard

Would you fuck with this man?

The big man is just like Samson, the All Blacks don't lose when he is looking grizzly. What was with the clean shaven look?
I'm not alone in this summation, in fact check out with very good site dedicated to the cult of Haymen's facial hair.

2. Dave Dobbyn

Now, hands up which idiot decided to play "Slice of Heaven" every time the All Blacks ran in a try. Not only is it painful to listen to once, but after the amount of times the ABs heard it trouncing Portugal, Italy and Romania its no wonder they were a little try shy against France.

3. Adidas

Yes, the modern All Blacks are little more than marketing muscles packaged in black Lycra. Not only do they look a little silly in some of the supposed super-dooper jerseys, but the whole campaign backing them was cringe-worthy. What the hell were they thinking digging up sections of dirt from all over New Zealand and taking it to France with them. If you are unsure what I am referring to please read this.

And, it gets worse. Before each game, Richie McCaw would take a handful of specially mixed New Zealand dirt and sprinkle it on the ground where they were playing. What the f..k?

If there is any evidence that Mr McCaw should not be captain it is right there.

Just to make this point loud and clear the poster accompanying this fraught exercise if thoroughly ridiculous. Boycott Adidas now!

Nine go mad on the Breaksea

Some wise person once said to me, who has time to read blogs..let alone write them. Indeed, I have to concur. Blogging of late has been pretty difficult with all the small film making projects I have loaded myself up with. The latest act of self-prostitution involved getting invited to document a 6 day trip aboard the Breaksea Girl around Dusky, Breaksea and Doubtful Sounds.

Too good an opportunity to pass up so I talked nicely to the NHNZ production team I am working with and skipped out of the office with a camera and lost of wet weather gear. The trip was organised by the Caselberg Trust who assembled a group of well known local artists who will deliver a piece of work inspired by the voyage at a function in October next year. Not only was the trip completely spontaneous for me, I was also underdone in my knowledge of the area. From the captivating scenery which never let up, to the weather that was, WET, I engaged in a crash course of knowledge via the well stocked library on board. With captain Lance Shaw at the helm, we visited historic locations such as Astronomers Point, the Endeavour Wreck Site, the site of the first European house in New Zealand, Richard Henry's island and most importantly the site of the first beer brewed in New Zealand.

The artists themsleves were a diverse group with such interesting work. From the manic painting of Wayne Seyb who proved that painting in rain can be a liberating experience to the fascinating line drawings and words of Gregory O'Brien I was both in awe and slightly frustrated at how media shy these people were. Gradually they warmed to my ever present camera and if I ever got bored documenting the never ending waterfalls, storm sequences, seals, dolphins and rainbows I could always turn to Nigel Brown for a good soundbite. With any luck, the images will be an impressive as those etched on my memory.

Simply put, that area of Fiordland is awe-inspiring and I am incredibly fortunate to have seen it.

Well, its now many months later and I have finally loaded the video produced on the trip into YouTube.

Skeptics Conference Christchurch

Along with the various other shameless acts of self-promotion, I have agreed to be one of the guest speakers at this weekends national Skeptics conference. I mean, how many opportunities like that present themselves in a lifetime?



It actually promises to be a very interesting event with speakers tackling everything from magic to shonky health practices. I'm preparing myself for an onslaught of questions that will test my knowledge of all things to do with a Mystery Cat in Canterbury. However, after the better part of 12 months digesting everything I could find on the phenomenom, I'm sure I can talk for 30 minutes on the subject (and hopefully sell some DVDs and t-shirts). Interestingly enough, the poster promoting the event has borrowed a little from our film theme.

Once again the cat has been resurrected in the media with Investigate magazine running another artcile on cat sightings in New Zealand and a piece written by myself about the film making process and some of the aspects that we uncovered. Check it out.

Documentary New Zealand Film Festival

Prints of Darkness has been accepted into the Documentary New Zealand film festival that will be touring the four main centres during September, October and November. Futhermore, it has been nominated as one of the finalists in the New Zealand documentary awards. So, if you still haven't seen this potentially award winning piece of cinema what better way to do it than on the big screen.

The screening details are:
Auckland-Sky City: Sat 27th of September 1.45 p.m.
Dunedin-Hoyts: Sat 13th of October 5 p.m.
Christchurch-Regent Worcester: Sat 27th of October 5 p.m.
Wellington-The Film Archive: Wed 14th of November
Mon 19th of November