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

Elusiv-"I'm a Man"

On the completion of my Post Graduate Diploma it seemed that me new found celebrity encouraged those around me to come forward with film/dvd projects. One of these is a short film that I put together for Ben Smith (a.k.a Billy Elusiv) and his partner Nicola Reilly who are the brains and brawn behind Elusiv.

I have a couple of pieces of Elusiv clothing and I have to admit, it is pretty cool clobber. After looking at the winter 08 range I put aside some tunes that fit the mood and one of these simply stood out both for myself and the Elusiv team. By French electro-punks Blackstrobe, "I'm a man" is a classic re-interpretation of a Bo Diddley classic.

Check out the video and feel free to post a comment.

A place for carbon obsessed citizens

Well the fact that at least 40 people visit this blog a week has convinced me to keep posting however irregular that might be, hopefully more regular shortly.

Consider this, there are reported to be 6000 blogs in Auckland alone, wow, who is reading all this stuff?

However, I figure if you are going to put aside time to read a blog maybe you need something a bit extra. Well in the interests of keeping topical I have found a neat little game that taps into the trendy climate change debate in a cool way. Its called Faketown. I figure that keeping people in front of their computers playing games has to be the most environmentally sound activity going. No nasty fuel is being consumed and more importantly body energy levels kept to a minimum, hence less food required, and less energy as a result.

Here is a interesting question:
If you walked to the shops to purchase your food with a re-usable bag, your body would expend energy and require kilojoules in the form of food to top up. Here is the thing, would the food required consume more energy in the production process, than that expended by being lazy and driving a small car the same distance?
I'm sure there is an interesting calculation in there somewhere.

Purchase a copy of Prints of Darkness

Finally, the DVD version is ready for sale and the easiest way to sell it is via TradeMe. If you are interested in purchasing a copy please follow this link and bid away. The cost is $15 +$3 p&P nationwide.

Also, the new improved website is up and running complete with a blog function for exchanging information on strange cat sightings or any other interesting details. The website contains a brand new trailer for the film and additional media that can be viewed on all browsers.
Check it out. Hopefully the website forum can become a great resource to keep track of New Zealand big cat sightings.

Chinese Garden

After all the hoopla surrounding the screening of the film and the great reception that we have had, reality has set in. With the high NZ dollar and the uncertain future of making television in New Zealand for the American market, I am still waiting for my 6-month contract to start at NHNZ here in Dunedin. In the meantime I have been trying to keep my hand in with filmmaking and have taken a couple of non-paid projects on to beef up my portfolio. The most significant is the documentary that I am making to publicise the Chinese Garden that is being constructed in Dunedin. A somewhat controversial project I am sure that people will be supportive once they understand how majestic the garden is going to be and how lucky we are to have possibly the most authentic Chinese garden this side of Sydney. My film work has been centred on capturing the garden as it is built, and researching images to show the history of Chinese settlement within the greater Otago region. I am really lucky to be associated with this project and hope that Dunedin people appreciate the asset that the city will soon have. The images featured here are from an artistic impression of what the Dunedin garden will look like.

Prints of Darkness DVD available

At long last, we managed to compromise on the artwork for the DVD packaging. The artwork you see here is just one of the options we were considering but is will not be on the final product. To get a copy of our special DVD version that will have extra media, various format options, and some amusing additional footage then you can contact us and purchase a copy for $15 + Postage.

Email me at ojjj69@yahoo.com and I will take care of it. Will make a great Christmas present.

The Ashburton Aftermath

The trip north to Ash-Vegas or Flash-burton went really well. A great turnout meant the occasion was really special for Pip and myself who had not had a chance to catch up with many of the characters in our film since the summer. Try as I did to recognise and personally thank everybody for their involvement, I just want to add that often the amount of time that people spent with us giving interviews and showing us around didn't amount to time on the screen. We had so many favorite moments and special sequences that didn't make it into the final 24 minutes. However, the benefit of the DVD format will give us the opportunity to release some of that material which we plan to do. We have not set the cost for the DVD yet, but expressions of interest are invited so that we have an idea of how many copies to budget for. Pip and I would also like to thank Francis for being the top bidder in our auction for the Wendy Prior artwork commissioned especially for the film. Photos of the Ashburton premiere can be found by following the following link.

Ashburton Screening Saturday 14th July

This Saturday in Ashburton we are pleased to announce that many of our wonderful cast and helpers will finally be able to see the film. The screening is at the Regent Cinema in Wills St. Three films are on the bill and proceedings will start at 8 p.m. For those who want to join myself and Pip for a drink beforehand we will be at Cactus Jacks restaurant and bar. So far 70 seats have been taken so if you are reading this and want to attend please let either Myself or Pip know how many seats you require.

Prints of Darkness On-Line

Well, the website is finally up and running. It still remains very much an evolving project so feel free to check it out and make any comments that might help me make it better. In the very near furture I will add a sales aspect where DVDs and artwork associated with the film can be purchased. The link to the website is located in the interesting links section.

Film Premiere and Additional Screenings

Well, after months of hard slog we finally had the opportunity to see the finished product on the big screen and share the relief with friends, family and most importantly those who helped with the process. It was a great night and some photographic evidence has surfaced to fill in the blank spots. A link to the film premiere photos is provide to the right.
So, what now. Well, it seems this whole filmmaking lark is never over and we are putting together DVDs that will be on sale shortly, a website that will be up and functioning shortly and finding time to submit the film to the odd film festival.

**Press Release** With the insatiable demand for the film in its natural home, Mid-Canterbury, we have organised a screening for Saturday the of 14th of July at the cinema in Ashburton. We plan to show a couple of films and hopefully catch up with some of the great characters that helped us over the summer. If you are reading this and think you might like to go please leave a comment on this post and we will reserve some seats. The cinema can only hold 115 people so it would be good for us to gauge the level of interest.

Prints of Darkness Takes Campbell Live

After the rush of a successful screening on Saturday night and the positive feedback from the Campbell Live apperance and the Otago Daily Times feature I finally have some time to update the blog.

Pip and myself re working on the DVD version and will be announcing some screenings in Mid-Canterbury shortly. Watch this space.

In the meantime, if you didn't catch the TV apperance I have attached a link to it below. Cheers.

Click here to view.

The 'Prints of Darkness Song'

Turn up your sound and click on the link to download our theme song. Composed and performed for the film by David Harrison. Comments appreciated. Photos of air guitar antics encouraged.

Download Darkness.song.aif

NewsFlash: Prints of Darkness on TV3

Well not quite, but TV3 have interviewed Pip and myself today about the film and big cat sightings in general. It was a lot of fun being on the other side of the camera and it was nice to think that the exposure may well drag a few extra souls along to the Regent to see six quality films on Saturday June the 6th. Get your tickets now, just $3.

If anybody from outside Dunedin would like to come along for the premiere let me know as I have arranged some quality accomodation at a swanky B & B for half price.

The TV3 piece was co-ordinated by Natasha Utting on behalf on the Campbell Live team. It will go to air next Thursday the 7th of June or Friday the 8th. Once we have confirmation of the night I will post it on the blog.

Own a piece of New Zealand Film History: Part 11

Along with the wonderful artwork produced for the film by Wendy Prior, we have a range or T-Shirts available. They can be purchased in a variety of colours and sizes. We are able to offer them for $40 NZ each including postage and packaging within New Zealand.(Its for a good cause, honest!)

Just email me your size and details and I will organise a t-shirt.

Its not how far you fall, it's the way you land

Great albums come along rarely so when you discover something superlative it is worth shouting about it. So pasted below is a review I have just drafted for the Otago Daily Times.

Artist: Soulsavers

Title: It’s not how far you fall, it’s the way you land

Label: V2/Shock

Opening up with quite possibly the most intriguing, mesmerising and downright addictive 4 minutes of music released in 2007, Soulsavers signal an intent to craft a piece of music brilliance and pull it off. ‘Revival’ is the track in question; a wondrous exploitation of a repeating motif that haunts the subconscious long after the album has come to a halt.

Soulsavers are the brainchild of English producers Rick Machin and Ian Glover whose previous release “Tough guys don’t dance” flew largely under the radar. Much of the success of this album then lies firmly in the throaty pipes of ex Screaming Trees front man Mark Lanegan. Not only did he contribute vocals to 8 of the 10 tracks but also he co-wrote five of the tracks.

Back in the early 90s his wonderful vocals were often buried in a grunge pit, and while his mere presence elevated the Seattle sound to a slightly different sphere, he had never quite realised his true calling, as the natural heir to the Tom Waits-Johnny Cash songbook. Though, back in 92 Lanegan hinted at something resembling this work with Soulsavers on his seminal solo release, ‘Whisky for the Holy Ghost’.

Hence it is a delight to discover that from those sessions, ‘Kingdoms of Rain’ has been resurrected. In the intervening 15 years, Lanegan’s voice has matured in a pickle of tobacco, liquor and hard living. The transformation from the original is remarkable.

Add to the mix a guest appearance by Will Oldham, a reworking of Neil Young’s ‘Though my sails’ the Stones ‘No Expectations’, and you have something that may have easily fallen over but does quite the opposite. Nothing great ever comes from playing it safe and the inclusion Spain’s ‘Spiritual’ from 95’s ‘The Blue Moods of Spain’ a case in point. The original was magnificent yet this version somehow tops it.

In danger of spewing too many superlatives, ‘It’s not how far you fall, it’s the way you land’ is a fantastic collection of 10 individually packaged moments of aural pleasure that exist somewhere between gospel, country, soul and mashed up electronica.

Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed By: Mark Orton

Soulsavers – Revival

Own a piece of New Zealand Film History

Grandiose statement for sure, but we are pleased to offer you the opportunity to purchase some film merchandise prior to the Worldwide premier. In conjunction with local artist Wendy Prior who we can never thank enough, we have some limited edition prints of a large black cat in a typical mid canterbury landscape. Wendy produced the work as part of her contribution to the film with the objective of raising some funds to help us recover the costs we have incurred making this film. So its all for a good cause really.

If you are interested in purchasing a print then please visit Wendy's website or blog. Otherwise you are welcome to contact me directly and I will arrange for a print to be shipped out from here.

The Conscience Cafe

With a caffeine obsession controlling many of my daily moves, I have often been plagued by guilt that I unwittingly enjoy the devil's cup while many coffee plantation workers get shafted in the marketplace. Hence, when Oxfam contacted me via email recently to announce their big coffee break promotion I thought heres a chance to do something good and really test whether this fairtrade coffee can cut it.

Taking my trusty Vibiemme Domobar Super espresso machine to the University of Otago Zoology Department I set about brewing up coffees for all and sundry. It seemed to be a great success with many people returning to be replenished. And the coffee...well the brew sent to me by Oxfam was top notch and I'll be sure to buy it just as long as the local supermarkets can be convinced to give it a go. Check it out, Zigana espresso.

Anyway, here are some photos of the event.

ibreast?

After a prolonged period of nil blogging I figured it was time to start a new post with something not at all related to my film project, as that is taking up enough time as it is!

As my ipod is now nothing more than a rather expensive albeit pretty looking paper-weight, I decided that (stupid me) I would investigate ipod replacement options. In doing so I discovered a rather ingenious product being developed by Apple that will give silicon breast implants functionality as well as aesthetic appeal, introducing the ibreast.

“Apple Computer announced today that it has developed a computer chip
that can store and play music in women’s breast implants.

The iBreast will cost $499 or $599 depending on size.

This is considered to be a major breakthrough because women are always
complaining about men staring at their breasts and not listening to them.”

Shiny Brute Website

In order to maximise the film exposure we are in a process of designing a website to compliment it. However, the opportunity to create a 'Mystery Cat NZ' one-stop shop is too tempting to ignore. Hence, we are wanting to collect all the information that we have gained through our research and present it in one place. Furthermore, we would like the site to be interactive where interested contributers can post details associated with the phenomenum. In the meantime we are mocking up some designs to see which will gain favour with our vision and potential users. Please feel free to comment on the three mock-ups of our home page featured below.

Exciting New Poll

Well its official, according to 52% of respondents I officially look like that ginger freak out of Simply Red.

Ah well.

So, it is time for a new poll and this time it will be related to the film. So much so that we want to solicit feedback on possible titile options for the film. While we still have a very hectic couple of months pulling this thing together, a title at this stage would give us some focus and direction (or provide us with one less headache later).

So, please vote (on the right hand side of this page) and more than once if you feel so inclined. Of course any comments or suggestions will also be gratefully accepted. There is no money or prizes associated with this activity, just the knowledge that you might in some way influence the final product.

As for the film itself I have discovered one major detail during this process of editing. It is a lot easier writing a review every week about film and providing a critique than actually making one of them.

Both Pip and myself and have become so close to the images and the personalities involved that it is often difficult to stand back and give an objective appraisal. Thankfully we have no shortage of people wanting to give their two cents worth which is just what we need.

Mystery is alive and well

One of the questions that we commonly ask ourselves when making this film is "how likely is it that a 'big' cat could be alive and well in the mid-Canterbury area and only be seen sporadically over the last six years"? O.K. we are talking about an expert in stealth and deception, the most cunning carnivore possibly, but surely we would know more about the creatures in our midst and have more tangible proof?

Maybe not, this week those bastions of all things rational and explained (Scientists) have had to admit that a clouded leopard native to the islands of Sumatra and Borneo are actually a separate 'brand new' species. Wow. Read about it here.

Its hard to fathom how this could be the case with the wealth of genetics knowledge and all the people who are involved in protecting the diverse range of animal and plantlife in this pracarious part of the world. But happen it has and we should delight in discovering that maybe we don't have all the answers and just maybe our levels of perception are clouded or blocked to all the potential possibilites. No doubt 'Crypto Nuts' will be delighting in this information, now if only we can get some more information on the mystery New Zealand otter.

Photos from the film

I have decided to make a few extra photos available through this forum so have added a link to some photos that I have uploaded to Flickr.If you haven't used it then give it a go, a great way to back up photos and make them available to persons everywhere. The link is in the right hand tool bar under Cat Film Photos.

Cunstables

Apologies to all those readers outside of NZ (and I know there are a few of you) as this post concerns some thoughts concerning a high profile rape case involving three NZ policeman. The media have been all over this like a rash, but I feel the national print media have failed in comparison to some of the on-line bloging concerning this issue. As usual Russell Brown gets it spot on and really sums up for me how sad the three 'Cunstables' were and continue to be.

However, it really struck a chord to find out what Mr Right Wing himself (Ian Wishart) had to say concerning this sorry episode. Having met Ian recently when I interviewed him for the film, I found him to be a very pleasant, well thought, and engaging individual. So it shouldn't have come as such a surprise to hear him lambast the legal system and refer to the coppers as "violent rapists". Yes, his column is well worth a read.

Here's the thing, back in the 80s it wasn't a crime to sport a huge slug of a moustache and engage in consensual group sex involving introduced apparatus. However, if the person(s) supposedly consenting to such activities were young females, pressured into the act through falling foul of the law then one has to ask themselves, how consensual was this. These sad men abused their power (and batons) to procure sex which quite obviously was being denied to them through other means. They had a right racket going and probably thought they were invincible! Based on two court hearings to date that would seem to be the case. Now, I'm also not opposed to having sex on the bonnet of a police-car (as long as the fuzz was holed up in a doughnut shop), but, I'm not a policeman and Mr Rickards was. I just hope he doesn't get his job back as I would hate to think we are putting our trust and money in the hands of wankers like that.

I was not able to secure a video clip of the Back of the Y masterpiece 'Cunstables' but I did come across an amusing flash animation that sums things up quite nicely (especially for fans of Viz). The 'Real' Cunstables, Enjoy.

It's a cryptid world

Thankfully the weather in Dunedin has come right for a couple of days, just in time for Pip and myself to hunker down in the bunker-like editing suite and start meshing together a few sequences.

However, I am still finding time to indulge in the odd distraction like listening to one-day cricket (go the black caps) and reading the odd blog. So it came as somewhat of a surprise to learn that our wee film project is being mentioned elsewhere on the net.

The following website dedicated to all things cryptozoology features news of our film. Please read about it here. As if that isn't freaky enough, a big cat expert in Great Britain has been emailing me a whole host of useful information related to tracking urban big cats. His name is Danny Nineham and he authors a very interesting website.

However, in the interest of balance there are others who totally discredit the work of Mr Nineham. The following report details efforts by Canadian trappers to prove/disprove the theory that there are big cats in the United Kingdom.

Sacrilege and SUVs

This blog is proving harder than ever to keep updated as my feet very rarely sit in front of my trusty laptop in Dunedin.

The last week has been spent conducting a couple of interviews for the film in Auckland and then taking five days to travel around the wonderful far north. I have posted a couple of photos below from the last trip into Mid-Canterbury and some of you may notice a hand that looks like it is attached to my arm holding a can of C.D. No, I haven't given up on my beloved Emersons but when in Rome and all that..

Now, as many of you may know, I'm not a fan of S.U.Vs .However, I have to admit that during our film trip thus far we have witnessed them being used properly and in the hands of some very skilled operators (thanks David and Al). They have a purpose and place and dropping off the kids at school is not it. The term 'cafe tractors' springs to mind after trying to negotiate Auckland streets clogged with monster SUVs that have never seen some mud let alone a rocky hillside. But, there is an even bigger menace on the road that is driving us insane, the 'people movers'. I can't count the amount of times that travelling up and down the country that we have been cut-off and slowed down by these silly looking mini-buses. It would appear that they come factory fitted with neither rear view mirrors or indicators.

On a slightly more positive note, I'm regretting that we aren't filming in Christchurch this weekend as Dramfest 07 is taking place. Tickets are already sold out, but it looks like a fantastic event, big ups to those folk that appreciate Kiwi tastes don't stop at Speights and Jack Daniels.

Actually getting some air, can you see the front wheel off the ground!

A land transport sign that we spotted driving through the inland scenic route!

Drinking the local amber with David Wightman on Winterslow Station

Trying to kick start the bike, where is that damn electric ignition!

Plenty of Ins and Outs

Just like one of my all-time favourite characters in cinema history, Jeffrey 'The Dude' Lebowski says: "There are plenty of ins and outs" as his doped out Marlowe investigates the loss of the rug that "tied the room together". Yes, this tale of the cat is proving quite intriguing with twists and turns at every corner, and the more we film and research it seems that we have more to film and research.

For all you long suffering devotees of this blog, I have decided to keep this post light-hearted as we are just about to set off another week long filming mission to Twizel this time and then next week we will be up in Wellington.

While the many long hours of driving have facilitated heated discussion on many topics between myself and film-making partner Pip, they usually involve a disagreement about our favourite characters in the ace British comedy Green Wing. Pip is a big fan of Dr Guy Secretan
whose famous line "Drink my pee, pull like me" turned me into an instant convert to this most excellent series. My personal favourite is Mac because he has finally proved that guys with ginger hair in the public eye could be cool, and he rides a very cool Ducati.

While we are debating the merits of these two excellent characters, please observe the images I was recently emailed. Three candidates for man of the year, I felt their individual contributions to masculine endeavour should not go unrecognised:

What the F%@K was that?

Well its now official, (for the time being anyway) the title for our film will be "What the F@%K was that? It seems to fit best with the general story flow that we are working on. After countless interviews the most common statement we hear is....you guessed it!

The past week has been great and spending 6 days in mid-Canterbury filming and meeting with locals was invaluable. One thing is for sure, great hospitality is alive and well in the provinces. We were chauffeured up mountainsides ala Barry Crump style in a Toyota Landcruiser, had fruit muffins baked for us, were given free meals and drinks at the pub, had our laundry done and were lent a television.

However, by far the most interesting aspect to the trip was the amount of media interest shown in our documentary. We were photographed by the Ashburton Guardian who wrote a short piece about us. Click here. After this piece featured in the paper we were contacted by TVONE, RADIO LIVE and THE ROCK. We agreed to enter into some interviews with the two radio stations who both tried to push us into a corner and see if we honestly thought there was a 'panther' out there. Lets just say that we have uncovered some fascinating material and do not want to give any of this info away before the film screens.

Anyway, we have been busy snapping some of our progress and have selected a few images to show you how busy we have been.



Filming our Steve Irwin stand-in



Always get good talent (and get them to carry your equipment



How low can you go?



Possibly the most important role in filmaking: "The Fluffer"

Christmas and Coffee

Hi All,

I have to admit, the blogging has been slow in recent times and I would like to blame it on the festive season, everyone needs a break! I trust you all had a great Christmas and good New Year celebrations. I was lucky enough to find some sun in lovely little Clyde in Central Otago.

Anyway, the filming is well underway on the 'Stealth Cat' documentary and photos of the field action will be posted here soon. However, with the majority of activity centred on the Mid-Canterbury district we have had ample opportunity to sample local wares and hunt out the odd coffee. The results have been quite disturbing so I would like to offer this blog as a public service announcement for any caffeine conscious persons setting out on the road in the South Island.

Tips:

1. Do not trust an automatic coffee machine to deliver anything other than mud. It is a crime when coffee merchants are charging $3.50 for what is essentially a cup of nescafe with heated milk powder.
   
2. If the cafe attendant has more upper lip hair than yourself then turn around and walk out. No males (or females) with moustaches can brew a decent blend I have discovered.
   
3. If the coffee machine has an old tea-towel draped over it retrace your steps. This is a definite indication that not many coffees are served and the machine is likely to spit out regurgitated mess from a cup brewed a week ago.
   
4. Double shots should be paramount so be concerned when the machine is stocked with single-shot porta-filters.
   
5. Check the grinder, if the beans have already been ground then its a sure sign that things will not be that fresh.
   
6. Any signs outside cafes that read "Stewarts or Robert Harris" indicate a foul tasting brew.
   

These are but a few tips for spending money wisely in the pursuit of a pure shot of black gold.
While I am on the subject of spending money wisely, it has not escaped my radar that coffee merchants have upped their prices recently and the average price for a sit-in flat white is $3.50. For some reason, takeaway cups seem to be larger than sit-in cups and therefore the rationale seems to be $4.00 for a flat white even though the patron will not be using the facilities?

While I am perplexed by that I am quite annoyed when asked to pay the same prices for a long black! This is can not fathom, the long black contains the same amount of caffeine extracted from the same quantity of beans and is often topped up with 'hot water'. NO MILK. Even with my challenged arithmetic I can work out that Nil Milk =$0. Since when did hot water cost the same amount as 400 mls of milk?

Just so you are all aware, a perfect flat white should look something like this:



Lets just say I will make my own long blacks at home on my machine that consistently produces a better brew than some of the gruntier commercial machines being operated by coffee novices. It seems that living in Dunedin we take it for granted that a good coffee is only one block away, there are dozens of great places to sample a brew.