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.