South: Part III

I know that you all, and by "you all" I mean "Mom", have been patiently waiting to hear more about my motorcycle trip to the South Island, so, here we go.



I'd love to say that we woke up bright and early Saturday morning, but with me getting to the hotel near enough to midnight as to not make any difference, and the glass (OK, glass-es) of Johnnie Walker that I was forced to drink after I got there, it would be stretching the author's credibility, to say the least. We got up around a quarter to whenever, failed to shower, got into gear and scooted down the road at least fifty or sixty yards to a cafe for breakfast.



See? It says right on the roof. "Cafe". I'm going to editorialize for a minute just to say "see that black and silver CBR1000rr in the front of that picture? I neeeeeeed one of those. Except I need the Repsol paint job. Like this one"



need ... NEEEEEEEEED

Sorry, where were we? Yes, breakfast. So after, what else, eggs benedict, you think I'm going to put the traditional British "big brekkie" in me? Please. We hit the road. Next stop? Lunch in Hanmer Springs.



View Larger Map


Only about 130 km, should make it there by lunch time easily.

Now, I'm going to veer of again and say that New Zealand's South Island is god damn motorcycle nirvana. It never really gets that cold so the winters don't eat the roads. It's completely devoid of people and by extension police. It's jam packed full of the most amazing roads to ride on. On top of that, it's gorgeous.



That's about forty five minutes out of Kaikoura. It's beautiful, right? There's only one problem with the South Island ... it rains like a motherfucker. I swear to god it's the rainiest god damn place in the entire universe. Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. It had rained early in the morning, so when we left Kaikoura the roads were damp, but not bad at all. Just out of Kaikoura you get up into the hills, and it was fairly wet up there from the lack of sun on the roads, but it wasn't unridable. You just had to be careful. Remember, this was essentially the first time I'd ridden anywhere in about four months so I was already being careful. It was overcast but only spritzing now and then so we thought that we were going to get lucky. Hell, when we turned onto SH7 north, it was downright pleasant. Finally dry enough, and a straight enough, but not too straight, road that the two of us on sportbikes could really stretch them out. Holy moly the last 25 minutes before lunch was just awesome. SH7 was empty so D and I hauled some serious ass up to Hanmer Springs. Twenty miles of wicked fast long sweeping turns, Yee-haw. Which, in retrospect, was a good thing. I'd rather do 180 km/hr on a dry road than 100 km/hr in a fucking downpour, which is exactly what happened the second we pulled in to Hanmer Springs for lunch.

So, that got a lot longer than I expected, and it's late so I'm going to leave it at that, and you all (again "mom") will have to wait for the next episode. Same bat time, same bat channel.

Voice

So AM and RJ both went to tryout for some voiceover work today. There's a local production that's looking for a kid with a "natural American accent" to do some ADR. RJ was nervous and he's very emotional, the subject matter kind of freaked him out and he decided that he didn't want to try. AM, on the other hand, can't get on camera enough as was totally into it. The casting agent said that she had some potential, so we'll see what happens.

Holy Crap

This is pretty amazing

Ghost

I suppose it could be worse. Some nameless VP at Dreamworks could just ring my doorbell, and when I answered, he'd just kick me really hard in the balls. The worst part is that since the release date in 2009, I probably won't get to work on it.


DreamWorks to make 'Ghost' in 3-D


DreamWorks has acquired rights to the Japanese manga "Ghost in the Shell" with plans to adapt the futuristic police thriller as a 3-D live-action feature.

Story follows the exploits of a member of a covert ops unit of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission that specializes in fighting technology-related crime.

Created by Masamune Shirow, "Ghost in the Shell" was first published in 1989. It went on to generate two additional manga editions, three anime film adaptations, an anime TV series and three videogames. The second anime film, "Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence," was released in the U.S. by DreamWorks in 2004.

Avi Arad, Ari Arad and Steven Paul of Seaside Entertainment are attached to produce and brought the project to the studio. Jamie Moss has been tapped to pen the adaptation.

Universal and Sony were also chasing "Ghost in the Shell," but Steven Spielberg took personal interest in the property and made it happen at DreamWorks.

" 'Ghost in the Shell' is one of my favorite stories," Spielberg said. "It's a genre that has arrived, and we enthusiastically welcome it to DreamWorks."

DreamWorks prexy of production Adam Goodman said "Ghost in the Shell" is a property "that epitomizes 3-D live-action motion picture possibilities."

Avi Arad is at the forefront of comicbook-based material, having produced the three "Spider-Man" films, the three "X-Men" movies, the two "Fantastic Four" picss and the upcoming "Iron Man" and "The Incredible Hulk."

Moss' writing credits include "Street Kings," which bowed Friday, and "Last Man Home," in development at Universal.

Atomic

.. and that, made me think of this




I love the part when the guy's got a chopper modeled and the DI yells "Do It Again!" and thows down a slinky. Classic.

"Ring the Fucking Bell"
"I want to be an animator, sir!"
"Get up! You could be a doctor. You could be a lawyer. Ring that bell!"

Domain

Here's a little short that some guys (no one that I know) at Digital Domain put together. Pretty spot on.

Review : Gone Baby Gone

I had heard good things about this movie. Of course I heard great things about "No Country for Old Men" and I fucking hated that movie. So on top of high expectations, you've got a star turned director and difficult subject matter. So I'm a little leery going in to this one. I had nothing to worry about becuase This ... Movie ... Was ... Awesome. It was brilliant. It was well paced. It was thought provoking, engaging, moody and emotionally powerful. I left the theatre thinking "Holy shit, Ben fucking Affleck not only might get nominated for a best director Oscar, he could actually win". The thing is, I thought that because in New Zealand, this movie came out in 2008. In the US, where this kind of thing matters, this movie came out in 2007, which means it was eligible to be nominated for the Academy Awards that just happend a couple of months or so ago. And that, constant reader, means that this brilliant directorial debut not only did not win an Academy Award, it did not get nominated. IT DID NOT GET NOMINATED IN THE YEAR THAT THAT PIECE OF SHIT "NO COUNTRY FOR SHITTY MOVIES" WON THE OSCAR FOR BEST DIRECTION. And THAT is a fucking travesty. A crime of epic proportions. It makes me shake my fist at the sky and cry out at the universe "why do I work in this god forsaken business?"


Five Stars

Review : Shutter

Saw this last weekend (I've gotten a little behind on posting) because it was pretty much our only option when we got to the theatre. I didn't know anything about it other than it was a remake of an Asian horror movie. I have to say, that it wasn't too bad, certainly not as bad as I expected. Yes, that's not exactly a ringing endorsement but with all of the mining of East Asian horror films that Hollywood's been making the last few years, actually not loathing one is saying something. Decent story, genuinely creepy at times. Worth seeing in the theatre if there's nothing else. Definite rental.


Three Stars.

100

Won $100 today at lunch playing the pokies. Usually it's E that wins big, but not today