one day...

...off

last weekend was a long one (public holiday), shortened by an hour (daylight savings)

I managed to see a few photographic galleries, get the laundry done, buy some books, have a few lunches, buy some new work sneakers (salomon speed-cross 2's), and go on a film-watching binge...

- Cave of Forgotten Dreams (in 3D) - about the recently (1994) discovered caves with 35,000 yr old cave paintings = awesome

- Project Nim = about the extraordinary life of a chimpanzee named Nim (raised in a family as you would a human child in the 70's...)

- the matrix

- the matrix revisited (doco on the making of the first)

- the matrix reloaded

- the matrix revolutions

it was then, back to work for the week, finishing some amazing party scenes which will floor audiences in another year...

work extended into saturday (to compensate for the monday holiday), and at one stage it looked as though we'd be working 'till sunday! (slipping call-times due to overtime = great paypacket, but NO life)

This (short) weekend, I: got the washing done, went for a walk, and sat on top of some cliffs reading; taking the occasional photo.

to be honest - I miss 2 days off, but a cliff-top reading-session is exactly what I needed to recharge, for another week of sound assisting.


The rocky-top of the south Bondi Cliffs... an excellent viewpoint of the whole bondi beach/cove/bay/thingy






view when I arrived... oooooh ominous!






view later - sun's out = yay...





random sea-kayaker





looking north at the point






he's still going






the walk from Bondi - Tamarama is quite nice - and VERY heavily trod by the masses. *very interesting people watching from my little vantage point - they travel in "waves", of varying intensities (exercisers/marathon-trainers/tourists/kids/lovers/families/etc), it's pretty cool to see.






a view of the natural bath at Bondi (aka icebergs)






what better way to pass the time than read a book on the psychology of learning behaviours, in ski instructing! (seriously?!) it's a little dry, but worth it, as I've been on a little bit of a brain kick recently (how the mind learns/neuroplasticity/addiction/chemical-interactions of caffein-alcohol/etc.)

quickly followed by some Steve Martin autobiographical reflections on his stand-up career... my amazon account is getting hammered right now...






funny thing - I love the feeling of sand on bare-feet, but hate the way it gets EVERYWHERE... sandstone = a pleasant substitute... tactile sensory input; thy name is foot.





I'd like to see some census data on the percentage of Bondi Residents that hail from ye-olde-england - guessing it's a little skewed in the "massively disproportionate" category


Well, it's back to work tomorrow morning for week 6/17(ish) - we've finished with the massive crowd scenes, and it's back to the heavy drama segments... hopefully there'll be less PA cabling, and more 2nd booming.

till next time, enjoy your free-time.

Travelling south; part 3 of...

...3

so the last month has seen the end of my immediate travels, and the continuation of my career in location sound for film.

Things are good on-set, and it's feeling like a little 'Australia' reunion with so many crew returning for another serving of Baz.

Obviously there'll be no photos from the set; but I will say this... anyone who was questioning the decision to film in 3D – will be absolutely shocked to see how well it suits both the story and director. (every day I am floored by how awesome the shots are looking, in conjunction with the sets and costumes... it all serves to amplify the emotions of the characters)

photos from the past month


driving to sydney...





tunnel





lens flares rock...





under the harbour





My new baby...
I was always curious about the recording features of the zaxcom transmitters (one of the main reasons I bought a TRX900LT), and dismayed when they didn't release an updated plug-on that featured 48v phantom and the recording capabilities... or did they? Turns out that for a brief period, they did.
Meet my new TRX 700 plug-on transmitter.
I say new; even though it's a 2nd hand purchase on consignment from trew audio canada (*thanks for the ultra fast shipping guys).
Super clean wireless booming with built in recording on a micro SD card now possible... just not with an older CMC5 Schoeps pre-amp; thankfully I've got a CMC6 so it's all good :)





one of these two, is my current 'tool-of-the-trade': the other, not so much - guess which is which





alleyway down in the rocks area of sydney – with cool creeper vines on the buildings





awesome end of touristy-day walks down at circular quay





My new wheels, yay – cycling to work





My rear tire after 6 hrs – boo flat tires suck.





walking home after getting my tire fixed; purchasing a couple of new inner-tubes, a pump and a patch-kit...





big steps in centennial park





mini-forest in centennial





olde-time-cannon in centennial





a giant inflatable Smurf... (as seen on the way to watching the best doco of the year: Senna)





what the giant inflatable smurf looked like the next morning when I returned to get a nice photo for my cousins daughter...





stage 7 (centre) as seen from the showgrounds of the fox entertainment quarter






my bike tire at the FSA professional entrance





funky statue in the parklands out front of the Sydney Football stadium





Random lens-flare-iphone-sunset-shot on the way to collecting my laundry last week...

Aside from Senna (which is such a good story that I'm shocked it hasn't been destroyed by hollywood yet.), I've also been out to see "Pina" a 3D film by Wim Wenders - about a dance choreographer from Germany (quite good) and The Lion King (also in 3D) which was really good (even if the 3D conversion was a little weird at times).

well, it's currently 14 degrees and raining... perfect sunday afternoon for reading...

catch you all later.

P.S. the title photo is from a walk down to Bondi Beach during some kind of kite festival...

Heading south-west, part 2 of...

...three...ish.

picking up where we left off; I'm back in Vancouver.

thursday = packing, and sorting out my life...

friday = dropping off my sound gear and ski-boots at the local TNT for shipping, purchasing a new carry-on bag, and more packing

saturday = nice brunch with the gang, more packing, organising car-storage/etc and one last hike up deep cove.

I didn't do the "run" as I'm way-out-of-shape, and had my camera with me.

Photos



pre-dawn on my last canadian morning for a while.





looking up on the Baden Powel trail *(on the way to grey rock)





It's also known as the deep cove hike...





...a nice 40 min walk... (or 16 minute run if you're up to the challenge)





...there's plenty of awesome forrest to look at...






...and it can certainly get quite atmospheric at times...






Lots of stairs, and even a few wooden bridges...





...many made by local volunteers.





The path isn't always level, with quite a few exposed tree roots.




occasionally, the sun breaks through...





...which makes for an awesome lens flare





end of the trail = the grey rock





view of the inlet





looking back at deep cove





boats





tree at the top


It was time to head home for a quick shower, then off to the airport...


pretty flowers in the back-yard





27 deg, perfect summer weather eh?





final sunset in Vancouver





looking back at the north shore mountains





freeway overpass





last light





YVR





I was expecting to be hit with a few excess and overweight baggage charges.
On the flight from australia, I was allowed 2 bags of 25kg each; however, in the past 4 months, Air Canada changed their rules, and international flights are only supposed to allow one 23Kg bag!

For some reason the kind lady behind the counter allowed me to check a 25.9kg bag, a 10.9kg bag, and even my boom poles without penalty. Woo hoo.





random people wait at the terminal





my last view of vancouver - the departure lounge





view from my seat





departing





arriving sydney

during the flight I watched
- "the greatest movie ever sold" (morgan spurlock doco on product placement = most meta movie ever!)
- "the high cost of living" (reasonable molodrama with Zach Braff)
- "happythankyoumoreplease" (Ted from how I met your mother, writes directs and stars... in a halfway decent romantic drama with likeable lead characters, a weird premise, and a weak ending.)

there was also plenty of time to nap (90% of the flight was in darkness), and read...



random qantas jet





another one...





taxi-ing out of sydney





wing-tip somewhere along the east coast of australia





near the border QLD/NSW



well, I'm back in OZ - and things are...ok

it's currently rainy and blowing a gale in brisbane...

my phone has been re-connected with the same number it's always been in Australia = 0414 468 413

time to un-pack, sort, and re-pack for the next 4+1/2 months...