Butch aka Travis

I went and saw Star Wars Episode 3 the other night, and i have to say i loved it. I loved it because of the SFX, and the storyline, im not ashamed to admit it.

But the SFX… Oh man, they were something else, man those boys (and girls) have some incredible imaginations, i reckon could work for them.

The opening is super impressive, as someone who is quite computer literate and has attempted SFX in movies before, i really can appreciate how go the effects are, and i do think it takes away from the storyline a little (i kept watching things in the background, thats where the action is!) I think its all in context… there is that word again..

I had to get something onto the blog before i forgot it..

I spent the weekend watching Blackadder, and although i have seen it all before, i laughed my ass off all over again.

Lord Blackadder
From Darkhorizons.com

In my mind, UK comedy is the best, all my favourite shows are British and i have to say, they are my influences.

Off the top of my head, in no particular order (ie. I love all of them)

Fawlty Towers
Flying Circus
Men Behaving Badly
Blackadder (all of the periods)
The Young Ones
The Office
Mr Bean
Father Ted
One Foot In the Grave
Waiting for God
Keeping Up Appearances
Yes, Minister
Vicar of Dibley
Absolutley Fabulous

My Favourite of all time is Fawlty Towers, and lately i have been watching the Office over and over again, i have the DVD’s you see

Fawlty Towers
Courtesy of TV Music

I can attribute this from my folks, they forced me to watch Britsh Comedy, while my friends watched Seinfeld, Roseanne and other shows that were on at around 7:30pm at night. My parents always said it was an education, at that American shows were ’stupid’, although they were partial to the occasional Married….With Children.

So I grew up with the best, and the ‘education’ is something that has stuck with me. I’m afriad that from time to time the scripts i write resemble something from a Ben Elton or a Richard Curtis script.

Tony and Gary: Men Behaving Badly
Courtesy of BBC

This brings me to my point….. Australian Comedy..

I have a vantage point. I am familiar with UK comedy, Aussie Comedy and South African Comedy (mostly Leon Schuster, if you are interested at all, SA Humour is quite violent)

But where is Australian Comedy. Off the top of my head i cant think of any Australian comedy series that are on TV right now, and I’m not talking about re-runs i mean new ones, there are none, i mean scripted Comedy, not this Big Brother crap that is playing in the background as i type, i cant stand this shit anymore!! Nor can i stand the disgusting Gretel Killeen
And i dont mean shows like where 3 grown men act like 3 grown assholes, you know, Theres “the funny one, the hopeless one and the ladies man”…. “A comedy written by Men, for Men by Women”

In any case, i was watching some new comedy sketch show tonight for about 15 minutes and SURPIRSE! SURPRISE! the entire time they were making FUN of someone, First they started with making fun of Super Nanny, then they must’ve run out of jokes, and they moved on to John Howard (an old time special and in my eyes, whenever people are making fun of politicians, they are scraping the barrel for jokes), then they completed another lost quarter of an hour of my life by doing a sketch where they took the piss out of George W. Bush (shooting fish in a barrel anyone?). I’ve never been one for Comedy with a Political motiv, so switched off and started watching my Blackadder DVD again, another 18 to 35 year old male tuning out of the TV ratings.

So…. if you are looking for some good comedy, based with fictional characters, either Rent out Mother and Son or watch some good British Comedy, spose i am biased as i like Satyr (satire) and alot of British Humour is satire (satyr).

THE David Brent, played by co-writer and co - director Ricky Gervais

The most successful English Comedy in History is now Officially the Office. It has cleaned up at the BAFTA’S and at the American Golden Globes, taking the Award for Best Comedy twice in a row. Not bad for a show that only spawned 12 episodes huh?

The show is written by Ricky Gervais (who also acts as David Brent), and Stephen Merchant, they also Co- Direct the show, it is one of the best written TV shows ever.
Picture Courtesy of the BBC

Why dont you start with the Office

Rupert aka Onlines tagged me, and others, and now i in turn must tag 5 people. I love this 6 degrees of separation shit…

Total number of books I’ve owned …

In my life time it would have to be in the hundreds, but when i look around, i would i have about…. 80 or so in my flat.

The last book I bought …

Blue Horizon - Wilbur Smith. It a first edition hard back, i didnt want to crease the spine so i bought another copy, a second hand one!!

The last book I read …

In search of South Africa - HV Morton, i want to use this book in my work one day. I have a great idea for a doco, and as you would know i have a thing for Africa, thats Africa in my picture by the way, in Hluhluwe to be exact.

Five books that mean something to me …
“Mau Mau” Robert Ruark
“In search of South Africa” H.V Morton
“Life in Pictures - Stanley Kubrick”
“Hithcock”
and more that anything else

“When the Lion Feeds” Wilbur Smith

Tag 5 people and request they fill this out on their journals …

Saurabh, Oven, Kim, Klara and Damien

I like the business of the Star Wars movies, it takes away from the story.

Nah, just kidding, i like the story, if they are a wee bit confusing sometimes, but i dont mind i really like them for the special effects, and the little worlds that are created in the background.

After episode one was released, i saw it three times, just so i could see the city planet of Courasant, and i absolutley loved the Droids vs the Gungun people battle on Naboo, that was cool.

So natuarally i enjoyed the second one because they went to the base of Courascant. Whenever i see Star Wars, i always wonder what normal people would be doing, ie. what would i be doing if i were lived in Courasant, and in episode two (when they chase the Changalup) they go into a Bar (i found out is called the Outlander Bar)on the base of Courasant, and in the background there is a TV on, and on the TV there is a football match on… I absolutley loved it, and later on Obi Wan goes to a Diner, it to is on the road side, and something that caught my attention was that on the ground level there was a train going by, and i thought… WOW they even have trains still going, despite the fact you can fly your car everywhere.

For a while i thought how much i would love to have a war against some droids, it takes away the whole moral ethic of war as you are not killing another human, you are beating down some 2nd rate human wannabe Droid. That would be cool, although i would more likely then not be killed… knowing my luck.

“Roger Roger”Courtesy of Star Wars.com

The point i am making is that the best part about the way that SPX are able to create a new, exciting and above all (and most importantly) realistic world.

The fact that i wonder what the average person does day to day on Naboo, or Courasant, or if you can book holiday packages to Endor or wherever, Lucas has created a believeable world. So much so that people love the whole concept so much they live another life where they know EVERYTHING about the fantasy world, and to them its all as logical as this world.

Realism is everything in a film. The special effects may make the scene very busy, but if you look at the world, it is fairly busy anyway. Imagine recreating Swanston street on a Saturday afternoon. people everywhere, Trams, Horse and Cart, Taxi’s, even the flags swaying in the wind, it is a massive job.

Lucas and his team make an incredible thing, a whole NEW world. A concept from scratch, whats more they make it in context, which makes it realistic. Check my previous blog (theOven: To believe or not to believe)
for more.

Also check out starwars.com for more about Star Wars world, i spent hours on it.

onlines :: Wot I read’n now. :: May :: 2005

Whats up Onlines, im reading ‘In search of South Africa’ by HV Morton. It was written in 1942 which is before Apartheid came to be.

He documented everything. He covered excellent ground and made excellent observation of South African society, of everyone. You cant classify South Africa as black and white (anyone who does knows absolutley nothing about SA or about Africa for that matter)

He observed the British South Africans, the Afrikaaners, the Zulu, the Xhosa and the San to an extent.

I have an idea that one day i would like to go back to SA and make a documentary where i retrace HV’s footsteps, he took a very specific trail. I will observe how South Africa would have change since 1942 (which was before the National Party took over). When Morton wrote the book, the party in power was the Union of South Africa Party, which was headed by the famous Jan Smuts, (or Oom Jan), it was a joint governement between The English and the Afrikaans speaking South Africans, believe it or not, but the Native Africans didnt want any part of poltics as they saw it as a ‘white mans thing’, on top of that, both the Zulu and Xhosa Kings told their subjects they are not allowed to be a politician and must instead be their subjects.

I would document how South Africa is 60 years later, after its imfamous history. Since ‘42, the Nationals have come and gone, Aparthied was built and torn down, the ANC came to power headed by Nelson Mandela, and AIDS has swept the nation infecting 18% of the population. On top of that the PResident of SA is very unpopular among those who got him into the position, especially Nelson Mandela, this is because the current President has dismissed claims there is a link between HIV, AIDS and Sex, and that they have made it all up so that medical companies can try to sell them their products.

How interesting it would be indeed…. at least to me.

theOven203A3A20To20believe20or20not20believe203A3A20May203A3A202005

Its strange you say that Oven, i was thinking about this ten minutes ago. I was watching bicenntenial man just a tonight and one of the things that annoy me is some of the things in the movie just weren’t realistic, hence it destroyed it for me.

One thing that i hate with Troy and other similar movies is the american accents. Why with the american accents? Did the Trojans have american accents? Did the King of England have an american accent… in a Knights Tale they ALL have American accents. This totally destroys a movie for me. That is as much as i give to a film before i discount it as unrealistic, and once its unrealistic i find it stupid and ill planned.

Im sure with the millions that they pumped into ‘A knights tale’ they could have done some reasearch into what accents that people had in the Dark Ages of Europe. Another thing about that movie is that Heath Ledgers character lies his way into the jousting contest by saying his name is Sir Ulrich Von Liectenstien from Gelderland, i mean what the hell is that? (there was a real knight called Ulrich von Liechtenstein, but he wasn’t from Gelderland, he was from Liechtenstein) If his name is Ulrich Von Liechtenstein then surely his English wouldnt be crash hot, but there he was, perfect English in an Aussie/ bad English accent.
One more thing in that movie was the Armourer (the female, sorry ladies i dont mean to offend but this was also very unlikely) branded her armour with a Nike tick (?!?!?!?), what the fuck was that? It seemed like a little joke (obviously funded by Nike who want people to think they’d been around since the dark ages… we started in jousting armour, and slowly moved to shoes, why? we Just Did It) but it was HISTORICALLY WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG… if your going to do all this crap, then make it fantasy ala Lord of the Rings.

You see it was in context, context. If your going to do something that requires a set time in history, or place, then you have to keep it in context. When i make films i wil have a guy, whose sole job is to make sure everything is in context.

B.