Blighty comes to Tinseltown

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Tuesday: Maybe a little hard on the guy... maybe. Anyway, showed the missus the script and she said that she didn't really think it was a positive message and didn't make her laugh. I told her that she wasn't the target audience and maybe it wasn't her brand of comedy (it isn't, btw). I also said that I wouldn't be making it for the 90 people out of 100 who don't like it for some reason but rather for the other 10 who will get exactly what I'm saying...
Wednesday: ...
Thursday: An entire day of ADR for the CC job which I filmed earlier in the year on 'The Lot' on Formosa. We did some replacement lines (lip syncing) and some off camera adds as well as voicing sound effects! Huge screen where, over the course of the day, we watched the entire film, with rough CG added and all of the sequences in place. It was absolutely amazing! I cannot wait until we see it in 3D... it will blow people away!! Apparently the soundtrack is being recorded by the London Phil at Abbey Road studios which means that, right now, I'm appearing on a wall somewhere in probably the most famous recording studios in the world! I'm rather proud of that.
Also found out that when the top brass of CC saw the rough cuts of the film in the last couple of months, they were really please with bouts of spontaneous applause!

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

It helps if you have a 'President' as an Uncle and some other well connected loser as a father.... One rule for us...

Bush niece Noelle jailed again
Noelle Bush
Bush: Crack cocaine was allegedly found in her shoe

By Fergal Parkinson
BBC correspondent in Miami

The daughter of the Florida governor and the president's niece, Noelle Bush, has been jailed for 10 days for failing to meet the conditions of a drug treatment programme.

She was sentenced after police found crack cocaine in her room at a drug rehabilitation centre that she was sent to for treatment for an addiction to prescription pills.

I am disappointed. Your have let a lot of people down

Judge Reginald Whitehead
This will be Noelle Bush's second time in prison.

In July she was sentenced to three days in jail after being found with illegally obtained prescription pills.

The 25-year-old was first arrested back in January for trying to buy an anti-anxiety drug using a false prescription.

She was ordered by a court to be sent to a rehabilitation centre in Orlando.

It was here that police last month found crack cocaine hidden in her shoe.

President George W Bush (l) and his younger brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush
Noelle's father (rght) is seeking re-election in Florida
The judge said on Thursday he had no option but to sentence her to 10 days in jail and she was led away in handcuffs.

The sentencing of his daughter is another deeply embarrassing incident for Jeb Bush who is campaigning to be re-elected as the governor of Florida.

He was not in court.

Known to be tough on crime, he is a supporter of long sentences for repeat offenders.

In a statement, he said he loved his daughter very much and asked the public and media to respect their privacy during this difficult time.

One rule for us, one for them...

Monday, 4 December 2006
Warner Music CEO Admits His Kids "Stole" Music, Didn't Get Sued
Topic: News

Edgarbronfman On the last day of the recent Reuters Media and Marketing Summit in New York, Warner Music Group CEO admitted that he was "fairly certain" that one or more of his seven children had downloaded music without the permission of the copyright owner, which Reuters referred to as stealing.

Despite the alleged infringers' proximity to the major label head and his direct awareness of it without the use of ISP subpoenas, somehow no lawsuits were deemed necessary, although Bronfman said that his kids had "suffered the consequences":

"I explained to them what I believe is right, that the principle is that stealing music is stealing music. Frankly, right is right and wrong is wrong, particularly when a parent is talking to a child. A bright line around moral responsibility is very important. I can assure you they no longer do that."

So, the children of major label CEOs get a verbal explanation for infringing Warner's sacred copyrights, while everyone else has to worry about getting sued. I totally get it. It's like how if you're a Bush niece who has a rock of crack cocaine fall out of her shoe while in court-ordered rehab for faking a prescription for anxiety medication, you only have to spend a few days in jail.

On Reuters

Saturday: Co DJ'ed a party and a wedding at the AD CC with K. Long day. Picked up at 1.45 and got home at 11.30. Had a lot of fun though. K is, basically, insane! And very very funny. It rained for hours and hour in LA. The first of the winter season. M went over to M&W's and they watched UC.
Sunday: Daisy was on her last legs so we braced ourselves for the worst and took her to the vet. But... after pumping some fluids into her and putting her on some medicated soft food and different medication, she was a different doggie! Hoorah! ($200 later!)
Monday: Class. Marty was taking the class today and K & I did the second section of the Pillowman. It was rusty to say the least but M was very constructive and gave us some really useful direction along with some new ideas to work on. Sometimes it takes a fresh pair of eyes... Home again and we had a call from the Vet telling us to bring Daisy back for a free ultrasound. Hum... a free ultrasound... why? Turns out that our lovely Vet who saw us yesterday had reviewed Daisy's file and spoken to her colleagues and really needed to check her again. Well, Daisy is not out of the woods and her GB will probably fail in the future at some point (which, of course, is unknown) and her liver isn't getting better. The only thing that may prolong things than the unknown time where her GB fails (which, yes, could be a year or two or longer) would be surgery. We won't be doing that as to put such an old doggie thru all that wouldn't be fair at all. She's doing well on the meds and we will order the fluids online to whack into her whenever she needs a lift.
Oh, forgot to mention that I showed the script for the short sketches to the classmate I really want to shoot as the other character and rather than a polite yes or no, he proceeded to tell me that my comedy was out of date (more specifically about three years - why three years I have no clue) especially the scene with a French character and then asked me for a copy of it so "he could work on it".
Well, bugger me, how I kept my mouth shut I don't know but I don't mind documenting here that rather than being a f**king smarta*** and proceeding to tell me that my material was basically shite and that he felt he can do better (can't everyone when they're dealing with a page of words rather than the blank sheet of paper I started with), why can't 'actors', especially actors with ABSOLUTELY NO F**KING CAREER SO FAR, keep their mouths shut and politely accept or reject the KIND offer of work and, ultimately, exposure. I cannot believe some people's attitude - it absolutely floors me.
Now, I'm not saying that I can write world class material but I do know that I've written, shot and produced more than most people who blithely trash other's people's work. Here's a little piece of free advice... If someone offers you an acting job and places any level of belief in your abilities as an actor to portray the part they have written and are offering you, restrict your response to a simple "yes, excellent, when do we start", or "no, thank you, I would love to but I'm just too busy". That's it. No more. No less. They are not asking you to re-write their material or offer an opinion of the quality of the piece so don't volunteer your tuppence' worth. This writer certainly didn't want it and didn't ask for it.
The upshot of this... I wil recast the part and put it out as a breakdown and I hope, sincerely, that it becomes extremely well known, not for me but for the person I put some faith in who was downright rude (I couldn't give a toss whether he meant to or not). Maybe then, he'll learn that having a shitty attitude hurts you more than you can know. BTW, once I've finished the project, I post the link back to this blog entry just so we can refresh our memory as to the royal cock-up the first choice for the role made.
Rant done, 'nuff said. D*ckhead.