I’ve not listened to the album, apart from the single that’s hard not to have heard, but I love this self made ‘making of’ he made for his ‘Making Mirrors‘ album. An album that obviously had such humble beginnings, recorded in his parents shed.
A wonderful reminder to do things your way, keeping those who love and support you close and work hard.
“Energy is more important than perfection. Perfection is boring. What’s exciting is something that is alive and things that are alive have flaws.” - Steven Soderbergh
Right up at the most northern tip of New Zealand is Cape Reinga. My friend Nigel Bluck urged me to make the trip up there and I’m so glad I did. The Maori believe the spirits of their dead travel up along 90 Mile Beach and finally to Cape Reinga on their journey to the afterlife. The place definitely has an energy, regardless of belief or mythology, it feels significant.
Below is a photo looking out to the water from the cape. Thats the Tasman Sea on the left, smashing into the Pacific Ocean on the right, what a trip… Spirits leaving and oceans colliding, it’s an intense place to say the least. I loved it. I could have stayed there all day, in the mist, just standing there in awe of it all.
On Wednesday night Puberty Blues took home the AACTA award for BEST DRAMA SERIES!
Below a very happy Brenna Harding who plays ‘Sue’, super producer Imogen Banks and Ashleigh Cummings who plays ‘Debbie’. A small clip from the golden girls in the media room here.
A huge congrats to the entire team. Very proud of you all!
The very best of luck to the Puberty Blues cast members who are nominated in tonights AACTA Awards. Puberty Blues has scored seven nominations all up, including Best Drama Series. Very proud of these guys (and all of our cast of course!).
Just back from two wonderful weeks holiday in New Zealand. We took a camper van around the far north of the north island. It was a great way to slow down, relax, see some stunning landscapes and spend some much needed quality time with just the family…
I don’t often post my commercial work here but I’m really happy with this latest spot I directed for the New Zealand Fire Service and M&C Saatchi Auckland late last year. ‘Nightmares’ is the first part of a follow up campaign to another spot I did for the NZ Fire Service this time last year. The original campaign was so successful the sale of smoke alarms went up by 2000%!
There are three other spots in the campaign that will be released over the next 12 months. Working on this campaign has been an absolute pleasure. The team at M&C Saatchi in Auckland and the guys from the Fire Service have been an absolute pleasure to work with.
Ata (below) who I cast in the campaign is a non-actor who we found via a contact within the fire service. I love his presence and his stillness on screen. He just has it. I loved working with him and I hope we can do something else together some day.
Interestingly, when Ata was a young boy his family house burnt down. He remember’s being dragged from his bed and then standing outside watching his house burn to the ground. His father was badly burnt and scarred during the fire. Ata told me that many years later when his father died they said “…the fire also went with him.”.
Just back from the annual Xmas road trip. Melbourne to Tamworth with a (child free!) new year side trip to the Byron Bay area and back again. Over 3500 kms all up.
It’s a long way, especially with two kids and a dog in the back seat. But there is also something totally bonding about it. As a family we have spent a lot of this year apart due to my and Natalies work commitments so there was something cool about the family being ‘forced’ together in a confined space for hours and hours cruising across the country.
Despite the groaning and the occasional “Are we there yet!?” I think secretly the kids love it. I know I do.
For the last few years (here & here) I’ve made the two day road trip from Melbourne (Victoria) to Tamworth (New South Wales) for Xmas with family. Each time I’ve stopped in a little town called Peak Hill to have a break take a photo of this weird potted plant outside some closed down shops and the ‘Gents Hairdresser’.
Over here in Auckland, New Zealand shooting a commercial but had a much needed day off yesterday which also coincided with my birthday. Choice az bro! Spent the day walking around browsing in book shops, sifting through and listening to records and taking photos of things I saw along the way…
On vinyl I discovered the joyous and somewhat indefinable Wild Bill Rickets. Kinda dub, kinda jazz, kinda musical in a way I haven’t heard before. Bought two albums. Kinda obsessed with him now. Loo Loo (below) was the gateway track, groovy, haunting and strange!
Also I had been wanting to see Beasts Of The Southern Wild for ever and I had missed it when it was on at our local cinema. I didn’t want to see it on a plane, train or download so I was excited to see it was screening in downtown Auckland. It’s a beautiful film and I can see why for such a small, strange and extremely art house film it has managed to cut through.
