Category Archives: My daft stories

May 19 0 comments
My daft stories

Welcome

welcome

It is nothing other than disgraceful that I haven’t kept this blog up to date. I made the fatal error of stopping blogging during my experience with Hurricane Ike, if I had a readership they could be forgiven for thinking I had perished in the storm. The problem with getting sidetracked half way through a story is that you feel that you can’t resume unless you finish it. And so I will, but before I do, the real truth behind my blogging absence is that my life got in the way.

Aspects of my life that I thought were unshakable hurled me upside down, shook me a fair bit and then spat me out into a completely different life to to one I thought I was heading towards. Needless to say the last few months have been somewhat of a journey. I am still dusting myself off and re-assembling everything. In many regards having a life shake up was good for me, certainly gave me time to really have a think about what I want from life, but I did lose something very important to me, however life is weird and wonderful and (insert cheesy phrase).

Needless to say, the blog is back with a re-design and a more regular output of my odd writings.

Welcome

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May 31 0 comments
Design, Film, Filmmaking, My daft stories, Title Design, Travel, Typography

The Masters

The man in the picture above is Errol Morris. I love him. I cannot explain how much, just know that I do

No documentary filmmaker has inspired me as much.

“The proper route to an understanding of the world is an examination of our errors about it.”

Errol Morris

I bought this month’s Filmmaker magazine and was excited to see that they had an interview with Morris about his new film Standard Operating Procedure and then literally gasped with excitement to learn that Morris had enlisted the other man that has inspired me and led me to follow my dreams (via a tattoo of one of his designs) Kyle Cooper to do graphics for his film.

Needless to say this is now the most anticipated film of the year for me.

The Filmmaker interview is here

If you aren’t aware of him you may be aware of Fog of War

But if you haven’t seen any of his films I urge you to watch Thin Blue Line

and there is more on Kyle Cooper below…. excuse any gushing about his brilliance

Kyle Cooper

Directors don’t call on Cooper for a signature style; they hire him to dig under the celluloid and tap into the symbolism of a film.

Wired, 2004

Kyle Cooper is regarded as one of the most important opening title designers on history (the only other person regarded as highly is Saul Bass, the pioneer of titles)

Cooper revolutionised opening title design with the titles for Se7en (click to see below)

another highlight are the Kiss Kiss Bang Bang titles below: (I would’ve loved to have shown the title for Donnie Brasco as I absolutely adore them but they seem too hard to find, check them out if you can though)

for more of his work please take a look at his website Prologue

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May 07 0 comments
My daft stories

Stretch Armstrong

I had an interesting visit to the doctors this week, I am notorious for not going to the doctors for a while and storing up numerous queries and predicaments to bombard the poor doctor with as I sit down. This time I thought I had one that would be swiftly brushed aside. I fall over quite regularly and have done for years. However I fell over twice last week.

I realised I never look at these kind people, I would have no idea who they were if I bumped into them at another time. Even if my mum rushed to help me I honestly don’t think I’d know. The desperate need to escape the situation so I can limp off and wince in sheer agony at yet another layer of skin that has been removed from my knees overpowers any sense of what is happening.

So I merrily mentioned this to the nice doctor at the surgery this week. The first question, and a fair one knowing me, is whether it was likely I was falling over my own feet. Surprisingly no, my ankles just seem to disappear from under me. He checked my breathing, still not entirely sure how relevant that was but what I do I know, and then I was instructed to hop up onto the bed so he could check my ankles.

After about 30 seconds he asked me with a sense of horror in his voice whether his bending of my ankles was hurting me, nope, fairly normal I said. “You could join the circus, I have never seen anything like it” exclaimed the doctor. Marvellous, I thought.

Hyper-mobility syndrome, so I’m told. I prefer Freak of Nature, adds a little exciting element to some sort of disorder, or as my Dad loves to say I am far too bendy…. Brill, of all the ‘syndromes’ to have being far too bendy isn’t too bad.

Looking into it in more detail there are a series if tests to determine whether you have this peculiar oddity.

If you can do any one of these then you may be ‘joint hyper-mobile’, I can do all of them.

What a wonderful development in one week, I’m a real-life Stretch Armstrong

images: ©tkdtutor.com, maitrise-orthop.com, communigate.co.uk


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Apr 08 0 comments
My daft stories

Snow

I was shaken awake on Sunday morning, the only day I get to catch up on sleep, and angrily appeared from under the duvet fiercely grumpy. Mike told me to look out of the window and this is what I saw:

I often grumble that our flat is a mile away from the station, especially walking to the bus stop early in the morning, but it’s days like these when I remember how lucky I am to wake up every day and look at one of the most beautiful places in the London area, Richmond Park.

Henry seemed very confused as to what exactly had happened outside, but I think he sensed my excitement and joined in.

There are very few occasions that I will ever be happy to be woken up when I could sleep longer, but this was definitely worth it

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Oct 30 0 comments
Filmmaking, My Filmmaking, My daft stories

Me, positive?

Well I am a sell-out and ended up getting a job, a day job nonetheless. However I relented getting a day job due it’s restrictions on my time, whereas for some reason they trust me to choose when I work which is simply blissful.

I’ve found, over the last few weeks, a need to get away from anything to do with the course, my film, and the documentary industry in general. This complete u-turn from my previous existence of living and breathing documentary worried me at first. The common trap among those in my situation of new-found academic freedom is to gain a job, enjoy having money and put all their previous dreams and aspirations on hold. I felt that I was dipping my toes into this sea of boredom and bitter regret.

Strangely I’ve found, as the days have passed, a gradual passage through different feelings towards my current situation from my initial grumblings about getting up early and a vicious commute, to my fears that I was putting my dreams on hold; actually not caring about them at all, to feeling curiously liberated. Having worked with fewer people than I could count on one hand for the last year at my previous job I am now amongst thousands and it’s so wonderful to be amongst a huge variety of people again. I find it inspiring, fascinating and oddly comforting.

In theory being amongst such a large group of people should have made my self-conscious nature paralyse any ounce of confidence I possess, however I’ve actually found it’s really helped me. I feel that slowly I’m beginning to finally realise the person I have been striving to allow to emerge for my entire life. I notoriously mentally beat myself and find myself walking along giving myself a constant bollocking for the many things I haven’t done. This new environment, instead, seems to have produced a small level of pride as to who I am and allowed to me to believe I am capable of achieving the many things I want to, and for no discernible reason.

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