I was surfing the net, searching for a layout I like for the re-design of Unkreative website and as things happen I stumbled across a review of FIVE on Empireonline's forum. Here it is for your eyes:
FIVE Written by: D.F. Mamea and Anita Crisinel Starring: Richard Thompson, Anita Crisinel, Marjan Gorgani, Andy Sophocleous, Amit Tripuraneni, Tahi Mapp-Boren Running Time: 76 minutes
Wanna hear something crazy? I almost swear I dreamed this last night.
Five is one of those films that not even New Zealanders know about, and, to be honest, I didn’t either, until I saw it on the shelf of my local mainstream video store, a review quote on the front of the DVD sleeve touting it as a “beautifully shot film with a story that any fan of David Lynch’s work will enjoy”. While I am by no means a Lynch fan, I must say that I was intrigued that something coming out of New Zealand could be compared to his work, so I picked it up. However, this slow-burning psychological thriller, in which nothing is what it seems and everything makes as much sense as your typical Lynch film wrapped in a net curtain and thrown in a smoke room, should appeal to more than just the Lynch set, as it overcomes a pretty hefty number of flaws to deliver one of the most strangely compelling New Zealand films I’ve seen.
Five starts off as a fairly conventional tale of five ex-flatmates and good friends who come together to go on a hiking trip a year after the suicide of a close friend of the group and lover of one of them. Belinda (Crisinel) and Rajit (Tripuraneni) are happily engaged; Henry (Thompson) is still a little odd after the Emily’s (Mapp-Boren) suicide; Chris (Sophocleous) is unusually moody and secretive; and Zara (Gorgani) is heading off to Boston in a matter of days. The characters all seem to have secrets hidden from each other, and the film does take its sweet time revealing a fair number of them. However, the plot takes a turn for the fucked-up around twenty minutes in, with Rajit having a crazy dream that slowly begins to come true. I can’t say too much more about what happens, as every minute from then on is potentially a spoiler, but needless to say, shit goes down, and it goes down hard. The almost-painfully slow pacing of the twenty minutes beforehand, developing the characters and making you care for them, is paid off somewhat with the remaining fifty-six minutes, and while the pace doesn’t pick up a hell of a lot, the slow-moving nature of the film does become less noticeable by this point, the obvious Lynch influences, the stunning cinematography (making exquisite use of an environment that really should have been used for many more films of this type before this, the New Zealand forest) and the minimal but noticeable foreshadowing of the plot’s numerous strange developments creating a captivating jigsaw puzzle for the audience to put together and an incredibly ominous atmosphere to go with it.
Of course, as I’ve mentioned, the film faces a fair few hurdles in trying to achieve what it wants to. The score, composed by none less than three different people, is clearly influenced by the work of composers like Angelo Badalamenti (Mulholland Dr.) and Howard Shore (Se7en), but it often fails to match the atmospheric creepiness of their influences; rather, it strays into overly telegraphic territory at some points, and painfully overwhelming and intrusive at others. Much like the films of their primary influence, Crisinel’s amd Mamea’s script also suffers from some rather inane dialogue, and this problem is compounded by some inconsistent acting, particular on behalf of Thompson (worrisome, as he has a key role with some of the juiciest moments) and actor/editor/producer/director Tripuraneni. However, the actors do pull it together when required, and they excel when it comes to small moments, like Rajit’s ill-advised joke to Zara in the car on the way to the national park, or Sophocleous’ delivery of the line, “Just thinking,” one scene after a monumental outburst on his behalf. There’s a subtlety and intelligence to their performances that often buggers off for periods of time before coming back, but when it does decide to stay, watching these five act off each other is intriguing and gripping.
This psychological thriller wears its influences on its sleeve, and this is made all the more obvious by some of the film’s obvious flaws (Crisinel and Gorgani, though both two of the better performers in the film, have nothing on Naomi Watts in Mulholland Dr., whose performance distracted from a lot of that film’s flaws). However, if you get through the first twenty minutes, Five pays off in a way more films should – it keeps you guessing, it keeps you hanging on, and, most importantly, it keeps you captivated, right up until the stunning conclusion. It’s a Lynch-esque film that doesn’t hold pretensions of high befuddlement – it’s a simple tale, but built and executed as such that it’s far more satisfying than the work of that respected auteur, and all the more laudable, given its obviously shoestring budget.
Verdict: A solid and gripping thriller-cum-character study with an ingenious storyline and stunning cinematography making up for the generic score and the often-dull dialogue. Don’t listen to the twats on IMDB when it comes to this, and try it for yourself.
4/5
I guess I owe a thanks to the reviewer for watching the movie and then taking the time to review the movie. I am sure the acting concerns that the reviewer has will be negated in 'The Moments In Between'.
Crazy week!!! This whole week I've been pre-occupied with conceiving and then editing the teaser trailer for 'The Moments In Between'. I finally managed to finish editing it today and here is the trailer for your consideration.
Besides that we had a crazy morning on Friday when one of our flatmates had to call in the cops because she heard someone in our house. There did turn out to be a man in our house and he had armed himself with our kitchen knives. Quick action by the police meant that the intruder was quickly subdued without anyone getting harmed. The incident in detail would make for a whole post {it was about 4 and half pages of writing when one of the cops took our statements about the incident} but that would be sensationalism. The long and short of the story is that pepper spray is nasty stuff and the landlord is getting a second set of front door locks put in.
Last night went to dinner at HP8 {49, Nuffield Street, Newmarket} with Benji, Shuzhen {Benji's girl friend}, Vicky & Vincent {Shuzhen's friends} & Lance. It was an amazing Sichuan meal and it works out very reasonable when you share the dinner amongst many. All the dishes were great but my firm favorite is Spicy Sichuan Fragrant Eggplant. Most of the dishes were not that spicy accounting for various tastes of the group but I did manage to convince Benji & Lance to try Dan-Dan noodles along with me. It was the spicest dish we had and Benji couldn't finish his bowl and also said that he is not going to let me talk him into trying any of my recommended dishes in the future :-). Well worth the visit.
Sichuan dishes
Trying another awesome dish
Vicky & Vincent
Benji & Shuzhen
Lance enjoying a beer to ease off his Dan-Dan noodles
It's a long weekend on account of Auckland Anniversary Day and I've spent majority of the time on 'The Moments In Between'. On Saturday, shot another scene for the movie and it was a smooth shoot. The performances were great and we managed to get it done in a couple of hours because it was just Sarah, Lauren and me. We were lucky that the weather was perfect for the shoot, especially considering that it's been bucketing down through later half of last week and even this entire weekend. Here are a few screen grabs from the shoot.
Caged
Trapped
Mistakes
Sunday was spent editing that scene and it cut together nicely. After that I went about compiling and stitching together all the scenes that we've shot, to make it look like one continuing storyline rather than individual scenes clubbed together on a timeline. So far it's working and the first 38 minutes of the movie are essentially locked for now. The task for today is editing another scene that we shot a few weeks back and once that's in place I'll be able to add another 2 scenes to the timeline. All in all - we are halfway through the movie and I'm pretty pleased with the way it is shaping up.
Last night went over to Devonport onto Mt. Victoria {it's more like a hill} to get a view of Auckland City since there were fireworks display at 10.30 PM. I was sort of apprehensive because when it comes to fireworks display Auckland is piss poor and the last couple of times I caught those - they were pretty poor and underwhelming. Thankfully the display was beautiful this time around and definitely worth the long drive onto the shore to get a more panoramic view of the city. Here are some snaps from last night.
Ever since reading that book on Sichuan cooking by Fuchsia Dunlop, I've been searching for Sichuan eateries in Auckland and needless to say it was hard work trying to track down these restaurants as there are a prolific number of chinese restaurants which offer all kinds of chinese cuisine and thus hard to isolate Sichuan dishes there. After much driving and testing here is my list of Sichuan eating joints that I know off in Auckland. In order to compare them I decided to only try 'Kung Pao' chicken and the rating is out of 5 stars. I've left out service since I ordered most of them as takeaways.
Taste of Sichuan [471 Dominion Road, Mt Eden; 09-6390989] Taste: 3.5 || Quantity: 4 || Ambiance: 3 || Friendliness: 1.5 || Price: $15-$20 Note: An authentic Sichuan joint. There weren't many people there both times I went there and the customer service was definitely a bit off as I didn't really feel welcome. The additional dish I tried here was Dan-Dan noodles which were yum.
Sichuan Cuisine Chinese Restaurant [95 Anzac Ave, CBD; 09-3091898] Taste: 3 || Quantity:4 || Ambiance: 3 || Friendliness: 4 || Price: $15-$20 Note: Another authentic Sichuan joint. The place was packed and understandably the order took a while to come even though it was a takeaway {about 25 minutes}. I also tried Dan Dan Noodles but I much preferred the ones from 'Taste of Sichuan' or 'HP8'.
Spicy House [557 Dominion Road, Mt Eden; 09-6315128] Taste: 2 || Quantity:4 || Ambiance: 3 || Friendliness: 4 || Price: $8-$15 Note: Not sure if it is authentic Sichuan{maybe it is} as I didn't taste any sichuan pepper in my dish and I couldn't find Dan Dan Noodles. Superfast service with very generous serving and very reasonably priced. The place is small but was packed every single time I went there.
HP8 [49 Nuffield Street, Newmarket; 09-524 8488] Taste: 4 || Quantity:4 || Ambiance: 4 || Friendliness: 4 || Price: $20-$25 Note: Authentic Sichuan place with nice ambiance. Dan Dan Noodles were awesome and were only $4 for a bowl - which more than fills you up as a snack. Overall slightly more expensive restaurant but the ambiance and the food more than make up for it.
Sichuan in Remuera [333 Remuera Road, Remuera; 09-5233038] Taste: 2.5 || Quantity:3 || Ambiance: 3.5 || Friendliness: 4 || Price: $15-$20 Note: Pretty disappointed with the dish actually - it wasn't spicy at all even though it tasted alright. The place has decent ambiance and people were starting to stream in but doesn't make up for the average dish. Maybe they have some other specialty dish.
Sichuan Restaurant [31-33 Broadway, Newmarket; 09-5231668] Taste: 4 || Quantity:4 || Ambiance: 4 || Friendliness: 4 || Price: $20-$25 Note: Nice ambiance and it was busy when I went there. Pretty helpful staff. The menu didn't have any chinese dish names written on it - which is surprising considering that all the customers in the restaurant was chinese {bar me}. And I asked the staff taking my order about 'Dan Dan' noodles since they weren't on the menu but apparently they do make them. The noodles were alright but not like HP8's dan-dan noodles. The same restaurant has a branch in Glenfield {75G Porana Road, Glenfield; 09-4409642} for anyone wanting to check out the cuisine on the north shore.
It's been a expensive effort because of the price of the dishes, so I am leaving out one of the more central restaurants {Imperial Sichuan - listed below} and I also found a few more restaurants which are not as central and handy as the one's above but the list is as follows and I'll try them if I change upon them in my travels {or alternately you can post a rating in the comments if you've been to the restaurant}.
Genius Chinese Sichuan Treats [115, Onehunga Mall, Onehunga; 09-6364284]
My pick of the lot - HP8 and then Sichuan Restaurant on Broadway. It's not somewhere where I'd eat everyday because of the prices but definitely worth going once in a while.
Falling off the map: Some lonely places of the world
Finished reading 'Falling off the map: Some lonely places of the world' by Pico Iyer & it turned out to be an enjoyable journey through 1989/1990/1991 through various lonely places like North Korea, Paraguay, Bhutan among others. The writing style is unique because of the sarcastic and observational humor & it does take a little getting used to before you truly start enjoying those experiences. I am now a fan of Pico Iyer's travel writing and I'll see if I can track down some more of his books at the library.
To me - one of the lonely places of the world is our own mind. I think even though we are social animals the increasing pressures of modern world {and our own prejudices} are making us more and more lonely. And as a result the physical social connections are being replaced by virtual social connections like online gaming, chats etc. And strange as it might seem - even though we are more & more connected to billions of people via technology, we seem to be heading towards a more lonely place in our minds. 'Solitude' and 'Loneliness' are essentially the same thing with our attitude & beliefs towards it changing the meaning of the words from 'solitude' to 'loneliness' and vice versa. Hopefully more and more people decide to choose 'solitude' over 'loneliness' as I think it's the healthier of the two. Talking of solitude - I watched a documentary called 'Encounters at the End of the World' by Werner Herzog and it definitely defines solitude in a visual form. Highly recommended watch as it is hauntingly beautiful and raises some very interesting questions from within.
Last week, I've had a script meeting on 'Apsara' and the next draft is due from Angelique in a fortnight or so and I am looking forward to it since the meeting turned out to be a fantastic brain storming session with lots of relevant and positive feedback passed onto Angelique to strengthen the story. I've got a script from Mr. Mamea to read through and I've been dragging my feet because of the hectic time schedules but I intend to get onto it this coming week.
Also next weekend planning on filming another scene for 'Moments' and once that is filmed and edited, I'll be able to lock down the first 40-50 minutes of the movie. Working without money on a small movie like this is hard work and I've got to keep reminding myself as to why I started the project in the first place and keep pushing myself to finish it, even though from time to time the challenges and circumstances tempt me to just abandon the project. But due to some faulty genetic wiring in my head I can't just abandon the project. So even though the project is going way slower than I had anticipated and planned, I am still determined to have it finished this year.
WOW, What a weekend it's turned out to be. Kit, Sara, Kelly & me climbed Mt. Ruapehu - the highest mountain on North Island - all 2797 meters of it. Oh and it's an active volcano. :-)
It might be easier to recount the experiences if I break them down into days since it was quite an experience. And a quick note - All photos are enlargeable by clicking on them.
Day-1 {Friday} THE WAIT Friday turned out to be the agonizing waiting day. The plan was to leave Auckland around 12.30PM, so as to reach Ohakune by 5.30-6.00 in the evening and have an early night's sleep as we planned on starting the climb of Mt. Ruapehu at 2.00 AM in order to catch the sunrise at the top. But boy did the plan fall flat on it's face. We were taking Kit's car but he had booked it in for a service on the day - which threw the time out big time as the mechanic kept postponing the time when the car would delivered. It was constant text and phone calls between Kelly {Sara was at Kelly's place}, Kit & me and it felt like we would have to cancel the program altogether because of the delays but we finally managed to get going around 6.30 PM.
Sara kicks an embarrassed Kit as Kelly smiles
Happy to finally be on the road
Kit driving us to Ohakune
Long journeys can be boring
Something obviously amused me
A religious biker - you don't find many of those around
The drive itself was pretty uneventful and we had a dinner break at Te Kuiti before heading on towards Ohakune. The one observation that we did make was that we would come across 1 car every 5 KM in the stretch between Te Kuiti and Taumarunui - a distance of 65KM. Things you do to pass time. :-) We got to Ohakune at 11.00 PM which meant that we could get about an hour and half's sleep {after accounting for the time to settle in and fall asleep} before we had to get up at 1.00 AM in order to start the 2.00 AM climb.
Day-2 {Saturday} THE CLIMB
All of us woke up on time and got out of the house at 1.30PM. The good thing about climbing the mountain is that you don't have to start at the absolute bottom. There are car parks at 1600m level - which is the starting point even during the winter skiing season. On the way to the car park,we spotted 2 wild deer, which is pretty unsual and we were excited about that and that definitely put us in the right frame of mind for the climb. The last time I was at Mt. Ruapehu was in August 2005 during the winter season and I didn't know what to expect in the summer season, especially since we couldn't see the 'bigger picture' in the dark, with our head lamps. Kit had a spare ice axe which he gave to me and gave me a quick tutorial on how to use it to make footholds in the ice, break a fall etc.
Wild deer in the headlights
At the car park in pitch black
Kelly with a head lamp
It's a good thing we couldn't really see too much otherwise the height of the mountain might have daunted us. The only person in the group who had done the climb before was Kit and we were following his lead.It was a hard walk and we took a few breaks from time to time to get used to the thinner air and the falling temperature. It was a challenging climb moving from loose rock to more firm footing to ice to loose rocks again. Kit decided to carry a thermos of hot coffee while I carried a thermos of hot tea and it was nice being able to drink something warm when everything else was freezing. It is extremely hard drinking water since it gets so cold up there and all you can do is take small swigs from time to time.
Kit enjoying hot coffee
Sara enjoying Hot Tea
Kelly taking a break
The Mountain & The Moon
Climbing in darkness
Breaking Dawn
The night started breaking around 4AM and we started wondering if we had miscalculated the sunrise. At the same time we were doing good pace and we were wondering if we'd get to the top before the actual sunrise but Kit kept us focussed and on track by telling us that it'd get really steep towards the top and it would take us a lot more time towards the top. And he was right. We also changed our direction slightly to move towards the east side of the mountain, so we wouldn't miss the sunrise if we had indeed miscalculated.
Sara and Kelly take a breather
Kit finds a good route
Bird's eye view from the top
The ascent continues
2/3rd of our way up the mountain, Kelly started feeling unwell because of lack of sleep combined with the physical exertion and the height and temperature, so Kit asked her to turn back and return to shelter - the last {first from top of the mountain} chairlift station. Once Kelly started her descent back - Sara, Kit and me continued towards the peak and we caught the sunrise from near top.
Sunrise over Mt. Ruapehu
Light spreading over the land
We still had a little bit to climb and it was probably the hardest part of the climb.It was like a sheer wall and to add to the challenge it was pretty stony - small stones with big stones, so it was hard to get solid footholds to keep climbing easily. You basically have to use your entire body to crawl up. There were atleast 2 'Oh Shit' moments for me as the stones slipped away from under my feet and I was scrambling on quickly with my hands to hold onto dear life. One mistake up there and it's pretty easy to fall to your death. It's also amazing that in moments of danger your whole being kicks into another gear and you start doing things instinctively - in survival mode. Another thing that changed suddenly was the wind had picked up going from West to East and it was beating us into the mountain. It made the final ascent extremely hard.
Taking a photograph up on the mountain meant a long hard struggle to remove your gloves, unzip the camera bag, switch on the camera, compose a shot, take a snap, while keeping balance on uneven terrain while bracing against the wind & then putting the camera back and putting on the gloves back on again. Something so simple became such a big challenge in the extreme conditions at top of the mountain. So needless to say I value all the picks taken on this trip - especially the ones on the mountain during the climb.
Once we got to the top - we took a short break on the north side of the mountain, behind a small rock outcrop. It protected us from the wind and then we decided to walk across towards the main crater.
We take a breather behind the rock outcrop before heading towards the crater
Sky opening up
This was probably the most memorable part of the climb because it was a bigger challenge than any of us had anticipated. Kit was leading the way and because he was experienced on ice - he was making good ground but I was struggling against the strong winds as I was cutting in footholds in the ice on either side of the mountain as we were on the ridge and Sara was behind me {and she didn't have an ice axe}. Half way on the ridge - the wind really picked up speed and I was finding it harder and harder to make footholds as my face and tip of the fingers {even though I was wearing gloves} started going numb in the freezing winds and the sheer drops on either side of the mountain started playing on my mind. The problem was that there was no way you could take a break without freezing yourself on the top,so I looked around to see how Sara was doing and she was sitting down with one leg on either side of the mountain. I didn't feel like continuing any further and asked her about her thoughts and she said that she didn't mind going back down. On the mountain- one has to work with the conditions and it is better to be safe than sorry because there is literally no room for mistake. And with the wind really bashing our already tired bodies, it seemed more sensible to turn back rather than being fool hardy and continuing on. So we yelled out to Kit and told him that it would be better to go back as we didn't feel we could make the journey across the ridge successfully. Kit agreed to the assessment and so we turned back.
The descent begins
We started making our way back. If you are an experienced climber or trekker, you would know that the descent is always harder than the ascent. The ascent might take more time but the descent is where your endurance is really tested. Plus you are using an entirely different set of body muscles to balance yourselves as you try to climb down.The top of the moutain was again the hardest bit to climb down as you get used to shifting your centre of gravity and also the loose rocks combined with the super steep mountain side. Sara was like a race horse and she did awesome time climbing down and was ahead of us while Kit tried dragging himself down across the snow to save on clambering down the hard bits but he had to give up after a while and return to clambering down the rocks as he was feeling tired and didn't have enough strength left to support the fall of his whole body.
Mt. Taranaki in the distance
Back towards the Turoa side
We chanced upon 2 climbers around the half way mark as they were making the way to the top. The knees felt like jelly by the time we all caught up at the closed cafe on the mountain. Kelly was feeling a lot better and it was good that she did not sccumb to falling asleep as that would have been bad at that height. After eating some food and catching a break we continued our journey downwards and it was pretty uneventful for rest of the way down. I did get teased for wearing a pair of jeans for climbing. :-)
Crossing paths with some climbers
Kelly relieved while Kit takes a sip
After drinking last of the tea - which had gone cold after the climb to the top
Kit, Kelly & Sara looking back at what we had climbed
A successful ascent completed - the team @ the car park
All of us were thrilled that we had actually achieved what we set out to do. The whole climb had taken us about 7.5 hours round trip and a few congratulations later, we were back to the chalet in Ohakune to catch up on some much needed sleep.
View of Mt. Ruapehu from the chalet we were staying at
Ohakune town centre
We slept for 4 hours odd before we grabbed a bite to eat and then headed out to Tokaanu, an hour north of Ohakune, where the hot pools are located to relax our battered bodies. It definitely did us heaps of good as it relaxed the muscles. We took the long route back to Ohakune via the Desert Road, which is weirdly scenic. It's rugged landscape has it's own charm. The only thing I remember after that is that we grabbed dinner at one of the restaurants and I was asleep as soon as I hit the bed - an added factor to it would have been the severe cold I had picked up from the mountain climb.
Kit smiling at the mountain
Celebrating the climb and the trip to the hot pools with a drink
Desert Road
Power lines
Rugged NZ Landscape
DAY-3 (Sunday) THE RETURN
I woke up feeling much better at 6.30AM, which meant my body clock was almost back in synch. Kelly, Sara and Kit woke up in their own time and we cleaned up the chalet, which Kit's family {& Kit} had let us use for the trip. All of us had a good banter and great laughs on the way back - which made the journey back seem shorter.
Kit signing off on the calender detailing the successful climb
On Kelly's suggestion we stopped over at Waitomo to get some information about the caves and ended up doing an impromptu glow worm cave tour. It was fantastic and it's a pity that we were only allowed to take photos at the end of the tour, away from the main glow worm formations. It definitely whetted my appetite and I might go back later at some point to do their longer 4 hour abseiling adventure you go in deeper underground and explore the cave systems. We grabbed lunch at a cafe {I think it was called HuHu cafe} just down the road from the information centre. The service was extremely slow and the portions were small but it had an awesome spot and it was a good break to our return journey.
Waiting to get into the glow worm caves
Towards the end of the cave
The stalactites
Getting out from the cave
We got back to Auckland in the evening and after that it was farewell time, with the next trip being planned in Feb for doing Tongariro crossing {might add in climbing Mt. Ngauruhoe to make it more interesting and challenging} - supposed to be one of the best 1 day hikes in NZ. Overall it was an awesome adventure with friends and I am filled with a sense of achievement and excitement.
Now it's back to the humdrum of Auckland till the next trip.
I picked up a book at random from the library as it looked interesting. It was called 'Shark's Fin & Sichuan Pepper' by Fuchsia Dunlop. That was a day and half back and I've finished reading the book. It is compelling, funny, insightful and a real page turner. It's a highly recommended read for those wanting to get an insight into China - through their food, obviously. The biggest compliment I can give to the book is that it wanted me to search out Sichuan restaurants in Auckland and give them a go. There are also a couple of reciepes from the book I intend to try -especially 'Dan Dan Noodles'.
I watched a few movies in the meantime - 'Choke' {dark adult humor topped by Sam Rockwell's performance}; 'King of Kong' {a documentary which had me looking up the latest Donkey Kong records} and most recently 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' - which is one of the most charming and funny movies that I've seen in a while. The stop animation, the style, the pacing, the humor, the voice work -everything is top notch. A highly recommended watch. If you don't walk out with a grin on your face then something in you has died a long time ago. :-)
Tomorrow I'm going with a few friends to Ohakune - which is central north island and on saturday morning we will be hiking up Mt. Ruapehu. The weather forecast is good and I am out of my comfort zone as it's my first proper mountain hike - a fantastic combination to prepare for the Mt. Kinabalu climb in April.
A New Year is a time for resolutions and I'm usually pretty good at keeping them. 'Memories of Tomorrow' started as a new year resolution in 2004. I just did a quick search on the interwebs and found this article. Out of the top 3 resolutions that people make - I am going in the opposite direction on 2 of them {while the third one is invalid as I don't smoke and I don't intend on taking up smoking}.
1) I don't want to loose weight. I am happy with my weight. My resolution though is to loose more body fat %age. Last year my aim was to get it down to 15% by the end of the year and I achieved it. This year the target is to get it down to between 8-10% - which automatically leads to the next resolution. 2) I don't want to exercise more. I 've infact reworked my fitness schedule so I'll be spending half the time that I spent at the gym last year. The key is increasing the intensity in the 1 hour at the gym, so I'm not overtraining myself - which leads to more injuries and muscle loss and is also detrimental to health in the long run. I'm also cutting down the active workout days from 6 to 4.
And the last resolution for 2010 that is not fitness related is to finish off 'The Moments In Between' by August 2010. Voila!!!!
People who wish me 'Happy New Year', in person, must think I am a retard {sorry correction - mentally challenged} or something. I'm usually so startled by that unfamiliar phrase that I end up looking blank and after a minute I leave the person confounded by saying 'I'm good, Thank you.'
Why am I startled? I don't know - maybe because I've been working through the holidays {to save up for my Borneo trip} and for me - today is just another day. I'll eventually get used to the greeting and will probably start saying it as well out of courtesy in following social norms but it's still a pretty bizarre phrase to me right now. I am not mentally challenged - I am just stunned. Like I said 'I'm good, thank you.'
I sold off my Polaroid camera as I've been using my LX3 more and more and I can't justify keeping 2 cameras and also lugging them around with me on my travels. So farewell Polaroid. Here is what one of my bedroom wall looks like thanks to Polaroid.
It's my first day off in a while and I am just chilling out even though I've got to digitize and edit the scene that we shot most recently. I guess I'll get to it either tonight or tomorrow. Watched a couple of new releases recently ' Sherlock Holmes' {alright movie with fantastic character work from Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr.} & a swedish movie called 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' {fantastic in every sense of the word}. And currently reading a book called ' My Desert Kingdom' which is proving to be an interesting read.
Going to the movies over the holiday season is crazy - the cinemas are packed and you get to see a lot of interesting characters & people. One of them was this girl who was standing in the line behind me along with her boy friend. For the 15 minutes that they did stand in the line -she was constantly nagging and annoying her boy friend on why she doesn't watch any movie. It was amusing for 5 minutes but after that you wanted her to shut up and wait for her turn or just go home. I think the boy friend got fed up after 15 minutes, so they left the queue. Another interesting character was a guy sitting 2 seats to my right, who brought into the cinema hall his own stock of whisky and soda and a full meal packed into his backpack - which he finished through out the movie. So no more movies at the cinemas for me till the end of the holiday season.
