Short Film - SOAP

I'm very happy to announce that a short film Soap, written by my esteemed brother Ryan and myself has been picked up by a hip label in London - Madphat Productions.

Madphat is already well entrenched in the photography and music video scene (check out their website, link above) and have decided to branch out into the short film business. We are honoured that they are going to pop their cherry using the script we wrote so hopefully we can see it at a film festival near us.

Madphat Productions already have a cache of high quality equipment and creatives at their disposal so I'm looking forward to seeing what they can achieve with the characters we have penned.

Check back soon for further updates re: pre-production, casting etc.

Until then hail to the Lagos!

Boston Red Sox - Run to finals

There are only 28 games out of the 162 left and it seems my favourite Fenway fighters are headed for the play-offs.

The Boston Red Sox lost to arch rival New York Yankees today (although they had more hits??) but still sit atop the American League table with a half game lead over the aforementioned Yankees, with the 2nd best record in the whole Major League behind the Philadelphia Phillies. Although the BoSox only have a tenuous half game lead over the Yankees they would be a record capitulation as they have a 10 game lead for the wildcard spot.

The Red Sox will get a real fell for how they are travelling over the next 2 games against the Yankees. If the Yankees win all 3 the Sox will need to win at least 2 of the 3game series against the Yankees in late September for fear of giving them a mental edge. Those 5 decisions could also be the difference on who wins the AL and who slides into the wildcard spot.

The Yankees are perennial play-off attenders and have won an astounding 27 World Series' (next closest is St Louis Cardinals - 10) and a just as impressive 40 League Pennants. The Red Sox sit in 4th spot with 7 World Series wins at a fantastic conversion rate from 12 AL Pennants.

It a great shame the Yankees and Sox aren't able to play-off for the World Series but I guess there wouldn't be such a rivalry if they weren't in the same League/Division.

Should be an interesting month to see who rounds out the teams destined to play in October!

Until then hail to the Stockings!

New York Giants - PRESEASON - New York Jets

It's just a preseason game so I won't go too far but just look at the overall picture.

Jets won 17 -3

So the Giants didn't get in the endzone. 3 measly points.

Even though they had more net yards - 327 - 233
more first downs 21 - 15
more passing yards 222 - 121
more time of possession 30:04 - 29:56 (You knew I'd hit you with some stats!)

It was the 2 turnovers (interceptions) that cost the offense their chances as well as poor 3rd down conversion 3/13 23%. I know it's pre-season but I really hope Eli Manning can shake the interception shackles that have hampered him of late.

Brandon Jacobs was running downhill for his 10 rushes with 51 yards at a healthy 5.1avg.
Hakeem Nicks impressed with limited rep pulling in 5 catches for 71 yards.
The punting job is up for grabs and both Matt Dodge and Sean Weatherford failed to impress with 2 punts each.

Eli Manning threw for 200 yards and showed he is likely to hit the 4000 mark again. Unfortunately he will probably also hit the 20+ interception mark.

What most impressed me was the goal line stand by the defence. The Jets were 1st and 1 at the 1 but had to settle for a field goal after successive runs netted negative yardage.

Next week it the final tune up against the Patriots then we hit prime time.

Until then hail to the goal line stand!

Dad again - Countdown begins!

There is less than 48 hours to go until my gorgeous wife gives me the greatest gift in life, for a second time. A baby *****.

I have been blessed with an amazing son - Benjamin. Who has brought me so much happiness it's hard to imagine I'm about to meet another human being in less than 2 days who will do the same.

I have marvelled at the development of Ben and as we move into the vocal, taking control of his life (or so he thinks!) part we are going to reembark on the sleepless nights (sic) and 3 hourly feeds and 2 hourly poops.

As long as bub and wife are healthy come Thursday afternoon I'll be the happiest man alive.

Another point of interest will be how Ben handles having another person around taking up all our time.

Until then hail to stinkbrown!

North Melbourne Kangaroos - Round 23 Review

Disappointing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here was the lay of the land pre kick off. If the boys from Arden Street could beat the Saints and then beat the Tigers in a probable win they would be playing finals.

Round 23 - Vs St Kilda Saints @Etihad

St Kilda Saints 4.4 9.9 15.16 19.21 135
North Melbourne Kangaroos 2.5 7.7 9.7 10.10 70

The 1st quarter started with North getting all the inside 50's for little return and the Saints scoring on a couple of horrendous turnovers and using the wide open spaces for easy goals. 2 goals 5 for the quarter was always going to hurt the Royal Blue who need to punish the Saints early and keep it up. Well a semi-inspired spurt to start the second quarter was premature as the team went flaccid and let the Saints score the bulk of the goals for the remainder of the match. Nick Reiwoldt and Stephen 'tiprat' Milne combined for 9 goals as the forward entry for the Roos reminded me of my fumbling advances in my high school days that inevitably ended in rejection. This time the rejections were by the defence not cute girls not interested in a pimply faced dork. Todd Goldstein finished with 33 hitouts to finish #3 on the all-time hit out list with 1 week to go. He needs a gettable 27 to finish the year 2nd overall.
 

Andrew Swallow has his 2nd consecutive 30+ possie game finishing with 34, 9 marks and 9 tackles to be the best in Blue. Jack Ziebell continued his impressive end to the season with 28 possies, 19 kicks, 7 marks, 4 tackles and 4 inside 50's. Scott Thompson also continued his rich vein of form with 26 possies out of defence. There is little more to say about yet another blown opportunity on the big stage. Here's hoping the Roos finish of the season next week against the Tiger with a promising performance that can lead into a strong pre-season.
 

Roo Rating: 2 / 10
 
Daniel Wells
 

Wells was in and out of the game and when it was there to be won he was amongst the rest with an insipid performance. He racked up an average 18 possessions, 4 tackles, 5 inside 50's and a nice long range goal. Any chance of All-Australian selection has gone in the same direction as his teams prospects. Out of contention. Let's hope another uninterrupted pre-season can see Wells play his best year to date in 2012.
 
Wells Rating: 5 / 10
 
Until then hail to David's brother!

North Melbourne Kangaroos - Todd Goldstein #3 All-Time Ruck list

Although North crashed to their most disappointing loss this year to St Kilda Todd Goldstein remained remained on track to finish the year 2nd overall in the all-time hit out hit list. He won his position in my opinion getting 33 hit outs to Ben McEvoy's 20 and 4 possessions less. Todd needs 27 hit outs next week against Richmond to finish the year trailing only Gary Dempsey's mammoth effort of 878 and sit in 2nd spot.

In round 5 this year against Richmond Goldstein accrued 31 hit outs and 9 tackles opposed to Angus Graham so a replication or thereabouts will see achieve 2nd.

Home and away hit-out tallies


878 - Gary Dempsey - 1982 (North Melbourne)
738 - Gary Dempsey - 1983 (North Melbourne)
712 - Todd Goldstein - 2011 (North Melbourne)* (20 games)
711 - Mark Lee - 1984 (Richmond)
703 - Simon Madden - 1983 (Essendon)
688 - Gary Dempsey - 1981 (North Melbourne)
686 - Aaron Sandilands - 2010 (Fremantle)
682 - Darren Jolly - 2009 (Sydney)
659 - Aaron Sandilands - 2009 (Fremantle)
649 - Mark Lee - 1983 (Richmond)
646 - Aaron Sandilands - 2008 (Fremantle)
643 - Mark Jamar - 2010 (Melbourne)
628 - Peter Everitt - 2004 (Hawthorn)
623 - Rod Blake - 1980 (Geelong)
619 - Justin Madden - 1982 (Essendon)
611 - Mark Lee - 1981 (Richmond)
611 - Simon Madden - 1984 (Essendon)
607 - Matthew Allan - 1999 (Carlton)

Until then hail to the Canonis!

Tight Spot Productions - Short Film

My fledgling production company is certainly in its infancy but I have news to announce.

Tight Spot Productions (TSP) owns the rights to several scripts and co-owns one that had been previously sold to Thunderstorm Productions, a production company based in South Australia. It fell through in pre-production and the producer has since been busy on real film sets such as Clive Owens' 'The Boys are Back' and the newly released Aussie hit 'Red Dog'.

Several of these scripts have been used to approach other companies but only gets the feedback, "It's really good, we like it, however our slate is full for the next 12 months, approach us then if it's still available."

While it's great to get positive feedback the scripts are hitting a wall as most production companies have a stable of creatives including scriptwriters already. So where does this leave me? Well I guess I better get off my ass and do something. So I've been writing more and even have an idea to fund a novel written by a writer for Paper Street Publishing can help self distribute it. And now I can announce that we have developed a short script and begin pre-production in about a months time. Based on the feedback I get through informal test screenings I'll see how we go in the film festival circuit.

The short is tentatively titled 'Crouching thief, Hidden Ninja' and will showcase what TSP is capable of on a shoestring budget.

I'll leave more feedback as we near principle photography.

Until then hail to the Tight Spot!

Ben Affleck's Top 5 Acting Performances

I've been a pretty big fan of Affleck since the Chasing Amy, Good Will Hunting days and have been delighted in his phoenix like rising from the ashes to direct such gems as Gone Baby Gone and The Town.

An underrated talent that has proven his chops with an Acadamy award winning script and award winning directing efforts. Ben hits the high of highs with his self penned (with buddy Matt Damon) script Good Will Hunting and his performance in said movie as eponymous Will's buddy Chuck. With it can a slew of quality movies such as Armageddon, Dogma, Pearl Harbour, Shakespeare in Love and The Sum of All Fears. It was in the early 00's that Ben's career appeared to hit the skids. He was more known for being spotted playing poker, drinking and making crappy movies like the legendary Gili with former girlfriend Jennifer Lopez. It was during the 'Bennifer' year that his status as leading man started to slide.

In 2003 he hooked up with Jennifer Garner and eventually married her. This sensible influence in his life must have had a positive role to play in Ben making sounder role choices starting with Hollywoodland in 2006 and his directorial debut of Gone Baby Gone in 2007 and follow up The Town in 2010. He is currently in pre-production for Argo due for release in 2012.

So I figured Affleck's career as an actor would be a good one to have a look at, and it's been an intriguing one. There are some quality action flick far and hidden little unknown gems like Dean Koontz's Phantoms. I'm going to pick the top 5 performance that I rate and go some way to explaining why.

#5

Jersey Girl

This is a much maligned Kevin Smith and didn't find it's audience. Kevin Smith has a cult following and they will see (not necessarily like!) everything he does. They love him for the witty swear riddled dialogue and this movie is not really for that sort of audience. Non- Smith fans like my wife will abstain from seeing his movies at all cost and will judge it before it made. It's a movie that could have performed really well and an interesting study would have been to have Smith direct under a pseudonym find it's audience then go ta-da suckers it me Smith and you liked it!

Anyway it's Affleck we're here for and it's Affleck we'll get. His character Ollie Trinke is left with a baby girl after his wife (ironically J-Lo) dies during childbirth. During the stress of raising a kid alone he loses his job in the music industry and even ostracises himself from it. He goes back to live with his father, the underrated George Carlin and eventually finds his feet as well as the gorgeous Liv Tyler. Ben carries this film and although is surrounded by a strong cast hits his marks and is the reason I like this film. Haven't seen it already because you don't like K. Smith - See it!

#4

The Town

Affleck's directing is top notch here and his acting isn't too far behind. This is a solid job performed by a pro.

#3

Hollywoodland

Here Ben plays George Reeves who played Superman and was mysteriously murdered. Affleck more than holds him own in a beautifully made movie.

#2

Good Will Hunting

Ben acts in the role he and buddy Matt Damon won an academy award for writing. Matt took the eponymous role of Will and Ben was given the less flashy but just as important role of best bud Chuck. Chuck understands Will has a gift and is one of the positive forces encouraging him to use it. Ben is obviously very comfortable with the material and plays it pitch perfect. He even a couple of monologues he knocks out of the park.

#1

Chasing Amy

This is one of my all-time favourite movies and Ben is half of the reason. Jason Lee is the other half. Ok the script also has a huge role to play but Ben has Holden McNeil ticks all of the boxes. Cocky comic book guy, seducer of Joey Lauren Adams' lesbian and jealous boyfriend. He's relaxed and believable the whole time and makes his likable in a way many of actors would have been unable to do.

So far Ben's had a pretty solid acting career and I'm hoping that as he nears 40 it can continue to grow as different types of roles are offered to him.

Honourable mentions:

Phantoms - He was the bomb!
Clerks 2 (Kidding)
Reindeer Games

Until then hail to Fenway!