Spiderstu's World

Moving Day

2007-12-19T23:46:00.000Z

Spiderstu's world has moved, it is now called Stuart and the Blog. Read all about it here. And update your bookmarks while you're at it.

goodbye blogger.

Simpsonized!

2007-07-31T22:57:00.001+01:00

How I would look as Simpson character. Try it yourself at simpsonize me

Know when to hold em and Know when to Fold em

2007-07-30T15:25:00.000+01:00

So on Friday I went up to the casino at Star City to play poker. I've played quite a few times before online but mainly just round other peoples houses. So for me this was my first time playing in a tournament or casino for that matter.

I wouldn't say I was nervous about it just a little apprehensive because I haven't played properly for a while so I felt a bit out of practice and didn't want to end up looking like an inexperienced fool. That alas was not to be.

There was about 170 odd people playing in the tournament which meant there was about 15 tables that would eventually be rounded down to one table of ten . To get a taste of the prize fund you had to get onto that table, and the top prize was at 1500 quid for a ten pound buy in. We started playing for the first hour and a half where you can still buy in as many times as you want at the cost of ten pounds. After that stage though you can't buy in anymore. I'll tell you now that I made it through that round with no buy ins. Yeah!

So, we're in the aforementioned first round and i'm holding my own, i've won a few good hands and my chip stack is above average for the table. I get dealt my hand and it's Jack ten on suit. you better believe i'm playing that shit! By the time we've gotten to the river card i've got king, queen , ace on the table. Thats one sweet straight right? there's gotta be no fucking way I could really fuck this up, right? Wrong!

Somehow...I found a way.

I don't know if it was because I had such a good hand my head went somewhere else or if I was just to eager to show my hand. When the dealer (who lets say was not the best and it seemed the general consensus at the table that she was new.) looks at me and and says something that I don't hear I must have subconsciously read her aiming her hand at my cards and turning said hand over as turn your cards over.

So I turn over my cards to a bunch of groans around the table who couldn't really believe that I had just folded that hand . And, to be honest, neither could I! A simple case of miscommunication guess, but I really did feel like a tit.

Although if i hadn't been struck with such disbelief and embarrassment I might have said a fsomething to the dealer. When I first turned over my cards I said " I thought you said turn over your cards." more as a slight on my own hearing than anything else. But the Dealer quickly responded in quite a defensive tone "I didn't say nothing!" First of all that statement is a double negative, so if I had been on the ball I could have confused her this fact and insinuated something along the lines of " Ah so you admit that you did in fact request that I turn over my cards because if you didn't say Nothing that implys that you did in actual fact say something, and in light of the situation that we find ourselves in it would be very likely that the very thing that you did say was to ask me to turn over my cards." But I wanted to retain whatever respect/humility I could so I didn't say that. Also it was an after thought.

As for the rest of the evening as I said I made it past the first round despite my error in judgment and I lasted about an hour into the second round mainly because I bet on too many 50/50's that could have paid off on any other day . As my colleagues managed to last longer than I, I decided to walk around the casino drinking, losing more money on roulette and slot machines while taking full advantage of the free cheese and ham toasties.

The Bird

2007-06-03T15:29:00.001+01:00

So I went round to my buddy Roy's the other night celebrate his return after an absence. We watched the painfully average performance from England, but hey at least we didn't lose.

After some drinks I ended up sleeping on the sofa. Then in the morning I could feel something crawling up me. My first reaction was a spider and I was just about fling off the covers and dance around the room while screaming like a girl, when I decided to look before I leapt. Luckily for Roy's Budgie Petey I did.

There he was just cocking his head back and forth and clicking away. Kind of brings a whole new meaning to waking up next to a strange bird!

New Look

2007-05-31T18:01:00.000+01:00

So I thought that as i've decided to start blogging again and take it a bit more seriously, the blog could do with a new look. As always the template is in no way designed by me, I found it from a quick Google search. Although I was looking for something quite specific this time round. I found a nice template that has tabs at the top because i'm in the process of opening a few other blogs for various projects that i'm working on, and I want to be able to link to them but have it look more like a website rather than a blog. One will be for the final film I made at Kidderminster North and South. In hindsight I felt that it would work better as individual episodes, so i'm planning on splitting that up and making some more of them eventually. I mean they're pretty easy to make. It's basically me and Liam, improvising about a random subject. Not much to think about from a camera point of view either, really it's just one angle, which works well because it affords us the ability to just go with it until it loses steam. Although I may play about with more angles in the future. It's always gotten a good response for it's content, but I think that because theres no change of location and camera work is very minimal it's a bit much for people to sit through for half an hour. So this is probably the right call. Also for people who have seen North and South there were a few conversations that didn't make it into the final cut mainly because of time, so they'll be available in the new format.

Also stay tunned because i'll be posting a new film on here very soon.

Who Will Watch The Watchmen

2007-05-22T23:05:00.000+01:00

The Watchmen, possibly one of the greatest graphic novels of all time. Written by Alan Moore who in my opinion is a genius in this field. If your a fan of comics and you haven't already you really should read it... fuck it if you're a fan of good things read it, i don't think you'll be let down.

Well you may have heard that there is a film being made of said comic, Which i'm all for. Zack Snyder of300 fame is at the helm to direct.

Now that this baby is just starting to take it's first steps, we finally get some news on casting. AICN reports that three parts have been offered to actors.

So far it breaks down as Patrick Willson as Night Owl, Jude Law as Ozymandias and (sigh) Keanu Reeves as Dr Manhattan.

I mean come on Keanu (Whoah) Reeves. Don't get me wrong I don't think he's as bad as a lot of people make out, in fact I think he's a very commendable actor and I have enjoyed some of his performances, but come on the guy is just wrong for Dr Manhattan. If you're unfamiliar with the watchmen Dr Manhattan is the big blue guy on the picture, if you are familiar come on you've got to agree with me, say no to Keanu.

Besides if Keanu is in the Watchmen, doesn't that put him out of Point Break 2? Swayze and Reeves back in the saddle, now that is something I would pay to see Mr Reeves in...

...Well that and The Lake House 2...

...what?!?!

Coincidentally Numb

2007-05-22T16:08:00.001+01:00

Would you flinging flanging believe it, a new blog entry. It's been just over a year since I last wrote anything for this blog. I'm not entirely sure what happened I just seemed to lose my blogging mojo. Anyway i thought rather than doing a boring post bringing you up to speed on my life i'd talk about something else.

I brought the first series of Life On Mars the other day, which is very good, if you haven't watched it, you really should. It's a very well made program and it puts a nice spin on what might seem to be a cliche. Anyhoo, every now and again throughout the show the main character, Sam Tyler, played by John Sim has a bit of a freaky dream concerning this:

So the other night while watching I thought to myself something along the lines of "hmmm i wonder what the girl looks like now." I continue to watch Life on Mars and the sleep for then night.

The next morning when I arose I eventually clambered downstairs and switched on the T.V. After I had flicked through enough channels to ascertain that there wasn't really anything on, I ended up at Sky News. Where to my slack jawed surprise I find a story about the original girl from the test card!

Maybe you'll know what I mean when I say that this sort of thing can happen quite regularly. Obvious example, you think of a song and then it comes on the radio. Or sometimes you find out about something you didn't know about before and suddenly you see it everywhere. I have to admit that this test card one is quite a random occurrence, what are the chances of it?

Well I just thought I'd kick off a new season of blogging by informing you of that coincidental if not slightly odd happening.

More blogs to follow. I promise!

2006-05-04T18:21:00.000+01:00

ok quick update post. At present i'm working on my final film that I will do as part of the course in Kidderminster. The script is the longest i've written so far at 30 pages so if the one page of script equates to one minute of screen time rule holds true (which it almost never does) it should be about half an hour long. The story centres around two main characters one of which (vincent) is a very repelent charcater and is intent on alienating everyone in his social circle as part of a pathetic little game he is playing. The other character (kenny) is the final conquest in vincents game, but has figured out the what he's trying to do and has decided to play him at his own game.

The style of the film is quite experimental and i'm not sure if the audience will accept it but i'm going to try none the less. basically the film plays through from one characters point of view then we see the same story again but from the others persepective. I think it's success will lie in the editing part.

I'm filming on the week comencing the 8th may through until the 15th may, so right now i'm going through the script coming up with a shot list and rough story board ect.

I will get my other films online but not until the summer i'm going to re edit them in final cut pro, so you can look forward to that. Also if anyone is interested I might be offering certain films on dvd for a very small and reasonable price, i'd expect something like that in the next year. Mainly because my good freind Gareth Holton has agreed to work on scoring them which frees up any leagal issues involving music and sales. Also that means I can enter my films into festivals too and get my work out there a bit more.

I'll do my best to keep you posted on the progress of this latest film.

Word

Stu

BTW sorry about any spelling mistakes NOrmally i would check it but time is a luxury i'm not going to have for the next three weeks, I knew yo'd understand.

21 Grams

2006-03-27T21:59:00.000+01:00

I said in my last post that I was working on a scene from 21 Grams and I finished it today. I used this as an experiment to try a few things so i'm not sure if they all actually worked, but overall i'm happy with it.

I played about with grading for the first time to try and correct a few issues with the light. The only source of light was from an ordinary light bulb and it made the walls look pink. So I put a slight blue/green tint on it which made the walls look white again. it also gives it a more grainy feel to which works well because its supposed to be a prison cell.

Anyway have a watch and let me know your thoughts good, bad or otherwise.

As Promised...

2006-02-05T15:14:00.000Z

... Heres my documentary.

It's called Catching Up, kind of a lame title but I was very tierd when I came to that part. It's about a few of my old friends from when I did the drama course at Sutton College and how the dreams and expectations we had when we started the course have changed. It's also touches on how despite being so close we've all driffted appart in the last four years. I'm not sure how the text will transfer over to the smaller web version, so if you can't read i'm sorry.

I'm editing a scene from 21 Grams at the momement. I should have that finished and up on the site by the end of the week. It's the bit where the Reverend goes to visit Benicio in prision. I filmed it in our basement (which looks scarily like a prision cell) with Liam and Dan. Liam was well into playing the part of Benico, a little too much if you ask me!

I'll try and get my other films up soon, I got rid of the project file ages ago because I needed the space, so i'll probably have to re-edit them which may take a while. But that ok because it gives me more time on final cut pro.

Well hello there, it's been a while.

2006-02-01T18:26:00.000Z

I realise that this has probably been my longest hiatus, but it has probably been the busiest i've been for a very long time. I've just been so swamped with work for the last 4 months that everytime i've thought about sitting down and writing a new blog entry it's just seemed like more work. But all my work is more or less out of the way for a little while now so it's finally time to sit down and write about my life.

So first thing I should probably tell you is, i'm an uncle! Yep my sister gave birth to a little girl named Lilly Grace on the 21st of November. Here's a pic of her

Isn't she adorable. She's just getting to that stage now where she's laughing which is cool because now when I make stupid noises she reacts instead of just looking at me like i'm and idiot. to be fair she's probably got a point.

I'm getting my ucas form all filled in again so that I can go to Canterbury next year, assuming I get accepted that is. Although I asked a magic 8 ball and it said the outlook looks good, so nothing to worry about there then! Seriously though I can't wait to go there now. I feel like Kidderminster is eating a little bit of my soul each day. So... there's that.

What was the other thing? Damn it I know there's something else. It's on the tip of my tounge if only i could remember. Oh yeah thats it, this

It's great though, i've got a copy of final cut pro 5 so now i've started steps towards becoming Apple certified. I was thinking about my options for when I finish uni and although I love writing, directing and acting i've got to be realistic. The chances of getting a break in one of those fields is slim, so I figure editing is a good way to get my foot in the door. Although I hear you don't see the light of day too much i've been told it's fairly easy to get your foot in the door presuming you know your stuff and the pays not too bad either.

So with my new Ibook i'm going to re-edit amost of my films and make them available online. I've finsihed my documentary too, i'm fairly happy with it. It's about a few of my old friends from sutton college and how our dreams and expectaions have changed since we first started all those years ago. It also deals with how nobody really speaks to each other anymore. I should be able to get that online fairly soon.

There's probably other stuff i'm leaving out but i'll get to that in anoher post when I remember. Keep checking back, even though updates have been few and far between lately.

Heres a link to a film made by a mate of mine on the course. He's actually the first one us to get off thier arse and put something online, so I may as well pimp him for it.

Fear Not...

2005-12-31T23:46:00.000Z

... There's an update a coming!

The Lack Of Production Is That Guys Fault

2005-09-23T17:15:00.000+01:00

So at the moment I'm preparing to go back to uni and get back to it all. I had planned to make a few films over the summer, but there was a ban placed on booking out any equipment which has only just recently been lifted. The ban was put in place because a guy on the course called Dave (not my Housemate) took an xm2 (1500 quids worth of camera!) to a house party that quite a few chavs had decided to invade. Well long story short Dave didn't leave with the camera. The ban pissed me off because the way I looked at it I was being punished for someone else's stupidity.

Anyway all that aside, the ban turned what should have been a summer of film making joy and happiness, into the summer that time forgot. But now that the ban has been lifted I'm going to jump straight back on the film making horse.

Firstly I'm going to spend the next few months making a film called Ezekiel and Me. This is basically a remake/follow up to the film I ended up making for my ten minute film. Technically I wasn't happy with the film and story wise I felt there was more to explore. This was mainly down to it being rushed, but I'm not going to get into that again, you can read the original post about that here.

So now I've started work on a revamp, or as my housemate Dan put it "Your Evil Dead 2 version." I've decided to take a different approach to writing the script, purely as an experiment. I'm going to write out the whole thing as a short story and then adapt it into a screenplay. I'm not sure if this will work, however I've already noticed that it's given me a lot of insight into all the character's mindset that I might not of discovered in the first place.

Anyway here's the first part of that short story that will ultimately become a screenplay. Think of it as the first chapter.

Overhaul

2005-09-22T21:02:00.000+01:00

So you may have noticed that the look has changed somewhat. Yeah well I just thought it was about time I decorated. I'd love to say that the reason I haven't posted in ages is because I've been working on the new look, but alas I cannot tell a lie. In reality it took me all of an hour to revamp the look. I shamelessly found a free blogger template I liked, added a few necessities like links and whatnot, changed a few settings on blogger, heat for 40 minutes and tada a brand new look.

But With the new look comes a slight content change also. Going back to what I said before aboot* the lack of posting I have been somewhat lacking in the inspirational department of late. I just don't think my personal life is interesting enough to write about at the moment.

So what can you expect from me now?
Well I've decided the content will now mainly revolve around projects I'm working on be they University related or to do with Well Dirty Films and Mookrog Productions. I'm planning to post exerts from scripts I'm writing, Video diaries charting the progress of particular projects, general updates and anything film related I think may interest the general public. Also you can expect to be able to download web versions of completed films (eventually!)

What Do I expect from you?
Well nothing really, except to bear with me this time and keep reading. However if you want to comment on anything project related please do, Although please keep it constructive. I don't mind if you thought something was shit, just tell me why. One thing I feel I don't get of enough of is brutal honesty when I show a script or film to someone. I'm always looking for people's honest opinions about my work, because they really do help a lot.

So is spiderstu's world is just about your films now?
No I'm still going to post about my life if I feel something worth writing about arises. Unless something inparticular happens posts about my personal life will more than likely be in the form of an overall commentary.

I also realised that I've been blogging for just over three years now. In that time Spiderstu's World has had six different looks, can you believe it! I'll do a post soon looking back over all six eras of Spiderstu's World, I just have to locate them all first.

* This was actually a typo but then it reminded me of South Park the movie so I kept it in based purely on that fact!

More London Bombings

2005-07-21T16:25:00.000+01:00

London's been hit again, thankfully it's no where near the scale of the attack's two weeks ago.

The Tube has been plunged into chaos and several stations evacuated after minor blasts on three trains and a bus.

Met Police chief Sir Ian Blair said three Tube lines were suspended but it was time London returned to normal.

The minor explosions - just two weeks after blasts killed 56 - involved detonators only, a BBC reporter said. There was only one injury.

Police sources say there have been two arrests after the incidents and a number of fugitives are being sought.

Birmingham Metroblogging

2005-07-21T16:16:00.000+01:00

Birmigham Metroblogging has been launched today and I have the great honour of writing for them. So you can now read more from me and many other great bloggers over there.

Presidential Reflection

2005-07-13T19:53:00.000+01:00

I'm a big conspiracy theory fan, I don't know what this is covering up but it makes for very interesting reading

Have a history teacher explain this if they can!!

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
Both wives lost a child while living in the White House.

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
Both Presidents were shot in the head.

Now it gets really weird.

Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's Secretary was named Lincoln.

Both were assassinated by Southerners.
Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.
Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.

Both assassins were known by their three names.
Both names are composed of fifteen letters.

Now hang on to your seat !

Lincoln was shot at the theatre named "Ford."
Kennedy was shot in a car called "Lincoln" made by "Ford."

Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.

And here's the "kicker":

A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe,Maryland.
A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe.

Lincoln was shot in a theatre and the assassin ran to a warehouse.
Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and the assassin ran to a theatre.

Weird Huh?!

Another Hard Day On The Planet

2005-07-07T16:34:00.000+01:00

What can you say when something like happens? It's senseless, it's pointless and it's down right evil. Innoccent people are dead, many more injured and everyone is scared. I know you have to stand up and say "I'm not going to let these bastards stop me living my life." But it's not that easy. I was planning on moving down to London after I finished university because, well thats where the work is. But now I really don't know if I want to.

I really can't think of much else to write about this now so i'll just leave with the words of Wainwright Loudon:

The dollar went down and the President said
“Who’s in charge, now?” I don’t know, take your pick.
A new disease every day and the old ones are coming back
Things are looking kind of gray, like they’re going to black

Don’t turn on the TV, don’t show me the paper
(I) don’t want to know he got kidnapped or why they all raped her
I want to go on vacation ‘till the pressure lets up
But they keep hijacking airplanes and blowing them up

(Refrain)
It’s been a hard day on the planet
How much is it all worth?
It’s getting harder to understand it
Things are tough all over on earth.

It’s hot in December and cold in July
When it rains it pours out of a poisonous sky
In California the body counts keep getting higher
It’s evil out there, man that state is always on fire.

Everyone has a system, but they can’t seem to win
Even Bob Geldorf looks alarmingly thin
I got to get on that shuttle get me out of this place
But there’s gonna be warfare up there in outer space
(Refrain)
I’ve got clothes on my back and shoes on my feet
A roof over my head and something to eat
My kids are all healthy and my folks are alive
You know, it’s amazing but sometimes I think I’ll survive

I’ve got all of my fingers and all of my toes
I’m pretty well off I guess, I suppose
So how come I feel bad so much of the time?
A man ain’t an island—John Dunn wasn’t lying
(Refrain)
It’s business as usual; some things never change
It’s unfair, it’s tough, unkind and it’s strange
We don’t seem to learn; we can’t seem to stop
Maybe some explosions would close up the shop

You know, maybe that would be fine: we would be off the hook
We resolved all our problems, never mind what it took
And it all would be over, finito, the end
Until the survivers started up all over again
(Refrain)

Life Lesson No: 4278

2005-06-13T00:41:00.000+01:00

If your gonna have a wee with no hands, do not under any circumstances sneeze while doing so!

In The Pipeline

2005-06-08T18:08:00.000+01:00

So my ten minute film is done. Unfortunately it's not he one I wanted to make, I couldn't get the location that I wanted and the actors I wanted weren’t as free as I had hoped. Sure I could have recast and probably found a new location. But the problem was that the film is very dialogue heavy and I don't honestly think that the lines could have been learnt well enough in a short space of time to give a solid performance. I just feel unless your 100% off script you can't give a believable performance because your more worried about getting the lines right than performing them. Then when your on set half the battle is getting a take where nobody stuffs up their lines and you end up settling for something which is less than what you wanted.

That spelt out the whole thing for me. If changed locations actors just so I could get this film made, I would be settling. I wasn't prepared to do that for this film. I'd spent too much time on the script, storyboarding and planning out technicalities of the film to do that. This was the first thing that I’d felt passionate about and also transmitted part of my own beliefs onto the screen.

So I decided, fuck it! I'll wait until I can make it the way I want to make it. So now I had a new problem I needed a film. I came up with an idea in a day, filmed it in two and edited it in two. The film was called Ezekiel's Window. It's basically about a four guys who live together, one of them has gone mentally ill and keeps doing fucked up things around the house. It uses flashbacks as the guys are sitting around talking about all the things he's done to them recently.

I'm not really that pleased with it. It was rushed and it defiantly shows when you watch it. There are some cuts and certain shots that really embarrass me. I've still got a bit of work to on it; I've only edited the uni cut so far. I want to add some music and reshoot certain bits of it. I had to use my own camera to film a few pick-ups. The problem with that is the microphone is so close to the tape you get a horrible constant whir on the audio.

Although, for something that was made in pretty much five days from start to finish, it's not all that bad. I just know I can do so much better. Which is why I've decided to try and make four films over the summer. This way I can make them just as I like them with no restrictions the assignment briefs usually come with. Here's what they are:

Woken - This is a to be a 10 minute short about a guy who keeps waking up at the same time every night. He can't for the life of him figure out why. It goes on for a while with various ways of him trying to break this cycle, his friends think he's mad and he starts getting a little obsessive about it. Until one night when he decides not to go to sleep and he find out the reason for his regimented wake up.

After - This is the film, I should have made for my 10 minute film assignment, It's a good thing really because I wanted it to be about half an hour in length. Jack is an average guy with a fairly average Joe life, until something very inconvenient happens... He dies. Jack finds him self in a sort of limbo/purgatory place. He finds out that most of the morals and designs we lead our lives by are all bullshit. He gets a little more pissed off when he finds that despite leading what he would define as a good wholesome life, he might actually be screwed.

As yet untitled project #1 - This mostly based around my own experiences with a relationship I had not too long ago. I haven't really worked out a structure yet, but it shouldn't be too hard because I lived it! Although I’ll need to add in a few things to spice up the story and give it a bit of an edge so it doesn't turn into another run of the mill chick flick!

As yet untitled project#2 - When I was deprived of sleep for the most part of the other week, I was in one of those surreal states you often get into when you've gone without rest for a long period of time. You know the type of thing, you feel like you’re in a David Lynch film. Well in the short space of time I spent feeling like a character in Eraserhead I thought I might try and make something that was quite Lynchian. Again I haven't really worked out the specifics, I've just got a rough idea of story and mainly a lots of avant-garde editing and camera styles.

Hopefully I’ll be able to make all four but I’m not holding my breath, I'll get them all made at some point though.

Four

2005-05-31T21:51:00.000+01:00

That's the amount of nights in the past week i've gone without sleep. I'd love to say all of them were for work, but it just ain't the truth. Two were for work the other two were for plesure. First off there was Wednesday, that was work. It was spent getting on top of all the paperwork I had to do for my film, that wasn't easy keeping my head from bobbing up and down but somehow I made it with out any caffine related drinks either.

As Friday was the hand in date for everything Thursday was spent Editing both mine and Liam's films on my PC, which to be honest isn't really fast enough for editing but neither of us trust the PC's at uni, so we soldiered on. That night was aided by many caffine related products, namely two bottles of Sainsbury's own version of red bull... B L U E B O L T ! ! !

Friday was technically the day we broke up, so Saturday was the day of a break up party mainly to say goodbye to all the second years, who now get to leave Kidderminster (Luky bastards!) and do thier third year somewhere that's actually worthy of the title of University. Barbeques and beer were what kept me going through that night. Although I hadn't intended staying up all night, it was just one of those nights where it was always gonna happen.

Which brings me nicely on to Monday. Now me and my mate John have spoke about doing something for many years. Something that we only had one chance to do in the way we wanted. Something that when it came around seemed dammed never to happen due to neither of us being able to fit it in. Our origional plan for Monday was supposed to go as follows:

Go for a simple starbucks.
Have a catch up chat as we haven't really spoke for a while.
John Would then take me back to Kidderminster.

But just before we were due to leave for Starbucks, We suddenly saw something on the television that reminded us of our fantastical plan. That was it now we had to do it, there no choice we couldn't wait any longer. And so it was set we would start at 2 pm and end around 5 am.

Not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5 but all six count em six Star Wars film in one day. Oh yes my friends I have been to the promised land and it looks damn fine. What an experience though, I always dreamt of doing it this way when the final chapter finally came out. For the longest time I didn't think it would happen, but I guess some things are just written in the stars! This time it was Tessco's own version of red bull... K I C K ! ! that got me through the night.

So four days, one week, no sleep. It's been a bitch, but it's the type of bitch you just can't stay mad at no matter what!

Production update

2005-05-04T21:35:00.000+01:00

Thats me at the moment. My brain feels abosotively frazzled. I've got the script finished, storyboards and and the shot breakdown are mostly finished, i'm getting my shooting schedule together which isn't easy. Trying to find the right balance for everyone involved has been a right pain in the arse. The guy playing my main character can't do it because of time constraints, which means i've had to juggle about a few people and now i'm acting in it as well as directing and pretty much producing, so now i'm learning lines as well as everything else. Not to mention trying to do my camera and lighting assignment, production resources pack, post production assignment, 1000 word evaluations for all of the above, trying to edit a weekly video diary on the progress of my film and working on the tittle sequences for the film.

So yeah i've been a little busy lately, but then again then i'm not one to moan about it!

Here's a little test shot I did for my film the other day

Clark Kent

2005-04-16T17:45:00.000+01:00

Just found the first pictures of Brandon Routh as Clark kent in the new Superman Returns film, check em out here

My opinion, I don't think he looks too bad as Clark, in some shots he quite resembles Christopher Reeve as Clark. And lets face it Christopher Reeve is pretty much the benchmark to reach. But there's still a lot more to come before we can tell if Brandon routh is brilliant casting or just a poster boy.

I'm Really, Really, Really, Really...

2005-04-16T16:14:00.000+01:00

...Sorry everyone,

Once again I seem to be starting a post with an apology for not posting for a few months. In light of this let me now say this: There will no longer be anymore apologetic openings to blog entries on this site. From this point onward you may take it as rent that I am sorry for any blogging hiatus that I have taken, whatever the reason may be. Or you could just accept that my blogging pattern seems to go in cycles of posting periods and non posting periods. However Spiderstu's World would now like to take the opportunity to promise (as we have on many occasions) that we will now be making more effort to post on a regular basis. It should also be noted that this apologetic disclaimer type thingy is about 90% in jest and shouldn't really be taken too seriously. It was only really meant as a short funny opener to a blog entry that got really out of control because the writer has had too many caffeine based beverages today.

Yeah anyway, I've actually been fairly busy of late. Firstly my film I was working on "A Superheroes Day Off," Is completely finished and marked. I got a merit for it I must admit I am a little disappointed not to get a distinction, but the reasons for the merit were fairly justified. I'm confident that my next film will be a hell of a lot better in all areas.

Which brings me onto my next film quite nicely. It has to be 10 minutes exactly to the frame, it can have no music and show no violence. I've decided to expand on an idea I've had for a while about a fairly average Joe type guy who dies and ends up in puratory, but he finds out that the afterlife isn't really what society has led him to believe it is.

I've got my actors sorted, my locations and my crew. I've got about half of it scripted too, it's the second half that's giving me one or two problems though. I just seem to hit a complete wall and it's put me back about a week now. By this stage I was really hoping to be storyboarding and doing a few location and camera rehearsals. But without a finished script that's not really possible.

It's typical too, whenever you want to use something that you haven't used in ages there's always a problem. I've already got a production company that all my uni work goes under "Mook Rog Productions," formed by myself and Roy. But Me, Dan and Liam from Uni have decided to form our own production company "Well Dirrty films." which gave me a spark to create a website for each to showcase the work of both companies. But as luck would have it the weekend I decide to this my dad tells me he's canceling the broadband with Telewest, which means the free web space goes too. So time to start looking for some new web space I guess, but watch this space for Well dirrty and Mook Rog web sites.

Annoyance on a stick!

2005-02-15T22:32:00.000Z

Ever have one of those days you wish you could just erase? Well I certainly did last Saturday. So we have a party at our house, nothing big just a few people from uni and a few of our friends. Now I don't know about you guys but when you have different sets of friends and you decide to mingle them, one of your worst nightmares is that they don't get on, or worse...They fight!

Now the catalyst in all this was a guy called Dave from uni. Things were getting ever so slightly out of hand. People were starting to be sick, others were going in the garden for the toilet because people were in the toilet being sick, glasses had been smashed and despite my efforts to keep the music at a reasonable level it kept miraculously creeping up.

Dave and a few others emerged from our kitchen/bathroom soaked because they thought it would be oh so funny to spray each other with the shower hose! All this was fine, yes the house was a mess and yes i was a little bit peeved, but it was all water under the bridge as far as I was concerned (or on the bathroom floor in this case.)

In a bid to gain so revenge for his soaking in the bathroom, Dave decided to soak the girls who had soaked him. The closest wet soaking material to hand for Dave was a bottle of *sigh* cherryade!

I'm sure by now you can see where this is going, but please bear with me for a moment longer. As Dave held the bottle of brightly coloured fizzy liquid over the girls sitting on the sofa, I laughed. "there's no way he's going to actually throw it in the middle of the living room" I thought to myself. "I'll give him the benefit of the doubt." Then *sigh* he threw it.

I was so shocked that he actually did it that I closed my eyes in disbelief. You know the sort of thing, like when you do something really stupid and you just stand there because you can't believe you've done it. Well by the time I'd opened my eyes my mate John had already opened the front door and was dragging Dave out by the scruff of his neck. Of course Dave's mate Ben (also from uni) jumped up which caused Adam (John's brother) to jump in to.

The next part is a bit of a haze to me, because everyone was shouting and scuffling, But somewhere in it all Dave got hit or something because his lip was bleeding. Undoubtedly Dave was bang out of order he went too far and took liberties in someone else's house and showed he had no respect for me, Dave, Dan or Lori (my other house mates.) I support What John did 100%, and he knows that. He did what I should have done because I didn't do it. Like I say weather it was through disbelief or plain just not knowing how to handle the situation I didn't act quick enough.

Only problem now is I'm left in a right doozy of a pickle, I'm the middle here. I feel I've got nothing to apologize for I did nothing wrong and I'm certainly not going to apologize for John. But as it stands I have to work with these people for the next two years. i haven't spoke to any of the guys from Uni yet, but the vibe I got on the night as they left was that they harbored quite a bit of ill feeling towards me.

I don't know... Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Words and Pictures

2005-02-10T13:17:00.000Z

So the film is finally finished, all that's left to now is burn it to DVD and hand it in. In all honesty it's hasn't turned out the way I intended it to when I originally had the idea. Some things changed for the better some for the worse, but it's all good for the learning curve I guess. I'll try and make it available to download for those of you who'd like to see it just as soon as I figure out a way to make the file smaller. For some reason when I export 5 minutes of footage from Adobe Premier it comes out at 1.2 Gig! That's way to big for me to host and would take about a year to download.

Now I've been working on my essay which is proving to be a right bitch. I have to choose 2 films both from the same director and talk about auteur theory and contextual influences, and that's the dummed down version! I've chosen "Almost Famous" and "Vanilla Sky" by Cameron crowe. It all comes down to the argument that if one man is the author of a book so must one man be responsible for a film. But others argue that a film is a collaborative work, so one man can not be the author of a film. So I have to look at Cameron Crowe and two of his films prove that he either has or hasn't left enough of an imprint of his persona to called the author of his films. It's really a little to deep for me, I'm not a fan of ripping films to pieces to understand what they truly mean. I just think it defeats the whole idea of film if you have to dissect it to take away anything worthwhile.

Oh well, better get back to it all I guess.

Music Homework!

2005-01-31T01:57:00.000Z

Greg Set me this little task, so I obliged.

1.What is the total amount of music files on your computer?

I Don't know the exactnumber off hand because i'm not on my computer but its in the region of about 930 songs.

2.The last CD you bought is

Well they were bought for me at the same time at xmas and there's three of them. They are Damien Rice O, U2 how to dismatle an atomic bomb and Johnny Cash American IV. The last song I downloaded was Counting bodies like sheep to the rythm of war drums by a perfect circle.

3. What is the song you last listened to before reading this message?

It was Somebody told me by The killers.

4. Write down 5 songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you

The only living boy in new york - Simon and Garfunkel
Hurt - Johnny Cash
For you to notice - Dashboard Confessional
Firestarter - Jimmy Eat World
MLK - U2

5. Who are you going to pass this stick to? (3 persons) and why

Probably to Leigh because I don't really know anyone else with a blog who hasn't done it. I guess I could pass it on to Roy and John but as they don't have blogs no one would see it, although they'd still probably do it.

Two in as many days... Surely not?

2005-01-31T01:08:00.000Z

I'm online at the mo and a little board so I figured I'd post again before I go back to Kiddey tomorrow and have to entertain myself in other ways that don't involve the internet... No not what your thinking, I said ways that don't involve the internet!

I've been online tonight looking for free sound effects for my film, They all suck ass! But hey they're free so I can't exactly complain. My film is turning out nothing like I'd hoped, I'm gonna have to cut so much to meet the 5 min 30sec cut off that I'm not sure if it's gonna make sense. One minute of screen time equals one page of script my ass!

I finally got rid of the side blog, I can barely update one blog let alone two! Plus by the time most interesting things on the net reach me nowadays they've already done the rounds about three or four times.

I can't decide if I'm happy being single or not. I really like the way my life is now, I've kind of shaped my life into a convenient little bubble that fits perfectly around me. There's no room for girlfriends in my bubble. Although it has been a while since I've had a *gulp!* committed relationship, I'm starting to think if maybe that's what I need right now. Maybe I should pop my bubble and blow a new one (that sounds weird out loud!)

Ah who knows, they're not exactly banging my door down at the moment if you know what I mean!

Any hoo, Take care and and tell someone you love that you love them... even if it's just your cat.

Long time no blog

2005-01-29T23:36:00.000Z

Boy have I ever neglegted this place! I have good reason though, Alas I no longer have the internet. It really fucking sucks without the net, I never realised how much time I spent on it. I only get to go on now when i come back to my mum and dads.

Oh! that reminds me I did move out! I've been living in my own house in Kidderminster for about a month now. Moving out has it's low points and it's high points but all in all it's pretty cool and i'm having a laugh which is the main thing.

My first film "A Superheroes Day Off" has been shot. I edited together a rough cut of it the other day and it doesn't look too bad. There's a few things hat don't work too well, mainly because of I didn't have the right mindset when I shot it. I showed the rough cut of it to a freind of mine on the course and he told me that I need to start thinking from an editing point of view when I'm filming. Thats so true, Mainly because this is the first film i've done so i was kind of working blind in a way. But i've already learnt a lot from my mistakes on this one shoot.

I've got a few guidelines to follow as well. The film can be no longer than 5 minutes 30 seconds and at the moment it is 7 minutes without credits and a few cutaways i've got to add in. I'm going to have to cut a few scenes I think. Also i'm only alowed 50 words of dialog... I have 77! The next film should be interesting though it has to be ten minutes to the frame, it can't be a hundreth of a second over!! Thats going to be such a bitch.

Me and one of the guys I live with Dave have started coming up with a few ideas for films too, were gonna form our own production company! We started shooting one yesterday, it's about a guy who is dreaming and everytime he enters a new room he is in a different genre of film. We filmed the horror genre yesterday in the really creepy basment of our house. I'm playing the guy who's dreaming so i was covered in fake blood and had a few home made squibs strapped about my person. Suffice to say we got some cool footage and were going to play about with special effects in this one, stufflike blue screen and having two of me on screen at the same time.

I'll post some pictures of the house if I get a chance and when the film is finsihed being edited i'll see if i can make it available to download.

I wish you much peace and love and a sponge bath from supermodels.

It's not all soul destroying

2004-12-21T13:03:00.000Z

After many months of waiting, last night I finally managed to see Garden State, despite it only being shown in one cinema in the West Midlands! I've wanted to see it for ages and I've been reading Zach Braff's Blog since I heard about the film.

After I'd watched it, it reminded me of something though. Since I've figured out in a round about way what I want to do with my life, I've wanted to make a film. Not just any film I've already got one on the go plus a few more in the pipeline. But I've had an idea for something that's loosely based around my own life. Not a biographical tale, but more to do with the mood of my life and how I feel about stuff.

It's kind of vague I know, but that's the problem I can't put my finger on what I want the movie to be. I have no structure, no plot, just a mood or feel for the film. Anyhoo I think it's time I got cracking with it and try to figure out what it's going to be.

As far as the course goes though, everything is moving along swimmingly. The first semester is over and my grades have been very good, all my work has been in on time and I'm loving it. If you remember me mentioning it the project I'm working on at the moment is called "A Superheroes Day Off." I'm in the pre production stage, the script is done, I have my actors and locations sorted and all that's left to do now is sort out the schedule and a few other paper related tasks and I'll be ready to shoot in January.

I've got a few other projects that I want to get moving too. One is a film that is based around a character my Brother in law and his friend Phil came up with called "The Fear." It's about that horrible paranoid feeling you get after a heavy night out drinking. Basically they took that feeling and personified it into a character. That's going to be something we'll do on the sidelines.

The other is related to my course. There's a module we have to do where we can make either a music video or a documentary, I've decided to do the documentary. In march me, John and Roy are going to walk from one sode of Hadrian's Wall to the other, so I thought it would be cool to see if I can get a documentary out of it.

And the house is ours!! Yay, I can't wait to move up there now, mainly so I can get a new job. I'm sitting in the office at work right now typing this because i've been lumbered with more work as soon they knew i'd broke up from uni and couldn't use that as an excuse anymore. I kind of feel like a small part of my soul dies every day and I'll never get it back, But hey it's xmas in 4 days so it can't all be bad!

Sex and Houses

2004-11-24T01:35:00.000Z

Recently I had an offer from a colleague of mine... A female colleague! Ok no beating around the bush, she offered me no strings sex.

What did I say? What do you think I'm crazy, I said yes. She's funny, we get on well, she's really good looking and she's got a great rack... Sorry but she has!

There's just one little snag though, and it's a moral issue. She has a boyfriend. I know nothing about him or their relationship, to be honest I don't think I want to. I can't help going through the motions though. Am I a bastard for doing this? A part of me is saying yes I am. But another part of me is saying just do it.

I've learned of late to start trusting my gut feeling and go with my instinct more than usual. My gut is telling me to do it. I can see myself going down another road though, one where I get too attached and I know where that would lead. An old not so friendly emotion called jealousy would probably rear his ugly head. But that would mean strings and then that ends up being contaray to our whole agreement.

I don't know lets change the subject shall we.

I' m moving out! Yep after 24 years of living at home with Ma and Pa spiderstu I'm finally flying the coop.It's not too far a move, only from Solihull to Kidderminster. That's about 40 minutes drive, I do that twice a day anyway.

There's four of us moving into a great Victorian style house. Four double bedrooms, 3 floors and loads of space, the best thing is the rent works out at £34 a week! Gas and electric are top up cards so if we don't pay we don't play. There's no council tax because we're students (tee hee!) Then there's water rates, TV license and food. It's all affordable really, the only luxury I'm bothered about is broadband, I don't think I can live without the internet now.

So things are certainly changing fast at the moment, I'd be lying if I said it's not all a bit scary, but it's good for me. I'll try and keep you posted on how both events unfold. Although I've got a funny feeling one's going to be more eventful than the other. I'll let you work out which one.

So this is what i've done with my life

2004-11-17T23:07:00.000Z

Thanks to Greg for this.

***Bold Font- you have done it.....Regular Font - you haven’t.....Italics - you wanna.***

001. Bought everyone in the pub a drink
002. Swam with wild dolphins
003. Climbed a mountain
004. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
005. Been inside the Great Pyramid
006. Held a tarantula
007. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
008. Said “I love you” and meant it
009. Hugged a tree
010. Done a striptease
011. Bungee jumped
012. Visited Paris
013. Watched a lightning storm at sea
014. Stayed up all night long, and watch the sun rise
015. Seen the Northern Lights
016. Gone to a huge sports game
017. Walked the stairs to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa
018. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
019. Touched an iceberg
020. Slept under the stars
021. Changed a baby’s diaper
022. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
023. Watched a meteor shower
024. Gotten drunk on champagne
025. Given more than you can afford to charity
026. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
027. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
028. Had a food fight
029. Bet on a winning horse
030. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
031. Asked out a stranger
032. Had a snowball fight
033. Photocopied your bottom on the office photocopier
034. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
035. Held a lamb
036. Enacted a favorite fantasy
037. Taken a midnight skinny dip
038. Taken an ice cold bath
039. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar
040. Seen a total eclipse
041. Ridden a roller coaster
042. Hit a home run
043. Fit three weeks miraculously into three days
044. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
045. Adopted an accent for an entire day
046. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
047. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
048. Had two hard drives for your computer
049. Visited all 50 states
050. Loved your job for all accounts
051. Taken care of someone who was shit-faced
052. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
053. Had amazing friends
054. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
055. Watched wild whales
056. Stolen a sign
057. Backpacked in Europe
058. Taken a road-trip
059. Gone rock climbing
060. Lied to foreign government’s official in that country to avoid notice
061. Midnight walk on the beach
062. Sky diving
063. Visited Ireland (born and lived there)
064. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
065. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
066. Visited Japan
067. Benchpressed your own weight
068. Milked a cow
069. Alphabetized your CDs (and video and DVDS)
070. Pretended to be a superhero
071. Sung karaoke
072. Lounged around in bed all day
073. Posed nude in front of strangers
074. Scuba diving
075. Got it on to “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye
076. Kissed in the rain
077. Played in the mud
078. Played in the rain
079. Gone to a drive-in theater
080. Done something you should regret, but don’t regret it
081. Visited the Great Wall of China
082. Discovered that someone who’s not supposed to have known about your blog has discovered your blog
083. Dropped Windows in favor of something better
084. Started a business
085. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
086. Toured ancient sites
087. Taken a martial arts class
088. Swordfought for the honor of a woman
089. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
090. Gotten married
091. Been in a movie (does an advert count?)
092. Crashed a party
093. Loved someone you shouldn’t have
094. Kissed someone so passionately it made them dizzy
095. Gotten divorced
096. Had sex at the office (I've done it at college, thats close enough for me)
097. Gone without food for 5 days
098. Made cookies from scratch
099. Won first prize in a costume contest
100. Ridden a gondola in Venice
101. Gotten a tattoo
102. Found that the texture of some materials can turn you on
103. Rafted the Snake River
104. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
105. Got flowers for no reason
106. Masturbated in a public place
107. Got so drunk you don’t remember anything
108. Been addicted to some form of illegal drug
109. Performed on stage
110. Been to Las Vegas
111. Recorded music
112. Eaten shark
113. Had a one-night stand
114. Gone to Thailand
115. Seen Siouxsie live
116. Bought a house
117. Been in a combat zone
118. Buried one/both of your parents
119. Shaved or waxed your pubic hair off
120. Been on a cruise ship
121. Spoken more than one language fluently
122. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone
123. Bounced a check
124. Performed in Rocky Horror
125. Read - and understood - your credit report
126. Raised children
127. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy
128. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
129. Created and named your own constellation of stars
130. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
131. Found out something significant that your ancestors did (4 days ago actually)
132. Called or written your Congress person
133. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
134. - More than once? - More than thrice?
135. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
136. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
137. Had an abortion or your female partner did
138. Had plastic surgery
139. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
140. Wrote articles for a large publication
141. Lost over 100 pounds
142. Held someone while they were having a flashback
143. Piloted an airplane
144. Petted a stingray
145. Broken someone’s heart
146. Helped an animal give birth
147. Been fired or laid off from a job
148. Won money on a T.V. game show
149. Broken a bone
150. Killed a human being (just kidding... or am i?)
151. Gone on an African photo safari
152. Ridden a motorcycle
153. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100 mph
154. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
155. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
156. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
157. Ridden a horse
158. Had major surgery
159. Had sex on a moving train
160. Had a snake as a pet
161. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
162. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing
163. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
164. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
165. Visited all 7 continents
166. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
167. Eaten kangaroo meat
168. Fallen in love at an ancient Mayan burial ground
169. Been a sperm or egg donor
170. Eaten sushi
171. Had your picture in the newspaper
172. Had 2 (or more) healthy romantic relationships for over a year in your lifetime
173. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
174. Gotten someone fired for their actions
175. Gone back to school
176. Parasailed
177. Changed your name
178. Petted a cockroach
179. Eaten fried green tomatoes
180. Read The Iliad
181. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
182. Dined in a restaurant and stolen silverware, plates, cups because your apartment needed them
183. ...and gotten 86′ed from the restaurant because you did it so many times,they figured out it was you
184. Taught yourself an art from scratch
185. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
186. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt
187. Skipped all your school reunions
188. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
189. Been elected to public office
190. Written your own computer language
191. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
192. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
193. Built your own PC from parts!!!
194. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
195. Had a booth at a street fair
196: Dyed your hair
197: Been a DJ
198: Found out someone was going to dump you via LiveJournal
199: Written your own role playing game
200: Been arrested

Spiderstu Returns

2004-11-17T13:35:00.000Z

Alright I realise it's been almost a full millennia since I last posted anything, but in my defense I've been very busy at uni. Man I had no idea the course would be so full on, good news though I've got two assignments out of the way and another one is almost done. So things are cooling off for a while.

I've got two film scenes on the go at the moment and a five minute short. One film scene is from Dogma, the speech where Bartleby goes a little bit mad after they're thrown off the train by Silent bob. I shot it yesterday and for the most part everything went well and it was a lot of fun too. There were a few problems that crept through though, like a dog barking for half an hour straight! And when I watched it back in some parts the extractor fans where we filmed we quite audible, so a few re shoots may be necessary.

So that's more or less at the post production stage. The next furthest along project is a five minute short comprised totally from my brain, it's called "A Superheroes Day Off." Basically it has a very surreal yet naturalistic style to it. It follows a Superhero called Powerman around his activities on his day off. So that's at the scriptwriting stage at the moment.

The next film scene I want to do is one from Band of Brothers but there's about five scenes I'm considering from that so that's still at a very early stage. So combined with all the essays and work on other peoples projects that I'm helping out with, plus the fact that I'm having to work a bit more to pay for stuff, mixed in with a little social life, I'm sure you can understand how time for Spiderstu's World is something I have had very little of lately.

But fear not I've got too much stuff cooped up in my head at the moment and this blog is perfect place to ease the load, so posts will be coming more regularly than ever before...Hopefully.

The ironic thing is when I was doing jack all I had loads of time and nothing to write about. Now I've got tons to write about just no freaking time!

The first day

2004-09-20T18:55:00.000+01:00

Finally after all the talking and decision making, all the chopping and changing and all the whinny blog entries about it. I had my first day at university. I must admit it was a bit of a culture shock getting up at the crack of dawn again for the first time in ages, but it was kind of refreshing.

The traveling's not as bad as I thought either it only takes about an hour on the train and then five minutes walk to from Kidderminster train station. Plus it's situated right smack bang in the centre of the town too.

As is the norm with most first days at new places I knew nobody at all, but really neither does anybody else so everybody feels just as arkward about the boring small talk nobody wants really wants to go through.

The day started off with a really fun and interesting hour long libary induction...Yay! After that we had a talk by the head of the department and a few other lecturers who we will most likely have to interact with and most of the usual welcome to the next stage of your life type spiel, you know the sort of thing I'm sure.

Then we had an hour and a half for lunch (which was a nice surprise) I tagged along with a few people from my course that I'd made small talk with earlier and we wondered around Kidderminster aimlessly for the 90 minutes.

Turns out the group of people I was talking to are all comic book nerds...Like me! I had some great conversations about comics and sci-fi. Also because of the nature of the course everyone is a film buff too!

After lunch we went ot the studio room which is quite big and obviously where any sets would constructed. Then after filling out many a boring form, we had to go round the room telling the whole group the following facts about ourselves:

Your Name
Where your from
Your career aspirations
The last film you saw at the cinema
Your favorite film

And my answers:

"Hi my names Stuart"
"I live in a little town called Shirley not too far from here"
"I'd like to get into film and learn about as many aspects about the business as possible"
" The last film I saw at the cinema was Spider-Man 2 (knowing nod to the newly befriended comic book nerds"
"There's too many good films to name a favorite so I'll just say the Back to the Future trilogy."

The last question I was debating for ages while the questions went round the semi circle. Everyone else was coming out with classics, and of course you can't repeat what someone else has said even if you did think of it first because then you just look like your stealing their idea and that's not good first impression.

As the Mexican wave of introductions moved closer I was worrying about following what was pretty much The top ten list of all time greatest films. But when the guy two seats away from me said his favorite film was The Muppets Christmas carol I feared no more.

So all in all my first day was a good one and from the course layout that I read on the train home some of the modules look very interesting, like shooting a 15 minute documentary on a subjects of your own choice.

Standing on the edge

2004-09-08T22:42:00.000+01:00

It’s tough when someone you’ve loved goes away from you, whatever form it may take. The range of emotions you go though is endless; hell there’s even probably a few new ones in there. But it takes a long time come to terms with.

I’m not talking about moping around 24/7 and wallowing in self-pity for all to see. But more like the times when you lie awake in bed at night and you feel a slight yearning in the pit of your stomach for that someone you once had. Or the times you’re on a bus and your mind wanders back that perfect august afternoon you both spent together. Or maybe its just moment the two of you shared.

It’s easy to get caught up these moments no matter how long you’ve been apart, Weeks, months, or even years after. And it’s very easy to put yourself into that painful, self-loathing, jealous hole that’s deep inside of you when you realise it’s gone.

God knows I’ve done this time after time after time and then some! Tonight I stood on the edge of that hole and I rocked back and forth. When a part of me that usually takes a long holiday to Crete as soon as I get in this mood tapped me on the shoulder.

Hope pulled me back tonight. I’ve never seen it there before. Maybe I wasn’t looking for it and maybe it got pissed of because it was staring me right in the face and I couldn’t see it… maybe I didn’t want to. Who knows?

But one thing I do know, whatever it is I’m looking for to fill that void that’s been left, it’s not in the life I lead at the moment.

I think it’s finally time for a few changes.

Wedding Bells

2004-08-27T11:11:00.000+01:00

My sister gets to married tomorrow and it's all systems go at the Almond residence at the moment. Relatives are coming from every corner of the country. The first wave arrived yesterday and the second I'm expecting very soon (for some reason everyone's gone out and I seem to have been lumbered with the job of entertaining relatives as they arrive!)

My mom's been in super cleaning mode over the last few days I even saw her cleaning the fridge magnets the other day! As such I too have been told to put things away after myself and keep my room tidy (which won't be hard because I'm not even sleeping in there over the weekend!)

Back to the wedding though, my sister has assigned me a fair amount of responsibility, which I'm pretty chuffed with. First off I'm and Usher, so that means a lot of running around, organizing people and making sure everyone has buttonhole flowers, stuff like that. Then I have to do a reading after the ceremony! I'll be the first to admit it's quite gay! And yes I'm expecting the inevitable barrarge of mocking afterwards from most who were on the stag do. But it's actually quite nice and meaningful after you've read it about 200 times! As if all that wasn't enough My sister has also asked me to sign the register and be one of her witnesses.

I'm actually very grateful that they've trusted me with all this. Ok it might not sound like much but it means quite a lot to me. In all honesty though I still can believe Louise and Lawson are actually getting married. They've been together since what seems like the beginning of time, so actually in retrospect it's about bloody time!

I'm looking forward to it though it's gonna be a great day. I just hope the weather stays nice for them because god knows it's not been the driest august.

Bitten by the bug

2004-08-20T00:21:00.000+01:00

Sounds good doesn't it? Just the words bitten and bug, it sounds like all my dreams have come true. But unfortunately I won't be webbing up Solihull...Not yet any way. No by the title I was of course referring to the creativity bug.

You may or may not know that in September (September 19th to be exact) I start a film making course at Kiderminster. You may also know or not know that I've been out of education for pretty much bang on two years now. In that time creative wise, I've done bugger all.

Pretty much everyday for three years I was burning my creative oils from both ends on a full time drama course. I got to admit those three years were the best of my life and I don't feel like I'm really the same guy I was when I was there. I feel less inspired, less funny and not so clever as I was. But tonight all that came rushing back in a torrent of creativity.

I've had an idea for a film I wanted to make once I started at Kidderminster. It was only lose and tatty ideas though. However as I watched re runs of Catchphrase and Bullseye with my brother in law, I got a spark.

That spark has pretty much spurned me onto to write the whole script. It still needs a lot of work, padding out, character development, objectives and a bunch of other stuff. But I've got a beginning, a middle and an end. For the first time ever I actually know how something I'm writing ends. Usually I just start and see where I end up, bad planning I guess and probably the reason why I never finish most things.

Rest assured though I feel a lot more like my old self and I can not wait to get to uni and start doing something I love again.

New and shiny

2004-08-03T16:58:00.000+01:00

You may or may not have noticed a few additions over the last few days. For one I've added a mini blog to the sidebar so that I can post links to anything I want to share without wasting a whole post on it.

Also I've added a link to a photoblog that I've set up, there's no photos as of yet because I'm having a bit of trouble getting it to send pictures from my phone. But rest assured when I get it sorted they'll be new photos every now and again whenever I feel the need to snap something.

Also If your one of the people waiting on photos from me (weather they're from Magaluff or Tenerife) Hang fire they're in the pipeline and will be up within two weeks at the most.

Update

You might have also noticed that the photoblog has now changed from Flickr to Buzznet. My reason being that I like Buzznet better and Flickr's email addresses were too damn long to store in my phone. Plus I can show the most recent updates in the sidebar now which is a bonus.

Not the most interesting update I'll agree, but an update none the less.

Parenthood

2004-07-27T18:00:00.000+01:00

Why is it that in this day and age, where we always seem to see kidnappings and abductions of children in the news, some people can be so reckless with their children?

I took a stroll down to the newsagents this afternoon to buy some smokes. As I was walking down the road in my own happy little world, I see two kids no older than 2 years on their own in a double pushchair thingamajig.

"surely their parent figure is somewhere in the vicinity" I thought to myself. I carried in to the shop which was next door. When I came out (five minutes later I might add!) they were still there. I sat down on a bench nearby and decided to wait until whom ever might be responsible for these nippers decided to resurface. I wasn't going to lecture her on the responsibilities one takes on as a parent, I just wanted to satisfy my own curiosity.

When she finally came out of a shop it wasn't the shop I thought it would be. I mean if you were going to leave your kids outside while you went into a shop you would at least put them outside the shop you were going in...right?

apparently not, this woman came out of a shop 4 doors away from where she left her kids! There's no way she could have kept an eye on them. In the time I sat there and watched, someone could have easily just strolled out of a shop and wheeled them away as if they were their own...

...Wait a minute...

... Hmmm interesting.

BWAHAHAHAHA!!!

2004-07-27T00:58:00.000+01:00

In true comic book fashion...

...Nuff Said

Ticket for one please

2004-07-20T12:28:00.000+01:00

Spider-Man 2 has finally be unleashed on the masses of the UK, and about freaking time! As of current press I've only seen it twice. Once on opening night with John, Adam, Ronnie and Richard and the second time on my own.

Sunday came and I just had to see it again, I had agreed to go watch it with my Dad but he had a headache and I could tell he really wanted to watch the golf, so let him off. It was actually quite liberating going on my own (something I've never done before.) I kinda wish I hadn't chose the Sunday afternoon showing though as the whole place was full with kids running around with Spider-Man 2 popcorn buckets on their heads.

After the showing I was having a fag outside and two kids started having a pop corn fight in front of me. "Oh how fun" I thought, and it was until it turned ugly. Child number 1 (lets call him Rupert) suddenly realized that child number 2 (Wilbur) still had half a bucket of popcorn left, while he had none. So Rupert obviously not wanting to lose threw his popcorn bucket at Wilbur. To which Wilbur started to cry and in a tearful frenzy start punching Rupert in the head.

Ok so now I had two 9 year olds rolling around at my feet parents nowhere in sight and trying to kill each other popcorn buckets to boot. "Hmmmm" My brain kicked in. "You think we should do something?" a valid question, but then a few scenarios ran through my head:

In attempting to break up the frackas the kids turn on me and accuse me of assault, I get named and shamed as a child beater in the local, national and international newspapers. I then Go to jail after a long period spent in remand. When I get out the Child's Father is waiting for me and knifes me in the chest as soon as I step out of the prison gates.
In attempting to break up the scuffle one of the kids lashes out and cops me pretty well in the face. How I got a black eye from a 9 year old is a story I don't want to tell to anybody.
The kids are actually mutants and posses superhuman abilities and their struggle is one that has raged for years and years. My interaction only enrages them and they erase my existence with a mere thought.

Ok so the last one's kind of out there (probably the result of the film I'd just watched!) Luckily by the time all this had ran through my head one of the parents had surfaced and split it up. I also gathered from her look of disgust at me That splitting it up would have been the right choice. But then I though "Hey lady, their your freaking kids, where the hell were you!? Great parenting!"

I think I'll go to the cinema on my own more often!

Back from the Rife

2004-07-20T12:16:00.000+01:00

So I'm back from Tenerife, had a really great time too. I burnt like a bitch on the last day though and now I'm paying the price and peeling like a bitch! Although the photos won't be up for a while because my PC seems to have decided it doesn't want to see my digital camera. To be honest I respect his decision, what ever problems they have I'm gonna leave to them to sort out. It would just be nice if Steve and Ken could put their differences aside for five minutes just for me!

Anyway, what else has been kicking around? Well I'll tell you, I got accepted into Worcester uni, yay! But here's the thing I found out the course is only run by Worcester it actually takes place at Kidderminster. Which to be honest changes things quite a bit. I mean Kidderminster is actually easier to get to on the train that it was for me to get to Sutton and I did that for 3 years.

So now I have the dilemma of do I live there or commute every day. It would certainly save me money to live at home, but there's a big part of me that wants to live away from home. Bah! I don't know, I'll just take it as it comes. Maybe I'll live at home for the first year then move up there in the second year.

Free Comics for everybody!!

2004-07-02T18:27:00.000+01:00

With the release of Spider-Man 2 stateside and the impending release this side of the pond, it seems everyone is getting in the comicbook spirit. And why not?

as I read on superhero hype tomorrow is free comic book day

On July 3, you can celebrate independence from the cash register - because approximately 2,000 stores will be giving away comic books on that day, absolutely free of charge.

There are no gimmicks, no strings attached, and no purchase necessary. Just days after the highly anticipated Spider-Man 2 opens in theaters, comic book stores around the world will once again throw open their doors to hundreds of thousands of happy visitors and give away more than two million comic books.

Why? Because July 3 is Free Comic Book Day!

You can find your nearest participating comic outlet here. Alas for me though there will be no free comics, there's none participating in my area. In fact there's only one comic book shop in my area.

Princess

2004-06-25T16:06:00.000+01:00

Here's a funny Little cartoon from the creators of south park

Princess

Beware though it is by no means work safe.

Another oh so near!!!

2004-06-25T00:14:00.000+01:00

So once again England go out on pentalties, I'm sure (even if your not English) you'll agree that it's the worst way to lose. Even more so given England's history with penatly shoot outs.

Thing is normally you always feel that were not good enough to go all the way. But this time I really felt we could do it. I have to say though David Beckham played terrible throughout the whole tournament. Ashley Cole and Wayne Rooney were our only saviors.

I have to stop talking about this now because I'm too emotional. Oh well only another two years until I get to feel shit again!

It's all falling into place

2004-06-24T17:01:00.000+01:00

So I went to Magaluf on my Almost brother in law's stag do. It was such a cool time, I'm not going to go into it now I'll wait until the photos are up. Which may take a while because for some reason I can't connect to my FTP.

Otherwise things are going fairly well. I'm off on yet another holiday in two weeks this time to tenerife with Roy and John. Also I received my first correspondence from one of the universities I applied to. They sent me an interesting questionnaire to fill out, so interesting that it's now making me reconsider my first choice.

While this one is not my initial first choice it sounds more interesting than I first thought. Only thing is it's in Canterbury and screws up my plans of coming home most weekends. But if it's a better course I think that may have to be sacrifice I have to make.

It's creeping up really fast too, in September I'm gone and that's only two months away. It's starting to dawn on me that my life is gonna be totally changed, I'll be honest..I am scared. But it's a good scared, I suppose maybe it's more nerves than fear.

I'll just be glad to be doing something that I enjoy again.

Could I have your attention please...

2004-06-24T15:12:00.000+01:00

...Thank you, For now this will be the home of Spiderstu's World, so please update your links, favorites, scraps of paper or whatever you keep your web addresses on.

I'm leaving the old site up with a link to this place indefinitely and all the photos and older archives will still be there. I had decided to move to Blogger a while ago as I can't use any server side blogging technologies...yet!

I've been working on a new template for blogger too so I can make it my own and have everything where I want it. But for the time being I've chosen one of blogger's templates.

I'll try and get the template finished as soon as possible but bear with me as I'm not finding it easy trying to get it to work with blogger.