BARRIER ... to success!

Hi Guys,

This is a post from Great Barrier Island. I am on lunch break the first day of work.

I am feeling uncreative but letting you know that I am alive and have a good view.

I hope you are well.

Yes, you.

(Yes, I know I used that before. But it never gets old!)

if you care about these sorts of things ...

... I now have a Flickr page.

Maybe I'll put up pictures from Great Barrier Island. Maybe not.

The suspense!

T minus 22 hours or so.

people might like this

it's late and my prose is crap, so let me just say that John Safran is brilliant and this is worth watching.

what's happening in a week

I think I've mentioned this before, but people keep asking me, and plus also too it's probably buried under lots of other stuff. So.

On Sunday I will be on a ferry for Great Barrier Island. I will be working there for three months as an editor on a production for British television called Castaway. You can read about the first season, back in 2000, here. (And the current version here, in a much more cynical write-up.)

I'll be there for three months, along with lots of crew, although accomodation is scarce and scattered so we'll be all over the place, not taking over a hotel or anything. I don't know how much is under non-disclosure so I'll be circumspect about any additional details of the production, although truthfully that Wikipedia article knew more than I did.

I will be staying in a 4-bedroom house with three other editors, a half-hour drive from the job site. (They'll be picking us up and dropping us off every day.) There are two shifts: 11am - 9pm, and 9pm to 7am. Supposedly we'll be switching between them. (Not too often, I hope.)

I will have mobile phone coverage at my house "if I go up the hill", and possibly dial-up ("very slow", which I presume means even by dial-up standards) Internet. I'll have the option of coming back to Auckland once every two weekends, if for some reason that sounds like a better option than staying in a house 1km from a great swimming beach and 18km from the nearest "good shop". (Apparently many locals get their groceries freighted over from Auckland once a week.)

Great Barrier has no power grid, so our amenities will be modest - for instance, we can't use "heat-generating devices" like hair dryers (not a worry, since I've clipped it all off again and don't use one even when I don't) and there is no freezer. (I haven't asked but assume there is no TV.) Nonetheless, I'm very looking forward to it. I have an 18-inch pile of books to take with me, my snorkel and fins, and am very looking forward to three months of living in isolation. I've sort of always had this fantasy, and it'll be a great way to give it a test run and see if I take to it like a duck to water or like oil to water.

For what should be incredibly obvious reasons given the above, expect updates here to be even more sporadic than normal. But I'll be thinking about you.

Yes, you.

I'll post a proper update soon.

But in the meantime, I'm posting this PSA on behalf of my friend Ransom:

Hi all,

I'm sending this to everyone I know, and everyone they know, and
probably even a few people I don't know. The reason: a short film I
directed called "Portable Living Room" has been named a finalist
in the IFC Spirit Awards -- one of four nominated out of
many, many submissions -- and if it wins it will be broadcast live
on the Independent Film Channel as part of the 2007 Independent
Spirit Awards telecast.

The finalists were chosen by a panel of IFC judges, but the winner
is chosen via online voting. So I need all the votes I can get,
and the competition is fierce! Lots of people watched the film
online after my first email, and though I got a lot of great
feedback from people who enjoyed it, not very many voted.
If you could take a minute to register for the IFC site
and rate the film 5 stars, it would be a great help!
(And if you're a friend of a friend of a friend and aren't sure
who I am, please accept my apologies -- and check out the film anyway!)

Here's a direct link to the film on IFC.com:
http://medialab.ifc.com/film_detail.jsp?film_id=3431


HOW TO VOTE

A lot of people wrote to tell me that they liked the film, but
didn't know how to vote. Unfortunately, the IFC site isn't
very straightforward, but what seemed like errors or glitches
to people who tried to vote is actually the way the site works!
Here's what you have to do. (This actually doesn't take very
long):

1) Go to the link above. My film will start playing immediately.
You will see RATE IT! and 5 blank stars below the film, but
when you click on it, the site asks you to register.

2) Fill out the registration form. It will ask you to re-enter a
bit of semi-garbled text for security purposes. You may have
to type it in a number of times; this isn't a glitch, it's just
an (annoying) security feature.

3) The site sends you an email. Click on the link in the email
and it will take you back to the site. Enter your email address
and the password you created.

4) You see a page called "my profile." Just ignore this -- you
don't have to enter any info here -- just go back to the page
with my film on it, using the same URL as above:
http://medialab.ifc.com/film_detail.jsp?film_id=3431

5) Now you can vote. 5 stars!

it's here.

it's here.

You know the drill by now. Let me know in the next week or so if you want a copy, as time is tight before I get on the boat.

DISC ONE
1. Petra Haden - “God Only Knows” (www.petrahadenmusic.com)
2. Juana Molina – “Elena” (SON)
3. Nina Nastasia - “Brad Haunts A Party” (ON LEAVING)
4. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – “Lay And Love” (THE LETTING GO)
5. Talkdemonic – “Dusty Flourescent/Wooden Shelves” (BEAT ROMANTIC)
6. Cat Power - “Living Proof” (THE GREATEST)
7. Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 – “Ole! Tarantula” (OLE! TARANTULA)
8. The Mountain Goats – “Alibi” (BABYLON SPRINGS EP)
9. Sonic Youth – “Reena” (RATHER RIPPED)
10. Aceyalone – “Grand Imperial” (GRAND IMPERIAL)
11. Ratatat - “Lex” (CLASSICS)
12. Islands - “Rough Gem” (RETURN TO THE SEA)
13. Gnarls Barkley – “Crazy” (ST. ELSEWHERE)
14. The Mint Chicks – “Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!” (CRAZY? YES! DUMB? NO!)
15. Nouvelle Vague– “Ever Fallen In Love?” (BANDE A PART)
16. Neko Case – “That Teenage Feeling” (FOX CONFESSOR BRINGS THE FLOOD)
17. Tapes ‘n Tapes– “Insistor” (THE LOON)
18. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Cheated Hearts” (SHOW YOUR BONES)
19. Portastatic – “You Blanks” (BE STILL PLEASE)
20. Tara Jane O’Neil – “Bluelight Room” (VA - PDX POP NOW! 2006)
21. Lambchop - “Decline of Country & Western Civilization” (DAMAGED)
22. Liars - “The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack” (DRUM’S NOT DEAD)

DISC TWO
1. Kind of Like Spitting - “Share The Road” (THE THRILL OF THE HUNT)
2. Yo La Tengo – “Pass The Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind” (I AM NOT AFRAID OF YOU AND I WILL BEAT YOUR ASS)
3. Black Chrome - “My Band” (BLACK CHROME)
4. Killer Mike – “That’s Life” (I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE GRIND)
5. OOIOO – “UMO” (TAIGA)
6. Maxime De La Rochefoucauld - “Fuite Au Coeur De La Nuit” (ORCHESTRAKI)
7. Smoosh - “Find A Way” (FREE TO STAY)
8. So So Modern – “At/One/Fell/Swoop” (EP0003)
9. Propagandhi– “A Speculative Fiction” (POTEMKIN CITY LIMITS)
10. TV On The Radio – “Playhouses” (RETURN TO COOKIE MOUNTAIN)
11. Man Man - “Van Helsing Boombox” (SIX DEMON BAG)
12. Destroyer - “A Dangerous Woman Up To A Point” (DESTROYER’S RUBIES)
13. Built To Spill – “Goin’ Against Your Mind” (YOU IN REVERSE)
14. The Hold Steady – “Southtown Girls” (BOYS AND GIRLS IN AMERICA)
15. Band of Horses – “The Funeral” (EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME)
16. Eric Bachmann – “So Long, Savannah” (TO THE RACES)
17. The Thermals - “I Hold The Sound” (THE BODY, THE BLOOD, THE MACHINE)