Author:

Martyn Drake

MP shares twin hotel room with man .. turns out to be evil reptile hellbent on enslaving humanity!

Posted by Martyn Drake – September 3, 2010

Today Mr. Vague admitted that the recent rumours that he was an evil space reptile – a member of an advanced scouting party whose people are hellbent on enslaving the human race and eating them for lunch before stripping the planet of it’s natural mineral resources and buggering off on an Intergalatic cruise – was true.

Mr. Dashing, the man whom he shared the room with, admitted the as the lights went out, he could see his companion shed his human disguise and eat five babies he had smuggled into the room, before finishing off his meal with a couple of hamsters (although Mr. Dashing refused to say if he actually ate them..). One hamster was revealed as being gay – the others were quick to deny it and referred the press to their solicitors.

Mr. Vague’s wife of 2,300 years also admitted that she too was a space reptile and found that living with humans made her a better cold-blooded animal. Although she did say that eating her husband’s political rivals gave her enormous pleasure and found was very difficult giving up eating MPs, who gave her too much gas.

David Macaroon, the PM, gave his full support to an alien invasion and welcomes our new overlords, saying that our country will only be stronger for it.

Kick-Ass producer interview at the IndieLondon..

Posted by Martyn Drake – September 3, 2010

Very good short interview with Kick-Ass producer, Tarquin Pack at the IndieLondon web site regarding producing Kick-Ass. Some good comments regarding how the studios perceived Hit Girl.

I had some dealings with Tarquin way back on Stardust and early on in Kick-Ass’ production (in the hope to secure a new interview with Jane Goldman – but ultimately failed miserably – #MartynFAIL). Good bloke and I wish him even more success with X-Men: First Class and Kick-Ass 2: Balls to the Wall. Note: just to make things clear, the above interview was not done by me.

Sandman: The TV series, from the creator of Supernatural? First things first..

Posted by Martyn Drake – September 2, 2010

Looks like it may happen. But a couple of points:

  • Regardless of whoever gets put in charge that is not Neil Gaiman – should really talk to Neil Gaiman.

  • If Neil Gaiman isn’t involved, Lord have mercy on your soul that you don’t bugger it up If you do bugger it up, the show will sink faster than a rubber duck with a hole in it’s bottom. And it will make it much, much harder for you to make any non-endorsed Neil Gaiman story into TV or film property. Thankfully I believe Mr. Gaiman pretty much now controls all his own rights to everything he has written since.

  • If the show fails and Neil Gaiman has been involved? There is no fail. There is only success. The word fail will cease to exist while the show runs.

  • I’ve always associated Supernatural with women’s television programming as the show has primarily aired on Living TV which at the time was aimed pretty squarely at women. It’s attempted to broaden it’s horizons by buying in shows like CSI, etc., but I’m still not entirely convinced. If Sandman is to be produced in the US by WB TV, it’s going to need support from a good syndication network that does not involve silly demographically-lead TV channels. It needs a home where you’re not associated primarily by any one particular demographic. Yes, even for a fantasy product. And if you can sell a series such as the Moffat/Gattis Sherlock to people who generally hate the detective genre, then you’re doing your job properly.

    • I’ll only be convinced of the show if Gaiman is involved with it. And I’ve seen the pilot (whether or not he is involved).

    Kick-Ass 2: It might be a while..

    Posted by Martyn Drake – September 2, 2010

    With September 6th the launch day of the DVD and Blu-Ray of Kick-Ass here in the UK (the resulting US and other territories sales have more than exceeded expectations), there is much talk of the sequel: Balls to the Wall. Mark Millar has mentioned they might start work on it as soon as X-Men: First Clas has finished – but the problem will be how to overcome the age of the original starts – especially that of Hit Girl.

    I’d probably imagine that it should take place a couple of years after the original story – after all, revenge is best served after a lengthy period of time. Let the juices stew. Let the anger REALLY build. Then let Red Mist and his horde have a go at Kick-Ass, who may have hung up his crime fighting suit for good after the exploits of the first story. Even crime fighters need a rest. But we’ll see. Whatever

    Speaking of X-Men: First Class, it seems to be more of X-Men: Class Wars given the amount of anger and bitterness on various forums and discussion boards about how the story will be handled, with some threatening to boycott the film (a fat lot of good THAT’ll do). Either way, people have to realise that (a) even hardcore superhero films still have to some vague appeal to the general masses in order for it to recoup the budget and make money, (b) a film is not a comic book. We’ll see what the overall reaction is when the film starts to get early previews and screenings next year.

    Tron versus Tron: Leagacy – it won’t be the same without Wendy Carlos

    Posted by Martyn Drake – September 2, 2010

    I am a HUGE collector of film soundtracks. Perhaps more so than regular pop albums, with tracks seemingly composed by 5 year old children armed with xylophones (most of Cheryl Cole’s songs sound to have been manufactured this way) whereas film soundtracks requiring an enormous amount of effort to create just the right environment to match the visuals. True musical art.

    Thanks to Spotify, I’ve been listening to the original Tron soundtrack composed by the electronic keyboard genius, Wendy Carlos. I think it’s an absolute gem of a soundtrack, and although I am pleased that Daft Punk are involved with Tron: Legacy, it’s a shame to discard the work of Wendy, whose themes within Tron are so memorable. Only time will tell how the Tron: Legacy soundtrack will stand up to that of the original, but one must acknowledge Wendy’s work on the first film. Without which we’d have no Tron: Legacy at all.

    Smoke & Mirrors hosting StudioSysAdmins event on October 7th

    Posted by Martyn Drake – September 1, 2010

    I may have left the post-production industry behind, but that doesn’t mean to say that I’m not occasionally dipping my toes into the latest happenings now and again.

    Just received the following email from a chap formally of Escape Studios, announcing an event being hosted by Smoke & Mirrors. I shall not be attending, as I’ll be in Romania at the time having a bit of a knees-up.

    Hello everyone!

    I’m super pleased to announce the official word on SSA London.

    Attached you’ll find the invite, but here’s a bit more info on the event.

    Thursday, October 7th 2010 – 6:30pm

    Join StudioSysAdmins at Smoke&Mirrors London, 57/59 Beak St. W1F 9SJ, London, UK for an evening of networking, drinks and presentations from OCF (GPFS basics) and Boston Limited (Supermicro’s upcoming lines) and a brief about the community from myself ala how you can contribute and what we’re hoping to achieve in the coming months.

    Please do come out, and bring anyone you feel could benefit from being in a room full of London’s finest engineers, resellers and production staff. Even if you’re not part of the list, or they aren’t, we do hope you can attend!

    There will be prizes on the night (oooooh!) but they won’t be given out until the end of the meeting, so be sure you get a raffle ticket on entry, and stay until the end to see if you’ve won! Afterwards, we will be moving on to a pub in the area (most likely the Old Coffee House, on Beak St. – roughly 50m west of S&M) for further good times and drinks!

    The night will be roughly like this:
    - 6:30-7:30 – Entry and drinks
    - 7:30-7:40 – SSA Introduction
    - 7:45-8:15 – GPFS basics and Q/A – Barry Evans, OCF
    - 8:20-8:50 – Supermicro discussion – TBA, Boston Limited
    - 8:50-9:00 – Prizes, and closing
    - 9pm-? – Drinks down the way!

    I’m sure we’ll run up a few things late, and all that, but should be pretty easy!

    See you October 7th!!

    More info on www.studiosysadmins.com.