With great power comes great romance flicks!!

First day. First show. Putting my 7 hours of sleep to risk. Tuesday 10 pm (06/27/06) with fellow superman-iacs. The scene I was expecting.

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Exterior. Twilight. Dark mystifying aura.

Lois Lane

The world was missing your action
(beat)
God knows how many people were trying to fly like you!!

Superman

I was trying to master mind control techniques to fight the powers of kryptonite

Lois

I was violated superman…by

(beat) (lightening and thunder)

Lex …Lex Luther!

Superman

You mean …he was…

Lois

Yes! Exonerated …..

Superman

How..where..

(beat)

Why

A distant sound of chopper Lex Luther is shouting his gut out

Lex

The day you have been waiting for..Super

Superman

I have business to take care of Lois

more lightening and thunder and superman's eyes glows and chest even more inflated

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The scene that Brian Singer thought was right according to his screenplay and what I got…

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Exterior. Twilight. Gentle breeze. Beautiful vantage view of the cityscape.

Lois

..Not even a good bye?

Superman

I had to see it for myself..

(beat)
The astronomers discovered it still exists

Lois

Clark tells me that may be you didn’t have the time to say good bye

Superman (leaning gently over Lois and looking into her eyes)

May be Clark is right!

Lois stand on her toes, leans on his broad chest, closes her eyes and is about to kiss him. She draws back.

Lois

Richard is a nice man!

Superman’s mojo is cracked ! He prepares to fly off.

Lois

Will you be around. Can I see you.

Superman (smirking)

I am always around!

A not so outdoorsy summer week !!!

• The world is flat seems to be a never ending read. The world sure will become flatter by the time I finish this non-fiction epic. I guess Mahesh Dattani is stealing the limelite away from Mr Friedman. Have been parallely reading Dattani's collection of plays - second volume.
• Talking about the world getting flatter, seems like the America is finally beginining to take soccer seriously - the television viewership numbers are mind blowing for the ongoing FIFA World cup. TEN times what the last superbowl drew. Have been rooting for the spirited side from Ghana. What an upset it would be if Ghana gets past Brazil. Surely will be something to cherish for my nephew in Ghana.
  
• So July 15th, 2006 it is - The world premiere of Orange @ Lab 601 in Atlanta. Its a one print, one location, one theatre premiere. Sorry Miramax!! you will have to wait :)
• Hawaii, Oslo (norwegian, 2004) - Clearly, the best film I have seen this year. Terrific human sensibility. Life, death imbalances. Power of destiny. Amores Perros' narration style rejuvenated and re-invented. A must see not just for film lovers, but for plain life lessons.
• If you love authentic mexican try the chicken mole at Panchos - second only to the mole at Nuevo Laredo.
• myspace.com is the greatest gift for independent film makers and musicians. Stumbled upon this local band called Dust Rabbit. Preeeeeety tight act!

Bring on some more Brit Rock !!!!

I have heard many self-proclaimed Yankees and Dookies (with no pun intended to Green day fans) say if you have heard Coldplay, you have heard em all – those “brit trash bands”. Granted!! Coldplay tends to sound monochromatic a bit, but what I most love Coldplay for, is their poetry set to music.

I am dazzled by the plethora of raw talent from underground bands in the UK. Just when you thought you got enough of Kaiser Chiefs and Franz Ferdinand, there are bands like Plastik. I can’t seem to put my finger on the alternative genre they play – somewhere between a neo-punk rock revivalist and classic grunge. Listen to their “Dead Star” and the ballad like “Bring me the head of Robert Howard”. My favorite is “London, you owe me this much”- acoustic guitar opulence; reminds me of Clapton’s Tears in Heaven.

Got a big high this week listening to this quartet called Devotchka – a Denver based band. Their influences are drawn from East European gypsy to Salsa and Meringue. They are playing at the earl this weekend and I can’t wait to see their orchestral rendition (Violin and the works) of “Queen of the Surface”.

What turned out to be an ipod download and drain was RHCP’s Stadium Arcadium. But for the album’s title song, everything else sounded like a repackaged repertoire.

So what’s with the surge in my interest levels for indie alternative bands – well I am looking for one for my next short film, Love and Lingerie. The mood and pace of the film is going to be driven by punk rock meets symphonic orchestration.

Feeling the last stretch and some weekday viewings

Just when I though I was getting my hands and brains around all the post production nuance...bam!!! I had to face a curve ball that caught me totally off guard. If you are an indie filmmaker shooting on digital and more so, on any high def platforms, brace yourself. You will be better off getting a quick education in the following domains.

• MPEG4 versus MPEG2 encoding @26,000 bit rate as opposed to 10,000
• Lossless compression and it correlation to audio/video data sampling
• ISO standards for DVD imaging

That's just the tip of the iceberg. It absolutely makes sense to have a video compression and encoding geek on your production team. And so, welcome Gandharv! You will be my chief technologist.

Last night, we mastered a DVD for Orange after several iterations. We are doing a focus group screening on sunday (June 11, 2006) at the Emory University. Please feel free to email me for invitations.

Between having my heads down on getting Orange out on DVD and pre-production work for my next short and keeping up with my day job routine, I managed to catch up on the following 'food for thought' movies.

Mimì metallurgico ferito nell'onore a.k.a The Seduction of Mimi (Italy)
Released in 1972, this is an uncharacteristic offering from an Italian filmmaker - most tend to have a special parallel focus on imagery and abstract lighting, trail blazed by Fellini. Mimi is the story of a dockworker who invites the wrath of the mafia in Sicily and hence has to flee up north. What follows is a satire of his life - adulterous romance, more mafia evasion and a rollicking climax ala a Hrishikesh Mukerjee classic.

Terra Estrangeira a.k.a Foreign Land (Brazil, Portuguese)
This 1996 film is shot in black and white and has a spaghetti western narration style replete with Bossanova meets bluegrass music score. Set in the back drop of a financial turmoil during the presidential regime (1990- 92) of Fernando Collor. Fernando froze all savings accounts - a move that triggered a mass migration of Brazilians to Europe . The story, however, is about how fate (aided by migration) brings two people together each going through personal grief and struggle.