Sir Peter Jackson

My hero, Peter Jackson is to get a knighthood.

Peter Jackson is to receive a knighthood from his native New Zealand.

The director, whose acclaimed Lord Of The Rings trilogy won 17 Oscars, has been named in the country's New Year Honours list.

Jackson, 48, has been handed the title for his "services to film", The Hollywood Reporter reveals.

New Zealand knights and dames are sanctioned by Queen Elizabeth II, the Commonwealth nation's official head of state.

Jackson is currently working on The Hobbit, a two-part prequel to the J.R.R. Tolkien saga, with Mexican director Guillermo del Toro.

In no small way, the DVD extras on the LOTR box set showing all the aspects for the films creation sowed the seeds that would eventually lead me to have a go at trying to make a career in films!

Congratulation, Sir Peter!

Seen in London - Human Trafficking

I came across the cardboard box lying next to a bus stop in Stoke Newington. I can offer no explanation for it.

I guess you really can buy anything nowadays! lol

Happy Christmas!

To all my friends, and everyone in the Blogosphere! I hope you have a good one, whatever you get up to! :)

Snow and snowmen

Its been snowing heavy in Harrogate, and therefore the local citizens have taken the opportunity to do something we dont get to do often in this country.........and thats make Snowmen! lol


There was this brilliant snowman just across the road from my front door, and my brother and his boys made some too. A snowMan, a snowArcher and a snowDalek to be precise! lol

Ah, winter! :)

Highly important new trailer for new Robin Hood film

If you remember, I did a day on Ridley Scotts new Robin Hood film.

http://teamwak.blogspot.com/2009/08/sir-martin-de-walker-palace-gaurd-for.html

Anyway the trailer is out now, and its a right good rollicking yarn, so cant wait to see it!

http://www.superherohype.com/news.php?id=8938

Best thing is though, I am in it! lol Granted you wouldnt be able to tell its me, but I know it is! lol So helpfully below I have posted a screen cap to show my big moment*

* Hopes to God that Ridley has some better close-ups of the thone, or Im screwed!

Kick-Ass Red Band Widget

Quite possibly the coolest thing on the internet at the moment! lol. Seek parental permission before viewing ;)

Super Mario bacteria

If you could engineer bio-luminescent bacteria to glow certain colors, don't try to tell me you wouldn't try to create Mario's iconic Super Mario Bros sprite.

Let's say you were a member of a team that entered the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition (iGEM), and were given the task of creating art with biological components - specifically, luminescent bacterial cultures. What would you do?

If you were a member of the team from the nanobiology laboratories at the University of Osaka, apparently you would shape said bacteria into the iconic sprite of the world's most famous plumber, as seen here. The bacteria are genetically engineered to "express fluorescent proteins and carotenoid pigments to create works of art," which is fancy science talk for "They make the bacteria glow pretty colors."

The New Scientist has some more of the pieces, and while some of them are mind-blowingly gorgeous and impressive (I'm particular to the photo of Albert Einstein), none of them are Mario. So clearly, the Osakans win.

The Steward of The Valley

I did a day yesterday on an educational programme for the new ciriculum for kids wanting to do sport and leisure as a career. It was a fun day and we got to film at the stadium of premier league football team Charlton Athletic, who play at The Valley.

Its always nice to get to go behind the scenes at big stadiums, and this was no different. It looks like an excellent little programme, and we had a few very keen teenage actors running around doing sporty things all day long.

And best of all, they asked me to be in it (in the background) as a football steward. So cue orange jacket and my chance to continue my unbroken streak of appearing in everything I have ever worked on! Nice! :)

Carousel

After the screening for Rubins there was drinks in a bar in Leicester Square. Outside, in the middle of Leicester Square is a small fun fair.

So happy film crew + alcohol + fun fair = big kids at play. This is me and my flatmates Quinney and Nicky :D

Name in Lights

The screeing of Reuniting The Rubins was a unqualified success, or at least I think so.

It was great to see all my old friends from the film, and the Odeon, Leicester Square was packed. Most of the cast attended, including James Callis and Honor Blackman. And both seemed to enjoy it.

The audience Oooo'd and Ahhhh'd in all the right places, and Yoav and Jonathan got a resounding round of auplause that lasted for ages. Keep your eyes peeled in 2010, and I hope you enjoy the film (and the locations! lol) as much as I did. And is it wrong that I think my name looks rather good on a 40 foot screen! ;)

PS. Mr Callis may just steal this film! What a fucking legend! lol

Pointless

(C) By Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Editor, The Guardian

The Ultramarinum Marine watch, made by Swiss company Horus, promises to give its owners "the power of time". By pressing a button, the company promises, "the owner can play with the seconds, minutes and hours and make them follow the pace of his or her choice, then return to current time at any point."

The idea is that millionaires can enjoy the illusion of being in a slower or faster world, by making their watch faster or slower. If they are sunbathing and want to pretend the world has stopped moving, they can even stop the time. When they need to return to the real world – or find out the correct time – they push a button and the watch returns to normal.

Gadget experts are amused if a little bit confused by the watch, whose design has been inspired by the 1920s steam yacht SS Delphine.
Kat Hannaford, the contributing editor of Gizmodo, said: "This is clearly aimed at yachtsmen. But there are few places where accurate time is more important than when you are at sea and you need to know the time of the tides and the setting of the sun.
"And I am guessing anyone who has £400,000 to spend on watch is probably glued to their Blackberry all day anyway. The watch is going to appeal to owners of super yachts that never leave their moorings in the Monte Carlo harbour, rather than true sailors."

The watch face is made of teak, titanium and the mechanism inside the watch includes 45 rubies. It is water resistant to 100 meters and shockproof. The strap is made of canvas and leather.
The speeding up and slowing down mechanism is controlled by "a marine tourbillion function".

The founder of Horus, Andre Grossmann, who designed the £410,000 luxury item, defended a watch that didn't tell the correct time.
He said: "It took four years to create this breathtaking time-piece. We used avant-garde materials and revolutionary technologies to create a watch with a time-control system. I am really pleased to be able to offer people the possibility of controlling time. That, for me, is the very essence of true luxury. What could be more precious than time?"

Anyone won over by the Ultramarinum Marine watch can buy it from one of Horus's three shops situated in Montreux Switzerland, Monaco and Abu Dhabi.

What colour is the universe?

Beige, it seems! lol

What color is the universe? More precisely, if the entire sky were smeared out, what color would the final mix be? This whimsical question came up when trying to determine what stars are commonplace in nearby galaxies. The answer, depicted above, is a conditionally perceived shade of beige. To determine this, astronomers computationally averaged the light emitted by one of the largest sample of galaxies yet analyzed: the 200,000 galaxies of the 2dF survey. The resulting cosmic spectrum has some emission in all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, but a single perceived composite color. This color has become much less blue over the past 10 billion years, indicating that redder stars are becoming more prevalent. In a contest to better name the color, notable entries included skyvory, univeige, and the winner: cosmic latte.

Avatar natural history programme

Avatar finally hits our screens (and our eyes) in just over a week. There have been some amazing promos and trailers for it, but this one is just brilliant.

Narrated by Sigorney Weaver is the style of a real nature programme, this promo is brillaint, and looks amazing! I so cant wait for this! IMAX and 3D - Hell YEah!

Enjoy

http://player.canalplus.fr/#/297591

Save Our Squirrels

I have bought a new car. Or a new one to me. Its my brothers old car and its in great nick!

Its a 1999 Peurgeot 406 estate 1.8L. But more importantly, it has electric wing mirrors! An invention of extreme importance! lol. And it is so big that I could actually lie down flat in the boot ;)

But the great thing is that as it used to be the family car of a Yorkshreman with two young boys who like the ourdoors, it means I inherit the causes that they support from the sickers on the car. So I am now supporting the National Trust, the Cubs, Leeds Rhinos rugby league, and......SaveOurSquirels.org.uk! A most worthy cause, I'm sure you'll agree! lol.

Rubins cast & crew screening at the Odeon, Leicester Square.

Reuniting the Rubins is getting its cast and crew screening in December. I can't wait to see it on the big screen.

And the great thing is that the producer Jonathan has swung one of his super deals and only bloody got it at the Odeon, Leicester Square, London. The most prestigious cinema in the country, and one where some of the premiers of the biggest films in the world have taken place!

Ok granted its at 11am on a Sunday, but thats not the point! lol

I invited my parents to come, to finally show that what I'm upto has not been a total failed experiment ;) But unfortunately they cant make it, being that weekend is one of only 2 times in the next 2 months they couldn't make it. Oh well, such is life. Next one then!

But one bright cloud is that I can get pissed with all my old friends from the shoot and not worry about parental disapproval lol. There's enough of that anyway! lol Can't wait for this. Should be a blast :)