What I think this blog lacks of late is dogs. In this case, dogs wearing specs!
Top pic is of the late, great Fred (2004-2018), thus attired in May 2016. The second pic is of the beauteous Tikki, actually sitting in almost the same spot as her much-missed uncle, circa June 2019…
Out short film Monsters, starring Liam Woon, had its public premiere earlier today at the Grindhouse Planet Film Festival, The Shed, Leicester. Here’s a snap of the screening, plus Liam and Steve posing with organiser Marc Hamill…
Principal photograph for Monsters was completed last night (Sunday)! In a very cold warehouse in deepest Coventry, the six-hour shoot went really well… a couple of annoying technical problems were surmounted without any great drama. (Okay, maybe some drama!!)
Huge thanks to Liam Woon for his brilliant performance and going above & beyond to help us ensure it all worked out! More soon!! But in the meanwhile, as ever, here are some photos for you to peruse…
Yesterday, we had our rehearsal for the aforementioned Monsters short, with Liam Woon playing the role of “The Man”. The final run-through was filmed and I played around with the image & sound a little bit. The shooting proper will take place later this month. Meanwhile, here’s a rehearsal pic, a test grab from the rehearsal film, and a shot of Liam with Steve…
Yeah, I’m really back, and there will be a flurry of catchup postings coming up. It’s been a weird few months.
Last time I was here, it was to write about the passing of my Westie, Fred, aged 14. Not long after that, Steve “adopted” Oscar, a two-year-old miniature Yorkie from Manchester. It was nice to have a dog back in the house without too much of a break, and he’s awful cute…
But… BUT… for me, there was a Westie-sized hole and it wasn’t getting filled so easily.
Read More »I’m Back! Meet Oscar & Tikki!
So: a belated return to posting on here, but it’s for a very sad reason. After getting over the New Year slash January funk, around January 24th, my beloved dog Fred started to get sick. At first it was extreme exercise intolerance, soon followed by alarming breathing difficulties and severe weakness/lethargy.
There he is above, asleep, back on January 6th. As far as we knew, he was more or less OK at this time. Very old, but fine.
An initial vet appointment early in February gave us a diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis (apparently common in Westies) and suitable meds were given. I was not convinced or happy about this diagnosis; I had my own suspicions/fears, which later turned out to be correct. Anyhow, after a week or so, there was no improvement… and in fact, Fred had started to experience very obvious fluid build-up in his belly, which was having a big impact on his mobility and comfort.
We ended up going to a different vet by mid-February, and this time received the diagnosis I’d feared: Fred had terminal stage congestive heart failure. They drained his belly and started him on new meds (Vetmedin and Flurosemide), but in less than three days the fluid build-up (which was making it very difficult from him to lie down or rest) was becoming obvious once again. The drugs seemed to be doing nothing at all. We took him into the vet again last Saturday (Feb 24th), fully expecting him to not be coming home… but the vet we saw recommended an additional drug (Cardalis), as a last resort.
Read More »Fred H, RIP (2004-2018)
Yesterday (Nov 27), All Bad Things was screened at the 2017 Grindhouse Planet Film Festival, at The Shed, Leicester.
This was the first public screening following the cast & crew screening last month. Here are some photos…
All Bad Things Grindhouse screening.
Read More »Grindhouse Planet Film Festival Screening
Incidentally, today is my birthday. Don’t ask.
Last night, we had our cast & crew screening for All Bad Things, plus the two Club Vamporama shorts “Who Is Bette Noir?” and “Hail Cthulhu!”, plus we screened some early footage for the Terror at Bell’s End trailer.
We drafted in our good friend & talented author/performer, Jasper Bark, to MC the proceedings, which was held at the Victoria, Birmingham city centre. I think overall the night went very well and we had most of the cast & crew from our various projects there.
The evening kicked off with the superb local actor, William Hayes (with whom we are planning to work very soon), giving a stirring rendition of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”.
The final bits of shooting & full editing on All Bad Things has just been completed, and only a shade before midnight, ahead of the cast & crew screening (which is actually later tonight).
This involved filming a bit of last-minute gore FX which featured my arm!
