I watched 'Rounders' last night. Unfortunately it was 'just another poker' film. Acting, directing etc. were all great. John Malkovich played a russian so well you couldn't understand a word he said, and Edward Norton played 'Worm', the recently out-of-jail friend of the main character with the energy it required. Such a pity the script was so average.
I suspect 'Desperate Measures' to be equally dull but what the hell I'm on holidays.
Dave has some nice thoughts on Xmas and present giving. I had trouble this year buying presents for friends who have jobs, who can get that which they desire by simply visiting a shop (or Amazon, CDNow etc.).
Unfortunately this year I weasled out and didn't buy presents for my friends. I went nuts and bought everything my parents and family (and girlfriend) asked for. It felt good.
One thing that stuck in my head was that my friends who don't have jobs, those that would really love something random for Xmas, are the ones I've been neglecting the most lately. I would like to give to them, but I no longer know them enough to know what they would like.
Studio Time
I previous said that Walken had some studio time. Unfortunately this turned out to be a shed with some amps. As great as it was to have somewhere to jam, it wasn't really what we were after.
On Saturday the whole band wondered over to "The Dane Centre" in Brunswick, Melbourne. It was a great place, with masses of small studios, and one or two large full digital studios. The studio we're likely to use is mearly a largish room with a drumkit, bass amp, guitar amp, eight track mixer and a tape deck. You turn up, they set you up (mix wise) and you play on all day (for six hours). All for just $55. Surely there is a catch?
Well, the people there have twenty years experience, but because of this they're stuck in the seventies, with all the opinions and mindsets that go with this...
But it's somewhere to jam, in private, and we can be as loud as we want, with someone pro to mix us up, and equipment better than our own. Awesome. Hopefully some decent demos will come from this.