The Mind Of Bleek: Experiences of a somewhat experienced Filmmaker

http://bleekman.wordpress.com/ Allow me to introduce a little production company.

You know that you have a bit of an obsession with something when you can relate that obsession to practically any occurance in one’s life. One of those obsessions would be Television. So, think of this as a celebration of sorts to some milestones and the series finale of another.

If you’ve been following my journey from the beginning of the end of high school to the mid-point of my university life, you’ll know that the blog has been written for and up and running for more than two years now! Yep, this old girl is old. And the lack of updates over the past year are really annoying, but lives have changed and people have become busy. As you’ll see.

If you’ve been reading for the last few years, you’ll know that my birthday is next week. I’ll leave it there.

I’ll direct you once again, to my Twitter account. http://www.twitter.com/bleekster

Finally, if you’ve been following the blog for the last two years, you’ll know that I’ve been chronicling my work at Woolworths, at Mountain Creek and at Kelvin Grove. That series in my life, has come to an end today, with my resignation from the company effective from today. The reasons behind it are that I have been getting little to absolutely no work from the place in the last month and a half, and in that last month and a half I’ve produced some of my best work, I’ve managed to see the Pilot of The Apollo Library written and I’ve managed to start rolling the ball on the rest of the series, not only that my skills as a writer and motivation to write has drastically improved as well, all because the lack of Woolies. My decision is based on the fact that creatively, without Woolies around, it’s been a godsend. So, my time at Woolworths has finally ended. More than two years later.

It’s interesting and kinda scary, when one thinks about it - It’s like an occurance of Syzygy, an alignment of sorts. All of this, two years in the making…

I’ll be back.

ZING! Probably the best bit of writing I’ve had in some time! I’m still around, I’ll be back

The ‘Breaks Master’ entered the breaks temple last weekend, with Elite Force making his debut at Moonbar’s night of nights Breaks and Enter on Saturday, complimented by fellow U&A label mates Hyperion, which saw them close out their moniker of Hyperion and move into a more ‘furious’ nature and namesake. The line-up at Empire was huge for the hour before Elite Force’s set was scheduled to start; the night was a forecast for absolutely huge beats, basslines and most importantly, breaks. With that forecast dominantly in mind Moonbar was packed to the brim with extremely eager punters gorging at the chance to see Simon Shackleton AKA Elite Force finally melt the paint on the walls of the Empire supported by the absolutely superb talent of Hyperion.

To inform you a bit about how Elite Force approaches his sets with the ideal that instead of utilising breakbeat anthems and top 10s, he works on reedits and mini-mashes of tracks to better keep his sets fresh, harder to predict and much more thoroughly enjoyable. His set at Moonbar was no different and having this unpredictability proved a perfect choice, with the crowd bending, shaking and grooving for the hour and a half his set lasted for, not a soul moved away as the music continued to smash. So, Force has dubbed these tracks he plays as ‘Combos’, so allow me to list some of the artists you would’ve heard if you were at his set: The Gossip’s Standing in the Way of Control over the fantastically titled and deep breaks number of his own Engine, and his breaks scene-waking collaboration with Meat Katie earlier this year Dark and Deep. But he didn’t allow his sets to consist of just breaks, with Force also dropping his two latest electro chompers from U&A’s favourite and electro’s favourite Zodiac Cartel, with both tracks from the latest single We Don’t Play That.
Later in the set, Force even dropped Pendulum’s heavy remix of The Prodigy’s Voodoo People, slowly building it in and completely obliterating the dancefloor with the modernised rave synths of the remix, soon after the track began its finish, Force added a little Fake Blood to the mix with his Theme Song fantastically timed the closing of Voodoo People. Finally, dropping his absolutely blinding remix of Plump DJs Scram, with a much tougher and less bouncy sound to the original, it had the clear Elite Force ‘Midas touch’, just like the rest of his set.

After the close, Hyperion stepped up behind the decks and in one of the most respectful moves I’ve seen at a club, killed the sound to make way for a thunderous amount of applause for the man who many believe (myself included) to be the man that continued to be the voice for quality over quantity and uniqueness over similarity in the breaks and electro scenes.

His Saturday night set at Breaks and Enter was sadly Hyperion’s last, before they are transformed into The Loops of Fury (obvious tip of the hat to the Chemical Brothers there, if you didn’t notice). They played a set not necessarily suited to the theme of Breaks and Enter, but it sure as hell sounded like it deserved to be there, with a set that was extremely impressive and only got better and (believe me) better as the night went on. With some obvious track choices, Hyperion dropped their sparkly, thunderous remix of Dylan Rhymes I Am Sweet, to the perfectly timed jumps of punters who didn’t leave after the headline had finished, but stayed and continued to groove the night away as Hyperion threw down some of the French touch with Mr. Oizo’s massive Positif and rewarding us with some dairy as they dropped Deadmau5’s The Reward is Cheese, the energy was unbelievable as punters didn’t grow tired, instead warming to them quickly and offering cheers and applause and smiles to help support the boys from Brisbane.

If you were thinking that Elite Force’s finale was good, Hyperion pipped him at the gate with a truly magnificent close to a set starting with their steamrolling remix of Force’s Peyote Road which moved effortlessly into the most beautiful closing track I’ve heard in a long, long time. Hyperion as an outgoing nod and as an incoming nod and as an inspirational nod, bought in a special re-edit of The Chemical Brothers remix of I Think I’m In Love from Spiritualized. Needless the say the track combined with the crowd ripped the roof, cracked the walls and shook the floors with its airy intro and dropping in to a modernised version of the 1999 breaks remix. As their set came to a close, the applause and supporting cheers continued and smiles were had all around,

Overall, at the end of the night, we witnessed Elite Force delivering the most eclectic set of breaks I’ve ever heard, and the energy and masterful focus he displayed behind the decks made for an absolute inspiration and comfort that the man knows much more than most, if not all. Only to prove his point further with his label mates Hyperion, now The Loops of Fury, showing off to everyone that they are indeed Brisbane’s latest and greatest.

Right. New year and all that. Welcome to 2009, Bleekster fans.

About 3 months in.

Swing and a miss on the frequency of those blog posts. You’ll have to make do with the old “Swamped” excuse. At the writing of this, I’m hard at work on The Apollo Libraries with a very small writing team. (You bet, I’ve got other writers working with me now). I’m also back at Uni for nearly a month now.

BUT! All is not lost, the frequency of updates on here will still be thin, but low and behold you can keep track (Albeit brief track) of what I’m up to via Twitter. www.twitter.com/bleekster

I’ll apologise firstly for the complete lack of updates. University prep and Side project prep meant that the blog completely slipped my mind! For that I apologise and I hope I haven’t deterred you from reading what exactly has been going on.

Second year back at Uni? I’ll say that it’s extremely hard working up the motivation to continue on. Don’t get me wrong, I love everything that I’m doing, but some of it seems a bit…irrelevant. But I’m learning some stuff that I’m loving and loathing.

There might be a shake up of the guard in the next few months. Stay CLOSELY tuned. I mean it.

The last post of 2008.

Things are a little different this year than they were last year. Obviously, the massive changes we’ve all no doubt have gone through over this year. It’s been a hectic one for me to say the least. Many highs (And extremely highs, like I’m on at the moment with a lot of things) and many lows. The best thing about this is that the highs (Like last year. Hey! Maybe it isn’t so different after all!) greatly, and I mean GREATLY outweigh the lows. I can recall mentioning that a big change would occur this year with a lot of things and it most certainly has. University, living by oneself, new friends, life outside school and moving forward to a cemented career.

I’ll be honest, I’d love to be spending my New Years in my new home in Brisbane, but I’ve had to return home for the family thing. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family and all that but it’d be cool to spend New Years with all my new friends. I miss em’ a lot, whilst I’m up here doing…well not alot.

Shouts out to Max, Jack and Yabbie for the comments. It means a lot. Max - I’m a little surprised by you though mate. I totally didn’t think you read it, how awesome is that. Here’s a plug. www.myspace.com/hyperionlive Go and have a listen; they’re Brisbane’s best.

2008 has, without a doubt been the best year of my life. I think one realises this after they experience things they hadn’t in their previous years. It’s a fantastic feeling.

So what exactly can I leave you with like last year? At this point in time, I should have a little more frequency in entries to the blog before Uni fires up it’s Second Gear (Year, I just thought that saying Gear sounded badass, because I totally am badass) then I’m thinking that the frequency will wear thin and there will be patchy updates here and there. Trust me, I do read for comments and stuff, so any comments made on any entry regardless of when it was made is a comment read by me! As always though, I’ll keep you in the loop as to what’s going on.

I’ll see you at the turn of the clock from 08′ to 09′.

-Nick

It’s been an interesting few months / year. So I’ll wrap it up. This will just focus on my writing and stuff for the moment, until I deem it necessary to get into the more personal stuff.

To those who still read this, I think there’s 3 of you. Yabbie, Katie and Jesse. Thanks. It’s really appreciated. If there is anyone I haven’t mentioned come and find me and I’ll mention you next time, which hopefully doesn’t mean at the end of NEXT year!

So for the last few months, I’ve taken a bit of a break from my writing, not a complete break, I couldn’t exactly give it all up, I’ve been doing some Event and Music reviews for Inthemix on the side and Earworm took a bit of a backburner for other reasons. Overall, it was my Screenwriting and Story writing that took the biggest hit. I felt, personally that I needed a break to let my mind unsqueeze itself of the leftover creative stuff I had left in it. If that makes any sense. Having written about 6 screenplays this year, it really does eat away at you when you try for fresh ideas. That work.

The new year is going to bring in some big projects for myself. At the writing of this entry, I’m doing complete rewrites of The Apollo Libraries (That’s now a working title. Not a solidified one) you might ask, why this this Nick? Well, having read through some of the opening sequences and some of the action sequences, I felt that it’s aiming a little too big budgety Science-Fiction with made up stuff in it. So I’ve gone back to the pad to start reworking the entire story to focus on select themes that Science-Fiction today might not necessarily touch on. It’s a universe I want to create, everything must have a background, a story for itself. Even the grass the characters step on!

Wait; that might be a bit excessive.

To tie things up with the writing, I’ve also started conceptualising a 6-parter TV series which of course has the dash of Sci-fi to it. If not, it’ll be a Drama. Which I’m hoping to have written by the end of the new year to be ready for a big pitch!

Oh I passed my first year of University. 4.5 out 7 overall which is total pwn for me! Boo yeah!

I’ll return to make a farewell 2008 post before 2009. Thanks again to everyone.

-Nick

Three words: The Blog Stays

Stay tuned…

This blog, everything. I’m not sure I can do it anymore. There doesn’t seem to be interest. Then again, what can I expect, a small blog like mine being popular? Not a chance. I realised that this isn’t here to gain popularity but as something I can read back and remember and even those mentioned in the articles I’ve posted can read. I know there are people out there that read it.

I’m bitter, angry and confused. Which I could probably link to the downfall of this blog and probably my writing.

Give me two or three weeks and I’ll have a decision made. Have no fear, it’s not the end of my writing though!

Regards,
-Nick

I did promise you an announcement. Whilst it may not affect you hugely, it’s eating away at my keyboard.

Today, I’m announcing (I had some content to show you, but I didn’t think it was polished enough) the Third Millenia Archive, which is an archive that chronicles the events, the people and places (A collection of short stories and profiles) that lead up to events that take place in my feature film script ‘The Apollo Libraries’.

My first plan, which was to create a Wiki and chronicle the events on there, seemed like a much easy and thorough way of doing it. However the Wiki provider I chose didn’t like the idea because it wasn’t too community focused. No matter, I’ll be working on a logo design and some other various images to compliment the stories that I write.

The reason behind this? Being a writer that wants as much depth to his characters, locales and stories, I wanted to pursue and create a rich universe to help back up the stories that I create within ‘The Apollo Libraries’.

I’m excited about this, and extremely confident that it will take a very long time. I’ll be back.

-Nick

I can’t remember if I told you guys that I was going to Sydney in the last update (Which, HAHA! Just under a month ago. I’m on fire.) I’m pretty sure I told everyone physically, but those that I didn’t see (Nor did I want to see) I don’t remember…but hey I got this one done in under a month! So what’s chronicled here has taken place in under one month and the stuff to come will take place in under one month. What a trend!

Right now, I’m in Sydney.

Yep, I’m writing this very entry in my very own private chateau…Not really, I’m staying at my cousin’s mansion in North Sydney, which is about a 40 minute train ride out of the city. The past week has been one of catch up with family I haven’t seen, record shopping which saw me purchase many-a new Boards of Canada CD’s (For those music boffins, I’ll post what I bought after the entry) and some epic comics (For those comic boffins, I’ll post what I bought after the entry).

In all honesty, I’ve enjoyed it, but for the first time I actually miss some people (Some A LOT more than others) back in my bunker at Brisbane. I’ve never actually experienced this whole “I Miss You” thing, but I genuinely feel it now. Not to the point where I’m crying myself to sleep (I’m a d00d, I wouldn’t do that!) but just doing my best to keep contacting people constantly.

The next couple of days see me venturing into the city again to get some pictures of the Opera House (And me looking awesome in front of the Opera House) and other various Sydney places (And me looking awesome in front of other various Sydney places) I’ll also be catching up with Uncle Robert! For those who have been reading for the past year and a half. Uncle Robert keeps this blog alive, even though the content is stretched like Mr. Fantastic. We’ll be discussing various business opportunities, such as whether it’s worth it buying a burger or a beer for lunch. The next few days, I hope, will be relaxing, before the boulder of work and Uni comes rolling.

I’m actually very excited, for the past few weeks I’ve been having trouble keeping my writing going. There’s two main reasons.

But back to why I’m excited, I think I’ve overcome my little writer’s block with a new project I’ve started. It’s in early conceptual stages, and it’s a huge solo effort from myself; however, it will be revealed in the next month. Hand on heart, I promise you that you’ll see what it is in the next month. Not many people (I think just the one at the moment) have a clue what it is. It’s big and it’s going to kick start the creative juices again.

CD’s and Vinyl purchased:
Various Artists - Lot49 Presents Lee Coombs Sampler (Vinyl)
General Elektrick - On The Run (Vinyl)
Boards of Canada - Hi Scores EP (CD: Limited to 3000 copies!)
Boards of Canada - Geogaddi (CD)
Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase (CD)

Comics purchased:
The Road to the Civil War
The Ultimates #1

Oh and by the way, I turned 18 on the 18th of June. Sorry, I should’ve updated earlier, but you know me!
-Nick