Pocket Planet Radio

Winslet and the mobarazzi

I take my morning break at the local Starbucks (and I might as well hit myself in the face with a shovel - their coffee is terrible). It's across the road from one of those LA restaurants filled with wannabee player types: Skinny blonds in tight jeans and diaphanous blouses accompanied by slick young men with over-waxed hair and over plucked eyebrows. It's a sushi restaurant, the personality of the food thereby perfectly complementing the personalities of the diners i.e. slimy.

Today was something of a first as the restaurant was being used as a location for a movie and, therefore, had real stars inside it. i.e. Kate Winslet. As Kate appeared two of my fellow coffee drinkers sprung into action...both were paparazzi photographers. I had a chance to ask one if the vast hordes snapping everything on their cell phones, were eating into his livelihood. Not really was the verdict..the quality of phone photos is so poor that unless it's the only shot of a celeb doing X or Y it's unlikely to be marketable. With that in mind I'll keep the camera at home for tomorrow's coffee-break... so much for joining the "mobarazzi"

WWII Films on the web..

This is just superb.  LA Observed points us to Cinemocracy which is hosting a collection of down-loadable old WWII documentary and propaganda films by the likes of John Ford, John Houston and Frank Capra. Unfortunately on my connection it's a 30minute wait for each film..but well, well worth it.

Instant Films

This weekend I recorded a few interviews and drank a few beers.... But some people actually made entire movies. That's what the folks at Instant Films do - write, shoot, and screen films in 48 hours and they even blog about it.

I went along to the final screening, and was greatly impressed by the quality of the films, a much more enjoyable experience than the trip to see Hitchhikers Guide the night before (after which my better half told me I was just like Arthur Dent).