Day 3 of my diary for my girl Ciara

Hey gorgeous,

Here's a random fact: The loading bay on the international space station is so big that you could fit a blue whale inside! Impressive huh? Ok I need more funny facts, that was just crap...

Today nothing much happened much really. I hung around at Nick's whilst he went off and did his P-plates test, he passed! Stay off the roads, there's a madman on the loose!

While he was out, I started watching a tv show called 'The Walking Dead' which is about a zombie apocalypse, very cool show!

About half an hour ago we returned to Nick's after going for a cruise in his car up Arthur's Seat and down to Portsea where all the drunk schoolies kids are. Was pretty damn funny. Surprisingly Nick is a very safe driver, he sits 10kmph under the speed limit!

Now we're just kicking back, relaxing, chillaxing (yes I just said chillaxing, please don't slap me). Might go for another drive later depending on how we feel, even though it's nearly 12am.

That's about it really, was a rather boring day, rained for pretty much most of it. Oh well summer starts tomorrow, time to work on my tan!

How's Europe babe? Can't wait to hear from you and hear what you have to say about your travels so far!

I guess I should probably call it a night, ciao bella! I love you Ciara. Stay safe and I hope you're having an amazing time!

Love always,
Your Josh xxx

Day 2 of my diary for Ciara

Hey Ciara,

I'm going to start my letter to you with a random fact. Did you know that Jesus tamed many dragons? True fact!

So it's day two of your trip away, hasn't really sunk in that you're away for so long! Oh who am I kidding? I miss you like crazy!

So today was the day I had to go into school and do my detention for our muck up day pranks.
Worst day ever for it.
It was so freaking hot! As soon as I got there I was put to work weeding garden beds, then I had to mulch a massive garden. Man it was hot, but a damn good workout! Hahaha
I had lunch in a gloriously air conditioned room, then after that it was back to the hard labour at Flinders Christian Community Concentration Camp!
I pruned every hedge at the front of the school and finished off with more weeding.

I caught the bus to Nick's place. We chilled around for a bit, then went canoeing in the bay (my arms are dead!)
We're now chilling out watching the Simpsons and eating dim sims!

How's your trip so far beautiful girl? Can't wait to hear from you and I hope you're having an amazing time! I love you Ciara.

Until tomorrow, aur revoir my girl.

Lots and lots of love,
From your Josh xxx

Day 1 of my diary for my girl Ciara

Dear Ciara,


As we talked about while you're away I'll write a letter to you every day about my day, here's day 1 :)

Today, I went into St. Kilda with dad for a while, I wrote more on my screenplay and then headed off into the city for my interview at RMIT.

I braved the wilds of the Melbourne tram system. My Google map took me to the wrong end of the street so I jogged for a kilometer or more before I eventually ended up at RMIT.

I waited for a about half an hour before I was asked to come inside. There were two people who interviewed me. They rattled off many questions and I answered them all as best I knew how.
At the end I feel I did really well, I answered all their questions and felt really confident! The lady interviewer seemed impressed and said she was very impressed with my skills and capabilities!

On the way back to st kilda, I stopped off to get a coffee from this little Italian place which I must show you!
Anyway, as I was walking towards Flinders street station there was an aboriginal guy who was walking in the opposite direction. He was wearing massive headphones, had a bottle of whiskey in hand and was singing 'So What' by Pink at the top of his lungs!
Only in Melbourne hey!
If only I could get a video in time before he walked away! It was the funniest thing I've seen all week, except for Jakey jumping all over you when we were on the couch watching your Kardashians DVD!

Right now as I'm writing to you, I'm watching a DVD and wishing I could hold you in my arms :)

How was your day baby? How was the flight and your trip to Rome? Or as the Italians say it with so much more style, Roma!
I miss you so much already girl, you have no idea! Hopefully this little diary will keep me sane while you're away :)

I hope to hear from you soon my darling, I love you so very much Ciara.
Stay safe and have an amazing time girl.
Until tomorrow my love, it's good night from me.


Love always from,
your Josh xxx

P.s. I love you Ciara

Mo-tastic

I'm growing a mustache whilst my girlfriend is away.

Three and a half weeks of mustache growing.
This is going to be sexy.


Josh

An idea

My girlfriend Ciara is going away to Europe for three and a half weeks on Monday for her 'Ned Kelly' production tour.
It'll be a very hard time not being able to see her and hold her in my arms.

So to help somewhat, I've decided to write a blog entry for her every day that she is away so she can see what I've been up to.
Think of it as a one way series of love letters.

Not sure if I'll do it on here, or create a new blog, but I'll keep you informed on what's happening!


Josh.

Its been a while I know. Deal with it.

Hello followers, I apologize for that title, it's a bit nasty.

I've been rather busy of late. I finished school, got a job at Civic Video and have been working there several days. I went into the city and I have seen my girlfriend several times.

Oh and I bought a book. Not just any book. Matthew Reilly's 'Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves.' And my god, what a book it is! To put it simply, it's brilliant. Struggling to put it down!

I won't bore you with many other details. So for now, that is all.


Josh.

Schools out for Summer! Schools out forever!

Well I had my final year 12 VCE exam today. That means I'm officially not a high school kid anymore!

It hasn't sunk in yet, doubt it will.
Feels darn good though!

I also got an email from RMIT saying that I've been short listed for an interview for the Film & TV Production course on Monday!

Today has been a very good day indeed! Hence the amount of exclamation marks I've used in this post.

It's 12am so I should get some sleep now. Night all!


Josh

Untitled Sequel

In late 2009 to early 2010 I set about writing my epic action film 'Liquid State' which was based on an idea that I had.
A year and a bit later, I finished Liquid State and took a break from writing to pursue my year 12 VCE (final year of high school in Victoria) studies.

During this time I wrote and directed a short film titled 'The Golden Rule' (which can be found on my YouTube page) for media class. I got an A+ for it and was very happy with myself!

But now I've decided to take up the pen once again! Well when I say pen, I mean the CeltX screenwriting software on my laptop.

My latest project is an untitled sequel to 'Liquid State' where we see the return of the main protagonist, but this time he's a wanted man.

That's all I'm going to say about it for now!


Josh.

P.s. Below is the link to my short film 'The Golden Rule'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0Vn0aAo4Qg&list=PL177E9C88E7A3F434&index=1&feature=plpp_video

Disappointing results

Well it appears I couldn't play Battlefield 3 online... Needed a code, which I'm not going to buy if I don't own the game. If you own the game however, you get the code so don't be discouraged in buying the game!


Josh

Battlefield 3 is awesome.

Battlefield 3 is awesome.
I rented this game on PS3 and finished the solo campaign. Absolutely loved it!
I honestly can say I preferred this story over Modern Warfare 3's.

Tomorrow I will play some online and blog back a full game review.


Josh

Bond, James Bond: The mother of all marathons

His name is infamous across the globe. He's the gentleman spy who is licensed to kill, thrill and charm every woman he meets.
That's right, I'm talking about Bond, James Bond. The suave and sophisticated British secret agent who likes his martinis shaken, not stirred and has slept with more women than Hugh Heffner!

To celebrate the start of shooting on Skyfall, Bond's 23rd outing on the big screen, I have decided to go back to where it all began and watch all 22 Bond films in one mega marathon, lasting over 40 hours during the summer holidays!

I will blog a review of every film at the end of each and will decide my definitive top 3 Bond films at the end of the marathon.

Watch this blog in the coming weeks for how I'm going to prepare myself for this marathon of epic proportions and more general ramblings.
Enjoy!


Josh.

A study break within a study break

My history exam isn't until Wednesday and I decided that I needed to take a break from study in order to maintain some sort of mental stability. So this weekend I put down my books and enjoyed myself.

I rented Skyrim on Friday and enjoyed that very muchly, then I saw my girlfriend Ciara on Saturday which was very nice (she always knows how to make me smile).

Saturday night I rented Modern Warfare 3 which was awesome! The campaign was superb and I've only scratched the surface of multiplayer.

If you're wondering, I'm a PS3 gamer. Add me so we can shoot eachother!
My tag is: Joshwahr

So for now, that is all. Hope you all had a good weekend too!


Josh.

Does the letter C in VCAA stand for Cheating?

Well it appears that the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) have been doing a bit of plagiarism! In the VCE year 12 (final year high school in Victoria) English exam, they included an article about tattoos, which turns out to have been blatantly stolen from Melbourne based writer Helen Razer.

This really makes me think, how can the people who would chastise students and throw the book at them if they were found cheating in an exam, get away with this?
This is a blatant case of plagiarism and the VCAA should be preparing themselves for one hell of a law suit if Razer wishes to press charges.

In the link below, you can read the entire article from 'The Age' newspaper regarding this issue.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/sloppy-copy-in-exam-raises-ire-20111109-1n7eo.html

Shame on you VCAA, shame on you.

Josh.

New Mobile Phone!

Because I can, I'm blogging from my new iPhone 4! Just thought I'd say hello and say that this is a very cool toy! Big upgrade from my iPhone 3G which was a first generation for them in Australia.


Josh.

Quentin Tarantino's 'Five Keys to Telling An Engaging Story'

In my entry Inspiring Film Makers - Part 2 - Quentin Tarantino I mentioned an article about his 'Five Keys to Telling An Engaging Story', so here they are!

1. Make people care. Think about any Tarantino film. Even if you’ve never watched one, you’ve probably heard of some of his characters. Maybe you’ve heard of Hattori Hanzo from Kill Bill, or maybe you’ve heard of Mr. Pink and Mr. White from Reservoir Dogs. In all of his movies, Tarantino creates characters that make you care, even if that caring surfaces as you really hoping that character gets what’s coming to them. If people are indifferent about your film, they won’t stick around to hear more about it.


How are you making people care about your story? What can they hold on to and tell others about?


2. Interweave lots of stories together. Pulp Fiction is probably the best example of how Tarantino can take the stories of characters from all over the place, fully develop each story, and then majestically bring them all together to form the punchline of the whole story. The audience is always aware of each individual story, but it’s never entirely clear, till the end or the climax (which aren’t always the same in Tarantino films) how it will all pull together.

Is your film cohesive, put together, and clear? Are you wrapping all of your stories together or are there some loose ends? How can you tie them up?

3. Don’t give away the whole story all at once. Just as Tarantino keeps his audience on edge about how all of these individual tales will mesh together, he also waits awhile to reveal details about the story or his characters that end up revealing a great deal about the overall story. For example, we don’t find out till quite late in Pulp Fiction that the time line is completely off. That’s pretty important. We don’t find out till pretty late in Kill Bill what Uma Thurman’s story is. Also very important. This late reveal keeps the audience engaged because they can’t wait to see more of the backstory.

How can you leave some space for your audience to finish your story and make it their own? How can you wait for the big reveal?

4. Every idea is fresh, and every idea is yours. Tarantino excels at creating very different movies. Reservoir Dogs doesn’t really bear much resemblance at all to Inglorious Basterds, which in turn doesn’t really bear much resemblance to Pulp Fiction. However, you can always kind of tell when you’re watching a Tarantino film. His trademark violence, ultra dark humor, and method of storytelling are dead give-aways.

What makes your film YOUR film?

5. Know thy audience. Tarantino is kind of like a stinky cheese. Not everyone likes his work, and in fact some people find it revolting. The people who like Tarantino’s work have very specific reasons for liking it, and they would likely fight you if you called their allegiance stupid. So far, Tarantino has not tried to bring radically different people into his office. He hasn’t approached Disney, for example, nor has he ever tried to do a kid’s film. In fact, I can’t recall many kids even showing up in his movies. He knows his audience, he knows what they want, and he delivers it to them.

Do you know who you’re marketing to? Are you talking to your audience the way you talk or the way they talk? Who is your audience? If you can’t answer this question, the other 4 keys will not work for you. You can’t engage someone you don’t know on some level.

You can find the original article at http://www.margieclayman.com/the-five-keys-to-telling-an-engaging-story-from-quentin-tarantino

Josh

Inspiring Film Makers - Part 2 - Quentin Tarantino

The second writer/director who has really inspired me to make films is, of course, 

Quentin Tarantino.

I hear many young film makers say this, but they don't really give a reason as to why. It's almost as if they throw in his name to sound like they know what they're talking about, but in reality, they don't have a clue!

Tarantino has been a major influence on me, and I'll give you the reasons as to why.

The first film of his I saw was 'Reservoir Dogs'. This film is by far his best work, and ironically was his debut film as a director.

From then on, I was hooked! 

I purchased all of his films on Blu Ray and had a massive marathon from Reservoir Dogs all the way through to Inglorious Basterds at the cinema when it was first released!

The way Tarantino creates a story and works with his characters is like no other in the industry. Unlike Besson, Tarantino's stories are complex and often interweave lots of stories together. But he does this in a way that doesn't confuse the audience or detract from the overall story.

I read an article once by Tarantino about his 'Five Keys to Telling an Engaging Story' and I will post this in my next blog entry, but this really sums up how he creates his films.


Another reason why he inspires me so much is that he hasn't had any formal training at all. He didn't go to film school or university to study film, but instead he was a video store clerk and a major cinefile (like me!) who just wrote and wrote and wrote. He tried to get some of his earlier screenplays made, but none of the production companies wanted him to direct them, so his first few feature films such as 'From Dusk Til Dawn' were directed by others like Robert Rodriguez. 
But finally Tarantino got his break as a director with 'Reservoir Dogs', and he hasn't looked back since! 


It's this never give up attitude of his that really inspires me, and it shows all film makers out there that no matter what, if you love what you do, just do it!


For these reasons, Quentin Tarantino is one of my favourite and most inspiring film makers.






Josh.

Inspiring Film Makers - Part 1 - Luc Besson

The first and most important film maker that I think has inspired me is the French writer, director and producer, 

Luc Besson. 

He directed some absolutely awesome movies such as 'La Femme Nikita', 'The Professional', 'The Big Blue' and many more. His style is very simple, he doesn't try and cram in lots of plot lines etc, and his films can either be a slower pace, but build up towards the end (especially the films directed by him) or no holes barred action from the word "GO!"

But the film by Besson which has inspired me most is the film he wrote which was directed by another Frenchman, Pierre Morel (who happens to be one of my favourite directors), called 'Taken'. It stars Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills, a retired spy who has to rely on his old skills to save his daughter, who has been kidnapped by sex-slave traders on a holiday in France.

This film is utterly amazing, from the superb writing by Besson, to the fantastic direction from Pierre Morel, to the beautiful cinematography by Michel Abramowicz which blends Bourne-esque violence with a more elegant, fluid style of shooting, to Liam Neeson's brilliant performance as Bryan Mills.

I highly suggest that if you haven't seen this film, go and rent it from the video store now!


It is because of these reasons that Luc Besson is one of my favourite and most inspiring film makers.




Josh.

Inspirations in Film

People often think I'm inspired by the big budget film makers such as Michael Bay or Steven Spielberg to make films because I write big action screenplays.

But they are mistaken. 

I'm not a huge Michael Bay fan, and I honestly didn't care much for the Transformers trilogy.

But I have often pondered the question "Who or what has inspired me to want to become a film maker?"
So in a two part entry, so that I don't bore you with long winded posts, I will talk a bit about the film makers and the films that have really inspired me to want to make movies!



Josh.

VCE - It Ain't So Bad!

I had my first VCE exam yesterday for Psychology, and it wasn't as hard as I thought.
On the contrary, it was rather easy...
So my exams have started and are under way for the next three weeks!

• Thursday 10/11 I have Literature
• Friday 11/11 I have Drama
• Thursday 16/11 I have History Revolutions
• Monday 21/11 I have Media

Studying hard for Lit as it's the one that counts the most towards my university entry requirements.

I will endeavour to keep you informed on my progress throughout the next few weeks and my final scores at the end of the year!

Josh.

Struggling to Study

I have my first VCE final year exam tomorrow, Psychology. And yet I cannot get the motivation to study for it. Thankfully we had a mid-year exam so it's not a massive amount of content to remember, but in saying that it's still a horribly, horribly content heavy subject.

Motivation to study is coming in dribs and drabs, not as much as I would like, but hey, it's better than nothing! I'm panicking a little bit that I may bomb the exam tomorrow, but fingers crossed that I have done enough in the way of study over the year to be enough. My notes are jam packed and I have this lovely summary book which we purchased, that helps a lot.

Seeing as this determines much of my life and where I go to university, you'd think I'd have higher concentration levels, but alas today I am struggling a bit...

I apologise in advance if I post a depressing sounding entry tomorrow about how I went in my psych exam.

Josh

Shameless Promotion

Hello to all of my avid readers,

This is a bit of shameless promotion, but I think you should all check out my YouTube page and watch my short film The Golden Rule.

The film was made for Year 12 VCE (final year high school)  Media class as my major assignment and I was given an A+ (31/35) for it.

Dan (played by Nick Jones) runs a successful drugs syndicate at his private school. He has decided to get out while the going is good, but what happens when his dealers don't agree with Dan's retirement plans?

Click on the link below!

http://www.youtube.com/theingloriousfiction

Cheers!

Josh.

The Obligatory Greeting

G'day I'm Josh and this is my new blog!

I've decided to create this blog in lieu of seeing my friend Sean's wordpress site and thinking, I should really do one, writing my thoughts to random strangers on the internet sounds like fun!

I thought about doing a vlog, but you have to be 'sah indie' or be talented at singing to get viewers these days.
I am neither of these, so hence no vlog. (Though I may do one once I've finished my final year high school exams at the end of this month.)

So what you can look forward to in this blog are:

• My general ramblings about life, the universe and everything
• Lots of film facts and trivia
• Links to my films on youtube
• The occasional film review when I can be bothered to do one

But for now, hello and good bye, probably will post another entry later today. I hope you enjoy my posts to come!

Josh.