Five Foot Step

Yesterday I took another trip out to Darwell Resevoir Woods, but this time with my youngest brother Sam. It wasn't all that warm (although Sam seemed to think otherwise) so it would seem that the deer weren't taking shelter in the woods since we only saw a single fawn. However, the fawn was no further than eight or nine feet from us when it burst forth from the undergrowth where it had been sleeping/hiding. It was very small, just taller than my knee. My guess is that its mother had left it in a secure spot while she went looking for food. What gets me is that the little deer didn't bolt earlier considering how loud Sam and I were being. We were talking and joking and balancing our way down fallen logs and must have passed very close by the baby critter.

It was a very nice day for it. We also made our way along the roof of the gypsum mine conveyor until a couple of dirt bikes appeared on the horizon (there is a long track that runs along the conveyor but other than that the wood is pretty thick).

Someone got Cloverfield on Saturday so we gave it a go. I liked it; the monster reminded me of something I've seen before (18/07/08 now I remember - it was the Darkling from Ghostmaster). I was expecting something more like the hoax images that kept popping up on the 'net before the film was released, as it is the monster's form doesn't really lend any suggestions as to its origin. I like the ambiguity of the story. Is it an alien? Is it native? Was it engineered by man? I didn't feel that the first person perspective actually detracted from the experience, although justifying why Hud (see what they did there?) was filming certain shots reminded you from time to time that making a motion picture with this method must have been incredibly difficult.

However, the first person perspective justifies the suspense that leads up to the monster being revealed in full. In similar works (Godzilla, Alien, The Village, Predator, etc.) the monster is concealed until later on in the film. However, apart from smokescreens or darkness there is rarely a 'good' reason for it so you feel cheated out of seeing the horrific antagonist. But because Cloverfield is filmed from the perspective of a handycam in the hands of a refugee, you can accept more readily the lack of clear footage depicting New York's monstrous attacker.

There's not that much else to write about.

Oh it's my birthday today but since this is the 22nd time it has happened, having a birthday is almost as old as I am. Err... you know what I mean.

Oh yeah I've modelled the trakk for my Gorkamorka mob. I even took some photos with Sam's awesome camera. Of course, I forgot to bring the photos with me to post here so you'll just have to wait if you want to see them. I mounted a big grabber onto the trakk in place of a big gun so it will be less of a mobile weapons platform and more of a mobile wrench bits off your trukk and carry your boyz off platform. I'm also thinking it will be very useful in knocking down fort gates in siege matches.