reboot

Just been re-designing my website and this blog to make it in to something more pleasing to the eye. There are still a few creases to iron out and an extra layer of polish to add but it's already much nicer then the previous one I think.

the great pumpkin

It has been quite sometime since I have updated this blog. I have been meaning to update my entire website and have been neglecting to post anything in the meantime. Here's an interim post however.

I have been preparing for some moderate Halloween celebrating, the primary activity of which will be watching a candle burn out inside the Charlie Brown pumpkin I carved.

BS1 matthew walker

If you visit the College Green/Unity Street BS1 area on google maps and look at street view you will see me on my bicycle, cycling to work. Incredible.

out of focus group c

On Friday the 13th, which was five days ago, Little Face was screened in front of a public audience for the first time at Adam Buxton's Out Of Focus Group C at the BFI on the Southbank. It was a thoroughly entertaining evening of stand-up, music, poetry, Famous Guy and Little Face.

Joe Cornish and Adam Buxton's Baad Dad were sitting in the row in front of us. I don't know what they thought of Little Face but afterwards Adam said he liked it although found it hard to watch himself in films. But he did say he liked it and for that I am pleased.

Played hangman on the train afterwards. We worked out that during the 1.6 hours of play we averaged 3.2 minutes per game.

eagerly awaiting a papier-mache oscar

Two exciting pieces of news to report;

The new Arthur Cox website has now gone live at www.worldofarthurcox.com where you can now watch clips of all our films and adverts and other things that we have made.

Also Peter Bradshaw from the Guardian has had good things to say about John and Karen!

little face clip

Here is a clip from Little Face that I have uploaded to Vimeo. It is also on YouTube.

matthew walker's website

Having spent eight and a bit years existing in the twenty first century I have finally caught up and created my very own website with out any help from anyone.

I have had a website in the past but I merely designed that one and then gave it to Felix Massie to make it work. This he did, and he did it well. It was done in Flash and had animated pop-up windows and everything. It took him a very long time and was incredibly difficult apparently and he has refused to do me favours since. This proved problematic when it came to updating the website because I did not have the faintest idea how and even if I did it was probably really complicated and not worth the effort so I scrapped that website and made this blog instead.

Now, after one tutorial and two evenings of fiddling in Dreamweaver, I am finally on the same rung of the evolutionary ladder as this man, and he knows how to make a website worthy of the Internet.

I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to master the admittedly quite simple art of website making but better late then never.

For now this blog is still the homepage of www.mattdotwalker.co.uk

The new website is at my new web address; www.matthewwalkerswebsite.com that is where you will now find my films and other work.

sundance 09

Felix Massie and I returned from the Sundance film festival on Friday evening. Our luggage arrived on Sunday evening after a brief stay in Atlanta.

It was good fun although unlike any other film festival I have been to. Mainly because it is primarily a feature film festival with people you recognise from films walking around looking a lot shorter then you realised. I now know for a fact that I am taller then Kevin Bacon, star of Tremors and Hollow Man!

Unfortunately I did not get the opportunity to see how my height compared to that of Robert Redford, star of Cosmic Collisions at the Hayden Planetarium, New York. I was hoping he would greet us at the airport, and at the B&B, and at our individual screenings but sadly not. He wasn't even driving any of the taxis or shuttle buses! It seems he is not nearly as omnipotent as I assumed. Maybe his omnipotence is reserved for the feature film makers.

Our screenings went well. Both Kieth Keith Reynolds Can't Make It Tonight and John and Karen got good responses. It was the first time I have seen John and Karen with an American audience and there was quite a difference (I have seen it with a Canadian audience which was close but not quite as vocal). They are very good at the audible buildup to a laugh followed by the laugh and a single clap (sometimes two!) at a joke they like. It was a nice feeling.

The feature film John and Karen preceded was Peter and Vandy (a romance shown out of sequence with the break-up at the halfway point and the first date towards the end) which I really enjoyed. Other films I enjoyed were Dare (the psychologically scarring side of teen romance), Black Dynamite (blacksploitation spoof with Richard Nixon doing kung-fu) and Bronson (not sure how to succinctly explain this one but it was very good). I did not enjoy Shrink (a Hollywood shrink who is as messed up as his various high profile clients) which felt like Hollywood examining it's own flaws but deciding that they aren't flaws at all and coming over a little bit smug about it. The whole intro and Q&A session afterwards also came across as a bit smug and self-congratulatory which left a bitter after taste and maybe marred my appreciation of the film. Kevin Spacey was there though, provoking uproarious applause every time he made a noise. Unfortunately he was too far away for me to successfully gauge his height.

I think my favourite part of the festival was the Q&A sessions after each film (except perhaps for Shrink). Particularly Dare which featured Sandra Bernhard, who I am only familiar with from her role as the nutter who wasn't Robert De Niro (Masha, thanks IMDB) in The King of Comedy, but the film geek in me silently applauded when she appeared on the stage.

The other highlight was the large quantities of snow everywhere. I am glad I took some quick-drying walking trousers with me because I spent as much time as I could up to my knees in the stuff. We threw some snowballs, built a moderate snowman and spoilt every bit of unspoilt snow we could conveniently and legally spoil. The only downside was that it did not snow while we were there and the snow gradually became dirtier and slushier over the course of the week. I successfully fell over three times. Not proper full-length Home Alone style falling though, but the more embarrassing nearly-saving-yourself-windmill-arms-and-legs style falling. Felix Massie failed to fall over even once. Bastard.

I also ate my first Twinkie which was closely followed by what will probably be my last Twinkie. After the influence of Ghostbusters and Die Hard I really wanted to like the Twinkie but it was really quite horrible. Saying that I probably would not turn down another Twinkie. I think they may have addictive qualities, like smoking and Cartoon Brew.

We also watched Obama's inauguration at the B&B we were staying in. There was a definite buzz among everyone around the town that day and there were people with Obama hats and t-shirts. I can't even begin to imagine Gordon Brown on hats and t-shirts.

I learnt yesterday that HP stands for Houses of Parliament. I don't use brown sauce very often so have failed to notice the presence of Big Ben on the label and make the connection.

little face publicity stills

Here is the full set of publicity stills I have created for Little Face in chronological order. Two of them I posted a few posts ago but they have been tweaked since. Spot the difference.

















Off to the Sundance film festival tomorrow. I hope that in a weeks time I will be able to post a picture of me standing in deep snow.

20000000000000000009

Booked my accommodation in Sundance. Felix Massie booked the flights. We should both be there from the 17th to 22nd January.

Until then I am working on Little Face stills and DVD's and also going to put new suspension on my bike.

Happy new year.