Day 127-133: Sydney (Week 14)
Trip Start
Sep 12, 2004
1
25
57
Trip End
Jan 05, 2006
Sydney,
Australia
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Back to work...yawn! Well only doing 3 days this week so can't complain. It was a busy day as Mondays usually are but nothing interesting or exciting happened. Got confirmation during the day about the time and location of the wardrobe check, 5.45 in Mosman which is in North Sydney over the bridge. Nipped out 15 mins early to catch a bus down to Al's work place as he kindly said he'd take me there. Didn't take too long to get there either considering it was rush hour, took about 30 mins. The production company 'office' was a boat at D'albora Marina at The Spit in Mosman. Very very nice location but an usual place to have an office, and a very original office building.
Got there on time and met a couple of the production crew plus the wardrobe lady who called me yesterday, tiny tiny tanned woman. She'd bought about 3 pairs of pyjamam bottoms (one plain grey and a couple of stripey ones), a couple of t-shirts (one gray one black), 2 pairs of slippers (brown and black) and a stripey dressing gown. Had to try on various combinations and they took pics of the best combos which I'm guessing they're taking to the client for final approval. Must admit the t-shirts were rather on the snug side coz they're undershirts so not really designed for being revealed to the nation! Jocelyn (wardrobe lady) said she'd stretch them a bit...lol. Didn't get any other details of the locations and times yet as they're supposedly having a meeting tomorrow to confirm everything.
Al and I went for a meal in Mosman at the Hotel Mosman afterwards, my treat for driving me over there. Then we just pottered around Mosman for a little while, it's a very affluent area near Middle Harbour so lots of people with money, big houses and boats, we decided that it would be a very appropriate area for an up and coming semi-affluent gay couple to move to....(his suggestion not mine!!! Tho obviously this wasn't serious...or was it???). For some reason we ended up in a supermarket again, we seem to have the habit of spending a lot of time in them, slowly building up a tour of Sydney's supermarches....Broadway, Mosman, Bondi, East Gardens, etc, etc.....
Drove back to mine where I got changed and we went for a wander to Oxford St so he could go to the CD shop...AGAIN!... then to Victoria St for a drink at Mad Cafe, one of their nice little fruit crush things, tho Al went a bought food again, must be a growing boy. Friday night seems like it was another blip coz things have been good since then, don't think I can cope with another one of his crazy moments so lets just hope things carry on as is coz despite seeing each other so often I still look forward to it every time. Saw him off from mine about half nine and watched the Golden Globes for an hour or so with Niki then hit the sack.
Tuesday:
Had a call from Rosey's this morning, confirming the job for later this week, tho all of a sudden things were slightly different, now they're claiming it's one days filming on one of the 2 dates they've asked me to be free, the woman also said that it was 10 hours filming at $50 per hour!! That's slightly different to the inital $1500 they claimed....I pointed this out and then Hubert, some other gimp, came on the line and said that it wasd definately $1500 for the days filming, the $50 per hour is for the wardrobe check (which was about 30 mins), plus there's a $75 per hour rate for any overtime over the 10 hours (but isn't overtime usually more than the normal rate!), and a $300 per 4 hours payment if any re-takes are required.
God that agency are shite, I don't know what to believe now, asked for confirmation in writing and they said they couldn't but I could visit the office and check the information if I wanted! What's that all about?? So I still don't know the location, and now I don't even know which day it'll be filming, I'VE now got to call THEM tomorrow to find out more info.....seriously considering telling them to take me off their books after this job coz I've never known such shite organisation, I just get the impression they don't know what they're doing, and it doesn't give me much hope that I'll ever see any money, and even if I do whether it'll be the amount I'm expecting....watch this space ey!
Visited the State Library of NSW over lunch to see the Eye 4 Photography exhibition. It's just up the road from work so it's quick to get to, loads to see tho so couldn't cram it all in 30 mins so will go back over the next few lunchtimes coz it's free so don't have to pay each time.
Went to Bond St gym after work, was gonna go to the BodyPump class but by the time I got there - 10 mins early - it was already rammed. So had a 20 min run, 20 min cycle, 15 min step and then done some weights work on the legs, pushed myself and they felt all wobbly by the end of it so I'm guessing that's a good thing. Bumped into Carlos briefly in the changing rooms, he was arriving whilst I was getting changed, as usualy he's busy busy busy but he said he'd give me a call tomorrow. Went to the supermarket after as I've decided to start drink those Yakult things to get more good bacteria in me, I'm sure you don't wanna know why, but lets just say I don't think I have enough.
My first night in at mine since last Wednesday I think! Niki was out so had the place to myself, whipped up some dinner and vegged in front of the TV, watched Lost in Translation on DVD, in bed by half 11.
Wednesday:
Amazingly Rosey's actually called me first thing to give me more information about the shoot, and she confirmed the rate too. So it's one 10 hour day, tomorrow, for $1500. So being pessimistic about tax I'm guessing I'll see about $800 of that coz Rosey's have a 20% commission for TV work. It's still more than I'd be getting if I was sitting answering helpdesk calls all day. She gave me the address for the shoot which is at a private home in Cheltenham. Tried to find it on an online map but was having difficulty so called the production company. They emailed over the call sheet for the shoot which gave me a map and loads of other info. It was good to get that as it's got a full list of cast, locations, schedules, etc. I'm down as 'Slippers Man' - oh the glamour! - and I'm working with a dog called Merlin. My day starts at 9.30 though some cast have to arrive at 7 so I'm kinda lucky.
Went online to find out how the hell I'm gonna get to Cheltenham, it's about a 30 min train ride from Central station so it's not too bad and the location is pretty close to Cheltenham station so shouldn't take too long to get there, depending on how reliable the trains are - and the answer from what I read and hear is not very.
After work I went to the gym, Combat first. Asked David if he'd had a chance to speak to Gabby to arrange an audition and unsurprisingly he hadn't, also needed to give him a copy of my First Aid Certificate so gave him that and wrote my mobile on the back so he could give me a call when something's sort - I'm not expecting a call in a hurry! After Combat I spent about an hour working on upper body stuff, pushing myself a bit with the weights too....I'll be ripped before ya know it. However it's all well and good doing this weight stuff but I can't get rid of the bloody stomach, noticed the other day that it looks like it's getting bigger for god's sake - all this exercise I'm doing and I'm getting fatter! Ok so I sometimes eat crap but at work I have a salad for lunch every day and rarely have anything 'bad' during the day. I think part of the problem is suddenly having a desk job after being active during the day for 4 months, even tho I wasn't doing a huge amount at least I was on my feet more often and walking around, whereas now I'm on my arse for 8 hours a day, really really gotta do something but without making my life a misery by never having nice food I don't know what to do....bloody body!
Met Carlos about 8 and we went to the Sushi Train for some post gym food. He told me about his new man, met him when he was out on Jan 1 after I left him, blond aussie bloke who he met at The Columbian. Seems to be going well at the mo but as with most things it's never entirely smooth running, like Al and me there's been a couple of blips - when are gay men all mental?? - present company excluded of course. Had a quick coffee afterwards but Carlos then wanted to go to Stonewall and frankly unless I'm very drunk I can't stand the place so I went home about 10, was knackered anyway so listened to a bit of music and got some kip.
Thursday - TV Commercial Filming:
Didn't get up any earlier than a normal work day, chucked sunnies, umbrella (supposed to be storms later), camera and MP3 player in the manbag and walked down to Central station - about a 20 min walk. Really humid this morning and already 20°C when I left the house at 7.45. Was sweaty and sticky by the time I got to the station, then had to attempt to work out where to get the train. It's at times like this you realise how easy it is to use the underground in London. The signage in Sydney is few and far between and it can be difficult to work out where the hell you need to go. When I went online yesterday to the CityRail website to use the route planner it said I should use the North Shore Line, now when I arrive at the station and look at the North Shore map I can't even see Cheltenham station - turns out I needed the Northern Line. Also more than one line can leave from the 20 odd platforms at central, so you have to keep your eye on the boards all the time to make sure the train picking up is going where you wanna end up. Luckily only had a 10 min wait for the next train.
The 30 min journey gave me a chance to relax and cool down. Got to Cheltenham about 9 so had good time. Tried to work out where I needed to go from the station but couldn't orientate myself to the map I had so asked a friendly local, turns out it was only a 5-10 min walk from the station. As I turned the corner all the trucks were parked up along the road, about 4 of them, and there was lighting rigged up in the front garden pointing into some of the windows. Wandered down the drive and the 'dressing room' and 'make up' were situated in the garage, there were some people milling around there including Jocelyne who's the stylist/wardrobe/art director who I met the other day at the wardrobe check. The only other cast member there was Helen Tonkin. Got chatting to her, as you can see from the fact that she's got a webpage she's a bit of an old hand at all this now having done theatre, production, TV, print, etc. A scene had been shot earlier but the guy had already left. Also met Tracey the Make Up girl, she was friendly and good fun but freaked out a bit when she saw my stubble, I assured her that they'd asked for it but we went to check with the client that they were happy with it too - and they were.
It's amazing how many people are involved in making a 45 second TV commercial, the crew list for the day was; Director, Producer, Production Manager, Production Assistant, 1st Assistant Director, Director of Photography, Camera Assistant, Gaffer, Grip, Swinger#1, Swinger#2, Hair and Makeup, Standby Props, Stylist, Unit Manager, Unit Nurse, Runner, Caterer, Water Rig, and Bus Driver! Plus there were agency and client people hanging around, a guy who must have been the main honcho at Frontline as he was watching on a monitor as all the scenes were filmed, and animal handlers who were looking after the 2 dogs and a cat who were part of the days shoot. Even the kids of the family who owned the house were hanging around but most people were concentrated in the house so the garage was pretty quiet. The dog handlers for my dog arrived about an hour after me....and god you should have seen the dog, turned out not to be a poodle but a Maltese Terrier, this picture is about as close as I could find to how the dog looked, it was a tiny thing with ridiculously long hair and a bow on it's head!...so guess who's playing the guy with the camp dog! Not impressed but franly for the money I don't really care.
I was supposed to start filming just before lunch but the shoot was behind schedule due to a cat taking ages to get the right scratch on film! Helen arrived on set at 7am and she only started filming at about 11. Just before lunch another cast member arrived, someone called Dr Harry. Now over here he's a bit of a celebrity, I supposed he's the equivalent of Rolf Harris in Animal Hospital. He has a programme called Harry's Practice which has been running for some time so I guess that's why they've picked him for this commercial. He was a friendly enough guy, arrived with a Personal Assistant but that was the extent of his entourage.
Anyway about 12.15 they wrapped for lunch after Helen had completed her scene. The lunch was excellent, really good variety of food, a beef stew, grilled fish, cous cous, rocket salad, greek salad, rice, fresh bread and a lemon pudding for dessert. Had nibbled on the nuts and stuff that was on the drinks trolley during the morning so didn't eat too much for lunch but did have to sample the pudding of course. Drinks are supplied all day too so you don't need to take anything with you, everyone is well looked after when it comes to food and drink. Lunch lasted about 45 mins. By now the it was getting really hot, I think the afternoon temperature hit the low 30s, definately not the kinda temperature you wanna be sitting around with no air conditioning, luckily the garage was a little cooler but it still wasn't very comfortable.
Celebrity overrode the schedule after lunch as I was bumped back so that Dr Harry could shoot his scene. It involved trying to get a dog out of his favourite chair unsuccessfully, he had to try and drag the dog off, tip the chair up, etc. The most difficult bit was making sure the dog stayed where he was. Various angles, takes and setups had to be used so it wasn't until 4pm that I finally got to shoot my scene...and I'd been there since 9!! Ah well, wasn't too bothered, frankly I'd been booked for a 10 hour day and expected to be there that long, it was just a bit boring sitting around for all that time, but there were plenty of mags to read and it was also interesting to sit and watch the filming.
I was filmed in the hallway of the house with the front door behind me. I was in a black t-shirt with stripey pyjama bottoms and a pair of black, suede slip-on slippers, one of which had been cut up to look like a dog had attacked it revealing my toes - damn I should have had a pedicure! Though looking at the dog and looking at the slipper it looked more like an alsatian had attacked it. Took about 15 minutes for them to sort out lighting, lenses, where they wanted me to stand, etc, had to hold the dog on and off whilst they were doing it too and the little bugger was wriggling all over the place. As you can imagine it was a bit hot standing round in a house with no airconditioning in low 30s heat surrounded by people and lights...but like the professional that I am I battled on. Tracey - the make up lady - had stuck a little on me earlier in the day, which by now had all but disappeared, however she didn't put any more on and just used a bit of powder to take the shine and sweat off....so I have to assume that my gorgeous flawless skin didn't need loads of make up....lol
So finally we start filming, the aim was for the dog and me too look at each other at the same time and then look down at the slippers at exactly the same time. There was an animal handler down by my feet out of shot with a dog toy which she was using to get Merlin to look down and the dog's owner was to my right trying to get the dog to look at her so it looked like he was looking at me. Took ages to get the dog to do it and he kept wriggling around and was really difficult to hold. They didn't get the shot they wanted after about 5 goes. In the end the owner held the dog next to me, she kept out of shot and I pretended to hold the dog and we managed to get the shot, he looked right at me and we both looked down at the same time. I could hear the client laughing in the background and making positive noises so I thought that we must have got the shot, they were happy so the dog was shipped out (thank god!) and we moved on to the next shot which was a shot of my feet and legs as if looking down at them. Again there was a lot of standing in one spot whilst they sorted lighting and the camera. At this point they wanted to move things along pretty quickly coz they had an outside scene to shoot and the heat had started brewing up some storms, there weren't any yet but it was getting darker and windier.
Only took about 10 mins to film the feet shot, some still shots with me wiggling my toes, some with the camera panning down toward my feet whilst wiggling - in fact a lot of wiggling of toes, you'd be surprised how many ways you can do it, the Director was asking for "a couple of little wiggles", "one slow wiggle", "not too fast", etc, etc......lol. Feet shot done and dusted and I was free to go. Didn't get to keep the wardrobe either, cheeky buggers left the tags on so they could take it back, how cheap is that considering how many thousands of dollars they're being paid to make the commercial. During the day I'd taken a couple of pics just so you can see what the place looked like, didn't wanna take loads and look like the saddo who's all excited about his first commercial - I was trying to play it cool! Said my thanks and goodbyes and I was off, left about 5.15 - but you still get paid the full fee regardless which is excellent.
My guess is I'll probably be on screen for about 5 seconds considering there are about 7 scenes and it's a 45 second commercial, plus of course the 'celeb' will get more screen time. It's due to go to air on Feb 20th so I'll contact the production company early feb to see whether I can get a VHS/DVD of the commercial so I've got a copy and maybe even put it online somewhere, will be interesting to see how it all comes out in the end.
As I was waiting for the train the storm clouds were rolling over, it was still pretty warm and humid tho and by the time I got back to Central station it started raining. It was kinda nice actually, when it's that warm a little rain can be a nice relief, tho it did absolutely piss down at one point so had to take shelter. Was home just after 6, jumped in the shower after all that heat, sweating, holding a dog...eurgh! Couldn't be arsed to go to choir rehearsal tonight but thought I should as it's only just under a month to the concert, plus it looked like Niki was gonna be in all night and for some reason I preferred to go out. Practically the whole rehearsal was to practice the Judy Garland medley that we're performing...Judy Garland! I mean how stereotypical can you get?? Ironically the SGLC Mardi Gras float has a theme of 'breaking down steretypes', pity the concert wasn't following that rule....what with the dog and Judy Garland I think this has been one of the gayest days ever. Also discovered that I'd forgotten about a full day rehearsal this sunday from 10 to 4....can think of better things to do but there's only 2 of these weekend rehearsals so it's not too bad.
Caught up with Chris and updated him on my car crash love life. Al texted after he'd finished his french lesson to see if I wanted to join him for some food. Almost considered leaving choir at the break but then thought that I shouldn't just change plans for him, althought I wanted too...it's kinda good to say I'm not available sometimes. I think it's the first occasion that he's asked me to do something and I haven't been able to. Phoned him back and I think we're gonna do something tomorrow night, he didn't sound partiularly enthusiastic but did say he was feeling tired after gym and work. 2 mins before choir practice finished it started pissing down again so got soaked walking home....and went straight to bed.
Friday:
Went into work today, could have had the day off as I'd booked Thurs and Fri but decided I'd rather earn the money. Was a pretty quiet day with not much going on, someone else left today so there was leaving drinks after work but I didn't go coz I went swimming instead. Done 1500 metres all in the medium lane this time, I'll have the lithe body of a swimmer in no time! Al called about 8 as I'd left a message on the way home from the pool, he'd just had a nap - that guy is always tired! He said he was gonna get himself sorted and then come over...2 hours later he appeared!! No apology for the fact I'd been sitting around for ages. To be honest I went out thinking it was gonna be a shite night and that things weren't gonna last much longer....and then we had a great evening - oh how things change. We decided that we weren't gonna go to Oxford St coz the combination of me, him, Oxford St, alcohol and Friday's seem to be a recipe for problems, the last 2 friday nights we've had real heavy chats about us and I kinda don't wanna do that every week!
We just took a drive out to Randwick to bar called the Coach and Horses (original!) that he used to visit regularly. We pretty much stayed there all evening chatting, I asked him something about his ex during the course of the evening and he said it was the first time I'd asked anything. I said that I didn't really want to bring him up coz he didn't seem to be over him and I didn't really wanna rake over old ground. Al said that it didn't bother him to talk about Steve (the ex) as there's no feelings there anymore, just a lot of memories.....anyway, I said I was intrigued about him so would like to see a pic which Al said he's happy to do. Time seemed to go pretty quick so we didn't get back to Al's until just after 3, was shattered by then so straight to bed.
Saturday:
I think today was quite possibly the laziest day ever. Woke up about 9, Al was dead to the world as usual, slept on and off 12ish when I got up and flicked the TV on. Al finally got off his arse about 10 mins after. Made me breakfast, cheese toasties with pesto....very nice, but not very breakfasty, but considering it was about 1 by now it was more or less lunch. For the rest of the afternoon we vegged on the sofa watching rubbish followed by a Kath and Kim DVD as Al has all 3 series. I'm sure most of you have head of Kath and Kim, dunno if it's on terrestrial over there yet but I know it's on Living. Al also showed me a few pics of Steve so I could finally put a face to the name and see the guy I'm being compared with...well maybe that's a bit unfair but you know what I mean. Anyway, looks wise we're pretty different, he was 6'4" and slim, I kinda think talking about him and seeing pics of him is helping Al kinda move on...I mean I don't know what's going on in his head but things have been more relaxed lately.
In the evening he'd been invited out with his Uncle and a cousin who's visiting from Perth. His Uncle is gay and apparently his 20 yr old cousin (Nathan) has just come out too, so it's good to see they keep it in the family...lol!...Al's friend JoJo was also joining us. We got over to Al's Uncle about 9ish, he lives in Annandale in a gorgeous one storey terrace which he's renovated, really nice decor, beautiful kitchen, etc, etc. Al done something really nice when we arrived, he first introduced me as a mate, then said I was bit more than a mate, then when we were chatting he said that we were dating...no for Al that's a big step! Aw.... :O) Picked JoJo up, she actually lives at the other end of the same road but roads are long over here so it was still a 5 min drive.
We started off at the Hampshire Hotel in Camperdown, it was a 'ladies' night so it was Jojo's choice, we got there just before 10 so it was pretty quiet and didn't get much busier so by about half ten we gave up. Al and Al's Uncle were both driving so we went over to Oxford St as the newly out Nathan wanted to experience Sydney's scene for the first time.....ah I remember those days! We started off at The Columbian, busy and noisy as usual, not my favourite place and the music isn't really my thing, we stayed there for a little while and then I persuaded people to go to Midnight Shift for a little while, first time I've been there with Al since we met there on Christmas Eve....one month anniversary soon, who'd have thought it ey! Al hates the place, god knows why he was there that night, Jojo and I had a little dance, then we were gonna move onto Stonewall, which is a place I can't stand. Luckily there was a queue and most people didn't wanna queue up tho Jojo was still keen for some reason but majority ruled. We nipped into Kinselas but for some reason people's enthusiasm started to wain and we generally decided to go home.
I was hoping Al was gonna stay at mine coz I needed to be up earlyish for an all day choir rehearsal. For some reason he doesn't wanna stay coz I share the place, he says he doesn't feel comfortable wandering around knowing Niki is there, I keep telling him it's not an issue and I finally said that he should at least do me the favour of giving it a try once, and if he hates it that much then I'll accept it but if he won't even try then that's just crap - it wasn't an argument tho, just a discussion. He said he would do that for me...we'll see...... So anyway he dropped me off at home as I needed to be at mine.
Sunday:
Oh...my...god!! This morning there was the loudest thunder I have ever heard in my life. It was as if a bomb was going off right outside the window, there was barely a millisecond between the lightning and the thunder, I've never heard anything like it. It was about 7am so put my earplugs in and managed to fall back to sleep....tho as I had earplugs in I managed to sleep through to 9.50 and choir rehearsal was starting at 10. Sent Chris a quick text asking him to save me a place, managed to get there about 10.30 but they hadn't even started, guess most other people had problems with the early sunday start. The rehearsal was running all the way through to 4.
We've only got a month before the gig so need plenty of rehearsals...and I really need to start practicing at home without music! As well as rehearsing the songs we all went over some 'choreography' in the loosest sense of the word. If you've ever seen a choir you may remember there's some clapping involved and maybe even a little movement around the stage, so that the kinda thing we went over, when we clap, which songs, when we move, where, etc. It's hardly gonna be American marching band stuff but considering the agility of some people it's gonna be difficult to get them to walk let alone anything else, and you'd be amazed how people who can sing and follow music have absolutely no rhythmn when it comes to clapping!
Stopped for lunch at 1 and went for sushi with Chris and had a cup of tea and some fat bitch cheesecake for dessert. The afternoon went pretty quickly with a prompt escape at 4pm. I just dumped my stuff off at home and went to Gloria Jeans to read the paper for an hour or so, sit and drink a cup of tea and watch the world go by, nice way to spend a sunday arvo. Just went home and vegged for the evening only nipping out to the supermarket for some milk later on, it was about 9 and so so muggy...horrible! Was in bed by about half ten coz I'm on earlies next week, but we have got a bank holiday on Wednesday for Australia Day.
