New Car and Met Peter Jackson!

So this past week was a pretty busy one at work and a lot of cool things happened. My six-month lease on my old nissan ended (zoiks, I've been here for just over six months already!), so I decided I had saved enough money to just purchase a cheap car and not have to worry about monthly payments, since it seems like I will be staying here for a while (because of Avatar - coming out in 2009). So I went to Turner's Auctions and bought a car! It was on a wednesday at lunch time, and thankfully there weren't that many people there so I was able to choose from a wide selection and get a really good deal. Originally, I had gone to check out a Honda Accord, and, while it was nice and all, it ended up being about $1000 more than the car I ended up purchasing. Because this other car was so cheap, and in good condition, with relatively low mileage, I ended up bidding and winning this 1996 Nissan Primera Camino for $4450 New Zealand dollars! There's nothing really wrong with it except for a few minor dings and scratches, it rides smoothly and the best thing is I can probably sell it for close to what I bought it for when I leave New Zealand, since the mileage is low and condition is so well. Funny thing is one of the hubcaps was loose as someone probably scraped the curb with it when trying to parallel park, but I was able to get a new set of hubcaps for $30 at "Super Cheap Auto", and they look pretty nice - I will post some more pics later on.

Second big thing happened on Friday, when I got the opportunity to watch the WWI short film "Crossing the Line", directed by Peter Jackson, using the new digital 4K "RED" cameras as a test for the new product. It was an 11 minute short that had everything from trench warfare and tanks to air-to-air dogfight action, and a bunch of emotion thrown in too! It was really inspirational and just makes you want to make a short yourself, but seeing this short just reminded us all that PJ is pretty damn good at directing. Anyways, it was a cast-and-crew screening at Park Road Post, the editing, film processing, and sound-mixing facility that Weta uses and I was lucky enough to bump into the man himself and told him it was an excellent film! He said thanks and shook my hand! Later that night, I went to a going away party for Todd and met the visual effects producer on Fantastic Four in person (Cindy Ochs) and she said she recognized my name because she saw that my name made the credits list for Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Exciting! What a way to wrap up a busy week at work!