Interview with Scott Rhodes

Here we go: Chris Cassamassa interviews Scott Rhodes from The Adventures of Superseven and Sandra West, focusing mainly on stunts and fights – but I think there’s some good advice to just about anyone interested getting into Hollywood. A couple of websites to make sure to check out, plus a pretty funny anecdote involving a choreographed fight between two actors on One Life to Live. Check it out.

‘I’ll Have What She’s Having…’

Here’s a great post I was hepped to via the great Dude Designs: Network 9‘s I’ll Have What She’s Having: Design Fads in Movie Posters - an analysis of the current state of Hollywood’s poster designs. Ignoring the fact that most of the now iconic work like Jaws or even E.T. actually were pretty unique and stood out like a sore thumb, there’s a trend to stick with a tried-and-true formula today. And seeing a selection of modern-day films collected in one place there’s really no doubt about it. Writer Nola Barackman sums it up perfectly:

The formulas work — a lot of these posters have produced huge hits. But we can’t help but feel that relying on these standards is a bit like choosing McDonalds. It’s there, it’s easy, but at the end of the day it’s unsatisfying. Why be cliche when you can be visionary?

It was a bit of a downer seeing the independent, “edgier” offerings resorting to the same formulaic approach, but then again I gotta admit that in dealing with various not-to-be-named record labels and clubs that some are actually as  - if not even more – conservative than the mainstream culture they claim to be an alternative to. Anyway, it was a nice read. Check it out here.

Pic summing up the Weekend

So, a friend of mine told me recently that she found my blog and was amazed by the sheer output of it. “You’re so creative!” she mused and I replied with “Uh, actually, the more posts you see the less real work I’ve got to do at the moment.” And that’s true. Like this weekend I’ve been super busy working my butt off to finish up a couple of different mixes for an upcoming EP. And even though I really can’t give away much more info on the subject I can at least share that it’s pretty darn exciting doing audio work for someone else!

I’m pretty confident everything will be finished up some time this week, and after that I might be able to share some more light on it. It’s really not my decision to make. After that I’ve got some even more exciting work to do, but I really can’t share anything about that either – I’ll give you a hint: Hollywood – so apologies for the secrecy, but that’s just the way it’s gonna be for now. But you bet I’m happy and excited. Stay tuned…

Cool News Update

Well, the details have been cleared up and now I can make it official; The Cymatics will have multiple tracks included in a new, upcoming reality show called 2 Fur 1. A pretty funny concept, it’s about this struggling actress and her dog moving to Hollywood trying to make it and it just struck me as charming in a way. Not to mention it’s kinda flattering considering the songs are still just damn demos.

Now, I wouldn’t normally agree to clear my music for a reality show (like Fear Factor for instance would get a big “F.U.” ’cause that show to me is just pure evil) but as I said, I found it charming plus actress/model Jahnna Randall is just trying to get by like the rest of us. And I can definitely relate to that!

Anyway, I’ll post more news (and maybe episodes) later on. In the mean time, check out her official site here.