Symi harbour at night
I tried some shots of Symi harbour at night, without a tripod as you will see if you look closely. I also got some on a morning walk yesterday. Yes, I managed to get out of my lazy bed at 5.45 and did a short walk up the road to the zig zags and back. The photos weren’t very spectacular as the sun had not come up by then.

The late morning was spent cutting back the vine in the courtyard so we could get to the gate without being caught up, and then sweeping up loads of dead leaves. It looks like part of the vine has given up the ghost, or been cut, and some of the branches have died off. There’s still plenty here and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. It does make a lot of deal leaf mess though and, just as you finish sweeping and bagging, more flutter down defiantly.

On the course front, I am working my way through a screenplay I have to submit by the end of the month. It’s only supposed to be 15 pages but they have told me it can be longer. I’m not even half way through it yet and it’s already around 20. They might be in for a shock. Mind you, there are edits to make, as long as I keep within the structure that’s demanded, and I’ve already completed the first part of the last assignment and this is the second, so I should be okay.

It’s still sunny here, if anyone is wondering. There’s been a slight breeze which has been nice, it brings with it the sounds of whoops of joy from the people using the jet skis as Nos, and the water skiers, sometimes even the swimmers. The best ones though are the yells from the people on the big yellow thing who get dragged through the water. I’ve not done one of those for many years but here’s a tip: leave your glasses on the beach.

As you can see, there’s not much news. The Festival continues, tonight there’s a dance show from Rhiannon and her girls – not us this year though, phew. There’s a new fruit and veg shop opened in the village apparently, I’ve not been yet. The outside and inside of Jean And Tonics have been done up and look really nice – it’s probably been like that for months but I only went past for the first time yesterday, and everything else is ticking along nicely.

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Spring flashback
I was just browsing through my collection of photos and, once again, realising that I need to get out more and take some new ones, when I decided that I might put up a few taken in the past months; a kind of flashback to the spring, May and June. So, with no great news to tell you other than a quick update on the film project, here are some images from earlier this year.

The film, ‘The Thirteenth’, is now finished, as you might have heard already. This doesn’t mean it’s out on DVD or anything yet. It simply means the production company have done all they can with it and now need to find distribution deals and people interested in selling it. They announced last week that there would be an online version for the backers to see, under a password protected page and that’s what will happen next. The problem at the moment is that the file is huge as it needs to be the best quality for potential distributors to see it at its best, and the backers of course. So…

They have been looking for an online facility, like Vimeo, where they can put up the film, protect it and then let backers have the password. Trouble is, these sites charge and money is in short supply, so they are working out what they can do about that. But, last I heard, it will be along soon. It should then be followed, at some point, by the other ‘perks’ the backers were promised; the book, the DVD and so on – once the DVD versions has been made; there’s no point sending these things out one at a time, that would be very expensive.

So, that’s the latest I have heard and you now know as much as I do. The film, for those who are new to this site, is based on a book of mine called ‘The Judas Inheritance’ and it was filmed entirely on Symi in 2013.

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Festival dates ahead
After a weekend that saw concerts in both Yialos and Horio, and the festival of Megalis Sotiris in the mountains, there are more evets planned for this week.

There’s a concert with Yiannis Mathes on Monday 8^th.. A concert with our local youth band, Ano-Kato, on Tuesday. On Wednesday there is a dance performance by the ballet school organised by the Women’s Association of Symi. An opening of a new art show with work by Nikos Psarros is on (at the Cultural Centre) in Yialos from Thursday 11^th August until the 20^th – the opening is at 18:00 to 23:00 on Thursday, free, everyone welcome and there will be music at 8pm too. Friday there’s a performance by the dance group of Eirini Mylonakis, and on Saturday the Symi Theatre group are performing, ‘Ο γιος μου εχασολόνσε.’

If a venue isn’t mentioned here it’s because the venues are usually announced on the day of the perforce, or just before, via the loud speaker system on the island. Mind you, when you walk through the village square at four in the afternoon and see rows of chairs and a speaker system shipped in from Wembley Arena, it looked like, then you can be fairly sure a concert is going to be taking place there before long.

As for our weekend, that was spent: popping down to Yialos on Friday to get some money out of the bank, spending €60.00 of it on a load of cat food and litter for HRH Jack, and then €20.00 or so on a dinner at ‘The Trawler.’ This is a taverna at the bottom of the Kali Strata noted (by us) for its garlic potatoes and stuffed mushrooms, among other lovelies. We took the bus back up, chatting to a Canadian/American couple who were on a sailing trip and then went to the village square. It was good to see Georgio & Maria taverna full to overflowing with tables out on the street. I hope Taverna Zoi was just as busy, and the other eateries in the village. On Saturday I did some work at home tidying up an old book that is coming up to its 20^th year in publication – I thought it was about time I corrected some of these ‘early learning’ errors in its writing and had a second edition. The concert was on Saturday night and then on Sunday I worked on the last assignment of my screenplay writing course while Neil got on with his I-GCSE.

So, it was all go and it looks like it’s going to be all Symi Festival fun and frolics through this week too, with the weather still hot – a nice breeze on Sunday – and the skies are clear. Here’s to the week ahead.

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Owls, flags, films and books
And that was the week that was. New book out, another one given away for free for a few days (if only the 200+ folk who got hold of it chipped in a euro or two, ah well, good publicity), a film finished, a great night out for a friend’s birthday at the wonderful Windmill Restaurant, the first part of the last part of my scriptwriting course started (to be finished this weekend and then second part by next weekend), and an incredible weight-loss result of 0.0012 kg or something. Ah well, again. Oh, and some interesting photos. At least I think they are interesting. Here’s a jumble of cables and thing on a nearby pole at around 5.50 one morning:

In there is some kind of owl, it’s the round thing. I also took a photo of what I thought was an oriole (that’s a biscuit, surely?) but I think it turned out to be a sparrow.

And there were loads of boats in the other day all flying some very colourful flags from around the world.

But, what might be of more interest to you than this post with my dodgy pics is Lyndon’s Symi Flora and Fauna post which is about the reptiles of Symi. If you’ve wondered what the wildlife of the mountains gets up to at night, then his current post will give you some examples. Snakes, frogs, lizards, bulrushes and a much better picture of an owl than mine above, can all be found on his site here.

I will leave you for the weekend now with a gentle reminder that there is someone in your life who would like a copy of my latest comedy novel, ‘Remotely‘ and you can order them a copy simply by clicking that link.

Oh, and I’ll also leave a note in case you’re waiting on the link to the film, The Thirteenth: they are uploading it to a place where it can be password protected but as this is also going to be for potential distributors to see, it has to be the highest quality. That means a huge file and that means finding a suitable place and then waiting for an upload that could take many hours, or even days to complete. Bear with, and I’m sure it’ll be there ere long.

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Symi film news
Amid the festival celebrations and the heat of summer comes news from 1066 Productions that the film, shot on Symi, now titled ‘The Thirteenth,’ has finished its post-production stage. This time three years ago we were in fundraising mode through the Kickstarter programme. The target was reached on Neil’s birthday, September 8^th and pre-production started. Filming took place on Symi in the October of that year and it’s been a long time in post due to various problems. But finally they have got it there. Got it where? You might now ask?

Well, as I understand it, the next stage is for the company to find a distributor for the film, and this, like everything else, is not an overnight event. They must work up publicity, a ‘one sheet’, which outlines the film, its stars, the look and reach, audience, scope, its synopsis etc., and then use that to attract a company who will take on the all-important job of selling the film onwards. That could be to television companies around the world, things like Netflix or other online outlets and then DVD, with what’s called a ‘theatrical release’ being at the top of the wish list. It’s too early to say how long this part of the process will take or where the film will end up. But meanwhile…

Those people who put money into the project three years ago should soon be getting the first of their ‘rewards.’ These were things promised by the company in return for the backing and the first one is a link to a protected page online where the finished film can be streamed (password protected). I am told that this should go out ‘very soon,’ so stand by your emails. As for the rest of the ‘perks’, the book and other goodies, we’re still waiting to hear when they will be sent out and as I wasn’t part of that process I don’t have any more current news. I’ll let you know when I do.

So, will ‘The Thirteenth’ be on show at the Symi Cinema next year as part of the Symi Festival? That’s something else we shall have to wait and see about. Meanwhile, if you haven’t already read it, you might like to get hold of a copy of the book on which the film was based: ‘The Judas Inheritance,’ by James Collins (that’s me). Just follow that link and you’ll be at Amazon where you can order a copy.

The photos today are a few I’ve purloined from Neil’s stills photos file. He is listed on the credits as the Stills Photographer as it was his job to get production images for publicity and for the ‘perks’, and some of these have not been seen before. There are hundreds, some of which will be in the book of the making of the film, when it is ready. More news on this ‘filmed on Symi’ project when I have it.

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