Update.

 

actv8 went back to talk to four people we profiled in our first issue, and heard about pretty exciting things happening in the world of music, film and online trading.
by Helene Ravlich and Caitlin Sykes.

P MONEY - STILL MIXING

 

When we met up with hip hop producer and local legend P-Money in the last issue of actv8, he was frantically producing beats for Kiwi and international artists, including Nesian Mystik and Scribe. Come 2006, he's still hard at it in his technology-filled Auckland studio, this time collaborating with rapper PNC on his eagerly awaited debut album. P-Money has also just dropped a new single with PNC called 'Bomb!' and is very excited to be almost finished his album. "I'm really looking forward to people hearing his album," says P-Money (aka Pete Wadams). "It's sounding awesome!"

 

On the live DJing front, he's been busy with New Zealand and Australian tour supports for visiting international hip hop superstar Snoop Dogg and new band Fort Minor, the side-project of Linkin Park member Mike Shinoda.

 

MAKING MILLIONS ON TRADE ME

 

Her brother may be about $200 million richer, but for Trade Me operations manager Jessi Morgan it's just been business as usual.

 

Since actv8 caught up with 'IT Girl' Jessi in November 2005, Trade Me has been the focus of a media frenzy following the $700 million sale of the popular website to Fairfax. "It's been a big deal for the media and for shareholders," says Jessi, who was Trade Me's fi rst employee. "But in terms of the day-today operation, we're still the same." Trade Me was bought because the company has been so successful, says Jessi, so as the person who oversees the daily operation of the site, it's her job to make sure that stays the same.

 

And no, she says, she didn't receive a huge pay rise after the sale and head straight to the beach for a long holiday. Jessi says Trade Me is continuing with plans it hatched before the sale to move into a new office space in Wellington in the next couple of months, which will give employees at the fastgrowing company more room to move. "Change is a constant here. We had one guy who started who had three different desks in three days." So then how have things changed for big brother Sam? "The big changes have been in terms of his bank statement," says Jessi. "But he still wears the same dirty old T-shirt."

 

STUDIO TIME

 

What do you get when you mix hit maker John Chong Nee and a metal band? If you're Dave Baxter, you end up with a pretty busy time. Since actv8 last spoke with Dave, a studio engineer at Kog Transmissions, he's been wrapping up a more than year-long project to record John Chong Nee's solo album, and started recording another album - for underground metal-core band Antagonist.

 

"I had these two projects going on at the same time. I didn't get a day off for about three weeks and was doing 12-13 hour days. It was a little bit extreme," says Dave. Hi-tech tools are all part of the trade for Dave, who's recently gathered a few more toys to make his work easier - including the new Mbox 2, which he uses to do editing at home.

 

Also handy is his T3G cellphone. "I'll write a song at home on my PC then connect my phone up to the computer and drop the files across on to my phone and use it as a little hard drive." He can then transfer the fi les on to his Mac at work. Sounds sweet.

 

KING KONG EXTRAS

 

He's worked with a giant ape and now with XMen, so there's never a dull day at the offi ce for Adrian Bell. Adrian was working as a terrain modeller for Weta Digital creating backgrounds for Peter Jackson's epic film King Kong when actv8 wrote about him last year. Although his contract for that job fi nished in November, Adrian's since scored another job at Weta working in lighting as a technical director.

 

"I've been working on two different projects: on XMen 3, and the more recent stuff we've been doing is for the Kong DVD, doing all the extra little bits." And how does the London native feel now his friends and family have fi nally seen some of his hard work on King Kong up on the big screen?

 

"They're really surprised because the last time a lot of them saw me was back in England and suddenly they see my name in the credits of this big fi lm that's been made. They say 'Oh my God, that's crazy' ... We're pretty proud of it on the whole."

 

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