Occupy Something

Red gave me a call around 5:00 PM.

Red: "They're kinda close. Can you close the shop early?"

Me: "No. Should really stay till closing."

At first I was confused as to why they were here - there is nothing around the shop, but roads and cats. Then again, I guess shutting down a port draws some attention.

It's not that I'm against the movement, but this sort of hubbub just seems saturated in bad press and more harm, than good, for the cause. You can't differentiate the anarchists, skulduggery, or clueless followers from the message. It seems most people I've heard from have had more pride in the fact that they're part of this piece of history, than pride in the sort of change they're pushing; not to say that the former is invalid, but isn't the whole point of this to achieve something?

Me: "No, yeah, they're really close. I'm getting out of here."

Red: "Bye."

_______________

Grand Hallway - Blessed Be, Honey Bee

Ending Note: Condolences to the Runway Style House that was vandalised and robbed during the general strike.

Calibration of Clarity

Found the above in the the computer, and have no idea what job it was from, who took it, or when.

The past really seems to fold over on itself, always getting a little smaller, a bit more compact as time moves on. This job at The Shop accentuates this effect even more so; routine, day to day, activities mix up the memories and blur the edges.

It may be the age too, but I've found it takes a hell of a lot more concentration to make sense of the past. Thankfully, the present it easier to decipher with wisdom, and the future comes off less daunting.

Clarity is rare. Focus often, or you just might lose it.

_______________

Death Cab For Cutie - Brothers On A Hotel Bed

Ending Note: Sundance prep underway. Gotta love Sundance.

Inanimate Objects?

The Boss came by the shop a while back with a couple new calculators. I named mine Simon. You know, like the old school game.

Found this in a truck that came back from a job:

For those that don't know, technicians color code their gear, so that we don't lose it, and everyone knows what belongs to who. The shop uses yellow. My color used to be dark green.

Apparently, whoever this truck went out with, remembered my color, and was kind enough to return one of my old cube taps. It's probably traveled all around the bay area, been out for years, and has now come full circle. A little wiser, a little more worse for wear, but finally home. 

_______________

The Notorious B.I.G. feat. Bone Thugs N Harmony - Notorious Thugs

Ending Thought: Girls named Camille are dangerous.

Bandages

Old friends are to your general well being, as a bandage is to a scraped knee - they may help a little, but really, they just make you feel better so you can live life. 

Last night flew over the bridge after work, into the city. I hit the Big Midget Shop where I tossed back a number of beers and an even larger number of darts. One of the partners that runs the shop was the Gaffer I Best Boy'd for for the last three years of my freelance career; we're not really very good friends, but strangely have a very strong relationship. Although we never see each other to go catch  a movie, or go to BBQs, we worked very closely on set and grew to trust one another.

Conversely, his shop is also the main competition to my own shop, but the bay area's film industry is small enough that we've all figured out that it's easier to work together than against one another.

By coincidence, the technician that trained me on my first big movie was at the shop as well.

It turned into five hours of beer, darts, loud music, old stories, Doritos, and a warehouse full of laughs. 

This weekend, slap on a bandage, and find your happy.

_______________

Benjamin Francis Leftwich - Atlas Hands

Ending Note: I don't recommend the film industry to anyone, but wouldn't trade those years for a thing.

Old and New, Here and Gone

Why hello there.

I think I'll call you Mandy. You're pretty.

In more somber news, there's been the growing smell of decay coming from the other end of the warehouse. The Boss went  to investigate and found Clyde's mother behind a pile of wood; we speculated that she had gotten hit by a car, came back to the shop, and hid to recuperate. The wounds were too sever it seems.

The Boss usually comes up with some nifty names for the fluffies, but he could never figure out one that really applied to this one. She was small, with greenish eyes and a grey coat matted with browns and blacks. More skittish than any of the others, The Boss could only remember petting her once, and she could only be caught in a trap by using her kittens as bait. She had three litters of kittens in the shop during her time, so he defaulted at naming her, Mom.

The world's a rough place for feral cats.

_______________

Daughter - Landfill

Ending Note: Here one day, gone the next. Do something special tomorrow.

Rekindled Celluloid Love

The Boss is in L.A. right now. We needed to refresh our supply of some gear, and trade in a leased dolly.

The Boss: "So I picked up the nice shiny new Fisher."

Me: "Did you get the one with the flames and racing stripes?"

The Boss: "No. Went for the skulls instead."

Me: "Good choice. Keeps the operators on point."

Last night went to catch a showing of The Roundup at the Castro. Was able to catch it now, before a theatrical release, through the SFJFF that's still going on. Ever since hitting Sundance this past year, I've rekindled an appreciation for film that I had lost for a while.

As a student in college studying film making, it became a labor of writing papers, renting equipment, vying for position over rivals in class - work. Entering into the industry as crew, film sets became battlegrounds where you just wanted to make it out alive; the wounds were not just physical, but moral and mental - work. I had lost that wonder and appreciation - the love.

It wasn't until Park City that I remembered what it was about films that initially got me on such a simple, basic level. Being surrounded by hundreds of people that were all gathered in genial appreciation for the event, looking forward to each film, socializing with strangers that had traveled to that town for the same reasons, it energized you; you felt alive. 

It wasn't until after the festival that I reflected on this, and came to realize that that feeling wasn't just accessible via Sundance, but in watching movies in general. If you let them, they can take you elsewhere, and that sort of displacement brings new breath to your own life; you gain perspective and a respite for those ninety minutes.

So I try to make at least one showing to the festivals that roll through - get a little and give a little back.

_______________

Gym Class Heroes - Cupid's Chokehold

Ending Note: The Roundup was a very well done, good movie. You should check it out.

Binary Differences

Read the news online during my lunch break. It's something I inherited when I took the nine to five world on.

Went over the details of the stuff that happened in Norway, and had a talk with The Boss about it.

The Boss: "Do you feel better now that you've read that?"

Me: "No."

The Boss: "That's why I stopped reading the news. Nothing good ever happens in the news."

He's got a point, albeit a pessimistic one; corruption sells, death sells, humiliation sells. Need more proof, check your local listing for some choice programing. 

But I'd rather see things from another angle. 

I read the news to stay informed, to stay connected to the humanity that's in a constant swirl of chaos and change. If anything, the world needs all the help it can get, even from lil 'ol me. In the grand scheme of the game, I'm not making much of a dent in the the scales of hope and love and joy, but +1 is better than 0, and a hell of a lot better than -1. 

Need some perspective?

_______________

Only Son - Call Them Brothers (feat. Regina Spektor)

Ending Note: Maybe you don't need to measure progress. Maybe you just need to know which direction its headed.

You're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat

The Chronicle of Wedges, Cont'd...

You know, if you're into that

At work, The Boss and I try to keep things a little loose and silly - helps to get through the day. Recently we had a production rent from us called "Animals On Parade". Here's the rental on the white board.

Last night, met up with some friends to catch a showing of Jaws at the Paramount.

(The main stage and organist.)

(The ceiling.)

 

(The Marquee.)

Sorry the photos are so blurry, but it's low light shooting in a movie theater, whadaya expect?

_______________

Sigur Ros - Dial: Revenge

Ending Note: A girl was shot in front of Gaylord's on Piedmont. Oakland, you're despicable.

Current Work Projects That Have Nothing To Do With Work

I've just realized, I have yet to introduce my co-workers. Here are a few:

(Clyde, Skid, & Vicky)

I call them all Fluffy, but, The Boss, has given each their own moniker as stated in the parenthetical above. This will not turn into a cat blog filled with videos and images of cats doing silly things, but these guys'll make it in fairly often I think; I see em five days a week.

Another ongoing project of mine: The Chronicle of Wedges

 The Five Year Old

Love Is A Wood Wedge

Have a good weekend. I'm taking a nap.

Oh, and waddaya think about the layout now?

_______________

Cat Power - Could We

Ending Note: My room is a mess. So is yours.

Living The Dream

Nearly gave myself a hernia today.

Had to load a truck at work, and there wasn’t enough room, so I decided to store a 12K fresnel on a shelf.

This, folks, is one of the main reasons I gave up the freelance electrician life – after eight years, I’ve acquired a bum wrist, bum knee, bum back, and bum shoulder.

Only bums I’m interested in nowadays are directly connected to cute brunettes. Zing.

Opposite of this, is something I found attached on the front of one of our trucks that’s been out on a low budget feature for the past three weeks.

This (as scary as it seems) is one of the things I miss most about the set life; the silly, moral boosting, crew bonding shenanigans that goes on to just get through the show. That, I do miss, and wish I hadn’t given up.

Me: "What'd you do today?"

Wonger: "Went to work. You know, living the dream."

Me: "Yeah?"

Wonger: "Yeah. Wasn't my dream, but you know..."

_______________

The xx - Heart Skipped A Beat

Ending Note: You should go watch Beginners. Yeah, you should.

You Can Learn A Lot From Dirty Movies

Been thinking about movies a bunch lately. Ones I’ve seen in the past, ones I want to see sometime soon, ideas for new ones that will never be made; theory and actual production swirling in my head. I think it’s my brain’s attempt to drive me to an air conditioned movie theater, and out of this infernal heat.

Unlike most everyone else that I’ve met in the film industry, my schooling was based solely on a theoretical background rather than hands-on. This has meant that I have no idea how to operate a film camera, or what exactly XLR is, but could pursue a job teaching film courses, or write a trashy review column in some local rag somewhere.

Used to think that the screenplay was the most important part of the whole bagel; set the backbone of the story, give direction to the whole project. Then came the underappreciated lighting world where I took on the role of the martyr, slaving away without a nod of appreciation to make the picture beautiful. Now, I’m a vendor. This is possibly the farthest I could have traveled from the origins of my studies while still being in the film industry.

It’s funny, the routes we travel.

You ever seen ‘Clerks’? A fantastical, absurd, lewd story about a convenience store in Jersey; I know, sounds wonderful, but it has it’s place in the study of film. One of the running themes, as well as lines, is, “I’m not even supposed to be here today.”

 And that’s the thing. None of us are supposed to be anywhere we currently are. In a warehouse filled with lamps and cats, on a hilltop with the mother of your child, in a trench with bullets flying overhead, in a hospital bed with over starched sheets – none of this was planned, but here we are, making choices and trying to live by some morals and a few beliefs.

As tough as it might be to believe, we’re not doing so bad. If you keep making choices, you’re always going in the right direction. "Write that down."

_______________
Northern State - iluvitwhenya
Ending Note: I'm hungry. I want lasagna.