Trailer Food, Writing Nuances and Raw Oysters

Warning: If you find yourself here via a google search for such things as TV shows or films, recipes or cities, this blog has some facts. However, this blog is one author’s very twisted musing on many weird things. It is sometimes graphic in content. If you read on, don’t write to yell at me.

I’m functioning on coffee this morning. Despite widely held opinions, I don’t actually drink wine in the morning. Unless it’s football season and the Eagles game is on here. There’s a lot to cover. It’s disparate, thus the convenient headers. Some prefer my stories about LA oddness to my rants or yearnings. Fair enough, but if one doesn’t read the whole blog, there will be no answer to that question: ‘What in blue blazes is wrong that that broad?’

The Gunslinger Trailer – Shopping lists and Growl-ly Voices

The report on the trailer shoot is running longer than I expected. The peeps who didn’t go on this one want details (a shout out to Randy and Phil). And for non-peeps, lack of details has prompted a lot of questions (a shout out to my mother-in-law). I may have to break this up into more parts.

Feb. 10th
I think the fog was thicker on the second day. The vehicles on the road seemed to be traveling more closely. The day began early, but not early by usual film standards. Our call was 9am. Typical call times are 6 or 7am. And that means, you have to be at the location ready to work. I’m glad we didn’t do that. The early calls are the one thing I’ve never gotten used to in film shoots.

The challenge of the morning was to dress a small corner of a modern saloon (there was a bull riding machine and a DJ stand at the other end of the room) like it was a frontier cabin. That meant removing a whole lot of very important photos and mementos from the walls, covering the windows against the light, dressing the windows, etc. Our amazing and lovely hostess, Cindy Jacques, had provided the oil lamps and curtains. In fact, every time I looked up on Saturday and Sunday, she was coming at me with handy items. Lamps, curtains, rifle. It was incredible.

While the set alterations were underway, there had to be a run for lamp oil, bottled water, trash bags, paper towels and sandwiches. That’s not the oddest film shopping list I’ve ever filled. There was one during Demon Under Glass that involved clothes hangers, guacamole, a half sheet cake, bananas, toothpaste, duct tape, magic markers and some feminine products. The clerk was really puzzled. And lest it be assumed that such near desperate grocery runs are a product of low budget filming, not so. I live in an area where a lot of TV and big film shoots crop up. If I see an overloaded cart in my market that includes bananas and bottled water, there is usually some tired person holding a walkie talkie pushing it. Incidentals like those are stables on any set, and most P.A.s are required to have a car, because emergency runs for stuff are regulation.

A note about the chicken dinners. I really wanted to make them myself, so I could style them according to Jon’s specs. I even did a successful and delicious test run the week before. But since we weren’t sure whether or not we’d have kitchen access at the location, I erred on the side of caution and sanity. We were going to buy the dinners already made. In an area full of farm and ranch folk, I figured that some restaurant had to have a good-looking plate of chicken. This assumption was correct. We met Cindy at a restaurant in Exeter called Carole’s The breakfast there was very good. In fact, Jon went out of his way to praise the hash browns. They had a very nice fried chicken dinner. We had to pick up one for each actor and a spare for styling the food to match being half and then mostly eaten.

Once we returned, I set up the food on the plates. I had to take a photo for continuity in case they had to be reset. Here are the photos of full plates and one of the eaten meals. We had to dress the windows each time the camera angle changed. I found Travis to be very handy in that task. He didn’t need a step stool or tip toes, and he could really get those pins into the wooden walls. After all of that, Jon and the cast began the rehearsals for blocking (figuring out how the actors would move in the scene). The script is essentially two people talking through a meal until the kissing starts. But talking heads can be dull. There has to be some movement about the room (aside from the kissing). That had to be practiced so that the movement started and ended at a certain line of dialogue every time the scene was shot, so it would cut together properly. On top of remembering where they were in the frame and how they move, the actors are each traveling a character arc through the dinner scene. For Matt/Shadow, there is balancing the opportunity for stability and safety living and working on KD’s ranch with his growing feelings for her. Throughout the meal, he is weighing his options while assessing her situation. He is also hiding Shadow from her. The lines are deceptively simple. There is a lot of weight behind how he responds to her questions and comments. We were fortunate to have an actor that can do a lot with his voice. Travis as Matt is endearing and playful. As Shadow, there is a dangerous, predatory quality. It’s all done with that voice and his eyes. I am particularly fond of the low, growl in Shadow’s voice when he responds to something he didn’t like hearing. Meanwhile, KD is wrestling with intense curiosity, wariness and a growing attraction to a man who is an absolute stranger. Jennifer has a marvelously expressive face that reflects her growing feelings beautifully. What’s most impressive is that they kept up the level of the performance and their energy through the nine hours of shooting various angles and close-ups.

Next week - Our Groovy Crew, snoring dogs, and maybe, the love scene.

A Soldier’s Fate – Getting the Nuances

I’ve said ad nauseum that I generally write in longhand on notepads then input. During inputting, I actually do a new draft. Sometimes, I finish the whole novel in longhand before I start inputting. Sometimes, I’m still writing the first draft when I begin inputting. That all depends on my access to the PC. I took the opportunity to input before the last chapters were finished, because I knew that Jon would be editing The Gunslinger trailer for the next couple of weeks. I also needed to make some changes to the beginning of the book that reflected what was going on in the back half. Somewhere along the way, I started layering in stories from Rik and Vincent’s past that are influencing them in the present. I don’t use flashbacks. I have the characters reveal something about their past while they are reacting to events in the present. For example, in the excerpt I posted last month, Vincent reveals that he had been watching Rik often while they were on the same squad. Nitro Raden had been aware of this and tried to take advantage of Vincent physically but couldn’t. These revelations come in response to Bobby’s hair brained plan to visit a brothel to get experience he can use with his older love interest, Eloise Kramer. Later, Rik reveals just how many older men had chased Vincent during his time as a soldier. He had protected him then. The discussion brings them closer emotionally. I hadn’t planned on such a device when I wrote the outline, but it became clear that my protagonists were the products of their experiences as soldiers. That has to affect everything they do and feel. I realized that the readers had to see that. Jon would not begin writing until he had planned out all this in an outline. I need my characters to develop to the point where they tell me what they need in the story. That development happens has I work through the draft. I keep my notebooks and my early drafts to show the transition of my novels and scripts. Who knows, I may teach someday. A Soldier’s Fate is moving along well. I enjoy hanging out with the guys at the end of each day. I’ll miss them when this is all over.

France, Anthony Bourdain and a Shameful Admission

Yes, I have found a way to combine the two. I happened to catch a repeat of his Food Network show, A Cook’s Tour this past week, and met with a surprise. Mr. Bourdain is French by way of New Jersey. His father grew up in Arcachon, and the family had a house there until he passed away. That explains the food obsession and the name. Bourdain traveled to Arcachon with his brother in an attempt to recapture some family memories. He called the seaside town, the Jersey shore of France. That’s a compliment from a Jersey boy, for the Jersey shore was the place of magical summers to one who lives in the region. It was our summer destination for my entire childhood. The memories are fond ones. I think Arcachon is more like the central Jersey towns like Sea Girt (just south of Asbury Park) more than Atlantic City or Wildwood. The beaches in Sea Girt have the same beautiful sand dunes. The town was lovely, and so were Bourdain’s memories. I found myself stung by guilt when he talked about the first time he had an oyster. I, the foodie and sybarite, have never had a raw oyster. I’ve had raw red meat (Carpaccio) and enjoyed it. I’ve had smoked eel in sushi and enjoyed it (very surprised at that). But I’ve not had this staple of a raw bar. It’s especially shameful as a quote about eating oysters has been a favorite of mine. He was a bold man that first ate an oyster (Jonathan Swift). My author friend Sarah Freligh first told me that while we were in a writers’ group during grad school. I believe she gave me the quote while I was lamenting not being part of the curve at school. Incidentally, she has a new book out. Sort of Gone is available now. Treat yourself to some very fine work and buy it. Anyway, It’s time I rectified this shameful lapse. At first opportunity, I’m having some raw oysters. I’ll keep you informed.

Next week – Inspired lunacy and more on the trailer shoot.

Film, Friends and Paris on My Mind

Warning: If you find yourself here via a google search for such things as TV shows or films, recipes or cities, this blog has some facts. However, this blog is one author’s very twisted musing on many weird things. It is sometimes graphic in content. If you read on, don’t write to yell at me.


I’m actually more tired than when we rolled into town late Sunday night/ Monday morning, but it was a really hairy week trying to get back into our daily routine while setting up all we need for post. I’m really wiped from that and oral surgery yesterday. Meanwhile, Jon has his usual post-shoot cold. He’s been down all day Saturday and so fuzzy headed that he couldn’t even look at the raw footage. Still, there is much to report.

Conversations with Craig

In answer to the questions posed by my readers: No, Craig still hasn’t acted on the web cam for his front yard. Despite evidence that weirdness continues to occur there when he isn’t around, I think he worries about more visiting him from viewers of the web cam. The one-legged cricket is still alive, or the food being left for it is being consumed. Since it has only one hind leg, they don’t hear any chirping. I’ve been informed by Craig that the cricket is approaching the length of time he and a college roommate had their pet Twinkie. They had to get rid of it after it had become furry in the little bowl on the window sill. It maintained its structural integrity the whole while they kept it as a pet. I was surprised that it molded. In an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations, the chef was visiting a book warehouse in Cleveland. The warehouse had once been a Twinkie factory, and its pipes still contained unused filling. Of course, Bourdain had to try the filling. It didn’t make him sick at all. Incidentally, all of the episodes for No Reservations are available on Itunes. The very first one is a big favorite of mine, Paris. The chef stays at the Hôtel d'Alsace, now known as L'Hôtel where Oscar Wilde died – even visited the actual room. And he searches for a real, barebacked experience with Absinthe. All the while, he is loving the city and it’s singular place in the food universe. I also recommend the intense Beruit episode and the one on Koltata and Bombay. In that one is a send up on Bollywood which – though extremely funny – is sickeningly similar to our dealings with Industry wheeler/dealers. Back to Craig. He is still mulling over the web cam.

CSI Miami Rant

Yes, the writers’ strike is over(yeah!). And though CSI Miami does not have new episodes yet, they still manage to do things that make me scratch my head. This new thing is called Bullet Points that will be run during an episode filling in fans on trivia about the actors and behind the scenes info. Um, how am I to concentrate on the compelling 'drama' before me while digesting the fact that David Caruso appeared in Rambo: First Blood? Someone with my brain will be rendered even sillier than when I normally watch that show. I hope they only do it during the reruns. I prefer providing my own commentary during the first run. Still, it’s good to get back to the normal routine of TV viewing – bitching and moaning.

The Outlaw Had No Boots

It’s not a direct sequel to The Vampire Had No Pants. The reasons for the lack of footware were different from the lack of pants. In Demon Under Glass, we did a costume buy for all the characters. With Simon Molinar, we had items from the GAP staked out for him. In the interim between finding the clothes and picking them up, the store was turned over. Merchandise for that part of the season disappeared as if it never existed. We found only one sweater on a sales rack, and the pants were gone. We had to improvise once we got to the first location. In the case of The Gunslinger, the big problem was a film called Bedtime Stories. They had raided most of the western clothing at the costume house, including boots and hats. Though we found items that were suitable when we did our first pass, the film was eating up more and more costumes. I actually found the clothes online because I wasn’t confident that anything suitable would be left to rent. There were very few boots when we returned to rent the gunbelt and other accessories, and there were none that would fit Travis. The costume is very important to the actor slipping into character. Boots are key to becoming a cowboy. Thus Travis, set out to look for boots that would help him become Shadow Smith. Unfortunately, our leading man is a very busy one. He’s always working or auditioning or attending a convention. That made it difficult to find time to look. And when the time was right, the best location in LA was out of business. Once again, we had to wing it on location. However, we were going to cowboy country. Finding boots weren’t going to be that difficult. Finding them in time to get in two scenes before sunset at a location we had never laid eyes on and in a town that we had never visited made for a very busy morning. It was worth it though. Travis found a pair of boots that were weathered like they had been on the frontier for some time, and they fit him beautifully. He even found a hat he liked better than the rental. Those items completed his look and made him really feel the part. That’s visible in the photos.

The Gunslinger shoot was a lot of fun. We certainly learned a lot from our prior experiences, and in some ways, this was easier than any shoot we’ve done before. But there were still a lot of hats to wear. I had some new ones this time. Aside from line producing, and actor wrangling, there was wardrobe mistress, script supervisor, and continuity (keeping track of the food on the plates from take to take -- much more on that next week). It meant my eyes and ears were always ‘on.’ I couldn’t ever really relax while they were shooting. That was draining, even for such a short shoot. Now, I’m not saying that I didn’t have some fun. Travis and Jennifer were wonderful to work with (talented, very patient and dedicated) and game for anything we threw at them. I was particularly pleased that Travis trusted me enough to adjust his pants (yes, they really needed a lot of adjusting, geez). And he let me come at him with a lariat while fully aware of my reputation. I like that in a tall, slab of good-looking actor. The results will make for great advertising photos. And there were fun moments even as time got pressed. I wish more of them had ended up on camera. Travis was flipping through the prop book (more on that below) which was actually The Picture of Dorian Gray with a new cover. He began to read it a la Shadow Smith complete with the Texas drawl. That was a right pretty picture Basil painted...well, y’all are gonna have talk to Sir Henry about that... That sort of thing. I really wished we’d recorded some of that.

About the Prop Book
Crosspost from the Hidden Passions Blog

Shadow Smith (Travis Willingham) as a fictional character within the film came about after watching a documentary on Kit Carson, real life scout and all around western action hero. He was part of a posse sent to find a lost wagon train. They did, but all members were dead. One of the female victims died clutching a dime novel about Kit Carson in her hands. He never got over it. Many of the big western stars were living their lives while being written about in novels by authors nowhere near the frontier. We thought that adding this element of pop culture would provide a source of both comedy and drama to the film. Our director, Jon Cunningham, is really into authenticity. He started researching Dime Novels to find out exactly what sort of thing was being published at the time the film is set. He had a very specific idea of what he wanted to see on the cover because it matches shadow's movements on the trail. In the feature film, the novel cover will actually morph into live Shadow on the trail. But finding a vintage cover with exactly the right pose to morph is not going to happen. Thus, Jon had to construct the exact cover he needed. The image on the Myspace home page is photo-shopped with over a dozen layers. There is the dime novel cover that came from archive sources. The horse was from an illustration contained in a novel from the archive we work for. The rider is composed of three images. One of them had a female hostage that had to be removed. One had the coat Jon wanted. The pants had to be retextured because they were originally white. Then, there was the position of the arm that had to be changed. The image was only the half of it. He had to find just the right kind of card stock to print the image on (salmon was all the rage then). And there had to be just the right kind of book to wrap it around. After that much detail, I lost track. It was a lot of work, suffice it to say. And this is for the short film. I can't imagine what the cover for the feature will be like.

More next week in The Love Scene – why we’re all here.

Paris on My Mind

As I said before, I’m tired of not being in Paris. I try to make do. I cook a whole lot more French dishes than I ever had. I use Herbs de Provence and fresh thyme every chance I get. I even try to do the French breakfast as much as possible, but you long for the real thing. Even Jon said that it was hard to consider the free continental breakfast at our hotel once one had had breakfast on the continent. My longing grows. It doesn’t help that my Food Network chefs keep going there lately. Even The Bourne Supremacy stirs yearnings. One of the scenes was at Gare du Nord, the train station we used to leave for the airport on our last trip. It was in the neighborhood where we were staying. Everything, it seems, beckons me to return soon. Be prepared for a lot of wistful meanderings on the topic.

Caption Fun – At Last

The two I liked from weeks ago were from the same reader. Though I wasn’t putting up the Leonidas painting in the contest, the caption was too funny to ignore. Is there film in that camera???!!! Even Jon thought that was a hoot. And for the return of Louis XI, Ah a bunch of tarts on the block today, regular price, 5 francs. The new illustration is from my favorite book on Archive.org, Alias, the Night Wind. The man being thrown is a police officer. Have fun!

A Soldier’s Fate Update

I’m inputting a full notepad every other day, even while wiped out. I’m on pace for the current publishing date. I’ll post another excerpt soon. Also, I’m considering doing a live action trailer for both novels. During the shoot last week, I found an actor with beautiful facial structure and amber eyes. Here’s now working on Here TV’s The Lair, so I don’t think content will be an issue for him. More on that later.

Next week – Actual discussion on writing.

Film, Fog, and Naked Torsos

Warning: If you find yourself here via a google search for such things as TV shows or films, recipes or cities, this blog has some facts. However, this blog is one author’s very twisted musing on many weird things. It is sometimes graphic in content. If you read on, don’t write to yell at me.

The Gunslinger Trailer Shoot Part One of Who Knows
Two Days in Fresno
The shoot was actually in Exeter, California, but our hotel was in Fresno and that title sounds similar to Four Days in Sylmar, The Privateers Shoot. I suppose it’s because of they have the same number of syllables. Yes, I’m punchy, and it won’t get any better. Our hotel was in Fresno, because that was closest to our first location for the shoot. By the time we secured the site in Exeter, our third, the hotel was 45 miles away. We purchased rooms via Priceline.com and couldn’t switch. But it was a great price on some nice rooms. Besides, our leading lady was from Fresno. It worked to stay near her and all travel to the shoot together. It wasn’t a horrible inconvenience, except for the fog. We were warned about that even before reaching Fresno. There were fog visibility checks along State Route 99. That didn’t make much sense until the Saturday morning when we couldn’t see the IHOP across the parking lot from the hotel. Travis thought he had awoke in a Stephen King movie. Reaching Exeter was really scary. We all had eyes peeled for the sudden appearance of trucks stopped on the road.

Our location for the trailer shoot was a ranch in Exeter, CA that often host weddings, corporate team building and other events. The owners were connected to our horse wrangler and pistol provider, Rich Kreps, a resident of the area and a client of our partner. Our hosts were lovely, salt of the earth type folks with a great 20 acre spread where we found several kinds of backdrops for scenes and photos. Because the ranch hosts all sorts of events, our location had niceties that we weren’t expecting like a dressing room for our actors and some facilities that were nicer than what we rented for Demon Under Glass. We were expecting rustic, we got comfortable. And the family couldn’t have been sweeter people. Their five year old son, an Adorable Little Fellow (Alf), was with us most of Saturday and a good bit of Sunday. He was a blonde, blue-eyed, freckle faced cutie with limitless imagination and endless patience. It was really hard to leave him, especially after he volunteered to have his father build us a house on the property. He thought that because we were in a hotel that we were homeless. I’m keeping the offer in mind.

The ranch was not the frontier, but it had enough rustic feel to work for our needs. We had two scenes for Saturday. The first was Shadow Smith alone on a trail, exhausted from life on the run and paranoid about faceless foes. The second is Shadow enjoying a safe and soothing bath from warm water in a rain barrel. Unbeknownst to him, KD Delaney is watching from nearby. They seemed to be simple scenes because they were short and had no dialogue. Ha! We scoff at simplicity and somehow thwart it. The trail scene involved a horse. That adage about not working with animals or children exists for a reason. In this case, it’s the temperament of horses. They do not like strangers or surprises. Doc, the horse Travis would work with, was not an exception to that rule. He also didn’t like crossing wet areas or mounds in the grass. Doc had definite ideas of where he would go. The problem was that in the scene, Shadow is exhausted and not really steering the horse. Thus, Travis had to steer a very stubborn animal while looking like he was about to lapse into sleep. That part of the shoot took a while and involved much that could go on a gag reel.

Somehow, that scene got done, but the sun was low when we went for the rain barrel footage. And though we had many niceties, we did not have anyway to heat water for the rain barrel as planned. Travis had to pour handfuls of cold well water over his head and down his torso. And it wasn’t a quick scene, because we had to make sure the rivulets of water were visible on his skin. Our poor Shadow was soaked and freezing in bright sunlight by the time we finished. He was a trooper though. He poured all that cold water over himself and looked like he was enjoying it. I admit I was.

Our adventure continues in The Outlaw Has No Boots, the exciting sequel to The Vampire Had No Pants. Watch for it this Sunday.

Holi-daze – February Edition
Okay, there are too many holidays in this one, short month. There is Ground Hog Day, Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday, Chinese New Year, President’s Day and on top of all of that, Black History Month. That’s a lot of pressure for a holiday minded person like myself, especially while readying for a shoot. I did what I could.

I didn’t get to Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez much. I did enjoy some lovely cold fried chicken and a glass of red wine while watching Peter Mansbridge in LA covering Super Tuesday for the Canadian Broadcasting. That was a real treat though I would have loved to see him in person, not streaming on the web. It was a pretty hot time. For the Chinese New Year, which is my year, the Year of the Rat, I made potstickers and low mein and sent well wishes to everyone. My wish for me and for Jon, aside from making a new film, is a return to France. It has been too long without a visit. As for the rest, I’m watching Black History being made this month. I don’t think that can be topped.

Author Stuff

I am still working on A Soldier’s Fate every day. I’ll be inputting until the wee small hours tonight. The caption contest is still on hold. Be patient.

Film Related Blog Delay

The blog will be a day or two late. We're just back from shooting The Gunslinger promo and need to fall over. It'll be a hoot though.

Gung Hay Fat Choy, Yall!

It is the Year of the Rat, my year. Shut up! May prosperity and good fortune find you and all you love!

And a belated laissez les bon temps rouler for Mardi Gras! I hope you debauched well and are now repenting.

I'll not likely blog Sunday as we will be returning from the shoot. Check anyway but late in the day.

Secret Service, Pixels and Codpieces

Warning: If you find yourself here via a google search for such things as TV shows or films, recipes or cities, this blog has some facts. However, this blog is one author’s very twisted musing on many weird things. It is sometimes graphic in content. If you read on, don’t write to yell at me.

Bush Vs Brentwood

There was a short but intense skirmish in LA’s Entitlement Zone (I cover the definition of that terms in the sybpress Blog entry Our Vida Locas). Bush was in town for some sort of Republican function in Bel Air. That’s not a large portion of the Zone, but his travel plans caused a monumental disruption to the entire area. We thought our commute would be affected, but the street we were on was cleared mid-way to UCLA. We found out the extent of Bush’s travel arrangement when we spied Marine One parked on a ball field a short distance from Sunset Blvd. Then were the Secret Service dudes and a phalanx of LAPD motorcycle cops. And they were all there to guard an empty helicopter. We couldn’t imagine how much firepower he had riding with the car. Our colleagues never saw any of this. They were caught in the mother of all LA traffic sams when the 405 was closed as was Sunset Blvd while Bush was on the move. There were no signs indicating why everything was standing still and goodness knows the Entitlement Zone doesn’t listen to AM news radio. They just do what they always do – try to plough through as if nothing was going on. There were near accidents and a lot of screaming and cursing. I don’t blame the Secret Service for closing the roads to traffic. In that neighborhood, someone driving a Hummer while on the phone, listening to an ipod and drinking coffee is likely to broadside the presidential limo and then be annoyed at being made late for a massage.

We got a kick out of seeing that big helicopter. And I have a soft spot for the Secret Service. I had more than one opportunity to interact with them while I worked at the Center City District in Philadelphia. The first time was during the wedding of Max Kennedy (son of Robert) to Victoria Strauss (heiress to the Pep Boys fortune). The Secret Service was with Ted Kennedy and I was part of Papparazzi control. They were very polite and professional for being really heavily armed.

What’s in a Name – Codpieces!

I’ve been shopping for the Hidden Passion Films (HPF) shorts since the mass visit to the costume house last week. I knew I was in for a long and strange internet journey when the costumes for the western proved to be a more difficult search than I thought. Vendors sometimes have different terms for clothing items. The search under old west gets far different listings than western. But the key word I really needed was frontier and I only got that while looking at the image results from one search. That took hours after last week’s blog, but it wasn’t the most frustrating search of that day. Finding fantasy clothing for The Gift of Surrender (GoS) has been surreal. Again, terms were a problem. Tunics mean different things to different vendors. Much of the clothing is custom made and thus either too expensive or too long to wait for delivery. The search was annoying because many of the men’s items like bracers for Everquest and Warcraft characters. I can’t have David wear pixels! There’s no protection against a horse’s saddle. I had no idea that there was a whole cottage industry behind elven-style wedding dresses. It was interesting, but not very helpful. And almost every site I found had a fine selection of codpieces. One had a zippered pocket for your renfaire bucks. Why, I asked myself. This was one answer:

What IS a Codpiece anyway and why do men prefer them?
Firstly, they are comfy. Ask any man brave enough to try one on.
They are a "Boxers~ not Briefs" expression of personal freedom. AHHHH!
They are also quite useful in attracting attention to your...ahem...best feature. Kind of like the Wonder Bra, if you will. AND... Chix dig them. 'Nuff said.

Okay, that’s their story, but it wasn’t helping me with my costume issues. I’m stilly searching off and on. However, the focus is on The Gunslinger. We’re four days from the trip north to do the short. We’ve got all of the costume issues solved and have almost all of the props. I’m going to have a practice run at food styling this afternoon. I’ll post photos of the experiment on the myspace page for HPF.

Caption Contest

I’ll post the results later today and a new one in two weeks. We’re just too busy with the shoot right now.

Holiday Posts

It's a crazy week with Mardi Gras and the Chinese New Year coming up. I'll have a rare mid-week post about those. I am of the Year of the Rat, so there must ne celebrating. As for Mardi Gras, it involves sybaritic indulgence. Of course, I'll be celebrating.