it was a mouse. it had to be a mouse.

the droppings have been found.
the likely point of entry has been identified.

there were visions of ghoulish monsters swimming blindly in a bowl of soapy water.

now i'm replacing said visions with those of a cute, perky rodent, splashing around like an furry moron.

the hardware store is about to make some money.

the bottle of tylenol pm in the fridge is about to expire... might as well make a dent in it tonight.

i'll have druggy dreams of a blind monster battling a witless mouse. they'll build forts of steel wool and have a shootout with caulking guns.

I haven't the Vegas...

Vegas is sad: I do not like it.
Mostly, it gives me side glances when I walk through the Casino.
Every now and then, it rushes to greet me, mellons bobbing, cigarette hangin' out of her mouth, just like Liz in Who's Afraid of Virgina Wolf.
Vegas has been watching me work. It knows I do not speak slot machine, so it shrugs me off...muttering something incoherent, cowboy guns a' blazing in neon.

Entering Vegas and functioning within it is like standing in front of a camera and being asked to tell your life story. Once the camera lights go on, the IQ goes down about 20pts, that's how I felt when I arrived here. My theory was tested when I had to put the camera on some people. Once that camera light went on, they froze- pretty bad, as the first question was "give me your name and where you're from. I've seen this happen to stars on a set many times before, It is harder to talk about yourself on camera, than to read from a script...
I imagine it's a lot like placing a bet at a gambling table-I still wouldn't know, but I've seen it.

Hoffa THE MOVIE

No, this is not a blog about the Teamster and Hoffa, dear reader, it's just consuming my days so this is what I'm blogging about....
This morning I hit the ground running at 7AM- out of the shower, just in time to here my hotel room ring (sadly it was NOT French sounding). On the other end of the line was the Teamster's Dir. of Communications (they call him Boss Hog, on the walkies, his sidekick answers to Capt. Stuebing), he was basically calling to recant something he said last night, and that YES IWAS RIGHT AGAIN, I should be in the convention hall at 7:30AM to catch the rally.
All I can say is Thank God I brought my DV camera and Camera Genius Yervant!!!
Together we shot some footage that was pretty amazing. There were 2 lines of Teamsters and a procession down the middle of it! The procession started with flags and drummers, then Hoffa, shaking hands. As I was walking backwards, guiding Yervan who was shooting, I had to hold him by the belt loops. It was so funny and cute, here's sapcey Yervant shooting an artsy move on the waving flags, totally holding the procession up. I grabbed him and gently guided him through the cheering masses.

It was totally like that movie HOFFA-no joke, that was how I felt. The cheering, the flag waving, Hoffa giving the speech with the bull horn and then pumping his fist in the air...

Alexis and I are going to rent the movie when I get back home.

my weekend in rhyme

Saturday:
i went to the office, came back,
watched 5 hours and laid on my back
I’m talking like CJ
While wearing my pjs
The West Wing is my new-found crack

Sunday:
The F train is full of detritus
i'm scowling and being a tight ass
rainbow flags...
drunken hags...
My girlfriend is still in las vegas.

Sunday night:
i ventured away from my skulking
for some friends and some wine and some laughing
we sat in the dark
for shakespeare in the park
i left after Act 1 due to coughing.

Represent

My girlfriend Alexis has been dancing virtually everytime I tell her that I'm not so happy to be in Vegas. I am now doing the happy "I told you so" dance since I was right about the map in the open having it's own beat in the Teamster video, and Jeffrey's initial plan of a gavel coming out of a box, cutting into this footage is now out.

We are putting all the gavel shots at the end of the peice to segue into the gavel's live arrival onto stage. 40 Teamsters will hand it down to the guy who is calling the convention to order.

Another fun part of my job here producing, was interviewing Teamster's as to why they are here at the convention, and what does it mean to them. I met some really cool people and I found out that there is an LGBT Caucus in the house! At first they wouldn't talk to me- they were shy and afraid to speak on camera, I coaxed them into speaking and they were great! I am going to put them in the closing video-gotta represent!

So now I want to follow my father's footsteps and be a teamster, something I thought I'd never say. Hilmer, who know feels more like a brother than a work mate, joked about sweat shops and long hours spent editing. I've joked about this many times before...I guess I still find the joke funny -we do get obsessed with frames here in this little edit suite!

Legacy

I remember seeing the Teamster Logo on checks my sister and I got after my father died, we recieved checks until we turned 16, I think it was in the neighborhood of $70 per kid per month, but hey it was a nice gesture. How strange to jump cut my life: here's me at 40, walking through Bally's Casino, carrying a gavel specially made to "call the Teamster Convention to order"-it has the Teamster logo on the box and on the wooden block, where you strike the gavel. I'm carrying it because I have to shoot it for the opening video tomorrow. The lady that gave it to me from the Teamsters (a woman who was referred to as "GOD" by the other people in the room) said I could take it if it was to be locked up tonight. I replied: "Yes, Cindy (apparantly God's name is Cindy) it will be locked in our edit room." She said that would be ok, and I thanked God and left, gavel in hand.

The shot we need to get tomorrow, is a 3 second shot of a hand taking a gavel out of the box, the idea is to show how Teamsters carry everything across the country, the gavel came from DC and is now in Vegas. It's an interesting metaphor, we have a google earth map zooming into Vegas, the Paris Hotel, (by the way, it's really crazy to see an Eiffel Tower on a satellite image) then we insert this 3 second shot of the gavel.

I told the segment producer Jeffrey, a self-described, obsessive neurotic Jew from NY, I think we should just show the gavel being struck on the Teamster striking block-instead. I don't think anyone is going to get this story of a gavel coming across the country in 3 seconds, so I will be shooting that tomorrow as well, when the Executive Producer looks at this gavel coming out of a box shot and wonders where the "pay off" is. I know Jeffrey wants us to see the gavel in real time-on stage and then that will be the pay off, I just think it's a lame idea.

Did I mention that this is all scored to Survior's EYE OF THE TIGER? Oddly enough, this Google Earth map treatment and a gavel looking like a hammer, reminds me of Pink Floyd's movie of THE WALL.

So this is what my creative arts are channeling these days.
I applied for a job as a field producer on my favorite show today. I hope I at least get an interview.