Fuji

11:28 pm - Broken

Broken...



The man entered the room with a slouched over posture. He stood and kept moving in place as he talked. His feet shuffled, body twisted, and hands gestured in a subtle fashion. Never the less, the constant nervous movement provoked a wave of nausea over Jim. All Jim could do was nod at the appropriate time, but otherwise was preoccupied with an ever-growing sensation of illness. Although the guest was uninvited, he felt it rude to displace any irritation at the visit. So Jim sat patiently, continuing to nod, and hoping the man would leave soon.
Once this sensation began, there was no stopping it. Jim’s senses became hyper aware and even the smallest of sounds would heighten his sickness. He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing. All he could imagine were waves in an expansive sea. This image unsettled Jim and continued to prompt his nausea. What peace and calm could be found he thought to himself? Calm was something the eluded him most of his life. He could not suppress the image of waves so he quickly opened his eyes. There is nothing to be done. Even the empty room and the solid chair in which he sat could hold no comfort.
He began to feel an itching in his arms. His heart began to race as he nervously scratched at his arms. Before long his legs began itching. Followed by his back, and then the temples of his head. He could feel his heart pounding and his face begin to swell with blood. A fever built in his forehead as he continued to itch.
Jim felt helpless, and in a final attempt to regain control of his body he clenched his fists. He could feel his fingernails pressing against his palms. His face grew hotter and hotter. Jim hurled his arms up from his sides, beginning to pound on his chest as hard as he could. His hands still tightly wrapped pounded his chest harder and harder. Then his arm flew up and knocked him in the face. Blood coursed to the point of impact. He repeatedly pounded his face and his chest indiscriminately alternating between arms. The pounding continued harder and harder. He could hear the dull thud throughout his body with each hit, till he heard an ear splitting crack.
Jim fell to the floor wincing and screaming in pain. His face pressed against the cold tile of the floor as he wailed.
AHHHHHHHHH!
AHHHHHHHHH!
Jim curled up on the ground in an awkward position, face down with his right arm beneath his body and his knees bend and twisted. He whimpered in the middle of the room as the guest stood bewildered at the sight. The guest could not begin to comprehend what he had just witness, and didn’t move for several moments in shock, before calling for help.

Current Mood: confused

09:21 am - Something old

Adjacent Rooms

All he could do was imagine what was happening behind closed doors. Were they making love? He would ask himself this question with every moment they were out of view. He could would close his eyes, and strain to hear them. All he heard was silence. This was no comfort to the man. He would almost prefer to hear a blissful breath or moan muted through the walls of the apartment. Then he would know his pain wasn’t without merit. It was without merit however, and despite his aching his conscious reminded him of this.

With the late morning came an unbearable heat, when all his thought seemed to wander back to them. The same thought, haunting in it’s repetition. There seemed to be no release other than to leave, to distance himself as far from them as possible. Blinds softly knocked against the windows as a ceiling fan stirred the air. The cool breeze seemed welcome, and provided a brief relief. Focus, he thought to himself. If only he could close his eyes and focus.

He could almost foresee the day before it happened. They would emerge, and he would be kind, but distant. He would find every reason in his mind to dislike them. Anything they thought they had in common, anything that they liked about each other, he wanted to obliterate. He did this not out of spite, but to separate himself more and more so he wouldn’t let his imagination run wild. Although it may sound strange, he didn’t want to hate them, or drive them away. This seemed to be the only solution.

The door creaked open, and he could hear the rustling of people in the next room. All these adjacent rooms, all of them seemed to exist in separate world. Isn’t this after all what he wanted? Any interruption into this world would be a complete disruption. Ceramic dishes clanked in the kitchen sink, but he pretended not to hear.

They invited him out, but as usual he declined. Finally, he thought, he would be left alone. This would be easier. Alone. The blinds glowed bright amber, as light danced betweens the slits as they moved. Each blind shifted back and forth causing them to lightly tap each other. The ceiling fan hummed as it continued to stir the air. And the man, silent and still, sat along in his room.

Current Mood: contemplative

04:20 pm - Oh, the pizza, oh, the pizza.

08:32 am - Labels screening this Friday.

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to send out a quick reminder that the premiere screening for my film "Labels" is this Friday. I know most people who read this live in other states, but for those who live in California it'd be very cool if you could make it. Or for those of you willing to fly in for the event, but I highly doubt that's the case for....pretty much all of you;) But if you are willing (hint, hint), just kidding.



Here's the trailer for "Labels".

11:46 pm - "Labels" Screening

06:41 pm - "Labels" trailer

03:05 pm - Fire

10:51 am - Assistant wanted! Just kidding

I knelt down by the front door of my apartment to put my boots on. I slipped them on clumsily one at a time, my center of balance constantly in motion to keep from falling over. My roommate Jenny waited patiently by the door. Once I felt my feet were snuggly seated in my boots, I proceeded to reach down to tie my laces. This inevitably resulted in my fingers getting tangled and knotted with the strands. I looked up at Jenny.

"I can't tie my shoes,” I said.

She looked down temped to point her finger and laugh, but resisted the urge.

"Can you help me tie my shoes?" I requested.

She looked down at me once again, this time with distain.

"No, I'm not your assistant," She replied. "Get your own."


The end.

10:47 pm - My life last November...and probably some of December

Some things you just can't fake. Natural light can be a wonderous thing.



Rigging, rigging, rigging.



Um...more, rigging.



My friend Chuy.



Still not done yet..................


More to come in December.

11:36 pm - Goodbye Robert Altman

A great filmmaker has passed away today. It's sad to say that there will be not more Altman films to come, but at least he went out on a good note. He directed a wonderfully warm and heartfelt film adaptation of A Prairie Home Companion, and won the life time achievement award at the Oscars last year. What a truly incredible filmmaker, I'm sad I'll never get the chance to meet him in person. Good bye Robert Altman.

Current Mood: sad

04:34 am - The Distance Between - Zen Writing

The tea kettle boils
and the stew is on the table.
Coats hang by the doorway
and no one sits or stands.
No one speaks or is spoken to.
No one is heard
for no voice is present.
To everything lost and found.
To those who stand and wait.
We've come and gone
to tell you this...

We were lost,
and never found

Current Mood: awake

11:52 am - THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!

I certainly came home at the best time ever. I've been through some crazy thunderstorms, but living so close to Lake Michigan, near the city, the worry of tornadoes hardly pass through our minds. I've never heard warning sirens go off before in my life, but they were screaming throughout Chicago and it's surrounding suburbs. The sky turned black, and hail pounded the building as wind shook the walls of our tin can studio. I don't think any tornadoes actually touched down, but the fact that there was a serious threat of one even in downtown Chicago is pretty amazing.

01:17 am - The saga continues

So, about a month ago, I went on a long rant because I have a horrible day. It was an thrilling story about electrocution, sickness, and being let go from a job which continues to be much more than it was worth. That is not, without a doubt, an understatement. I finally, after a month or waiting, received a check for the production I worked on for a wonderful $75.00. On a job that was already severely under paid, not to mention the fact the the insurance company that supposedly is taking care of the emergency room claim for the production company, is big surprise, not the company that actually covers them. More and more I feel like I'm getting screwed from these people. So now I get to look forward to a pleasant phone conversation tomorrow about how they can justify paying a production assistant 75 dollars total for four days worked, when it should have been a 75 dollar day rate, for on average 15 hour days. All this after I got electrocuted on their set. It's moments like these when I hate the people in this business.

Current Mood: angry

10:52 am - For those of you who were wondering...

Which is probably not many of you. This is Feist.

06:13 pm - FEIST

feist feist feist feist feist feist feist feist feist feist feist feist feist

Current Mood: bouncy

09:56 am

07:09 pm - What a fucking week

I'm tired, I've been working insane hours, and I've had few weeks that have been worse then this last one. This journal entry will be nothing more then a rant, full of whining. If you have no interest in reading about my whining, then stop reading now. If you are curious to read on you have been warned.

I've consistently been working 14 and 15 hour days for the past couple weeks. I'm exhausted. I started last Monday on a feature length film (a movie of the week for Lifetime :-p). I worked two days on that then went onto another job from Wednesday till Sunday. The second shoot went well, I walked into a window by accident, which I have only myself to blame for, but other than that there were good people, it was good work, and I for the most part enjoyed being on set. That job finished fairly late on Sunday night, then I went back for an 8:00 AM call on Monday. This would have been day 8 of what I expected to be a 13 day week. Coming back onto the feature was no big deal. Things seemed to go fairly smoothly and we all seemed for the most part to work well together. There were some little annoyances, but nothing unusual for working on set.

Then Wednesday came around. I injured myself in one of the strangest ways I could have imagined, and this time it wasn't through my own stupidity. I got electrocuted. Someone ran and extension cord under a metal door. The person who ran it however didn't realize that the cord was frayed and bare at one point. I grabbed the metal door handle with my left hand, then placed my right hand on a metal light switch, therefore grounding myself, and hello electric shock! It's an odd sensation to say the least. In my case it was a quick jolt, where it felt like someone took a sack of bricks and slammed it into my chest. Luckily the voltage wasn't high enough that my muscles seized and I clenched onto the door. At first I wasn't sure what happened. I know I'd gotten shocked, but I felt pretty coherent. I let the second AD know what happened, and then my body began to slow down, and all my limbs got extremely heavy. They found out where the nearest hospital was and they sent me on my way. The driver dropped me off, I walked in through the doors only to find that I'd been dropped off at the wrong place, and they couldn't take me. I called the production cell back about 15 to 20 minutes later they finally sent another driver out to pick me up and take me to the ER. The ER visit was pretty standard. I was completely out of it for the most part, however after I'd passed out on the table for a few minutes I started to become a little more aware of what was going on.

So the ER doctor checked me out, he said everything should be fine. He told me what to expect and that I should take a couple days off and go in for a follow up exam. I went in for the follow up on Friday. I woke up, felt pretty sore and still a little out of it, but not to bad. I went to the exam, and they did a very quick look at my pulse and my blood pressure and sent me on my way. I proceeded to go to set. I worked for a few hours then began to feel a little light headed. I shook it off and drank some water an continued to work. I made it all the way till lunch, the a sudden wave of dizziness and nausea swept over me. I felt so sick that I didn't feel like I could walk more than a couple step without wanting to throw up. I sat for a while until I felt like I could make it to my friend's car, who would drive me home. I spent half the trip wanting to throw up out his passenger window, and the other have sitting fairly comfortable. I thought I was fine by the time we pulled up to my apartment.

The minute I got out of the car however, the dizziness hit me again. I made my way inside and passed out. I was in and out of consciousness for the next few hours till my friend and another P.A. dropped my car off. Once they did, I told them I still felt pretty crumby and I didn't think I would be able to make it in the next day. For whatever reason, I have no idea why, I didn't think to call the second AD to tell her that as well. I guess I figured they weren't expecting me in anyway, because they didn't send a call sheet, times, or a location to go to with the P.A.s that dropped my car off.

Come Saturday. I'm feeling better, but not feeling 100 %. I feel that it's still probably a good idea not to work and to take some time off before the next week. Around 1:00 in the afternoon I get a phone call from the Second AD. She asks how I'm feeling and everything, then proceeds to fire me. She tells me that she didn't realize that I wouldn't be in, and that she needed a phone call ( all true and it was my fuck up), then says that I'm a hard worker and she would definitely hire me again but don't come in Monday.

So along with being electrocuted and sick, I've also been fired. All in one week.

Current Mood: aggravated

11:30 pm - Where I disappeared to last week

First off, I cut the behind the scenes video for my friend's film, and I expect all of you to pre-order the DVD from amazon RIGHT NOW! Heehee, just kidding. If you want to though, the film is called Mad Song, and you can find it if you search for it under DVDs at Amazon. That took up nearly all my time from June 30th, till July 5th.

From the 6th till the 9th I was on location here...





Maricopa, Ca
*I felt like I was in a Wim Wender's film

and





New Cuyama, Ca

The shoot was exhausting but great at the same time. More later, now I must sleep.

Current Mood: cheerful

12:33 pm - 28.5 Hours Up

worked for 16.5 hours and still going. 12:30PM



#2

09:09 am

Melt down...9:08AM