The Travails of the Astounding!

What do Philip Glass, Qtip, Busta Rhymes, Small Jonathan, and the Beastie Boys have in common? Not much till you hear yet another unfortunate remix album by Boston's own DJ bc. This latest travesty entitled Glassbreaks, chunkily combines some of Glass's best orchestrations with some of today's hottest hip-hop vocal tracks. On their own, the vocals range from mediocre to pretty good. When combined with Glass however, both aspects lose their color and instead of lending new meaning to the music it felt more like a kid playing with some shiny new computer software. Laughable really. It does make me wonder what sort of hip-hop music would come of a collaboration between Glass and a producer who gave a damn about doing something interesting, like our old pal Doom. But that brief fantastical flight of mental meandering was the best thing to come out of Glassbreaks.
Hah, no really, it's awful. Check it out! or click there for a handy dandy torrent!
Speaking of MF Doom and subpar remixes, he and DJ Dangermouse (who really impressed me with his work on the new Gorillaz) are combining their powers to work on a new concept album based on Cartoon Networks Adult Swim characters!!! You KNOW there's gonna be a Frylock rap, ohh I can't wait! ALSO! I just found out recently but if youre as gaa gaa over that MF Doom's music as I am then you'll appreciate the fact that just about every track from all of his albums since his resurfacing has been rereleased sans-vocals. That's right! TO date there are ten volumes of MF's rap instrumentals. Each 'Special Herbs' release also has a really neat cover featuring Marvel comics Dr. Doom. Part of the attraction to this strange artist is not only the clever lyrics and fun imagery, but his far-out sample choices. One track samples heavily off of the 60's Spiderman show, another sounds just like something you'd hear in the elevator going to hell.

Mom: Anybody thirsty for more?
Kids: More Doom, pleeease!


Tight Like That from the album "Clutch" by Clutch

Today, a magazine cover confused me and I forgot which year it was.

A few days before that I was surfing about, looking for a way to turn mp3s into ringtones, y'know, saving the world type shit. I began to feel something was amiss when the all the banners in my browser shifted from PeaceCorps and Movie ads to all the familiar signs of POP-Hell. I knew that if I diverted my eyes from the text of the information I was reading to any of the flashing blinking sirens that seemed to have framed my screen I would be in trouble. My brain would pop and hiss and I'd have to go on another killing spree. Really, advertising pisses me off THAT much. Then I came across this: which didnt make mad so much as laugh and laugh. Cause really, who gives a fuck enough to know if you know who she fucks to give you a 300 dollar electronic toy?



NOTE: None of these names sound like they belong to actual people.

I Can't Get Behind That (featuring Henry Rollins) from the album "Has Been" by William Shatner

As of 2 weeks ago shooting on Fat Tuesday has been postponed until further notice. Right now it looks like we'll resume shooting in the Spring. Will we have the same locations? Cast? Crew? The details are uncertain. What I am certain of, is that in order to make the best film we will have to choose a better time to get it done. This pause was due to a general feeling that there was an acute shortage of time to successfully pull off the schedule we had set out for ourselves. A truly insane schedule that by all accounts did not take into consideration the unique challenges a feature like FT would bring us. Ultimately we needed about 5 more days of shooting, and since that wouldn't happen, with a heavy heart I've been forced to reach this conclusion. To all those involved in the production, If I haven't spoken with you directly, thank you for your phenomenal efforts thus far, we will be certain to keep you updated as we revise and restock.

Holy Moly! Wayne's a Zombie!

A Special note to our Internet Explorer using friends.

IE does this to the Travails:



So, when tuning in, be sure to use Safari or Firefox.

Cause I'm not changing a damn thing.

And now, a treat

Window from the album "Extraordinary Machine" by Fiona Apple

It had been decided late Friday afternoon that the shot of Rupert driving the hitched Gran Torino would be a no-go. We couldn't find a U-haul, we couldn't find a rental, we couldn't find the flatbed and we couldn't get CMU to give us a van. The day before that, Danny 'Bones' Josephs (our Producer) had protested our evening shoot on Saturday, and so a day before what was oh-so-long-ago originally planned to be our biggest shooting weekend of the summer, crumpled into something between a pop and a fizz. But did that get the plucky go getters of Dark of Noon Production down? (hell no is the answer)
..
...


HELL NO! And so, at 9AM we whipped out the ole Polaroid of yesteryear and had ourselves a little breakfast photo-shoot with our star Parrot. With Mike on the Insta-Cam, I took this rare opportunity to take pictures of my own, for it occurred to me that this would be one of the rare days on set where I'd actually have the time to take my own photos. But it was not to be, for friends, I was having a bad technology day. I'm not getting into the full details of the techno-mutiny, but suffice it to say I was having MAJOR issues with EVERYTHING. Mac, Camera, iPod, Cellphone and stereo system, shanghaied me, and I'm sure theyre still laughing it up in the basement. The fucks. Luckily I did get SOME shots, but most of everything I tried to take turned into a blurry mess.
Oh well.

One nap later I went to see George Romero's splendid new Land of the Dead, which is really something fun and terrifying to see. Although it suffers from poor acting and a bit of the cheese factor, it's one of the more fear inducing zombie flicks of our recent time and I highly recommend it. (4 out of 5 stars).
THEN, on my way back home, I saw a neighbor moving out of her house, and one conversation with Larry later, 2613 Tilbury Avenue had a BUNCH of new furniture. The house starts to feel a lot like a home.

ROCK!

Lazy Lover from the album "Brazilian Girls" by Brazilian Girls

Almost a week now since days one and two of the 18 day Fat Tuesday shoot.




I can barely sleep. I feel a restless wreck during the day. Reading Sin City helps. Working at the bar helps. Creating meticulous shot lists with Mike helps. Chewing gum relieves the mania. I'm still so green, I can do better, I can express myself more clearly. We can get better shots. I can manage time better. I think about all of this when I'm not working on it. When the buzzer sounds it's all checklists and checks. When the lights dim, it's back to the circus. And since it's a twice a week shoot for the next two months, I gotta think about something else, soon. Now. Whenever. Maybe sometime during the fall.


For right now, it's long hot sticky nights. The type where you spend hours staring at the yellow glow of your ceiling. The type where you blast music and thank god you live in a house where you can do that and not upset neighbors cause this is the closest thing to therapy your wallet will allow. I guess things are going pretty well. Hell, I know it. I'm having the time of my life. I'm working with a hilarious screenplay, written by my buddy and DP. I've got rousties who work effectively for long unpaid hours and don't bitch. Having Heather Diehl as our Production Manager has worked out tons better than I had expected. She fills in the holes that Mike and I could go long term twitchy attending to. She works two steps ahead, while Mike and I are thinking three. She makes the phone calls and sends the emails that are the equivalent to waiting room paper filing. And I fucking hate paper work. Production Managers, what a brilliant concept. Glad it only took us our second feature to figure it out. Or else I'd really be crazy. Crazy as a fox. Crazy as Sisak & Quinn in love.
Well, not that kind of crazy. But it looks like a good crazy. Good enough that I might be tempted to try it out sometime.

Anyway, day one and two of the shooting went well as I've said. Weve got a great mixture of professional theatrical thespians, and camera friendly friends. If Mike and I just point the camera in the right direction we'll have a good flick. If we time and light it right, we just might have something great. Diana Lynn who took some wonderful stills for Tyrants has already taken a dozen priceless gems from our 20 plus hours of shooting. Whenever I meet up with her I'll share some of those with you. Til then, you'll have to make do with my clumsily rushed point and shoots. You'll live. So will I. Maybe even happily? Let's not get ahead of ourselves.


And so, the day after day two marked six months tending bar at Zooty's. To celebrate the occasion that I just realized existed, I got everyone on the production team drunk except for Danny, who stays sober as soil during operating hours. Even ole Mr. Kelly was in rare form, for the first time since I started working there he had a bottle other than Iron City!! AND he made it a Budweiser! Here are some pics of that as well. Most of these poor souls are twisted on Jimmy's Mango Mojito recipe which took me 5 tries to perfect, and another ten to get really comfortable with. I can now make em from scratch. Mike Scotto however, who only started drinking at midnight, who had his two Jack and Diets bought for him, who disproved the theory that he couldn't get any drunker than he had been not one month ago, had such a smashing time that on the way home he decided he preferred Pizza Amiers gravely sidewalk to a lumpy uncomfortably soft bed. Jim and I convinced him to reconsider.





Walking Through Walls from the album "Meaningless" by Jon Brion