My color sync shoot is this Friday.

So far the schedule is as follows:

Wednesday, I'm picking up the school equipment and driving it up to James and Kate's apartment.

Friday, I'm picking up the equipment we're getting from the rental houses and taking it up to the apartment. That night we're going to be doing the set dressing and the first setup for the next day.

Saturday will start at 8:30am and go for the entire day. Hopefully it will wrap by around 10pm..........

Sunday is going to be much shorter and probably won't start until 10 or 11am and will wrap in about five hours.

James is going to make spaghetti for dinner that night.

Planning has been one of the most stressful experiences I've ever endured. This was all done on short notice because I'm going first but I think I'm going to manage.

The shoot is going to be pretty simple and that's why it's going to be 1.5 days instead of the usual 3 insane days these things usually take. I think we'll be using a lot of film though since the project has a lot of long takes. We'll probably be shooting a little under 3,000ft of film which roughly translates to AN ASS LOAD OF MONEY... especially when processing is factored in......

Yesterday, I had a long meeting with my DP during which we created a schedule and shot list. I'm feeling much more comfortable now. The last three weeks were spent being anxious and nervous. I'm just anxious now. Once all the equipment is returned next Monday I'm going to be SO relieved. After that, all I have to look forward to is Paris.

Actually, that's a lie. I have two midterms that week. But after those I can look forward to Paris.

World of Warcraft is still just as fun as it was when I first got it... that scares me...

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Sasquatch! Festival Lineup Announced

Aaron Mandel reports:
"Okay, so you've got the Arcade Fire's debut album Funeral, of course, and you got the decut EP off eBay (or maybe you picked it up a show), plus you've picked up an Arcade Fire t-shirt and started buying records by their friends because you were never that clear on who was actually in the band anyway. Don't deny it. We know; we've been watching you (nice hat, by the way). But we bet you don't yet have the ultimate Arcade Fire accessory: a piece of cardstock that says you paid $30 to sleep outside an Arcade Fire show.
Lucky for you, the consummate fan, there's a solution for this. Tickets go on sale this very weekend for the Sasquatch! Festival, taking place at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, WA over a portion of Memorial Day weekend. Pixies, Kanye West, and Modest Mouse share top billing for the event, with Wilco, the Arcade Fire, Bloc Party, and U.S.E. among the others playing the main stage; smaller stages at the festival boast bands exactly like Joanna Newsom, A.C. Newman, the Frames, Smoosh, and Aqueduct. The schedule has all the music taking place on Saturday, May 28, but the aforementioned camping passes are available for both Friday and Saturday night if you want to make a vacation out of it.

We admit that when we imagine festival sponsors House of Blues, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft all conspiring to make us gather in the open air in Central Nowheresville, Washington, we sort of expect the event to involve mass abductions and genetic experimentation, not songs from The College Dropout. But wait! The list of sponsors also includes a state government anti-smoking group, so we really have no idea what's going on. If we don't come back, promise us you'll send a copy of Pitchfork's 2004 Top 50 to every major newspaper in the country. We may die, but the truth will live on."

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I WANT TO GO!!!!!!!

Posted by Ben at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Gay Bear


Which Dysfunctional Care Bear Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I wasn't going to post it... but I know many of you will find this to be very amusing...

Posted by Ben at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I woke up at 7am this morning. Sort of. My alarm was going off but I was in half awake state wondering what the hell that obnoxious noise was. It was only after Leonard woke up and mumbled "Ben... it's you..." did I realize and get out of bed.

On my morning commute I was joined by Radiohead and Refused. It's the first time in a very very long time that the Arcade Fire wasn't on the playlist and it's probably the only time for awhile that it's going to happen as well. I only did it today to test my willpower. Sad that I need to test myself in such trivial matters...

Yesterday's playlist was the Arcade Fire and Kanye West. Bad idea. I actually was caught saying "dizzert" in the dining hall. How embarrassing.

Work is going well. I get off at 12:30 and will be having sushi with Lee's dad.

I've pretty much finished what I have to do for today and I still have an hour and forty five minutes left to burn... uh...

I'm nearly done with the current building I'm working on. The next building I move onto is the dreaded 150 building. Typically a floor has about 40 art pieces on it. This building has floors with over 150. The office numbers even included North, East, South, or West in them. Navigating my way around is going to be a major pain in the ass.

I recently watched Woody Allen's "Manhattan." The beginning of that film is great.

I have a whimpy cold too. I wake up with very minor sore throats and my nose feels funny. It could be much much worse so I'll just stop my complaining here.

Okay, this entry was just something for me to do while I printed a bunch of stuff. The printing is now done so it's time to do some more work...

Posted by Ben at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This week needs to end. Now.

An excerpt (because I'm too lazy to type the story again) from an e-mail I just sent:

"Lee.

I am finally at work.

Shittiest morning ever.

I will explain in a sec… but I’m going to eat my sandwich (which I’ve been carrying around for an hour now) first.

Okay. Done.

Anyway, I get to work at 9:45 this morning and I realize I forgot my ID. I call my boss and he doesn’t pick up either of his phones so I go to the front desk here and explain that I forgot my ID. They try to call my boss and he doesn’t pick up so I can’t get in because my boss needs to approve them giving me a temporary ID. So I sit and wait for awhile and he still doesn’t pick up the phone about twenty or thirty minutes later. So then I had to go all the way home and get my ID and come back. It was a major pain in the ass.

Also, I had e-mailed my boss last night only to discover that I had accidentally sent it to the wrong person."

The rest of the e-mail is of no importance to you.

Anyway.

This is all after I tried to walk through a turnstile in the subway station without swiping my card. I ran into it really violently and actually hurt my hand. I ran into it a couple more times before I went to the one next to it and ran into that one as well. I did this in about four different turnstiles until a lady comes up to me, looking really concerned, and says "sir! you have swipe your card." She even mimed the swiping motion for me just incase I didn't speak English.

This project is completely messing with my mind. Luckily, I think I somewhat have it under control now...

I should get back to work now...

Posted by Ben at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Progress on the script and progress on casting have been made. Thing are starting to look hopeful in those two departments. I think I found a DP too. So everything's all good right? WRONG!

It looks like the location might not work out. Having everything ready but nowhere to shoot it is a real pain in the ass... I think I'm developing an ulcer... I usually don't stress out about things but this is driving me nuts. SAVE ME!

DIE COLOR SYNC! DIE!

25 more days until Paris.

I am slowly going crazy... six, five, four, three, two, one, zero (madd propz to anyone who can guess what movie I got that from... and I might be wrong it might be from somewhere else as well but if you happen to guess what movie I'm thinking of you're the man... or woman...)

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Scripts typically aren't supposed to get shorter and shorter the more you work on them... at least not when the script is barely five pages long...

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My color sync shoot dates (March 4th, 5th, and 6th) are approaching way too fast while my trip to Paris (March 10th) can't approach fast enough... funny that the trip is less than a week after the shoot...

The script for the film is driving me insane. I'm in the midst of writing the entire thing over for the fifth time this week and I may have to rewrite the entire script if casting doesn't work out...

Finding 50 to 60 year old asian male actors is a major pain in the ass although some progress has been made... I can't thank Kate and Emily enough for their help thus far... I used to think the worst thing about filmmaking was that it was so collaborative and that you couldn't have full control over everything but now, I don't think I'd like having to do everything myself... at least not when you're on a deadline.

I tried to change my plane ticket back from Paris so that I could stay there a couple days longer. The fee to change a plane ticket at AirFrance is $200 + the difference in ticket prices. You can buy a one way ticket for less than that.

I've been watching movies lately. Something I wish I did more of but seem to only do when I'm stressed out.

The last four I watched were:

Days of Being Wild - Great great great. It's so romantic...
Airplane! - One of the funniest movies ever. Golly!
Collateral - Tom Cruise is really bad ass in this and Michael Mann is the only filmmaker who can make L.A. look cool (Okay, and according to Leonard: the guy who directed Predator 2)
The Passion of Joan of Arc - One of the greatest films ever made.

My job at Pfizer is going well.

I should post this now since the real reason I'm writing in here is because I don't want to be writing my script... back to work...

Posted by Ben at 9:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

tonight i had my ass owned by the arcade fire. they're simply one of the best live bands that i've ever seen. so much fun and so energetic. every single person on stage was singing their lungs out even when they didn't have a mic on them (and that was most of the time). so so so so so great. probably the best concert i've ever been to.

the opening band, man man, was so awesome as well.

i must go to bed now.

Posted by Ben at 1:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am updating from deep within the bowels of Pfizer Headquarters. Eighteen floors above me, our master and CEO, Hank McKinell is busy pushing buttons, pulling strings, and making the world the better place... for himself and those with erectile dysfunction.

Here on the seventh floor, I'm updating my livejournal while enjoying complementary bottles of Poland Spring water.

Fun.

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