My trip to Paris was wonderful (even though they lost my luggage).

www.mynameisben.com/paris.htm

That website has a couple of the many many pictures that I took.

While in Paris, I did a lot of sightseeing. Saw all the typical Paris stuff and went to a lot of museums as well. While I was there, the weather was great and the city is really beautiful so it was nice to be able to walk around everywhere comfortably. Seeing Claire and Neeru again was awesomeand of course, seeing Lee again was fantabulous. One entire day was devoted to cooking and that was fun. We spent a lot of time being lazy (at least I did) and we went to a fondue place that served wine in baby bottles. The cheese didn't agree with my stomach (3+ years of not drinking milk has made me semi-lactose intolerant) but it was worth it.

Paris has the most amazing bread on earth.
Waking up at noon to Lee walking in the door with a fresh baguette from the bakery = sweet.

Mango flavored things in France = not so sweet.

I had layovers in Milan and Rome. That was fun..........

I did a lot of reading on the plane trips since they were long. The only carry on that I took with me was a bag full of books and issues of the New Yorker. One of the New Yorkers had an article about Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas in it. I'm now obsessed with him and think that he's totally amazing. He used to be a filmmaker too so maybe I'll end up being a crazy but awesome architect someday? Nah.

Anyway, he's the guy who designed the Seattle Library which is amazing. I love it and I was recently browsing his website and his other projects look really incredible as well. Ian apparently works in the same building as him... I'm quite jealous.

I've recieved by footage from my shoot. Hopefully I can get some of it on my computer sometime soon.

Done.

Posted by Ben at 10:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Why is Ben updating you ask? Isn't he supposed to be in Paris right now?

Yes.

Maybe he's updating from a computer in Paris?

NO! They don't have computers in Paris.

Actually, they do.

Am I updating from Paris? No.

I am stuck in New York. Against my will. Because Air France sucks.

I barely missed my flight (even though I was there 50 minutes before it was due to take off) and even after offering to leave my bags behind at the airport (because they said they didn't have time to check my bags and that's why I couldn't board) they wouldn't let me through.

That was a horribly written sentence. The experience was even more horrible.

Anyway, I'm stuck here for a couple more days and will be going to Paris on Tuesday on a flight that stops in Milan on the way there and in Rome on the way back. Yay, I get to go to Italy too... for a couple hours...

Grrr.

*Annoyed*

Posted by Ben at 5:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So my shoot wrapped on Sunday.

We shot about 2000 feet of film and I'm projecting that it's going to come in a couple hundred dollars under budget. Whew!

It was my first time directing so many people around at once (I had a crew of about 17 people). It was hard at first because I'm the type of person who likes to do everything myself but eventually I learned to delegate much better.

It was a good experience and not too stressful either once it got started. I wish I could say the same for the weeks leading up to it.

Thank yous again to James, Kate, and every body else in their apartment.

I'm still a bit nervous though because I have yet to see the footage since I need to get it developed and transferred first. I'm taking it to the lab on Thursday and will get to see it when I get back from Paris.

Ah yes... Paris... the one thing I had to look forward to which kept me sane. My flight is this Thursday night and I will be back on Monday the 21st.

I have an arts of China midterm on Thursday. The class is so interesting but I'm having trouble retaining anything. At least in the past couple months since I had so much else on my mind. I can only hope that the notes I took are good and that I can cram it all into my head tonight and tomorrow.

I'm starting to enjoy the taste of coffee. Dunkin Donuts has really good coffee.

Yesterday it was nearly 60 degrees in New York and I thought Spring had finally arrived.

Today it was cold as balls and was snowing like crazy with wind up the wazoo.

Whack.

Posted by Ben at 9:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Done... for now... still going to be anxious until I see my footage... which, unfortunately, probably won't be for a couple weeks...

Posted by Ben at 9:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's 7:01am. In about an hour, the weekend from hell is going to begin.

I spent the night at Vadim's place so that we could play World of Warcraft AND because his dorm is close to the U-Haul store in Chelsea. I have a lot of crap to lug with me so he's going to help out and the less distance we have to travel, the better.

At 8:30 I'm scheduled to pick up a cargo van that I will be keeping with me the entire weekend. After picking up the van, we're going to pick up Jacqueline, pick up equipment at Du-All Camera, drop Jacqueline off, pick up keys from James for his apartment, pick up equipment at Shadow Studios, pick up snacks from Emily's boyfriend, then go to James' apartment and unload everything.

The rest of the day will be spent moving equipment around, moving furniture around, and getting the set ready for tomorrow.

Lastly, we will do the first lighting setup for tomorrow before we head on home for the day.

Tomorrow the day starts at 8am again and will probably go until around 8 or 9pm. The longer we stay and the more we get done, the later in the day we can start on Sunday. If all goes according to plan, Sunday will be a short day and we will be out by around 5.

Yesterday, I found the most bad ass gas mask ever for my project. I will post pictures of it later.

Not much more to say. Off I go... I will return on Monday with either a really frustrated, freaked out entry or a really happy entry.

Bye.

Posted by Ben at 7:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)