A Dog's Life

Two dogs, really. Timmy and Max, my yorkies. I had a medical emergency with both of them last night that I really don't want to go into. The important thing is that they are fine, though I am still rather traumatized, and only hours before I get on a plane to be away from them for 10 days. Luckily they will be in very good hands with their "Uncles" Phil and Ron. If I didn't have such good friends to leave them , with, I probably would be canceling my whole trip right now.

As it stands, I had to cancel my Pre-Production for Independent Films class at the Creative Alliance at the 11th hour. That was supposed to be today. I do feel terrible about that, and hope to make it up to the people who enrolled. But I am sure any of them who has had a pet with a near-death experience will understand.

So last night was a complete wash and now I am behind schedule again, haven't even packed, though for me, as you know by now, that is par for the course. I have so much to do today, I'd better get moving in a minute. But just wanted to throw a quick post on here before I leave for 10 days, as I am not sure how much internet access I will have over there.

The dog in the photo above is not one of mine (the dog is not mine, the photo is), but this is one of my favorite photos that I have ever taken. This dog's "name" was George (we dubbed him this, as in, "I will love him and squeeze him and call him George", old-school Warner Brothers cartoon reference ). He was a stray that a friend of mine found near Patterson Park. He was a mutt with a very cool personality and hypnotic golden eyes. He didn't seem stressed or freaked out about anything. It was summertime and none of us had much to do, and George fit right in. I practically expected him to make a suggestion as we discussed where to go get a cold beer and sit outside. We were in another friend's convertible driving in Highlandtown near the park when I took this with a fish eye lens. I was in the front passenger seat, George was in the back seat with the friend who found him. A few days later, George got loose and ran away and we never saw him again. But, he was one of those dogs that you just know will be fine. That was at least 5 years ago, and I still smile whenever I look at this photo and I remember everything about this little guy. He seemed like the canine equivalent of a happy wanderer. He just drifted into our lives for a few days, hung out and had a few adventures, and then hit the road, undoubtedly on to the next adoptive group for more good times. I'll try to take a page from George's book as I spend a week in Tamworth.

Heart Attack Averted

Good lord... went to make some changes to the movie yesterday, and I COULDN"T FIND THE FILE. Somehow I had accidentally moved the master file to the TRASH! Thank goodness I hadn't emptied it! I think I was trying to get rid of old versions that were taking up a lot of space but I knew I wouldn't use again. Seriously, I was almost in tears, because the only full version I had left was the latest DVD version, which is somehow all squished because I must have done something wrong when rendering and burning it to DVD. I am still having palpitations just re-living the moment. Ack.

I am about 1/3 of the way through the movie, making some tiny changes here and there, tightening up a few pauses and even cutting down a few more lines. Anyone who has seen the movie will probably be happy to know that I have cut the Golden Twat line from the sushi scene. I still think it was funny, but nobody else seemed to, and I'll admit it makes the scene more palatable to a wider audience. I also swapped some things around in the first few scenes to step up the pace. There is more I would have liked to cut, but since I did not do a great job during production of making sure I had enough cutaways (little snippets to cut to, a hand on a bottle of beer, a close-up of someone's wrist as they look at their watch, etc), to cut the lines I wanted to cut would screw up continuity, which I have worked VERY hard to make as perfect as possible. Also I now open directly with the first scene, THEN to the opening credits with the song "Bohemia" by Niki Lee. That is something Eric suggested a long time ago, and it definitely works better, plus then people are paying attention by then instead of talking through the credits, and I think the song is very pertinent to the movie, which is more obvious after you watch the first scene.

I am so excited to be heading to England on Saturday, though I really have no idea what to expect. I have booked my reservations in a sweet little B & B called The Peel Hotel, which apparently is anywhere from one to ten minutes walking to anyplace in town I would possibly need to be. Rest assured I will be making mental and physical notes throughout the trip, as I have the feeling that the entire experience has "screenplay" written all over it. When I made my reservations at the hotel for an entire week, the kind lady I spoke to told me that after I had seen the sights in town, that it would be easy to take a train to Birmingham, a larger city, and from there I can go to anywhere in England quite easily. The way she said it was almost as if she had said "after you have seen the sights in town - which should take all of about five minutes..."

Though it may happen, I have no intention of leaving Tamworth that week. As stated, my goal the first few days is to meet as many people as possible and invite them to the screening. I also intend to get some writing done, and RELAX. I do my best writing and relaxing when I am VERY far away from home and have absolutely no daily responsibilities and limited internet access. Plus, though the pound is a lot weaker against the dollar than it has been in recent years, it is still not in my favor, and I see no point in wasting valuable pub money on train travel.

I am also so psyched about going to Philly later this month! I was starting to panic that "Smalltimore" would not get into any domestic festivals, though I have only been turned down by a few so far, and those were mostly long shots. There are some other festivals I will be hearing back from soon that I think the film is more suited to, so fingers crossed. I'd really like at least one more, so when the time comes to package the DVD I can have at least three lovely laurels to display on the cover!

Miss Me?

Sorry I've been slackin', but hey, I'm on vacation! I am waaaaaaaaaay over in Sunny Seattle, been here for a week, got a couple days left. It really is sunny, too! Has been every day since I got here. I have always had Unusually Good Vacation Weather Karma. Out here visiting my friend Tobey. Went up in the Space Needle, ate at a great little place called How To Cook A Wolf, hung out at the Public Market down on the water, saw Carrie Fisher in her one-woman show, "Wishful Drinking" (she is my favorite author, if I have never mentioned that), saw a Mariner's game (nice park, but the Mariner's got their asses handed to them by the Devil Rays), sang "When Doves Cry" at a gay karaoke bar (Tobey sang "Brilliant Disguise" by The Boss), met loads of Tob's friends and drank relentlessly on all but two nights, but my FAVORITE thing we did was we went on a whale watching trip on Saturday and saw LOADS of whales. That was super-cool, and something I always wanted to do.

I have been checking in on the RSVP list for the Premiere on Sunday, have a little over 70 via Facebook, and close to another 100 via email, so it is going to be quite the party! Can't wait!

While I was out here I got an email from Steve Yeager. I've mentioned him before, he is a Baltimore filmmaker who made the award-winning documentary on John Waters, "Divine Trash". I took a class of Steve's at the Creative Alliance back in November. Anyway, he asked if I could AD (Assistant Director) for him this weekend when I get back, and of course I said yes! I like Steve and had told him recently if he needed a hand on anything to let me know. I was an extra for him a few months ago and it seems like he is a pretty laid-back director, plus he is well-connected within the community and one thing often leads to another. Plus, another screen credit for moi! Unfortunately, however, this means I can't attend the premiere screening of "The Mystery Date," on Saturday, a short that I worked on as Script Supervisor last March. I am bummed about that, there are some people who will be there that I'd like to see. But sometimes you just gotta make choices, ya know? But I am psyched to be working with Steve.

While out here in Seattle, we had a little screening of "Smalltimore" for Tobey and a few of his friends, since Tob can't make it to Charm City for the premiere. It was well-received, and a fun night, but his friend Jesse who screened it for us has a sick stereo system and I could hear where I've not done such a great job on the sound in some patches. Sound is SO. DAMN. HARD. But I don't have the $$$ to get it mastered. Grrr. I'll figure something out.

In other news, I may be losing my day job soon, but amazingly enough I am not all that stressed about it. In a perfect world, I won't lose it until I get a sizable chunk of my credit-card debt paid off, but this world ain't all that perfect. We'll see. If it does happen sooner than later, it will give me more time to work on the next script. I have written a four-page outline and have a good idea of what I want to do, but that is as far as I have gotten. Thought I'd get something done on it while I am out here, but Tobey has kept me busy having too much fun. Maybe on the plane home on Thursday!

I guess I am not worried about the job thing because (a) worrying won't change anything, and (b) my life always seems to work out the way it is supposed to. I sort of just trust the wind that carries me, and when I need to make something happen, I find a way to make it happen. I have friends that will make sure I never have to live in a cardboard box. Storage unit, maybe, but not a cardboard box! Nah, Mikey would never let that happen to me. I keep telling him, if only I could find a straight man that treats me as well as he does, I'd be set! Whenever I say this, he just rolls his eyes, shakes his head, and says, "NEVER gonna happen..."

I was in a store here today, flipping through some art prints, though unfortunately I can't remember the name of the artist. They were crude and colorful figurative drawings with very short vignettes written on them. One that particularly caught my eye seemed to precisely sum up what might be considered my own philosophy and why things that might throw other people into a panic or depression don't get to me so much:

"Everything changed when she realized that there was exactly enough time in this life to do all of the things that were very important to her."

If I wasn't soon-to-be-unemployed, I would have bought it.