08.30.06
Posted in Uncategorized, Art, Life at 8:28 am by Fletcher
There is nothing more exhausting, trying, and exhilrating than suffering for one’s art. Like trekking all over Manhattan, in wet, rain soaked shoes rubbing raw blisters, wet pants, cold with the downpour sticking to your legs, fighting with idiots who insist on walking the streets with umbrellas big enough they could keep half of the Astrodome dry, hitting four different hardware stores looking for one simple ‘L’ shaped piece of freakin’ plastic that you know you’ve seen a million times before, but now every non-english speaking hardware store employee looks at you like you just suggested fisting his sister lubed with tabasco sauce.
This was my evening, as I try to wrap up the Great Fake-Blood Experiment, which, despite numerous setbacks, has been more or less on schedule. I’ve gotten the chemistry part down, and now the blood oozes, slow as molasses, and the color, while not realistic, will offset the color of the garage door we’ll be shooting it on quite vibrantly. The last part is getting the flow to be exactly right. Numerous experiments have yielded various results, but none match what I want exactly. And right now, what I need is that one piece of plastic to test out an idea that should work perfectly.
Except nobody has it.
The piece is simply an angled strip, used commonly to protect corners (like on a countertop, for example) that either has an adhesive strip on it, or plain, that you attach with glue. Either version would be perfect. But every jackhole I describe this to, looks at me like I’m insane. ‘Don’t you know in Noo Yawk, we like our corners fucked up?? Whadda ya, nuts?’ I’m ready to start trepanning people with a drill at this point.
At this point, its getting seriously dark out, I’m starving, and wonder if the ancient metrocard in my wallet is still good, and if I have enough time for a mad dash to Canal St. and if the plastic stores down there will even be open by the time I get there. As I start heading for the 6 train, crossing my fingers, I see Lumberland, an old standby on 3rd Ave. I duck in and lo and behold, the goal of my quest is sitting right there, in a barrel, with other bits of wood and plastic. I grab it, greedily, just in case any of the other customers might be eyeing it as well and head to the register. In front of the register, a young guy is chatting with an old guy, whos back is to me. The young guy tells his buddy, ‘hey, watch your back’ the old guy still rambling on. Young guy says it again louder. To no avail. He finally grabs the old guy’s elbow, and gently pulls him aside, ‘Sorry man, he don’t hear none too good,’ throwing me a conspiratorial wink, ‘you want, I’ll give you a dollar, you can kick his ass for me, ok?’ I laugh.
The cashier grins at me and rolls her eyes, as if to say, ‘I gotta deal with this Abbott & Costell routine all day, you’re lucky.’ Young guy and old guy get into a fake boxing match. They’re too funny. Young guy says to me, as I grab my purchase and head outside, ‘hey you need a laugh, you come back - this old sumbitch is a riot!’ I think I just might.
Permalink
08.24.06
Posted in Art, Life at 8:33 am by Fletcher
Tired.
As in very tired. Trying to juggle too many things. Feeling like I can’t focus on one problem long enough to make any more than a cursory swipe at it before something else demands my attention. Getting even rudimentary tasks done seems like a herculean effort.
While I anxiously wait for the pump that I need for the blood project, I’ve been working on the animation, latest attempt can be seen here. Ugh, its like pulling teeth at this juncture. Whenever I get an idea to make it better, it opens up a whole new can of ‘how the hell can I make this work?’ There come a point in every creative project that the ol’ self doubt creeps in. That I’m nothing more than a hack, and that I’ve reached the end of my creative powers. That’s it, just give up, become a friggin’ accountant and relegate yerself to a mundane existence of mindless drudgery, where the highlight of my day will be watching the latest reality show, ‘The World’s Top Middle Manager’.
As always, its a cycle. With every project it goes in rough order: Enthusiasm, energy, idea diarrhea, try too many things, lose focus, throw out all ideas, panic, depression, late night creeping fears, find solution in weirdest way possible, all night high-speed marathon, tweaks, coat of paint to hide the flaws, submit to client for final approval, collapse when approved, sleep…
Of course, this can all be attributed to stage jitters, as next weekend is the big film shoot. I expect it to be like all the others, long days, lots of lifting, waiting, thinking furiously over multiple logistics problems, emotional meltdowns, screaming matches, bad weather, bad food, and other social Darwinism experiments. It ought to be fun.
Permalink
08.22.06
Posted in Art at 8:31 am by Fletcher
Weekend update:
I spent most of Saturday running around the city, looking for various parts to make the ‘blood’ project work, a trip to Home Depot, which is like letting a kid loose in a toy store. I was dismayed at the one thing on my list that I couldn’t find: that cheap little plastic fencing that old ladies use to fence off their little flower gardens, but then again, they didn’t have any plastic pink flamingos either…
The hardware section though, was a dream come true, as I found lengths of tubing, connectors, gaffer’s tape, and other assorted gimcracks that put me into a ‘mad scientist’ mood, thinking that these delights were like a Tinkertoy set for adults.
I still was torn between making fake blood, and seeing if the ‘professional’ version was superior to my own recipe. I wandered down the 20’s, to The Set Shop, another playground of grownup fun. They didn’t have any, but knew of a place on 21st that did, so the steered me around the block to Abracadabra, and when I got there, this cheerful fellow greeted me:
Ye gods, if the other two places I’d just been to were a delight, I just died and went to freakin’ heaven. The place was jammed packed to the rafters with Halloween masks, costumes, props, weird statues, stage weapons, skeletons, and more weird shit than I could take in all at once. I could spend years just exploring the place.
But I had an agenda and time was short. The staff was pleasant, and got got into a good debate about stage blood, its merits, weaknesses and based on my needs, determined that at $17 a pint, we didn’t have the budget for the massive amounts the director needs to get the effect we want. So, reluctantly, I left and went home to play.
1st attempt to see how my idea works in real time.
Sunday was more of the same, I posted the above clip and had the Director review it. We met at the pub in the afternoon, joined by Heather and we launched into a discussion of where to go next. And in true Cecil B. DeMille fashion, he wants bigger, badder, more epic amounts. So, back to the drawing board.
As per usual, when we wind down the topic of creative projects, we turn to politics, and the abysmal State of Current Events. We quickly determined that the 2008 election should feature a Gore/Clark ticket, and Heather came up with the tag line; ‘Saving the Planet both ways’ a nod to Gore’s environmentalism, and Wesley Clark’s brilliant strategies for diplomacy.
Also, as per usual, Heather kidnapped me and we went to The Banc, where over multiple ales, I read the latest update to her novel, and in the process learned that like guys, females have ‘public restroom etiquette’ regarding the selection of which stall is to be used in what order.
When I left, I wandered homewards, thinking about just how awesome it is to be surrounded with so many creative people. People like myself, not content to just work a job, but those slightly twisted souls who look around and say ‘yeah, It’d look better with a torrent of fake blood running down with people acting and photoshopped to look just right.’
Permalink
08.21.06
Posted in Art at 8:38 am by Fletcher
Much running around this weekend, buying all sorts of fun things:
Light corn Syrup
Bright Red food dye
corn starch
cocoa powder
mix these ingredients, shake and voila: Stage Blood…
The Director wants gallons of this stuff, thicker or in his words; ‘Like snot’.
More detailed post about my weekend later tonight…
Permalink
08.16.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:38 am by Fletcher
Memo from the Photo Desk:
I realize the many of you had gone out of your way to make The Suavezinho welcome for his return from the Amazon Basin. I know what a pain it is to wear full dress uniform in August in Manhattan. I appreciate the effort to find and at least dust off the old red carpet, which hasn’t seen use since the departure of the Swedish Chicks. Also, as of further notice, Romulan Ale will no longer be served at diplomatic functions.
I was, as were you all, dismayed at the non-event, as the Suave One didn’t make an appearance. Rest assured that rumours of a political kidnapping, or that he was apprehended at the border trying to smuggle 40 cases of Cachaça, are indeed just that, rumors. This office is engaged in a massive effort to find our prodigal son, but repeated calls to the Brazilian embassy have been met with interviews with their futbol team (peppered with chants of ‘Ronaldinho’) and a horribly looped muzak version of ‘The Girl from Ipanema’.
This office is limited in staff and capability, so we enlist all of you to make at least one attempt at locating our lost brother, use whatever means necessary, but be advised that in the event of legal action, this office will deny any knowledge of your actions.
Fletcher
Permalink
08.09.06
Posted in Life at 8:26 am by Fletcher
So yesterday was a jam session of epic proportions trying to work out the kinks in the animation for Sovereignty. I redid the main character with movable eyes, mouth and eyebrows to convey expression and emotion, which tripled my CPU usage, and now the computer is crawling. Time to shift my work quality to LOW.
During this, I took a few minutes to whip up some dinner, when Pete pops his head into the kitchen. ‘Is the internet down?’ I tell him I dunno, I’ve been working non-stop on the animation. He checks the router, no power. Turns out a breaker was tripped, which was the impetus for him to break out the tools and poke around our ancient electrical system to find out why we have problems. Amazingly, his Jedi-like prowess led him almost immediately to a junction box on the ceiling, which he popped open and proclaimed ‘AHA!’ as he started pulling out several blackened wires… Within minutes he reconnected the short and a critical outlet that had been down for a long time was now active.
With much rejoicing, we ditched an extension cord that had been stretched across the hallway, remarking that nobody had tripped over it, the whole time it had been there. To celebrate, Pete had hooked up his digital projector in Puma’s office and we watched ‘Hidalgo’ movie-screen style on his wall…
Jump forward 8 hours of sleep later…
I woke up to my usual grumpy ass state, turned on the coffee pot and hit the can to relieve myself, only to discover the power was out. Hmm. The coffee pot was brewing, so maybe the circuit for the bathroom had tripped. Oh well, grabbed a candle and shat in the dark, as they say. When I was done, I went to wash my hands and face, that’s when I discovered the water was off. This does not bode well…
Seeing as how much of a grumpy bastard I am in the morning, I didn’t think that waking the roomies at 5:30 in the morning to inquire about the lack of power or water was the wisest choice. My initial guess is that the hot water heater (which is a contradiction in terms when you think about it) died, or failed or something, so I fired off an email to the roomies and am now anxiously awaiting a reply… Looks like we’ve got work ahead.
Luckily, I had a gallon of water from the weekend lying about, and used that to sponge off and brush my teeth, so I’m at least partially clean…
On a much more positive note, Ned Lamont won the primary in CT last nite. Which in my book, is the start of a shift in the political climate. No longer are voters going to fall in step with the cronies who echo the White House party line. And I expect the the GOP spin machine is going go into overdrive cranking out how they’re the only ones who can protect the nation, repeating ad nauseum that there have been no attacks here since we’re fighting them there. Well guess what, there haven’t been any zombie attacks or massive volcanos sprouting up in midtown either asshats, ya’ gonna take credit for that too?
Permalink
08.01.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 5:12 pm by Fletcher
So here are the photos from the Atlantic City trip. It’s too hot to work, think I’ll head down to the pub for a gin and tonic, act like some ex-pat Under the Volcano.
Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:48 am by Fletcher
Won’t be able to post till tonight- check back around 5.
Will post pics from A.C. trip tonight.
Permalink
