Swinging the Hammer

Tangled up in blue? Why am I blue? Hammer, please don't hurt'em. Wha?

So why am I blue and swinging a hammer. That's me acting in a indie feature called "Cold Readings" IMDB listing that premiered at the Virginia Film Festival back in 2004. Doug Bari wrote, directed and starred in this satirical look at the world of commercial psychics. I had a very small part as a murderous drifter named Bickerman, who (in a flashback, hence the tinting) kills an old man with, you guessed it, a hammer. I also got to do a little voice over work and run the camera a couple of times. It was a fun experience that delivered my first IMDB credit Unfortunately I missed the mentioned premiere as I was living in Ireland at the time and after that I heard nothing else about the project. Recently I contacted actor/writer/director Doug Bari to see what was going on and ask for a copy of the film as I still had not had a chance to see it. A few days later, I had a freshly burned copy spinning in the DVD player. So how is it? Not bad, in fact, much better then many direct to DVD efforts that I have paid to rent or buy. The story is interesting, entertaining with decent photography and generally very fine acting. "Cold Readings" breaks many of the no-budget rules, featuring a large cast and many locations. I wish I could link you to it's Netflix listing so you could check it out for yourself, but as far as I know, "Cold Readings" isn't available, in fact hasn't even been screened again publicly since 2004. And that is a damn shame as it is worthy of a bowl of popcorn. Maybe one day.

OK HW

The Happy Update

The Happy log is rolling along. Talked with Zoje Stage, the writer/director of "Happy Walter" and she was heading off to Pittsburgh to shot the last few feet of Happy tape. Zoje is on a tight, high pressure deadline to get the thing finished so it will be ready for entry into a well-known film festival. Can't say which one, as this is, as I have to remind myself often, her "baby" and so have to respect which and what news to divulge. At any rate, she has updated the Master Builder web site with some cast shots, check it out:

Master Builder's Happy Walter page

Also, some of you are wondering what old Happy Walter is all about, so I've copied the synopsis from Zoje's site for you to read here:

Happy Walter is an artist renowned for making temporary sculptures out of toilet paper and art films featuring unmoving images. Though he is revered in the art world, the thirteen children who bear his name have rarely spoken with him. Wanting a father - and an explanation for his inexplicable success - Happy Walter, Jr. conceives of a documentary that gives her not only access to her father, but to his self-declared experts as well. The results: a hilarious look at a man who unintentionally spins straw into gold, and the eccentric array of people who don't - and do - see him as a naked emperor.

Lots of stuff to chew on for sure.

To the future-

OK HW

July Hiking Report

...And so, here we are a third of the way through August and I'm finally getting around to the July hiking report. I have been busy, but also have been making room to relax a bit and recharge my batteries. Might be time to replace'em or get some solar panels installed. Whatever I do I need to replenish the well. Hiking is something that does for that for me and unfortunately, I have not had much time to hike, lately, but that'll change today. I do miss the hikes along the Genesee River in Rochester. In the nine months we were there, I got to know that trail pretty well, in warm weather and cold and look forward to visiting it whenever we get back to Rochester. Now I have the beach walk here near our home on the bay. A wonderful four mile round trip that is always different, always changing. Sometimes I imagine I'm a beachcomber on a deserted island and scan the sand for treasures. One time I actually found ten dollars sticking out of the sand, which I really appreciated as I was unemployed at that moment. Treasure comes in many forms and one of my favorite is to see the dolphins swimming to or from the Atlantic or spot an Osprey swoop and catch a fish. Those little gifts are what keep me returning to the big hike of life.

So the July numbers were good, 51 miles bringing me to a year to date total of 351, just a mile over where I need to be. Despite the brutal heat and humidity, I managed to use the moving delay to get a last hike or two in by the river and I am glad for it.

Time to stretch and get out there.

OK HW

Escape from New York (A Rant - you have been warned)

We've decide to move back to our beach home in Virginia Beach, rising oceans and hurricanes be damned. Rochester has been wonderful in many ways, but we miss our house and our friends in Va., not to mention that the winters are a little easier to deal with and the taxes are a fair bit lower. The last few weeks have been a mad dash of packing and goodbye's, the usual transition routine. My wife and I both have jobs lined up beginning this week and the original plan was to load the rental truck Saturday, get up early Sunday morning and hit the road. Arrive in Va. Beach in time for some dinner and maybe a little unloading. The fact that it's Tuesday afternoon and I'm typing this from our empty, very hot apartment in Rochester might be a clue that things didn't quite go like we thought.

Plot twist #1: I don't want to name names, so I'll just refer to the truck rental company as "U-HELL", they called Friday afternoon to let me know that they didn't have my "equipment" available for Saturday morning and would call sometime Saturday whenever it would be ready. I asked the nice lady, "So, if I haven't heard from you by noon, should I give you a call?". With more then a slight hint of irony in her voice she replied, "Ah, sure, if you like.". The next day, I got up early and finished packing and started cleaning, still hopeful that I'd get a call, but noon came and went. I tried calling the number I was given and sat on hold for over a half hour before giving up. I tried several times throughout the day to get through, but no joy. Ultimately, I would not receive a call from them until 5:35 pm Sunday afternoon. When the happy chap who called asked, "When would you like to pick-up the truck?", I replied, "Yesterday morning at 8 am.". I got a real problem with poorly run corporations who think it's o.k. to screw their "customers" over as was done in this case and will not give old U-HELL anymore of my hard earned money. If a company causes me great inconvenience and pain, then they had better be prepared to share that pain by offering discounts or something. Also, I received exactly two calls from them, one Friday night and one Sunday night, nothing in between to provide an update or status report. Bye bye U-HELL.

Plot Twist #2: As the truckless Saturday sunk in, we became resigned to the schedule shifting a day and went out to eat Saturday night. We had a lovely meal at a wonderful restaurant called "Basha" here in Rochester. Pay'em a visit if you ever visit. The great food and wine worked wonders on relieving the tensions of the day, until we got in the car to go home and the damn thing wouldn't start. I won't bore you with the details of the night, waiting for the tow truck in the rain and all of that. Let's just say I was wondering why God or whomever was picking on me, but then again, switching the news on put these small inconveniences into perspective, but even so, we all feel 100% of our own grief. The punchline is, "$720.00 plus tax and it won't be ready until Tuesday afternoon". Am I getting ripped off? Who knows, at this point, I'm a tad shell shocked and just want to get out of this frickin' town. BTW, the car is an old SAAB (pronounced SOB, as in what you do when you get the bill) and any repair seems to run $500-$900, I know, because we've had to take it to the shop too many times in the last year.

So the morals of the story are, never use U-HELL and never own a SAAB (unless you have loads of money you wish to give away).

Next post, hopefully will be from an air-conditioned place somewhere far south of here.

Wish me luck.

OK HW

Happy No More

Finished my acting commitment to the "Happy Walter" project. This was the third Sunday in a row of shooting and I'm sad it's over as I was getting used to putting on the wacky clothes and slipping into Mr. Walter's skin for a few hours. Zoje Stage, the writer/director of this flick really made it easy for me, exhibiting buckets of patiences and providing lots of guidance to help me be "Happy". She's a great person to work with. I salute you Zoje! I haven't seen any of the footage yet, actually avoided watching any of the dailies while we were shooting as I feared seeing myself being "Happy" might throw me into a self-conscious zombie meltdown the next time I had to be on camera. Now that I have finished my bit, I'm going to check out some of the footage later this week. I got to say that I've really enjoyed getting to take on such a substantial and colorful role. It was a good opportunity to stretch my acting legs and see what I could really do. I feel satisfied with the work that I did, satisfied because it has fed a part of my creative soul that has gone hungry too long. I am at my best when I'm creating something, when I'm stepping into the arena and accepting the challenge of simply living my life as close to my true nature as I can.

zahdah

OK HW

I AM HAPPY

Today was the first day of production for "Happy Walter". I was pretty nervous as this was the biggest acting gig I have ever attempted and I had a fair chunk of dialogue to work with today. I worked hard to know my lines and it paid off when the camera rolled I was able to deliver the goods. It was a great way to begin the production. We had some minor drama early in the day when we were politely ejected from what we thought was a public park but turned out to be private property for an institution that will remain nameless. It probably provided the old security a good opportunity to use the golf cart and drive out and "handle a situation", though to his credit, he was respectful and patient. Hopefully that will be the last of the reality intrusions to the shoot, but you never know. Back to my lines studying lines.

OK HW