T-Bone has come through in the pinch. I give much thanks. Million Dollar Weekend!

Note: I misspelled Thomas’ name in the credits. Sorry T-bone, it was late and I was tired.

Tuesday night there was this big storm and the sky came alive with bursts of light, visible only through a cloak of clouds. I had my shutter speed at 60 and my “iris” open all the way. The raw footage, roughly 10 takes with an average length of 5 minutes, didn’t look like much. And it still doesn’t. But … When I slowed the shots down (anywhere from 30 to 2 percent in FCP), and cut out all the black gaps between lightning strikes, I started to see light patterns that looked like static on a TV screen. TV snow is an image we are seeing less and less of as more of us go for payed programming.

For those of you willing to give this 6 minute experiment a chance, try watching it under these conditions…

The sun has to be down. The room has to be dark. And The sound needs to be turned up…but not if you’re wearing headphones. 301 does not condone the destruction of the ear canal! I like it because it reminds me of one of my favorite Atari games … Missile Command.

Happy Birthday Carrie, you are one of God’s Golden Girls. And thanks Rat o’ Nine Tails!

subject: Attn: Johnny Thunder Wardrobe Dept

Mr Grossman,

I’m having an issue with my wardrobe on set, perhaps you could help. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy with the script and don’t regret turning down my contract with Disney to take on the project. It’s the super tight pants the 301 staff has lined up for a few of the action sequences. Its that while shooting a fight scene, I’m finding that the 301 films stock Jordache jeans are just to restrictive. They totally bind my legs, thus restricting my movement and crunching my nuts together during stunts. On set..when I go to kick the shit out a stunt man the 301 jeans ride up…….way up into my ass crack. As a result I’m fast developing a hella painful rash. So far this has helped to develop my character, but no doubt this will definitely affect the desert escape scene. An easy answer to this minor set back has been brought to my attention. Take some time to educate your self on The Chuck Norris action trousers. This seems to be a quick solution to the problem without going over budget. George Michael sported them in the Faith video. See if you can get a box of these for Sundays shoot. Either way we should still get together for golf on Monday, I just had my magnesium putter tuned up, you guys don’t stand a chance. Let me know. I reserved the country club for entire day..so we can get good and loaded with no interruptions this time around.

- Dave Nabisco

I think that about says it all.

It’s my mom’s 60th birthday this Friday. When we spoke this evening she said she felt old. Well Mom, you’re 60 and you’ve raised three kids (this includes showing up for every swim meet/ballet practice/etc), a husband, a pack of dogs, and opened who knows how many libraries … this, as well as establishing the first fibromyalgia support group in Lansing, MI. I’d feel old, too. Getting old is only natural and I hope that this movie illustrates the subtle beauty of passing time. Happy Birthday Mom.

And for those of you in the Austin area … Sean cleaned the projectors and said the print of Once Upon A Time In The West is “pristine.” I can hear the harmonica wailing right now.

Instead of finishing my taxes yesterday, I went to the top of my favorite parking garage and shot this. Enjoy.

For Mike: here’s the final cut of the bar fight from “Rainy Storm 2: Thunderstruck”.

Greetings dear readers. I haven’t made an original post in a spell. Haven’t had access to the inTARweb. But that don’t mean there’s been grass growing under my feet. No-no. There’s been a cadre of odd things happening since I escaped The Basement Of The Alamo. The Obama campaign came to town, then SXSW. The last week of March had Joe Dante, the Grindhouse premiere with QT & RR, and Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost presenting Hot Fuzz. Whew. I love living in Austin. Were else you gonna see all these wonderful filmmakers?

Spring is here and it has unleashed the New York City film beast within me. Ms. 45, Fear City, Street Smart, Art School Confidential, Cruising, and Angel Heart have randomly ended up in the video machine. My system was primed for this thanks to the Radical NY exhibit at MoMA that closed a few months ago. Street Smart, as Shivers promised, was awesome. And Ms. 45 proved that there actually were rapists on every street corner in the Garment District.

Retrospectives. It’s time to take a look at your old friend Michael Haneke again. But this time think of him as a smooth jazz aficionado. Thanks to Chale and the AFS for bringing the new 35mm prints of Haneke’s work to town. I cannot think of a more appropriate director to focus on for the last AFS run at the Alamo Downtown. The Seventh Continent made me fall in love with that song “I’m Your Lady,” all over again. I think I like it more than Sheena Easton’s “For Your Eyes Only.”

This all coming on the heels of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s El Topo & Holy Mountain. Sorry about the imdb link. I must now give myself to the mountain!

Back to New York City…be sure to check out The Budos Band and Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings. I’ve separated their performances in hopes of you being able to download them faster.

I almost forgot…I made the cut. And you get to see me from behind. When you’re watching Grindhouse, be sure to look over Eli Roth’s shoulder when he’s ordering shots at the bar. Don’t blink, because if you do, you’ll miss me walking gingerly though the frame. It’s from behind, but I’ll take what I can get. And for you readers not familiar with the Alamo downtown, right after the opening credits for Death Proof, there is a shot of the exterior. That’s were I’m at every day, even when I don’t have to work.

Thanks badman.

I’m still having problems uploading new movies, so in the meantime, here’s an old post from late February that has been hiding in the “drafts” folder on WordPress.

If you’re at the video store wondering what to watch, I saw a whole mess of wonderful films last week. Anchor Bay (Say Yes to MI!) … I love you. I saw Revenge Of The Cheerleaders at a way late-nite screening thanks to QT, but I have to say the original Cheerleaders is one of my new favorites. Watched that on a triple feature with Little Darlings and Hardcore. If you haven’t revisited the work of Paul Schrader (Say Yes to Michigan!) you should really do yourself a favor and watch both Blue Collar and Hardcore. Blue Collar has a wonderful cast and an On Time Richard Pryor. Hardcore finds George C. Scott trying not to chew the scenery and his restraint is wonderful. Plus you get to see him dressed up as a Porn Director.

If you’ve got some energy left over, check out the recently re-released Vigilante with Robert Forester and Fred “Who made up all that bullshit about black people not being able to swim?” Williamson.

Oh yes! Anchor Bay I love you! Visiting Hours with Shatner. Visiting Hours is the most suspenseful film I have seen in a long time. It’s over-lit and it’s still scary. Remember Michael Ironside from Total Recall? This guy was nuts even back in the day. Don’t ask, just rent and love. Mostly love. Visiting Hours gets my highest marks, thanks Shivers.

If you listen closely, you can hear a sample from Visiting Hours in The Basement Of The Alamo trailer. The doctor who “delivered” me was named Michael, so it seemed appropriate to add the sample of “telephone call for Dr. Michael” to the end of the trailer. It really gave the Josh K. CatSand scene an air of realism.