McCarren Park Pool, August 2007

I met my friend Lauretta at the McCarren Park Pool in 'Billburg for the weekly Sunday concert back in August. I'm now finally getting around to posting images. Here are some pix and yes, some of you sharp eyed visitors will notice that I have cropped a couple from the original.









I was sitting on the ground and couldn't see the stage, but the music was pretty good and I just enjoyed the beautiful summer day.

Midnight, this Friday, come and see my movie!

This Friday, September 14th at Cinema Village, is the Midnight screening of The Junior Defenders! Yes, me in all my B-Movie DP glory.



Well, I was a doubter at first, but Writer/Director and editing whiz Keith Spiegel finally has a cut of Junior Defenders that has been released. Warner Home Video has picked up the movie formerly known as Groupies.


The Junior Defenders cast take a moment, on set for a group photo. From left to right:
Justin Henry, Fred Hazelton, Brian O'Halloran, Ally Sheedy, Jason David Frank.

Come to Cinema Village, 22 East 12th Street, between 5th Ave and University Place, a little before midnight, on Friday and watch the film that I shot, on film, lovely film, ten years ago. Directions to Cinema VIllage.


Keith spent a lot of time and money working on this, over the years, cutting and re-cutting the film, getting celebrity interviews and finally getting John Waters to narrate. Burlington College helped out by letting Keith use, the then, not so antiquated VHS editing system and then Steve Beattie helped out and for literally years, helped Keith with the edit. Sometimes they could only work once every three weeks. Kudos to them for their persistence and tenacity.

Please Hurry and vote!

indy dreamboat Arthur Adams says...

We [read: Blammos] are in the running for a CMJ showcase contest through AmieStreet.com. We'll get a showcase slot, a hotel stay and 10,000 if we win! The first elimination round ends next weekend and relies soley on fan voting...so please go and vote for us here:
http://amiestreet.com/contest/vote/1/17

You will need to create an Amie Street account, but don't worry, it's simple and harmless...we promise...

Today (Wednesday) is the last day you can vote, so do it now! They need to make the top 20 to move into the semi finals, according to the most recent pleading email from Arthur. Send those rockers some Vermont love!

Thanks Bill! This was cut and pasted from http://www.candleboy.com/candleblog/

Mark, what's CMJ?

Jet Blows

This past June, I worked on a job down in Florida with my good buddies Chris, Tom, Barry and Jeff. We flew down to Florida for a day of shooting. We left the day before the shoot, meeting at JFK to get our tix and flew happily to Orlando. After getting our room keys, we drove to a nearby diner for a late supper, before getting into our rooms at the crappy motel.

We had a very early call time, so I tried calling the front desk, but got no answer, so I set the alarm on my Palm Pilot and watched too much TV, I think I finally went to bed at around 1, or 2, oops.

The front desk clerk at the La Quinta was a mystery. None of the five of us could determine it's gender. Nothing about his/her/it's voice, habits, clothing- La Quinta Polo Shirt, baggy chinos and sneakers, or demeanor gave away any clue as to whether this was a male of female of the species. We joked and wondered all through dinner and all the next day as to whether or not it was a male, or female, since he/she/it wore no name tag. We, of course, named it Pat.

We had to wake up at about 4am in order to be in the parking lot at 5am to pack up the vehicles and eat. We were all there and started loading up the vans with all our gear, teleprompters, sound equipment, lighting equipment, light stands. Cameras? Where are the cameras? And Where's Chris? Chris is never late.



I knock on Chris' door and sure enough, a sleepy headed Chris Answers the door. He never got his wake up call. Needless to say, he was pissed. He let the hotel know it.

After we finished packing all our gear and our luggage in to the vans, we drove around to the front and Chris shot out of the van and I followed. He went to the room behind the reception desk. There was the reception clerk fast asleep in a big easy chair, it's head buried in it's armpit. Chris kicks it's foot and then it stirs, face all puckered and eyes squinting against the light as it looks up to Chris. "I never got my wake up call" Chris said and then he walked out of the room leaving a still clueless motel clerk in the lurch. I followed Chris back to the vans and we headed out for breakfast.

Jeff loves Waffle House, so we got scattered, smothered and covered for breakfast. Yummy hot greasy food. Thankfully, the service was great and it was only a five minute drive to the plant where we were shooting. We were able to enjoy our grease at a leisurely pace and wake up.


Snow White met us at the airport

After shooting all day, we got to the airport at around 4:30pm, to get seats on our 6:30pm flight home to NYC. While we were in line, I noticed that the departure time was 8:30pm. I mentioned that to Jeff and he asked about it when he went to get our tickets. Poor Chris was feeling grimy after running around the plant in the 90+ degree heat with 100% humidity all day. I was pretty nasty myself.


Chris' wearing Jeff's neck pillow.



Turns out that ALL flights to the Northeast are delayed. Great. We waited around for hours. The airport's food court eventually shut down, but I grabbed some nasty McD's before they closed. We waited more and received updates, but no real information. It wasn't until about 9, or 10 pm that they finally told us that the delay was due to heavy rains in the Northeast. So, no matter what we did we wouldn't be able to land at JFK. We had all our gear already checked into baggage, so we couldn't switch flights, or do anything other than wait.


Maybe the plane needs some of these to get off the ground.

During this time, I tried to sleep, but I was too tired, or not tired enough. It was very frustrating. Some young girl a few chairs away from me was blathering into her cell phone incessantly, which kept me awake. Then a woman came over and they were nattering away for what seemed like hours, further preventing any sleep. That and never being able to get comfortable made sleep impossible. I was laying on the floor with my raincoat as a pillow, but to no avail. Chris farted on Jeff's neck pillow which was very amusing.


So we wait.



And Wait

Tom had found a wheelchair and was rolling around a small, less populated area of the gate. I wanted to have a little fun too, so I walked around a little and found a couple of wheelchairs sitting around in a part of the airport where there were no planes and only 1 or 2 people, but they were official people, so lost my nerve and turned around. Then I thought, wtf, I have nothing to loose and I'm bored. So I went back, grabbed a wheelchair and began rolling it back to our gate, walking with purpose and my head down. One guy asked me if I needed any help, but I said I was okay and he left me alone.

As I got loser to the gate I was very pleased with myself and had to keep my self from smiling at my little victory. Once in out little gate area, I sat in the chair and wheeled myself over to Tom and we began chasing each other and then punching each other. It was a lot of fun and we played around for about ten or fifteen minutes before we decided to roam a little bit and see other areas of the airport.


This is what a picture looks like when Chris gooses you just at the moment you hit the shutter.

Finally, at about 1am, or so, seven hours later, we begin boarding. In addition to the rain delay, we were waiting for a new crew to fly the plane. The scheduled crew were going to run out of hours during the flight back to NYC, so we had to wait for the replacements.

We got to Kennedy at about four am. Thank God. But then -DISAPPOINTMENT- we had to wait another thirty minutes before we can even get off the tarmac and taxi to the terminal because the delay backed up all the traffic, so all the planes that were ahead of us, were in line to go to their gates and unload passengers.


This was the scene when we arrived at the JFK terminal around 5am. The airport looked more like a refugee camp. all over the airport people were camped out sleeping under blankets, coats, in chairs, on the floor, everywhere.


I passed this mother and daughter near the baggage claim. All over the airport, people were camped out.

We waited another half an hour for the baggage carousel to start working. It seemed to take forever for our luggage and equipment to meander to us on the conveyor belt.

We finally got our bags, eventually splitting up and going our separate ways. It was cloudy and it was daylight. It had just recently stopped raining. I had spent the previous twelve hours in the dark. It was about 6:30 am when I was stepping into a taxi heading for home.

I got home and slept for about twelve hours. Iwoke up a little bit and then went right back to sleep.

My phone is also a projector

Surfing around, I came across this little entry about a prototype projector phone:

Microvision has announced their collaboration with Motorola to include the Pico projector into mobile applications. PicoP is an ultra-miniature laser based display that can fit into mobile phones and laptop computers.

Imagine being able to use your phone to shoot photos and video and then project these images onto a wall, or screen.

What's really cool is that eventually you could use your phone, or handheld device-iPod, Treo, Blackberry, iPhone, laptop, etc and use the built-in projector to show your photos, film, or video onto a small screen, or wall for clients, friends and family. That would be really cool. Now you don't have to hand around the camera, or phone, or whatever, you can just project it.

I wonder if it will get bright enough to show in daylight?

Thanks to Techgadgets.in

It was so hot...

I had to make a little beadboard tent to stay out of the sun. This is from a couple of weeks ago, when it was 100 degrees F and 100% humidity. We all drank a lot of water and Pedialyte. Production passed out washcloths soaked in ice water and we passed out on the lawn, it was so bloody hot. This was one of the last episodes of Don't Sweat It. You can't really see it, but it was 10am and my shirt was completely soaked through with sweat. Yummy.



Good times, good times.

Pug Pix For My Sister

Pug pix for my sister, stationed in Beautiful Baghdad. Her beloved pugs are not with her, so here are some photos I took of pugs that have crossed my path. Her little doggies are on another continent, so it's a little more difficult for me to take their photos.

Taylor Mali on what a teacher makes

Slam poet Taylor Mali's hilarious and touching poem kicks ass.


Thanks Bill and youtube.

My Pimp Hand Is Large

This is how I'm livin', yo.


I'm BALLIN' in my GMC! Got my bling and I'm bussin' fresh joints. What!



Workin' on ma tan. Yo?

More New York Fascism

Two things are really pissing me off, Congestion Pricing and this that just came up: anyone who uses a camera of any kind will need to get a permit in order to shoot in New York City. Fuck that! These are the kinds of things that make living in NYC a total pain in the ass, make it hard to get any work done, or make it more expensive to work.

If I have to pay a toll to get into Manhattan, then I should be able to have free parking and NO METER MAIDS. If I'm paying for the privilege to drive in Manhattan, then I shouldn't be harassed by the parking Nazis. I WILL NOT PAY MONEY TO GET INTO MANHATTAN!

I own a small business and this adds the many fees and taxes that I already have to pay as a business person. I have to pay income tax to the City of New York. WTF?!!? I need drive into Manhattan because I have a lot of equipment and if I'm renting a truck it costs even more. Once in Manhattan, I think that there's only one bonded lot to park my truck in. There's no overnight parking on the streets for trucks. Here's an idea: get rid of the free parking tags that the Mayor's office issues each year to city employees who don't need it and you've just eliminated 47,000 cars right there.

Flood the Mayor's office with calls and emails denouncing this prospective tax. Mike's info is below.

More Kontrol: according to this New York times article the Mayor's Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting wants to regulate anyone with a camera of any kind. So, now anyone is subject to police harassment.

"Some tourists, amateur photographers, even would-be filmmakers hoping to make it big on YouTube could soon be forced to obtain a city permit and $1 million in liability insurance before taking pictures or filming on city property, including sidewalks.

New rules being considered by the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting would require any group of two or more people who want to use a camera in a single public location for more than a half hour to get a city permit and insurance.

The same requirements would apply to any group of five or more people who plan to use a tripod in a public location for more than 10 minutes, including the time it takes to set up the equipment.

Julianne Cho, assistant commissioner of the film office, said the rules were not intended to apply to families on vacation or amateur filmmakers or photographers.

Nevertheless, the New York Civil Liberties Union says the proposed rules, as strictly interpreted, could have that effect. The group also warns that the rules set the stage for selective and perhaps discriminatory enforcement by police.

“These rules will apply to a huge range of casual photography and filming, including tourists taking snapshots and people making short videos for YouTube,” said Christopher Dunn, the group’s associate legal director.

Mr. Dunn suggested that the city deliberately kept the language vague, and that as a result police would have broad discretion in enforcing the rules. In a letter sent to the film office this week, Mr. Dunn said the proposed rules would potentially apply to tourists in places like Times Square, Rockefeller Center or ground zero, “where people routinely congregate for more than half an hour and photograph or film.”

The rules define a “single site” as any area within 100 feet of where filming begins. Under the rules, the two or more people would not actually have to be filming, but could simply be holding an ordinary camera and talking to each other.

The rules are intended to set standards for professional filmmakers and photographers, said Ms. Cho, assistant commissioner of the film office, but the language of the draft makes no such distinction."

So, anyone is now subject to police harassment if they have a camera and can be prevented from taking pictures if they don't have $1million dollar insurance policy and a permit from the Mayor's office.

This whole mess stems from 2005, when an Indian filmmaker was shooting hand held footage in midtown and was detained by police who profiled him because he had dark skin. There are no rules on the books to haul in potential terrorists making research films of tourist areas, so they now need one so they can justify arresting anyone for taking pictures. While I can see the need to protect the public from potential hazards, this heavy handed attempt prevents photographers from documenting important events, including police misconduct and this abridges first amendment rights.

Support the ACLU in making sure this doesn't become law. If this law passes, the terrorists have won.

Call and, or email the Mayor's office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting and have these ridiculous laws stopped. Contact info:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/film/html/home/contact_moftb.shtml

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's contact information:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
City Hall
New York, NY 10007
PHONE 311 (or 212-NEW-YORK outside NYC)

FAX (212) 788-8123

E-MAIL:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html

I will be contacting the mayor and the MOFTB and politely letting them know that I am against these two laws and that they should not be enacted. Please let him know too. Thanks!

The ACLU:
http://www.aclu.org