Week Three

Monday, June 15th

After editing all day, I nearly forgot to return some equipment. I ended up two blocks from Steph's work, five minutes before she got off, so I went to the opposite side of the street and waited to surprise her. She wasn't coming out. I soon became the suspicious boyfriend. Was she some where else? Maybe some other guy's place? Is her office really some underworld brothel? The doors swung open and she merrily popped out. I dodged a few cabs and started walking right behind her. She was determined to get home to see me. Everything was ok.

Tuesday, June 16th

I had a sort of interview with a super indie production company. I knew they were broke, but they do great films so I ended up offering them free help if they ever needed it and down the road if their financial situation turned around I would be a fantastic employee. Putting the feelers out. I randomly ran into some peeps from high school. We chatted for a while, but I peeled off to some how summarize national security policy. I worked till late that night and didn't accomplish much.

Wednesday, June 17th

The next morning Cope and his girlfriend showed up for a layover in New York. Chris's first time in the city. He told me in advance that all he wanted to do was "eat pizza, see Ellis Island and get in an argument with a New Yorker." They mistakenly took the red eye and three hours into the tour they passed out in Central Park. In the meantime we did hit the Brooklyn Bridge, George Washington's Pew, Ground Zero, Zabar's deli, Natural History Museum, the Dakota and Times Square.

Thursday, June 18th

I edited all morning and had a good talk with CNAS. They liked a clip I put online. I couldn't felt better, it was the best I felt for the past two weeks. I wasn't a shitty filmmaker and I already did an ok job. But of course they wanted the finished product and being the retard that I am I threw out an unattainable deadline. "Oh, well, I can have it for you by tomorrow morning." They were happy to hear it. I hung up and basked in my glory a bit. My girlfriend's illness got out of control and we ended up going to the emergency room. No verdict there. At 10PM I got frustrated and jammed home. I pulled an all-nighter and finished the bitch, uploaded and all at 10:45AM the next morning.

If you'd like check it out click here. The password is rumsen.

Friday, June 19th

At 10AM I took a nap, but was too proud of myself to sleep long. Alf and I have been talking about getting a website together, but it's just been that, talk. The previous week he pointed me too a great hosting site, dreamhost.com. I signed up and on Friday morning our web address was finally confirmed. A friend told us about WordPress, an open source web designing software and I started playing with it till late that evening and finally passed out. Steph and I went out to sort of celebrate my CNAS victory with dinner and a movie. We saw the Hangover, best comedy I have seen in a while. A bit extreme but really worth the $12 and Zach Galafinakis is a genius. No doubt that their gonna capitalize on his ass. Later that night we saw a red Delorean. Not a bad day.

Saturday, June 20th

Steph was sick all day so I fiddled around with the website some more. I desperately tried to hugely modify the coding, but I quickly learned that I was in way over my head. Later that night we watched the original "Last House on the Left." Not impressed at all, just horror porn. Sometimes the remakes are better than the original. The only redeeming quality of it was that you got to know the villans and nasty as they were you sort of identified with them and it made their deaths at the end a little more intense. Still a shitty movie though and not worth seeing.

Sunday, June 21st

I put the finishing touches on the website. If you'd like to see it you can click here. It works, but I think the direction I'm taking it is too casual and not professional enough. I need to rethink the whole thing. Cope was passing back through the city in the afternoon and we went out for a second tour. This time we only had three hours. We jetted to the Empire state building, walked to the Rock and then back down to the oldest bar in New York, McSorleys. I got buzzed on the beer and they left. Later Steph and I tried to take a walk on the highline, but it closed at 10PM. We watched Umberto D instead and Steph cried. Turns out Chris and his girl got fucked off their flight. Don't fly Delta! They overbooked the flight and tried to charge them for going the next day. I don't see how they could do that to 200lb man with a MMA team shirt on. They came back to our place and crashed. Cope said, "had it been 100 years ago he would have pounded their faces in." Yeah, and I would have loved to watch.

Week Two

Monday, June 8th

By the end of the day I finally finished a video for the communist museum. Felt productive and I was excited to see a veteran friend that night, who had half his face blown off by an Iraqi RPG. DJ was passing through New York, so Steph and I housed him, but little did I know he no intention of sleeping. We went to dinner. After two beers and half a bottle of sake, my judgement started to slip and at that crucial point a proposition arose. DJ just got hired by a progressive think tank in Washington, whose annual conference was on Thursday. He asked if I would film it for the company, pro-bono. I have no camera and no money, I said yes and called Alf for help. We continued on through the night to celebrate, but no club owners took pity on him or my lack of dress clothes. The only establishment in town that greeted us with open arms was "Hogs and Heefers." The same bar, Coyote Ugly was based on. The finally closed at 5AM and we left thirty minutes later, the most I've been in a year. I came home to my sober girlfriend and realized the depth of my stupidity. My pockets were empty and I just signed the next week of my life away. Apparently, I started punching myself in the face and vomited in the shower. 

Tuesday, June 9th

The next day I felt toxic and my girlfriend wanted to kill me. My friend and I went for a walk. I got a camera from someone that once worked for MTV. DJ then telephoned his company and said that I was an MTV producer and that MTV was doing a special on them. If I even tried to fight it I would have thrown up on him. I bought my girl flowers, but they had little affect. I had only been in New York for ten days and was already leaving. That night we had dinner with Nixon's speech writer. I tried to drink his fancy wine, but it burnt a hole in my stomach and the Frutti del Mare was a bad choice. Still I held it all down. The veteran wanted to hit the town again, but I stayed home and slugged it out with Steph. Around 2AM we came to an understanding and fell asleep.

Wednesday, June 10th

I finally spent the majority of the day outside. Got the camera, shopped for pants in the Brooklyn goodwill, but 36 was skinny. Found a rental shop, got a mic, found a slimmer goodwill in midtown, 32 -32s for $7, fuck you Banana Republic. Finally, I bought a white shirt at GAP, that I will most definitely return. 

On the way home I took the above photo. Men in haz-mat uniforms were dumping the contents of someone's apartment on to the street and it was being devoured by all classes of pedestrians. One black bum kept explain, "This is bread. This is bread!" as he collected records and books. A Barbara Streisand record lay untouched and just as a fat gay kid was about to grab it. One of the hazmat men called out, "Warning. Bed bugs." The kid retracted his arm and his face, thought for a second, then said, "But it's Barbara Streisand." He then reached backed down and saved her soulful music from returning to the dump.

Steph and I met for a good bye kiss and I was on a train to DC by 7PM. I tried to write out a treatment and questions for some kind of video, but I clearly had no idea what I was talking about or what to expect. I would just have to hit it full steam. Union Square in DC is stunning. It was air was humid and I took a cab to a bar on H Street where my one eyed friend was waiting with a smile. I ate a bucket of mussels and we crashed at his friends place at 2AM. 

Thursday, June 11th

5AM came early and I some how managed to look half way decent in my view, which just looks like rags in Washington. DJ introduced me to everyone as the MTV producer and I had to constantly remind him and everyone that I was just a guy. The conference was amazing and I wish I didn't have to film it, but the camera was my only ticket in. If you want to know more, click here. General Petraeus was there, Senators, Congressmen, military men of all ranks and plenty of guys with wires coming out of their ears. I took it all in through the lens, filming over five hours of the twelve hour conference. It felt great to hold a camera again. I still had no idea what it would be, I just figured I would should every possible angle and boil it down later. Plus, I was promised interviews the next morning, so those would sort it all out. All of the think tank's employees ended up at a bar, where the one-eyed wonder ordered 26 shots. By 2AM there were only four of us left and DJ had not yet arranged for a place to stay yet. I couldn't really complain, because I couldn't afford any other option. We then strangled on over to Ben's Chili Bowl, famously graced by Obama on his first night in DC. The crashing question was finally popped and I got into a futon by 3AM. 

Friday, June 12th

I woke that morning and wanted to jump out the penthouse window. The communist video I had finished was poorly accepted by the curator and he gave me tips via e-mail on how to make it look more "professional," then told me about a great documentary that his friend made and how I should see it. I wanted to die and here I was making another shit film. I panicked and left the place at 8AM. I figured I needed shots of DC. Met DJ at 10 and he was hungover, while the entire office was running in circles. The interviews were off. Mind you I didn't get a hold of my toothbrush or clothes till then. I pray they didn't notice. I must admit, at that point in time I wanted to slap DJ on the good side of his face. In the end, I got 7 minutes with the President of the company. He was on point, but I got on the bus back to New york deflated. The bus was late and it took five and a half hours to get back. I missed both, the mic and camera returns. I was spent, but at least Steph was happy to see me.

Saturday, June 13th

I took advantage of the camera and from midnight to 8AM I imported all the footage. Delirious, that morning I tried to look through the footage, but I only saw everything I missed. I met the real MTV guy at Astor Place. He was late, but intensely energetic and we chatted about Iraq. He told me about how he wanted to advertise non-violence in Iraq like we do Snickers here. I could hardly grasp what he was saying, when I noticed a little girl on a razor scooter heading right off the curb and into traffic. The lifeguard in me bounded in front of her. "Little girl, little girl." The cabs swerved around us when it finally struck her that I might be petaphil, so she turned around and went back to where she came from. The MTV guy gave me kudos. Later, the Italian called and we went to Brooklyn to go to "a great warehouse party." I figured that this is one o those things you must do, climb Mount Everest and go to Brooklyn wharehouse party, so we went. After 40 minutes of walking I was done. I realized, obligations aside, that I had no reason to celebrate. I'm unemployed and have another shit film to edit. The $20 cover buried the hatchet and we walked home. The Brooklyn warehouse party's aren't going anywhere.

Sunday, June 12th

The next morning I took another whack at the footage, transcribing the one interview I had and doing a paper edit. Not only did the footage look like shit, but I hardly had a foundation to work with and several key points were missing. I wanted to crawl in a hole and die. Instead I met up with the Italian for soccer. Turns out I'm not a bad player. Can't score for shit, but I'll hold the defense together. At on point a ball was rolling out of bounds and I slid to save it, forgetting that in New York grass is made of plastic. After the adrenaline faded, the pain set in and was a healthy distraction. 

I talked to my dad the following week and he broke it all down in one sentence. "A little bit of DJ goes a long way."

New York - New Life: Week One

Thursday, May 28th

As my mom ascended the Laureles Grade, out of Carmel Valley, I felt the gravity pull on me and something finally broke inside. I started to cry. She said I was exhausted, but it was a lot of other things too.

Friday, May 29th

Not quite the look I was going for, but it helped me get into my latest film. Today I shaved the beard to a porno-stache and baked gluten-free lemon bars for my favorite little girl.

Saturday, May 30th

Steph's friend was visiting for her 21st birthday and I forgot what that means in America. We couldn't keep up and caused a bit of a scene on 14th street.

Sunday, May 31st

Hungover, we went on a tour of the city. At Topshop I stayed outside, admired the curiosity of two asian girls. 

Monday, June 1st

I visited my old roommate from Prague, who temporarily lives with his mom in Connecticut. He lost 80 lbs in nine months. Secret; exercise, no bread, less protein, no eating animals with feet and no Prague.

Tuesday, June 2nd

Today I finally had time and enough mental space to edit. Later I brought the girls to see a musician friend playing at a surf shop in Williamsburg. I was accused of palling around with hipsters, but those accusations were quickly rebuffed.

Wednesday, June 3rd

The 21 year-old left and I finally got the extra room back to edit and ponder creating a company. We're thinking of calling it Rumsen after Carmel Valley's extinct Native American tribe. There's no photos or drawings of them, but I do like this tree. Later I met with a friend that is also creating a film company. He doesn't have a name, but he does have hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Thursday, June 4th

I edited some more and we watched the game later. My girlfriend cut my hair and saved me 30 bucks. The Magic got killed. 

Friday, June 5th

For the last four days I've taken a break from my most recent film and gone back to editing my communist documentary, which I never finished. That night I met up with an old friend from SFSU and his friend Andrea, a courageous Italian that managed to get my girlfriend's number and challenged me to soccer. This is him waiting for the L.

Saturday, June 6th

Steph and I went to Coney Island, which might soon turn into a "development." I pray not, because it was the most entertaining day of the week. The rides are rusty and the crowds proved to be the real freak show.