pantomime - day 3 - 6/23

Guadalupe

Start the day with unexpected rain. We modify the script to include the rain. Get ready to film...the rain stops. Damn that nature.

Offered narcotic pain killers (on various occasions), being condemned to hell, and witnessing multiple drug deals taking place, doesn't even begin to summarize our day on Guadalupe. The disgruntled street vendors, upset over our being there before them, began to be somewhat belligerent. One (who we like to call Mitchell) threatened to call the cops (because we were on a public sidewalk) and destroy our equipment because of our “unconsideration”. Unable to predict the behavior of his mental instability, I was ready with cat like reflexes to tackle him to the floor and crush his sternum, if he even dared try to break our equipment. After his backing down, I couldn't help myself but laugh at his empty threats. I feel bad for the unstable. Many other curious homeless people cruised the side walk. One in particular, we saw walk back and forth for 12 hours straight (we liked to call him Carl). A one legged man, with a wheel chair and crutches (not sure why he had both), decided to fall into the road during our shooting. Jumping off my suitcase (which I was miming off of), I quickly ran to his aid and helped him back in the chair and wheeled him to safety (at a bus stop). This of course was a hey day for a group of photographers attending photography workshops at the University of Texas. A mime saving a one legged man. Well over 100 photos were take of me today by the photographers and random people. Interesting that a tourist ended up being a tourist attraction.

The day continued to get even more interesting, when the rain pulled a “I'm going to screw over your whole project again, by starting when you don't want it, and stopping when we do want it”. Damn that nature...again.

My favorite part of the day was filming myself miming to speeches of Fidel Castro. This got very interesting when the “Jewish Defense League” (http://www.jdl.org/) , who fight Hate Crimes, paid us a visit. Someone had sent them a complaint about my performance (was I really that good?). They showed up in a very cop looking car, and watched us as we filmed. Once they realized that I was just acting, they left. It just doesn't get any better than getting a visit from the JDL.

A few other occurrences: A fire engine interrupted our shooting, firefighters were running through our set, all rushing to the aid of an old man who fell off his bike. Not sure why the fire dept. was involved, the ambulance was just as timely and attended to the fallen man. On over 8 different occasions was marijuana distinguished as the dominant smell. A group of police officers in short shorts, and bicycles made their way through the set, but funny enough, not one druggy was even looked at.

pantomime - day 2 - 6/22

The Grocery Store

Having to deal with a grocery store owner, one lacking in people skills, made this shoot somewhat stressful. This coupled with our lack of juice in the camera batteries really limited what we were able to shoot at the grocery store. But all in all, we feel that we had plenty of good shots. Attached is a shot (featuring our lead actress Katina, who graciously donated her boom mic talents) of mime's mundane life at the grocery store (obviously without his make-up on).

pantomime - day 1 - 6/21

The Apartment

I didn't want it to be known yet, but the picture gives it away...I'm playing the Mime in our upcoming short film "Pantomime". The story, written by myself and Mike Frost (center), is being directed by my brother James. Our leading actress, Katina Latrell (not pictured), is playing the part of Mary.

blood of john jones

Fig. 1

The Honorable Judge Father-in-law, well aware of my parsimonious habits, donated an ugly, worn down chair to my home office project. During my moments of upholstering, I discovered a hidden message below the right armrest. "Blood of John Jones 5/16/88 Prison Hot Day (see Fig. 1). I wouldn't have caught the message if my peripheral vision hadn't mistaken the words "Hot Day" for "Hot Dog". Nothing has filled my work days with more satisfaction than the knowledge that John Jones assembled my chair from prison. My only regret is not thinking about leaving a message myself before stapling the fabric to the chair; although, I have my doubts that I would have been able to write something as graceful as J.J.