When I got back, it was just about time for meal, which was chili with Fritos and cornbread and stuff. There was regular chili and vegan chili. I had the vegan with a healthy dollop of hot sauce. It was amazing. Everyone loved the chili, even Brett, who dislikes chili. Why can't we just have this chili every night? The meals for the most part have been prepared by Sandy, one of the relatives staying in the house, who I think is a professional chef. I heard he's leaving today, which fills me with fright.
During meal, I chatted with Sheldon and Brett about seeing a movie while in Maryland. Brett has been teasing me by saying that my wrap gift is a ticket to go see The Hangover III, and it's a special ticket that I can't exchange for another movie. Because I hated The Hangover I (2009) and didn't even see The Hangover II (2011). In general, I find Todd Phillips movies repellant. He's probably my least favorite auteur, if I can be said to have one. His movies are cruel and dumb, and are basically the antithesis of the way I think of humor.
I checked my MoviePass app to see what was playing at nearby theatres. At the Premier Cinemas at Easton (12.9 miles away), they were showing Epic, Epic 3D, Iron Man 3, Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek Into Darkness 3D, and The Hangover Part III. No good. But at the Bow Tie Cinemas Annapolis Mall (19.4 miles away), they were showing Epic, Epic 3D, Iron Man 3, Iron Man 3 3D, Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek Into Darkness 3D, and Fast & Furious 6. That's the one. If I go to a movie while I'm here, it will be Furious 6 at the Annapolis Mall, because then I get to visit a new cinema and a new mall all in one shot. But I don't know if I will have time.
After meal, I chatted with Anne about wardrobe for my upcoming turn as mail carrier in P46. She needs to buy a delivery boy shirt. I showed her my shorts so she can coordinate. We talked about colors, the details of which I will go into more when I do the blog of the day when we shoot it, so I will know how it turned out.
Then I went to Harry house and we shot 60. 60 took a long time to shoot because Whit had a lot of questions about Jesse's headspace. The ensuing analysis made me super glad that I'm not a recluse scientist with a painful backstory who just eats cereal and receives scary visitors that he has to then reason with. I just want to feel good all the time.
During the shooting of this scene, Reid started asking me questions about what I was doing with the sound recorder thing because he wanted better sound. I showed him how I had the sensitivity to the lefthand mic turned all the way up (lefthand is where we had the mic plugged in). He then asked me about a big knob on the side. I thought back to two days earlier, when Marco had showed me how to use the sound thing. When we'd gotten to that knob, Marco seemed confused, and indeed it was confusing, because it said L-R over it, like it was some kind of balance knob. I asked Reid what the knob did. He said, "That's the main level." I turned it up and suddenly everything was louder. Oh shit! We got better sound after that.
We shot some other stuff involving the fireworks outside, which were simulated with a gel-heavy lighting setup outside the windows. After the first take, Marco said it looked weird for there to be just one color of firework, so he asked to introduce a new color gel. I noticed that with lighting, when you want to try different elements, you "audition" them, but when you're sure what you want, you "introduce" it. So I said to everyone, "You know what the difference is between actors and gels? With an actor, first you introduce, then you audition. But with a gel, first you audition, then you introduce." This delightful slice of language magic was met with some derision. People think language humor is lame, but it's not. It's unlame.
This day was Whit's Facebook anniversary with his wife, so we all exchanged stories about how we proposed to our wives. It was super romantic. Then we broke for meal, which was taco bar. As an alternative to the taco meat, there was spicy little shrimps, which was awesome. Then someone brought out a box of near-finished Oreos and a few of us each had an Oreo. I like Oreos, but I can't ever eat as many as I want, which is an entire box.
When we got back, there was more setup downtime, during which we discussed the rumoured Simpsons theme park. I have maintained for years that Springfield is such a richly developed location, you could build it into the biggest theme park in the world and have more than enough things to build in it. Simpsons gets brought up and quoted every day on this movie. As I get older, I realize that the first seven or eight years of Simpsons is the best TV show of all time. No matter what is happening around you, there is always a relevant Simpsons moment that is funnier and smarter than anything else about that thing.
Brett and I have also been quoting The Critic a lot, and Brett is kicking himself for not having brought the box set with him on this trip. But wait till he realizes the episodes are like, all on YouTube.
Someone mentioned that Facebook is on fire with Arrested Development talk. Season 4 of Arrested Development premiered on May 26, 2013, which happened during our Day 11 shoot. We are starting our transition from vampire schedule to reverse vampire schedule, and last night it was kinda rough. But on top of all that, we have to deal with Facebook friends who will post Arrested Development spoilers because they're all at home watching it. I'm not gonna get to it anytime soon, because before I watch season 4, I want to rewatch seasons 1-3, as it has been many years since I watched that show and I need to go there again so I can get all the S4 jokes. What my Facebook friends may not realize is that in this time, I will be instituting a zero tolerance quoting policy. If I realize that you are posting an Arrested Development quote, out of context, just as your stupid status update, I will remove you from my news feed indefinitely. I'm not making this into a formal Facebook announcement, because I don't want it to sound like an ultimatum or a threat. It's just a fact. I can never enjoy Arrested Development because I'm always surrounded by people who have already seen it and want me to know how much they love it, and this contaminates the purity of my Arrested Development experience. Just shut the fuck up already.
By the time we were wrapping on Day 11, I was ready to pass out. We were standing outside in the freezing cold and I was losing feeling in my hands because the boom mic pole has been stripped of all its velvety covering and is now just a metal pole. Finally, we were down to one last shot for the day. An establishing shot of Harry house. I was asked to get wild track of morning establishing shot tone. I asked everyone to be quiet for 30 seconds so I could do that. Marco then told me I should go elsewhere on the property to get that 30 seconds of tone so they wouldn't have to stop setting up for the shot. I asked where, and Brett said down by the dock. The whole exchange took about 30 seconds, the irony of which was thick like the morning mist. I walked all the way to the doc, recorded birds and water and shit, then walked to Dolly house, gave the tape to Reid, walked back to Harry house, and collapsed into a sleep.
Last night was a full moon, but we were lucky, because when the monsters all came out in the pitch darkness, they just watched and allowed us to keep working.
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