Photo Album: Girls Don’t Cry @ McCarren Park July 25, 2007

The skies let loose with a billion tons of rain on Sunday, so Girls Don’t Cry didn’t get to play at the 25th Annual Quick Check New Jersey Festival of Ballooning. Major suck, that. Don’t get discouraged, Girls! You’ll have another huge venue soon!

Below are photos from their free appearance at Brooklyn’s McCarren Park on July 25.

Entering the main park area, I immediately come up two of the Girls…

…Caitlin Gray and Rachael Cornick!

The Girls got there well before me and had already started their setup.

I see a cowhand with a guitar and wonder who the country music fill-in is!

Surprise! It’s Hannah Fairlight!

The wee accordion Hannah plays during the Girls’ cover of Add It Up.

Some of the tools of the music trade.

The sacred percussion domain of Liz Kelly.

Hannah shading her Chromatic Tuner with her father’s boots!

Nest of wires: a surge suppressor plugged into another surge suppressor!

Liz giving me her special Go Away look!

Caitlin finds something exciting in the neighborhood paper…

… an article about Girls Don’t Cry appearing that very night!

I have plied the Girls with large apples to distract them soothe them into being photographed!

A peek at the keyboards that Rachael uses!

The Girls relax before finishing their setup.

Then it’s back to work for final prep.

The sun shines on the Girls in more way than one!

Suddenly, everyone tells Hannah to freeze!

A butterfly has landed on her hat!

A peek at the sacred drums of Liz!

Liz is caught with her boots off!

Yes, this is how she works the drums! Stocking feet!

The poster for the weekly Park event.

The listing for the Girls.

The sound board that’s used to balance voices and instruments.

Rachael: “Let’s get this party started — oops, that’s Pink! We don’t do Pink!”

And the Girls are Go! Go! Go!

Rachael and Hannah are Go!

Liz, Sora and Caitlin are Go!

Liz pounding those drums!

The Girls in full musical force!

Liz and Rachael.

Hannah and Caitlin (Sora hiding in between!)

A happy, singing Rachael!

Hannah and Caitlin singing it out!

Liz caught singing and drumming!

Aow! Rachael gets into the groove!

So does Liz!

Hannah and Caitlin too! It’s a Girls Groove-a-Thon!!

Sora shredding the guitar as Caitlin does vocals and bass!

Sora busting a groove move!

Sora singing Cobain.

Liz on her drums!

Three Girls on three guitars! Electric-string angels from heaven!

And that’s a wrap! Too soon!

Sora is still happy!

Hannah gives a T-shirt demonstration.

The aftermath. Too soon!

And Hannah’s drenched back says it all: The Girls play hard!

I had hoped to get real close photos at this event, especially since it’d be daylight and I wouldn’t risk blinding any of the the Girls with a flash. But… one of the Girls had a camera set up next to the sound board and it covered the entire front of the stage. I didn’t want to ruin the video, so I stayed well out of its range. As it turned out, I had to stand further away from them than at any of their indoor events! Ah well.

Previously in this blog:
Girls Don’t Cry category

The Ambitious Use Macs

Replay: A Short Film by Reynier Molenaar

Ah, the Spirit of Ed Wood lives on!

The two cameras also came in handy for all of the dangerous stunt work, allowing actor and stunt performer Xin Sarith Wuku to do less takes then normally required. For one of the most difficult and ambitious stunts, the script called for Xin (playing “The Runner”) to climb up the side of a three-story building and then jump from one rooftop to another — a distance of about 15 feet. To add to the “crazy-factor,” the production didn’t have permits for the location.

By coordinating with Producer Giovanni Cortez, Reynier was able to position “look-outs” on walkie-talkies around the perimeter, allowing the complex stunt to be choreographed with the performers and cameras operators without, well, getting arrested. Once the “all-clear” was given, the entire scene was shot in 2 long continuous takes. The camera operators repositioned themselves at key moments throughout the scene in order to grab the angles that were storyboarded by the director. In the end, the stunt was performed flawlessly and none of the buildings’ inhabitants ever noticed that a movie had been filmed on the property.

And the Mac connection:

The complexities of shooting Replay were also heightened by the numerous visual effects shots, including green screen work, computer generated imagery (CGI), painting & compositing, and speed retiming effects. All-in-all, Replay has over 40 effect shots and practically every frame in the 6 minute film is digitally enhanced in one way or another. A point of pride for Reynier Molenaar, who handled the effects on the production, is that he was able to complete all of Replay’s post-production work, including the effects, on his low-end eMac (not to be confused with the nicer iMac) desktop computer system.

This would have never been made by people who use PCs. They’d have been refused permission — or had to get $1M in fucking insurance — and would have just dropped the idea.

Go to the site to see the embedded trailer for the movie.

Hey, you guys are good at spreading word around for this. I found out about it from a flier taped to a lamppost a few blocks from McCarren Park in Brooklyn!

The Hollywood Day Of Reckoning

Hollywood stockpiles projects for possible strikes

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Hollywood executives are feverishly preparing for possible strikes by writers, directors and actors.

Stockpiling of projects shaped a 21% jump in Los Angeles-area production days in the second quarter compared with the same period a year ago, according to data issued Monday by an industry trade group.

Film L.A., which helps producers navigate film-permitting processes and neighborhood issues, said its figures show a clear link between preparations for a possible strike in Hollywood and a ramp-up in film and TV activity.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA), currently in negotiations with studios, has a contract expiring October 31, and the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) both have film and TV pacts set to expire June 30.

All of the talks are expected to cover difficult issues — like what to do about Internet residuals — and many see the prospect of an eventual work stoppage. So even before the Film L.A. report quantified things, studios appeared to be girding for the battle.

Oh look at that good news! Not just the writers have a strike deadline looming, so do the faces and those camera-framers who think they Create movies (they’d be doing family portraits at fucking Sears if there weren’t writers!).

I really don’t give a shit for the overpaid meat puppets. And the directors I’d like to see squished beneath a Writers Guild of America contract that ensures writers get their damned well overdue credit and payment.

But overall it makes my creaking heart somewhat merry to see Hollywood facing this possible triple shitstorm.

MPAA, your day is over!

Previously in this blog:
Coming Soon: The iStrike
Dear Mayor Billionaire Bloomberg And City Council Millionaires: Kiss My Ass, You Corporate Tool Motherfuckers!
Corporate TV: So Dead
YouTube Vs. P2P: YouTube Wins?
The Creative Bankruptcy Of Hollywood
Writers Guild Of America: Strike! Strike! Strike!

Tutorial/motivational links for WGA members:

Listen to Paddy Chayefsky, goddamit.

It’s Mourning In America — you want this to be your future?
Keeping TV Unreal — they chip away at what Writer means!
Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead. Which Old Witch? The Wicked Witch! Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch Is Dead. — he made more money than any WGA member. What did he ever create?
Photo Album: More Bootleg DVDs For Sale In NYC — do people buy these because of the producing? The directing? It’s the STORY!
Morons Full Stop — they’ll even fuck a writer after she’s dead!
Hoist That Skull And Crossbones! — the Suits protect their asses, not yours!
The Bastard In Full Bloom — and he’s coming for your impoverished ass!
We Know What We’re Doing. We Wear Suits. — fuck them back good!
Viacom Shows The World It’s A Company Of Assholes — you think WGA members will see any settlement money?
The Secret: Law Of (Mal-)Attraction — don’t line up to eat your own shit any longer!
This Is What The Future Looked Like — And Will Look Like From NOW ON! — consider this.
And This Is … Legal! — get what’s rightfully yours, dammit!
Writers Guild Of America: Stop Being Pussies! STRIKE! — stand up!
It Leaves An Odor The Suits Can Smell — goddammit, make them feel fear!
Hey, You Brain-Dead Suits! Here’s A Clue! Want To Also Buy A Vowel? — it’s the words, dammit; your words!
A (P)odcast Will Be Worth More Than This — the future will be — can be! — yours.
Help Out Someone Being Crushed By MammothMedia! — Stand. The. Fuck. Up!

What Is Your Life Worth?

Well that’s the bloody headline on these frikkin ads I’m seeing pop up on fences and lampposts on Satan Island.

So I go to the website that’s listed.

Oy.

Some eejit on this goddammed island must have scored himself an SBA loan…

That’s It For Today

Oh yeah. I know I’m waaaay behind on things.

Time runs away from me (just like most people — except the fucking schizos who talk out loud to themselves!).

Traffic here has been running about four times the previous rate for the past month now.

What the fuck have I done wrong?

The Future Has Come Back To Haunt Us

Soylent Green (1973)

People living out of cars.

Stepping over the sleeping homeless.

“How did we come to this?”

I saw this a year or two after its release, on TV. I instantly recognized the real future in it. And what it dramatized has come to pass.

And will continue to…

Soylent Green trailer (YouTube)
Soylent Green review (scifi.com)
Soylent Green review (stomp tokyo)
Soylent Green Biscuit Company

Blog Notes: Blogroll Deletion, Probations

Oh man. Stupidity Tracker is apparently dead. I hope that didn’t happen to its webmaster too!

Probation:

Scribez hasn’t published anything new since March. A tragedy!

Junkiness has also recently gone silent. An email to them didn’t fetch any reply.

Thanks for making me feel like the fucking Kiss of Death!

Second Quote Of The Day

A follow-up…

Happy motherfucking Monday!

So As Usual, The Smiletards Jump Me

I’ve had cause to post in the WordPress forum today to complain about their new signon page and to bitch about a new policy that states:

if you don’t have an avatar you won’t be able to make the top lists anymore.

And, oh yes, that was bolded in the original text!

I’ve made the top lists with several posts here.

And now, because I won’t put on some fucking imbecilic mask, that isn’t ever going to happen again?

Well, fuck that!

I still refuse to have a goddammed avatar.

How soon will this policy extend to No Avatar = No WordPress blog?

I should start FURLing all my posts…

The Smiletard part comes in when someone posts in reply to me:

mikecane: if you had a nice, fluffy avatar, your harsh words just now might have been softened. since you want people to judge you by your words, you’re not offering much for a positive judgment with that last comment there. just a thought. :)

honesty in blogging is great but honesty with tact is even better in my wee opinion ;)

Well fuck you is all I have to say.

Quote Of The Day: iPhone

The iPhone’s secret sauce? Software.

People talk about how Symbian phones have great software, but I don’t think those people get the iPhone. The pocket-sized iPhone is a mini-Mac, and its software outclasses any other mobile operating system I’ve tried.

Why? The most obvious thing is the smooth animation, which makes the icons zoom into view and pop open. It’s easy to dismiss this as cartoon-y excess, except that once you use it for a while, you realize that the fluid interface makes you feel as though the device is sensitively responding to your every gesture. That animation, the legacy of Mac OS X, makes the difference between feeling that a device is working against you, and feeling that it’s an extension of your brain.

He gets it. He groks it. Those of you who don’t, please move to Redmond or Espoo and talk to yourselves. You’ve revealed that you obviously have nothing to say to everyone else.