Today in the Mouse

See? I signed up for the Music Career Masters newsletter so you don't have to. Here's what you learn:
Basically you

• get a band, 
• actually get the band to sound like something,
• and make sure the band looks like something.

Actually, "looking like something" sounds like a good piece of advice. I better get right back on the horse about getting that psychedelic jacket and some riding boots, hadn't I?

Rough Magic Studios is a recording studio in Greenpoint Brooklyn. Their rehearsal rate is only $25/hour. And they do have a Hammond and a Fender Rhodes. The only downside is that every page on their website has music playing on it.

So Basically

In the meantime, a puffin.

I have two hours to write the last twenty pages of the Earthwar screenplay. There are two Titan-class autobots with Mark XVI plastisteel railguns aimed at my head and they've told me if I don't deliver some sort of screenplay by 9pm they'll be "very angry". They've gone and explained that "very angry" for a Titan-class autobot is... well... very angry.
So here's a nice summation of Blake Snyder's 5-point finale. I have a couple problems with the screenplay so far. One is that we know now what the antagonist looks like, but we don't yet have a clear picture of the protagonist. Is he a dude in a Halo suit? Is he just a regular soldier who gets a 2-legged walker at some point? What's better? What's more important, his coolness or his relation to the combat witch character?
I suspect that right now I just have way too much stuff in the movie.
One thing to do is just put in some placeholders for the action at the end of the movie. That way the autobots will shut down (and possibly give me the cure to the nanobot virus they injected me with before they do!)

T-Mouse Edana

You can just see (upside down) the signed "T-Mouse" between the transformer and the turret board of my Celtic Edana.
Ooh! It's getting tested!

Earthkilling

Ian Hubert finished the Earthkiller model in Blender 3D. What's funny to me about this particular render is that as big as it is, it doesn't even show the whole model!
This week I simply have to work out the post-production schedule on Earthkiller. I thought about using project management software, flowchart software, and now I'm seriously thinking that this technology called "a piece of paper" might very well be the best thing for us.
Also, I've done zero work on the Earthwar screenplay this weekend. I'm trying to do some work on it today. My big question is: what will be the headcount of the good guys? How many die?

Meydl Loves Public Access

Meydl will sit and watch the public access channel at my parent's apartment complex for a much longer period of time than you would imagine.
BONUS: just look at her little feet!

You Need My Notes

So I'm watching Modern Family on Hulu (because apparently I'm not going to be touching any scripts or mixing or doing anything useful this weekend) and the first thing that struck me is that the show is not "lit funny". There's this old idea in TV (and it maybe came from movies) that comedies have to be over-bright and everything lit evenly without shadows. Well this show has so many shadows it would make Titian blush.
And I'm sure I'm only one of several thousand people in the world who notice this sort of thing but isn't that a taped-up mic rig right in the center of his chest? Yep, you gotta be a techno dork to care about that. Of course, that kind of costume is somewhere on the order of simply impossible to body-mic. You could try weaving a Countryman lav into the ribbing of the collar but the sound would be pretty crappity because you'd be mic'ing under his chin. So yup, right under the clavicle it goes.
And you know, there's a chance that his shirt actually just folded and creased like that. But my guess is microphone.
Of course, he actually does a 360 where the back of his shirt comes up (immediately after this part of the shot, but in the same setup) and I dunno where they'd have put the transmitter pack. Maybe in a front pocket?
I always hated wiring people up. Clothing noise on lavs is just a bitch. Especially on men wearing tight shirts. Or women with dangly jewelry. Or squeaky leather jackets. Or skirtchy shirts. All of it.

AFM

So really? 27,000 independent films are made every year? Bill Martell takes on the AFM this year.
I've never actually gone to the market. My producer has. There's not really that much for us to do there, as we have a sales rep who's there -- they cut the trailer and make key art -- and we would really annoy the pants off him if we were hanging around all day.
We did get two small sales from the AFM so far. We hope to confirm at least one larger sale by the end of the year.

Getting Work Done

I haven't been getting any work done. In fact, time has slowed (or sped up) so much I'm surprised it's Saturday.

I've taken some pictures of cats. Meydl and Iona (who only just today learned that my name, "Andrew", was the name of one of the disciples).

Here's Pushkin and Meydl. Yep. Taking pictures of cats. That's about as useful as I've been.

And hey, I thought about getting some exercise. That's almost just like getting exercise. My doctor will be delighted. Here is Pushkin again atop his chair, with Winston in the seat.
In other cat news: Winston had to go to the vet today to get an antifungal bath. I slept through the adventure my parents went through to get him into a carrier, to the vet's, and into the bath. But when I woke up this morning I thought "Did a cat poop in my bed?"
I mean it smelled terrible. Winnie's bath was apparently in sulphur. Which being that he, a black "basement cat" might find comforting in its hellish way, was pretty vile and loathsome to the rest of us. Even the other two cats seemed worried.
Apparently the poor fellow has a bout of ringworm (which isn't a worm -- it's just a fungus). I said "Couldn't they have just dipped him in tea tree oil?" But our guess is that because a cat is going to lick himself clean, whatever they bathe him in has to be non-toxic to cats.
But whew, did that ever stink up a storm.
Just as horrible as he smelled though, the smell went away in a few hours. Iona figured it was because Winnie slept the day on top of a pile of my dad's sweaters. Hopefully my dad won't realize that.

Flix

I've done a lot of whining and complaining about Netflix here on this blog. Netflix has been a disaster for independent film. Back in the day, Blockbuster was heaven-sent. Our first picture, Pandora Machine, got something like 4700 orders from Blockbuster at $7.25 a piece. And that was a small order from the big "B".

Our distributor at the time was The Asylum. They took a big chunk of the $34K order. And, stupidly, at the time we had a sales rep whose territory included North America (and they didn't really know what they were doing with North America). So they took some money. Still, we ended up with about $17,000 when all was said and done with the Hollywood Video rentals and such.
And that movie sucked had one good scene.
Nowadays a Blockbuster sale is hard to come by (and it'll typically be a revenue-sharing deal). Blockbuster stores are closing by the thousands and Blockbuster restructures under Chapter 11.
So indy filmmakers think "Well then maybe Netflix will buy my movie?"
Netflix hates indy movies the way Blockbuster used to love them. They expect so many people (x) to queue an indy picture (y) before they will even order the movie from the distributor/producer. And frequently they won't tell you what x is for your movie. This is so they'll agree to order like maybe a couple hundred copies of your DVD at three bucks a piece.

Even The Asylum is complaining about Netflix.

The thing is that for the indy world, the Netflix model just doesn't work. Say you have a movie with some awesome cover art and it's sitting on a shelf at Blockbuster, a movie the customer has never heard of, but it has an awesome title like (say) Fear of Clowns. And it has a really freaky looking clown on the cover ready to butcher dozens of innocents in the suburbs. If you're into horror pictures and you think "Hey, there hasn't been a good clown horror picture since Killer Clowns from Outer Space" you're GOING to pick up the movie.

What you won't do is scroll through thousands of titles on a computer and pick the cover of the movie you want to watch on a Saturday night with some beer, a pizza, and a couple friends. So Netflix just doesn't make sense for indy titles.

I'll Have a Black and Tan

And more

I seriously haven't done anything at all today. I can't even say I watched TV. Now that's a new low. But I am blaming the cats. Blaming the cats for your own failings is awesome because they, being unable to speak English (I think their native tongue is French), are unable to defend themselves.
Besides, they're mostly asleep.

Vote Vote Vote

Phillip Drawbridge, who worked on Millennium Crisis, is up for Artist of the Month over at Renderosity. Vote vote vote like a baby stoat!

Happiness

Sometimes Cracked is stunningly well-written, in their linkwhoring way. Like this article on things you think will make you happy but won't.

My sister and I have instituted a new policy at our parent's apartment. Now, sometimes we institute a policy and we simply cannot get the parents to continue it. (That seems to be the case of the recycling container my sister put by the front door to prevent a buildup of plastic bottles and junk mail. We're now back to the build up of plastic bottles and junk mail.) But our new policy regarding the cats seems to be taking.

"My" cat, Pushkin, has always been a very fastidious eater. He only likes very small quantities of freshly put-out food. And he will (and always has) just walked away if another animal wants his food. Now normally if a cat were so finicky I wouldn't fuss about it. I'd say "what are they gonna do, starve?" But in Pushkin's case the answer might very well be "yes". He'd lost a lot of weight over this last year and not a vet in the world can figure out what's really wrong with him. His appetite though, now, is pretty good. But again, he only likes small amounts of food -- many times a day.

So the policy is that Pushkin can eat whatever he wants whenever he wants. Oftentimes this means we take a bowl of food and lock him in the bathroom with it (away from the other cats.) Still, he only eats a fifth(?) of a small can of cat food at any time. So we have to feed him a whole bunch of times just to give him enough food for one cat. And the reality is that feeding him enough means drastically overfeeding the other two (very fat) cats.

And I don't care. I'd rather Pushkin got enough to eat (even if really all he'd have to do is sit and eat the food as it's offered to him three times a day by my stepmom) and the other cats eat way too much than to have him go hungry. Yes, he actually gets fed upwards of seven times a day with his "special" meals. I mean, the whole thing is ridiculous because if he ate more than a couple bites at a time his weight would be fine. Plus, he could easily kick the ass of either of the other cats if they deserved it. And they do. But he just won't.

The 'Zon

The Russian Solar Vengeance.

Everybody loves the new Amazon Studios. Ha! No, I'm kidding. Nobody thinks its a good idea.
And honestly, I can't figure what Amazon thinks they're gonna get out of it. I mean maybe they just have way too much money and are looking to spend it more places.
The strange thing is that it seems to be a terrible idea for everyone. Writers tend to like to think of themselves as oppressed coal miners in the year 1923. So anything which has a "cap" of $200,000 seems egregious to them.
But as a studio owner (albeit, the smallest studio there is) I have a different take. From John August (linked above):

When you submit material to Amazon–say, a script–they have an exclusive option on the script for 18 months. During that 18 months, they can do whatever they want with your script. They can change it, smash it together with other scripts… and of course, make a movie from it, or commission a book, or any other derivative work.

And that's all true. And, quite honestly, your script sucks so you dearly need someone to do some work on it (and if they don't work on it now, let me tell you, they'll do it in the editing room.)
But that's not what I'm here to talk about.
I'm here wondering why Amazon thinks this is a good idea.

Well, if you seen their introduction video you can tell they've never produced a movie in their lives. They want "stories that can become commercial that delight audiences around the world." Well that's a novel idea. Actually, the parody of the introduction video is better and, shockingly, not that different from the real intro video.

Most of the complaints on the interwebs come from writers. And yeah, sure, it's a stupid deal... for Amazon. If you have millions of dollars to make features with, you don't have to crowdsource scripts. You can hire a screenwriter. And you can hire one cheap. You invite one over to your house. There's twenty thousand dollars sitting on the table between you and the screenwriter. You say "We aren't signing a WGA contract and we need the finished script in 20 days." The writer says "But I have integrity. I can't just do whatever I'm told! And besides, I'm a member of the WGA."
But you just stare the writer down. You were going to offer him forty thousand dollars to do the whole job, including revisions and rewrites. But just as the doorbell rings (because you invited another screenwriter over at exactly the same time) the writer glances down at the pile of money.
You put your hands out and you divide the money in half. Calmly you intone "Ten thousand now, and ten thousand on delivery." The doorbell rings again. You move to get up. "I think that's one of the other 35 writers I called this morning."
The writer grabs the ten thousand dollars shouting "I'll do it! I'll do it!" Stuffing the money into his courier's bag, he runs out the door so fast he knocks over two other writers making their way up the driveway.
+++++
So really? 27,000 independent films are made every year? Bill Martell takes on the AFM this year.
I've never actually gone to the market. My producer has. There's not really that much for us to do there, as we have a sales rep who's there -- they cut the trailer and make key art -- and we would really annoy the pants off him if we were hanging around all day.

Our Songs

Mouseverture
Lyrics: Lou thinks this should be all instrumental, with a soaring guitar part where the vocals should go. I'm thinking of going 30/30/30 with Hammond solo, guitar solo, and vocals
Notes: we're going to shorten the monsterous song by 8 bars here, 8 bars there, to make it nice and tight. It'll still clock in at over 10 minutes. But probably less than 20. Unless my guitar solo rules so much that we simply MUST have the song be longer.

Jabberwocky
Ethan has selected a take (which needs to be cleaned up).
Vocals: I want to triple-check my pronunciation of the lyrics because it would be really embarrassing to screw that up.
Solo: We're going to make that a B4 solo. Arie's gonna be all up in that.

Thing in A (Ice Maiden)
There's only one take, so we know which take we'll use.
Vocals: apparently there is a growing consensus that the vocals should be more "rock". Actually, I'll need further notes on that because I don't really understand how to make the verse melody more rockin' seeing as it's kind of soft instrumentally. Perhaps I should ask WWLZD (What Would Led Zeppelin Do)? Although there's simply no way I can sing like Robert Plant. So yeah, I'm going to do another mix of that tune with the direction the vocals are going in now and expect to get some notes back (or better: specific suggestions.)
Solo: keyboards or guitar? I feel electric piano but I'm open to other notions.

Arabesque
There's only one take.
There will be no vocals.
This song is the closest to "finished" so far.
It needs a dancer with a fan.

New Thing (Mercury)
We did only one take of this.
Vocals: I'm going to have to ask for advice on this. Right now I'm just singing "Oh Mercury" in the chorus. If anyone has any better ideas, I'd love to hear them.
Solo: the loudest rock guitar solo you have ever heard. Slow and lugubrious analog delay with soaring notes which will reduce you to tears. I assure you. I will have a follow spot on me as I play it live. You will be fooled into thinking I can play guitar because I will play very few notes but they will each sound really really loud.

One Last Drink
Thing in E
Ethan has very specific notes on which takes to use. Basically the take from our first session with the last take of One Last Drink from the second session cut together with the second-to-last take from the second session of One Last Drink will make the bulk of this song. That's a tad tricky because the two sessions had different track assignments so we'll see how that works out. It might be cool.
I have a fantasy, however, that the Thing in E might get edited into One Last Drink, you know -- just to make it more complicated. That's because the "B" section which Lou came up with in the Thing in E is essentially similar to the "C" section of One Last Drink (although in a different key). So it might cut together. Or it might be a big mess.

I feel a Hammond solo is what's needed in One Last Drink (and indeed, that was what we had on the Prague Spring version of the song.)
The issue with the Thing in E is that it otherwise sounds like a  beer commercial. It's the only thing which doesn't really sound like a Tyrannosaurus Mouse song to me.
It's possible we may simply drop the Thing in E from the album. But again, I'm open to suggestions.

Tyrannosaurus Mouse.

Happy Thanksgiving

My dad, who is president of an organization for pilots over the age of 80, is actually complaining about the way these "old codgers"* send email incoherently like a bunch of hyperactive teenagers who can't complete a sentence.

I'm not going outside for the next two days.

Yup. That's how I'm spending my Thanksgiving. 

*His words, not mine.

You're not still talking about a psychedelic jacket are you?

Oh Lordy, you are.

Mood Fabrics is where all the Project Runway people shop.
My sister found this fabric at Discount Fabrics. It's cool but it's a tad brighter than what I really want.

Detailed Notes

And impossibly big files.

Yes, these image files are freakin' huge. But that's what makes them legible (click to embiggen).

This is what's great about having a real band. I didn't do any of this work! This is all Ethan Rosenblatt's notes. All I have to do is incorporate these notes.

I'm waaaaay to close to the music to have any clue at all what's good or not. I have zero distance. So now I know what takes to use for which songs and what to do when I get there.

And yes, there are 7 pages of notes on our basic tracks.

Boots and Swatches

The Chippewa Boots 27908 (which doesn't have a steel toe) looks pretty cool. And it's less than $200. I'm gonna have to try them.
And the other two pictures are of a swatch of groovy velvet fabric which is being made into a psychedelic jacket.

The Funniest Thing Today

Woodstock is friends with "Altamont".
This made me laugh out loud all by myself in front of the computer.

There Be Spoilers Here

Spoilers about Warhammer books and about Cherie Priest's Dreadnought and Boneshaker.
+++++

So I've been reading these Warhammer 40K books. And so far the ideas have been awesome but the writing has been... terrible.
I mean, how could you mess up a story about a Demon Hunter, a sexy Imperial Assassin, a space-Dwarf, and an interstellar Navigator who has a third eye in the middle of his forehead with which he can see the Warp in space through which he's piloting? Those characters sound really cool. But oof.

So then I started reading Cherie Priest's Dreadnought and I was almost in tears about how well it's written. And heck, it even has a lot of the same stuff in it -- giant walking battle-'bots, zombies (well, I guess there are no zombies in the Warhammer universe but you get the idea.)

Dreadnought is an alternate history where the Civil War lasts 20 years and both sides develop all kinds of very cyberpunk technology. Texas remains an independent Republic. Most of the Confederate States free their slaves (with the exception of Alabama and Mississippi of course.) And the men at the front start using a mysterious drug which eventually turns them into flesh-eating zombies.
But that's not the cool part. The cool part is that right at the beginning the heroine meets Clara Barton. That's awesome.
Now here's a thing about alternate histories and period novels: we're following a particularly independent white woman who's a Southerner (and whose husband fought in a Union uniform and died in Andersonville, the cultural weight of that is not fully explained in the book but if you know some Civil War history it's kind of like saying he was at the Confederate version of Dachau or some such.) And in the book we follow this woman who isn't terribly prejudiced, indeed has sympathies for the North and the South considering her working in a Confederate hospital and having a Union husband. She is working - class. But, y'know, for accuracy the narrator describes different characters as "mulatto", "colored", "chinamen", and even suggests that the heroine thought for a minute the words "house-nigger" to describe a former slave who was a cook.
And boy, those words sure have a lot of cultural weight to them, don't they?
Now, the lead character herself -- she doesn't ascribe to the racist tendencies of many of the other characters (there's a bit of anti-Catholicism in there too. I don't think anyone even mentions the Jews.) And the "narrator" (who is 3rd person) clearly writes from a modern perspective, doesn't use the term "colored" derisively -- indeed the heroine meets people of a wide range of complexions and typically sees the color of their skin as a part of their description literally rather than "racially". Skin is lighter or darker than her own.
And there is a very interesting pair of moments when, as a working - class woman (a nurse) she at first feels "outclassed" by a mulatto woman who is wealthy, and then by a very snobbish (and presumably wealthy) white northern woman.
So one has little doubt about the politics of the author, and indeed the protagonist is shown in a better light simply because of her refusal to buy into the racial politics of the time. Still... there are those words. "Colored" being the most popular.
I thought to myself: OK, so what if you brought a mid-19th-Century African American to 2010 America? First of all you be all like "Hey, we don't say "colored" anymore, we call them "black". To which he'd respond "There is no need to be so rude, sir. I am a "colored" man. A negro. And I am proud of my heritage."
Then you'd have to be all like "No, dude, in the late 1960's, "colored" people took up the word "black" to describe themselves in defiance of the white/colored nomenclature. It's all because of this guy Malcom X you see..."
"If you're going to talk to me, I insist you use a respectful term."
"No, dude, really -- like the President of the United States is black. He wouldn't call himself "colored". It's archaic and considered rude."
"Well when I was your age, a respectful person would never refer to me as "black". "Colored" is the word."
"Oh man, please don't make me teach you how a computer works."
Just then a guy walking up Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn accosts your time-travelling African American, thinking he knows him, with a "Yo niggah! Whassup!"
You just turn away in shame and walk away...
But getting back to my point (maybe I should have another drink first) using "colored", even when historically accurate, just... rubs me the wrong way. I'm not saying it's wrong. And I'm not saying that Cherie Priest wasn't doing the right thing. It just makes me gnash my teeth (metaphorically) for a moment.
And I don't really know what more to think about that.
So here's a bunny with a flower... disapproving...

Amp Coming Along

I'm very capable of being embarrassingly gushy about my band. It's so awesome to play with guys who've "got your back".
Ethan gave me fantastic notes and I'm working on them right now. That will put us into great shape as far as doing the vocals. I'll add some guitar parts, some keyboard parts will change, and then we go and mix! Hooray!

Mr. Fitzpatrick is wiring away on my new Celtic Edana JTM45 clone. Can you feel it rocking?

Just Add Zombies

Nat Cassidy is the guest blogger over at NYITA this week and he's talking about horror in theater.
He asked for comments from the public, always a big mistake, so I chimed in with this overly-long response:

Drama is all about conflict. For instance: ghost shows up, tells you that your dad was murdered by your uncle. Instant conflict. (Hamlet).
Or: a bunch of witches tell you that you're going to become king, and all of a sudden you're killing people to become king. There's some conflict! (MacBeth.)
In a way, the horror genre is almost not a genre. What I mean by that is this: take a look at a random zombie movie/play.
When you go see a zombie picture you know that there will be some conflict -- the undead vs the living -- but what you don't know is what the movie will be about exactly.
Will it be about a man trying to connect with his family (The Walking Dead)? Will it be about rampant consumption and capitalism (Dawn of the Dead)? Will it be a comedy about a man who needs to grow up and have a mature relationship with a woman (Shaun of the Dead)?
In fact, almost all stories can be made better by the addition of zombies. Say you have a story about two brothers - one who became a doctor and the other who got busted in college for selling pot. The first brother is the star of the family, while the second brother is the black sheep.
Now they have to reconcile and the black sheep has to earn the respect of his dad.
That's OK, but I'm feeling that the story is a bit of a snooze as it is so far.
But add a zombie apocalypse where the "good" brother works night and day for a cure while the "bad" brother turns out to have a knack for killing scores of zombies and protecting everyone -- and you have a recipe for some strong drama.

With zombies, you have an instantly compelling story.
Sure, the personal relationships of the characters are important. But we're not going to be interested in those relationships until they're put to a stress test. Zombies are great for that. So is a murder mystery (who did it, who's next?) So are the addition of werewolves, ghosts, and vampires. Why? It gives the characters real stakes -- life-or-death stakes.
Can you trust the "bad" brother in the hypothetical play above? Did the "good" brother actually create the zombie virus for the military? Maybe there's a bigger secret -- like the "bad" brother wasn't selling dope out of his dorm room at all but it was the "good" brother who was and the "bad" brother just took the fall for him. Now the good brother lives with the guilt of destroying the other's career and making him look bad in his parents' eyes? And in the meantime they're holed up in an abandoned warehouse with food running low and ten thousand of the undead outside moaning and clawing at the steel doors lusting for their flesh.

THAT sounds like a story I want to hear.
If it were just two brothers talking about their problems in a room... well I just don't care as much.
So in a nutshell, if you have a play with dramatic issues: just add zombies.
This comic has more undead fun.

You So Thought We Were Done With Behind-the-Scenes (part II)

The unnecessarily handsome Joe Chapman sits atop his set.

Rik Nagel, rocking a mohawk, looks through a "table" which I'm shooting through. For some reason on set I'm not my usually fastidious self and I don't mind getting filthy dirty -- if it's in the service of a shot of course. That being said, I wash my hands a dozen or more times a day because I don't want to touch the camera with dirty hands.

Rik Nagel. I smell Facebook profile picture here.

Did someone want to remind me why Henry Steady isn't the bass player for a progressive funk band? (You know it's gotta be funk because of how high he holds the head of his boom pole bass guitar.)

Joe Beuerlein on his knees, with Rik Nagel, Andrew Bellware is apparently directing... something...

Libby Csulik working in the hot sun to paint these Styrofoam blocks which we didn't end up using this day. But we more than made up for it by using them other times.

This picture made me laugh. David Frey on boom, but still in zombie makeup. When I first looked at this picture I thought "What is he wearing -- a sari?" But no, it's just his torn-up uniform jumpsuit tied around his waist.

I'm being sexually harassed by Tom Rowen. 

David Frey as a sad, sad clown. Sad, zombie, clown. Still, he has GREAT hair.

Brian Silliman and Tana Sarntinoranont lounging around for the 5 minutes or so they had to relax on this very busy day on set. 

Libby Csulik and Joe Chapman -- after building sets they then had to be zombies. I believe the Queen of Mars did most of the zombie makeup. We tend to use the nice theatrical blood (approved by Actor's Equity and all that) which doesn't taste too bad and is very non-toxic. It does, however, stain clothes.

Katie Hannigan attempts to convince people that she could play evil roles. "Look, I have a mustache! 'You MUST pay the  rent! Bru-ha-haa!'" she laughs maniacally. 

A very serious moment of contemplation between the Director, Andrew Bellware, and the Production Designer, Joe Chapman. Now the question is: what's funnier: that Joe is in zombie makeup, or that THE DIRECTOR IS NOT WEARING PANTS!!!!???

You So Thought We Were Done With Behind-the-Scenes (part I)

The Queen of Mars stands behind me, and I (this is probably the only time I ever did this on set) am actually sitting down. I don't know what's going on in this though. It looks like Maduka Steady and David Ian Lee doing something (fight rehearsing?) on their knees while Robin Kurtz is getting ready to go upside someone's head with a rubber crowbar.

Libby Csulik and David Ian Lee. If I'm not mistaken this photo looks like it was taken before David managed to break the crowbar. For those of you who have difficulty with the concept I'll just say it again: David Ian Lee broke the crowbar. Also: note the golden codpiece. I've seen the man naked, he needed a big codpiece.

Andrew Bellware helps David Ian Lee practice dentistry. Or something. In the background Henry Steady is doing what looks like actual work. 

David Ian Lee, Andrew Bellware, and Henry Maduka Steady watch playback. I assure you there is alcohol in the cup I'm holding. I assure you I'm already smoothed out with a good buzz by the time this picture was taken.

OK, that's Joe Chapman and the Queen of Mars on the left, Robin Kurtz on the floor, and my Dad. I'm probably on the other side of the set (to our left) shooting. This was one of the funniest things which happened on the set:

We'd worked out this choreography where David Ian Lee throws Robin Kurtz up against those block you see stacked here on the right. My father, unfortunately, had no idea that she was going to go flying into them knocking them everywhere because he hadn't seen the rehearsal.

So there's video of Robin smashing into the stack of blocks, surprising my 84-year-old dad making him jump out of the way. He moves fast for an old man. Let me tell you, you wanna be in as good a shape as he is when you reach 84.

Andrew Bellware looking like he's giggling while watching something through the lens.

Sketkh Williams and Robin Kurtz.  

Maduka Steady, in costume on his haunches with the Queen of Mars, David Ian Lee (with back toward us), and Andrew Bellware on camera. I'll tell you that I honestly don't know what set this is or what scene we're shooting here. 

This is a neat picture of David Ian Lee (as "Mach", the character named after Mac Rogers) and Joe Chapman (in costume as "Riggs", the character named after Mitchell Riggs.)