Bad at being evil

Edward Jay Epstein Parses Some B.S.

Now I'll admit that I don't even begin to understand these issues. But in his latest blog post, Epstein looks at... well I'll tell ya, I'm assuming it's TARP and not the "stimulus package" because honestly I don't understand either one of them (although Obama is typically blamed for both by the right and the left even though Bush supported TARP and it was supported by Obama and McCain and Obama, I think, oversaw the latter-end of TARP.)

Anyway, here's Epstein's conclusion of all that money that was spent to "bail out" AIG:

I'm re-running pictures of Pushkin.

"So the Fed went ahead with the deal and, as it turned out, now stands to make a multi-billion dollar profit. So where is the scandal?"

Observant readers realize that this was predicted by the more level-headed at the time, right? Oh, no, it doesn't matter because our politics have gone from "socialist" to "death panels" to "community center of death" so it just doesn't matter.

A Day at the Doctor's

I'm on much better drugs now.

So my doctor tells me my vitamin D levels are "normal". And that he never sees anyone with normal vitamin D levels. So I say "well obviously they aren't "normal"."

He insists that yes, yes, they are. And he's never seen anyone with normal vitamin D.

So I say "But that can't be. I have to be an outlier. The center of the bell curve has to be somewhere south of where I am..."

He interrupts: "You have normal vitamin D levels."

I decide not to push the subject.

Ada Grey Reviews Hamlet

Jack-Assery indeed!

Here's an excerpt from 6-year-old Ada Grey's brilliant review of the Neo-Futurist Hamlet:

I think people who like dramatic stuff and monsters—because there is a ghost in it—would like it. And people who are hilarious and like hilarious things would like it. People should go from all around the world, even people from other countries.

This, ladies and gentlepeople, is why Chicago has such great theater.

This Might make a better Twitter.

The Internet: down
What am I to do today?

(Serious question.)

More along the liking front

I like Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros "Home" from Edward Sharpe on Vimeo.

This recording has a delightful sense of "space" to it. That's one thing I've always liked about the band Yes. Pink Floyd does a good job of changing up the sound they make too. But with Home they manage to make a big raucous song with a lot of "air" in the middle. The vocals aren't super up-front, but they're loud and fun.


Polydor, in its infinite wisdom, decided to disable embedding on this La Roux video "Bulletproof". It does sort of remind me of "Home."

I gotta lose 25lbs

Baby rhino makes me sad.

From.

Earthkiller Day 12 part 5

I've been feeling bad about not getting enough stills of the beautiful Robin Kurtz. So here on the elevator set is a still worthy (I think) of Facebook.

Robin Kurtz

I think it's sort of interesting how there's no "kick" in the eyes although they're lit. Other than the light which is flare-ing in the shot there's a light above and in front of her, and two of our "chicklets" below her (under the deck, actually, Joe designed the deck to have it be under-lit.)

Earthkiller Day 12 part 4

Libby Csulik, Joe Chapman, David Ian Lee, and Maduka Steady.

Robin Kurtz surprised by David Ian Lee, while Lucy Rayner is about to get shot.

David Ian Lee as Tybalt hides while "Sata" is about to be shot while "Riggs" opens fire.

We killed a lot of people today. Including Maduka, Libby, Joe, and Sketkh.

Earthkiller Day 12 part 3

Libby Csulik and Joe Chapman.

This is how awesome our freakin' crew is. You so wish every movie looked this cool. Straight outta the Borg silos is our Art Director and Production Designer.

Earthkiller Day 12 part 2

Sketkh Williams is a dead zombie. For now.

Sketkh takes one for the team.

Today's new character was the zombie in the elevator. That's played by Sketkh Williams. The elevator set was very nice with a set of doors which reads "Restricted" on the front of it. Man, this movie wouldn't be nuthin' like what it is if it weren't for Joe and Libby.

Wrapping Principal Photography on Earthkiller part 1

Robin Kurtz, the dreamy Maduka Steady, and Lucy Rayner.

Today we wrapped principal photography on Earthkiller. This was day 12 of shooting. Which doesn't mean we don't yet have three more days of shooting little things here and there, but it does mean we've shot the bulk of it. The remainder of the movie will be (literally) a walk on the beach.

Lucy Rayner as Raze, Maduka Steady as Mach, and Robin Kurtz as Helen.

Happy 911

Apparently there was a Muslim prayer room in the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Until, you know, some asshats ran airplanes into it and killed about three thousand people.
About two percent of those people killed were of the Islamic faith.

We're not even bothering to quietly mourn the dead anymore. Quiet contemplation? Nah, forget that. Because now some other Muslims have the gall to build a community center which will also have a prayer room, in a building nobody else would buy, in our holiest of holy places.

The Burlington Coat Factory. 

So it's time to get our hate on. Because that's always so awesome and productive. And so Christian, I might add. 

Hey, at least they're not putting a temple in Century 21. You know what I'm sayin?

Earthkiller Day 11

Looks like somebody just got married!

Robin Kurtz and Lucy Rayner.

Today we shot three scenes and 15.7 GB of data. Maybe we used a bunch of that data on stills? I don't know.

This was the second-to-last day of photography (or, at least of "principle" photography.) After this we have no more principles.We have a little bit more photography to go.

Oh no! Somebody shot Lucy!

This is not the first time we've shot these scenes. The observant might recognize some of these setups from the first day of principal photography (on the blog.pleasurefortheempire.com ). But with a different actress. One who isn't, er, on vacation right now! ;-)

We started with Robin carrying Lucy into the scene (which Maduka called the "King Lear carry"). But I felt like it looked like they were going on a honeymoon so we went for the "soldier limp" instead.

The always brilliant Joe and Libby built (or, I should say "re-built") the set.

Robin Kurtz as Helen.

Andrew Bellware demonstrates his directing technique.

Lucy Rayner looks down upon the dying Earth.

Kind of exciting. We're getting toward the end of making this movie. I can't wait to see it!