Happy Go Lucky, Maybe.

Other than gathering the things I will need for tomorrow, I took a break from all things Bingo. After I shoot the interviews, I'm taking the weekend off and then I'll finish tweaking the movie. Then I'll start cutting down the interviews.

Last night, I watched Happy Go Lucky. Sally Hawkins plays Poppy, the type of girl we've all met at least once: perky to the point of being obnoxious, yet at the same time totally genuine. She gets on the nerves of her driving instructor, who by contrast is perpetually grumpy. The whole sounds like a premise for a sitcom, but like everything else Mike Leigh does, there's real dimension. I'll watch it again.

Able Danger, a movie I saw opening night at 2008's Brooklyn Film Festival, is now available on Amazon.com's VOD, where Are You From Bingo? will soon be heading. When I saw it, it was in black in white (with some key objects colored in), but you'll be able to seeing it in color.

Also, I'm pleased to hear that Andrew Bujalski's Beeswax got picked up for distribution by Cinema Guild. I figured given Bujalski's growing popularity, I figured it would get picked up by a small distributor, but I'm somewhat shocked it's taken this long.

Off to Binghamton tomorrow. Hopefully, nothing tragic (unless you count the rain they're predicting) will happen.

Going It Alone

I finally got ahold of the guy who backed the movie and the first round of interviews. He says that money is tight for him right now.

"Wasn't this supposed to be done already?" He asked. Yeah, it would've been done, had it not been for the shootings. I think I have enough money to go this alone. My plan is to try and squeeze everything into Friday if I can. I know that my camera guy has reserved the camera, but I've been having a hard time getting ahold of him, too.

With that being said, I'm getting psyched about the next round of interviews as the day looms closer. I'm just hoping that the weather will change, because right now, Friday's not looking too good.

I finished the collection of the writer I'm hoping to make a documentary on next. The poems I think gave me a better perspective on her, and hopefully, they will be helpful is fleshing out the narrative further.

Finally, if anyone sees the junkie who broke into Craig Zobel's car, please direct him here.

Aftermath

Needing to put some distance from the events of this past weekend, I decided to work on my final panel from SXSW. It's a panel on Stanley Kubrick featuring Jan Harlan and Elvis Mitchell.

I'm still continuing to follow the story of the shootings, and on the Today show, they had the gunman's sister. I think his sister shed some light his deportment, and even what drove him to do it:

“He didn’t share any of his thoughts and feelings, and he kept all of his frustration inside and didn’t want to share with anybody else in the family.”

I'm going to watch the footage tomorrow. There's only about 90 minutes all together, but whether or not I watch it all tomorrow depends on how my battery holds up. Then I'm going to start dumping the footage onto the hard drive and editing it.

The Long Hair of Death: My Binghamton Experience

As I got off of I-81 just before 11am Friday morning, a Broome County Sheriff's car zoomed right by us. We made a left and drove down Front Street, and made another left at the intersection. The rest of Front Street had been blocked off. My father and I weren't totally sure what was going on--maybe there was an accident, or a domestic disturbance. I was dropped off at the Holiday Inn, where I was annoyed by the fact that I'd left my Driver's License and Debit Card back home.

Ten minutes later, my father called me, and told me there had been a shooting, and that's what the scene was. Initially, I thought maybe it had been a singular incident.

I wended my way down Court Street, taking care of some pre-interview errands. I marvelled at what Court Street has become. A lot of the buildings that were unoccupied when I first made Are You From Bingo? were now housing restaurants, boutiques, gyms, and bars. I felt like I was seeing the progress that the interviewees were talking to me about in 2005.

Ten more minutes, and my father called again. He told me that there had been multiple shootings, possibly multiple deaths, and that it was "A really bizarre situation," and he speculated that it would make national news. Shortly after I met my camera guy, the office of Mayor Matthew Ryan called to cancelled the interview we had scheduled for 2:30.

In spite of the increasingly gruesome circumstances, my first interview went well. We touched upon the shootings that had just happened, even though I really had little idea of what the details were. Other than that, we talked about what I had planned on talking about. The person who funded my movie was the next person I interviewed, and that interview went pretty much the same way. After we finished his interview, we stuck around his office, and watched Mayor Ryan's press conference on CNN.

Tragedies aside, it was very rainy. My feet were soaking wet, and I had only one other dry pair of socks for the next day. So on top of being worried about the shootings, I had wet feet most of the day.

Later on, we got some footage at Little Venice of people watching the news. I also talked with a woman who was friends with the receptionist who dialed 911. We did a few interviews of people's thoughts on the situation, shot some footage of the media trucks, then called it a night.

Among the witnesses that were interviewed on TV was the mother of one of my interview subjects, an interview I had scheduled for Saturday. She lives across the street from the Civic Association, and that interview did not happen. I did, however, manage to shoot some B-Roll of some places that were in Bingo on Antique Row, and we shot footage of the Civic Association, as well as the media shooting reports and footage from the Civic Association.

I did manage to get two interviews in, one with a girl who manages a boutique my funder owns on Washington St., and an interview with another couple who renovated the building. The wife had a baby girl March 18th, and stayed off camera. After the people who owned the stores downstairs kicked us out, we wrapped. I told my camera guy that I'd stay in touch in regards to rescheduling.

I got back just after 8pm. Earlier today, I typed up my trip in much more intricate detail than I've written here.

The question for me is, "What now?" In all honesty, I had been doing some thinking about a sequel before this happened, but that the shooting wouldn't commence for a few years yet. Now, I'm not so sure. I definitely want to finish the DVD and finish the interviews, and I guess I'll determine what I want to do from there.

In the meantime, I'm hoping to work on the Stanley Kubrick/Jan Harlan panel from SXSW to help seperate myself from the experience (something I would've done anyway), then I'll take a look at the footage later this week. But it looks like I will have to resume the fundraiser.

Yeah, Baby!

Today was spent writing up questions and packing as I watched a Snapped marathon. It took me two days to write questions for two people; it took me two hours to write up questions for the remaining three.

I've been in a real Austin Powers mood lately, and I do not know why. I think it's more of a reflection of my state of mind than anything else. I spent the better part of my Junior and Senior years of high school really obsessed with that movie. In fact, my senior year, I dressed up as Austin Powers for Halloween. I used to own a VHS of a widescreen version of the movie, but I have no idea where that went. I've never bought the DVD, but I may have to soon if I'm going to satiate my urge to watch it. Of course, I can rent it from Netflix as well.

For now, here's a song from the movie, "Call Me". This isn't the version in the movie, but I like this version better. (With that being said, the Mike Flowers version isn't bad.) Off to Binghamton tomorrow!

Schedule...Interview...Mayor...Binghamton!

Most of the schedule is solidified. I've been working on questions for the mayor since his spokesperson wants the questions by tomorrow. I'm hoping maybe I can bring the stills photographer for a little bit and have him snap a few pictures for the paper. I keep thinking about the things I want to do in the future. Sometimes I get distracted by these thoughts, but I try to remind myself that I'll have plenty of time to think about those things once this is all done.

In randomness, Lindsay Lohan recently did a commercial for the Italian jeans label Fornarina. Ever since I saw the commercial on The Soup last Friday, I can't take my eyes off the trainwreck. Linds is wearing a Hannah Montana wig and spouting out nonsensical, unrelated words to music that The Misshapes would've found passe in 2005:

Michael K from DListed weighed in, but Joel McHale put it best:

Desperate...Need Cash...Cut Lines...Crash Car!

Disappointments & Tribulations

It's 35 degrees and very, very windy, so I spent today hibernating. Hopefully, it'll be the last time I'll have to do that for awhile, since it's going to be in the 50s tomorrow.

I scheduled one more interview today for the DVD. I'm particularly excited about this interviewee, since I got more responses about him than anyone else I interviewed, and frankly, of all the interviewees, I had the most fun interviewing him. It will be my first interview after I get to Binghamton Friday Morning. I literally just got off the phone with the mayor's office, and I have that interview set for 2:30.

Later, I got a message in my inbox from someone who had solicited me to do website design for them saying that she decided to "go forward with another designer". It's disappointing, of course. Between this, and the "cease-and-desist" letter I recieved last week, I'm thinking that maybe now isn't the time to be too preoccupied with entreprenurial endeavors. It takes up a lot of energy. There are web languages and programs that I would have to learn to gain enough confidence to pursue design work. I will continue to look for work, though.

Earlier this year, I had Brian obtain a press pass for me for this year's Tribeca--that was before I knew I was going to SXSW. For awhile, I had been leaning toward no, because of SXSW and needing to see how unemployment would work out. But now as the date looms closer, I'm giving serious thought to going. If I go, I'll only go for the weekend--leave on a Thursday, return Sunday or Monday. I'll see where I'm at with the DVD, the job search, and I have the Neko Case concert coming up that week, too before I make any final decision. It would sure be nice to jump back into the festival circuit before long...

What Now?

I still have two more panels to do for The Film Panel Notetaker. I'm going to work on picking my memory for the Haynes/Linklater panel, but other than that, transcribing panels is taking a backseat this week. I'll be leaving for Binghamton Friday morning, and will be doing new interviews as well as their monthly "art walk". I am also working on a new interview for TFPN as well.

Lately I've been giving a lot of thought about relocating to New York to look for work. Right now, my main concern is working on the DVD. If I can score some type of temp work, that would be great, too. But I'd like to go somewhere else for awhile, and I'm not really keen on returning to Ithaca, especially not after SXSW. Also, it would be really nice to take another UCB class. If there's a time to make that sort of change, it's now, while I still have the safety net of unemployment.

Full Speed Ahead

Next weekend (April 3rd & 4th), I will be going to Binghamton to tape new interviews for the DVD. Right now, I am in the process of making the final arrangements for the interviews. I have two set in place for April 4th, but I keep getting the runaround from the mayor's office.

Not that it should even be on my mind right now, but I've been giving some thought to my book, too. I realize why it's been difficult for me to write the book, even if I continue to hold interest in it. If I'm going to write a book--any kind of book--I want to write the book in a way that's appealing to a reader with general interest in the subject. I want the reader to get the feeling that they couldn't help but pull it off the shelf when they saw it. Should I ever find the time and resources to write this book, the challenge in creating and writing this book will be in organizing and presenting the material and subject matter in a way people want to read.

Due to resources (or lack thereof), however, I may try it as a blog first. Today I ordered WordPress For Dummies along with a book written by my new documentary subject, and a book called From IX To V from Amazon.com. I will read the first book, then decide if it's worth my time.

Nothing Really Important #1

Today I went to the Abbey Staffing Office downtown. I filled out the necessary paperwork. Tomorrow I plan on doing my weekly stop at the Workforce office.

I also made some phone calls as I continue to pursue follow-ups for the new epilogue. I spoke with Sherry from The Garland Gallery. She let me know that this Friday will be downtown Binghamton's 60th Consecutive First Friday. Which means they've been doing for five years straight.

I posted to Shooting People's New York Bulletin, offering my design services for $250. It may the best bet I have in finding actual work until I go to Austin. Also, I'd like to make it a regular thing eventually, because I think it would liberate me from having to look for work ever again. Well, at least not for a very long time.

Keep Moving

I've been working on the Are You From Bingo? website, even though I haven't purchased a domain yet. I got Expression Web, which is a huge step up from FrontPage. I actually managed to create a style sheet, a real first for me. This afternoon, I plan on calling the director of the Art Mission to schedule a screening for the movie in the spring.

Also, I have a job next week at First Niagara Bank. It's a part time position for a teller. I'm not too sure about this, but I'll go in with an open mind. After the fall out at my old job (not the temp one I just had), I'm not sure if I'm ready to enter customer service again just yet.