One guy from the DIY program came over last night …
One guy from the DIY program came over last night and took some pictures of my room. Fortunately I had enough time to at least throw out the trash and tidy up a bit before he came.
“You don’t mind if we change things around, right?” he asked. I said no, not as long as they told me what they were going to do and it wasn’t too awful.
“What if we made it into a summer room, with green walls?” he continued.
Uh-oh.
“I don’t think so,” I said.
“But it’s almost summer…”
“Yeah, but I have to live here all year round, don’t I?” I am beginning to have some misgivings about their plans for my room, which I think is pretty much as good as it’s going to get. It doesn’t really matter, though. If they plan horrendous things, I’ll just have them remove the horrendous bits when they’re done filming me scowling at the decorating terror they’ve wrought.
Today at lunch I talked with the senior editor of Defense Technology Monthly magazine. They want to publish the Chinese version of the damn book here, and they seem pretty earnest about it. I plan to go check out their offices, of course, but I have a good feeling about them. He seemed optimistic that they could get an original print run of 4,000 copies out within a couple of months, which would help create some income and perhaps even attract the attention of an English-language publisher. That is, of course, in the unlikely event that the New York Times interview thing doesn’t work out.
Tomorrow the TV reporter is supposed to interview me, but that’s either been cancelled or she is again waiting until the last minute. I don’t have very high hopes for that, I must say. The only reason I’m doing it is to promote the book and get some attention for it.
When I came in this morning I found a New York Film Academy brochure lying on my co-worker Kit’s desk. The sight of it was like a slap in the face. You made your last film in 1999, it said to me. What have you done since? Nothing!
I agree. It’s time I made another film. High time. Kit is considering taking the 4 or 6-week summer workshop now offered in Taipei. I’m glad that they only had the one campus back in ’99. Everyone should see New York City at least once, and filmmaking in NYC is an experience I’ll never forget.
