Maurice, April and I met up at Dean’s at noon on Sunday for the tunnel shoot. We filmed April jumping through the air and landing on Dean’s bed a few times in 60i for some possible slo-mo shots of her falling while she was in her outfit. Then we set out for Keelung by train. It was a nice day for sitting out on an open train platform and chatting.

In Keelung we waited until the cops were finished arresting someone at the train station, then caught a taxi out to the coast. The cabbie thought we were only going as far as Ocean University, but of course we were going much farther. At first he refused to consider coming back for us later that night, but when we arrived he broke down and let us have his number, “in case you can’t find another cab.”

We met up with Paul, who had just gotten there as well, and sussed out the tunnel, a high, arched affair with a large metal pipe on one side and a ledge on the other, and mud and water in between. It looked great. I climbed up the cliff and asked an old guy holding a baby at one of the nearby houses if we could borrow some electricity. “I’ll pay you for your trouble,” I said.

“How much?” he wanted to know. He wouldn’t name a price himself.

“Ok, a few hundred NT dollars,” I said, finally.

“How much exactly?”

“Ok, 500.”

“Alright,” he said. “500 an hour it is.” Whoops. That was rather more than I’d expected, but it was that or no lights, as the neighbors weren’t home. So I told him we’d come back when we were ready to start.

Meanwhile, after April and Paul spent several minutes untangling the 50-meter extension cord I got a B&Q the other day, I went and borrowed a tall ladder for Dean to use in the scene. He tested it and the weight seemed ok as long as he wasn’t too high. Just outside the tunnel mouth, cars and truck hurdled by, only a few feet away.

Eventually I realized that Paul was missing, actually when he reappeared. It seemed he had found another tunnel, “a much nicer tunnel,” he said. We went to investigate it. It was a small pedestrian tunnel up the hill a ways. A little over six feet in height and very clean and dry.

My initial reaction was rather negative, I have to say. I wanted the dramatic background of the high, arched tunnel, but everyone else favored the little walkway tunnel. I won’t go into my rationale here and now, but for various reasons I chose the smaller one.

We set up in the new location. I returned the ladder as we wouldn’t need it any more. Dean set up his props while Maurice put on his face makeup and April got some fried rice that she would later regret getting. Paul tossed an umbrella up to cover the light at the entrance. I fiddled with the lights (including the portable fluorescents I have now thanks for advice from Xiao Shan) until I got something I liked, and we started shooting.

It took a long time. I was doing focus pulls, so I did a lot of takes to get the timing just right, or at least give myself more choices. The new location was playing havoc with my internal vision of the scene, but I managed to get through with some pretty usable stuff.

One shot required burning debris and smoke to simulate an explosion. I had bought a pack of smoke bombs down at Bitan, but the perverse nature of the wind at that location simply blew the smoke wherever we didn’t want it to go. The results were mixed at best.

It was after midnight by the time we had done. Everyone was pretty tired. The Indonesian woman who worked at the store down by the coast highway called us a cab, and after getting back to Taipei, we all went our seperate ways.

It’s kind of funny: we spend some much time in between shoots, but the shoots themselves are very intense and tiring for everyone all around. It’s just a different way of working than the typical 9-5 routine.

Our next shoot is on the 5th, out at Dean’s university. It’s several scenes, which could be interesting. I haven’t seen the locations yet, but that isn’t as big a problem for me as it used to be, or would be on another project. Lot of little things to keep in mind, as always. I’ll see if I can get the trailer down to a reasonable size so I can put it up on this site as well.

We’re pretty much set up for the Keelung tunnel shoot on Sunday. It’s going to be interesting seeing if we can purloin electricity from houses halfway up the cliff from the tunnel’s mouth. At least there aren’t any sarcophagae in there (that I know of). On the 5th of April, we’re going to shoot out at Chengchih University, which should be much more comfortable as it’s in a large congressional hall/NASA control room-like area.

Dean and I will be going to the Urban Nomad Film Festival tonight at Treasure Hill. They’re going to be showing films by several members of our crew, including Dean, Paul and Darrell. The teaser trailer for the new Lady X film is being shown tomorrow night. It’s a little over 2 minutes; I hope people enjoy seeing the first bits of footage for the film.

First night: Dean, Paul and I arrived at Treasure Hill at 7:30 last night, to find a few people trying to get the screen back up. Apparently it had blown down. Down by the river, they were hanging a huge sheet with “Urban Nomad” spraypainted on it underneath the riverside freeway. Groups of people were tugging on lines as the sheet listed ponderously in the wind, slowly tangling itself up.

The first few films didn’t get off the ground until about 9, and due to sound problems we saw the beginnings several times, which was disappointing. A fairly large crowd was present by then, and they shouted the now well-known lines along with the films as the crew tried to fix the problem.

The films, as is usual for Urban Nomad, included both indecipherable art pieces as well as poorly done no-frills slapstick, and not much in between. The setting was great, if a bit chilly. The cliff of old houses rose behind the screen, and the highway matched it behind us. At one point I was thinking a bonfire would be a really good idea. Also, snacks and something to drink other than beer.

I’ll be going again tonight, as I should probably see how the trailer goes down. Also, I’d like to take my big digital camera to get some good night shots.

Second night: Much more serious films on Saturday night, including one on the tsunami aftermath in Sri Lanka by Kloie Picot, and another devastating one about Liberia. I caught myself hoping the trailer didn’t come after one of those, because it would seem really inappropriate. Thankfully, it didn’t, but right before they showed it it started to rain, and people went running for cover. Those who stayed did cheer, and the shots of Dolly coming out of the water got a few cat calls. I think it went over pretty well.

Urban Nomad IV was nice, but after four years I’m getting the idea that the festival isn’t really going anywhere. The quality of the films is about the same, as is the organization. It’s too bad, in a way; it has real potential. I didn’t even stay until the end, actually. I had to get back home and get ready for the tunnel shoot on Sunday. More on that in the next entry.

You know, instead of rehashing yet another old movie, this time for laughs, how hard would it be to make a relevant, interesting movie in which Sidney Poitier and Katharine Houghton play the parents of a son who brings home the man he wants to marry?

They could call it “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner Now?”

I’ll be at the Urban Nomad Film Festival tonight. They’re showing Dean’s, Paul’s and Darrell’s films tonight, and my trailer for the new Lady X film tomorrow night at 9:25, I believe. More on that at the production journal. I’m not being a good lil’ citizen and going to the “Spontaneous Show of Displeasure by the People (not a political event)” tomorrow, despite being strongly urged to do so by the entire Cabinet, because I’ve got to get ready for the shoot on Sunday, among other things. Perhaps China will rescind it’s law despite the glaring hole my lack of participation will leave.

According to the Chinese horoscope, tigers and monkeys don’t really get along. Here’s one reason why. (embedded video via Mefi). One of my professors in college was a tiger, and we got along just fine, as long there was a tree nearby.

In addition to the constant flow of “Official calls for everyone to protest China’s law” stories lately (apparently the president is going as well; is anyone going to be actually running things that day, besides Mayor Ma, who’s already getting flack about it?), I’ve noticed another trend accompanying it, i.e., the “Don’t worry about China attacking” stories. Such as this one. And this. And this and this. Why does the local press feel the need to report these stories every day? Hopefully it’s just a political thing, to make people feel more at ease going to the rally everyone’s supposed to go to. Otherwise, I’d be wondering just what they know that we don’t. If it involves naked kiddie butts, I’d rather not know at all. Good lord.

I was waiting for an appointment near the Estrogen Mall yesterday morning, so I walked over to look around a little. To my surprise, the line for the Mister Donut was only half an hour, so I thought, what the hell, I’ll get some donuts.

About 15 minutes later, I was in the store. I discovered one of the main reasons the lines move so slowly is the guy at the door who feels the need to explain every single kind of donut to each and every person. I skipped this step and went straight to the counter, where a sign proclaimed that each person could only buy a maximum of 10 donuts. The flavors were somewhat different than I remembered; imagine my shock and horror when my gaze found the sign reading “Red bean paste-filled donuts”. Yes, dear readers, it’s true: Mister Donut has already started to go local. Another example of this was the frosted cake donuts. Traditionally these have frosting all the way round on top, but now they only frost a small portion of the side. The reason? “People think they’re too sweet otherwise,” the clerk told me when I commented on it. I wanted to ask them if they were fucking with the flavors in order to cut down on their lines, but something told me the comment would have gone flying over their heads, embedding itself sharply in the back wall.

I took my donuts and sat upstairs at the Starbucks, where I was served by an excessively cheerful woman. The donuts were, as I had heard, not as sweet as the ones in the states. The chocolate paste in the chocolate-filled ones was like brown custard. Only the plain donuts were anything like real donuts, and like standard grocery store ones at that. Definitely not worth standing in line for, but I knew that.

The weather’s been great the past few days, but turned rainy again today. I’ve been busy editing a commercial product as well as the trailer of the film for Urban Nomad IV. Tonight I was over at Darrell’s and Judy’s recording the voiceover. I gave it a shot, but my voice just isn’t right for it. Darrell’s voice sounds a lot more like the guy that does all the movie trailers, so I think we’ll use his voice. It was 1:30 by the time we were done, so I caught a lost taxi back, instructing the driver how to get out of Darrell’s neighborhood. The cabbie thought I was middle eastern or an arab. My guess is that he gets lost pretty often.

All the news lately has been about Beijing’s anti-secession law. Even the bwg emailed me about it a few days ago.

Originally nobody thought much of it, as it was just China’s same old sabre-rattling, now in a new-and-handy codified form. So they’re giving themselves permission to attack Taiwan is it declares independence, huh? Well, we can’t have them doing things without their own permission, can we?

So the world pretty much shrugged as the National People’s Congress went about the slow, ponderous processes of doing whatever it does when it comes up with a new bill. The stock market here, normally a pretty good indicator of what the average Taiwanese is currently panicking about, has remained steady, and most people ignored it.

The current administration, however, has been showering the press with stories of outrage and defiance for the last month or so. Every day I read what is basically the same story, that China is unilaterally changing the status quo, that this is an unparalleled threat, the world is shouting for Beijing to renounce the law, etc. A huge, ten-route “million person” march is being planned for March 26th, and the DPP and TSU have ordered hundreds of thousands of their members as well as hundreds of civic groups to participate.

All of this righteous fervor pouring out of government media has made me a bit uneasy, actually. I recall the outpouring of stories concerning what a great guy Frank Hsieh was before he was (surprise!) named premier. Ditto for Su Chen-chang. This massive media push for global indignation on a scale out of proportion with the reality of the situation makes me wonder if these guys are creating a climate under which they would theoretically be justified in doing something, well, something rather rash.

My co-workers all pooh-pooh the idea (see, Dean, I used ‘pooh-pooh’ in a sentence!), and say I’m paranoid. This is probably true, since I can get rather paranoid about such things. In any case, I suppose we’ll find out soon enough.

I was listening to the news the other day when they started talking about the wild lily student protests at CKS Hall 15 years ago. Man, I can’t believe it’s been 15 years already. I think I still have pictures and a headband from that around somewhere.

Speaking of past and present, I noticed a poster at the Jingmei MRT station which featured my current neighborhood, but many years ago, before the building I live in, as well as many others surrounding it, were built. So I took a picture of the poster, took my digital camera down to where it was taken, and took another. Here they are together, for comparison.

Oh, and I finally updated my Poapad page, btw. Presenting my new digs, the Lofty Sky Palace!

I almost missed the train to Taichung on Saturday. Which is exactly how I predicted it would happen, because I am often late to stuff. I called David and arranged to meet him on the platform, though, so they wouldn’t have to wait and could leave without me if necessary.

I made it, though, and found I had the most luggage of anyone, even Slim, who had two tuxedos. Of course, I had two trumpets, but still.

The mere act of boarding a train, hauling a big leather instrument case up on the rack, followed by your hat, switching the seats around to face each other and settling down for a few hours makes a great impact on a mind desperate for a change of scenery. David, Conor, Dana, Will, Patrick and I talked our way down the island through the rain, pointing at scenery and chewing coffee beans.

The blackened landmark of the Golden Plaza greeted us in the rainy afternoon as we pulled into the scaffolded train station. We caught a couple of cabs to the Hamilton Hotel, an institution not quite as grand as its name implies, but cheap enough, in the canal district. Plonked down on tightly fit hotel sheets and snapped on the cable. Later we all went down to David’s room to go over a few songs, a fact I’m sure the neighbors enjoyed through the thin walls.

When we ventured out that night, the weather had gotten worse; colder, rainier, and now featuring gale-force winds. We fought our way, leaning into the blast, through the alleys and byways to 89K, where our gig was scheduled. David bought an umbrella at 7-Eleven that lasted less than a minute in the howling wind.

The bar was cozy enough, dark and woody. We set up carefully, the floorboards creaking ominously under our feet. I put a mic under the basstub, but it didn’t seem to carry very much. Nonetheless, the gig went well. Afterwards we hung around a bit, drinking and watching inane music videos on the projection screen. At one point they played the We Are The World video, and people cheered their favorite musicians of the 80s when they appeared.

The weather on Sunday was drier, but also much colder and windier. We arrived at Tiger City to find a few small tents and even fewer people in the square out front where we were to play. Thumper disappeared while Conor, Slim and I huddled around a sausage grill for warmth and sustinance. A large black dog lay curled up next to a box nearby.

The first few bands, including Boogie Chillin (who, in all honesty, rocked), were the bravest, as they faced the worst of the weather and the smallest, soberest crowds. By the time we went on everyone had drunk enough to keep warm. The sound people didn’t know what to do with the bass, so they put a mic next to it that didn’t do anything at all.

Our act was broken up into two sets: the pre-Jason Hu set and the post-Jason Hu set, as the mayor arrived right in the middle and had to come up on stage to chat with the hostess, grammy winner Hazel Payne. Fortunately, this gave the sound guys a chance to run out and get a clue, so our sound on the post-Hu set was much better, and people could actually hear the bass. At one point towards the end the sun actually came out, and the whole band raised their hands simultaneously, pointing up, and the crowd cheered at the sudden warmth.

After we were done, a Slovakian bluesman named Peter Bonzo came on stage with a resonator guitar a lot like David’s national. He warbled and shouted and made jokes in accented English, and in general put on a great show. Sandman got his sax and went up and played along, a performance he would repeat many times into the drunken night.

The main act, the Joanna Connor Band, was incredible. They were almost too good. It wasn’t just the ease with which they played, it was the slightly jaded way they played, in contrast to the hyper amateur efforts of the other bands. It was a delight to listen to, of course, but, well, I don’t know. Something was just a bit off. Maybe it was just me, or my growing sobriety as the whiskey wore off.

DC Rapier was the emcee, and despite some strange ICRT-like activities, like a ten-second kissing contest, the event went off pretty well. The last act, Chicken Rice, was very entertaining. The drummer described the band as “The most important psychobilly band in Taiwan”.

Before we knew it it was midnight, the tents were coming down around us, and then we were hailing cabs. Slim was going to spend another night at the Hamilton, but the rest of us were off to hunt Wild Chicken buses back to Taipei. We lugged our stuff from station to station, only to be told the wait was an hour or more, out in the elements. Eventually we made it to Aloha, where they at least had an indoor waiting room with drinks and papers to read. I got the last and worst seat, the middle seat in the very back, but at least I got a seat. They had awful soft-porn movies just begging for the MST3K treatment, and the bus ladies had to keep shushing Hyatt and me all the way back.

Peter Bonzo had two more gigs, one at the Riverside bar near Taipower on Tuesday, and another at the Living Room on Wednesday. Only a handful of people showed up at the first gig. I hadn’t eaten all day, and the place was short on eats, though it certainly charged enough just to get in. That night I brought my pocket trumpet and nothing else. A Taiwanese guy named Mark was playing harmonica so enthusiastically it was like a little shock. Conor and DC were also playing harmonica. It’s a popular instrument, I guess.

Wednesday night was much more lively. A lot more people showed up, including Thumper, Sandman, Jez, Dana and a lot of people I didn’t know. Luckily there was a good-sized crowd as well or we would have looked real silly, all of us up on the stage like that. A Taiwanese guy on drums really rounded out the sound, and we got a real storm of a jam session going on, all led by Peter Bonzo and his resonator guitar.

A much less interesting band then came on…ok, I’m biased…and I caught a ride with Sandman and Jojo back home to Bitan, stopping off for sugary treats and 24-hour doujiang on the way.

I went out to Keelung on Thursday and looked at a couple of locations out along the northern coast with Paul. The weather was fine and the drive fine, though the windows in Paul’s car weren’t cooperating.

The first place we looked at was a tunnel with a large pipe running through it. There are houses fairly near both ends, and we might just be able to borrow some power from folks in what looks to be a fishing village. Paul and I climbed up the cliff a ways and looked around before moving on to a nearby cave.

The floor of the cave was strewn with intravenous needles and other questionable items. Water dripped from the roof and echoed back into seemingly inpenetrable darkness leading back on the right side. Paul hadn’t been down inside because his flashlight wasn’t powerful enough. I had my LED light with me, though, so I took a look.

As I proceeded, I saw what looked like a piece of furniture in the gloom. “Hey, there’s a sofa back here!” I called back to Paul. “And bits of stuff, looks like a broken alter and…hold on…” I looked closer.

“What?”

“I don’t think it’s a sofa, actually…”

Paul caught the tone in my voice. “I’m not sure I like the sound of that,” he said from near the mouth of the cave. “Ok, what is it?”

“A coffin,” I said, playing my flashlight over the small, Chinese-style sarcophogus. Pieces of alter lay strewn about the back of the cave wall and all over the rocky floor. I shivered, glad that I hadn’t come alone and/or at night.

I think I like the tunnel better. Really. The only problem is illuminating it if we can’t run lines in from nearby houses. And there’s some stuntwork that will be tricky. We’ll need a ladder and some towels, and plenty of time to set up while the actors frolick on the shore across the highway.

Tomorrow Darrell, Dean and Brian are going to do some pickup shots for the bar scene. I hope to get some of those into the trailer for Urban Nomad, but the deadline is approaching fast.

Seems I’ve been pretty busy lately. The atrocious weather cleared up for a bit, and everyone seemed pretty happy about seeing the sun for the first time in ages. On the subway I watched an old man walking unsteadily along when the car lurched a little. The old guy was headed straight for a pole, but he pirouetted neatly on one tiptoe, did a graceful swirl around the obstacle, and kept on walking.

This morning, however, the weather started worsening again. The wind was whipping up waves on the lake, tossing the swanboats about, cold mist came down from the mountains, and it’s raining again.

Tomorrow I’m headed off to Taichung for a couple of gigs with the Ramblers. One is at a pub in the canal district tomorrow night, and then we’re playing in the Blues and Barbeque Bash at Tiger City on Sunday. The mayor’s supposed to visit and make a speech, and there’s going to be lots of different groups performing. I hope the weather’s not too bad, and that the sound people know what they’re doing. It should be fun, though; it’s been a while since I took a road trip, even though we’re going down by train and staying in a cheap hotel.

The other day I was in the vicinity of the Estrogen Mall, my old stomping grounds, so I decided to duck in and check out the Mister Donut there. Surely, I thought, they’re not still lining up, after several months.

Eeeh. Wrong. Even though it’s been half a year, and other stores are opening up, Mister Donut remains basically inaccessable to anyone not willing to wait several hours in line for their product, a product that was so unpopular over a decade ago the chain went out of business here.

I’m really enjoying my new place. The high ceilings feel great, and it’s nice living someplace relatively new and clean. All I need to do now is rent out the parking space and I’ll be set, at least until I have to move again. I’ll get a new page up as soon as I have some free time. Between the film, classes, work, moving, other projects and doctors appointments for my knee, I haven’t had any time at all for anything lately. I’ve neglected this account, and pictures are building up on my digital cameras, waiting to be downloaded. I should be asleep right now, as a matter of fact. So good night.

I know, it’s been a while. Chinese New Year’s break, awful weather, people coming and going, other (paying) projects, house searching, moving to a new place, injuries sustained in moving to a new place, etc. You know the drill.

But rest assured we’re getting back into it. We’re aiming for a couple of shoots the weekend after next, and I’m working on setting up some others in the near future as well. I’m going out to Keelung on Thursday morning with Paul to check out tunnel locations. Darrel has purchased a brand new DVX100A that we can use for two-camera shots, like explosions and people falling from great heights, as well as a kind of second unit.

Urban Nomad IV is coming up later this month, and I should have a short trailer for the film to show there. Also, I hear there’s an interesting article on independent shoe-string filmmaking in Taiwan coming up in a local magazine. More on that, and other things, later.