My friend Teddy, aka the Carnivorous Teddy Bear, told me that my old base outside of Miaoli, where I did most of my military service, has been abandoned for some time. Because of filming and other obligations, I couldn’t get away from Taipei to check this out, but this Sunday was free and I really felt like getting on a train to somewhere, so I went to Taipei Train Station and hopped on the first train to Miaoli that had a window seat available. I have to do this periodically in lieu of a real vacation, which I haven’t had in several years, or else I’ll go crazy. And there’s something about train travel that particularly appeals to me, just floating down the tracks watching the gleams of sunlit water in the rice fields keeping pace with the train, no thought of traffic, scheduled stops. Of course the best train trips are with a band on your way to a gig somewhere new and exciting.

The weather was hot, sunny and muggy at the same time when I arrived in Miaoli. The bus stop where we used to get tickets was moved across the street. They’ve covered the old ugly station with white tiles so it just looks new and ugly. The rest of the city looks basically the same, except the bus station downtown is gone; looks like it was literally wiped off the map, and the buses now circle a tiny little stand that looks more suitable for some kid should be selling lemonade.

The winding mountain road that used to bisect the base has been widened. Trees used to grow over the road, but now it’s a four-lane highway, and new walls have been built around the base areas. From what I could see as the bus drove past, Teddy was right; the buildings were all abandoned, and the main gates were shut tight. I got off just past the base and started walking down the road that winds behind it. It smelled just like I remembered.

I went to see if the side gate was accessible. It wasn’t. A pile of old ammunition boxes was even thrust against the inside, I saw when I climbed on a rock to see inside. Grass had grown up all over the former parking lot inside, and not a soul was in sight.

I kept walking to the rear of the base and passed the little side base where we kept the ammunition stores. It was abandoned as well, wild grass growing over what had been a neat little park-like area where we’d spent a lot of time and sweat keeping the munitions in order.

Although the side gate was closed, I remembered a way onto base that we had used to surrepticiously get on and off base without going through the main gates. I walked around back through the old village, stopping to chat with some of the old guys who sat around in the shade of a giant tree. They said the Miaoli County Government is in charge of the base, and they’re considering building a medical center there.

I fought my way through the dense undergrowth to the rear wall, went up and over a low spot I remembered, scaring some cats as I pushed through the briars and around the barbed wire…let’s see, where was it? Oh, yeah: a little slot I could just scrape through. If you didn’t know about it it would be nearly impossible to find. Odd that I was trying to get in to a place I’d often wanted to get out of so badly back then.

I found myself tiptoeing as I walked along the road that ran along the back of the base by the garages where we used to keep jeeps and hummers. I mentally went through explanations should anyone find me there. Stacks of gigantic tree trunks lay in some of the assembly areas, and the grass had grown waist-high. Except for the bees buzzing, it was quiet. I spotted some strange, new-looking posts with black glass areas that looked like sensors placed at intersections. Motion sensors? Alarms? Were they perimeter-based or did they send a beam across the road, high enough that stray dogs wouldn’t trip it off? I guessed it was a beam arrangement and was careful to stay out. No alarms sounded. Even if they did, I wouldn’t hear them in any case. With all the gates closed up, anybody coming to investigate would have to be on foot.

I waded through the grass to the old Karaoke bar, which was just built when I was there. When I was about to get out, I was put in charge of the place, tending the fish, cleaning it out, and other easy tasks usually given to soldiers about to be discharged. The bar was still there, with a couple of chairs. I walked across the tile floor, thinking how many times I’d mopped it. The fish were gone, of course, as were all the electronics.

Our barracks were cleaned out as well. I took a photo of the place this one was taken before, though the angle is a little different. Makes it seem an age or more ago. Grass covered the areas in between the buildings, and more huge logs were stacked on the paradeground. The roads had become paths through the encroaching grass. I wandered around a bit, taking pictures, recalling various things that happened here and there. Too many, really.

I walked up the paradeground to the main gate. If anyone were watching the place, they’d be there. Sure enough, as I rounded the big sign and statue of an elderly Chiang Kai-shek with hat in hand, I saw a guy sitting in the building across from the old guard barracks. I modified my path so that it looked like I had just slipped through the gate before he saw me. A half dozen dogs came out with him.

“What do you want?” he said, and I explained that I’d served on the base many years before and heard the place was being torn down, so I’d come for a last look. He got a kick out of that, and the dogs, seeing this, became a lot less menacing.

“I even met the general after that; I kind of stand out, so he remembered me,” I told him at one point. He nodded, and then looked at me.

“Yeah, hey,” he said. “You know, I think you’ve got some foreigner blood in you.” I looked for sarcasm in his voice and didn’t find any.

“That’s very observant of you; no wonder they chose you to guard the base,” I said, trying to sound sincere. In fact, he said, it wasn’t a bad gig. 12 hours a day, a decent monthly salary and he could do whatever he pleased. They didn’t have any water and had to bring their own, however, which pissed him off. He got a real kick out of my description of the base as it had been. He’d heard it was once very nice, but he didn’t know what had been what and was facinated to find out where everything had been. He must have really been bored out of his skull.

We chatted for a while, with him saying he’d buy and read my book, since just about everything in it happened right there. The afternoon was getting on, so I said goodbye and went to the other side of the road, where the other guard was letting a woman out the gate. He wouldn’t let me in, no matter what I said, though. He was adamant. I wondered if he had some kind of scheme going on on base.

I said ok, seeya, and walked around to the side, where there was another breach in the wall just near where the old side gate had been before they’d widened the road. The gap was partially filled with a painting I remembered hanging on the wall of the activity center that was hardly ever used except for promotion ceremonies, etc. I was promoted to corporal in there.

I climbed over the painting and ducked behind the old PX to avoid the guard’s line of sight, but I’d only gone a few paces when I surprised a dog, a dog with an expression that made it very clear it would be all bite regardless of bark on my ass if I didn’t get out of there. Neither was appealing, so retreated. It was my only way in, so I didn’t get to see that part of the base. Too bad. Still, I got an idea from the other areas what it would be like: big empty rooms where things I remembered happened, totally unlike the base I knew when I was there, eerie and cold and totally devoid of life in a way I’d imagined once when the power went out during Typhoon Herb. Now it was deserted for real, and once again I had to remind myself that it was the people in the buildings that made them what they were, more than the buildings themselves. The base will probably be torn down before I get to see it again in any case. At least I have plenty of photos.

Back outside the base, most of the businesses that had catered to the large population of soldiers had closed their doors. Only one or two remained, dusty patches and belt buckles shining dully in the late afternoon sun. I caught a bus back to town and walked to the train station, but because it was the end of the weekend, the trains were packed with people just finishing up visiting their homes and returning to the city where they work.

On my way over the suspension bridge, I saw a gaggle of photographers surrounding a young girl sitting on the bridge’s planks with her leg at a strange angle. At first I thought she might have fallen, but the dozen-odd young men were just taking pictures of her foot, or possibly something she’d just stepped in. I took out my camera and took a shot of them taking pictures, earning some looks of disdain as I did so. Honestly, it was hard to keep from laughing out loud.

Work tomorrow; back to my Taipei life. It was good to get out for a bit, though.

Every Monday evening I play badminton with two pug-nosed women in the musty, mosquito-filled gym along the banks of the Xindian River. The red velvet curtains have never been raised and keep the muggy heat in quite efficiently in the summer, less so in the winter.

I really enjoy playing the game; it’s like tennis but with less running about, and the birdie is very satisfying to smack with the racket. I’d like to think good reflexes are a part of it, but I haven’t gotten to that level just yet. I like the quick back-and-forth and lack of time to think about one’s move before one is called upon to perform it.

And yet, there are these two pug-nosed women. I think one of them cloned the other. The older PNW tends to narrate each and every thing that’s happening on the court, no matter if she’s playing or not. It’s like she has some secret radio audience hanging on her every word. The younger PNW follows her around like a puppy. A really annoying puppy.

There’s also a doctor who comes every time. He works at a clinic in Dapinglin, and everyone calls him “Doctor”. When he walks in at the beginning of practice everyone shouts “The doctor’s here!”, a la Norm on “Cheers”. The doctor is a very good player and can suss out his opponent’s weak spot almost immediately and take advantage of it; apparently he plays several times a week, and he seems pretty smug about it.

Most of the players are better than I am, actually, with the exception of the pug-nosed women and friends people bring in to try to get them hooked on the game. They tolerate me and try to teach me how to play, except I am a hopeless student when it comes to trying to absorb anything told to me when I’m actually playing. Still, it’s exercise and a lot of fun, a nice, fast-paced activity to balance out the slower, more forceful tui-shou and sword practice I do on Wednesdays.

Now if I could just make swimming and bicycle riding more of a regular thing, I could actually claim that I actually exercise, maybe even eat a donut or two.

Joshua works on Saturday mornings, so we met at Da-an Park that afternoon. An aboriginal concert was scheduled for later, and the sound people were setting up at the stage nearby. Dean called his co-worker Myra to fill in for Dolly, who is busy with her jetset lifestyle at the moment (it’s not easy to get a spot on the schedule of Lady X herself, even if you’re the director). Josh, April, Darrell, Paul, Dean and I proceeded to wrest a nearby fort from the clutches of a band of annoying children so I could mimic a crane effect, or at least a Somewhat High Camera effect for our final scene. Myra’s hat blew off one time, and I was puzzled by my camera’s inexplicable attempt to record in LP mode. The timing was pretty hard to peg down, but we got it and moved on to another shot, on the ground.

Storm clouds were moving in by this time, threatening us with our daily downpour, and I had to call off the rest of the shoot. We made it to Bongos just in time for the deluge, but I had to postpone the rest of the shooting for Sunday morning.

The weather on Sunday morning was bright and clear. Too bright, actually, as the sunny weather didn’t match the clouds of the day before. We had to wait for the clouds to cover the sun before each shot, which included the traditional park bench shot. At one point the camera was on the dolly track, which worked but was difficult to get just right.

We’ve had the opening scene done since last September, when we started shooting, and now we’ve got the closing scene as well. Both have Lady X in them, a sort of bookend even though she appears in other parts of the film as well and actually has lines this time, but it’s nice to be able to parallel the original episodes of the series. It’s a bit of a relief to have the start and finish done; now it’s just a question of getting everything in between. That faint glow ahead might just be the light at the end of the tunnel. Or it could be fireflies, or irradiated bats, for all I know.

Still. Another scene down, which is good. Next up is a temple exterior. Dean is looking for a jungle environment, a jeep (a proper jeep, not an SUV), and horses. Something tells me the horses are going to be a bit difficult, but you never know in this business.

I also want to get another trailer done, since we’ve done a lot of exciting stuff since the last one I put together for Urban Nomad, but we need to get all of Josh’s stuff done before he leaves Taiwan in late November, which means a fairly challenging shooting schedule between now and then.

pig crossing
Originally uploaded by Poagao.

I’d just finished scouting for shooting locations at Da-an Park when I stopped in a convenience store for a drink, and a guy came in to tell the clerk, “Hey, do you know there’s a pig running around in front of your store?”

I paid for my drink and walked out, curious to see what he was talking about. All I saw was a guy sitting on a scooter. That’s a bit rude; he’s not that fat, I thought. Then I saw the actual pig.

It was running around the intersection of Xinsheng South Road and the alley next to the store, a little brown and white pig, very young. As I took out my camera and shot a picture of it, a taxi swerved into the alley, just missing the pig, who trotted away down the block and into the arms of a young man who was apparently its owner.

We’re back in the cycle of daily afternoon thundershowers, which makes me wonder if the shoot this Saturday afternoon is going to work out. It cools things down a bit, though, so as long as I’m inside I don’t mind them at all.

When TC and I first started thinking about doing a sequel to Lady X, we toyed with the idea of bringing back characters and actors from some of the other entries in the contest, not only for continuity�s sake, but as an experiment in �international amateur film collaboration,� if you can call it that. I really liked the idea: the Lady X series had created a whole new universe, and we wanted to explore that universe a bit more, and honor the hard work by all the other filmmakers.

In the end, we decided to abandon the idea, as it seemed too difficult a logistical task to enlist the aid of production companies around the world and coordinate their contributions to a cohesive story. As it is, our project is already a logistical Gordian knot, so reluctantly, I put the idea out of my mind. That�s why I was ecstatic when the opportunity arose to work with one of the other Lady X filmmakers, John Lee from Washington DC.

John�s episode, number 25, took place on the Hill and did a magnificent job of highlighting the locations. It also created a wonderful new character; a bad-ass assassin who always wears a USS Nimitz ball cap.

I had to be in Washington on a trip anyway, and decided to email John to see if he was amenable to helping us out on our project. I was overjoyed when he agreed, and doubly so when he told me that Mike Gorman, the actor who played Nimitz in the original, was likewise keen on the idea.

Over the next few weeks, I kept in contact with John via email and together we planned out our day of shooting. In the meantime, John was kind enough to get some test footage of the DC area, as well as footage we plan to use as establishing shots for scenes we filmed in Taipei that take place in DC.

After arriving stateside, I met John on Friday night and, along with my buddy Alex and his friend Geoff, got some nighttime establishing shots of the Capitol building, the Washington monument, the beautiful new World War II memorial and the Canadian Embassy, which we want to use as the exterior for our X-Directorate headquarters. Afterwards, we even had time to take in the Ballet.

John, Alex, Mike and I met up the following day and headed for the mall to film our scene. The movie gods were smiling on us, and gave us a gorgeous day on which to shoot. To warm up and ease us back into it, John decided to start off at a point halfway through the scene, as Nimitz follows Barnes into the courtyard of the Ronald Reagan building. We did several takes of this as Alex, who wasn�t in these shots, learned that when making movies, it�s often �stand by to stand by.�

Because tripods and sound equipment generally aren�t allowed around the DC monuments, I decided to do the scene without dialogue, to serve as a backdrop for some typical spy-movie music that we all love so much. We knew that Barnes, after receiving a handoff of a document from another secret agent (Alex) would be followed by Nimitz, but we didn�t know how to end the sequence in a way that the audience would find satisfying.

Fortunately, the movie gods made their presence known again and provided us with the perfect ending: As Nimitz follows the seemingly unsuspecting Barnes down an escalator into the Metro, Barnes, crouching on the �up� escalator, passes right by his stalker. Fortunately, we got it in one take: As soon as we�d done it, the �down� escalator mysteriously stopped running.

From here we went to the mall to film the beginning of the sequence, and Alex was finally in play. He just looks like a cop, so I was delighted he agreed to play our mysterious contact. After introducing his character and mine, we completed the handoff on a park bench. There was some sort of jamboree on, and the place was lousy with boy scouts, so no doubt there will be a few of them in our final edit.

After Barnes gets his hands on the document, he leaves the mall, passing an innocent-looking Nimitz as he does so. Naturally, Nimitz is in tow, and the hunt begins.

It won�t be the longest sequence in our film, and there are still compatibility problems to solve with the footage, but this was definitely one of the most enjoyable moviemaking experiences I�ve had so far. Not only did I get to do a scene with my old friend Alex, but working with John and Mike was a real delight, and their enthusiasm for helping us out reminded me what a special project we are all working on.

The day before we were going to shoot the rest of the rooftop chase, a strong tropical storm was battering the island with stronger winds than we’d seen during the past two typhoons. Trees were blown down downstairs, even. So I put everyone on standby for Saturday, since that was the only day Sandy would be off work, and hoped the weather would cooperate.

I woke up at 6am Saturday morning to the sound of heavy wind and rain. I thought surely I’d have to call the shoot off, but I told everyone I’d call them around 8.

At 8, I opened the blinds in my living room to see a dry, calm morning. Were we in a lull? I checked the cwb satellite and saw that Taiwan was still inside the storm’s sphere of influence. But it looked so peaceful outside! I didn’t want to have to call everyone out and then wait around for the rain to stop, but I also didn’t want to waste an opportunity to shoot the rest of the scene before we begin work on Josh’s scenes.

I decided to risk it, and told everyone to meet up at Gongguan MRT at 11, which we did. The weather was overcast, but it held, and there was even a cool breeze. We trudged back to Treasure Hill to a rooftop I’d picked out on a previous visit, and we began filming a standoff between Maurice and Sandy. Maurice, pictured above, looked particularly menacing with his gun. During a shot where Sandy was to run to the edge of the building and shoot down, he surprised a group of photographers and models on a shoot. I then climbed down into the gap between two buildings and filmed them jumping from one to the other.

Dean, who had had a late night on Friday, showed up with some fake blood I’d forgotten the last time, as well as sandwiches, which were quite welcome at that point. We all grabbed some food and munched down while watching the models lean against moldy walls for the photographers.

After lunch we went down to where I’d planned to shoot the opposing view of earlier footage, only to find the area we were hoping to film in was now a freshly planted garden. So I had to find an alternative location, which turned out to involve a lot of walking gingerly across wobbly plastic rooftop coverings, hoping they wouldn’t collapse. After we got set up and the old guy in his underwear moved out of shot, we started filming again, except when Sandy got a phone call. Paul and Darrell strung audio mic wire across the roof so we could get sound, as I was pretty far away, perched on the rather alarmingly unstable roof of the adjacent building, where I could get some nice depth of field.

After that scene was done, we concentrated on getting chase shots of Maurice and Sandy in a cat-and-mouse chase some of the more interesting alleys and abandoned buildings at Treasure Hill. One time we wanted to film them running past two old guys in their underwear who were sitting out in front of their house chatting, but they didn’t want to be filmed. I suppose they’ve all had their fair share and more of publicity over the years, and not all of it good. I was chasing Maurice with the camera when he nearly frightened an old lady half to death as she was walking up the hill the other way.

At one point I was setting up a chase shot when my NT$125,000 camera fell off the tripod and plummeted towards the ground, lens first. I reached out and plucked it from the air by the handle as everyone watched, shocked at what was transpiring. Maurice later said it looked as if I simply refused to let the camera fall, out of sheer will rather than any kind of skill. Perhaps it was like that time in junior high school when I caught a spinning stick thrown at my face. In any case, I’m glad I don’t have to replace the camera.

Darrell noted that some of us were looking a bit sunburned, most notably Sandy, who had shaved his head nearly bald, even though there was no sun. Apparently the sun is pretty fierce even through cloud cover. But now storm clouds were heading our way. The light was failing, so I stepped up the pace, ordering everyone around like a drill sergeant and probably pissing people off, but I really wanted to get everything done. When things get like this on the set, say I’ve got the scene in my head the way I want it and get irritated by distractions and delays, I become El Director. I’m not a very nice person to begin with. You really wouldn’t like me when I’m irritated, Mr. McGee.

In the end, we got just about everything, including a new and improved death scene for Azuma, even though I went and forgot to bring a couple of key props, and the fake blood didn’t quite work. Sandy was as red as a clam, and everyone was pretty much exhausted, though we all admitted that this weekend was easier than the last, in that there was much fewer awful smells involved. Sandy and I caught a cab back to Bitan for band rehearsal, and we all headed our separate ways.

Next up is going to be, literally, a walk in the park. I just need to match the footage Dean obtained in Washington, DC, with a local park. And we need to find out if Dolly’s available. A crane would be nice too. Well, I can always hope.

There’s a tropical storm sweeping through the Philippines at the moment. Normally, this wouldn’t mean much to us up here in Taipei, but for some reason, this particular storm has seen fit to send quite a bit of wind and rain our way. Like, even more wind and rain than during the last two typhoons.

Especially wind. As you can see above, umbrellas are pretty much useless, except for entertainment purposes if you get off on watching them disintegrate before your very eyes in the first gust of wind that hits it. Several trees downstairs, trees that have withstood years of typhoons, have been blown down, and walking across the suspension bridge sometimes feels like riding a bucking bronco. I can even feel the building rocking in the wind, but that may also be my imagination. I hope. The wound of the wind buffeting my windows, along with the pounding rain, is a little unnerving.

Alas, today wasn’t a typhoon day, as officially there is no typhoon, and the storm is technically still way down south. After work I met up with such personalities as Dean, David, Robyn, Lloyd, Jaques, Olwen, and Fish at the Canadian Society meeting at the Taipei Sports bar, despite the fact that most of us are not entirely Canadian. Lloyd expressed some doubts over my actual identity as an official Muddy Basin Rambler, so in case anyone out there is still in doubt:

*I hereby state that I am an official member of the Muddy Basin Ramblers(c). Paid my dues, got my card an’ hat an’ everything. What, you think just anyone can wear a cool hat?

David and Lloyd claimed nobody had ever been able to take a decent picture of them together, so I took a shot. They may have been right about that.

We were supposed to be shooting tomorrow morning, but right now it’s still blowing and pouring outside, so we may just end up rehearsing over at the Sandcastle. We’ll see what the outside world looks like tomorow morning when I get up. Hopefully a few things will still be standing.

After two typhoons over the past few weeks, I’m wondering if Mother Nature read this article and said to herself, “Oh, yeah?”

The last one, “Matsa”, didn’t actually come ashore, but its effects got us a typhoon day on Friday. In fact the strong wind was already full of gusting, horizontal rain by the time I got back home on Thursday night. To my dismay, the entire block was dark. I live on the 12th floor, and the thought of all those stairs hauling my shopping wasn’t a pleasant one. I wondered briefly if I should just go to the Sandcastle, which apparently still had power, and wait it out. Perhaps, if I was particularly lucky, Jojo would have baked a pie.

I was in the lobby of my building, thinking these thoughts, when the power came on again. A gaggle of people who had been waiting there immediately rushed into the elevator. Of course, about a second after the doors had closed, the power went out again, as power that has been recently restored is wont to do. Immediately, the sound of wailing and pounding on the elevator doors filled the lobby from inside the shaft. Sighing, I put my rain poncho back on and trudged back down to the guard station. “There’s a bunch of people stuck in the elevator in building 2,” I said. The guard looked at me and shook his head.

“I told them to stay out of the elevator. Idiots. They’re just going to have to wait,” he said. I nodded, went back and climbed the stairs to my room, thinking I would light some candles and work on storyboards. By the time I got there, the power was back. Air conditioning has seldom felt so welcome.

There was no work on Friday, so I did laundry next door, listened to the gusting wind, felt the window glass vibrating in rhythm, and watched the water rise in Bitan. That afternoon I wrapped myself up in a 7-Eleven poncho and went out with my camera to take some pictures of the flooded riverside and the gates downstream. As you can see in the picture above, the water reached the mouths of the dragons under the bridge, which are really decorated drain pipes for the freeway bridge. Usually they’re quite a ways above the river.

A pole attached to a guide rope leading down into the water was jumping wildly from the force of the torrent. Downstream, a group of young men ventured into the water to catch fish. Apparently floods are prime extreme fishing opportunities.

The whole thing was over by Saturday, and the heat and humidity returned, along with afternoon thundershowers on Sunday. I’m not going to put away my candles, though, no matter what I read in the papers.

It was only a few days before we were going to start shooting the rooftop chase scene, which in the script takes place in Beijing. I’d narrowed down my search of the exteriors to the old veteran’s community of Treasure Hill in Gongguan, but I still needed a suitable interior -all the interiors at Treasure Hill were too small, cramped, and had bars on the windows. Even the houses with no roofs still had bars on their windows. And we needed a window we could jump and shoot from.

One night I was in the Gongguan area when I discovered a group of old, decrepit two-story houses, partially torn down and the windows broken. Some didn’t have bars on them. I was dismayed to find the entrance shut, but then I saw the employee from a restaurant bordering the area exit the gate. I waited a bit and tried the gate. It was open. I made my way over the debris from the partial demolition, through invisible spiderwebs, to the door of the first house. I used my pocket flashlight to examine the rooms, but didn’t find any suitable ones.

I exited the house in the rear via the spooky kitchen, dodging cockroaches as I did so, and proceeded to the second building, a real balancing act in the dark stepping through and over unstable bits of concrete wall. The second building had a couple of rooms that could have been usable, though they were unspeakably decrepit. I used the 3200 ISO setting on my camera to take some pictures to get a better idea what the rooms looked like. One half of the place was inaccessable due to the fact that the staircase had been torn down. Mosquitoes swarmed inside, biting me despite the lotion I hastily applied. An awful smell I didn’t try to guess the origin of pervaded the old rooms.

It was a truly despicable place. It would do nicely.

I woke Sandy, aka “Harold Burger” in our story, up this morning at 8 a.m., and we took the MRT to Gongguan to wait for Maurice, Azuma, Paul and Darrell. I oogled workmen on a nearby construction set while Sandy went to get breakfast. From there we proceeded to the decrepit old buildings. Fortunately, the gate was still unlocked, but we found that the first group of buildings was not completely uninhabited. A young homeless man lay in deep contemplation in the living room of the first apartment. We bypassed that room and went through the kitchen, where the man, or possibly a dog, had left a rather stinky “gift” on the floor for us to step across.

The second building was even worse in the light of day. If anything, the smell had increased, and the mosquitoes quickly proved to everyone there that I hadn’t been exaggerating when I’d described the place before. We doused ourselves with Off, set up in a reasonablely suitable room on the second floor and went over some lines and actions. I was loathe to move some of the garbage bags full of broken glass and other things, due to the possibility of discovering the source of the stench, but when I did, there was nothing there.

Azuma, Sandy and Maurice put on their heavy suits, surely not a pleasant thing in the sweltering heat, and we began shooting. As usual, I started with some master shots to get everyone used to the routine. Sandy, pictured above, did a great job, especially considering that it was his first time on the set. Maurice and Azuma worked well with him and each other. I had asked Azuma to get his hair cut short, but it wasn’t as short as I would have liked, so we slicked it down with hair gel from Watson’s.

Azuma had “made” some fake money for us to use in this shot. It didn’t look terribly real to me at first, but on film it looks like the real deal. Dean also came up with this diagnostic device for the chip. It looks straight out of the attic of a 60’s science teacher with a thing for Christmas lights.

At one point, of course, we had to shoot Maurice and Azuma jumping out a window. The reason we could do this was a small, half-demolished ledge just outside the window in question. Sandy stood just out of shot, ready to catch anyone who went too far. Then I shot from the ledge into the window, and found that it quaked and shook with every movement. Definitely not as stable as it looked. I was glad the jumping went well without any major inadvertant reconstruction.

We started hearing thunder in the distance, and the smell was becoming even more evil as the heat of the day progressed, so we hastened over to Treasure Hill to film the actual rooftop part of the chase. Many doubts were expressed about the abilities of the rooftops in question to hold weight, mainly as they were covered in aluminium that covered their true construction. I picked a flat concrete roof for Azuma and Maurice to land on, but we had to do a bit of climbing to get high enough to jump. All three of us ended up crowded on a tiny balcony, but I got a good shot of Azuma and Maurice plummeting onto the rooftop below. On my way down I was holding onto the balcony wall when the entire wall began to topple. I instantly released my grip, jumping the rest of the way, and the heavy wall swayed and settled back into place. Had it fallen, not only would it have destroyed the camera, it could have done serious injury to myself, Azuma and Maurice.

Rain began pelting down. I really wanted to get Azuma’s parts done, so I draped my shirt over the camera to keep it dry while I applied Azuma’s “blood”, and got the shot of him and Maurice while the rain was still (hopefully) invisible to the camera.

The rain continued, strong and steady, and we could see the storm clouds rolling in from the south, obliterating any chance of reprieve before we lost light, so we called it a day. Azuma had a salsa lesson, and Maurice wanted to see a play that night in any case. We’ll get the rest of the chase next weekend.

最近買了一個又小又便宜的麥克風, 然後在家裡錄一首爵士藍調的歌. 這首歌是我跟我們’泥土盆地漫步者‘樂團算最喜歡的歌, 所以我在家裡想試試麥克風,就用那首歌. 有四個軌道, 一個小喇叭, 一個低音盆, 一個小吉他和我自己唱歌的聲音. 結果還好, 不會太難聽, 但是以後可能要先稍微練習一下才開始錄音吧.

近天晚上差不多七點要去