Bad Bloggers getting worse...

So we haven't blogged for nearly a month and I can use the excuse that we have been working like dogs to squirrel away money for our trip but you've all heard that before. We are in San Diego right now (via Philadelphia and Little Rock) and tomorrow we leave for Thailand so we are most likely not going to have much access to the computer. We have the best intentions of posting updates from there but we make no promises.

To our families: We had a wonderful Christmas and we were so happy to be able to see so many of you, even for a short while. We promise to make longer trips as soon as we can.

To our friends: We miss you guys already and hope you had a great holiday. See you in 2008!

First Snow!

Sorry we have been out of touch. Patrick finished up his Gardasil commercial and the came onto my Gatorade commercial for some particularly difficult days. On our shoot days we started at 3 am on Friday and 4 am on Saturday. The days weren't particularly long but getting up at 1:30 in the morning just messes with your schedule.

This morning we woke up to the first snow of the winter. It was absolutely beautiful so we went for a walk to the diner for breakfast.


After breakfast we made our way to Stew Leonard's to pick out a Christmas tree. We had a small tree last year but it didn't do so well. Chairman tried to eat it and it dried out quickly, leaving very sharp little needles all over our apartment. (When we moved out in July I was still finding them while we swept.) This year, our first holiday married, our family have given us our ornaments from home. We still don't have a big tree so they aren't all on there but it's still putting us in the holiday spirit.

...continued

So the nice SkyCap men bring me to customs, at this point I have been waiting so long that the 6 other international flights passengers had already cleared out so I walked the gangplank to the customs official alone. He eyed my baggage warily and looked at my immigration card:

"Cayman Islands. So what is it all?"

"Um, metal poles, cloth, sandbags."

*giving me the hairy eyeball* "What were you doing?"

"Shooting a Sports Illustrated/Taco Bell commerical."

*eyes brighten, looks around behind me*
"Is there a supermodel on your flight???"

"No, sorry. We flew her back to Brazil."

"Oh. Okay. Well on behalf of our president, George W. Bush and the Government of the United States of America, Welcome Home."

Okay so it wasn't so dramatic as it could have been but after I got through customs I had about 30 minutes to re-check my bags, find my way through the badly signed Miami airport, re-go through security, wait for a tram to take me to my terminal and then RUN to the gate. Thankfully I was flying first class, so I got to bypass the huge line of people but even then it was still really close. As soon as I sat down in my plush leather seat, the flight attendant asked me what if I would like a drink and I never in my life asked for champagne more seriously. Don't be jealous. After that madness I deserved it!

The topping to this whole trip was getting into JFK airport and waiting for over an hour for my enormous amount of baggage that never came and having to go home hoping against hope that I didn't just lose $30, 000 worth of equipment, because that would seriously mess with my final budget.

Well it's over now and I am proud that I made it through without attempting to drown myself in the crystal blue Cayman ocean. I'm also happy to go back to coordinating for a bit where I can rest easy knowing that the weight of all important decisions does not rest on my shoulders.

I'm Back

Ok well I've been back but since the minute I stepped off the plane I was working wrapping the Taco Bell job and then immediately starting a Gatorade job. Truth be told I was doing both jobs at the same time. Shhh! But back to the plane. So I had the luxury of being in first/business class for all the legs of my trip which is amazing and I am totally spoiled now but it did not help what happened in the Miami Airport.

I haven't traveled abroad since I went to China in 2004 and even then I swear I didnt have to do this but when I arrived in Miami from Grand Cayman I had to go through customs and get stamped saying I was indeed back in the US, then I had to pick up my bags at the international baggage carousel, bring them through separate customs and then RECHECK them for the leg to New York. Now this would have been all well and good had I not been a one woman equipment mule for all of our lighting and grip equipment on the shoot. I had 13 overweight and oversize items traveling with me as excess baggage, a total of nearly 900 lbs of crap. Things like this don't come through the carousel, folks. You have to wait until a guy brings it in personally from the tarmac on a cart. And let me tell you, though it may be their job, no one likes pushing around 900 lbs, so it made for some surly men glaring at me.

So I wait and wait in the baggage area where I have convinced a nice SkyCap man to be my personal chauffeur. While we are waiting I explain to him what it is we are waiting for and he says, "Well you have a carnet, right?".

Cut to me with a blank stare on my face.

For those of you who don't know, a carnet is a list of items and values of said items and hopefully serial numbers for said items that you are taking in and out of the country so the government knows if you are selling things so they can then tax you when you get back. OK well its not just for that but moving on.

I tell the nice man, "I didn't need one for the way out, it's just excess baggage. They didn't tell me I would need one on the way in."

"Oh, honey, they're the government. They don't tell you anything. You tell them things and they tell you if it's ok."

I start hyperventilating thinking about being stuck in the Miami Airport with all this equipment and Homeland Security breathing down my neck because I don't even really know what all of it is and how could I leave the country to the CAYMAN ISLANDS with thousands of dollars of equipment and not having been doing something shady. Maybe I went in with 900 lbs of cash and came out with all this equipment in some shady money laundering scheme cooked up by those crazy Hollywood types. Who know the stories could think up.

The pieces finally all arrive. I procur a 2nd SkyCap man because it really is that much stuff and it's time to head to customs...

...To Be Continued

Cayman Kir

Whilst Kir is breaking in her Producer-saddle in the Caymans, I've been working like a Teamster on a new campaign for Merck's HPV pill, Gardasil (in fact I've been making these posts from the car). I was delighted to find the following image in my inbox after a long day of scouting "Strong" Island and Joisey.

Not only do producers manage a budget, hire/fire crew, answer to agency, and generally run the show, they occasionally get asked to stand-in for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit models.

I'm running through a list in my head of producers I've worked for: Michael Tadross, Akiva Goldsman, Nick Wechsler, James Lassiter, Erwin Stoff, Mark Cuban, etc. I can't imagine being as thrilled to see them in such a photo.

Only a few more days before she's stateside!

A benefit of living in the 'burbs.

One morning last week my work laying a new stick-on tile floor (picures coming... sometime) was interrupted by my building's fire alarm. I had a feeling the contractors working on our roof had tripped it accidentally (they had), but I went outside just to be safe. Before I made it back from Dunkin' Donuts there was an entire fleet of fire trucks outside of Bronxville Terrace. Five minutes tops.

A new German expressionist word...

It is a feeling of silliness and embarrassment accompanying a rare, unforeseen gesture of affection. The root of the word can be illustrated in the picture below:

And the word is...


Schpoonenkiten!!

Boomer!

Good friend and best man Drew has been working at the Four Faced Liar (the only bar I ever go to anymore) for the last few months. The Four Face has been my guy circle's Cheers since I was in college. Denver, Shawn, and Kerri always charged me an appropriate amount for a starving but loyal NYU kid. They still do. Let's hope they never find out I've grown up and have something resembling a job.

Drew had been working the door occasionally between trips to Thailand. After the sudden and tragic loss of beloved owner/bartender Denver, Drew made the switch from patron to staffer and began working there more frequently. In the last few months he's been trusted to pull pints and mix drinks on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

So to get directly to the point of this post:

Drew met a lady friend who lives in the neighborhood ($$$) and she recently let him dog/apartment sit while she was out of town. Boomer is the most amazing animal I've met in some time.

I've been fascinated with St. Bernards since I was a kid, likely due to the Beethoven movies of my childhood. I felt lucky to finally spend some time with one face to snout.

Just to give you a point of reference here, Drew is a big guy--mere inches shorter than me and considerably broader. Thats a big, big dog.

One day I will own a dog 2/3 my size. Just you wait and see.

Cayman Islands

I'm heading to the Cayman Islands today and apologize for leaving all the blogging to Patrick (he obviously does it better than me anyway). I'll be back on Saturday night. Let's all hope I don't lose my head. I already feel like I am.

If you take a moment to look around...

Took this one while waiting a traffic light on my way home from work. I literally stopped at a cross walk for the blinking orange hand and looked up to find that I was in the epicenter of NYC, Times Square. Eight years ago this intersection was everything I knew about the city. Now its one of many parts of town I make an honest effort to avoid.

Pork Buns, Congee, and Shu Mai, Oh My!

We found good dim sum in Westchester!

Eight easy steps to a Tasty Sunday Mid-morning

1) Drive to White Plains, an eerie white-collar city (complete with high rises and a PF Chang's) in the middle of suburban nothingland.
2) Find the Marriot That Time Forgot (its just down block from the White Plains Mall That Time Forgot)
3) Enter the Marriot lobby.
4) Resist urge to flee. Look left.
5) Find a largely unmarked brass door that discreetly says "Aberdeen Seafood and Dim Sum," and not-so-discreetly, "Zagat Rated".
6) Be seated anywhere you like (literally, most of the tables will be empty).
7) Enjoy all of the Chinese brunch staples, delivered hot and fast to your table by multi-lingual waiters willing to take special orders.
8) Revel in the fact that you didn't schlep to Flushing, Philly, or, God forbid, Manhattan for some reliable dimmy sum.

Sticky rice in lotus leaves, scallion dumplings, seafood shu mai, vegetable dumplings, juicy pork buns.

N e e d T e l e v i s i o n. U n n n h h h h h

Our new 37" Vizio flat screen, the crown jewel of our living room, has been out of commission for almost a week now. We loved the TV and how much we paid for it until one evening the screen just went black. No popping, no static, no fanfare of any sort, just black.

We called a local TV guy up here and said, "We have this Vizio..."
"Well there's your problem."
Click.

I'm reminded of that short story from The Interepreter of Maladies about the rolling blackouts and how they forced a distant couple to reconnect. Well it so happens that Kir and I are newlyweds, we work together, we are totally connected in every way shape and form. We want TV. Plain and simple.

Observe the image below:

What Kir is doing is deleting non-critical programming from our DVR before it takes up space and prevents a Dirty Sexy Money or Heroes from being saved. No, your eyes aren't fooling you. That screen is black. Kir is using her highly attuned hearing and menu-sense memory to sift through our DVR's hard drive without actually having to see the interface.

My God, we love TV.

Can You Find The Fidel?

(Black kitten + Black leather cushion)^exhausted Patrick = Fidel(hisshissscratchscratchrunrunrun)/Patrick

Score!

Production managers take note...

You can bait and switch me with an "easy office PA job".
You can work me 18 hours with scant overtime pay.
You can force me to do returns solo, with no help.

But fate (or the open gate of a 24ft International) will find a way to even things out in the end.

Let that be a lesson to all of you.

Working Wit' the Kid Fitty Cent (featuring Akon)

So I did my first music video not too long ago. They went over budget, into overtime, etc. But contrary to what I had been told to expect, both superstars were there on time, well rehearsed, and shot out in very few takes. 50 with G-Unit and film crew below...

To make matters worse, the stage was an abandoned military warehouse at the Marine Terminal in Port Bayonne, you guessed it, New Jersey. The only place I can imagine where cruise ship passengers, military equipment, imported freight, and film shoots can co-exist in a gated, Department of Homeland Security-guarded (zzzzzz) pier.


How much does it suck to be getting off of that cruise ship? You've been to any number of tropical places--Nassau, Bimini, the Caymans, what have you--and this is what you come back to: romantic Bayonne, nestled in between the Port Elizabeth Shipping Container Canyon and the Turnpike Authority Gravel Pile, nightly illuminated by the Garden State's own glowing Aurora oilheatalis. Guh. I want to shower just looking at those pictures.

Delinquent Posters

We've been a couple of slackers lately. Between 50 Cent and Liftetime Television I set a personal record of 9 consecutive days of work with no day off. I was working alongside Kir on the Lifetime promo and she managed to snag a nice out of town job. We had an outing (or two) in White Plains this weekend to celebrate.

Why I Loved Spanish Harlem...

Seen on my walk across 125th to Jay's place on Sunday:

It's not uncommon to see loose poultry on the street near a Vivero--urban stop n' shop slaughterhouses common in Latin and Muslim or Hasidic nabes (Kosher? Halal? No problem.).

When we lived on 117th/Lex there was a rooster I would encounter on my daily walk to the train. I would often see him guarding the trap doors that lead to his home beneath a bodega where, one assumes, cockfights took place regularly. Other times I found him lying on the sidewalk, a lazy hound at the feet of an old Boricua, stirring only when the domino table overhead was jostled.

The chicken pictured above, however, was no where near a vivero or cockfighting den. This leads me to believe he must have sprung himself from captivity and is now left to fight for food waste on the street, like any other stray cat or Terrier-sized subway rat.

Truly awe-inspiring. What a badass.

Then again, he's probably strapped.

Childish...

From my Sunday afternoon birthday out with the boys:
Let's hope he didn't go to elementary school in the US.

Niagara! Niagara! part 2 (of 2... or 3)

When we last left off it was 4am. My road-weary Accomplice and I had just emerged from the pillow-thick fog and checked into the Seneca Niagara Hotel and Casino.

We had been on the road for nearly ten hours and on the clock for over 18. I finished my end-of-the-day beer on the casino floor and went up to the room to shower. My Accomplice lingered behind to try his hand at some late night black jack.

Accomplice's Casino Ledger: -$200 (his initial buy-in at the $10 Spanish 21 table)

I step out of the shower around 4:30 to find that my cell phone is ringing. It's the Accomplice. He's already winning and will be coming up shortly. I head to bed, leaving a light on in the hallway.

Accomplice's Casino Ledger: +$150 (+$350 net gain)

I wake up a little after six. There is a frosty blue light pushing into our room from outside. Sunrise perhaps? The light becomes orange, bright pink, neon green, yellow...

Our room is adjacent to the 26-story neon corn stalk that bedazzles the casino's exterior. I pull the curtain closed after observing my Accomplice: passed out--fully clothed--on top of the sheets.

Accomplice's Casino Ledger: -$50(-$400 net loss)

I wake up again at 11am to Kirstin calling on my cell phone. She tells me to go back to sleep.

Accomplice is missing.

A note on the night stand reads "Pat I'm in poker room downstairs for tournament."

I keep the note for posterity.

Accomplice's Casino Ledger: -$250 ($200 Texas Hold 'Em buy-in)

I finally come to life a little after noon. I'm hungry and my new tattoo (see bottom of the page here) is bothering me, so I wander "town" for over an hour in search of certain necessities (toothbrush, fresh t-shirt, socks, neosporin for 1 scabby tattoo, etc.). There is one convenience store in all of Niagara Falls, NY. I pay over $20 for travel-sized toiletries and another $21 for a light gray t-shirt. All paid for with the company's petty cash, God love 'em.

Walking back through the casino, I hear the Accomplice calling my name. He is fanning himself with hundreds as he approaches. He won the entire tournament on 2.5 hours sleep. He excuses himself to go tip his dealer and we meet up for lunch.

Accomplice's Casino Ledger: +$635 (+$885 net gain)

During lunch the Production Manager calls, informing us that we need to get out of the room to avoid paying for another day. We still have three or so hours before call, so we dump our bags at the concierge and part ways. You can guess what my friend was up to...

Accomplice's Casino Ledger: +$200 (-$435 loss)

[ok, i realize this is more than a bit wordy. by now youre probably tapping your feet and wondering, "where the hell are the pictures of niagara falls... or of anything?" here there are. well after that bit of writing there... and that next one... and the one after that.]

A little after five we caught a cab to the Cave of the Winds. The cab crossed low bridge, mere feet above a wide rapid that bubbled and foamed white before falling into a cloud of mist at the end of America. It finally dawned on us just where we had been the night before.

The parking lot sat above the Bridal Veil Falls (Cave of the Winds was underneath us), and mere feet away was a guard-railed overlook, replete with coin operated telescope machines.

The shooting crew was nearing the end of their day and oh holy God I really have a problem with overwriting. It's ridiculous. At this point there's really no point in going on like this for four more posts.

I'll get better at this. I promise.

The Bridal Veil falls from the New York side (Canada to the left).

The Strada Crane suspended over Bridal Veils. They're impressive, I guess. Certainly didn't look like Falls as it seen it on TV. Then, while looking for a bathroom, I saw this:

This is the cloud of mist which hangs over the Horseshoe Falls. Horseshow Falls is really THE Falls. All 6 million cubic feet per minute of them.

A few more shots...

The sun set shortly after these pictures were takend and Accomplice and I went back to work. We loaded the truck entirely and had a $140 steak dinner back at the casino, on the production (God love 'em).

After dinner we decided to delay our departure by an hour or so that we pull into New York right as all the vendors were opening. This would allow us to pull right in, unload, and go home. And it afforded the Accomplice a chance to get back in the game. We agreed to meet at 10:30pm.

Accomplice's Casino Ledger: +$50 ($150 loss)

Er, 11pm.

Accomplice's Casino Ledger: -$300 ($350 loss)

How about 11:15?

Accomplice's Casino Ledger: -$600 ($300 loss)

My accomplice slouches through the parking lot at 11:35. We hit the road and drive through the night.

Final Casino Ledger: -$200 (+$400 gain, leaving him out the $200 he had started with)

Drive, drive, drive.

9 Rest Areas, 13 Classic Rock Stations, 11 cups of coffee, 948 miles, and 2 sunrises.

HOME!

Pumpkin Extravaganza

So I didn't get a chance to take photos at my crazy set but we took a bunch of photos from our pumpkin picking with Amy, Nick, Lisa and Eric. It has FINALLY gotten cooler here and we couldn't have asked for a better day for a fall outing.

Before entering the giant corn maze



Patrick promises to wrap up his Niagra story but he was too busy pumpkin picking and celebrating his birthday. He's a quarter century old!

busy bees

Sorry we have been lax on the blogging. After our 2+ weeks off for the wedding extravaganza and kitchen remodeling Patrick and I are back to work. Right now I'm sitting on set in Brooklyn at a stage called Cinema World. It's quite possibly the most interesting stage in NYC as its already heavily decorated with an Egyptian room, a jungle room, and Oriental room, fake bookshelves galore and other various random rooms, props, and interesting touches. Many of the rooms are pre-decorated for the "adult" themed shoots that frequently happen here. Don't worry, Dad. I promised you I wouldn't participate in any low budget porn. We're shooting a promo for he Lifetime Channel and Keri Lotion. So nothing risque and honestly, for me, its been one of the easiest jobs this year and a nice re-entrance into work after the time off. Patrick has been pulling a few hard days for it but overall it's been good. I'll try to bring my camera tomorrow and post a few photos of the crazy rooms.

The kitchen is still a work in progress. We are patching some holes left by the electricians and then have to sand and paint. Patrick doesn't want to post photos until everything is done but I'll try to sneak on a few of the renovation process.

Basically this post is just to say, Wait until tomorrow for something interesting to look at. :-D

Hello blog world

As namesake of this blog I feel I should have been permitted to write first but the humans here decided they would. I should pee on their computer when they aren't looking. Anyway, Kirstin and Patrick have been building and hanging things and bringing strangers in to do the same. Basically they're making my life pretty miserable and I spend most of my day under the bed. Though at night I spend some time marking the brand new tablecloth that Kirstin bought with my fur. It's now claimed as mine, just like everything else in this apartment. Soon the building...then the WORLD! More soon...Chairman Miow.

Niagara! Niagara! part 1

I've been out of touch for the last few days because I was on a whirlwind work trip to Niagara Falls. A production manager (PM) I work for from time to time was shooting a commercial for Thompson's Water Seal on the falls and needed to truck in some equipment from NYC. Nevermind that the falls are MUCH closer to Toronto, a capable production town with all the gear one would need. I dont get paid to make those decisions.

I hired an Accomplice (pictured above) and we met at 9am Wednesday to pick up the truck. The plan was to make a few stops, return to our respective homes to sleep and pack, and then hit the road in the evening. Nine hours later we were still loading, so we opted to drive out as soon as we were done and drive through the night. This means we had no passports, no change of clothes, no bathroom necessities, and no cameras (thus why all of these pictures are crappy cellphotos).

We were also driving without real directions. The PM had only told us to go to "Cave of the Winds" and that we were staying at "some Indian casino." Was this Cave also the casino? Was it in some park? Was it anywhere near the actual falls? We just decided to point the truck north and figure it out later.


Google maps says it takes 8 hours to drive to Niagara Falls from New York City. This is assuming that one A) drives a non-commercial vehicle B) drives the speed limit C) does not hit traffic/construction and C) does not stop. If you want to know what its like to drive a truck to Niagara overnight, stare at the picture below while vigorously shaking your monitor. Repeat for 9-10 hours, stopping every 90 minutes for coffee and a pee.


At 2:30 I wake up the Production Manager to let him know that we are passing Buffalo on our way to... where exactly? "Cave of the winds". Oh right, how silly of me to want to know more about where I'm headed with $9000 in petty cash and a truck full of irreplaceable camera gear.

It turns out that Cave of the Winds is INSIDE the Niagara Falls State Park. At 3am we turn onto a bridge and drive around a gate that says "Do Not Enter." Park police are on us within minutes. Luckily, they seem to have to the first useful information of the day.

Yes we are in the right place. No there is no one else here. Those trucks right over there, those are the company's.

Once the officer pulls off we realize how dark it is. All we can hear is the uninterrupted flow of the falls coming from... somewhere. We park near a camera truck and I text the PM, "parkd next to strada crane. what now?" (I was too lazy to put the 'e' in 'parkd' but somehow thought it prudent to specify that we were beside the Strada crane, as opposed the techno, luna, or just plain crane. Exhaustion affects judgment. Remember that.) The PM texts back, "cool. there in 15."

Forty minutes later a white Expedition careens into the lot. The PM is in his pajamas. He has to be at work in less than three hours and doesn't even ask how the trip was.


We speed out of the park and I now see that the small bridge we had crossed spans a violent stream on the brink of the falls. In the distance I see the large neon stalk of corn glowing in what appear to be gay pride colors. This is where we are staying, the Seneca Niagara Casino and Hotel. It is a 26-story beacon of tacky, a brass ring among the 3 and 4 story EconoLodges and HoJo's that make the American side of the falls just so splendid.


After we check in I hand the PM an envelope with $9000 in cash. He peels off several hundred dollar bills to reimburse us for gas. The boss heads upstairs to crash. My Accomplice eyes the crisp Benjamins he's just been handed and looks longingly at the gaming floor. I order the last beer before the bar closes (4am, even in a casino) and head upstairs to shower and sleep.

I won't see my Accomplice again until the following morning.

Check back for part 2, the conclusion of Niagara! Niagara!

Wedding Photos

I gleaned a few good ones from all the people that were kind enough to send me photos from the wedding. We were so busy we didn't pick up a camera the whole weekend! Hop over to our Flickr site and enjoy!

Flickr wedding photos

First things first...

We may not have a baby to supply you with adorable-ness but we would like to take the chance to keep our friends and family, near and far, up to date with the goings on in our life. Now we know that our getting married may seem like a random time to start a blog, seeing as being married, to us, is more or less just like before we were married, we figured, oh what the heck. Let's give this blog thing a shot. So here goes nothing...

As you all know, we got married last Saturday in Vermont and as a honeymoon we, drumroll please............had dinner and a movie with Nikki and then flew to Atlanta to help Eli and Thomas put their house together!!! Aren't we the adventurous couple!?! Here's a few cute shots of the little man (not that we don't love E&T but come on this kid is too photogenic!):

"BANANAS ARE SO GOOD!"

What color is Carter's parachute?

Future Cop?

The Fowlkes' new house is great and we were happy to be the first out of town guests. We send them best wishes from their former city and hope the visits back and forth are frequent and fun-filled. Also while we were in the ATL, Patrick continued his tradition of only getting tattoos while on vacation:


Other than that we have been maxin' and relaxin'. The contractors are coming in the morning to rip out our kitchen and then will spend the rest of the week putting in a whole new kitchen. We'll post before and after pics when there is an after to show you. Hope that was an OK first post! I'll have Patrick attempt something more interesting for you soon.

-K