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Notes
from Austin, Volume 2 #30
LODGER's Notes
Includes Linklater's "Waking Life", "cicadas" and Tiktok
A few days ago, I checked out "Cecil
B. Demented" at the Dobie and then went over to John Christensen's
house for his semi-annual wine and cheese soiree. There were
a ton of folks there, many who have appeared on Lube TV with
John, including cohost Mark Brauner, Jason Syresta, Bob Dude
Bob, Trish the Dish, Charles (my favorite Asian cutie from Wacky
Waco), Bunny, John Marshall, and some folks I was meeting for
the first time. One of them was this chick they know from Wimberly
who is kinda wild. By the end of the night, she was sitting
on my lap and forcing my hand under her shirt. I was pretty
drunk, as were we all, and it was a pretty good laugh. I think
someone videotaped it. God help me, it will probably end up
on cable access at some point.
Bunny kept flirting with me, to be nice, and that made me
happy, of course. Bunny is as straight as can be (don't let
the name fool ya) but I think he was just in a good mood,
and so he made the party for me. Charles as always, was cute
and had a faceful of smiles. He told me he took my attentions
as a compliment, even though he is obviously not interested
or anything. It was a really fun evening. I went home at 4am
and had to get up at 9 for work. Argghhh. It was not a good
morning at the old job, I can tell you that.
Before I was too wasted though, John showed his short fake
commercial for "Handsome Wieners" which was really hilarious.
I saw the raw footage and thought it a bit excessive, but
when edited together, the gags are hilarious. It was really
funny.
Jason also showed a reel of his 16mm shorts which he recently
got transferred to video. John and Mark were in a couple of
these. There were some that I really liked including one which
featured Mark Brauner is a role where he seemed to be spied
upon by an unseen television director. It was very "Truman
Show"-esque. I liked it.
I also met John's friend Vassily Fedyaev, a Houston filmmaker
who is originally from Russia. John is showing his film "I
Need a Hug" on LubeTV. Vassily told a funny story about shooting
a scene in the Montrose late one night (which involved shootings
a such - and I think a nude man) with a group of about 30
people. This was, I believe, a scene for his next film, "Impatience."
This was, of course, a stolen location and they had no permits.
Some concerned citizen called the cops and when the array
of Houston's Finest showed up, Vassily was a little nervous.
But as soon as they found out all was good, they apparently
did not close him down. He tried to charm them into being
in the film, but apparently, for that, he did net to get permission.
Oh yeah. John also told me that he had a featured role in
Courtney Davis' "My Name is Buttons" short. Cool.
There a nice write up in IFC's "Rant" magazine about Linklater's
"Waking Life" which features about six really cool looking stills
from the flick. Richard Baimbridge, the author of the piece,
calls the animation, "original, organic artwork that has the
look of abstract expressionism." Several animators have worked
on the film and Linklater has given each some free reign on
how their segments will look, so there should be a lot of different
"styles" within the film. The article also says that the film
will probably premiere at Sundance. I'm sure he means after
it premieres somewhere in Austin first, right Rick?
My friend David Bilow, who worked with me on the "Rector" short
we filmed a few weeks ago, told me about going to the "cicadas"
party at Club DeVille the other nite. I didn't get to go because
John's party and my day job had wiped me out by Sunday night.
"cicadas" is a film being made here in Austin on DV that features
Brandon Howe. David said the party was quite cool and the scenes
they showed from the film looked pretty good. I think his girlfriend
Shannon is working on the film in some capacity. I'm really
looking forward to seeing the finished product.
I went to Cheapos the other day and got some CD's including
a Kronos Quartet disc that I don't like much and a David Bowie
CD single with "& Years in Tibet" sung in Mandarin on it.
I also got a Tiktok CD from 1999 called "A Single Drop of
Water..." Tiktok is a local guitarist who does ambient music
using computer manipulation. His work is quite peaceful and
serene. "Water" is one of his best CD's I have heard yet,
although, compared to other CD's this is his most subdued
and "ambient." I really dig his stuff. It's the perfect music
to relax to. It makes me want to just sit in a hot tub and
drink martinis and chill.
His music is also great for experimental films.
Wednesday, I went to the Atomic Cafe after aGliff.
It was glam rock night. The DJ kinda sucked but he did play
more and more cool stuff as the night progressed. At the most
there were probably only 40 people there at the height of the
party. (This was after midnight). The bartender was young and
cute but, after I was pretty drunk, he accidentally gave me
a shot of Blackhaus rather than the Rummplemintz I had asked
for. Words cannot describe the abject horror of tasting Blackhaus
when you are not prepared for it. I almost puked. I had to run
to the men's room. It's a good thing he was a cutie or I would
have been really pissed.
After the bar closed, I went over to John Christensen's.
Zaphod and he were watching some interview program with Nicole
Kidman, Tom Cruise and Spielberg talking about Stanley Kubrick.
It was fairly interesting. We drank and talked and then John
showed me Vassily's "I Need a Hug." It's a masterpiece. It
has an extended, seemingly 4 or 5 minute single take where
the two leads have an argument that is just amazing. The acting
in the piece is top notch. The script is rife with undertones
and deep emotional moments. It's shot with a wonderful sense
of verite. It's really an exciting and interesting film. I
hope people saw it on Lube TV. Vassily should really try and
get this into any festival he can enter it for. It's a really
good piece, one of the best local shorts I've ever seen.
My bud Phatt Matt sent me this link to a trailer for the new
Coen brothers' movie:
http://www.movie-list.com/o/obrotherwhereartthou.shtml
After this the Coens are working on an untitled noir picture
about a barber.
Obi leaves the Force behind...
Sayeth my friend Bobby O'Sullivan, aka Obi Won Kenobi, about
his departure from local band "The Force,": Everything's pretty
much in the conceptual stages right now. A lot of work is
being put into visualizing a perceived outcome; that is, we're
trying to determine how we want the music to sound. No recording
has taken place yet, and no songs have been written at this
point, but it seems that in the next few weeks there may be
some songwriting going on. There's been some speculation as
to what the name of the new band will be, what the "project
title" will be referred to as, and it will likely be called
Center of the Machine unless something drastically changes
between now and then.
One thing remains certain: There will be NO members of The
Force in this band at all. This is as uncompromised as it
gets, because this time it will be MY visions, my goals, and
my ideas brought to life with some collaboration from other
musicians, not having to sacrifice my artistic integrity to
certain people who still think KISS is the greatest rock band
in the world (surely, we all know better than that, right?).
This will be a unique and fresh approach to music, with striking
themes and a harrowing pulse. Very much like Nine Inch Nails,
but more primitive.
I have set the bar higher than ever before for myself, which
means it may be a very long time before any new material is
heard out of me, but rest assured it will reach fruition.
Part of not compromising your integrity is taking as long
as necessary to produce an end result, and I full well intend
to do what's right for me at this point.
And that's a wrap my friends... lodger2000
Austin
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Things
to do this Week
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