Good news

I am SO FUCKING HAPPY that this whole process is over. Next week marks the anniversary of a full year of non-stop, sleep-ruining, movie-making stress. It's pretty sweet to know it actually paid off though:


“Kenny Chesney: Summer in 3D” arrived in 3D theatres nationwide. Aside from the confusion that the movie is not receiving continual showings and is only being screened in 3D theatres, its opening night screenings were strong enough to make it the #7 movie in the nation - and by Thursday, it had out-earned all the 3D films by legitimate music acts except the Rolling Stones and U2.

On the subject of knocking on wood:

I don't really play into superstitious crap, but doesn't it just figure that the day after I write about ignoring raised threat levels for the sake of getting my travel on this news leaks. 

State Boycotts

I went to Pittsburgh last Monday to rep a fan club pre-screening. I wasn’t that thrilled about going there alone in the first place, but figured I’d get to see it with KC fanatics, revel in my accomplishment, and head back to the hotel with a 40 to watch something on TBS. But guess what? Pennsylvania is full of fucking Quakers with weird restrictive laws!

I walked around the grocery store for 10 minutes before asking where the booze was. I was then informed that the state doesn’t allow alcohol to be sold in grocery stores. So then I called Chad and he was delighted to inform me of the following insane laws: 

- Wine and liquor are only sold in state-owned stores called “Wine And Spirits” and all prices must remain the same throughout the state. They are only open 9 am-10 pm, and closed on Sundays.

- To purchase beer a person must go to a restaurant, bar, bottle shop, or distributor.

- Beer distributors sell beer by the case or keg, but not smaller denominations of beer such as six packs.

- Six and twelve packs, along with individual beers such as 40-ounce beers, are sold at bars, restaurants, and bottle shops. A person is only allowed to purchase 194 ounces (16 bottles) of beer at a time in this manner. If you take the 194 ounces to your vehicle and re-enter the business, you can buy 194 more ounces, and continue doing so, so long as you only take out 194 ounces of beer from the store at a time.

Needless to say, I did not wind up drinking that night and I have no plans to ever return to Pittsburgh. 

On the subject of safety abroad:

Chad and I saw Bourdain at the Chicago Theatre this weekend. It made me insanely excited to head off to the middle east. Less than 2 weeks.

This is the first trip I’ve taken that I really don’t know what to expect. I’ve read a shitload of guidebooks and travel blogs and I’m still ready to be surprised and awed by the culture. I’m not all that concerned about my personal safety, maybe naively. I’m more worried about fundamentalist conservative reactions to the amount I drink and swear. I’m also pretty wary of gender equality type things. I’ve read multiple times that if a woman sits in the front seat of a taxi it is considered a sexual invitation. Shit be whack.

For the most part, we’re going the wealthy westerner route. 5 star hotels and cruise, flights instead of trains, private guides and such. Our hotel in Cairo has armed guards, bomb sniffing dogs, and metal detectors before you get to the front desk. I mentioned it to my mom,  thinking the precautions would assure her. They didn’t. To compound matters, the AP released this warning the same day.  

Chad reacted by sending me an email with the subject “We need to make ourselves less jewish looking” with a bunch of pictures of the cast of Jersey Shore attached. Then he went out and jokingly(?) bought a pair of white pants. Perfect travel buddy.

He was less upbeat about the 3 a.m. military desert convoy I suggested we take to Abu Simbel in lieu of our difficulty booking a flight. His email response simply had this link. Point taken.

In the five minutes I watched the news for last night, I learned that there's been 113 murders in Chicago so far this year, 2 girls got beat to shit with a baseball bat on damen in bucktown, and city representatives are legitimately asking for the national guard to patrol the south side to curb gang violence. It’s scary out there dudes. At this rate, it sounds like I'd be better off if I get the hell out of here. 

Chicago Premiere

I have become a statistic.

90 miles per day, 450 miles per week, $70 on gas per week - for two and a half years. 10 hours commuting in soul-sucking traffic every week.  520 hours per year. That’s roughly equivalent to 22 whole days. Wasted. The Eisenhower's going down to 2 lanes. Just kill me now. 

Then there's the ridiculousness of the physical location of my building. To illustrate my point, last week during a power outage, I found myself shooting a bb gun at a can of corn on top of a log in a recently burned cornfield with a bunch of mechanics. I think the context is better left unexplained. This is not what production offices should be like. I miss the streets and pace and the smell of Chicago. It has air you can chew.

I'm not quite sure what the breaking point was. Maybe it was my pay structure routinely being fucked with to the point that I am now freelance (read: paying withholding) but still getting paid my shitty, shitty ass salary wages, not getting compensated for overtime, weekends, or travel days. Or maybe it was being told that we have no chance of a bonus/raise any time soon. Or maybe it was not getting invited to the premiere of a movie that I worked on tirelessly for the last year. Or maybe it's the fact that I get two weeks paid vacation but my boss is making me take unpaid days because of the "economy." There are a thousand other reasons.

There are only a few that I'm staying for and they are dwindling by the day.