So what's been happening since the
last Bait Shop news
update? I mean, besides that super-sweet Obama victory?
(Hold on...let me just pause to enjoy that again...mmmmm...)
But anyway, aside from that, the
second half of 2008 was just as stressful for me personally as the whole
presidential campaign/economic collapse was for the rest of the country.
(Well, okay...maybe not THAT stressful.)
Things
started well last June when Cash Cab (the game show I wrote for
back in 2007) got nominated for a Daytime Emmy (or Shmemmy, as my imaginary
best friend Kathy Griffin calls
it) and my lovely Polish bride and I not only got to attend, but (A) we
got to meet Oscar the Grouch and Bob from
Sesame Street, (B) the
show actually won and (C) I actually got my own freakin' statue (uh...not
at the actual ceremony, of course, but I'm told it's in the mail)!
So that was nice. (And, as it turns out, Emmys are not only really heavy, but if I ever needed to use one for self-defense, it could easily be employed as both a clubbing and a slashing weapon, thanks to the angel of television's sharp, deadly wings.)
Then,
after the Shmemmies, the true madness began: for the past few years,
I've made a short movie in July and August with the youngsters of the Burt
Wood Summer Arts Festival, and this year's sci-fi action spectacular,
The Protectors, took forever to shoot and edit, partly as
a result of the production's numerous (and time-consuming) action and special
effects sequences, but also thanks to all the other jobs and projects eating
up my time in the summer and fall of 2008, including the Screengrab, my
live and online classes for UCLA Extension, etc. and the ongoing shoot
of the indie musical masterpiece, The
Meat City Beatniks.
Anyway,
I finally finished The Protectors, which can now be viewed (along
with several other recent productions) in the brand new Bait
Shop Cineplex! And I also managed to wrap the initial production
phase of Meat City and begin editing together the first rough cut
of the movie thanks to a timely year-end invitation to attend the Yaddo
Artist's Colony in Saratoga Springs, New York (thus joining the ranks
of far more illustrious and talented Yaddo alumni like Truman Capote, John
Cheever and Sylvia Plath). Riding up the wintry road to the secluded
Yaddo estate (founded by wealthy fin de siècle philanthropists
Spencer and Katrina Trask) was like entering Narnia, and for two weeks
I was able to relax, work on various artsy projects and gird my loins for
2009.
Now, (somewhat) refreshed and recharged, my New Year's resolution is to finish Meat City (and a few other long-simmering projects, like Test Drive)...but in the meantime, I'll wrap things up with my final tribute to the exhausting year just past: the Ol' Bait Shop Top Ten Films of 2008!
Stay tuned!