Shot of the Day #194: Ugh

Shot with iphone. Click to enlarge.

You never know when auto-disaster is going to strike, especially when you drive this jalopy. The Golf has been a constant in our LA lives since we got it in 2002 when we first moved out, and the sucker has been pretty good to us, for the most part. Sure the training is bad, the transmission has been shot since 05 and it smells like a Zombie Queef (that's mostly my fault), but its been getting me from Point A to Point B for a long time and was just a matter of time till it shit the bed.

TRUTH: I HATE getting oil changes. Always feel like they are scamming me; when I go in for a simple 5-point change, I usually leave hating my life because i spent 100 + bucks on shit I dont even know for sure was broken. So I try to avoid like the Swine Flu. Yesterday it was "that time" so i went to Jiffy Lube and the nice Asian guy, also named Joe, sold me the Brooklyn Bridge and I walked out grumbling again, but hell...at least it's done right?

WRONG.

CUT TO: Today, post meeting with a possible editor for the new project at Umami Burger (the only highlight of the day, really) I went to the parking lot and tried to start the golf....and it wouldnt turn over. FUCK. Thankfully AAA came to the rescue-thank god I renewed the membership-and the driver determined it was the fuel pump that was out. Ok...fine....now take me to an auto replair place that wont bend me over Marcellus Wallace style, please. The driver didn't get the joke.

When I arrived at the shop, the familiar sights, sounds and smells of being in an auto garage flooded back; I had practically grown up in a shop at my Dad's store, so the smell of oil, rubber and metal was quite inviting. (Wow. That coule be taken in a VERY different light) but I was still very nervous, waiting for the short European gent to stick it in and twist. I was dreading the outcome.

Guess what? There is such thing as honest auto folks, because after he showed me that the fine fuck's at Jiffy Lube FORGOT TO PLUG IN MY FUEL PUMP (i think they are trying to kill me, maybe not a WT2 fan), he fixed that up, fixed a hole in my tire I didnt know I had AND evaluated my training and gave me a free esrtimate, saying "Com een any tim, I fix, no ploblem". So what I thought was going to be a thousand dollar problem ended up being a totally FREE conclusion. Now, sure...this might be a "Drug Dealer" type catch ("First one's free kid") but damn if it didn't take a huge weight off my shoulders, thinking I'd have to break the bank to fix the car.

So Monday wasn't THAT bad, all things considered.

Joe

Shot of the Day #193: Flarebanz

Shot with iphone, click to enlarge.

On the Santa Monica park walkway for a late afternoon stroll. As the sun was bleeding into the horizon, I pulled off a few snaps of the darkening sky at magic hour, trying to find a new lens flare (I've been doing tech tests lately, trying to find a new "flare" look for the flick since Blue Flares have officially "jumped the shark") and really like this one that the iphone has upon contact with direct sunlight.

Banz got in the composition, here's the result. How regal & dignified she looks...oh my.

Joe

Shot of the Day #192: Recycled Childhood

Shot with iphone. Click to enalrge.

Saw this while pulling out of our garage. Probably the saddest thing Ive seen in a while, the symbolism just screams for attention. Poor guy...I bet he was someone's bestest friend for a while, till they grows'd up and got into Xbox or an iphone. Made me really appreciate all the stupid little toys that Remy has in circulation right now and how they will (or wont) have a lasting impression on him.

Funny, I still have the ragged, nearly-gutted bunny that my grandparents gave me when I was his age, its mottled fun pilled and coarse...I know its just a relic from my past, but I couldnt get rid of him, let alone just dump it in a recycling bin. Something about this scene just screams 'Wrong".

I need to watch TOY STORY again.

Joe

Shot of the Day #191: Murders all around us.

Shot with iphone. Click to enlarge.

Friday evening, the start of the weekend...boy do I need it. Sure, Im still working on a ton of stuff, but its nice to know I can maybe have a few minutes here and there to relax. But as we were taking our usual walk, Bri pointed out that we were literally surrounded by black crows, and not the Robinson kind. Seriously, I expected Hitchcock to walk past us: Every tree, every phone wire, even some of the houses were COVERED with Magpies. Every so often they would swoop from one branch or wire to another, as if...they were...following us. A chill went up my spine when I looked up and the sky was littered with feathered noir...is this a sign? A dark prelude to the weekend? You know they call a grouping of crows like this a "Murder", right? In that case...we're like Angela Landsbury on a Sunday night.

Whatever the case may be, as long as one of them doesn't shit on me, we're square.



Joe

Shot of the Day #190: Puck o' the world, Ma!

Shot with iphone. Click to enlarge.

Some cool news was announced today...looks like Im hosting and moderating a Q&A with Park-Chan Wook, the visionary director behind SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGANCE & one of my favorite films of late, OLD BOY, at Comic-con! His new film, THIRST, is coming out in a few weeks and Focus Features is putitng on a special advance screening of the movie down in San Diego, and with G4 co-sponsoring it, I was asked to be the MC of sorts. Holy scinikes. Such a wicked honor...but what if the movie...um...."Sucks"?

Thankfully there was a screening tonight, so Luke and I checked it out at the Clarity screening room with some familiar faces (Devin from CHUD and his lovely friend Lind....Collins-my evil Doppleganger, etc) and some new ones (Mali from ucrave.com, who was SUPER cool)...but when I parked, I was instructed to take the only one available...the personal space of one Pizzartiste, Wolfgang Puck. That's right, the guy who created the Goat Cheese pizza. I don't know why, but a little bit of me felt all the more special knowing I was in his space. Walked a little taller all the way into the theater, i did. But will the movie stand tall as well?

Thank god THIRST was pretty fantastic. A clever, almost Cronenbergian take on the Vampire mythos, it kept me rivetted the entire 2 1/2 running time (I hope people at SDCC stay for the whole thing!) and made me realize that shit product like TWILIGHT is good for the vampire genre...it forces real artists to look at the conventions of the mythology and create new visions of the lore, similar to films like NEAR DARK, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN & RED-BLOODED AMERICAN GIRL (a VERY overlooked 80's gem). THIRST was confounding, challenging cinema, and I walked out feeling positive the Q&A will go great.

If you're at Comic-con and need something to do on Friday night, come to the THIRST screening! I can almost guarantee...it wont suck (pun intended). Details coming, but the gist is, the screening is at 9pm in a secret location, but you can pick up free passes at the G4 booth starting Friday at 11am. First come first serve! Hope to see you there!



Joe

Shot of the Day #189: Coolest Man In The Building (Today)

Shot with iphone. Click to enlarge.

Met a LOT of new people this week, some VERY cool folk, including an impromptu handshake with this lovely, picturesque gent with the Fantomas T shirt. NOTE: ANYONE wearing a shirt related to Mike Patton is worth the memory space taking a shot.

Meet Joe Vaux, animator par excellence and director over at FAMILY GUY, which I just found out was right across the street from our building. Juster had known him and wanted us to meet, so Joe came over and even before I could say that I knew who he was (having watched enough FAMILY GUY episodes his name was one of those staple credits you get used to seeing flash across the screen) he handed me a rolled sheet of thick paper-stock, and when unraveled, displayed a rare Vaux painting of the Griffins with a personalized signature at the bottom. Holy. Shit. What a wonderful gesture...too bad all I could offer is some of the WRONG TURN 2 buttons still languishing outside my office. We instantly hit it off and hopefully will "do lunch" especially since he's right across the way.

Very cool dude, pleased to meet him. Again, another Fantomas fan? Friend for LIFE.

Thanks Joe!

The other Joe

Shot of the Day #188: This week in a blur.

Shot with iphone. Click to enlarge.

...and its not even Hump Day.

Calgon, take me away!!!

Joe