Hold My Beer Crew Meeting

In preparation for the start of filming next month (!), we held a Hold My Beer crew-only meeting this past Sunday.

When I was a production assistant on another film set last September, one thing I noticed was how seamlessly the crew there worked together. That was due in part to their experience, not only individually, but with each other. While our crew does have a few people with extensive filming experience, we've never worked together before, so the main purpose of the meeting was to go over our methodology and get on the same page.

One of the items we had to decide on was how we're going to, in filmmaking parlance, "call the roll," which is when people say cool things like "roll camera" and "scene one, take one," and "action." There are different ways to do this, but we settled on what is a pretty standard approach according to the research I did (which involved reading numerous websites as well as watching the movie Living In Oblivion).

We also went over the fact that, this being a low-budget production with limited resources, we're just going to have to do the very best we can with what we have. This means focusing on stuff that really matters, like sound, lighting, and performance, while possibly letting go of other things that would be nice to have but aren't completely crucial, like airtight continuity (after all, thanks to this experience, I now catch continuity errors in big-budget productions all the time).

Anyway, while we won't really be sure of how things are going to go until we actually get on set, I feel a little more prepared, and I'm really grateful for everyone's participation and support.

More updates to come!

February Nostalgia Post

"Natsukashii" in Japanese means nostalgia, mostly of the positive sort. Now, I'm not normally one for living in the past*, but every so often, when I have nothing else to blog about I'm feeling wistful during the waning days of winter**, I like to look back at what I was doing during the same time in prior years. Join me for the journey, won't you?

(pictured above: lucky penny from February 2022)

February 23, 2023

"Volume Seven Status Update: Can't Blog, Reading"

Wow, I was still working on Volume Seven? Feels like that book has already been out for a long time now. Maybe that's what happens when you switch from writing to filmmaking? Or, you know, time warp. Yeah, probably time warp.

February 24, 2022

"TV Roundup, Episode Five"

I guess Brews Brothers and As We See It weren't picked up for additional seasons? That's too bad, I liked those shows.

February 25, 2021

"Anime Roundup: Big Name Edition"

You know, I tried, but I just couldn't get into One Piece. Gasp, I know, right?

February 20, 2020

"Quickie Status Updates"

I love this part: "the band and I are making plans to start livestreaming portions of our Sunday afternoon practices on Facebook." Ha! Ha ha ha!

Okay, that's good enough.

* The past, present, and future are all the same, anyway. Time is an illusion

** Alliteration score: 7/10

Random Cat Picture Placeholder Post

This is a cat hiding under a sweater jacket.

"Heh, heh! They'll never find me under here!"

Hold My Beer Update

Time for another Hold My Beer update!

The latest news is that our workprint (basically, a rough draft of the film) is just about complete. All the raw footage has been shot, and post-production (editing, etc.) should be done by next week. It's not great, mind you, and no one but our cast and crew will ever see it (unless we decide to include snippets of it in the eventual "making of" video), but it was a great rehearsal for the real deal, and we learned a lot by doing it (brief moments here and there are actually, believe it or not, pretty darn good).

Next up: a crew-only meeting to help us get on the same page, and then *gasp* actual filming begins in March!

Stay tuned for more updates...

Most Exclusive Restaurants in Science Fiction

I recently finished watching Fermat's Cuisine on Netflix, the latest in a long line of Japanese live-action dramedies that I've been consuming (mostly all from TBS; keep them coming, Netflix). It was about a young math prodigy who, upon discovering that he isn't the best mathematician in the country, makes an unintended pivot to becoming a chef, where his math skills come in handy in the kitchen, like with creating recipes and such.

He's discovered by the head chef at an exclusive French-Asian cuisine restaurant, who then begins grooming him to become his eventual successor. Now, I'm no hardcore foodie, but I am a fan of these kinds of story settings, as I've always had a sort of fascination with food service culture, despite never having worked in the industry myself (I have watched Food Wars and Iron Chef, however. I've also tried to get into The Bear, but for some reason Hulu kicks me out of the show every few minutes or so, so I got frustrated and gave up after grinding my way through the first episode, which I really liked despite the interruptions. It's weird, because I can watch other Hulu programming with no issues. What, Hulu, is your award-winning crown jewel too exclusive for me?) (see what I did there)

Anyway, this got me thinking about other fictional exclusive restaurants, mainly in science fiction. Here are the top three that came to mind (warning: mild spoilers):

1. Milliways

Or, as it's otherwise known, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, from Douglas Adams' The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, the second book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy." Despite being a popular five-star eatery, you can actually get a table quite easily via time travel.

2. Unnamed Restaurant on Darillium

From the Doctor Who episode The Husbands of River Song, this place has a four-year waiting list that the Doctor circumvented by using - what else - time travel. I'm guessing it was inspired by Milliways. The balcony seating has a great view of the Singing Towers of Darillium (pictured above), where one night lasts 24 years. That's a lot of desserts.

3. Trilligan's

From Joel Suzuki, Volume Seven: Vision of the Virtuoso, this is a restaurant so exclusive, the wife of the most powerful being in the multiverse still has to make a reservation. I swear the use of double-Ls in the name (like "Milliways" or "Darillium") is a coincidence. Or maybe something subliminal. Anyway, their specialty is sauteed space slug. Delicious.

Are there any that I missed? Let me know in the comments!