Thursday, July 24, 2003

 
Wassup.

I raised almost $200 bucks for the flick already! I thanked everyone muchly but someone gave $20 bucks and I don't know who. Whomever you are, thanks a lot. It's weird though, now the pressure is so great. A few people have been so generous and... damnit!, I want to do their kind act proud! Spinning that karma wheel or something. Man, I hope I don't screw this project up... (cue hyperventilating).


Now I'd like to remind everyone of something...

Contrary to what Wolfowitz intimates...

"I'm not concerned about weapons of mass destruction," Wolfowitz told a group of reporters traveling with him. "I'm concerned about getting Iraq on its feet. I didn't come (to Iraq) on a search for weapons of mass destruction."

...WMD's were the reason for going to war. In fact, so dangerous, so sensitive, and so important were they, we couldn't even talk about them prior to the war, for fear of sources and security being compromised:

Detailed intelligence on Iraq's alleged arsenal of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) will not be revealed until after foreign troops have seized production facilities, in order to protect sources of information, a senior western security official said on Sunday.

"It is the war that is going to lead to the extent of Iraq's WMD arsenal being fully revealed," the official said.

I just wanted to remind everyone what sort of horrible, mendacious, they're-so-mind-bendingly-bad-I'm-at-a-loss-for-snappy-insults adminstration we have right now.


Furthermore to the subject of me, if you haven't read about the film I'm making yet, please take a moment and do. It's very important to me, and there's a chance you may be able to help out somehow (who knows, maybe you live in Seattle and have your own personal set of wireless lavs and a decent mixer, or maybe you got a couple bucks burning a hole in your shorts), or there's a chance you might want to say "Good luck Tim! If I wasn't married I'd so get it on with you!". To which I would say, sorry, I gots me a fine woman indeed. Then you'd say, "then at least accept my good thoughts". To which I would say, yes, those or you can write some fan-fiction about me: Tim! Pater das Filmen!!
posted by Tim 7:50 PM

Wednesday, July 16, 2003

 
On the subject of me.

Got me check from the insurance folks today (Amica is the finest insurance agency out there) and I am pleased with the results of the invasion of the sanctity of my home.

Figs taste good! Go figure.

Bought my camera the other day, the one for the film, and they claim to have shipped it out already but we'll see... to save about $200 I went with a slightly sketchy online retailer, so it might be a hassle.

Found out Mort Zapinsky, whoops, I mean, Andrew Northrup (Mort Zapinsky ought to be his stage name), was here in LA a while ago and I was immediately insulted because while he was here he didn't call me for a beer.

Sure we've never met, nor spoke, nor really even corresponded... neither does he have my number, nor is he aware of my full name most likely, but that's beside the point.

All I know is if I'm ever in Austin I'm going to look his number up, call him collect, pretend we have some sort of relationship that demands we meet, make him buy me at least one beer before I leave him alone, try to weasel a night on his couch from him, abuse his hospitality, and make embarrassing, awkward passes at his girlfriend.

The least he could have done was later mention me in his blog, something like,

LA was fun. I wish I had the chance to see Tim, though.

Is that too much to expect?


posted by Tim 6:00 PM

Monday, July 07, 2003

 
Oh Joyous day!

Guess who got robbed? Give you one clue...

Me.

Yep. Apartment broken into and robbed. I'm missing about $1000 worth of stuff, including my digital camera and my little DV camera. The worst part is I had a bunch of pictures on the CF card in the still camera that I never transferred, including test shots of Bob, the documentary subject, and his house (to work out lighting set-up schemes).

My girlfriend has about $3000 worth of stuff missing, mostly her jewelry- a whole bunch of one-of-a-kind, handmade, ethnic jewelry ranging from $30 to over $100 a piece.

Fabulous huh?

We have renters insurance, but we don't have receipts for a lot of the stuff- for none of the jewelry- and not for my DV camera which I bought off a private party.

Fucking fabulous.

Tell you what, fuck this neighborhood. We were fixing up our balcony over the weekend and I was feeling really good about our new place, thinking we could be comfortable here for a few years. Fuck that. Someone went through some stuff we had in the garage a couple weeks ago, now someone's busted into our apartment. Fuck these people.

It's real swell to feel like you can't trust the people in your neighborhood.

Oh yeah- they took my fucking Dreamcast! I've never owned a game console in my life, so when they got discontinued and went down in price I bought one, and about $100 worth of games, figuring I'd be content with it for the rest of time and never need to buy new. Assholes.

[Slightly less hating the world this morning, but then I remember I had photos of all my stuff, in case I got ripped off... still on my camera!!! Damnit.]


posted by Tim 9:11 PM

Sunday, July 06, 2003

 
Film update

So I mentioned I met with Bob, the subject of the film, and maybe you got the impression I was totally depressed. I was. it was an exhausting trip, for a few reasons, but the weight of the responsibility to make this a compelling and decent film is terrible. I'm not so crushed by it all right now, but I still need outside help.

The film is happening, I'm committed to it, I haven't raised hardly any money, but it's just too freaking important to me not to complete. Go here for the complete solicitation. If this is your first time reading about this the gist is I want to record the life history of a man who fought in Burma and China during WW2. A man who's one of the nicest guys you could ever meet, who's lived history few can even imagine, a man who's stories will soon be gone because he's dying from cancer.

Bottom line is- this movie is going to screw me. Another couple years of debt, a load of debt, a mountain of debt. I don't expect you to feel sorry for me, everyone's got money problems, that's not the point. There's more to this than just me making a movie. I feel like this is something that... frankly, I shouldn't be doing. Seriously. Someone else, with more experience, better resources, and better ideas should be making this, but no one is. And no one is going to but me.

I'm not doing anyone any favors, but I think what I'm trying to do is the sort of thing that's always important to a society at large, the sort of thing that should alwyas be done. It's just one small drop, but there are lessons in history, and some things should be remembered, preserved, and absorbed.

I'm trying to keep one, small smidgeon of history alive, and it's going to be very difficult for me to do so. I could really, really use your help. A couple bucks would do wonders.

Thanks.

[PS- More hearty thank you's to the few brave souls who have donated, and pre-thank you to anyone who does. Besides the $$, just the general support really, really helps.]


posted by Tim 8:31 PM