The First Day of October

I am tired. Got home at 11:30 to a cold, frozen dinner, hearing the refrigerator's song after 14 hours. You see this is Hollywood and everyone has talent here. Our refrigerator is no different. So, she tries her hand, or should I say, voice, at singing once in a while at frequencies only attainable by her kind, especially, when the rest of the house sleeps. Shyness and these amateurs, I tell you! I am sure if we had a dog like the rest of the neighbors, it would dance to her song. Whatamadhouse, as if the tenants themselves are pinnacles of sanity!

But but but, I am not unhappy. I am tired yes, but hunger didn't distract me as I realized everyone else had left the editing lab as I was trying to sync up my actors' griefs to Buffalo Springfield's "Expecting to Fly". The music video should be ready tomorrow. I am finally making this mockumentary that I had wanted to make for a long time, albeit with a few tweaks, mainly from the perspective of the Balaji character. They are all American of course - Stan Garibaldi. B&W, no dialog; only voice over are posing minor challenges, but will soon be ironed out. Almost went to Vegas tonight. This other crew from my class is planning to shoot the next one there. So they went location hunting and I was to tag along with the blissfully calm aloofness of a hitchhiking vagabond. My impulsiveness almost paid off but my well-known inherent laziness could not pass up on the huge bait to sleep in late tomorrow.

I taught my American crew member this dialog (obviously in its original angry young version) today, and even he agreed the original sounded way cooler than the translation. I think I miss those you know. Having that someone who is still bound by that invisible umbilical cord. The desi theater is only 30 minutes away, but without a Shotgun occupant, it seems farther away and I haven't gone for a while now. I was craving Indian food the other day. It's been almost a month and even here, in the US which boasts of "Authentic Indian Cuisine" at every intersection, that is strange. So, my new gluttonous friends and I are checking out the lunch buffet at the Bollywood Cafe 2 on the only Sunday off since the first weekend.

Saw Kairee by mistake yesterday and somewhat quelled my fears of Amol Palekar's directorial skills after Paheli. SuGu had recommended Shwas to me and the name somehow got mixed up in the cobwebs of my mind along with juvenile characters in both movies. I really recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the so-called parallel cinema movement. Also, saw the well made Dylan biography - I'm Not There where 6 different actors play Dylan, portraying the different phases of his life. Cate Blanchett as the Dylan who visited the UK with the Beatles was awesome. I think I got 70-80% of the movie, which in itself is a decent achievement, considering the complexity of Dylan's enigma that loomed large on the extremities of the American psyche, like a hang over two days later, for around four decades, inspiring the last post on consumerism. Reading Walter Murch's "In the Blink of an Eye" - recommended by my editing teacher, who looks like John Cussack and talks like Conan O'Brien. Murch is probably history's best editor (Dulal Dutta was unassumingly up there). He edited such Copolla masterpieces as the second and third Godfathers and my all time favorite film Apocalypse Now. He started out as a Sound Designer (as well as Editor) of the critically acclaimed Gene Hackma-Copolla project 'The Conversation'. Interesting stuff. Trying to incorporate it as much as I can in my work in order to enhance the overall quality, but I guess you'll have to be the judge of that.

Till next time ...