TMINM-W

Get ready for The Moon Is No More - West. Last night the lineup was Brock H. Brown on drums (Wait, what's his name when he's playing music?), Evangeline Provost on bass, and myself on guitar. Most of the 12 Brothers songs were practiced. This private session was not recorded. Sorry, folks.

Anti-"And" "But" Domination

Just in case you think that my mind has wandered away from 12 Brothers: I just figured out how to fix a controversial line in Business. Here's what I had posted so long ago:

our father used to say
"the customer's right always
so stay open late
and make sure you get paid"

Joshua saw an issue with painting the father in a somewhat negative light by adding the "and make sure you get paid" part. Almost like it made him too greedy. Personally, that wasn't an issue for me. The man runs a business; of course he wants to get paid. Regardless, the father has both positives and negatives to him, just like any normal person.

Despite the lack of resonance with Joshua's argument, however, this line still bothered. Finally, while driving along and listening to the Business demo on my iPod, I realized what the problem is. The word "and." It doesn't work. The "serving of the customer" and the "get your money" pieces don't tie together neatly with an "and." I have the solution!

What it needs is a big "but." That's right. While you should do everything you can to make your customer happy, in the end it all comes down to the dollar. I know this paints the father in an even more unfavorable light, but I'm OK with that. By simply switching an "and" with a "but" great weight is added to this verse. Thus:

our father used to say
"the customer's right always
so stay open late
but make sure you get paid"

And Joshua did just so.

Shipping Yesterday

I received the above image from Carl yesterday. Carl will deliver the goods on Sunday evening at Gregg and Cindy's BBQ. Can't wait!

I Kill You Now

Il Diritto Uomo - Coming Soon

Watch 2046 Now!

You think I'm kidding? Wrong! Follow me.

I have to give the credit to Carl. He's the one who found this. He told me that he queued it up but I'm not sure if he's received it yet.

Lost In Translation

Jeremy, I know you will appreicate this. Here's a little tool to give your next screenplay a good working over.

Hey, there's more. I finally found a translator that includes pinyin, the English phonetic spellings of Chinese words. It won't translate whole phrases, but you can do things one word at a time.

Have you seen the trailer for 2046? Wow, what a trip. It's WKW, with hints of 2001 and AI. I have to see this movie!

Bella Donna

We have our "photo girl."

La Drogheria

Work on The Italian Film has continued, primarily scouting locations and looking for props. Tuccheti has agreed to allow us the use of the patio for the cafe scene. Last weekend, I got in touch with the President of the Alfa Romeo Owner's Club, and it seems we will have access to a classic Italian automobile. Wednesday, I toured the Hotel San Carlos and selected a room that will serve as Leonardo's apartment. All very good.

Thusrday, Friday, and today, we visited nearly every Italian grocery (drogheria) and deli in the Phoenix area. There were some good ones and some that were too modern. Here are some pictures of the better locations.

New Jersey Italian Grocery & Deli

Cave Creek Rd, Phoenix

The New Jersey had just closed when we arrived, so these pictures were taken through the front door. It doesn't look overly modern, except for the crazy Italian t-shirts hanging on the grocery racks. Brock liked the pass-through window looking into the kitchen. The path from the front door to the back door is fairly short and straight, but we could fake the door off to the far left and have Leonardo walk across from left to right and behind the counter to the back door.

DeFalco's Italian Grocery
Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale

We visited DeFalco's Friday and had a bite to eat for lunch (prosciuto sandwich). This store is more cramped, with lots of racks packed with fine groceries. The metal racks are a bit modern looking, but there were some great possibilities for through-the-rack shots, which would have looked cool. Plus, they have had film students working there in the past, and one of the Manager's produced a film, with quite a few films having been shot here.

Calabria Italian Grocery & Deli
3rd Ave & Roosevelt, Phoenix

We almost didn't visit Calabria. We couldn't find it the first time through. We went back today, on the way for a second visit to DeFalco's. Well, we never made it to DeFalco's. Armed with better directions, we found it today. We grabbed some canolis and talked to the Manager/Owner Maria, who is game to help us out. The shop is small and simple, but has nice rich colors on the walls, with neat racks of groceries to one side and a stocked deli case on the other. There is a long hallway between the two. This should work out very well for the scene we need to shoot.

Any thoughts on the locations?

Hey, bonus photos...