"Is this a-- what day is this?"

--The Big Lebowski

Movie Production Update #4

Wow, today's friday? Really? I coulda sworn it was still, I don't know, wednesday or something. These long work weeks really mess up your biologically-social clock. It just doesn't feel like the weekend anymore.

Two nights ago the crew, all ten of us who were in town, was invited to have dinner with Scottie and his wife. Scottie is the owner of the air-conditionless warehouse at the Marina which we are using to build our sets in.

Anyway, the girls in the office were tied up in legal woes, so they couldn't make it, and Justin the Assistant Director had the droll task of giving the newly arrived PAs (production assistants) an unneeded tour of the town, so he was also missing. And due to the previously mentioned legal woes, Mark our director didn't make it to Scottie's house until an hour after we did.

But the five of us didn't mind. Scottie's wife (I think her name is Mindi, and if not, that's just what I'll call her from now on. Good thing she doesn't read this) made the best salsa I've ever tasted. It had corn, black beans, and other salsa-ee stuff (I don't know, peppers maybe?), but then she put both red and green onions into it and then drenched it all with some Italian dressing.

Killer stuff. I could have munched on that all night, and in fact I had to stop myself from finishing off the entire bowl. She said it also goes great on salads. I might have to try that. Hear that, Mom? If you're paying attention- a new recipe to try. I'll be more than happy to eat whatever experiments you come up with, even the failures.

While we're waiting and munching on snacks, Mindi offers us a drink.

"What would you like, we have milk, juice, water, sodas, beer..."

Then there's that awkward silence where all of us are thinking the same thing: Who is going to be the first one to say yes to the beer.

After a moment, Andrew Capella, my boss, the Production Designer says "Well... I'll take a beer that'd be great."

Then the rest of us all in unison- "Yeah, I'll have one too!"

We then started touring Scottie's house. And it's amazing. He and his wife designed and built it three years ago, and it's now a model for how I want my house to be when I'm older. For one thing, the sound system is AWESOME. While we're standing inside making small talk, I hear music playing around me. I swear it's coming from the bookshelves to my right, but I can't find a speaker anywhere, so I assume it's behind one of the cabinet doors.

Then we move the conversation outside and I find the music has followed us. Scottie has built the speakers into his ceiling in every room on the first floor- the kitchen, dining room... outside. That's the way to do it. No big, blocky speakers coming out of the walls- just circular grates up above. When you're making your house, just wire in the speakers before they install the walls and ceiling panels. And just pray you never have a short.

The house was built on a patch of land that sort of points out into the water; it's on a corner. There are incredible views of the sound all around us. The great thing is, it's still pretty shallow, so in a few places you have this random tree jutting out of the water's surface. Makes for a great picture.

Before dinner Rob the DP, Mark, and I all went and jumped off the dock (we did bring out bathing suits- we were prepared).

And it almost wasn't refreshing. Almost. I swear, that was the hottest water I've ever been in that wasn't a bathtub or jacuzzi. It's unbelievable how hot the water in the sound was that evening. But it's such a shock when your body first hits that water, and you're expecting it to be frigid, but no. It's like the air around you when you're on land, permeating all your pores. Only instead of being drenched in sweat, it's... sound-water that's now dripping from your body.

So we swam around for a bit before it was time for dinner. Scottie fixed us mixed drinks as soon as we downed our beers (which was pretty fast). He made us some really good gin and tonics and then made a deal with us for the rest of the evening: He'd let us use his bar (which is built into its own little alcove) any way we wanted if he didn't have to make our drinks anymore.

Yeah, deal.

Mindi made us chicken and broccoli casserole, fresh tomatoes covered with crumbled cheese (perhaps feta), and small red potatoes for dinner. After we finished our plates, she noticed us sitting around and practically ordered us to have seconds, which we all graciously did.

Yeah, I was the only one to get up and help myself to thirds too.

"Is Chris getting MORE?" I heard someone ask as I walked into the kitchen.

"Yeah, Chris is our resident beefcake," someone told Mindi.

Hey, I've been only eating cereal and small sandwiches for breakfast and dinner all week at the house and then eating fast food hamburgers in between while at work. If someone is going to make a home-cooked meal for me, you better believe I'm going to stock up while I can. I gotta fatten that hump.

Besides, Mindi's three daughters are grown up; the youngest is in college, her middle child graduated from UNC the same year as me, but I didn't know her. Mindi doesn't get to cook for people anymore, so she said she loves doing this sort of stuff for us. Sort of like my mom seemed to enjoy doing my laundry whenever I came home from college. Hehe.

Well, I was very appreciative and used all the good manners my mother taught me tenfold. "Yes", "Please", "Thank you", "This is delicious", you know. And the atmostphere at dinner was excellent. All us film guys just sitting around, telling Scottie and Mindi what we planned to do for the next month and how filmmaking worked and then listening to the couple tell the story of how they met in high school, and how Scottie worked the elevator in the 2-story department store on Main Street for his first job.

Imagine that. An Elevator operator for a TWO story department store. An OPERATOR.

Then Mark's mother showed up, tired from her long drive from Florida, and we cleaned our plates, made some more drinks, and moved into the living room for the rest of the evening.

We spent about four hours at that house. Did I mention how much of a good time I had, being entertained and cooked for by good, local people? I think that may be a night I'll remember a long time from now.

Mindi told us anytime we want to during the next blazing, summer month, we can go over and jump off their dock to "cool" off, even if they aren't home.

Well thank you much for the hospitality, Mindi. I'd be much obliged to put that dock to good use.


In other, work-related updates:

We went 30 miles over to Elizabeth City the other day and visited many antique stores and thrift shops. I picked up all kinds of books, clothes, games, puzzles, and assorted knick-knacks for one of our first shooting locations, a kid's bedroom (Jackson's room as it's called).

I also started drawing many pictures of dinosaurs, pirates, rocket ships, etc in the style of an eleven year old. We'll put these up along the kid's bedroom walls. I don't know how visible they'll be in the movie, but I'll know they're there. So if you see a blurry drawing of the legendary Alligator Man in the background during these scenes, you'll know who to credit.

I also drew some pictures in the style of a six year old, and to achieve that effect I drew the pictures with my left hand. So it came out allll kinds of retarded. That means it looked GREAT- just like a six year old would do. I guess my left hand never really matured artistically.

Two PAs from Elon College moved up three days ago. I enjoyed ordering them around yesterday, having them build model houses of the town and doing whatever else we needed. It's great. They're so excited just to be here, they laugh at everything we say, even the intentionally bad jokes. That will wear off soon. I told Andrew Capella we should have them clean the house, but he thought that was pushing it a little too far.

But still, it's great to not be on the low end of the totem pole for once.

--Cbake

Robots in Disguise!

So the powers that be have decreed that a live-action "Transformers" movie should be made.

Reasons why this should be awesome:

Spielberg is executive producer.

Michael Bay is director.

This commercial rocks.

Quote from Spiels on the subject:

"We're now starting our first but certainly not our last Transformers movie that I hope will be an enduring franchise and we're going to be making many, many more Transformers movies in the future. But we're going to make the best one first because we want the best one to inspire everybody to not only play with these toys but to want to know about the further adventures of all of these characters, both human and machine alike. So I'm just really privileged that I get to be part of this."

I wasn't even a huge fan of the cartoon as a kid (I only watched "Beast Wars"), but I'm psyched about the potential of crazy huge killer robots transforming into planes, trains, and automobiles, fighting each other, and destroying major cities in the process.

And oh yeah, I'm sure there's some great heartfelt story revolving around the human children that get caught up between all the destruction. Or something.

--Cbake

PS: I suddenly had a flashback to a Transformers toy I had as a kid. It was a robot that turned into a Pterodactyl, and anyone who knows me knows that I was in love with dinosaurs as a kid. I still am. That was one of my favorite toys back then. Man. I wonder what ever happened to it...

"Look it's the most glorious rainbow ever!"

--Anchorman

Movie Production Update #3

Our set is almost finished, and it's coming along very nicely. Everyone who has seen it so far loves it. For the past few days we've done more sanding, painting, measuring and cutting of wood, spreading carpet glue down on baseboards and arranging the wood pieces on that, creating ceiling pieces, staining floors and large wooden planks to go over the windows, etc etc.

It's really beginning to look like a shanty now. The floor is made of these old, dark wooden planks that pop up in different places, and we've nailed these large boards over the windows so no one can see into this character's room and see what he's up to.

And boy it's hot. Every day the radio voice tells us in an overly enthusiastic way that "It's going to be MISERABLE out there today! With highs in the 90's the humidity will make it feel like 105 to 110 degrees!!!"

Why he's so excited about that, I don't know. That punk sits in his air conditioned loft and just laughs at the rest of us, I know it.

Every afternoon, though, we get rainstorms that cool everything down. Two days ago we had a huuuuuuge thunderstorm pass through. Before it hit, we could hear thunder in the distance, but there was so much deep rumbling that it sounded like continued explosions in the sky, like there was a war up above in the heavens.

I stood outside and watched the approaching darkness. The winds picked up, and I saw a flock of swallows come hurtling over the warehouse roof. They got caught in a huge gust of wind and it actually flipped some of the birds over and scattered them through the air before they could readjust their wings and avoid crashing to the ground.

Then it was like the sky opened up and we were bombarded by heavy rain. The doors to the warehouse were swinging open, and I got drenched running around trying to pull them back in and latch them. Our power went out so we couldn't continue to work, so we just stood by one of the big loading doors (that go up so people can wheel their boats inside- we're right on the marina) and watched the downpour. Trees thrashed about, branches flew into the distance.

Then it just ended. Boom. The storm became a gentle sprinkling and the sun came out.

We walked outside to check things out, and wouldn't you know that off to our left was the biggest, clearest, brightest rainbow any of us had ever seen in our lives.

I mean it was a full arc, going from a field way off in the distance, arching through the curve of the Earth, and ending in a group of trees beyond the sound in front of us. I know that's where Warwick Davis was hiding his pot o' gold.

As we stood admiring the brilliant colors of violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red, I noticed that a second rainbow was forming above the first. It was faint, and didn't extend all the way into a full arc, but there was just enough of it to see that there were two rainbows before us.

Incredibly beautiful, I tell you.

Eventually the power came back on and we got back to work, and soon enough the second rainbow disappeared, and the first grew faint and finally faded into oblivion. But little did we know what kind of portent this rainbow was.

When we got back to the production house that night, Mark the director told me that Will Patton had signed onto the movie that afternoon, probably about the same time as the rainbow appeared before us.

And this is huge. He will be the one big-name actor in our movie that will hopefully get normal people to see the film. And apparently Will is excited and nervous about it. He's been turning down movies all year, so this will be the first one he will act in, and he doesn't want to let us down because he loves the character so much. He wants to make it the best he can for us.

Shooting begins August 3. More crew are coming in on Monday, and either I'll be moving into a hotel or the bedroom upstairs. Currently, I've been sleeping on a couch in the office, so I'm always woken up by everyone else when they come down to work in the morning.

I also found out Rosemary Harris (she played Aunt May in "Spider-Man") lives in Winston-Salem and serves on the board of trustees for either the town or NCSA, I'm unsure of which. She was almost in the movie. How cool would that have been?

--Cbake

I'm a Smashing Machine

--Movie Production Update #2

Today was more manual labor. I took all the wooden planks that I smashed off the palletes yesterday and resmashed the sections where they had been nailed to make them flatter. Then I arranged them like jigsaw puzzle pieces on a big sheet of backboard to make it look like it was made of mismatched pieces of differing lengths. Then I take another piece of backboard, slather it in carpet glue, and arrange the pieces as I did before.

I might also add that today was technically my one day off during the whole week. So I moved at my own pace.

Rob the DP (Director of Photography, aka the cinematographer) cooked us dinner. Right now I'm sitting on the front porch in my pajama bottoms, listening to Rob and Jeff (the art director) jam out on their respective mandolin and guitar. They're working on an original song to incorporate into the movie, and it sounds great.

It's a good feeling to just sit out there in the cool breeze, drinking a beer, listening to good music with good people. And it's an even better feeling to know that today was a very productive day.

The shanty set should be finished completely in the next two days. After that we'll begin working on a small model of the entire town, which should be less sweaty work.

Hopefully anyway.

Damn this humidity.

By the way, I ate at a Burger King today and felt like everyone was staring at me. Must be the hair. I am the strange stranger to them. "Weird Hollywood freak" I'm sure they're saying.
--Cbake

The Town that Time Forgot

--Movie Production Update #1

Rolled into Edenton last night a little after 10. Nice place. Tiny. Quaint.

It's like a Norman Rockwell painting here in Edenton. There are no corporations. No Wal-Marts, no Starbucks, no Subways or McDonalds. Just lots of big houses, a tiny main street, families, and racism.

Oh yes, the racism. There is a racial divide in this town apparently, both figuratively and literally. Seriously, the divide is Oakum Street. On one side you have the whites. On the other, you have the blacks. And from what I hear, the rich white people will be sure to tell you not to go to Oakum street. Unless you like getting killed of course.

But that's second hand information I've received from the other people working on the film, so I don't want to ruin Edenton's good name with reports I've not yet experienced.

So far, the town has welcomed the film crew very warmly, offering to help us in any way they can. The hardware store gives us the five-fingered discount when the owner isn't around. All in the name of helping the "big Hollywood production".

Yeah my friend the director, Mark Freiburger, has already been on the cover of the local newspaper (which is so small it only comes out once a week), so everyone here believes it to be a pretty big deal, a film which will be shown around the country, possibly the world, and starrring Hollywood's finest actors.

Haha, we have them so fooled.

When I walked into the local diner today, I could feel everyone staring at me. Yep, it's that kind of town where everyone notices who the strangers are.

Today was spent working on creating a set. I helped sand down some plaster on the walls, then I took apart lots of wooden palletes, board by board, smashing the things to pieces in the process with a hammer/crowbar combo. Good way to get a workout. Good way to get the aggression out.

But damn, it's bloody hot down here. We're building an interior set for a "shanty" in a warehouse out by the Marina, but there is no air conditioning, so the sweat builds up in my hair and drips all over the place.

It looks like I won't actually be doing a lot of searching for props and furniture. I'm working mainly in the Art Department (there are only three of us right now), and currently we are just trying to build this set, using all the wood from the palletes to create a fake, wooden floor, which we later stain so it looks like it was built in the 1800's.

Anyway, that's the quick update for today. Tomorrow's technically our only day off during the week, but I'm sure we'll work until 11:00 PM again. Wheee.

--Cbake

"No time to discuss this with your committee!"

"I am NOT a committee!"
--Han Solo and Princess Leia

Committees suck. Too many cooks spoil the pot. And too many agency people and clients screw up a commercial shoot.

Working on commercials has started to really make me disillusioned with production. Don't get me wrong, I love being on set. I love the teamwork that goes into making sure a production runs smoothly. I love having a lunch with a huge group of people, rubbing elbows with the gaffers and grips, the guys who work harder than anyone else by setting up lights, hauling C-stands, sandbags, and lighting equipment all over the set. They set up all the lights, flags, and screens according to what the director or DP wants, then they have to take them all down and rearrange them as the Creative Types change their fickle minds.

See, this is how commercials work. The Client (say a bank) hires an Agency to come up with a commercial idea. Then the Agency hires the production team, the Director and Producer, to create said commercial.

Now, you'd think once you get on set, the Director would be the creative voice behind the camera, the one running the show.

But no. The Client has to send at least 5 people over to make sure their product is properly represented. And then the Agency has to send all 6 people who worked to create the Ad.

And EVERYONE thinks they know how to make a film. You might hear this from the Agency or the Client:

"Don't you think you need a closer angle?"

"Can he do that line over again?"

"Can we do this shot at least fifteen more times the exact same way?"

It gets to the point where I wonder, why even bother hiring a director to run this shoot?

Today I had to watch as NASCAR driver Tony Stewart deliver three different lines (some variety for the same scene, and later they'll determine which line works best) at least 15 times each.

Once you think you're finished with one line, someone from the Agency runs to the Client and brings back a message that the Client isn't happy with the last take and now wants Tony to say the word "Yeah" before he delivers his lines and to nod right after.

But of course, Tony has to leave for a PLANE FLIGHT in an hour, and we still have to move to another set for a few more shots. But of course, the client doesn't understand this, bc the client doesn't really know how film works. So everyone, the director, the producer, the Agency, who were alllll happy with the past 23 takes, now breathe this large sigh. Because we have to do the take again. And Tony pretty much delivers it the same way each time.

And so it feels like a waste of time. It feels like a waste of the director's talents, because he has to constantly turn around and ask the Client and the Agency if that take was "good enough", and he has to defer to them when they have "ideas" about how to make the commercial better.

Maybe I'm just tired from working a 13 hour day. Maybe what I've just described to you sounds normal.

Here's what I'm used to with STV: I come up with storyboards, we take our cameras and lights to a location, we shoot according to what I drew. But we also play with other options, we accept ideas from the cast and crew, we experiment. I guess I was spoiled.

Unfortunately with film, you don't have the freedom to experiment and try new things. But at least with film and with music videos, you don't have ten people peering over your shoulder and voicing their concerns with how well you're NOT doing your job.

I mean damn. The Agency and Clients waste so much time in changing their minds on problems (problems they've created, mind you, with all their debates and bickering) about how close they want a shot, to what kind of dress they want the actress to wear. They set back production so many times because at the last minute they decided on something else.

This caused the storyboard artist to have to redraw the boards in which a character was moved to the right HALF AN INCH. It also made the wardrobe assistant leave in the middle of the shoot to go shopping to buy another dress.

Oi. I'm just tired. That's all. Tired of seeing the creative voice of a director stifled and silenced. Commercials are NOT the way to go it seems, unless you're the creator of the idea.

Ugh. Anyway, I'm leaving for Edenton this weekend. My dad has sold his house, the deal closes on the 29th. Friday I'll be moving all of my stuff out and into either storage or my mom's place. After that, I'll be gone for a month and a a half, and unfortunately my father has to clean the rest of the house out himself. I'm sure he'll find some help.

So bookmark the page, folks. I'll try and update from the set. And if I'm lucky, when I return in September I can get work on that new Will Ferrel movie that's coming to town.

A Hollywood movie where the ones you worry about are the Suits.

--Cbake

Strength in Numbers

I love driving. Just put on some good music, give me some great weather, take about 100 cars and trucks off the road, and I can totally get lost in my own thoughts as I cruise down the asphalt.

Today I drove back from a short trip to Chapel Hill. My best time leaving UNC's campus and pulling into my driveway in Charlotte has always been about two hours even. I don't think I've ever done it under two.

I was on my way to breaking that record this afternoon. The best way to drive on the highway is to get yourself caught up in a train of speeders. Go the speed limit until you see a line of cars coming up behind you in the fast lane. Pull to the right, let one or two cars get ahead, then look for your window of opportunity, and jump back into the fast lane in the middle of the line.

Now, if you pass an officer on the side of the road, chances are if he decides to go after 10 speeding cars, he'll either go for the head of the pack, the one setting the pace, or he'll pick off the poor guy in the back of the line because he's an easier catch. You're safer being one of the bland guys caught in the middle. Just pray he doesn't call for backup.

So that happened today. It all came together perfectly. There was no train of cars that came upon me. Just one Volkswagen that shot past going about 90 mph. He gets way ahead, and I almost start cursing him for going so fast. Then I notice a girl to my right who starts going faster too. So I take a chance and start following her.

So now there's two of us going really fast down the highway. We pass a few cars on the right, and one of them, fed up from being behind a slow person, pulls out and speeds to catch up to me.

Way up ahead, Volkswagen Guy has slowed down for some reason, but when he sees us pass him by, he jumps in line behind the girl behind me.

So now there's four of us flying down 85. When we catch a slow car in the fast lane in front of us, the leader puts on her signal and merges to the right. Then I follow suit. Then the girl behind me. Then Volkswagen Guy.

Watching this occur in my rearview mirror was like seeing a snake undulate its body on a sidewalk. It all felt so incredibly coordinated; every merge was smooth and timely. We were of a hive mind. We are Borg.

A little bit later, we catch up to a Mustang from Maryland that passed me an hour earlier as I came out of Chapel Hill. He watches all of us pass and jumps into the train too.

We're animals of the concrete jungle, banding together for strength, hoping the predatory cops will grab only one of us. We're that school of fish that dolphins plunge into, jaws agape.

It was a smooth ride until we came upon a slow person in the fast lane (reeeeeally slow, like speed limit slow), and the leader hesitated too long in deciding to merge to the right. In doing so, Volkswagen Guy got caught behind Slowpoke and beside a faster car that had caught up to us in the right lane. The first three of us made it out. As we sped up the road, I saw VG shrink in the distance of my rearview mirror.

I wanted to yell out "Man Down!" and slow the train so he could catch up. Our group just went from five to three. Danger, Will Robinson.

Eventually he did catch up, but the damage had been done. The snake had been cut. The girl behind me grew impatient and sped off on her solitary life. Leader merged to the right, dropped her speed about 20 mph, and eventually pulled onto an exit ramp. I wanted to wave everyone off, give them a farewell smile. But I drifted back to a speed much closer to the limit. We all went back to being loners.

But it was fun while it lasted. Single serving driving buddies.

--Cbake

"Welcome... to the Real World."

--The Matrix

Should I ever join MTV's "The Real World" and show my family and the world the real me?

Well, my family knows the "real" me, but they don't ever see me in "real" situations I suppose.

It was a question I posed to myself a few weeks ago as I watched the preview episode for the new season of RW. As a 23 year old, I think I'm in the last year in which MTV will accept people for their shows like Real World and Road Rules. Most of the members on the show nowdays are 19 or 20.

If I were to join, I'd be the old man of the house. Everyone else would look up to me. Or more probable, down to me, as I'm sure I'd be the shortest old person there.

But wait, that's not my only problem. Let's see, I'm not an Abercrombie model. I don't wear J.Crew and Abercrombie or Hollister or Structure (didn't that change names anyway?) everyday. I'm not Mr.Extremely-Buff man. I'm also not a cocky jackass.

So that much would work against me I'm sure. The way in which the producers pick characters that seem to fit archetypes has annoyed me lately. Why do we never see unattractive people on the show? Or fat ones? How about a really awkward, goofy, beanpole of a girl who isn't very confident in herself? Let's throw those people in a house with buff jocks and see how well they get along, who picks on who, and which ones complain that this whole experiment is a waste of their time. That's something I'd like to see.

Instead, every season we get the token minority, black, asian, or otherwise. We get the token gay kid, the token jackass jock, the token slut, the token Nice Guy/Quiet Girl that never angers anyone, and then we get the token alcoholic, which is sometimes represented by the entire cast.

Bah, MTV. You used to be cool.

Still, I wouldn't say no if you offered me a spot in next year's house. When I went to Pittsburgh this past weekend I had three cousins tell me to try out for The Real World. Then I started thinking: If I were to end up on this immensely popular show, my entire family would no doubt watch it.

Which could become a problem. Either I would stop acting "real", to protect my younger cousins, who do look up to me by the way (a strange concept for some of you I'm sure), from seeing me act a complete fool, and thus ruin the concept of the show and my "character" on it. I'd be the kind of person who'd lurch to a stop after letting loose some long string of foul curse words, then turn to the camera with my hand over my mouth and say "Whoa, whoa whoa, we can cut that, right?"

Or, I'd just act my normal self and end up getting into trouble, the kind involving either women or alcohol. Or both. I mean, have you seen the kinds of people they put on those shows and the situations they encourage?

I bet the MTV producers would think I'm just some slacker looking for a way to postpone my entry into the Real-real world. My audition video would go something like this:

"Okay, well, here's my house. Well, it's not really my house. I used to live by myself but my father sold that house, so now I'm currently moving into my mother's townhouse apartment. But I haven't really had time to unpack, so sorry about the boxes.
Oh, what kind of work do I do? Well, I graduated from college a year ago and worked in LA for a few months... Now I'm trying to find steady work in Charlotte but have only gotten lucky working on some commercials and a low budget indie film, yeah. Ahem. Uhh, yeah."

If I had to guess which archetype they'd place me into, it'd be the "Nice Guy Whom Most Everyone Likes, But Is Better Friends With the Girls, and Thus Pisses Off the Other Guys".

Oh yeah, or it'd be the "Boring Old Guy Who Still Doesn't Have a Job".

Or maybe... just maybe... I could be the "Funny Guy Who Turns Out to be a Party Animal and Surprises Everyone. AND Gets the Girls".

I just need some cooler hair.

--Cbake

Too late, or early depending on how you look at it, to come up with a witty title...

Well its 4:21 AM and in an hour I'll be leaving to go to Pittsburgh.

Only I made the mistake of forgetting to bring my manuscript with me. And my toothbrush.

Luckily, my grandmother will be going back up to Pitt sometime in the next month, I believe, and she can take the manuscript up then.

When I return next week, I hope to have reviews of "Batman Begins" (thumbs up) and "War of the Worlds" (more thumbs up).

Until then, I'll be living it up at my family's big Godfather-style reunion/party. A swimming pool, a band, drinks, tons of family, a few fireworks- there really is nothing better.

Sheesh, I need a nap.

--Cbake

PS: Anyone else see that badass King Kong trailer yet?