Dogs Of Chinatown

Went to Somewhere Else Tavern where we shot a small dialogue scene. They had a dog there that was really cute, and from what I could understand, apparently the dog’s lineage comes from Elvis’s dog. Went to a cool deli that was really colorful. It reminded me of those play places when I was a kid, or a gymnastics gym.

After that we came back here and I watched 2LDK, a boring-ass movie about 2 Japanese girls living together who want to kill each other. Blah. Couldn’t finish it.

Went out to Andrew’s metal/art workshop where we did a small gun fight. Talked with Andy for a while about the Federal Reserve, which apparently is a privately owned collection of banks. Did a little shooting and was done in no time.

Came back to Micah’s and realized I was on edge. Paul showed up, so he, Huyen, Micah, and I went out to a bar and met up with Minh. Minh bought me some mean drinks and the edge was soon off. Came back to Micah’s and danced a little (poor Paul had to witness this), and stayed up talking to Huyen about stuff. She told me the reason I like doing action movies (or aggressive roles) might be that it’s a response to how weird a kid I was (for instance, the weird crap I collected).

Submitted by: Eric Jacobus

Today was easy. Woke up and watched Animatrix with Ray. Headed out to the underground area of a club to shoot a small scene where I do a disarm on Andrew.

Came back here afterward, watched Man Bites Dog (more below), and then went to a smoke/punk/hippie shop to do a 5-line dialogue scene. Andy drove me to CVS and then back to Micah’s, when I realized I had forgotten my key, and he drove me back to find Micah. Andy, you’ll get your sour dough.

Man Bites Dog is mockumentary about a serial killer, Ben. Not necessarily a serial killer, but he kills for personal gain. Every kill is weighed based on the net return. For instance, Ben doesn’t like killing children because they don’t have money, and ransoms are usually too troublesome. Old folks are better targets, both because of their wealth and vulnerability.

The film is raw. It’s meant to be as realistic as possible, and includes some very disturbing foot chases. Sometimes the documentarians get in on the action, maybe even too much. The whole film asks how ‘real’ documentaries can be when the filmmaker actively participates in the subject’s world. It was made in 1992, which was when reality TV consisted of game shows and Real World on MTV. And while I don’t think it was addressing Reality TV in particular, the questions are even better now that everything is reality TV, from garden makeovers to the life of an asshole hair stylist to 15 kids building a society.

The best hoax I’ve ever seen was Simple Life, where Paris Hilton pretended to be a moron (she even asked, “What’s Walmart?” Sorry, I don’t buy the act.) and everybody at home watched the show to despise her and answer all her stupid questions. They all said, “I can’t believe she said that” or, “Stupid girl! Aluminum isn’t a gas!” Every idiot TV viewer could finally feel like a genius, and Paris made money off of it because the viewers couldn’t pry themselves away from it. I don’t know whether to congratulate her on a sound business plan or hate her for making a bigger mess of our already-fucked stupid media. The term “Reality TV” makes us all wonder what this reality is.

Documentary film has enjoyed an elasticity where we can accept different modes of storytelling. There are objective documentaries, such as animal programs where the filmmakers avoid any involvement to their best ability, or more interactive documentaries, like Werner Herzog’s films where the filmmaker feels that their involvement is mandatory in order to provide the best coverage for the subject. Then there are all the other types in between and outside the bounds. The difference between documentaries and reality TV is that documentarians can be candid about their involvement. Reality TV is tainted with corporate sponsorship and worries about ratings, and at that rate will never come clean about outside involvement with these “realities” that take up so much air time. Will Reality TV shows ever finally admit that they’re rigged? That they hire only the most attractive and insane people they can find to stuff together in a house? That normal people don’t respond like morons to every confrontation? That weight loss isn’t always as simple as eating less and exercising more? That not all girls will make out with each other? Probably not. That ain’t good TV.

That’s what I got from Man Bites Dog. Please check it out.

Submitted by: Eric Jacobus

Started the morning out by going over to Blake’s place. He cooked us all some mean omlettes. His daughter Lilly is 2 years old I think. She’s adorable. She liked it when I ate a banana and acted like a monkey. What a guy.

Went out and did the dialogue with Vladmir. Either my new face wash is whack or it was so bright that my eyes started burning. I couldn’t see shit.

Drove out to the warehouse and started doing the fight against Ray.

We walked through half the fight before shooting so we knew where we would end up. Did a lot of brutal crap like drop push kicks, hitting bloody wounds, Ray did a huge suicide fall from a throw, I did a pole fall and a side fall, we did some grappling, and ended it in a nasty way only Micah could have thought of.

All in all it should be 2 and a half to 3 minutes in length, and took us the better part of 8 hours.

I hear one of the strippers is having second thoughts about being in the film. Micah says, “Yeah, if you wanna pay for the crew, catering, and another location so we can re-shoot.” I told him to ask for 5 grand.

Submitted by: Eric Jacobus

Drove to the location with Ray, Huyen, and Minh. Learned that there are Vietnamese dialects and that Northern Vietnam isn’t as upfront as Southern Vietnam.

The location is a furniture warehouse. We had to wait around until 4pm to start the buildup to the fight. Did a little bit of action with Ray and Randal, got shot, spit some blood around, took a nap, and finished off by struggling with Ray over a gun. Tomorrow’s the big fight.

Blake took me and Ray to the store to get food afterward. During dinner at the location I couldn’t seem to get full, and was constantly hungry. I kept eating the sliced turkey and fruit, but couldn’t get enough to make me feel satisfied. Instead I was getting sleepy. I think eating this super-processed sliced turkey for lunch ain’t working for me. Only real meat can do it.

Also, I’ve been avoiding corn syrup, bleached flour, hydrogenated oils, and processed foods in general. You know what that leaves me? Almost nothing. I practically lose all the following (exceptions apply): ketchup, bbq sauce, sliced meats, sliced cheese, soda, sweets, most breads (even ‘whole grain’ breads have corn syrup in them), fast food, nuts, juice from concentrate, packaged sandwiches at the supermarket, most pre-made pasta sauce, almost all non-organic cereal, and practically all instant food. I’m going to end up cooking way more often just so I can avoid this garbage, which might seem like it’s costing me more, but will actually cost less in materials, even with organic ingredients. The hardest part is not snacking. Snacking on crap has been something I’ve done every day of my life since I could chew. Seeing people snack on cookies and chocolate has been driving me insane. But I know it’s not hunger, so I don’t eat any.

This makes me realize why I’ve always had more fat than I wanted, despite all my efforts to work it off in the gym. I might have muscle, but my body fat percentage was never exactly stellar. Now that I’ve been avoiding the excess garbage for a month, I’ve noticed a big change both visually and in terms of my performance. Also, since I’m eating real food that actually makes me full, I store less fat.

I’m not gonna be a blow-hard and tell everyone to eat smart. It’s either expensive or takes more time than most people have. Plus I’ve only been doing it for a month, and I don’t know crap, and there are still studies out there saying that corn syrup has about the same glycemic index as sucrose (55 versus 45 or so), or that the processed meats have all the nutrition as real meats, maybe even more… but these are chemicals. We’re supposed to eat food. And when they mix vitamins and minerals into a powder that they inject into six different animal meats, blend it all together, treat it, kill it, treat it, kill it again, preserve it in a tube with sodium for three months and say, “This food has everything you need,” I have a suspicion that our body tells it to fuck off just because it knows better.

And nothing says ‘fuck off’ like going into a food coma or getting fat.

Part of me feels really snobby for refusing to eat all the food that Micah and crew are buying for us, but fortunately it’s eaten anyway. I just have to request all my hippie crap. On the other hand, I’m being hired to do three weeks of physical work, and if I’m going to be on the ball, I need to stay healthy by eating right. And fortunately these guys are more than happy to accommodate me. Much appreciated.

My thanks also go out to Matt Lucas for the education.

Submitted by: Eric Jacobus

I drove out to Raleigh. Got to the kung fu school and found that Ray and Brian were having some difficulty getting their fight scene done. Ray busted his nose and had 2 huge bruises. Micah gave me control over the camera and the three of us went to work.

It’s all a blur now, but I think we got some solid stuff in there. I’m always concerned being a cameraman in a dull room because I begin feeling that the angles aren’t interesting enough, but in the end it’s the performances that always stand out. Brian and Ray went at it hard.

Ray almost hook kicked Brian in the head but instead grazed him and broke the skin a little. Finished up with some grappling that looked really good. Brian and I did a dialogue scene.

Submitted by: Eric Jacobus

The front desk gave us our wakeup call at 7:15 instead of 7:45. Thanks. We wake up and get breakfast in the lobby. Blake drives us to the location out in Raleigh.

Turns out we were late, as were practically all the other cast members. I’m not sure if it was my fault or the hotel’s fault or someone else’s fault… OK it wasn’t mine. I did what I could to speed things along. Tyler got a cameo with the other girls as a mistress on the lake.

Did a bunch of other dialogue scenes, most of them with Rudy and Katherine, dragged a duct-taped-Bill around, and then the rain came.

We moved locations to Micah’s dad’s place down the street. Did more dialogue scenes until midnight, and borrowed Blake’s car to drive back to Micah’s place.

Submitted by: Eric Jacobus

From Micah’s we drove out to the metal scrap yard to pick up a scene. Left there and went to the studio where I anxiously awaited Tyler’s arrival. She came, and I was ecstatic. We went to Mexican food, then hung around the studio for a while. Blake drove me and Tyler to a hotel where we stayed the night.

Submitted by: Eric Jacobus

Today was chill. Didn’t do anything until 3pm when a news reporter came in. Micah came into the holding room and asked me and Ray to do some stunts for the camera. I threw some pants on and did a back suicide, Ray did a front suicide. I was lazy so I didn’t put on any knee pads because they don’t do anything anyway, so I was less reckless than I would’ve been otherwise I suppose.

Went outside and talked politics, then shot a small scene where I take this guy Bill out with his own extendable baton. Then I interrogate two girls dressed as schoolgirls (Christy and Krista), and it was over. Ray and I watched Thank You for Smoking and The Hunted. Tyler comes tomorrow.

Submitted by: Eric Jacobus

Today was at Jabs Ultrabar. It’s a hip hop club. Blake says that it has the second highest alcohol sales in the city, which is amazing considering how much liquor there is ’round these parts. Did some dialogue with Brian, and then did the dialogue scene with Huyen.

Oh… my… god… I’ve never had this much trouble doing dialogue. It’s like when Tom Cruise took that medicine in Minority Report. I had to do that in order to do this right. Afterward I was drained, and had some drinks. Ray arrived and we talked about cons while Micah shot with the rest of the girls.

Afterward we went to the studio and sat around. I had an insult match against this Chinese girl named Li Ming (I think), which was fun. She spoke Shanghai-nese too.

Went out to Micah’s old place and shot the sniper scene, and then to the studio to do pickups of my personal gun scene, and that was it. Chill day.

After the long day Micah went back to the studio to put together this video from the first week of footage.

Bad ass!!!

Submitted by: Eric Jacobus

Today was entirely comprised of shooting at the strip club. Micah took me over to Blake’s place where we met up with Jesse. I drove with Jesse to Winston-Salem where the club was located. Jesse’s a chill guy who reminds me of Ricky from Trailer Park Boys, except thinner and way more responsible.

Arrived at the club and met with Mike Bean, a stuntman who must be over fifty, his buddy Bill, a cool dude with cool boots, Eric, who we’re calling Honey Nut to avoid confusion (I’m Cheerios), the two strippers, and the owner. The girls were being loud and obnoxious so I didn’t bother introducing myself to them. When they saw I didn’t bow down to them, one politely extended her hand and we shook.

Shooting was smooth. The place was dingy, which I’m sure looked great with lighting and all, but the owner started talking about the floor: alcohol, gum, blood, and any other strange substance you could imagine ended up on that floor and was never thoroughly cleaned up. While Micah and Blake shot the strippers, I read my lines, warmed up, and basically avoided the scene. This drove the girls nuts, and they threw underwear at me, pointed fake guns at me, and one even tried to give me a lap dance while shouting, “Why don’t you pay attention to me?!” I declined. I could’ve said, “Because I’m staying in character,” but no, I really had no interest.

Performed some lines, capped Honey Nut, capped Mike, rolled over the stage, capped the owner, and that was that. We used paint balls as ‘squibs’.

I left with Andy Coon, an awesome local filmmaker who has done progressive things that people from the Bay Area rarely even try to do. Marching in DC, making documentaries about civil rights movements, Andy’s a superhero. And his wife is the funniest woman I’ve ever met. She’s got a wicked singing voice and used to do Janice Joplin covers, which to me sounded better than the originals. Since shooting was done for the day, they took me to the gym so I could get my workout. Bought some groceries and came back to Micah’s.

Submitted by: Eric Jacobus