Monday, December 13, 2010

Down and Out

Monday morning is always a rude awakening as to the sickness and sadness in the world.
I guess by Friday it is just a "normal" thing.
I spend the weekend in my warm little house with my loving boyfriend and pets. I get into my freshly laundered 500 thread count sheets with the smell of SNUGGLES helping me drift off to sleep. I stream NETFLIX movies as a cook a roast and eat freshly baked cookies.
What I see on Monday mornings always reminds me of how lucky I am....

Del Paso light rail station is filled with ghettoness to the gills!
The News and Review is always on the ground spreading litter all over the place.
Kids with their jeans sinched below their butts with a BELT! I thought the purpose of a belt was to make sure your ass wasn't hanging out! These guys tighten the belt UNDER their asscheeks!!!!
There is this one homeless dude who sleeps at the Sheriffs Memorial near Woodlake Park, every Monday I see him waking up, using the spigot behind the old fire station to wash his face and brush his teeth. I can't help but to think of

my dad...who really is not that much better off than this guy. My dad lives in a van in a junk yard in Wilmington, CA. I am sure he uses a spigot somewhere to also wash his face and brush his teeth! I guess that is where the "sadness" hits me. A reminder.
Then I board the train. There is always someone who is heading downtown to meet their "man" who was locked up over the weekend. He is going to get outta jail and then the two of them are going to head down to the methadone clinic so they can "get well".  What a crock of shit! Methadone is a drug just like heroin....and the "counselors" at those clinics want to keep you coming back for more. That is how they feed their children! Medicare pays $200/mo so you can

stay high all month and they will keep upping your dose until you are a worthless, welfare receipiant, low life drain on society. So keep popping out kids so you can get a bigger check from the government. Sickening.
I get off the train ASAP because there is always some gross smelling person who wants to tell you about their problems. I get off at
 Cathedral Square and as I walk towards the great capitol of our state there is always an array of crazed zombie-looking street folks wandering around. I swear to God sometimes I look around for a camera thinking that these folks look like they're in some scary movie. Insanity. 
AAAhhhh my usual Monday morning reality check!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Filming of Soul Cat Confessions 12/2/2010 - 12/5/2010

Jeeez...I have never written a blog before so I am starting off with no particular direction. Alot of people have been interested in what I have been up to this past week. So I wanted to explain it all so the mystery is unveiled.  It started off with my dear friends Payton and Jason asking me if I wanted to help him film a movie...well not really a movie...kinda like a little short story to pitch to the HBO executives...or someone..?
Anyhow I agreed and was looking forward to it. It started Thursday, Dec 2, 2010, I took the days off work as vacation....so in a way I was getting paid....by the state.
Day 1 first shot was at Tony Kale's house which has one of the oldest homes in Sacramento, it has a historical plaque and everything.  As I walked into my dear old friend Tony's house I was greeted by AJ, Jon and Selena. AJ wrote the script, Jon is her man and he played the character of Luke and Selena is the make-up artist. Now don't get me wrong, I love Payton and Jason both....but getting an answer out of either one of them is like pulling teeth. I had heard Payton mumble something about needing an art director but that was it.....a mumble. Well it turns out that is what they needed and I had NO IDEA what an art director does. But I guess I figured it out. We set up a room in Tony's house to look like a distraught man had been holed up and going crazy. I made Jim Beam outta black tea. Jason gave me the task of filling up an ashtray to look like someone had been smoking...oh joy I thought. He gave me a bunch of cloves because of course he or Payton didn't want to give me their real cigarettes....not that it would of mattered. So I go outside and light like 15 cloves and I am puffing on them trying to keep them lit...so I can fill up the damn ashtray. It was disgusting....after about 10 minutes I realized that these things don't stay lit unless you keep puffing on them and at this point I was about to puke. Plan B. Grabbed some ashes out of Tony's fireplace, broke all the cloves near the butt....lit them again and then smashed them out. Damn I wish I would of thought of that in the first place. I can't believe I used to enjoy smoking....FN gross. 
We shot Luke doing his confessions to the camera. It was kinda fun sitting their watching someone act. Hard to be quite after the word...."speed....ACTION!"
Actually I am not positive I should be telling the story of Soul Cat Confessions I don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone. This is just my story of playing with some friends....
Day 2 at Kelly Moore's house. My first mission was to find dinnerware to smash...and a wooden bat for a fight scene. I went to Goodwill and bought $20 worth of dishes to shatter and stopped at Bonehead Tattoo and picked up a couple of bats from my friend Troy. I arrive at Kelly's and they have built this giant camera track running from one room to another. The scene is Neil (Luke's dad) enraged after breakfast and he starts throwing plates across the dining room. Awesome. AJ and I prebroke a bunch of glass and Jason had the honor or tossing the box across the floor. Yahoo broken glass everywhere. Jon handed me the prop for the breakfast, but I didn't understand it was the prop....and I opened it up and started eating the scrambled eggs and bacon. Payton comes up to me and is like...."Kelly! Are you eating that?" I look at him like uuhh yeah...duh. And then he says "That is for filming!"  Doohhh.....I felt like a jackass, but laughed it off. 
I was sent out to get a party platter at Togo's so I didn't get to see the actual filming of the breaking glass but I did see the raw footage. When I came back there was glass EVERYWHERE! I am sure Kelly will be finding shards of glass for years to come! If she would have known this is what we had planned I am certain she would of never agreed to let us film in her house. Too late now!!!!! 
Day 3 I arrived a little late after locking my keys in my car at safeway. I had fresh dough, flour and flowers. The scene is Alexis singing in the kitchen while kneeding dough and talking to Luke. Also, Luke and Alexis in the bedroom being romantic. I was pretty exhausted so I left kinda early to go hangout with my boyfriend. But I heard they shot an outdoor party scene which turned out pretty cool. I think a few of my friends are extras in that shot. 
Day 4 The first shot was at UCD Med Center....damn I wish I could have made it to that one. I heard someone gave them the passcode to get into a wing of the hospital that was under renovation or something. Jason and Payton put on scrubs and started collecting real hospital equipment, IV bags, heart rate monitors, etc. They hooked up Alexis as is she was being thawed out and Grant played the doctor. Who needs permits to film in public places? NOT US!!!!!  LOL you just need to know someone who knows someone....and just do it. 
For awhile I thought my cat Sanchez was going to have his acting debut, but that scene got cut. I was looking forward to the look on his face when the crazy lady would have put him in the oven and turned it on to cook 'em. The last scene was filmed on 47th street at Normans house....it was a rape scene in the bedroom. The actor dudes name is Corey and my friend Amy played the chick, they both did an awesome job. 
I am sure I missed a bunch of stuff but I am at work right now and I better do some real paid work....
Writing isn't as hard as I thought it might be....kinda fun.

I can't wait to see the final product....my claim to fame....LOL....Kelly the Art Director!!!!!!!