Drewstorm

2010-01-26T16:15:00.000-08:00

March of 2009 came an exciting opportunity. Scott Jones, a colleague and friend, had always talked about how fun it would be to work with a sound team instead of the usual one man band that we were used to. The opportunity came when Jones got a call to work on a student short called "The Sacrifice of Old San Juan". He called me to work as his boom operator which I couldn't have been more excited about. Not only was this going to be my first narrative project but it was also my first time working with a sound department.

On the shoot, I met so many great people. It was really exciting working with so many people on the project. Realize up until then, I had only worked on projects that usually had only 3 people, a producer, cameraman and sound engineer which was usually me. Occasionally we would get the luxury of a gaffer or a makeup artist but never really more than that. Here, I was working with departments, a camera department, grip & electric department, art department, etc. It was still considered a pretty small crew but it was the biggest I had ever worked with.

The department I knew the best (meaning I knew one person on it) was the grip and electric. The gaffer who is the head of the department was Jason Tahara, owner of Light Factory in Boulder, Colorado. The Key Grip was Dylan Rumney who I had met and worked with before. These guys and their team were so great to work with. So much in fact, the last day there was no sound but I volunteered to work with the G & E department just to get to know them better. They had just finished working on another local project called "Ink" which is now available on Netflix. Check it out.

The other department I worked with most closely was the camera department. Our Director of Photography (DP) Pablo Berron and his 1st AC (Assistant Camera) Eli Berg were fantastic to work with. They shot the whole film on the Viper, made by Grass Valley, which was also a first for me. Up till then, I had only worked with broadcast style cameras like the Sony F900. This was the first cinematic camera I had worked with and I have to say, it was quite impressive. When ever anything was getting a little tense or frustrating, you'd hear Eli in the background singing Black Betty by Ram Jam. I found it so amusing I made it my ring tone.

There are many others I enjoyed working with on this project that it would take way to long to write about them all but i will say the best part of the shoot was when we had an effects team come in and light a truck on fire. I had know idea that this would just be the beginning of the multiple narrative projects I would be working on and that this path would lead me to move to another state.

2009-12-31T00:20:00.000-08:00

Let's start with January of last year. Alicia and I had been working with 7 others on a series of webisodes dedicated to Heather Kartchner, a good friend who had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. We put together some comedic sketches dealing with cancer and her family. I know that seems a little demented, but it was our way of supporting her since none of us knew how to cook. Well, that's not true, Alicia did cook for them also. You can view the webisodes at www.drewstorm.com/chucklestocurecancer.

It was during the filming of one of our favorite skits in episode 5 (What's that on your head?) that we got the news that was going to dictate our entire year. Alicia pulled me aside into the kitchen, gave me a big kiss and whispered into my ear "It's positive"! We had been trying for over a year so this was very exciting news. I am going to be a daddy. Now that I am writing this all down I wish I would have taken more pictures over the past year. I don't think I have even one of Alicia pregnant. I guess I'll just have to get creative. Yeah, I got this picture from Google images! What of it?

Back to Blogging

2009-12-29T00:49:00.000-08:00

2009 has been such a crazy year for me and so much has happened. So I have decided to get back to the blog. I will start by catching you all up on this crazy year.

They say life's biggest stresses are having a baby, getting married, changing careers, going to school, losing a loved one and moving. 2009 has brought all but one of 'em to me. The saga begins on the next post...

Cinematography Merit Badge.

2008-09-29T21:39:00.000-07:00

Back in February, I was asked to help the Boy Scouts in our ward with their cinematography merit badge. Yeah, I know, they have come a long way from knot tying and helping old ladies cross the street. So I thought, sure why not. Should be easy and could be fun. I had know idea how elaborate the requirements were going to be. Last week, I spent the day with the boys filming the movie they spent so much time conceiving and I am proud to say, troop 717 has completed this merit badge. It only took us around 8 months to do it but he who waits, right? Here is the final product. Keep in mind, I only helped. The boys created the story, planned the shots and directed the scenes. Not to shabby.

Telluride!

2008-09-22T08:52:00.000-07:00

Immediately after the DNC, I met up with Dave and we headed down to Telluride, CO for the 35th annual Telluride Film Festival. When I say immediately, that is exactly what I mean. We started our 6 hour drive at 11:30pm. Now most people would think I had the luxury seat cause I could just sleep the whole trip down, but anyone who has ever driven with Dave knows this is not a possibility. In order to stay awake, Dave requires two things on full blast...the A/C and the stereo. Any smart person would have brought a blanket and some ear plugs but as we all know, I am not smart.

Luckily, we made really good time and about 5 hours later were in beautiful Telluride. We were able to sleep about 3 hours and then started our day at a V.I.P. breakfast. Not cause we are V.I.P., but because Starz, the company we hired by, wanted to get some man on the street interviews with the V.I.P.s. We didn't even get to eat the delicious buffet. It sucks not being a V.I.P. But the morning didn't completely suck. We did get to talk with some very nice stars including Greg Kinner and Lauren Graham. They were there promoting their new film, "Flash of Genius" about the guy who invented the intermittent windshield wiper. Yeah, I know. It sounds like a comedy, but it's not.

After that, the rest of the festival is a big blur. I remember eating chicken wings. (They were so good we had to go back a few times) and remember interviewing Jeff Goldblum and Michael O'Keefe. (The kid from Caddyshack!) We all sat there through the interview thinking, "gosh that guy looks familiar" and after he left and we were wrapping the lights, Dave blurted out "Caddyshack" and we all had this big "Aah Ha" moment as we realized that's where we knew him from.

We got blown off by David Fincher and spent a lovely evening reminiscing with Jean Simmons. (No, not the lead singer from K.I.S.S.) For all you independant movie buffs out the, he big movies to look for from the festival are "Flash Of Genius", "Adam Resurrected", "Happy-Go-Lucky", "The Good, The Bad and the Weird", "O'Horten" and "American Violet". All of these films got a lot of buzz. But if they suck, don't blame me cause I didn't see any of them.

DNC!

2008-09-13T10:58:00.000-07:00

As well as working hard to get Daniel and AJ's wedding video finished, Denver hosted the DNC (Democratic National Convention). I didn't actually work the event, but I was hired to work on 4 episodes of a live show for TV One. They are a black entertainment station out of Washington DC. The name of the show was "DNC After Party" and it basically focused on all the events and commentary surrounding the convention. So I was working from about 12:00pm to 2:00am every day of the convention attending the after parties with our hosts interviewing celebrities. Some of the big names I got to work with were Sheryl Underwood, Hill Harper and Al Sharpton. We also got to interview Wyclef, Biz Markie and Jesse Jackson Jr. It was a lot of work and really long days, but over all it was a fun project to work on. Part of that was due to working with such great people. Josh, Ryan, Kevin, Tsia, Erica, Torian and everyone at Citizen Pictures, thank you for a great time and I hope to work with you again soon.

ps. A lot of the footage on the DNC After Party website is what my crew shot over the course of the convention. Check it out.

More from Daniel and AJ's video.

2008-09-13T10:39:00.000-07:00

Here is more clips from the video. It features Alicia so I know you will all be on the edge of your seat!

The break-up told in the style of an 80's music video.

Daniel's Wedding Video

2008-09-12T09:10:00.000-07:00

Daniel is married! And of course, we created a video to document the events that lead up to this happy, happy, joy, joy event. The creative team behind the project was Jack (a.k.a. Chris), Dennis, Barb (Jack's wife), Alicia and myself. To be honest though, Jack and Dennis really get the credit for writing the best parts. We also had the help of Denver High Def (Daniel's work), Adam (Daniel's brother), the Kogan sisters, the Thompson Family, the Hamrick Family, the Anderson Family, Alesia Coryell, Mandy (Alicia's Sister) and the infamous Alan Whitehead.

We came up with the idea to do a "Choose how the story is told" video where we show interview footage of Daniel and his Fiancee, AJ, and then when the story reaches a mojor plot point, a menu would appear on the screen giving you three options of how the story would be told. Then the audience would choose the option that sounded the most interesting and the story would continue in that style. And all the options revolved around things the couple were interested in. This turned out to be a major project with 21 sections to write, film and edit. But we were happy with the results. Here are some of the clips we thought were the best.

The proposal in the style of a silent movie...

The Future in the style of Fandango...(Keep in mind, Daniel and AJ are big Star Wars fans!)

Back to Blogging!

2008-09-12T09:06:00.000-07:00

I have received many comments from people that I need to continue this blog. Without the excitement of India, I haven't felt I had anything to really write about, but to appease all you adoring fans, I will continue this blog and let you know about all the exciting things I have been up to in the past few months as well as keep you up to date on my on going adventures and thoughts.

My Haircut

2008-06-07T06:42:00.000-07:00

After one too many comments from Vanessa on how I looked like Elvis, it was time for me to get a haircut. Our driver, Manu recommended a place down the road so I decided I would take the chance.

I walked down the road and found the barber shop to be a shack on the side of the road, big enough for 2 chairs and that's about it. The barber invited me to have a seat. Luckily he spoke very good English, so he got what I wanted instantly. He was fast - the hair cut took about 5 minutes. He pulled up a broken piece of mirror and showed me the back. It is probably the best haircut I have ever had.

He then asked if I would like a shave. "Sure," I replied. He brought over a tray of different shaving creams and gels and asked which I would prefer. I told him to choose, since I had no idea what the differences between them were. He took 3 minutes to lather me up and then used a straight razor to do the shave. It was very relaxing.

He then asked if I would like a massage. "Why not," I responded and he proceeded to give me a head massage. It felt so good I closed my eyes and just took it in. "Does it feel good?" came his voice and when I opened my eyes to respond, he was next to me giving a haircut to the guy in the other seat. Somehow the two barbers had switched in the middle of the headrub and I didn't even notice it. He then rubbed my shoulders, back, arms and hands. It was awesome. When he finished, I asked what the damage was, expecting a pretty hefty bill. 300 rupees was his response which is about $7.50. I should have done this a lot sooner.

The Scary Ride Home

2008-06-07T06:37:00.000-07:00

Our drivers hated our trip to the Tibetan community and were very anxious to get back to Goa. So they drove really, really fast. Both Robert and I were really scared we were going to die but for some reason didn't speak up to the driver. Maybe because we wanted to get back to Goa as much as they did. After seeing this accident on the side of the road, we spoke up. It toke us 30 minutes longer but I definitely feel it was worth it. Don't you?

Tibetan Debaters

2008-06-07T06:27:00.000-07:00

Our final day in the Tibetan Community we were very fortunate to shoot a debate. This is a big deal here at the school. All the monks in the area attend and teams go at it. I have no idea what they were debating about but I have always had this image of peaceful, smiling Tibetan monks. Not today, their way of debating is very physical and loud.

So you have two teams competing against each other. One team presents questions and the other team has to give answers. The team that asks the questions usually have a couple of guys standing by a mic and the way they decide who gets to ask the next question is based on who is strong enough to push the others out of the way of the mic. It was like WWF. Also whe ever a person makes what he feels is a good point (which is all the time) they would finish their statement with a strong clap in front of themselves like they were mimicking an alligator (sorry for the reference Eldon). Our host said that in Tibet where it is cold, the monks get cracks in their hands from doing this. I have to say it was pretty entertaining.

The Biggest Monestary

2008-06-07T06:06:00.000-07:00

After the interview with Ling Rinpoche, we went to get some b-roll at one of the monasteries in the community. I should say, THE monastery in the community, because this place was like the Pepsi Center. It was huge. Our host told us that it is also a fairly new building, having only been dedicated a few months ago. On the top of the building are two deer kneeling on either side of what appears to be the sun. When I asked what was the significance of the deer, I was told that when Buddha spread his teachings amongst the people it was also for the animals. That all living creatures heard him in their own tongue and that the deer was a reminder that all living creatures are important in Buddhism.

We walked in and there were hundreds of young monks inside praying. We started to shoot and in the middle of the praying, some of the younger children shot up off their mats and ran as fast as they could for the door. There must have been a helicopter outside based on the speed that those kids ran out of the monastery. About 5 minutes later they all came running back in with food and tea and started to serve all the monks who had remained to pray. I was later told that there is a specific time that they need to have food during the prayer and so they children have to fetch the food and tea very quickly in order to have it all served in time. Why don't they just start the prayer with food at the ready was my thought, but this is how they do it.

After the prayer we finished off our day by heading up to the roof and getting a time lapse of the sunset. I can't think of a better way to end a day.

Our New Photographer

2008-06-07T05:57:00.000-07:00

Incidentally, most of the pictures featured on this blog have been taken by Trichen. He has shown a lot of interest in photography so whenever we are out shooting, I hand my camera over to him and he gets all of these great photos. Pointer taught him the rule of thirds and how to compose his shots. I then I told him that the beauty of art is that you learn the rules, and then once you understand them, you find ways to break them. After a long day of shooting Trichen and I were looking at the pictures he had taken that day and everything was centered in the shot. I looked at him and said, "Pointer taught you the rule of thirds, why is everything in the middle?" He leaned over to me and whispered in my ear, "I am breaking the rules," and than went back to his dinner with a big smile on his face.

Shy Plants

2008-06-07T05:36:00.000-07:00

Trichen introduced me to a new plant. In the first picture is the plant when we first saw it. The second picture is after Trichen had touched the plant with his hand. At first I thought it was like a Venus Flytrap, but Trichen says these plants don't close in order to catch food. I ask him why do they close then and his reply was cause they are too shy.

Snow Lions

2008-06-07T05:24:00.000-07:00

While walking around the Tibetan community we encountered a lot of stupas. I asked Trichen why pretty much every stupa we encountered had a dragon on it. "That's not a dragon," he corrected me, "It's a snow lion." I have never heard of a snow lion before. He then explained the the snow lion was the national animal of Tibet and that they were extinct due to Tigers eating the majority of the population. I couldn't help but think how interesting the parallel between the tigers bringing about the extinction of the snow lion and the Chinese's oppression of the Tibetans. Something to think about I guess.

Another Travel Day

2008-06-07T05:04:00.000-07:00

The next morning we once again got in the cars and traveled south into Karnataka for about six hours. The reason for all this traveling was to interview Ling Rinpoche, who is a 21 year old boy said to be the reincarnation of the Dali Lama's teacher. We arrived at the location in order to scout where to have the interview which was to take place the following day. We were greeted by Ling Rinpoche's assistant who was a fantastic host and rode a motorcycle, which for some reason I found amusing.

He led us up the stairs to the room that we would be conducting the interview and told us to be careful. "Careful? Careful of what?" I thought. But my question was answered very quickly as I looked up right above the door we were entering was a hive of bees. It was huge! I mean, how does anyone allow something like this form, in front of their doorway, nonetheless. I was scared, but fascinated at the same time. After scouting the location we were invited for biscuits and tea downstairs. Our director asked for us to pass the honey and me and Trichen just looked at each other, both wondering where that honey came from.

Trichen's First Ocean Experience

2008-06-07T04:47:00.000-07:00

After that very long travel day I was relieved to find that our hotel here in Goa is awesome. The resort actually has a bar, restaurant, a pool and it is a 3 minute walk to the beach. Trichen was very excited because he had never seen the ocean, so we threw our bags in our rooms and headed to the beach. As we approached, Trichen looked at me and said it was going to rain. I looked up and saw nothing but clear skies. "What makes you say that?" I asked. "I hear thunder," he replied. I smiled. "That's not thunder, that's the ocean," I told him. He looked at me like I didn't know what I was talking about and when he looked forward again, we had just come up over the hill to reveal the beach. It is monsoon season now in Goa and the waves were pretty strong. Trichen bolted for the ocean and the rest of us started to jog trying to catch up.

It was cool to share the experience with him. I guess when you have worked on a cruise ship, you take the ocean for granted. I started to think, I can't wait to be with my own children as they experience the amazing world we are a part of. I stood there with Trichen in the sand as we let the tide come in around us, causing us to sink further and further into the sand, and just soaked in the moment.

Trip to Goa

2008-06-07T03:39:00.000-07:00

So now that we've ditched Pointer in Nepal, the rest of us are heading down to Goa. For those of you with short memories, Goa is were Alicia and I spent our final days of vacation, sitting on the beach drinking Mai-Tais (virgin of course). In order to get to Goa from Dharamsala, we needed to fly to Delhi, spend the night, then hop a flight to Goa. Now Dharamsala is a small place and only has one flight to Delhi every day that leaves at 4:00 pm and arrives in Delhi around 5:30pm. It was about time we had an easy travel day.

So we had a relaxing morning and made plans to go see Indiana Jones that night in Delhi because it was opening day here in India. Around 2:00 we got word that the flight was delayed two hours. No problem, we'll just go to a later showing.

You have to understand that seeing Indiana Jones was a very big deal to both Robert and me, so our whole day was revolving around this single event. 4:00 pm came and we all loaded into the cars to head for the airport. 15 minutes into the drive we pull over at a gas station. Megena gets out of the other car and walks up to Robert's open window. "The flight has been canceled," she says. By the expression on my face you would have thought a nuclear bomb had gone off. How are we going to see the movie now?

And then it got worse. Our director followed behind her and informed us that the only option we had was to drive to Delhi. Delhi was an 9-10 hour drive and it was now 4:30pm. That would put us in at around 2:00 in the A.M.! This nice relaxing travel day was turning into a nightmare. There will be no Indiana Jones for us tonight.

Dharamsala is in the mountains, so the first couple of hours was miserable. I had taken no motion sickness pills because I had no idea we were going to drive to Delhi instead of fly, so I was feeling pretty miserable at this point. Around 8:00pm we stopped for dinner which I couldn't eat because I was feeling so nauseous, so I had a soda and some bread and after dinner I pretty much passed out in the car.

I awoke around 1:00 am to find us at a truck stop about an hour and a half outside Delhi. Yes! only an hour and a half to go! Trichen had bought me a Pepsi and informed me the bathrooms weren't very nice. That was an understatement. When I got in there, it was a hole in the ground with one pipe going into the wall. The pipe was a lot smaller than the hole, but the hole was completely filled. I was still a little groggy so it took me a second to realize what was filling that hole. About 30 seconds later I made out the 12 inch tail and the brown furry backside poking out of the opening. Yeah, it was the biggest rat I had every seen and it appeared to be stuck in this hole because its tail kept moving back and forth, wiggling like a worm on a hook. I don't know if I was done or not, but I zipped up my pants and ran out of that stall pretty quick.

I went back to the car, pretty much hating my life at this point and after 10 minutes of feeling sorry for myself I started to wonder, "Why are we still waiting at this terrible truck stop?" When I inquired, my attention was directed to the road where a bunch of trucks were stopped in the middle of the road. You see, in India cargo trucks aren't allowed on the streets during the day, so it is in the middle of the night that their rush hours start. It started moving and we all hopped into the car only to make it about 100 meters down the road. We sat there, 100 meters from the truck stop which was an hour and a half away from our destination for an one and a half hours without moving.

We arrived at our hotel in Delhi around 7:00 am, 14 and a half hours after we had left. As I was imagining a hot shower and bed, our director informed us that we had 3 hours before we had to leave for the airport to catch our flight to Goa. To make a long story short (I know, too late) we arrived in Goa at 5:00 pm making it 24 hour nonstop travel day. I knew I should have fought for a better travel day rate.

Pointer's visa extension

2008-05-28T04:27:00.000-07:00

Before we left for India, we all knew that Pointer's visa was going to expire two weeks before we were scheduled to fly back to Denver. Our director said not to worry about it, that he'll figure out how to get an extension when we get closer to that time. Well, that time is now and amongst all the shooting we've been doing, our director and producers have been frantically trying to figure out how to get his extension. Here were some of the ideas that have been considered.

Idea #1
Robert pretends to be a spinal surgeon and goes to the visa extension office claiming that Pointer has had an injury to his back and can't get on a plane for at least 2 more weeks.

Idea #2
Pointer enrolls in classes to become a Buddhist monk. Our director found out that if you provide your enrollment papers to the visa office, they would grant you an extension. It isn't very clear however if it is required that he actually attends those classes. Can you picture Pointer in one of these hats. That alone gives this idea my vote.

Idea #3
Pointer marries an Indian girl. Come on, It worked for Gérard Depardieu .

Idea #4
Megena has a friend who works for an airline or a travel agency. She has him print up a fake ticket dated for June 14th and then Pointer takes it to the extension office claiming it was the soonest flight he could get within his price range.

Idea #5
Pointer flies to Nepal and gets his visa extended there cause it is a lot easier to get it extended if you go out of the country.

Well, ideas #1 and #3 were thrown out pretty quickly. I don't know why, they seemed the easiest. Idea #2 was actually attempted only to find out that it only works if you have a student visa. Too bad, I think Pointer would have made a great monk. So in the end it was a combo of ideas #4 and #5. Pointer got his visa extended for an additional 5 days with the fake ticket and left for Kathmandu, Nepal a few days later. We plan to meet him back in Delhi in a week depending on how long it takes for them to process the extension. I'm sure he'll have some great stories when he gets back. To be continued...

Room Update

2008-05-28T04:15:00.000-07:00

I haven't had any animals running around my bathroom for a couple of days, so I was confident that the issue had been resolved. Nope! this morning while brushing my teeth I heard scurrying on the ceiling followed my squeaking. The squeaking meant it wasn't a kitten, but something else that squeaks.

So I went to get hotel management to investigate. When we got back, there was a furry little butt sticking out of the hole. It appeared it had wedged itself in there and was stuck. So all we could see was this round hair ball breathing in and out, pulsing like those little furballs that come out of a mogwai when you get them wet and they reproduce (Gremlins). You can see it if you look closely. The manager, who I have become friends with over these past couple of days asked if I had a stick and a flashlight, because whatever the animal was, it seems he had chewed the power lines to the light, causing the light not to work anymore. I held the flashlight and he took the stick and freed the animal, which ran back into the ceiling. I turned tot he manager and said, "Now can I have a new room?" and he nodded his head and handed me a key. I still have no idea what that animal was, and quite frankly, I don't think I want to know.

The Little Indian beggar's lesson

2008-05-28T03:54:00.000-07:00

While shopping for a present for Alicia (no, you can't know what it is, Alicia), I met a little Indian boy. He asked me what was my name and where was I from. This is a common tactic for the beggars here in India - to establish a connection with you before they ask you for money. You see, all the beggars here say they need money for food, but when you offer them food, they refuse. I didn't understand this until I heard that most of these beggars work for someone else, kind of like a pimp. So assuming I was involved in this trap, I decided to give him as much information as he would give me. So I asked his name and where he was from. He told me that he was from down south and came to Darmsella to escape the heat. He lived with his blind grandmother and his baby sister. I asked him what made his grandmother blind and he responded "Cause she's old," so matter-of-factly. I found this answer funny, so since I had no food on me to give him, I decided to have him help me pick out Alicia's present and in return, I would buy him an ice cream cone.

After we had found something that I was confident Alicia would like, we started toward the ice cream shop. He said, "I don't want ice cream, could you buy me some milk instead?" I was humbled in that moment by this boy, who instead of taking the ice cream cone I had promised him, he sacrificed it to buy milk so he could bring it back to his family. The milk was much more expensive than an ice cream cone, but I was so moved at his desire to take care of his family that I was more than willing to help.

Playing chess with a King

2008-05-28T03:46:00.000-07:00

While exploring my hotel (actually I was really just looking to see if any rooms had freed up so I could finally leave the zoo that is my room), I stumbled across a chess board. Trichen had mentioned that he liked chess, and having been so deprived of any form of board game for so long, I thought I'd challenge him. I figured, I might have a chance to beat a king in chess if I played him before he had learned strategy. I was wrong...he kicked my butt.

Tibetan Olympics

2008-05-28T03:01:00.000-07:00

So the big reason we are here in Darmsella is to cover the Tibetan Olympics. The Tibetan community decided since their athletes have no country to represent in the upcoming Olympics in Beijing, that they would hold their own Olympics to show the competitive spirit of Tibet. I commend the athletes for their participation but I have to be honest, it was like watching an elementary school's field day. There were 13 men and 10 women participating and they had to compete in all the events, whether they knew how or not.

The first event was archery. The announcer got on the megaphone and informed the press (which there was more of than participants) that all the athletes had spent 6 hours learning archery just the day before. 6 HOURS! That's all the training they had. Needless to say there were a lot of arrows that ended in the forest, but all things considering, better in the forest than in the members of the press, right? Next came long distance running which we didn't really cover too much because, as I said, it's a mountain town and none of us felt like running up the mountain to film them.

Then we went to Funky Town (won't you take me to... Funky Town) for swimming. The pool was only 12 meters long (an Olympic pool is 50 meters long) and once again, the athletes just learned how to swim a couple of days before. And that's even misleading because they learned how to swim in theory, which means they learned without ever actually getting into the water. One poor girl walked up to the edge of the pool, dove in and started spinning those arms but just sank like a brick. Members of the press, after they got the shot of course, had to reach in and pull her out of the pool to prevent her from drowning. The lesson I learned was this, if you want to be in a swimming competition, it's a good idea to know if you CAN swim before signing up.

Finally came the opening and closing ceremonies. Due to such a small budget, they had to combine the two ceremonies into one. But it was entertaining. Trichen's school marching band played and 4 Miss Tibets were in attendance. Trichen likes the one in the front on the right. Your right, not theirs. All in all, It was a good attempt and more importantly, the athletes were given an opportunity to compete, which is really all they wanted. So it was a success.

Room in Darmsella.

2008-05-28T02:29:00.000-07:00

After a 10 hour drive, we arrived in the mountain town of Darmsella, Home of the Tibetan Government in Exile and home to the Dali Lama. It's a bummer that he is in England right now so we won't get a chance to meet him. Not that we would get to anyway, but, you never know. So we arrived at about 11:00pm and I have to admit I was not in the best of moods. I was pretty cranky. I got into my room and was not very impressed. No fridge, No A/C, no fan and to top it all off my phone was broken. I am sorry to say I was pretty rude to the hotel manager after seeing the room that night.

The next morning I psyched myself into a better mood and took stock of the positives of my room. I have a TV with about 40 channels. Of course only 5 of them are in English but we are focusing on the positive, right. My bed is fairly comfortable and complete with Care Bear sheets. The bathroom has a red bucket and hot water and I have a balcony with a pretty remarkable view. And the weather here is much cooler, so the fact that there is no A/C or fan is going to be OK. I thought to myself, it's not paradise, but I can make this work.

So with my new positive attitude, I went into the bathroom to get ready for the day. As I was sitting on the toilet I started hearing a scratching from behind me. Then I heard scratching followed by small rocks falling. I looked behind me and there was a hole in the wall behind the water heater. And in the darkness of the hole emerged a pair of eyes...staring right at me.

I jumped up and ran out of the bathroom in a panic. I had absolutely no idea what it was but I knew it was alive and that was all I needed to be completely freaked out. After regaining my composure, I went back in and looked up into the hole. Those eyes stared me down and after staring at it for a couple of seconds the form of a cat emerged from the darkness. A kitten actually. I grabbed everything I needed to get ready and ran out of the bathroom and shut the door.

I spoke with the hotel manager and asked him to trade rooms. He informed me that there were no rooms available but he would seal the hole from the outside and recommended I just keep the bathroom door shut. Now, I don't want you all to think I am afraid of a cute little kitten, but my thought was, if a kitten can get in there, what's to stop a snake, or rat, or monkey from getting in there. And all the hotel can do for me is tell me to keep the bathroom door shut?! I guess I shouldn't have been so rude the day before. Needlessly to say, my positive attitude was gone by breakfast.

On to Darmsella

2008-05-28T02:01:00.000-07:00

Well it's time to fly this chicken coop. I've grown very found of the royal family this past week and am very sad to go. But there is good news - Trichen will be joining us on the next leg of our journey. We went to pick him up this morning and were greeted by his mother. She has such a great smiling face and a laugh I absolutely love. She invited us in and offered us tea and biscuits (as she does every time we visit). I of course passed on the tea but welcomed the biscuits with open arms. By the way, a biscuit in India is really a cookie. So all you kids I home teach, If you are ever in India and are asked if you would like a biscuit, your answer should always be "YES!...please."

After the biscuits Amula (Trichen's mother) had a gift for all of us. She had each of us stand before her and she placed a white, silk-like scarf around our necks, and as she did this said in Tibetan "Good fortune be with you." I have to say, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of love when she did this and even though I had only spent a couple of days with her this week, I knew I was going to miss her very much. She then asked us to take care of her baby boy, which of course Trichen rolled his eyes and got red-cheeked over and then hugged us all goodbye.

Next stop...Darmsella.

Move over Michael Jordan!

2008-05-28T01:48:00.000-07:00

While waiting for an answer to the most asked question we have had here in India, "What are we doing next?" Pointer stumbled onto a group of children playing some b-all. He decided he would show these kids how an American plays the game. I also think he was looking for a little taste of home. The kids seemed pretty eager to let him play, probably because he's six foot something and looks pretty athletic (sorry President Ford, I don't think he'll play for our preisthood team). Pointer played for a good 30 minutes and had to fight every one of those minutes for the ball. Who would have thought that a bunch of Tibetan kids would be a match for the great Pointer!

The Little Monk

2008-05-23T07:36:00.001-07:00

After the helicopter shoot we were asked to take this little monk back to the monestary. Vanessa said sure and had him sit on her lap. "He gets mountain sick", they said as they waved in our rear view mirror. They were right, the poor little monk puked a third of the way down the mountain and then passed out. Alexandre was worried that the kid might have died on us. So Pointer said "Check his pulse". "I don't want to wake him up cause he might puke again" was Alexandre's reply. "Yeah, It's better that he's dead then he pukes again" was Pointer's reply and Alexandre seeing the logic in Pointer's statement took the little monks pulse. Of course he was fine, (I've never heard of anyone dying from motion sickness!) He just fell asleep. That poor little monk.

Day of the Helicopter Shoot

2008-05-23T07:06:00.000-07:00

So the day has arrived, the day we have all been working so hard to get organized. Well, I didn't really do any of the organizing. All I had to do is show up. Really, I was just here to observe cause if you stop to think about it, Helicopter and sound recording really doesn't mix. But I was excited non the less to be a part of the day. We had a jib, a crew to work the jib, a helicopter and two to three hundred students to cover the mountain top.

We started with the jib shot. Let me start by saying that the hike up the mountain with no gear, just myself winded me a bit. We had a crew of guys carrying up a 40 ft Jimmy Jib, plus weights up that trail. They would tie both ends of a rope to the weights and then hang the rope on the top of their head. Some of these guys had to be at least 50 years old! I was amazed at their endurance. And after they would get to the top, no break, they would just unload and run back down to get something else. I sure am glad I don't have there job.

Then came the Helicopter Shot. Robert and Megana were in the helicopter with our director while, Vanessa, Alexandre, Pointer and I stayed on the ground and organized the students. This was harder than I expected. The shot required that the mountain was completely clear except all the students on top of the mountain. Well, when the town heard the helicopter coming, everyone wanted to rush up the mountain to see it. I thought if we just stood in front of the path and informed everyone that came up that the mountain was closed we would have an easy day. What I didn't know was there were many paths that went up the mountain, more paths than we had people for. So Vanessa would get the call to clear the mountain and we would have to run up and down the mountain shooing kids off. But you know kids, you tell them "no" and what do they do. That's right, they would pretend to be leaving and as soon as you turned your back, they would run back up. I guess those kids really liked that helicopter cause they gave us a run for our money. We eventually gave up and just took a picture.

Introducing Megana

2008-05-23T06:54:00.000-07:00

In a previous blog, Pointer wrote a poem about a beautiful Indian woman who he was quite taken by. I guess our director wanted to do him a favor cause he hired her. Megana is our new line producer here in India and let's face it, it's about time. We really needed someone who could speak the language and knows who to talk to to get things done. Megana has been working in Bollywood for many years and has experience working in many different departments from art to sound. Since we arrived in India, our director has been trying to organize a helicopter for the opening sequence we will be shooting in a few days. Everyone has told him it's not possible, that it takes at least 6 months to cut through the red tape required. Well, he put Megana on it and she got it all organized in 6 days. That's right, she's a rock star!

Everyone get's a job.

2008-05-23T06:48:00.000-07:00

Here in India there is just not enough jobs for the amount of people here. So they have to create jobs for people that aren't really necessary. Here is the perfect example. This guy here! His job is to take the money from the driver and pass it to the guy in the toll booth. Do you think he gets benefits with that?

Meeting the King!

2008-05-23T06:09:00.000-07:00

Today we met the King of Tibet. Or at least he would be if Tibet was a free nation. His name is Trichen (actually Trichen is more of a title, but that's what we call him) and he is the desendant of Songtsän Gampo. Trichen's father was the king when China invaded Tibet in the late 50's. His father spent 20 years in prison for supporting the Tibetan people in there fight for freedom and died four years ago. Now Trichen, who is 16 years old, is the rightful heir to the throne.

It sounds all glamerous and official but Trishen is just like all 16 year olds, well maybe a bit more responsible. (a lot more responsable than some of the priests I teach) He is into Linking Park and the Backstreet Boys (Addie's not the only one!) and sings "You're Beautiful", by James Blunt whenever he get's bored. He loves the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, likes to play video games and he has a great sense of humor. I really enjoy talking with him. He cares for all those around him and acording to his mother, loves to buy sweets for the children in his neiborhood just like his father did. He is very devoted to his education and is busy prepairing himself so he can better serve his people.

He loves music and when Robert asked if he liked the Beatles, he said "What's that?". Robert's jaw fell to the floor with astonishment and so we have decided to follow in Dave Klein's tradition and enroll Trichen in a school of rock. When I said this, Trichen's sister asked, "Who will be the fat guy?" and all eyes turned toward me. Well I'm no Jack Black but I guess I'll have to do. "Let's get rockin'!"

Laundry!!!

2008-05-20T03:39:00.000-07:00

As I have said, we have no laundry service here in Derhadun. And just my luck I sent a lot of my cloths home with Alicia to help lighten my load. So I desperately needed laundry done. Pointer said "Do it yourself" and proceeded to tell me how he's been doing his laundry in the red bucket. "How hard could it be", I thought and decided to get to it.

Just for the record, It's not easy. So I started by putting all my whites in the bucket (it's a green bucket here). I poured the detergent that my wife had packed and I thought I would never use and then filled the bucket with cold water. Then I kind of stirred it up with my arm, which made a little bit of a mess. So I had to clean up the mess using this over sized squeegee. Then I let the whites soak for about 2 hours. After the soaking I pulled each item out one by one and scrubbed each piece for a couple of minutes, then rinsed them, again in cold water. Then came the fun part. Pointer had warned me that if I didn't get as much water out of the clothes before hanging them, they would get that mildewy smell. So I started ringing all the water out. I eventually got into a rhythm using the towel rack to wring as much water as i could out of them. What I didn't think about is how this would stretch the clothes really bad (a lesson I learned a little too late.)

Then I went out back and started hanging the clothes on the clothes line and found a new use for my grip clips. So now I wait. I waited about 3 hours then went outside and flipped the clothes. then waited another 3 hours. Feeling pretty satisfied, I went to collect my super clean laundry and fold the clothes I work so hard on. You can imagine my surprise when as I pulled my clothes of the line I found that a bird had come by and crapped all over a few of my items.

So I started by putting all my whites in the bucket (it's a green bucket here)...!

Road to Misery!

2008-05-16T00:43:00.000-07:00

Our first order of business here in Derahdun was to scout out the location for the opening sequence of the film. Scout days are awesome cause you don't have to lug gear around and you still get paid. This scouting day was the exception.

The location was in Mussoorie which is about 30 km from where we are staying which is about 18 miles (multiply by six and drop the zero). 18 miles of the bumpiest, windiest road you can imagine. And then add Indian style driving and you have recipe for Andy throwing up all over you, all over the car, and all over whatever snack you may be enjoying at the time. I didn't really puke but it was the most miserable hour I have had in India thus far. And remember, this is just a scout day. That means I have to do this drive at least a couple more times this week. This is why I pronounce Mussoorie... misery.

Once at the top, I found it to be a very beautiful mountain town. We hiked to the top of a mountain were the locals go to pray as well as they leave flags, or actually I think the flags have their prayers on them. Anyway, our director explained that we were going to fill the mountain top with two to three hundred Tibetan students and that we will be using a 40 foot jimmy jib as well as a helicopter. By the way for you Scouts who are going for your cinematography merit badge, the difference between a jib and a crane is that a jib you operate from the back and a crane you actually sit on and operate from the head. I sure feel bad for whoever has to carry all that gear to the top of this mountain but, anything for the shot, right?

Arriving in Dehradun.

2008-05-16T00:29:00.000-07:00

It appears I am really slacking on my blogging duties but you have no idea how hard it is to get to a computer here in Dehradun. Oh yeah, I have left Delhi ( Yeah!) and moved on to the next location, Dehradun. Dehradun in most ways is better than Delhi, but in others is worse. I'll let you decide which place you think is better. We arrived here on Sunday night and since our drivers are from Delhi and didn't really know the area, we had a hard time finding the hotel. Probably cause we aren't staying at a hotel, we're staying in a dorm.

Songtsen Library is the name of our campus and one cool little bit of trivia is that the sister of the Dalai Lama lives on this campus. In fact, her house is right next to our building and unknowingly I used her cloths line to do my laundry. That's another blog. Our rooms are clean and I have a shower with incredible water pressure. I have to hold on to the knobs to keep from getting blasted into the wall it's so good. I love it. I have no fridge, no TV, no A/C.

And I have a roommate. He mostly just sits on the wall and stares at me. (which being in India, you get used to) The A/C thing isn't too bad since it is a lot cooler here. Also there is no restaurant and no laundry service.

We have been invited to eat at the student mess hall, assuming we can get past the security system. He likes to nibble at your heels, but is afraid of the rest of you so all you have to do is make sure you are facing him at all times and don't give him access to your heels. The foods OK but we don't really get any kind of choice on what we eat. Whatever they make that meal, that's what we get. You know me, I like having choices. It's going to be an interesting week.

Disaster is all around me!

2008-05-14T22:23:00.000-07:00

For those of you keeping up with the news, you may have heard about the earthquake in China. Luckily we were no where near China at the time but it's scary to think we will be there in a month and a half. I'm sure this is going to effect our trip in some way. Also there was a terrorist attack in Jaipur, India, also known as "The Pink City" on Tuesday. Alicia and I were just there 2 weeks ago. I have to admit, It makes me uneasy hearing there is so much destruction happening so close to me. Keep me in your prayers everyone.

10 days with Alicia!

2008-05-08T23:10:00.000-07:00

O.K., I kow you want to here about our 10 days together in India. The internet connection here is so slow that I just don't have the patience. So I am taking the cheap way out and directing you to Alicia's blog for the details. Let's face it, she is a better writer anyway.

Hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to hearing from you. Oh, and if anyone is going to Gunner's memorial, could you email me some details? We all wish we could be there.

New members of our crew.

2008-05-08T03:56:00.000-07:00

We stopped by the equipment rental house here in Delhi and met with the jib operator and grips we will be working with in a couple weeks. I am amazed how accommodating they were. They put together multiple jibs varying from 18ft to 40ft and gave us demonstrations on all of them. And while they were doing this we were served chai and B.S.'d with the owner. I guess with Dean being my only rental house experience, it's all uphill from there.

Photography 101

2008-05-08T03:49:00.000-07:00

We had dinner at this cool, mordern decorated resturaunt and we got to taking pictures. Pointer commented that as a rule of thumb, if you want a cool artistic shot, you just put it out of focus. I got to thinking about all you producers out there (*cough* Seader!) that are always asking to check focus. I mean, come on, we're just trying to be artistic! As Dave Klein always says, focus costs extra.

Here is the series Pointer took. You tell me, do you agree with Pointer?

Keeping the immune system up.

2008-05-08T03:12:00.000-07:00

Robert has been studying nutrition for a while now and has brought a lot of natural solutions to help keep our bodies healthy. Even his insect repellent is an all natural repellent. One of these remedies is GSE, or grapefruit seed extract which I'm being told helps keep your immune system running strong. I'll have to ask James (Opt. Wellness Founder) if that's accurate.

Anyway, It has turned into our crews morning ritual dare, how many drops each person can handle. Not that it is difficult physically to handle, it's just really bitter. I know, I said the same thing, "How bitter could it be?" Well, I mixed 15 drops in with a glass of OJ on my first shot and let me tell you, It's really, really bitter! But I haven't gotten sick (Well, not to sick. It is India after all) so I guess I'll keep it up. Of course based on the steady upping of the anti, I'll be doing a hundred drops a morning by the time I get back. Ugh!

A cool Loft in Delhi of all things.

2008-05-03T02:29:00.000-07:00

The Scotch has a bite. In the foreground, on the coffee table is a selection of great cheese and crackers. It's probably 1,200 Rupees worth of cheese. In silhouette sitting on the sofa barefoot is a beautiful Indian girl. I want to talk to her. A few people are on the balcony smoking Indian cigarettes. Richard's apartment is plush. It could be a loft New York, London or Denver. It's hot. It's night but it's really hot. It's a foreign country but right now I feel at home.

By Jeff Pointer

Alicia's Here!

2008-04-27T04:25:00.000-07:00

Well I have a 10 day break starting today and that means Alicia is arriving tonight. We have a lot planned so may be slow on the blogging but we'll catch you all up when the 10 days are up.

An Old Delhi Experience.

2008-04-27T04:02:00.000-07:00

After having four days off I was ready to get out of my room and go do something. So Robert, Pointer and I decided to go have dinner in Old Delhi. Now I should preface this by informing you that when I went to get my immunizations, the lady there recommended that I just stay out of Old Delhi all together. "It's just not a pleasant place", she said. So off course what do I do...

"Old Delhi, here I come!"

She was right, We got there and it was filthy. Think Fifth Element when Bruce Willis is in the airport and there are just piles of trash everywhere. That's Old Delhi. So we hop out of the rickshaw and start looking for the restaurant that my India book recommended, all three of us thinking, is this really where we want to eat? So were are walking down the street, dodging beggars and pot holes when out of know where, this beautiful, green entry way emerges and sure enough, it is our restaurant. Relieved we went in and it opened up into this really nice courtyard where we sat.

We were the only people there and I don't know if it's normal or if the waiters were just really bored but they all decided to wait on our table. So we had 4 waiters for the 3 of us. Not like one would come, and then another would follow up, but all 4 at the same time. We would order something, they would bring it, dish it out and then take 3 steps back and just stand there. It was like we had an audience as we ate, just a bit uncomfortable. Pointer made the mistake of nodding to one of the waiters and complimenting the food (which was really, really good) cause the waiter then came over and put more food on his plate. This wasn't like seconds but it was after he had taken his first bite. I guess they thought he was nodding for them to serve him more. As we were leaving around 9:30pm, people started filling in. I guess they were there to see the live band that was setting up while we ate consisting of a boy with a keyboard and his mother with a drum machine. Ah, there's no Delhi, like the Old Delhi!

Finally Elephants!

2008-04-27T03:59:00.001-07:00

Finally we saw an Elephant walking down the streets of Delhi. The rickshaw driver was a little annoyed that we made him stop in the middle of the street in order to get the picture.

Things To Do In India When You're Bored!

2008-04-27T03:41:00.000-07:00

Today Chelsea and I having the day off found a jewelery store. Since they sold individual beads and stones, and had a place to sit down, I assumed it was a place where we could make our own jewelery. Well, you know what what happens when you assume. The lady at the store just didn't understand that we wanted to sit and make our own bracelets and necklaces. After a lot of trial and error she caught on to what we wanted to do and set up some workstations for not just the two of us, but for herself also.

Even though in the picture she looks Tibetan, she is Indian. She and her husband own the shop together and have been married for 4 and half years. She is not of a fan of Delhi (I haven't met anyone who is) and from her shirt I guess is a Disney fan. The three of us sat and made bracelets and necklaces using, jade, turquoise and pearls, yes real pearls. And the cool thing was is that we only paid like $10.00 and got to keep the jewelery! anyway, about half way through she called over to the store next door and had them deliver some sodas over to us. It was a fun way to spend an afternoon.

I Guess They Should Have Had a V8

2008-04-23T12:41:00.000-07:00

All the funny things I see here are from the backseat of a car. This van had so many people on the one side of the van that it was lopsided. I have no idea how the vehicle was even moving, but there you are.

Rickshaws, the Way to Go

2008-04-23T12:40:00.001-07:00

Everyone takes the rickshaws here in India. They are cheap, quick, and easy. I mean it, even a monkey could do it!

Mosquitoes!!!

2008-04-23T12:35:00.000-07:00

So you are warned time and time again by people about mosquitoes when you go to India. Most diseases are transmitted by these blood-sucking annoyances, but I had no idea how bad they would affect me. I took precautions by making sure I put on repellent on a daily basis, but obviously it wasn't enough.

It turns out I am allergic to these things. Monday I woke up and looked like I had the chicken pox - it was terrible. I went down to breakfast and the entire staff stared at me as if I were a leper. The owner of the restaurant started talking with the girl who runs the reception desk and they started looking me over, lifting my arms and stuff; they were fascinated. Keep in mind, they aren't speaking English so from my perspective they just came over and started man-handling me.

Finally he said in English "allergy," and wrote down the name of the hospital and told me to go. Now at this time, everyone else is still at the Taj Mahal, so I am all by myself here, and now I'm being told to go to a doctor in a third world country. I have to admit I panicked a little bit; okay, A LOT!

So I hopped in a rickshaw and went to the hospital. The hospital was, to my surprise, fairly normal looking. best part here was no wait, no paperwork, just go in see the doctor, get a prescription, and you are done. Loved that! The doctor was an old guy with a turban on his head and a great mustache and goatee. If i wasn't so nervous, I would have gotten a picture. He was a big jokester. It made me feel better that he was so jolly. He gave me meds and told me I would be back to normal in seven days. The best part is that with medication, the whole visit cost me less than $10.00.

Church and the Cutlers

2008-04-23T12:30:00.000-07:00

On Sunday everyone decided to go see the Taj Mahal. Since I was planing on seeing it when Alicia comes, I decided to take the opportunity to go to church instead. I had the hotel organize a taxi for me, looked online for the closest church building I could find, and set of for church all by myself. (For those of you who know me, this is a big deal!)

Delhi is cool in the fact that at any time you can stop and ask any of the billion people on the street for directions and nine times out of ten, they are very helpful. Delhi sucks in the fact that they don't have street names so when you have an address, it only gives you a building number and a neighborhood name. So I guess these two things balance each other out.

My driver had to stop and ask for directions 12 times before we finally found the building. I felt so bad for him. He would get directions from one person, drive to the end of the street, and then get out and find someone else to ask. I guess it was a bit inspired that he was to be my driver, because the mission president had locked his keys in the car, and it was my driver who broke into his car to get the keys. During his thanks he invited my driver to church sometime and to English lessons which the church provides every Thursday night. Maybe he'll go; I hope he does.

Church was a nice taste of home. I love how no matter where in the world you are, the church is the same everywhere. In sacrament meeting, the Branch President had all the young women who had participated in a women's conference just the day before bear their testimony.
One girl didn't speak very good English, but even though she bore her testimony in Hindi, I could feel the truth and sincerity of her testimony. It was a very moving meeting for me.

This is the baptismal font. Preston and Faith - how cool would it be to be baptized here?

After church I helped out the Branch President with some clerical work. They have no computers, so all membership records, tithing, you name it, is done by hand and put into a filing cabinet. And to top it all off, they have been without a ward clerk for several months. I just can't imagine having to run a ward or a branch without a computer. I wouldn't be able to keep everything straight. Then I went with the Branch President to his house for dinner.

President Cutler and his family were a delight. Rich and his wife, Merinda have 3 little boys - Issac is 7, Russell is 5, and Graham is 2. The Zirkers will be happy to know that Legos are popular in every country, and that these boys were very into building Legos. Sister Cutler is a music teacher and teaches many different classes to the youth in the area, and President Cutler works for Motorola. They are from Austin, Texas, have been in India for two years, and expect to be here for another two years.

It sure was nice to be in a home. Rich is an amature documentary filmmaker, and we talked shop a little. He showed me some of the videos he has put together one being the top five ways to kill a mouse, starring the missionaries from their branch. It was pretty funny watching these missionaries screaming like little school girls while trying to flush out this mouse.

Even though I have only been gone a little over a week now, I am realizing that not only am I missing my wife but I am also missing those in our ward that I home teach and spend a lot of time with. I guess this is the first day I really have felt homesick, but I am greatful to the Cutlers for giving me the feeling of home, even it was for just for a brief amount of time. Here is a link to their blog. I hope I get the chance to see them next Sunday.

The Birds

2008-04-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

On the morning the torch came to Delhi, we woke up early and got a shot of the sun rising over the India Gate. In the distance, there was a monastery and the people there were praying out loud.

I walked closer to record the sounds coming from the monastery, and in order to get closer, I had to walk through a street that thousands of birds had made their resting place. I thought how cool would the sound be if I walked through the birds and recorded the sounds of them flying away.

So I hit record and started slowly walking towards the flock. In waves they all started flying into the air, just as I had anticipated, but what I didn't expect was that they had no intention of giving up their spot.

There I stood in the middle of the street with thousands of birds circling me waiting for me to pass on so they could retrieve their resting spot. I know it's a total "had to be there" moment but it was a moment I will never forget.

Frogger anyone?

2008-04-23T12:15:00.001-07:00

Our night on the town gave us a new perspective on the traffic here in India. As I have said in previous posts, pedestrians do get hit by cars and now we were the pedestrians.
No, we didn't get hit, but while in Delhi Hut we had to cross a major street. They really don't have any crosswalks and if they do, nobody uses them. So when you want to cross the street you have to watch for a break in the traffic and then just run and hope that traffic will either slow down for you or dodge you.
Jeff compared it to the Atari game Frogger, which is a very good analogy. You look at the lane closest to you and when it's clear, you go, adjust as until the next lane is clear, and then you move lane by lane until you get across. By the end of the day we got pretty good at the game. Of course we had a great strategy... we just waited till a local went and then stuck right by his side.

The Quest for Alcohol

2008-04-23T12:13:00.000-07:00

As we walked down the corridor the smell got worse and worse, feathers filled the air and when we looked down we were standing in a pool of blood...

Pointer wanted this post to start out this way, so we'll do this entry J.J. Abrams-style.

Three hours earlier...

Pointer, Chelsea and I were sitting around in the internet cafe wrapping up our emails. Pointer was commenting on how all he wanted was to be able to sit in his room, read a book and have a cocktail, and he was amazed how difficult it was to make that happen. You see, here in India it is not as socially acceptable to drink alcohol as it is in the states, and so there are not very many liquor stores around. So both Chelsea and I, feeling the need to get out and away for a while, decided to take Pointer on a quest to get alcohol.

We all went out front where the rickshaw drivers hang out, and asked a driver to take us to a liquor store. This was very difficult to communicate but after about five minutes, we were confident that he understood what we were looking for. We hopped in and the adventure was off. I was suprised how comfortable the ride was. It was partially due to the fact that I think we had a defective rickshaw that had a top speed of about 35 km an hour, because every other vehicle on the street was passing us. I really couldn't tell because the speedometer was broken. But the fact that he was unable to drive like a bat out of hell made the ride quite pleasant.

About 45 minutes later we were dropped of at a huge outdoor market area called Delhi Hut. (This name is more amuzing when you here Pointer screaming it into the air, "Del - hi Huuuuuuuuut!") Good thing we set a fixed rate with the driver instead of paying him based on time. So now we had to find alcohol amongst all the little huts and booths in the market. Every booth or hut was maybe 10ft x 10ft, not very big, but they would cram any and every kind of business you could think of in that small space. There were people getting haircuts, massages, toy stores, grocery stores and restaurants. We definitely take for granted our space in America.

A little boy started following us around with a basket. I think he was offering to carry anything we bought, like a human shopping cart. Jeff finally got rid of him with a soda. He said the kid just had such a cute face.

As we walked down the corridor the smell got worse and worse, feathers filled the air and when we looked down we were standing in a pool of blood. Chelsea looked up and we were standing in front of a store that sold chickens - freshly plucked and slaughtered chickens. Chelsea got really sick and had to run out of there. Not wanting her to be by herself and also because I wasn't interested in watching the guy slaughter a live chicken, I followed her to a better smelling area. Jeff said he'd catch up to us cause he wanted to see the massacre. What can I say, Americans and violence!

When Jeff caught up to us a man walked by us holding a bottle of whiskey. Jeff stopped the guy and asked him where he got the whiskey. I think the man thought Jeff was going to take his bottle cause of the desperation in Jeff's eyes, so the man started to protect the bottle against his body and shake his head "no." Jeff continued the interrogation and the man finally pointed in the direction of a small crowd. We looked beyond the crowd, and saw a shop three times as big as any of the other shops, and behind the counter was shelves of all kinds of alcohol. Jeff and Chelsea ran over and gawked like children in a candy store.

Mission accomplished.

India Gate

2008-04-23T12:05:00.001-07:00

We spent some time last week at the India Gate. It is where the Olympic torch finished when it ran through Delhi. Delhi is probably the dirtiest, most visually unappealing city I have ever been to, but then you get to the India Gate and you are surrounded by a beautiful park, fountains, and the Presidentual Palace in the background. Of course this is where they run the Olympic torch. I guess Americans would do the same thing, but I had to laugh.
So now the whole world will see this on TV and think"What a beautiful city Delhi is." The media - what a crock!

Chicken Inn

2008-04-18T20:45:00.000-07:00

We went to the Chicken Inn for lunch. I had the hardest time deciding what to eat because they don't put pictures on the menu, and I had no idea what anything was. I settled for the chicken.

After eating, we saw a snake charmer outside. When I took this photo, I didn't know he was a snake charmer, but the basket at his feet had a big, and I mean big cobra in it. He wanted to charge us to take a picture of the snake and I'm cheap, so you'll have to take my word for it - that snake was huge!

Our Driver, Rumish

2008-04-18T15:22:00.000-07:00

When you rent a car in India, it comes with a driver, which is a good thing, because as I have said before, drivers in India are crazy! Really, they will give anyone a license.

Robert put it the best by using the analogy of a jar. You take a glass jar and fill it with some big rocks. Then you fill the gaps with pebbles, then you fill those gaps with sand, and then finally, you fill the jar to the rim with water.

That's what Indian traffic is like: buses are the rocks, cars are the pebbles, mopeds, rickshaws, and motorcycles are the sand, and bicycles, pedestrians and cows (yes, COWS!) are the water. Everything is so packed tight, and to top it all off, they drive really fast and switch lanes every five seconds. It's a game - if you see empty street, you fill it, no matter what you have to do or who you have to hit. We have two cars and drivers in our group, and the other car has hit two people already this trip. I'm not kidding - 20 points for him!

My driver's name is Rumish (I am sure I am spelling that wrong). Rumish rocks!!! Not just a one handed rock, but a two-handed- devil-ears-in-the-air-with-a-headbang rocks! He is married with two really cute kids, and does driving for filmmakers for a living. We had an appointment and were running a little late, and then we got stuck in traffic. We asked if Rumish could do anything because we were going to miss the action. Rumish replies, "Are you okay with Indian-style driving?" "Of course," was our reply, and bam! - we were off.

Pointer and I held on for dear life as Rumish somehow by-passed all the traffic (I have no idea how because my eyes were closed most of the time), and we made it just in time to catch all the action. So from then on, when we say we are in a hurry, Pointer and I put on our seat belts, grab the "Oh $%&^ handles" and say "We're going ISD!" (Indian Style Driving).

Breakfast at the Hunger Strike

2008-04-18T15:17:00.000-07:00

Last week we covered a hunger stike, but the best part of this day was breakfast.

Across from where they were holding the hunger strike are some booths, like the kind you would see at a baseball game. All morning long while we were shooting they were preparing food ... on the street! They would pull out their cutting boards and knives, and sit in the middle of the street in their underwear chopping onions, mixing sauces and cleaning dishes. Again - this was all happening in the street! And of course after seeing this, our director insists we eat there for breakfast.

Confession: it was actually pretty good.

Sleep; what's that?

2008-04-18T15:16:00.000-07:00

We had a meeting and Pointer could not stay awake. He would do the typical head nod and then catch himself and get real wide-eyed and look around to see if anyone noticed he had just fallen asleep. After doing this about three times he gave up, pulled his hat over his eyes, and took a nice 20 minute power nap.

Clothing in India

2008-04-18T15:14:00.000-07:00

I am amazed how colorful the clothing are here. What my nieces would consider cool princess outfits are what the women here wear on a daily basis, and the colors are rich and vibrant. If you have ever seen a Bollywood film, they don't exaggerate when it comes to costumes. That is actually what normal, everyday people wear here. By the time I get home, I may have added more colors to my black, gray, and blue wardrobe - after all, real men wear pink!

My Room

2008-04-18T06:26:00.001-07:00

I don't really have anything to compare it to, but I'm being told we have pretty nice rooms. My front door has a padlock, I share the room with a family of cockroaches and I have two beds that my feet hang over the edge (and I'm short, Pointer must sleep with his knees bent and feet on the floor).

I think the mattresses are made out of oak, maybe pine but definitly some kind of wood cause it is as stiff as a board. I might sleep on the linoleum floor just to get a little extra cushion. I have a fridge that hasn't been cleaned this decade and a TV, well the TV is pretty standard I can't realy make fun of that. Oh, and I also have a bathroom, complete with toilet and red bucket.

But the best part about my room is the view. I have this beautiful view of a river surrounded by grass lands. Since the window faces East, I get a spectacular view of the sunrise every morning.

I like to go out on my balcony and share the sunrise with my neighbors.

I've arrived!

2008-04-14T07:59:00.000-07:00

We got into Delhi about 3am. The flight was pretty uneventful but once we got to India all @&?$ broke loose. We got through customs pretty easily, left the airport and got a cab. We loaded all our luggage onto the cab and we were off.

The cab was the most bare bones vehicle you can imagine - wires hanging out of the steering column, no rear view mirrors, and all our bags were in a cage on the roof. One minute into the ride, we were pulled over by the police. I was in the front seat so the officer came to me and asked me where we are going. I had know idea, and looked to the back seat for help. He told them we were going to Majnu Ka-Tilla, which alarmed them, because that is a Tibetan refugee settlement and with the torch coming through Delhi this week, they were expecting a lot of trouble from that area.

There were three officers surrounding the cab, and as we explained, we were just tourists looking for an adventure, the other cops would whisper questions to me like "Where are you from?" and "Are you America Media?"- talk about awkward. I just played dumb and pretended I didn't understand the questions. After the cops were convinced, they asked the driver for his driver's license. He started searching his pockets and couldn't find it. The cops I guess didn't believe him because they started looking through the window and reaching over me to open compartments and shuffle junk around.

Finally when everyone agreed the driver didn't have it, the police asked us to exit the cab and they would call us a new one. About 20 minutes later we were in a new cab and on our way to the hotel.

It is amazing how trained we are in America when it comes to traffic laws. Here in India, they just do what they want. They don't stay in the lines and red lights are more a suggestion rather than a requirement. Homeless people are sleeping on the medians and children are laying in the middle of the street. Dogs everywhere. When we finally got to the hotel, it reminded me of Diagon Alley. I don't think we're in Kansas anymore Toto!

Adventures in San Fran.

2008-04-12T10:45:00.000-07:00

What a crazy adventure in Rice-A-Roni town (mmm, I love Rice-A-Roni).

On Monday we spent the day at the Golden Gate Bridge. I stood there looking across the way at Alcatraz, of course I thought about how cool it would have been to be with the crew shooting "The Rock" here. You know me, everything relates to movies. After I had my Hollywood moment I sat back and took in the gardens that surrounded the bridge.

The best story of the trip was what happend to Chelsea, our Production Assistant. We had asked her to go and get something from her room before the shoot. So she ran out, got on the elevator and went up up to her floor. Well, she got off on the wrong floor but didn't relize it. So she went to what she thought was her room and obviously her key wouldn't work. Knowing what a hurry we were in, she asked the maid who was just down the hall to let her in. The maid agreed and opened the door. Chelsea slammed the door open and ran into the room in search mode, searching for what she needed to get. After a few seconds she realized all her bags weren't where she left them, and when she looked up she found two guys having relations. She stared at them and they stared at her for about 10 seconds, and then feeling so embarassed and not really knowing what to say, she did an about-face and ran out of the room. Go Chelsea!

Thursday we went back to the Golden Gate Bridge and got a timelapse shot of the sun rising over the city. What a perfect end to an amazing trip.

The Journey Begins in San Francisco

2008-04-07T10:51:00.001-07:00

Who doesn't love this city?

So far, so good. The weather is perfect, the work is great. And check out the view!

Welcome

2008-04-01T13:23:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard, I've been asked to be the sound recorder on my very first feature documentary. Shooting will take place during the next five months.

I am totally stoked! (do people even use that word anymore?) I started this blog in order to let everyone know how I'm doing, and keep you updated on all my adventures. Check back often to see how things are going. Here are the dates I will be gone:

April 6th - 10th

April 12th - June 14th

July 5th - August 25th

In order to avoid expensive junk e-mail downloads while I'm traveling, I created a new e-mail address: traveling@drewstorm.com. In addition, all my phone calls will be forwarded to Alicia's (my wife's) cell phone. Drop me a line; I'd love to hear from you while I'm gone. You can also contact Alicia, since I'm sure she'll be bored while I'm gone.