Retroactive Post to June 27, 2007

The problem with doing delicate work like a Pharma job is how little I can talk about it. Multiple NDAs and general courtesy prevent wholesale blabbing about the quality of the shoot or the product itself, so posts like these might seem a little boring for those looking for juicy tidbits (especially with regards to some of the other high-profile shows I work on that people have a vested interest in).

I somehow manage to find time to go exploring when I travel -- I force myself, basically, a habit I picked up while working on Hoop Guys two years ago. If you work your tail off in a city -- particularly one you're not familiar with -- all you see is the lobby of your hotel and the set you work on and then what do you tell your friends about when you get back?

I asked Biggsy and Max what to do about food and they recommended Benny's for cheap Mexican. A nice two mile drive in the Oxford Hotel courtesy car and a nice smothered burrito later meant that I had three options:

1) Call the Hotel car to come pick me up.

2) Pay for a Cab to take me back.

3) Start walking.

As I had a relatively easy day, and it was a hair after 8:00 PM, I started walking with only a vague sense of which direction I was going, and while I made it home, I found the above scribbling on the sidewalk which seemed to hit home extra hard for some reason.

I always said the reason that the middle of the country is Red and the reason the Bible belt exists is because of the lack of reference points -- on the coasts you know where you stand: That way is land. THAT way is the sea. I can only go in one direction without dying. The limits are easy to see, and they are therefore easy to believe in.

In the middle of the country there isn't any of that -- the land just goes on in all directions and maybe somewhere there's a lake, or maybe SOMEWHERE there's a shore, but you can't be sure just by standing there looking. So you have to trust the people you're with. And you trust your politicians because, hey, you've got no reference and people help people 'round these parts. And you believe in God, because without God, you're marooned and adrift and locationless.

I'm not revising that particular thesis but adding a footnote. When you're in a strange place with no reference points the mind tends to wander, and when it wanders it goes to either towards fear or towards melancholy -- the unknown and the comforting. The comforting becomes melancholy when you realize what you want most -- what can save you -- can't be grasped.