Headed to San Francisco

Taking another short hiatus, for about a week or so. This time, it's to travel out to the Bay Area to attend the wake for my uncle. Since time isn't a huge factor, I'm busing it there and back - I had hoped to drive out, but that fell through quickly -- and though I'm not afraid of flying, I like een less the idea of spending $500 just to go there and head right back...

It's been about 10 years since I last visited SF (back in the summer of '98), and I'd like to take some time to enjoy myself - visit old hangouts, if they still exist; see some friends, though most of the people I knew are no longer in the City, which is one of many reasons why I haven't been back as often as I would have liked to have been.

Since TOGI has wrapped, and I've gotten back into the house routine, most of what I've been doing is going through the backlog of DVD's I've accumulated:

FLASH GORDON - I have this on laserdisc and the previous DVD release (which was going for crazy amount of money on eBay), so when they announced the new R1 release, I was interested, but it wasn't something that I needed - unless there were bonus features, of course. With that in mind, I ordered the R2 "Silver Anniversary Edition" - again, another good reason to hack your player to 'all region'.

Although the R1 release has a good transfer, the extras are pretty 'meh' - the interview with screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr. sounds interesting, and though I like Alex Ross' work, I don't think it's worth $20 to hear him go on about FLASH being his favorite film. It is a pretty nifty cover that he did, though; and at least the movie gets exposure to old fans and new audiences.

The R2 has Chapter 1 of one of the original Buster Crabbe serials (about the only feature that was ported over), and TWO commentaries - one by Brian Blessed (Vultan), which turned out to be better than I thought, and a commentary by director Mike Hodges, as well as a 30 minute interview with Hodges that goes into his whole career. That alone made it worth the cost for me - the only other Hodges movie with commentary is GET CARTER (the good version with Michael Caine) - every other movie of his (The Croupier, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, Black Rainbow, Pulp) has been a bare bones release.


I've long been curious to see Robert Altman's QUINTET - although it has the reputation of being the worst film of Altman's output, the little I've read about it made it very enticing.
It's NOT Altman's worst film, by any measure, although I have my suspicions that its origins probably involved lots of bong hits while watching Bergman films.

It plays a lot better now, I suspect, than it did on it's original release... if you've had a chance to watch lots of foreign films, you can appreciate the film's assets (mainly the production design and atmosphere), as well as its flaws (lots of obtuse philosophizing and director pretentiousness) - it's worth a look for the adventurous.

I also got a jump on Halloween viewing - far too undisciplined to do anything as organized as a "31 Days of Halloween" or anything like that... plus, I've developed into a horror snob - much of the torture porn/slasher flicks don't really cut it for me.

As viewed:

THE EMPTY ACRE
HORROR EXPRESS
CHOSEN SURVIVORS/THE EARTH DIES SCREAMING
THE OBLONG BOX (lame!)/SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN
WHO CAN KILL A CHILD?
THE OTHER
CAT'S EYE
THE MANITOU

So, look any of those up, if you haven't seen them already, and am tired of SAW 4: $AW THAT.

Back in a week.

Some more TOGI

It's been a pretty heavy couple of weeks... so time for some fun!

Another appearance by "Rappin' A.D." Chris Weaver. This time, he's singing a familiar song, one that we heard constantly on set:




And these are from the second to last day of shooting - featuring actress Thirza Defoe as her character "Sally":

Paul is Dead.


L to R bottom: Vertle Lewis, Fern Hubbard, Virginia Hubbard
L to R top: Albert Hubbard, Jocelyn Hubbard, Paul Hubbard

I had intended to post news of wrapping principal photography of THE ONLY GOOD INDIAN on Friday... unfortunately, it also was the day that I was informed that my uncle, Paul E. Hubbard, of Newark, CA had died earlier that morning, due to complications related to heart disease. He had been hospitalized for about a week and a half - fortunately several of his brothers and sisters and his mother did manage to make a quick trip out there and see him before he passed on.

Paul was the youngest of my uncles; he made it possible for me to relocate to San Francisco when he gave up his spot in the apartment he was in, to move in with the woman who eventually became his wife. And, because he also spent time doing odd things through the years to get by, I think that he was probably the closest to understand what drove me, when I was pursuing work in the film industry...

A memorial service will be held in Topeka, KS and in California.

Bike ridin' and White Rappin' - some behind the scenes on T.O.G.I.


I mentioned earlier that I probably wouldn't post photos from the shoot - a little thing about non disclosure - but humorous behind the scenes stuff is probably alright.

First off, here's a small clip featuring Wes Studi test riding the motorcycle, which plays a major part in the film:



That wasn't really humorous, but this clip featuring the mad skylz of Chris "Rappin A.D." Weaver definitely is:



More to come... maybe?

Crazy Sexy Cancer

Not an example of my sick humor; this is the title of a new documentary that premieres August 29th (this Wednesday) at 9pm on The Learning Channel (TLC).

I bring it to your attention, since I know the subject of the documentary: Kris Carr, a wonderful actress who I had the pleasure of working with back in 2000 on Brett Wagner's FIVE YEARS (aka THE HIDDEN).

Click the link to her site, which has all sorts of information about the film and information related to cancer... she also has a blog, and is about to start a book tour.

THE ONLY GOOD INDIAN - Now Filming.

After the brutal heat of Wichita, we're doing some filming closer to home for the next week and a fhalf - then it's back out to the Flint Hills.

Not putting up any stills, as of yet - there are things such as 'non disclosure clauses' in contracts, and why tempt fate? Instead, I can lead you to the official site - which, admittedly, doesn't have very much content at present time, but that will change in a bit.

For a listing of cast & crew, as well as a glimpse of some early stills, check out the IMDb listing.

And maybe, by the shoot's end, I'll have permission to post just a few choice stills.

Finally!! A REASON....

Pretty clever song - thanks to my friend Jon for bringing it to my attention.

Now, I bring it to yours.