Remains Of The Week

I totally forgot to go to the student health center at the break. I didn't have any more thought about it when the movie was over, either.

I really hope that SC's student health center acts like any other pharmacy and will transfer the prescription elsewhere for me. Sigh.

What annoys me about this is I wrote it down. Which is usually enough to make me remember.

We watched Remains of the Day. I guess I was expecting a movie that was like watching paint dry, and it wasn't at all. But it is very frustrating movie, because Anthony Hopkins fights so hard to remain passive.

On Tuesday I stayed home from writing class for a number of reasons, not the least of which was to wait for a moving company to get a moving estimate. They didn't come.

This morning, as I was groggily laying around in bed, I got a phone call from the company. The woman apologized profusely for the mix-up and asked if she could come by today. "Sure," I said. "This morning, or late this evening. Like 6. Actually, after 6."

She picked 6:30. It's now 7, and guess what?

I guess we shan't be using this moving company.

The other day Janet Egan posted a dream in which I (or some other web "Dianne") criticized her journal. Yes, I've become a nightmare figure -- another childhood dream comes true. Anyhow, what bothered me most about this entry is that I, the real Diane, had no idea what most of the references in the dream referred to (Roger Tory Peterson? James Fisher?), and I hate that. So, Janet, here's your dream come true: I am in fact criticizing your journal, but only because it's more-erudite-than-moi.

Yesterday at Babylonian I did something I hadn't done in a while -- photocopying and script collation. I did this mostly to follow up on Jeffrey's suggestions that I start getting involved in other departments of the company, to find out what other departments do. (I admit that I did not leap at the opportunity to go hang out in Wardrobe, although I might hang out at the gaffer's elbow.) I wanted to talk to the head of the Script Department because she's worked on a whole bunch of TV shows and is a writer herself. We talked about sexism and ageism in the Industry (yes, it exists; but I shouldn't worry about it) until Jeffrey poked his head in and said, "Hey, you gonna be around for a while?"

He wouldn't tell me why until I said yes or no. So I said yes (figuring he wanted me to do something like man his desk).

"I'll ask if you can sit in on the spotting session."

I had no idea what a spotting session was, but hey -- it was the producers, it had to be something cool. I followed him in without asking.

A spotting session consists of the producer (John), the executive producer/creator (Joe), the composer, the ADR/Foley guy (post-production voice work), and the visual effects guy watching what I think was the producer's cut of the next episode ("Racing Mars") -- all of the edits, most of the computer effects...most of the episode, except the ambient noise and sound. It's strange to watch it, like it's been dubbed in from another language.

As the group watches the episode, the producer or the executive producer calls out the second at which to begin the music, or to add an extra sound, or whatever. This group clearly has this down to a science -- Joe or John would say something and the appropriate guy would start scribbling.

Very, very interesting stuff. Also, I got to see the next new episode early. This is the episode, by the way, that was being filmed when I went to interview with Jeffrey in December.

Last night I went out with Edgar, whom I hadn't seen for a while. I was too tired to go ahead with the plan we had worked out, which was to go to see The English Patient. We went out to dinner and talked about what we were learning in our respective internships and by living in Los Angeles. I pitched him the ideas for screenplays I've had this quarter and his eyes lit up. We spent a couple of hours (and Edgar, a couple of his cigarettes) trying to work out story ideas. He brought up some good things for me to think about, and he went off in a few directions I wasn't as interested in. But it was very useful.

Edgar says he's really interested in becoming a producer, and I think he'd be really good at it. He's extroverted and can play around with ideas, bouncing them around.