We start Saturday with finger painting. Oh yes, what fun! What can I say, I have a 3 foot tall boss! Loads of fun stuff and then off to the playground of the rich and famous, The Grove.
Hit Johnny Rockets and rode the trolley like a bunch of tourists. Well, you have to, don't you really? Munchkin played on the grass and loved the dancing fountains as always.
Watched Master & Commander - pretty damn good, I'd say.
Completely stressed myself out looking at the visa requirements for Panama. Holy shit, I think I need one... no maybe not.... yes, holy shit I definitely need one... I'm flying on Tuesday morning and there's no way the Brit Consulate is going to be able to pull one from the bag.... there's going to be 200 extras and a huge film crew, the client and the exec producers and NO me because I'll still be waiting for my visa.... I can't believe I let this slide until now... stupid stupid... check the visa details online again, check another website.... definitely going to need one... what am I going to do? Stressed zzzzzzzz

Friday morning.... ahh 6.50am in LA and feeling like 9.50am so I was AWAKE when littl'un came in to wake me up! HaHa!
Played and played like a good Dad should.
Took him out and about... wondered down SM Blvd and onto the Library. You cannot overrate sitting in a library on a Friday afternoon trying to find Waldo in a Where's Waldo book. Superb! Blimey, Roger Ebert has written a few books, hasn't he. Maybe I'll recant my rave about how lame 'Two thumbs up' is. Looks like he's earned the right to precis his reviews into three or four words after all, IMHO.
Checked out a bunch of film books.
Cleaned the car and I mean cleaned it. Polished the seats and cleaned all the crud out from between the switches etc etc. Even used an air bottle on the dust!
Bath and bed for munchkin but not before some Curious George, whom we knew about before his Hollywood debut BTW =), and The Gruffalo.
Watched Wedding Crashers and was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining it was.

Shot some pics of SM blvd with Hollywood Hills in the background. Won't win any prizes for picture composition or content.

Lie in til 8.30 =)
Up, packed an out to enjoy my last slice of Southern hospitality before heading back to the West Coast. I went and had brekkie with P at Waffle House! I was told later that only tourists go to Waffle Houses as the locals know of stories of poor hygiene, creepy crawlies etc etc, but I have to tell you that the Pecan Waffle was bloody gorgeous! Very nice indeedy doody. Back to the Hotel and said bye to everyone before getting in the van to go to the airport. We had the most fabulous driver, Nat who was one of the PAs on the shoot. She's one stop short of Dagenham, that girl, but an absolute honey with sound a great smile and energy. She showed us some of the photos from a recent shoot and I almost fell off my chair. Apparently she's putting together a photo project which for confidentiality reasons, I won't disclose here but suffice it to say, it's going to be a humdinger when it's done and I for one will be at the head of the queue when they're handing out... well, whatever it is they hand out.
Airport and bye to J who's heading North to her folks. P and I get on the plane and both manage to snooze a little. Highpoints of the flight...not crashing. Lowpoints...coach class, small snack packet, no in seat TVs, quiet headphone output, blah blah.
Took a cab from the airport and headed home.
Had a few hours with the munchkin and the missus before bath and bed.
Checked LACasting and grabbed J's headshot and resume which I've now stuck in my file. Her pics are brilliant and I started submitting her straight away. Here's hoping. Typed up a bio and sent it to Stephen for his production meeting tomorrow.
Damn, I meant to photo all the safety stickers in the plant to catalogue all the terrible things that could happen to you as depicted by a very unfortunate stick figure man. This poor guy had hit fingers mangled, his body twisted and squashed all the hope that humans viewing his various misfortunes would be suitably warned and not suffer the same fate. I bet there's some on the 'net somewhere.

Last day of shooting in GE!
Breakfast at 5.15. Yawwwwwwwwnnnnnnn.
Hair & make up and into the van!
Off to the same facility as yesterday. Hurry up and wait for the shots to be set up.
Cup of tea....
Wondered around the plant - they're pretty cool as they know that the strange looking guy is in the film being shot.
Different cans and bottle products being shot around the lines.
Lunch. Chat.
Watched some footage being shot. A couple of atmosphere shots of the can line with the workers as background. Chatted to the clients PAs and there were amazing. Very professional, focused and friendly. Very loyal to the company for the opportunities being offered to them with their positions. Really great to meet positive people who are happy with their lot and are trying to better themselves.
ADR'ed some of the script with J. Funny!!
Eventually came around to our shot which was watching a line of cans whizzing by.
Baby twin on techno crane with heavy pan!
Couple of times thru then picture! Tried a few different things with a coupl'a takes and voila - that's a wrap on Atlanta! And a wrap on J.
Cool crew who were sorry to see us go - great people.
Back in the van, back to base.
Changed and back out to go have dinner with the client and the PAs. REALLY noce Thai restaurant in the 'new' midtown? - AMAZING food, great service (phoa!) and good chat. Marvellous.
Headed over to RB for the crew wrap get together. Natasha was on top form. Cracking jokes and reciting movie lines. Said our goodbyes and headed back to hotel.
A little time in the office and off to bed.
Called M and the monkey's sick =(. Cancelled playsch 2mrw.
Steve called about VI. Looks like he has a shedload of comedians and their agents REALLY interested in the movie. I have to get a resume together for submission to a producer. Things are really moving.
Sleep now zzzzzzzzzzzz

Another 5am call. Yeehaa!
Off to another facility this morning (Damn, it's chilly again).
Watched ANOTHER sunrise!
Two shots with J & I riding, full speed, on a fork lift truck. Along with a palletload of the 'product'. Had a camera car in front of us on the second shot. Tracking in front for about 30 yards and then backed off as we rounded a corner.
We had three forklifts and a handful of background all in the shot. Looked great on playback.
BTW, this plant is HUGE. Bottles and cans of a ton of very familiar drinks whizzing past at unbelievable speeds. Filling machines running in a blur. Awesome technology.
Plus floor to ceiling stacks of every kind of soda you could think of. Wow.
After lunch we were shooting with another camera rig with the smaller cameras. It was a shot along some tubes with us at the end. Add some Nitrogen and voila, you have a superb shot.
Wrapped and back to the hotel.
Checked out some shopping and then a late dinner.
Chatted to M & the munchkin.
zzzz

Cab @ 5am, which meant up at 4am.
Great cabbie on the way - chatted about how LA came about with the corruption between the pioneers, local law enforcement et al. Then how the Red Cars were systematically run into the ground by GM and various others with an interest in killing off any public transportation system. Apparently, the cars are now a wave break in the South Bay.
LAX. Met J & P. Both looked great considering it was 5.15am. Delta flight. Fairly uneventful. Got to Atlanta quick. 125 mph tail wind. Superb!
Dumped everything in to the hotel room. Nice room, by the way. Bed looks mighty comfy.
Off out to a restaurant in Downtown Atlanta and watched the Superbowl with a select group from the shoot. Everybody got slowly hammered while I had 15 (no kidding) Diet Cokes. Gotta love those free refills. There was a lady and her son (ages 50-55 & 30 I'm guessing) sitting next to us and they introduced themselves to everyone. How nice. Very Southern, NC actually. Well, as the night wore on, she got louder and he got more and more threatening. You know, the kind of guy who seems harmless enough but then turns into an angry drunk (with a Southern accent - a perfect combination, don't you think?) whom you have no doubt would punch you for looking at him in a funny way. Don't get me wrong, everyone else seemed pretty normal.
Anyway, back to the hotel and hit the sack.

Saturday. stuff.
Bed early for a 5am cab arrival 2mrw? Nope. 12midnight...zzz