Holiday Blog

I started a blog for the holidays called People Taking Pictures of People at a Mall. I figured as long as I was stuck working in a mall this winter, I might as well start a blog about the obnoxious number of people taking pictures of their children in front of a mall holiday display. I will hopefully have a new photo each day until Christmas.

Production Shoot and Upcoming Projects

Last weekend I ventured out to Hartland, MI and worked as a production assistant on a Belle Tire commercial for Rare Medium Well Done, a production company based in Troy, MI. Despite having graduated over three years ago, it was the first time I was actually paid to work on a set.

There was not one time during the day when the back of the dolly didn't have snacks on it, including at one point a giant sausage the crew purchased themselves because they didn't think craft services had enough meat.

My duties on set included: holding a cable so the dolly didn't run it over, standing between the director and someone else and then repeating the director's commands more loudly so the someone else could hear them, putting tape over the make and model names on cars, strategically placing plants to cover up a sign, and taking dinner orders from the talent and crew. Overall, it was good experience, easy money, and I ate free food all day long. Also, this guy was there not doing anything other than enjoying the craft services.

He's that dude that talks to the tire. 

Otherwise, I've started a few projects, including a new script, a bookend, a top secret project, and probably something else I don't even remember starting right now.

In search of supplies for some of these projects I visited Arts and Scraps here in Detroit. Here's my favorite box from there:

Unfortunately, the contents were less exciting. It didn't even have mustaches inside.

What was exciting was the car that crashed through the building while I was there. It backed up through the building, shattering the window, knocking shelves and buckets of crafts all over the floor, and literally shifting the wall of the building. The driver came in after being told he had caused serious structural damage, looked at the obviously crooked wall, and said "I'm not an engineer or anything, but that looks pretty straight to me." They had to show him the door no longer could shut in the doorway to prove it to him. He then said, "Well, accidents do happen" and left. I didn't get any pictures as to not be a d-bag who takes pictures of an accident and then posts it on his blog, so I helped an old lady clean up crafts from the floor instead, thus degrading the quality of my blog, but making me less of a terrible human-being.

Anyways, got a little off track, but it was a great store with lots of cool stuff for super cheap. Go there and support them so they have money to fix their newly concaved wall.

New Bedroom

I recently moved into a house in Detroit and (mostly) have my room set up. Space was a big issue, but I managed to find some work-arounds. Since my bookshelf ended up being used mainly for office supplies, you'll find I have books in various places all around my room. I have one shelf to put up that will probably be mostly for books, as I still have some without a home.

The bed I built a couple of years ago, and though it takes up a decent amount of space and is extremely heavy to move, I refuse to part with it.

I bought a dresser from Salvation Army for $20 that was wide enough so I could also use it as a stand for my turtle.

Bar doubled as a night-stand.

I used my bookshelf to keep most of my office supplies on since I don't have a desk with storage.

Because I couldn't fit a desk in the room, I just bought a recycled piece of wood from The Architectural Salvage Warehouse of Detroit and mounted it on the wall. The wood and brackets cost $2, the hardware and anchors to mount it properly were about $20.