Donnerstag, 30. Juli 2009

Intern? Slave? Same Shit, Different Name!

An intern's life is hard and many have compared today's internship system to the ancient concept of slavery.
At Filmateria, interns ARE slaves, seriously!

As TeamMarcoPolo produces new episodes of Florence and Rome, we all get drawn into the project. Today, I literally became the symbolic intern slave. Do you like my table cloth Toga?



We didn't get to actually shoot the scene today. I might be able to provide an update with an actual film still soonish.

Whereas I don't get paid for what I do in cash, I learn a lot on set, often get free food and drinks and I have plenty of fun. Of course part of the fun is that it is temporary ;-).

However, it does make me wonder if there were unknown advantages to being a slave under the Roman rule? Anyone got ideas? Might have been good for "Social Networking"? ;-)

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Mittwoch, 29. Juli 2009

The Emerald City Scorched by the Sun!

Seattle is the city with the most rainy days in the US.
While that sounds like a great record, most people here refuse to call the continuous light drizzle rain anyway. Umbrellas and rain coats are for whimps!

Faced with other weather than the infamous drizzle, Seattlelites start panicking, however! Snow in winter comes as a total surprise blocking all possible traffic (although it has been forecasted about a week earlier).

Now Seattle is faced with a new, highly uncommon "threat": HEAT!
Thanks to global warming, a nuclear explosion or some other incredibly annoying phenomenon, Seattle is sweltering. Since the records have been established 1851, there has not been a single day in Seattle over 100 ° Fahrenheit (37.78° Celsius). (See CNN: Pacific NorthWest Heat Wave Catches Many by Surprise)

Today, the record has been broken! Seattle measured 103° F (as of 4:30) and the temperature is still climbing!

So what should you do on a day like this? You go to a film studio, where there are no windows, no air conditioning and many many hot lights to shoot a Kids TV Show called Team Marco Polo, of course ;-). Well, at least that's what I did.



Crazy? Well, it's for a good cause :-). We started shooting early this morning anticipating the heat, but it was still almost unbearable during the shoot, as Jonathan's face clearly shows. He was fully dressed and made up as Marco Polo in this weather!