June 18, 2006
Got a wake-up call for six yesterday morning at the Comfort Inn in Cody, Wyoming. Got in last night at about one. We shot out at Trail Dust Town, and got some very cool shots. Preston Randolph is a talented shooter (he's only sixteen!). Excellent barroom fight scenes complete with breakaway glass, packed ice to simulate snow in the stove, fogger effects (also used to create pistol shot smoke coming off Pike Landusky's buffalo coat), apple sellers, absinth drinkers, peg-legged bartenders and a jerry-rigged Borchardt pistol, created out of a water pistol bought at Wal-Mart). Much fun. Had a slight dust-up with the caretaker and owner of Trail Dust Town. They were concerned we were being too rough on the historical stuff. Calmed the caretaker down. Promised him good promotion in True West and we will support him. He's a good guy, as is Randy, the manager.

Went over to the Randolph's after the shoot, had a Coors Lite and watched the rushes (raw footage). Very exciting. This is part of our DVD project and is going to give us some much needed northern representation (most of our shooting has been in Tombstone and Arizona and it's nice to get those Wyoming skies and windswept bluffs, like Killpecker Canyon).

Caught the Blair Hotels Shuttle at 6:40, flew out of Cody at 7:30 to Denver and had a three hour layover. Bought the New York Times and the Denver Post and treated the long wait like I had a couple of hours for quiet reading time. Unfortunately, I'd like to strangle that recorded female voice that says, "Due to increased security we ask that you not leave your luggage unattended. . ." I must have heard that 125 times. I wanted to stand up and yell at the ceiling, "People! People! Watch your luggage and maybe she'll shut up!!" But I wanted to go home so I didn't.

Did my six sketches on the plane (1407 total, without missing a day!). Got into Phoenix at one, picked up my luggage at carousel 3, turned around and there were two cute blonds holding a big sign that said, "Happy Father's Day He-Bob!" It was Kathy and Deena. Everyone on my flight gave us the big, "Awwwww, flippin' sweet" sound.

Here's where the He-Bob reference comes from: When Deena and Tommy were little they loved the He-Man comicbook and TV show character and one time I puffed up and said, "I can take He-Man. I'm He-Dad." And Deena just looked at me and said, "Daddy, no you can't. He-Man has muscles on the outside."

The girls took me to the Matador and we had special Father's Day huevos rancheros and then walked over to the Arizona Center to see Jack Black in "Nacho Libre." I had fun and enjoyed the movie (The Mexican wrestlers were good), but the first third of the movie is very slow, with hardly any laughs. In fact, the scenes from the previews are not funny at all. Jack going into a corral and tempting a bull with his red cape and getting flipped is just flat as Kansas, with really poor CGI. Just fake and embarrassing. However, If you like Jack Black (and I do) and Mexican wrestlers (ditto), it's a must, but if it's a negativo on either of those, I wouldn't bother. It definitely ain't Napoleon Dynamite. One thing to check out, though, if you do go, is when Jack is leaving the orphanage to go out in the desert (end of second act), they play Bob Dylan's Billy the Kid theme from Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (same chords and arrangement, but at the end of the movie we waited to see the credits and it wasn't sited. Hmmmmm.).

Got home at five. Long one. Lots of artwork to do. Got to get crankin'. Big road trip coming up on Thursday again.

The theater is so endlessly fascinating because it's so accidental. It's so much like life."
Â?Arthur Miller