and i survived the desert like you were there with me, smiling and such

So here was the plan. we needed to shoot in Vegas about three weeks from last Thursay. With a location secure about 75 miles outside of Vegas in the middle of nowhere, well, in the middle of the desert, and some local shots in the city, things were all good, given me ample time to reflect on my current situation, you know, with all the good and bad things circling my cranium at most hours of the day. And, oh yah, lets do a little more preparing for three weeks from now. Well, guess what, my camera operator forgot to mention that he needs to be in Hawaii three weeks from Thurdsay, my other actor forgot to mention that she has work three weeks from Thurdsay, and my location manager happened to mention that i don't have a fuckin location manager, and that my location has fallen through the conceptual days of Ed Ruscha's prints, in search of something more easy, you know, something that looks more colorful, impressonistic and less minimal. after all, "lo-fi" is for losers right? So, with all this good news, i made up my mind with even better news. Grabed a trusty friend, snatched my actor with some choice words, and a friendly threat, threw all the gear into a truck and of we were to Las Vegas at 6PM, in need of 2 1/8 pages of script, luckly with minimal dialogue. So, i drove, since my assitant has a DUI and cannot drive for a year no less "a good lesson best learned before the affliction" and by 10:30pm we were at our first location, one that was not secured, one that needed to be stolen. It was stolen rather nicely, since no one on earth was there at the time. Good, one down, it is now time for Las Vegas. For anyone with any bit of sanity, do not shoot in Las Vegas without permits. We did, and i want to preface that this is not guerilla, this is essentially what this film is, in character, and although i would like to have had more security like three weeks from last Thursday, the beast has to keep moving, has to feel vibrant and essential. This was an essential voyage, one in that i came closer to living the material(losing one's self with another, bartering if i may) in the film more succintly then with anything else i have ever done in the mediums of art. We were essentially a moving essay, characters lost in the midst of our own creation, our own drama. All in all, we finished shooting at 9am, and i drove home, looking at the wonderful desert and pondering its evolution. "damn it feels good to be a gangsta" if only for a nights day..."whale" continues friends, with a reckless rational...