DAY 15: And You May Ask Yourself...Well, How Did I Get Here?

I had so many offers to go out and get drinks tonight. I'd love to. I really would. But I'm just too tired and after being outside most of the day, a little too comfortable in my warm apartment. It's been non-stop since Wed and it's nice to just chill on my bed tonight.

Today became a full-on shooting day starting at noon. The first part consisted of getting a few more shots of tourist attractions, including Enger Tower, a giant tower in the middle of nowhere. I trudged through the snow to get there, getting a couple crappy shots of it. I also fell down. From there it was on to the zoo, where I filmed a man continually breaking his pencil trying to draw a lynx & a cougar. The wolves & bears were even active today. I swear a bear waved at me. I was told that one of the bears was a reject from an Alaskan zoo where he kept escaping and eating the barnyard animals.

Finished up the night filming the movie's "ex-girlfriend", Theresa, wandering around Downtown Duluth. This is one of the few parts Duluth really is featured and I can hear the outcry already. "Oh, of all the beautiful things in town, he had to go and film the ugly stuff." If that doesn't piss them off, then the geography of Theresa's walk will. "Hey, she went down Michigan St. and now she's on First but why did she go right on Superior. WHERE IS SHE GOING!?"

Last night, a group of new friends invited me out for a night of drinks, with each bar subsequently worse. We started at JJ Astor with its rooftop views, swank decor, and a small jazz band playing cuts from "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg." From there, we took a swift dive in quality at the Stargate/Builders Bar in Superior. It's like Hawaii threw up in there but I did get a free whiskey soda out of the deal. I also couldn't pass up a chance to perform a little karaoke magic on Blur's "Song 2" and Beastie Boys "Intergalatic."

From bad, we went to worse, across the street at the Centerfolds strip club. What a dark sad little place. There was a rather large stripper there. From behind you couldn't tell if she was wearing underpants as her g-string was swallowed up by her robust buttocks. Like a bad car accident, I couldn't look away as she pushed a man's face into her big floppy breasts. She looked about as into it as one sits waiting for their laundry. Still...she did have the biggest boobs in the place. Problem is, she had the biggest everything in the place. We ended the night at Curlys where I was treated to a delicious apple pie shot. Centerfolds was worse than Curly's but plenty of dreams have died there too. I forgot to mention we got to all these places via some sort of car/monster truck/bus hybrid which must have been stolen from the Indiana Jones ride at Disney World. If you feel a little off today, it's probably because the world turned off its axis when the vehicle made a right turn. All in all, my degeneration tour has been one of the highlights of my trip and I thank Nadia & Ryan for having me. 

There's a not a single photo of this man that isn't blurry.

DAY 14: Snow Very Close

Did an hour long interview on the Walt Dizzo radio show last night. Probably one of my best. Well at least, we talked about more than just if I think Duluth is really horrible. In fact, I broke the exclusive last night that it really IS horrible and that I'm secretly making a documentary about how terrible the town & the people are. EXPOSED! For this venture, I traveled over the bridge to Superior, Wisconsin. I wasn't purposely driving slow. That's just how fast my car is. Upon first glance, Superior reminded me of a snow-capped Stockton. Lower-income housing and more urban sprawl. Even the UW campus seemed familiar somehow.

This morning, we completed the karaoke scene at the Round-Up. I'm looking forward to this part in the movie and it's the one place where all the central characters collide. I'm pretty damn proud of my original karaoke tune "A Bear, A Hedgehog, Or A Monkey" too. Our star Shane May does a great job on it, though he'll never believe you. From there, over to the most beautiful bench at Lake Superior. When it wasn't available, we settled for that one bench behind the Portland Malt Shoppe. We stood out in the cold waiting for a truck to stop making noise for a good thirty minutes. We watched over the frozen lake. I watched PA Tony attempt to walk on it. I came up with the idea that I should walk into the movie at the very end and tell a few bad jokes. Nobody was listening. I agreed to have a local photographer come by and take a photo for his Duluth Survey, but was surprised and slightly offended he wanted everyone but me in the photo. That's like going around and taking pictures of my kid. It better be a damn good photo.

After illegal parking at a college and annoying some students, we ventured over to the mall for some guerrilla shots of our tourist couple. The only opposition came in the form of a skinny unintimidating janitor with long hair, who basically said he wasn't going to do anything but somebody could. We were in & out and I had a slice of pizza from Barro (the s had fallen off). We also did a quick shot of the tourists at the aquarium. Maybe I'm spoiled with Monterey Bay, but I found it to be a little, um...lacking. While nice looking and would be terribly impressive in someone's home, it was pretty underwhelming for the money. I've seen more fish at sushi restaurants. Sorry Great Lakes Aquarium, it was just my first impression. I'll still go on a second date with you sometime.

Cinematographer Kevin, Soundman Jason, the PA's, & most of the actors are wrapped but there's still a few more things I'll get tomorrow before WINTER NEMO traps us all inside. I must go out and have some drinks tonight too because of this. TTFN.