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and so once again…..

I got to Bruce's house in Seattac saturday morning and was instantly amazed at what he had prepared for the show in Dresden, and then that amazement faded into concern when I realized how much work still needed to be done on everything. Then I had to figure out how we could possibly get everything into two carry on bags and get everything to Germany safely. All par for the course when dealing with Bruce.

During the first night of preparations, bruce and I had a conversation about A Clockwork Orange in which he told me that he saw it when it first came out. I could tell by his tone that it was not something that he was really impressed with and I asked him if he liked it. He said that he hated the way that there was no sympathy for the characters that were being attacked and violated. He hated the Ludovico treatment scenes and generally disliked the photography. I argued all the regular stuff, for it's time….., wasn't Kubrick known for photography…..blah blah, but then it hit me over the head.

"I find it extremely curious that you would actually have a moral issue with a film or anything artistic," I said.

He said in the way that only Bruce can, "Why, because my films are so immoral?"

I paused for a second and replied, "I actually really had not thought about it, but now that you mention it…." 

It took a ton of work but somehow we pulled this off. I talked bruce into doing the final assembly in Dresden so we could get it packed. The next day was going to be an intense day of hellish travel and I was about at the end of my wits and energy. I did what anyone would do, drove down to bigfoot java for a sasquatch special with an espresso double shot. Everything got packed into a couple of carry ons and now it was time for airport hell.

After an intense airport run that rivaled the end of the movie Bullitt and running through the human rat maze that is Frankfurt airport, we arrived in Dresden. I was actually amazed at the amount of abandoned, graffiti covered buildings around where our hotel is. It actually looks likes something straight out of A Clockwork Orange.

YOU TELL EM!!!

I was so tired I could hardly speak, but everyone who we had dealt with from the festival and the institute of animated film was extremely nice.  We got checked into our hotel and I was thrilled to have a nice big room all to myself. 

Although all the buildings around our area are very eastern european and cold looking, I could see glimpses of beauty in the distance. 

The next morning, Bruce and I were taken to the museum where the exhibition was being set up. It turned out to be in a building that used to be a camera factory and was now a camera museum. It was also an old animation studio that produced several animated films from the 60's to the mid 80's. It was now an archive to that work and the coolest museum I have been to of it's kind since Masako and I went to the Studio Ghibli museum in Tokyo.

Being a camera enthusiast and a collector of old cameras myself, this place was heavenly. 

The exhibit being constructed was amazing. It had the work of several renowned clay animators from Europe and the United Stated including Allison Schulnick, who Bruce and I met in LA earlier this year. Bruce got set up at a table where he began to finish the work. I tried to help him as much as I could but it is pretty much impossible for anyone else to do Bruce's work for him. 

Imagine somebody telling you to go through a pile of hay, arrange the different straws by length and then begin to bundle them together. You proceed this utter tedium to the point where you feel despair (an important part of the artistic process) and then when you present it to the person you are doing it for, he basically does everything you did over again and has criticism for everything you did. That is what it is to make hair for Bruce Bickford replacements. Although doing this for hours when there is a beautiful city to explore outside can definitely mess with the mind, make no mistakes about it, this is what it is to work with a true master of his craft.

All of that worry that I had of everything being unfinished turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Since Bruce had a lot of work to do, it caused a lot of press attention and people got a glimpse of something that has become all too rare these days. That is Bruce working with clay. He has pretty much been drawing for years but said that this project has given him the desire to work in clay again. 

I think everyone who I talked to before I left for this trip can attest that my only hope for this trip was that it was "not a disaster". I had no idea that after 8 years of personal triumphs and failures, learning to deal with some of the most difficult circumstances, human beings, and settings, that this exhibit in Dresden, which I have been working on for over half a year, would be the crowning achievement in my work with Bruce. They really did this thing right. 

At one point, Bruce had the paparazzi all over him as he worked on his part of the exhibit. 

Last night, Bruce and I walked across the river to Old Towne Dresden, which was absolutely gorgeous. We walked around and I tried to search out some good German fare. 

Two years ago on the plane to Stuttgart, I guy told me that I have to try this one dish that is basically a huge piece of meat on a bone, sour kraut and potato cakes. I didn't get the opportunity on that trip. When I saw it on the menu tonight, I had no choice but to order it.

A few minutes later, this thing of beauty arrived at the table. It is actually the calf of a pig. Then Bruce proved that I can still be shocked. He lit up like a xmas tree and asked what it was. Then he asked if he could cut it. I was starving at the time, and reluctantly pushed the plate across the table. He grabbed that knife and started chopping into it, and was getting super excited cutting through all the different layers of meat. He kept saying, "This is soooo cool…this is so cool". I looked over and this German couple were staring at us with their jaws glued to the floor. 

I finally cut him off, and said, "ok Bruce, that's enough…that's enough", and he slid the plate back over and sunk into his chair like I took an 8 year old's favorite toy away. 

It is always weird eating a big meal in front of a guy who doesn't eat. In fact it makes me downright nervous, but halfway through eating I asked him if he would like to cut the rest. He smiled and gladly took the plate back. He explained that growing up he always cut the turkey at thanksgiving, and he often cuts the meat and serves people when he goes to dinner parties. I must say, he did a hell of a job. He cut everything into the perfect sized bites and managed to surprise the hell out of me with this little known fact that he enjoys cutting meat. NOW IF I COULD ONLY GET HIM TO TAKE A FUCKING BITE!!!!!! 

Strange and worthless cosmic incident

If you scroll down on this blog you will see that last year I wrote the following:

"a drunk topless guy made it on to the field at a Fresno State Bulldog's game last year and danced until security got within a yard of him and then jammed. He soon had about 20 or 30 guards chasing him and went several yards until he was tackled and arrested. It was by far the best action on the field that night."

Last night when I got back to the hotel, I turned on the tv and although I was beat there was one of those sports blooper shows on that is endlessly entertaining and gives you no chance of falling asleep. It was called Eurosport top 10 and literally the first incident that I saw on the screen was the incident that I described above. The category must have been fans rushing the field, and it was #2 on the list. It was only beat by a naked guy who was running across a cricket match and got slammed by a player.

I know that it may seem like it was a similar incident, but it was undoubtedly the incident from Fresno State vs. Nevada at bulldog stadium from the season before last. This show had bloopers from all over the world including american college sports. This being said, let's quickly examine this.

I was at that game in Fresno (a 1 point loss on the last play during the last season when Pat Hill even pretended to give a crap), I wrote about that incident in Japan last year (for really no reason), and then it is the first thing I see when I turn on the tv in Dresden, German this year. It is strange that the cosmos would throw something so worthless my way. I didn't really need to be told that it is a small world but, Lord, thank you anyway.