xtra normal videos

Good afternoon, campers -

We've noticed the trend of anonymously posting work grievances through the animated site xtranormal.com. There have been ones made by the camera crew, locations, accounting, even the Teamsters have one up!

This passive aggressiveness isn't limited to film crew; my eye doctor posted Optometrist vs. Patient on his Facebook page. Everybody in the world hates dealing with stupid people at work.

Here are our PA relevant favorites thus far:

Background Production Assistant vs. Extra

...in which a PA tries to get an unruly Extra to come on set. As lowly as the PAs are on the crew, Extras get treated like stray dogs.

"You look like a clown prostitute. I don't care enough to change it, just get to set!"

Key Set Production Assistant vs. Production Coordinator

... in which the Key Set PA annoys the crap of the Production Coordinator. Somehow giving her a British accent makes this even more realistic.

Eco-Friendly Filming

Ignore the title of this post... film production is notoriously NOT ECO-FRIENDLY.

In an industry driven by $$, environmental concerns take the back seat to cutting costs, speeding up the process, etc. Crew members drink from plastic water bottles and abandon them at random around the set. We use entire trees copying script revisions. I've even been on sets where they don't have basic recycling for all the producers' Diet Coke cans. Yikes.

(Never mind the vehicle fuel used while idling the star car to keep it warm for the VIPs, hazmat regulations sometimes getting ignored when getting rid of paint and chemicals... it goes on)

Luckily, recent productions are changing their dirty ways. Many Disney/ABC productions have switched to the "Virtual Production Office". Instead of printing out multiple memos, schedules, oneliners, call sheets, etc., the Virtual Production Office keeps everything electronic. Good move, since honestly, nobody reads all those memos anyway.

Eco-actress Cameron Diaz bought the entire crew of "The Box" coffee mugs to keep refilling. Other shows have been making the move to reusable water bottles. This may add a new component to your PA duties: dishwasher. At least it's for the good of the planet.

Not-Boston Movie Review: Daisy Kenyon (1947)

We stumbled across this movie recently, and noticed that it partially takes place in Cape Cod. It's not filmed here of course -- somewhere in a LA studio lot, they brought in a lot of fake snow. But we wanted to mention it, albeit, briefly.

"Daisy Kenyon", we feel, is what would happen if you took Denis Leary's show "Rescue Me" and set it in the 1940s. No, there's no fire house, but hear us out.

In a movie making era with no nudity, and family-values fun for all, "Daisy Kenyon" deals with darker adult emotions. They can only hint at certain things, for censorship's sake. The movie touches themes of infidelity, WWII soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder, child abuse, assault, and endless drinking to sooth the pain. These dysfunctions, put through the 1940's film filter, still come out looking like a romantic comedy. However, beneath the merry surface, these people are not okay.

Should you watch this movie? Maybe not... it depends if you like older films. It's just interesting to see how they handled untouchable issues. Also, it stars Joan "Mommy Dearest" Crawford as the title character, and Henry Fonda.

Final Score = B-

Box office WIN / Movie attendance FAIL

"The Social Network" was the big winner at the box office this weekend... we unfortunately can't give you an update or review because it was completely sold out when we went. Even our backup plan to see "The Town" was thwarted... it too was sold out.

Even with a Sox-Yankees double header, Boston Movies do well in Boston.