Clinton Street Shuffle...

So...this week is my marathon at the Clinton Street Theater. I go from making movies to showing them, it seems. Anyway....I ended up at the CST on Saturday night for the Darren Stein (director of Jawbreaker) event, which drew a small but engaged crowd. Stein was also screening his new documentary "Put the Camera On Me", an examination of his early films and the friends who helped make them. A great window into adolescence and very fun to watch. Jawbreaker was a kick as well. Like "Heathers", but even more so. Those in attendance had a great chance to talk with Darren - who was very candid at times, and put everyone at ease. He had some great stories about moviemaking craziness and looked like he was having a good time. Apparently, he used this event as an excuse to hang in Portland for the weekend...he flew back to L.A. the next day.

Last night, I cued up Trailermania 2 to a crowd just slightly larger than what Darren got. Aside from the usual technical/projector jitters, things got going without a hitch and the audience was humming along - laughing and hooting at the occasional hyperbole or cheesy bit of dialogue. As the second reel got spinning, I had a splice break - and film started unspooling all over the projector room floor. Thankfully, I was still rewinding the first reel, so I was there when it happened, and managed to rescue the reel. The only other hangup came during the second show - when the sound dropped out of phase during the Magnificent Seven. Thankfully, Seth showed me a quick projector fix - the "reboot" button - which saved the rest of the first reel. Ahh....the joys of analog technology.

Tonight is the Investigative Journalism show - which I hope gets a decent showing. Both features are largely out of the public eye - and merit a viewing by anyone interested in corporate greed and public policy on the enviroment. "The Killing Ground" was even nominated for a Best Documentary Oscar in 1980 - the only investigative television production to me recognized as such. Anyway...the material is solid....we'll just see how it goes.