His Ancient Pagan Ceremony Will Destroy Us All!

I loved this project. It should've become something I could sell, I could turn into a television pilot, or a comic book, something. But I still love it, and maybe someday it'll pay off. Posted Sunday, February 11, 2007

Went to Jacala the other day, first time in a long time. The first puffy tacos I ever tasted, and still the best. We were there for Erik's birthday. The Millers, Alston, eventually Carlos and Rockie, your humble narrator, and of course Erik. Elsewise, who would we have had to sing to? He got a flan with a candle in it. And Dar gave him a groovy little pad with tiles sewn onto the front.

The Rollergirls DVD wrapped up, in-laws gone, I spent my "week off" authoring the oft-delayed disc for my series of short-shorts, "Those Light-Fingered Kellys."

It's always weird to get back to a project a long time after it's "finished." I stopped shooting these things last year, and not in the second half of 2006, either. Judging from the change in haircuts between the third and fourth entries, it was a long time between those, too, which maybe makes it 2005 when we did the bulk of it? Ugh, if I were better at keeping records, I'd probably be really depressed. We sort of revisited it with a stupid-long "short" that pretended to be a behind-the-scenes expose, but the last shots of the real deal are a distant memory. And usually, these returns to an old project are disturbing -- jeez, was I really that amateurish? Who's running that camera? Did I get that angle on purpose? Damn, was I really that much thinner then? (Viz. "Vaya Con Dios, Asshole," "Lucky Numbers," "Sock Town," anything else I've ever done.)

But the nice thing about TLFK, it was created with such a slap-dash style, enthusiastic but without excessive concern for quality, that it's still pretty fun. I enjoy some of it more than I remembered, in fact. Possibly because I did a lot more post-production after the SEP screenings, making it all look a lot more like what I'd initially intended. But the performances, the dialogue, that stuff is still as goofily brilliant as ever. The line in the subject of this blog is a nugget of Sophie-dialogue that I'd never before realized makes me grin like a chimp. Laura's so great in this.

Samantha Garcia was in town, leaving today, I believe. For her new home and new job in New Hampshire. That's why I was working to get the TLFK DVD done, I'd promised to give one to her. (Aside from the four leads and maybe Carlos, no one appeared in more of this than she, going from hench-hygienist in the first to special guest villain in the last, with a few stops in between.) She got a somewhat unfinished version, without the blooper reel or commentaries (which I may or may not figure out how to add), with an incomplete slideshow, and no cover. She says she likes it, and I have no reason to doubt her (because it is, as she writes, a hoot and a half).

But still, it was with some reluctance that I delivered it to her, in an HEB parking lot, like a furtive drug deal. Because I knew it would be the last time I'd see her. As long as I held onto that footage, she'd still have to contact me now and again, politely cajoling. I wish I'd used her in something else before she left town, so I could have something on her for her next visit.

She's looking great, by the way, with her kicky new haircut. She is, as ever, a badass.