Carlos dropped by around noon to grab a couple of pick-up shots for his Chort/Shorts trilogy. The problem was, his actor Christopher had changed his hair. He'd been involved in some sort of fashion event called Hairstory. His mom, Annette (of Rome Talent Agency), had explained to Carlos that her son now had frosted tips on his hair.
As we waited for mother and son to search the beauty stores for a quick hair fix, Amy stopped by with a couple of her kids. She was waiting to pick up her son, Douglas, who's in the Say Si youth arts program a few blocks away. Amy was willing to help out in the hair transformation, but by the time Annette and Christopher showed up, Amy had to scoot. Annette, however, felt confident that she could get Christopher's hair back to the original black.
I'd wanted to take before-and-after photos, but before I could get a shot of Christopher's very very blond look, I looked up and saw him using the driver's side mirror on my truck as he began spraying on black temp dye from an aerosol can.
At least I got a few shots of Annette blasting him with the color.
Carlos got his shots over fairly quickly.
I still had enough time to grab the daily lunch special over at Pepe's cafe just before they closed, and then I headed a couple blocks down to Urban-15.
George had invited me over to watch the Spirit Awards on the big rear projection TV he has set up in the basement space. I'm usually inclined to make a pass on awards shows (for example, I will not be watching the Oscars tomorrow — I just don't care). But one of the films nominated for the Spirit's John Cassavetes Award (which is given out to the best feature made for under $500,000) was Chris Eska's feature film, August Evening.
The film was shot in Gonzales, Texas, but it has some strong San Antonio ties. The Cisneros helped out the best they could by letting Chris use their Urban-15 studios for casting and what not.
Sadly, I still haven't seen the film. Last I heard, the distributor (Maya, I believe, picked it up), will be screening it locally sometime in May. I guess I'll have to wait until then.
But the best thing is, August Evening won the Cassavetes award!
Congratulations, Chris Eska! He took to the stage and made a very sweet and humble speech. Sometimes great things happen to good people.
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The fact that the For Lease sign disappeared from in front of my house a couple of weeks ago should have prepared me for the third apartment in this triplex to get an occupant. But I waited and waited and I guess I forgot about it.
But it happened today. Someone is in there. One person? A couple? I don't know yet. All I know is I can't lurk at the back of the driveway or in the backyard with my big-ass astronomy binoculars. And I completely understand. Even I wouldn't want to peek out my bedroom window and see this.
“Don't mind me, I'm just checking out M52. You know, the stellar cluster in Cassiopeia.”
Uhuh. And in some nearby precinct house a Taser, with my name on it, is nestled in its charger cradle.