838 Central Ave, Highland Park, IL 60035 847.433.8660
Entry 04 - Homestay, Salt Lake City, UT
The good news is that Internet is now at the hangers where we’re working with the teams. The bad news for you reading this now is that we’ve been busy (when we’re not eating) and haven’t had a chance to do any writing during the day. Once again, this is going to be short as bedtime was a while ago and we have to be up early for a multi-team meeting tomorrow.
The main challenge that we’re running into is finding a suitable space for us to light and shoot formal interviews with people. The main problem is that the hangers are all lit with sodium-based lights (which SUCK to shoot under). Plus the rooms are huge (i.e. they echo a lot) and they’re more often than not filled with teams using power tools, welding, hammering, sawing … it’s not a great place to try and get interview footage. The thought right now is to try and light the inside of one of the empty trucks. We shall see.
We’ve been working on some clips to put up on the website; hopefully they’ll be up in a day or two and you can actually see what we’ve been up to. On the bright side, we met with a guy named Ken Davidian today. Ken is the Program Manager of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate of NASA. He’s in charge of NASA’s “Centennial Challenges” and was more than receptive to having us shoot video at their other events … provided that we pay our own way, of course. They have enough time finding funding for crazy events like this. But it’s potential fodder for a series television show. We’ll see.
The main highlight today was hearing the story from the McGill University team (one of the three Canadian teams this year). We were told that they were going to be late because they had a car accident. What we didn't realize was what they told us upon their arrival.
While in the middle of Iowa, the huge trailer they were towing (the one that was packed to the brim with ALL of their equipment) either got a flat or popped a ball bearing … or something. It ended up first vibrating heavily, then swerving, then swinging back and forth across three lanes of traffic. The trailer flipped on its side and was then hit by a semi. The semi ended up in a ditch and the trailer was totaled (the reason they don’t know exactly what caused the crash). Now you have to understand that the contents of a team’s trailer represents one full year’s worth of work and lots and lots and lots of money. This was a huge deal. In the end, however, no one was hurt and the only material lost for good was all of the tools that McGill has brought - a setback, but not the end of the world. So, with their tools scattered across Iowa, they began to take an inventory. Amazingly, their climber was completely in-tact. The trailer was packed so tight that most everything remained unharmed -- they just needed to get it all into a U-Haul and make it to Utah. If it weren’t for some local Iowans with a fork-lift, the McGill team would still be stuck and would have had to bail. Even their huge panels of solar cells were ok. Then it began to rain. And while they were able to throw tarps over the cells, they’re not sure how many would still work. The day today was spent with them testing all their gear.
Needless to say, the McGill guys looked tired and a bit stressed.
Entry 03 - Homestay, Salt Lake City, UT
Well today was jam-packed with shooting footage, meeting people, learning things, and operating on almost no sleep for two days (and three of us recovering from being sick from flying).
Within the first two and a half hours we had shot two hours of footage (using two cameras) and decided to take it a bit slower for the rest of the day, lest we be completely overwhelmed with footage.
Once again, today's highlight didn't have anything to do with outer space. During lunch in the big building on the fairgrounds campus, we passed by a 40-something year old lady seriously strapped into a gurnee with a neck brace on. She was wearing some sort of a blue jump suit and had apparently been involved in an accident with one of the 8-year-old biker's we mentioned yesterday -- clearly this woman suffered far worse trauma than the 8-year-old or his bike, however. When we walked in she was being consoled by a very unofficial-looking lady, which didn't seem to make her feel any better. A good 10 minutes later a single paramedic strolled in and eventually wheeled her away. In the background, the hoots and hollers of spectators could be heard as the "Eight Year Old Intermediate" race picked up speed ... no doubt heading toward another 40-something year old woman in a different coloured jump suit.
More would be written now but it's late and we have another early day tomorrow. Suffice it to say that we have met a lot of people and have started warm up to them, making them laugh. We've even been invited by the U. of Saskatchewhan team to play Ultimate Frisbee with them tomorrow. That'll be fun, though someone from our crew (Nic) is bound to get hurt. That's just how it goes. : P
Hopefully, however, we will have internet access in the main staging hanger and will be ablt to write here at times other than the middle of the night.
That's it for now! More when more is available!
Entry 02 - Homestay, Salt Lake City, UT
Well, we touched down in Salt Lake City pretty much on time. Travelling on a smaller production like this is good practice for bigger productions down the road, as we had to pay nearly $200 to check all our gear. And that was in addition to stowing two bags each plus carrying-on another two bags each ... yikes! You live and you learn. Anyway, we got our rental car, a huge Nissan Armada, loaded it up with our 137+ bags, and headed toward the fairgrounds where the Space Games are going to be held. Or so we thought ...
We arrive at the Davis County Fairgrounds having followed the official Space Games directions to the letter. But instead of being met with anything or anyone related to the outer space, instead found a huge Poultry Convention. Slightly confused, we went next door and found a huge 8-year-old Dirtbike Convention. Now, the drivers of the dirtbikes were 8 years old, not the convention itself. And from what we could tell the 8-year olds were the veterans. And there were HUNDREDS of them!! Puzzled, we drove around a bit more, only to end up deep in Mormon country. Needless to say, we headed back to the safety of the Poultry/Tiny Tike Dirt Bike Conventions. Positive that this couldn't be the right spot, we asked a man leaving the hanger-sized chicken coop where the Davis County Event Center was. Now, at the time, his response seemed reasonable. However, looking back on the misadventure that ensued as a result of his directions (a circular sight-seeing tour of the Davis County Criminal Justice Center of Farmington, Utah) we're pretty sure he had it out for us. In fact, he must have.
Another half-hour of driving later and we found ourselves drawn back to the safety and harmony of the magestic Poultry Convention. Only this time, we dared to go inside. Fourty minutes of walking up and down the asiles of chickens, leghorns, roosters, roasters, ducks, and birds that can only be described as "twisted freaks of nature" ... we headed back to the car. Beginning to be convinced that our investors have inadvertently paid for a film about chickens (seriously ... our options were pretty limited at this point), we paused to take our picture by the "Poultry Show" sign, each making like we, too, were poultry. Hi-larious!
In celebration of seeing so much fowl, we treated ourselves to a king-sized meal at the nearest Kentucky Fried Chicken. We peeled into the lot, hopped out of our Armada, and raced inside -- pausing just long enough to photograph ourselves acting like chickens, this time outside the KFC sign. Apparently doing this is frowned-upon, as the family watching us through the window quickly proved.
You might think that sitting in a KFC in the middle on Nowhere, Utah, smelling like chickens (and eating something similar) might have been the highlight of our day. But you would be wrong. We had only just started to tear into our extra crispy bucket of bird bits when the smooth, smooth sounds of "Open Arms" by Journey began to play over the KFC loudspeakers. Pure Heaven.
In the end, it turns out that the Poultry Show was closing tonight and we had been in the right place (several times) all along. So yes, we're pretty positive that guy who gave us directions had it out for us. After settling in at our homestay 20 miles away in Salt Lake City proper, we ended up going back to the fairground where we met the Kansas City Space Pirates. This is a 25-member team. They refer to themselves simply as "The Pirates," call their fearless leader "Captain," and love to talk about lasers.
This is going to be a fun trip.
Entry 01 – Highland Park, IL
Greetings! As we prepare to embark on production of our latest documentary (about the space elevator and 2007 Space Games), we’d like to thank our investors & supporters by kicking things off with our very first production/travel blog entry! You can read subsequent entries right here, woo-hoo! This way you can all track the progress of your investment and/or follow along with the Bitter Jester crew just for the fun of it.
Please check back frequently as we will attempt to make daily entries – things like production goings-on, behind-the-scenes stories, and links to production photos! The blog will be updated daily beginning Saturday, October 13th until we return on Monday, October 22nd. We have *very* high hopes for this project and now you can be a part of the process with us.
So until Saturday, thank you to *everyone* who is helping to produce this documentary and to all those who have lent us their verbal and emotional support. It means a lot to both of us and it’s what has made the idea of this film a reality.
-Nic & Dan
You will see the huge purple Bitter Jester sign coming down in the next few weeks. But fear not, we are not closing, just expanding. All our contact info will remain the same but our new address will be:
838 Rear, Central Avenue, Highland Park, IL
Our new office is directly across the street from the HP Post Office, behind "Inward Bound" Stress Management Center, next to First Midwest Bank. Access is off of Central Ct, which is an alley.
The curtain has lowered on our twenty-first original production, "Censored for Your Protection." Thank you to everyone who came out to support (and enjoy) The Comic Thread this past weekend.
For now, please enjoy Bitter Jester's website, check out our short films, and give us a call if you have any questions or have a project you need creative assistance with!
Our sketch comedy troupe, The Comic Thread, will be performing at Apple Tree Theatre in Highland Park soon! Please has published its online petition. Please clik here for showtimes and more info!
Also, if you have the time and interest, please sign our online statement of protest about censorship of the arts.
Our sketch comedy troupe, The Comic Thread, has published its online petition. If you have the time and interest, please read more about this issue and, if you chose, add your name to the growing list of TCT supporters!