Warmed-over Coffee Tastes Pretty Good In The Morning

Hey folks

It's been one of those weeks... lots of running around to and fro for the day-job, recovering from last weekend's Sum of the Parts premier, getting ready for the weekend... I've been so busy I haven't had time to lay down some of my random thoughts about what's been going on. Since my beloved children (I really must get some photos of Amber and put them up there...) got me up at 6:15 this morning to feed them, though, I figured I'd spend some time on the blog and get caught up.

First off, I really want to thank the people who showed up for the Sum Of The Parts premier on Saturday. This was my biggest public premier of a film I'm in, and I felt a little nervous driving up to the Hollywood Theater Saturday night. Aside from the usual promotional efforts we all engaged in (emailing our friends, press releases to the papers), Director/ Producer Raymond Steers also ran radio ads on AM 970 during the Rick Emerson show, and we had no idea how big the audience might be.

As we pulled into Portland's Hollywood District and drove by the theatre, looking for a place to park, I was pretty overwhelmed by the crowd outside waiting to get in (there were probably about fifty people). All told we probably had over 100 people see the film; I sat in the back with Trish mostly listened to the crowd reaction. For the most part I think people liked this new cut of the film (it runs 113 minutes, much shorter than the original cut screened for a test audience last September).

Eventually I'll get some copies of the photos Ray had taken at the premier (he also had a documentarian there catching the crowd exiting the theater on video... I'm assuming that footage will go into the press packets that get sent out to the festivals, and into the DVD extras once the film gets distribution). Ray and the gang went out to Thatch after the screening, but Trish and I were pretty bushed and decided to call it a night and hit the sack.

See, the premier was actually our second movie of the day... Saturday was Trish's birthday, so we went out in the afternoon and saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in IMAX 3-D at Bridgeport Village. Might I just say, ladies and gentlemen... it ROCKED!!!! The film itself (if you haven't already seen it) is tight and well made... yes, you fans of the books are going to be ticked off that the longest entry in the series (what, like, 875 pages?) is also the shortest movie - lots of stuff is cut out of the film. As a film, though, it holds up; the screenwriter and director did a good job of distilling the story and the important plot points into a fast-paced film. And if you get to see it in IMAX 3-D like we did... jump at it. The climactic battle in the Ministry of Magic is amazing in 3-D.

Overall I think Trish had a decent birthday (even if she did have to waste a good three hours of it on my premier). We kind of spread her big day out a little bit... we got an early birthday present for her (and a late anniversary present for me) a couple of weeks ago - two Schwinn bikes (thanks for the advice, Dad). We've been talking about getting bikes for a couple of years now, and with our upcoming trip to Europe we figured now would be a good time - it's a good way to get fit for all the walking we're likely to be doing.

And Portland is a great bicycle city. Not only do we have bike lanes on city streets and bike-friendly public transportation... there are lots of shops to keep the bikes maintained and bicyclists to help us out and give us advice. Plus, we're just a couple of blocks away from the Springwater bike trail, part of a 40 mile loop that goes into Downtown Portland and out east towards Boring. Since getting the bikes, Trish and I have have done about five miles on the trail, and it's gorgeous. It's a great way for us to get out in the fresh air, spend some time together, and get into shape (both for the upcoming trip and in general).

Speaking of our upcoming European Tour, we've just about gotten all the arrangements taken care of... our travel agent Cindy Passanante helped us put together the itinerary and made the airline arrangements... now all that's left is to figure out our accommodations and we'll be set. More on that later.

Well, that's pretty much what I've got time for this morning... time to head out for my first appointment of the day. I'm going to try and spend a little time each morning on the blog, though, so you'll be hearing a lot more from me... I really do feel like it gets my day started right when I can collect my thoughts about what's going on and put them down in some kind of narrative form. Helps build perspective, ya know...

Anyway, I'm out the door. Hope you're all doing well...

-Harold