The Defuser in Bulgaria Part V
The Defuser in Bulgaria Part V
Ok, go grab a soda…a snack and turn off your cell phone. This is gonna be a long one.
In fact, it would have been a long one if I had written this Tuesday night as I intended but noooooo…I kept putting it off and now I have to write a novel.
Norma arrived in Sophia on Sunday, after being awake for over 30 hours, she was beautiful, but beat tired so we went back to the Kempinski for a little while.
A couple of hours later, my car arrived and took us to the set. After a quick tour, I was taken to “make-up” where the futile attempt to make me look good continued. Yana made some comment about her not being a plastic surgeon…the translation was rough so I could be wrong.
We are 2/3rds of the way through shooting and things on the set are pretty tense. Since this is a low budget movie, the LINE Producer; John really wants things to go quickly, smoothly and on schedule. Then you have Gary, the DIRECTOR who is an artistic visionary and wants things to be perfect and have a shot from every conceivable angle in case he needs it later.
This PRODUCER vs. DIRECTOR struggle is apparently a normal thing…but in this case, the director’s vision is taking MUCH longer than normal. Combine that with several days of bad weather and the producer wants to speed things up to compensate. An eternal struggle has ensued with the crew and actors caught in the middle. This has caused many a 16 hr day, 4-8 hr waits for the actors and no end of complaining and outbursts. (did I mention it’s freaking cold here?)
I fortunately don’t really have a problem with this. I take my laptop or a book pretty much everywhere I go and since I’m used to sitting in a patrol car, at a construction site for 10+ hours at a time…I’m quite content.
Anyway…the scene we shot today (Sunday) was my longest thus far, and by far the silliest. It takes place in the Sheriff’s office. I’m on duty, at my desk, watching a TV show on my computer monitor…(aint it weird how art imitates life?) I get busted by my boss and some hilarity ensues. Now…when you all see this scene, you gonna think: “well…that was silly.” And you’re right, but it isn’t easy fitting a superhero into a sci-fi monster movie at the drop of a hat. Am I 100% happy with it? No, but it was fun and it sure beats what they did to Feedback in MEGASNAKE. I hope you’ll agree. I know Matthew will. J
So this 4 min scene took about 5 hrs to film…turned out to be a long day.
After sleeping all day Monday Norma and I were invited out to a CAST dinner.
OMG! Let me see if I can describe this for you.
Dinners in Bulgaria are an all night affair, this much I had already learned. Nothing about meals is in a rush. If you get a table for dinner (evening meal) then it is expected you will be there all night. Most service establishments don’t close until the last customer wants to leave. (restaurants/bars/etc…)
There were about 16 of us, most of the actors, the exec-producer (money man) and some spouses. We were at a traditional Bulgarian restaurant and we sat at a HUGE square table where massive platters of food were laid out. There is no “ordering” of food. They simply start bring platters out. I noticed that the table and chairs were incredibly sturdy and well made. (more on this later) After about an hour of eating, drinking, talking. I noticed some commotion out in the lobby area. I kinda kicked into cop-mode when I saw a lady run by and then a guy running after her. As I started to get out of my chair, a troop of performers burst in and began the most amazing hour+ long performance of traditional music, dance, and storytelling. I hope you will follow my PICTURE link and check out some of the pictures. It was truly an amazing sight!
The men sang, played instruments and danced. Through all this a story was told, then in came the women. Beautiful belly dancers, folk dancers and singers themselves.
The entire restaurant got caught up on the frenzy and pretty soon everyone (over a 100 people) were up and dancing around the restaurant, on tables, with strangers…
When the room finally settled down and the performers slipped away, we got back to some serious eating and conversation. This did not last long however when a woman, laid out on a long table was wheeled out into the room. Now…this next version is PG-13 and I don’t want to offended anyone or corrupt any young minds…so…you may want to skip this next part.
Well?
Still here??
Thought so!
This woman was not naked…per se’ , she was covered with cake, icing and fruit. This was a living breathing birthday cake complete with sparklers. The cake and fruit were of course strategically placed so nothing showed…really. It was a sight to see. It was wheeled across the restaurant to the birthday boy who was 50 yrs young and was quite impressed with his cake. All manner of singing and festivities began again as the entire restaurant helped him celebrate his birthday. And of course, if any trouble started, I was ready to help “defuse” the situation. (sorry, had to say it)
After about 4 hrs, the evening at the restaurant (called Happy Place) ended but by no means did that mean that the party was over. I’m not much of a CLUB guy, but my wife did travel several thousand miles to see me so I figured I had better do my best to go the distance.
As a group, we left Happy Place and headed to a very prestigious Sophian Night Club. It was as you might expect from a TV show; several large, well dressed men in black suits guarding the door. We had to walk thru a metal detector and then be subjected to a “pat-down” ( a very poor one I might say, I could have snuck in a bazooka)
The interior was amazing, very high class, very modern. The next couple of hours were filled with dancing and merriment. If you look at the pictures you will see something white floating down all around us while we dance to the Bulgarian Top 40.
It’s napkins…that’s right…napkins. Apparently it’s a tradition to have some guys stand around you while you dance and throw napkins up on the air. (these napkins had a picture of a Bulgarian $500 bill on them)
Pretty soon we had knee high piles of white napkins surrounding us, which made for great fun as we scooped them up and had make-shift napkins fights.
I will say that if you wad them up tight enough, you could put an eye out.
After an hour or so of this, we traveled to yet another club, this one could have been set anywhere on 6th Street. (Austin’s party district) As it was filled with young people (drinking age is 18) dancing and having a good time. The big difference was that this really could have been a club on 6th St. circa 1987, as I recognized every 80’s song and the dress was VERY 80’s as well. I was in heaven. (class of 87!)
Soon after, we hit one last club, then finally at about 4am, landed at the Kempinski Hotel.
I was the only sober one left standing but we all had a great time in the night life of Sophia, Bulgaria.
I fully intended to have this BLOG catch all that way up to today (Friday) but at already 3 pages, I’ll give you and my hands a short break. I’ll finish up Tues, Wed and Thursday later this evening. I think Norma and I will hit the mall and do some (more) shopping.
Talk to you soon.
Be safe!!!
-The Defuser
PS. Who said The Defuser couldn’t fly???
Ok, go grab a soda…a snack and turn off your cell phone. This is gonna be a long one.
In fact, it would have been a long one if I had written this Tuesday night as I intended but noooooo…I kept putting it off and now I have to write a novel.
Norma arrived in Sophia on Sunday, after being awake for over 30 hours, she was beautiful, but beat tired so we went back to the Kempinski for a little while.
A couple of hours later, my car arrived and took us to the set. After a quick tour, I was taken to “make-up” where the futile attempt to make me look good continued. Yana made some comment about her not being a plastic surgeon…the translation was rough so I could be wrong.
We are 2/3rds of the way through shooting and things on the set are pretty tense. Since this is a low budget movie, the LINE Producer; John really wants things to go quickly, smoothly and on schedule. Then you have Gary, the DIRECTOR who is an artistic visionary and wants things to be perfect and have a shot from every conceivable angle in case he needs it later.
This PRODUCER vs. DIRECTOR struggle is apparently a normal thing…but in this case, the director’s vision is taking MUCH longer than normal. Combine that with several days of bad weather and the producer wants to speed things up to compensate. An eternal struggle has ensued with the crew and actors caught in the middle. This has caused many a 16 hr day, 4-8 hr waits for the actors and no end of complaining and outbursts. (did I mention it’s freaking cold here?)
I fortunately don’t really have a problem with this. I take my laptop or a book pretty much everywhere I go and since I’m used to sitting in a patrol car, at a construction site for 10+ hours at a time…I’m quite content.
Anyway…the scene we shot today (Sunday) was my longest thus far, and by far the silliest. It takes place in the Sheriff’s office. I’m on duty, at my desk, watching a TV show on my computer monitor…(aint it weird how art imitates life?) I get busted by my boss and some hilarity ensues. Now…when you all see this scene, you gonna think: “well…that was silly.” And you’re right, but it isn’t easy fitting a superhero into a sci-fi monster movie at the drop of a hat. Am I 100% happy with it? No, but it was fun and it sure beats what they did to Feedback in MEGASNAKE. I hope you’ll agree. I know Matthew will. J
So this 4 min scene took about 5 hrs to film…turned out to be a long day.
After sleeping all day Monday Norma and I were invited out to a CAST dinner.
OMG! Let me see if I can describe this for you.
Dinners in Bulgaria are an all night affair, this much I had already learned. Nothing about meals is in a rush. If you get a table for dinner (evening meal) then it is expected you will be there all night. Most service establishments don’t close until the last customer wants to leave. (restaurants/bars/etc…)
There were about 16 of us, most of the actors, the exec-producer (money man) and some spouses. We were at a traditional Bulgarian restaurant and we sat at a HUGE square table where massive platters of food were laid out. There is no “ordering” of food. They simply start bring platters out. I noticed that the table and chairs were incredibly sturdy and well made. (more on this later) After about an hour of eating, drinking, talking. I noticed some commotion out in the lobby area. I kinda kicked into cop-mode when I saw a lady run by and then a guy running after her. As I started to get out of my chair, a troop of performers burst in and began the most amazing hour+ long performance of traditional music, dance, and storytelling. I hope you will follow my PICTURE link and check out some of the pictures. It was truly an amazing sight!
The men sang, played instruments and danced. Through all this a story was told, then in came the women. Beautiful belly dancers, folk dancers and singers themselves.
The entire restaurant got caught up on the frenzy and pretty soon everyone (over a 100 people) were up and dancing around the restaurant, on tables, with strangers…
When the room finally settled down and the performers slipped away, we got back to some serious eating and conversation. This did not last long however when a woman, laid out on a long table was wheeled out into the room. Now…this next version is PG-13 and I don’t want to offended anyone or corrupt any young minds…so…you may want to skip this next part.
Well?
Still here??
Thought so!
This woman was not naked…per se’ , she was covered with cake, icing and fruit. This was a living breathing birthday cake complete with sparklers. The cake and fruit were of course strategically placed so nothing showed…really. It was a sight to see. It was wheeled across the restaurant to the birthday boy who was 50 yrs young and was quite impressed with his cake. All manner of singing and festivities began again as the entire restaurant helped him celebrate his birthday. And of course, if any trouble started, I was ready to help “defuse” the situation. (sorry, had to say it)
After about 4 hrs, the evening at the restaurant (called Happy Place) ended but by no means did that mean that the party was over. I’m not much of a CLUB guy, but my wife did travel several thousand miles to see me so I figured I had better do my best to go the distance.
As a group, we left Happy Place and headed to a very prestigious Sophian Night Club. It was as you might expect from a TV show; several large, well dressed men in black suits guarding the door. We had to walk thru a metal detector and then be subjected to a “pat-down” ( a very poor one I might say, I could have snuck in a bazooka)
The interior was amazing, very high class, very modern. The next couple of hours were filled with dancing and merriment. If you look at the pictures you will see something white floating down all around us while we dance to the Bulgarian Top 40.
It’s napkins…that’s right…napkins. Apparently it’s a tradition to have some guys stand around you while you dance and throw napkins up on the air. (these napkins had a picture of a Bulgarian $500 bill on them)
Pretty soon we had knee high piles of white napkins surrounding us, which made for great fun as we scooped them up and had make-shift napkins fights.
I will say that if you wad them up tight enough, you could put an eye out.
After an hour or so of this, we traveled to yet another club, this one could have been set anywhere on 6th Street. (Austin’s party district) As it was filled with young people (drinking age is 18) dancing and having a good time. The big difference was that this really could have been a club on 6th St. circa 1987, as I recognized every 80’s song and the dress was VERY 80’s as well. I was in heaven. (class of 87!)
Soon after, we hit one last club, then finally at about 4am, landed at the Kempinski Hotel.
I was the only sober one left standing but we all had a great time in the night life of Sophia, Bulgaria.
I fully intended to have this BLOG catch all that way up to today (Friday) but at already 3 pages, I’ll give you and my hands a short break. I’ll finish up Tues, Wed and Thursday later this evening. I think Norma and I will hit the mall and do some (more) shopping.
Talk to you soon.
Be safe!!!
-The Defuser
PS. Who said The Defuser couldn’t fly???
posted by The Defuser at
6:45 AM
1 Comments:
Wow...this gets more interesting with each read. Sounds and (from the pics) looks like a blast. I would've loved the club that was stuck in the '80s as well, my '80s Buddy! And why did it take Norma getting there for us to just now see some pictures?...bad! Tell Norma that she's lucky, you look way hotter than Kevin Sorbo in that picture. You two have fun! Stay safe! Kimberly
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