It's like a fire sale around here

There's another foreclosed-on home not three blocks away - that I am aware of.  This latest house sits on one of three of the busy crosstown streets in town, and still has Christmas lights hanging from the eaves.

The stickers and bank repossession notes are plastered on the front door in full view of the world, and the windows are naked, unblinking portals through which passersby can peer into the empty building.  Some discarded items from a hasty move are now in evidence; most of it scattered around the front stoop or under shrubs along the walk to the driveway. 

This makes six homes within my immediate neighborhood that I am aware of falling to the banker's gavel, but brings the total to more than one dozen for the whole of the surrounding subdivision-like area (this according to my friend, Sherry, our mail courier - she is in the unique position of knowing these horrible secrets).

I hadn't noticed the paperwork hanging on the house until just this week, but the house does somehow look more forlorn than I remember it looking over the very recent past.  Perhaps it's the melting bits of snow, brown grass, and barren bushes adding to the lonely look of the place now that I can see another family has lost their fight against big business and low employment woes.

[shiver]

Holy cow! It was a Hollywood surprise moment...and then some!

For all of you Predator fans out there, here's one for you. Bill Duke (http://www.aoffest.com/pop-2.html) made a surprise stop to Specs this morning to speak to the Production Assistant Boot Camp attendees about PA work and film work in general. Two of my RTV-09-07 classmates were also at the class, and Maria got the biggest kick out of Mr. Duke's arrival. I truly think I saw her on Cloud 9 when she realized who it was she was looking at. Double takes became triple takes, and she was as cute as could be when it came time to shake hands and say a few words with him.

I was glad I had downloaded the training booklet, because I was able to take some great additional notes to add to it as Mark Adler spoke. There is so much opportunity 'in the field' that you learn from every new experience and meeting, and I am now more geeked than ever (who'd have thought that possible?) to get into something - anything! The start of the Bible Quiz Bowl gig is really right around the corner, and that will be a worthwhile (and fun) credit to add to my resume. Sunday I will attend the ITVS freebie on writing convincing grant proposal treatments. I should be able to use that information to solicit grant monies from other entities for indie works not strictly for PBS. I think the protocol will be pretty much the same, just different initials on the forms. But what a great way to learn. Many thanks to Grant for turning my attention to the industry copy that made it possible for me to attend the event! :^)

I did not get any clear photos of Mark A, as he is such a moving target. Needless to say, he was entertaining and informational, and pretty well followed the handbook (as downloaded from the website)... so READ IT...LEARN IT...START LIVING IT! But if you are truly itching to see a picture of Mark Adler, you can Google him with great success. He is a huge entity in the Michigan Film Industry, and a linch pin for anything remotely film-oriented.

Oh, and the other gentlemen attending as guest speakers included Jim Haggerty, Bob Binell, Darren Brown (a Specs grad), and Gary Pillon - a 30 year film industry veteran and pioneer. So, while I may have slaughtered their names, there were no slouches in attendance in the cheese-head selection. There was a lot of groovy information passed along, and I was very glad to have been a part of it all. I would like to take a moment to thank the powers that be at Specs for making these opportunities available to us (THANKS!), and to those people who volunteered their time on the early Saturday to set up the rooms and snacks, et.al. (THANKS!) I would have sat in the warm sunny parking lot for that event...but I am so glad we didn't have to. I truly have a better understanding, now, of PA work and expectations. But the Q&A and meet and greet with the additional personalities was priceless.