Thursday, July 3rd, 2008: Part 1

Oh what a day.

I woke up in the hopes of getting my new Glidecam system shortly after I woke up, or having it already there. The first part of my order. Not yet, but my Dad has good news and that’s that he added to the new super awesome dolly system. He’s now replaced the handle part with a “U” shaped bar that goes along the front. The handle before was the same kind of handle that you’d pull a wagon from. Well, Mr. Adaptability decided that if we want to still use this handle, we can still throw it on. However, it now has a rudder system, which is a lot easier to control. And this “U” shaped bar along it makes it hella easier to push.

We also add another crew member today. Bob Mallen, who I like to call Melon has agreed to come onboard and shoot with us. We worked with him for Episode 3 so he’ll be a nice addition to our crew.

Then some bullshit started. I’ve been out of high school for 11 years now, and the drama that goes along with high school is something I didn’t enjoy to say the least. I’m really trying to push that shit to the side, so it really irks me when I get caught up in it. Personally, I think a lot of people need to watch more Westerns to learn how to become a man and push the estrogen out of their systems. That’s all I’m going to say about that. It’s ridiculous.

I sit down to start watching some Meet the Spartans, when FedEx arrives. Yes, Meet the Spartans, and no, it’s not good. I don’t recommend it. There was nothing else on though, and I was just watching it to kill some time as nothing else needed to be done on my computer, which seems to be where I spend most of my time lately.

Alright, so FedEx comes and I now have my Glidecam system. Thing’s heavy. I take all the pieces out of the box and put them on my back porch. Then I check the packing contents to my actual items (knowledge gained through my time as an assistant Shipper/ Receiver), and everything appears to be there. It wouldn’t surprise me if this fuck-nut decided to short change me on the contents after all this.

I changed my mind. I am going to tell everyone the name of this company and tell them to avoid them like the plague. I’ll do that in part 2 of this blog I guess.

So, then I spend all afternoon balancing this beast with my beast of a camera. Yeah, it took that long, and it took that long because I was following the directions. I already have a smaller version of the Glidecam (the Glidecam 4000 Pro) so I kind of knew what was going on, but reading the instructions just confused me. I wish they had pictures. If I would’ve just ignored the instructions and just put it together from looking at the parts, I would’ve been done in half the time. But anyways….

I finally get the bastard balanced, and then I slap on the vest and arm, then put the sled with my camera onto the vest. Wow. This is a lot heavier than the models in the pictures make it look, and this arm is uncontrollable. It goes where it wants to go, like a woman shopping for shoes. It’s unreal. And just like a woman shopping for shoes, it drags you along with it.

I’ll say that I had somewhat of an ego on me by thinking that since I used a lesser sled prior to this acquisition, I thought the learning curve on this thing would be quite shallow. Yes, I’m swallowing that pride now. I got to get a lot of practice in before we shoot on Saturday.

I adjust the spring tension a bit, trying to stop the damn thing from bouncing around so much. I might have figured it out. Anyways, Bill and I are going to Toronto tomorrow to grab an item or two, and then we’re headed out to a meeting with Alicia and Steve that Alicia called after that, so when I get home I’ll take another crack at understanding this unyeildy beast.