xtcian

10/7/03 We were asked to

10/7/03

We were asked to go on a boat cruise around Manhattan on September 9, 2001, but we had just finished production on the film and felt too under-the-weather to go. Tessa showed remorse that day by wondering aloud, "what if something about the city changes, and we didn't get to see it?" A particularly strange comment, given what happened two days later.

Tonight we were very much present and accounted for on another little boat trip around the underside of Manhattan - it was Alex Draper's birthday party, and we were the bearers of many cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery. It was a great night for a boat ride, with the small pinch of autumn cold on the black water. It's incredible how few people, boats and any other signs of civilization there are, once you get past the Battery and head into the waters surrounding the Statue of Liberty. More human beings have churned through these waters than anywhere else on earth, yet it's not hard to imagine the cold lap of the Hudson against your fishing vessel circa 1645.

Tessa, Virginia, Nell, David and me in front of Lady Liberty

Of course, I was up to my usual clandestine starfucking, but truly, my favorite pair of married artists were on the boat, and by the end of the night, T and I had sidled up to Joel Coen and Frances McDormand. I told them that their healthy relationship (20 years together) gave us inspiration as a couple trying to gain a foothold in the business ourselves, and they were very cool about it. Joel was amazingly soft-spoken, and he and Tessa began geek-speaking about editing systems right away, while Frances took me aside and asked what I was doing during the editing process.

"Usually being the gadfly, vox populi pain-in-the-ass, talking about how mainstream America won't get a particular scene," I said, and that seemed to satisfy her. I told her that Raising Arizona was my favorite movie in existence, and she said that her child's school planned a showing of the movie. It had been a while since either she or Joel had seen it, and there was plenty in it that could have only been filmed in the '80s, before the era of rampant child protection. "Nathan Arizona puts his gun in the crib with the babies!" she said, adding that the school didn't quite get the movie. That, I thought, was truly, unbelievably sad.

yes, I'm taking all these pictures, which is why I look the same in all of them

In all, a great time. And it's fascinating to pass underneath these bridges we traverse twice a day by car. You don't fully appreciate their magnitude until you slosh around the supports and try to imagine jumping off the top. There is a way to do it, apparently, by pointing your toes and holding your crotch, but when you're down near the water, it looks like a pretty terrible idea.

but let's not think about that, shall we?