I'm in China!!!

Wow, what a trip s far... first we got delayed coming out of LAX because of the winds in SF, so we missed our flight from SF to Shanghai and had to stay over, which wasn't too bad because I got to see Karolina before I left. So we few out the next day(Sunday), the flight was slightly delayed, but that was fine.

It was a good flight, we got exit row seats so we had a lot of leg room and we had a great stewardess named Mary sit across from us. We taxied out and then we had to go back because there was a lot of condensation and a seat(and the passenger in it) got wet and they had to switch the entire seat out. So we sat for about 15 or 20 minutes waiting around. Rob was smooth and offered Mary and the rest of the flight staff some peanut M&Ms(he had a 1 pound bag) so they made sure we had extra drinks and food and stuff. We were even able to sleep a little bit on the plane.

We arrived in Shanghai around 7:30pm the next day(Monday) because of the time change... however, Rob's suite case did not. Luckily we had Fang fang's(the director) assistant, a guy named Sonic, there to meet us and help with sorting everything out. W got some food at the airport before heading out for Hangzhou.. we must have left the airport around 10:30pm after everything was said and done... Rob's suite case was still back in San Francisco, though.

We arrived at about 1:30am, met the crew and production team and then got our stuff sorted and went to bed. Rob woke me up around 8:00am- I was surprised how fast I adjusted to the time change. We had what Sonic called a typical Chinese breakfast which was a rice porridge, steamed dumpling type things with pork in them, a boiled egg, various chopped vegetable to mix with the porridge and some bread. It was pretty good, especially the steamed dumpling with the pork.

Then we went back to our rooms and sorted out the internet stuff and settled in. We both got cellphones so we can call people, my number is: 15824457223 in case anyone wants to call me, it's free for me to receive calls... but you have to call long distance, so...

After that we had lunch... it was pretty good, I liked all the flavors, the only complaint was there were a lot of little bones in the chicken, but I went with it. I had heard that there was really good food here, but my last trip seemed very sheltered, food wise, we were extra cautious. This trip I want to make sure that I try everything that I can and really pus myself out of my normal limits and experience the food.


After Lunch Rob, Sonic and I went to the local mall so I could get a bag to carry my computer and stuff around with us on location scouts and to also get some snacks at the grocery store. It was really interesting, I saw many of the same brands that we have in the US but just in different varieties.

So now I am just finishing re-reading the script and making initial notes and talking to people on AIM before they go to bed. My screen name is: phillmatarrese in case anyone has AIM and they want to chat. And if you have a mac with an iSight or some other type of web camera we can video chat!

Check out more pics on my Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/gp/15005161@N06/NQj900

PhillM tip-of-the-day:
Just to remind everyone, film is a lot more sensitive then some of the HD people lead you to believe. We watched dailies from The Company Man and there was a shot we did in a basement hallway where all we had where the fluorescent tubes overhead and I was barley reading an f1/f1.4 split and was really nervous we wouldn't get a good exposure. The film totally handled it, the shot looked great, we couldn't have lit in any better! Plus, it was an ASA 200 speed film, with the newer ASA 500 stocks these days you can get an exposure pretty much anywhere! Why would you want to settle for a lesser quality image in HD(not to mention the complications digital brings with it) when you can capture it on film just as easily if not easier!?