SHOW TIME AT CINEMAINC

We finish the mix at 7:00 a.m. Aaron wants me to go to a television interview at 8:30 a.m. to talk about our films and the screening tonight. No way. My cousin has to go to school and I have to go home and get some sleep before I have to come back to TJ for the screening. The line at the border is about an hour. I hate this!

I am not able to sleep. I go to my sister’s apartment and I show her the film. She seems surprised, like she doesn’t believe I made that film. She asks me if I told the Truckees what to do. I say no I told them to do whatever they wanted. So how come they knew what you like, she asks. What a goofball.

I take a shower and I still can’t sleep. I am dying. I don’t know how I am going to get through the evening. Cady picks me up and I get a Red Bull at the 7-11. It makes me feel a little better, but now I am tired and wired at the same time. When we get to the CECUT, Dulce is already there with her friend. We are early, so we chat for a bit.

The first screening is about half full. Peat and his wife Christina arrive just as the credits to our film are rolling. Cady and I crack up. The next screening is full. I run into Karla outside and I am totally surprised she is there. She is one of the credits Torrence messed up. I explain what happened and she is a sweetheart about it. Okay, so half the cast is here: Dulce, Karla and Carlos. I notice there is a lot of laughs during the boutique sequence. It’s not that funny. I find out later that it was Karla's entourage laughing at her.

Christina, Peat, Cady, Dulce and her two friends and I go looking for food after the screening. I feel a tremendous amount of responsibility, since they are visitors in my country and I must feed them good food. The thing is, I don’t know TJ that well and we don’t have a car because we all walked across the border. Peat looks like he is about to faint with hunger and he wants tacos. So we go to La Plaza del Zapato and the place is an unbearable zoo. A waiter hustles us into his empty Mexican food restaurant. The place is not too bad, but the music is extremely loud. We move to a quieter table and we are informed there is no menu. No menu? We can order anything we want? How about Peking duck? I don’t have a good feeling about this, so I get up and say “everyone get up and let’s go.” I can conclude they don’t think I am serious from their expressions and reluctance to get up from their seats. Peat looks annoyed. The waiter cannot believe it. Finally everyone gets up and we leave. I know where we can go. I put everyone, seven adults, in a cab and we head to La Cantina de los Remedios fka Guadalajara Grill. Peat is not happy. I start to suspect he’s the difficult Truckee. When we get there, we have bribe the host to get us a table asap. Mexican ASAP turns out to be over half an hour. I am convinced my entourage thinks I am a bad hostess and that Mexico sucks! We finally get some food and beer. Food average, beer good. Time to go back to The Evil Empire.

PROFESSIONALS USE PRO-TOOLS

My cousin Gaby drives me to TJ and drives me around. We cannot find Edgar’s house. I have been there several times before, but we just keep going in circles. I am really carsick and I can’t take it any more. I call him from a pay phone and we meet him at a nearby spot. We have to go to Aaron’s house to get him and the computer. I know I am not getting any sleep tonight. I just hope the mix is acceptable for tomorrow’s screening. After a lot of talking and wasting time, we get down to do the mix at about 9 p.m. I don’t drink Coke because it is an evil company, but I have to this time if I am going to stay awake. We are unable to incorporate the full foley as it was meant to because Aaron doesn’t have a Pro Tools set-up and, the foley artist, being a professional, sent me everything in Pro Tools. He assumed the mixer would have Pro Tools. I didn’t tell him otherwise because I didn’t want him to think we were not professional. We have to identify foley sounds one by one and incorporte what we can in bits and pieces. My cousin falls asleep on Edgar’s bed.

Oh shit...I notice the credits are wrong. I am missing three actors. Torrence is going to get it.

NOTHING WRONG WITH BEING A PERFECTIONIST

Torrence tells me I am super-anal about credits. I make him show me every single font he has. We finish at 3:00 a.m. The film is now 17:30 minutes.

LAST MINUTE TITLES

I email everyone apologizing for yesterday's bitchy email.

I haven’t heard a thing from the guy who is doing the titles and credits. He is so fired. Torrence agrees to come to the rescue.

Lesson: Some times professionals are not very professional.

BAD DAY

My car broke down and I don't know what is wrong with it. I wonder if it has anything to do with me crashing it against a pilar at Madstone's parking. Email to cast and crew regarding the name change:

Subject: Very important info about the film

Which film are you asking? The one you were in or were part of the staff and crew. The one you can't remember the name of because you are bad at numbers or too lazy to memorize or whatever. It was brought up to my attention, from the very beginning, that having so many numbers for a title would make it difficult for people to talk about the film or market the film. Of course, I ignored the comments. I even ignored the many signs and evidence, including watching the lead actress make up a number and blunder as she answered questions from an interviewer. Not even the producer was able to memorize the number. Soooooooooooooooo.....I changed the name of the film. The name of the film is now "Poly Esther." When you watch the film you'll know why. It is not polyester. It is POLY ESTHER. Two words. Okay? bye for now, tc

The mechanic advises me to stop crashing my car against walls and then hands me a $300 invoice.

ONE SHEET DONE

I go to Paul’s to finalize the poster. He changes a lot, but it is for the better. I love the poster.

I GIVE IN

On my way to my best friend’s birthday luncheon, I decide to change the film’s title to “Poly Esther.”

NO MORE 540 847 67...???

Paul finishes two drafts of the poster. They are great. I circulate the drafts and get some opinions.

The Truckees call me telling me they can’t remember the name of the film and that I should consider changing it to something more marketable. I am reluctant at first, but then I remember no one can remember the name of the film but me. I consult with many people and they all agree with the Truckees. What should I call it then?

IN TJ FOR THE SOUND DESIGN

I go to Tijuana to deliver the sound files to Edgar and Aaron. As always, we spent most of the time talking about films and gossiping. We finally get down to business and Edgar and I are totally in sync with regards to the sound. He even knew what non-literal sounds were. I leave confident that he knows what I want. He is very talented.

FOLEY FROM CANADA

I hire the foley mixer for "Requiem for a Dream" to do the foley. One less thing to worry about.

I THINK I GOT A SOUND DESIGNER

Got an e-mail from Peat telling me the name of the song is now “Poly Esther” and another from Aaron Soto asking me when I am going to TJ for the sound design. Huh???

THE SONG

I meet Peat and Cady at M-Theory to pick up the song for the end credits. I can’t wait to hear it, since the title is “Polyester Messed Her.” How they knew about my feelings for polyester, I’ll never know. Cady calls me to see how I liked it. I tell him I could not love it more. Later, I begin downloading phone rings from the internet and reading about sound design. I learn what non-literal sounds are.