Buster Recovers

To continue and expand on my December update, Buster my cat has continued recovering from his November kidney surgery. This time, unlike his first kidney stone surgery in January of 2008, the vet decided to keep him in urgent care to see if they could flush the stones out. Which would have been great: no stones, no surgery. Everybody wins. Unfortunately, after six days in urgent care, the stones had not moved, so they had to operate anyway. I will not mention the cost of six days of intensive care at the University of Minnesota Veterinary Medical Clinic (not to mention the cost of the kidney surgery itself). I will just recommend that you avoid it if you can. His surgery was exactly two months ago today. I brought him home two days later. I took him back a couple times for checkups. No crystals in his urine, which was good; but he wasn't really gaining weight, which is not good. Until they switched him to a different kidney diet. He loves it! I bought a digital scale and started weighing him on December 16. He was 7 pounds 2 ounces that day (down from a high of 11 pounds!) He's been gaining an ounce or two every days since them. A month later, he is 8 pounds 10 and a half ounces. He's gained a full pound and a half! I'm hoping he reaches nine pounds at least. (Update - as of 2/21/2009 he's up to 9 pounds 11 ounces!!)(Another update: As of 5/23/2009 he's up to 11 pounds 10 ounces. Crazy! He's gained 4 pounds 8 ounces since he was at his sickest in December. I might have to put him on a diet.)

December Update

Well, I didn't go to the One Take Film Festival. My cat, Buster (see earlier posts regarding his somewhat dramatic life) became very ill in November, and ended up having kidney surgery (for the second time). He recovered and is gaining strength, gaining weight, and getting over the resultant kidney infection, but it's slow. He went from 11 pounds to 7 pounds. A rather dramatic weight loss. He's back up to 7 pounds 6 ounces* (I bought a digital pet scale to monitor his progress) and loves his new kidney food, Royal Canin kidney formula. He's only 8 and a half. Luckily we have a great resource here in Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota Veterinary Medical Clinic. I should mention Buster's saviors here: Dr. Dominico Bianco, vet student and soon to be Dr. Jessica Dunsmore; Dr. Elizabeth Orcutt; Dr. Maura Carney; his surgeons, Drs. Roberto Novo and Chas McBrien; and senior vet student DeAnna Fox. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FROM BUSTER AND ME!!

*Update as of 2/21/2009 - his weight is now 9 pounds 11 ounces!!

"The Quietest Sound" premieres in Europe

I've just been informed that "The Quietest sound" will screen in competition at the One Take Film Festival in Zagreb, Croatia, November 20-22. And yes, the One Take Film Festival is devoted exclusively to films shot in one take, so maybe there wasn't a lot of competition for this festival. But still, a festival is a festival. I hope to be in attendance, because when will I have another excuse to travel to Zagreb?

Happy Birthdays!

Apropos of nothing related to my films or plays, today happens to be the birthday of two of my favorite 20th century writers: the 125th for Franz Kafka (died 1924) and the 100th of M.F.K. Fisher (died 1992). Everyone knows Kafka (The Trial, The Castle, Amerika, "The Metamorphosis") but if you're not familiar with Fisher's writing you should take a browse through some of her books. She's usually described as a "food writer," but that does her a disservice, sort of like describing Herman Melville as a "nautical writer" or F. Scott Fitzgerald as a "society writer;" food and eating were not so much her subjects as her settings. She's probably best known for three books written during the Second World War - The Gastronomical Me, Consider the Oyster, and How to Cook a Wolf. These three books, and two others, were published together in a paperback compendium in the early nineties entitled The Art of Eating. If you can find a copy of that, you'll have the best of M.F.K. Fisher. You can read her Wikipedia biography here. (And just for good measure, here's Kafka's bio.) Interestingly, Fisher's long life was as eventful, robust and wide-ranging as Kafka's short life was quiet, mundane and circumscribed.

Back to New York

"Two Harbors" has been invited to screen at the third annual Staten Island Film Festival, sometime in early June. I had never heard of this festival, but someone saw the broadcast on WNET-13 in January and thought "Two Harbors" would be a good fit for their festival. They've also urged me to attend, so I might. Of course I'm also supposed to be attending the Connecticut Film Festival at the end of May when "The Quietest Sound" screens. I doubt that I'll go out twice, so I'll have to decide which one to attend. I'm leaning towards Staten Island, just because I'd rather stay in New York for a couple days than Danbury, Connecticut (which I'm sure is a very nice town....)

"Two Harbors" Screens at Home Grown Cinema

"Two Harbors" has been selected to help kick off a new series of independent features here in Minneapolis called Home Grown Cinema. The film screens at 7:00pm Monday, May 12 at the Parkway Theater, 48th and Chicago Avenue, Minneapolis. Aaron Gelperin, the Director of Photography, Alex Cole, one of the stars, and I will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A. The second feature that night, at 9:00pm, is "Bill's Big Pumpkins," a documentary about...some big pumpkins...that belong to a guy named Bill. That's really all I know about it. See you there!

New Website!

Okay, I'm a little late out of the gate on this post, but I have a new website (and have had it for a few months), that covers everything going on with the films, plays, and things in the works. Check it out: www.partizanpictures.com