Playing Ghost Of Tsushima.

Playing Ghost of Tsushima.

-Heart wrenching thing happens.

"Oh man, ow. That's right up there with what happens to your brother in Second Son."

-blank thought-

"Oh fuck right, same studio."

-pause-

-goes upstairs-

"Hey Garwik? Was there a tragic character loss in the Sly Cooper games? Is THAT why they're called 'Sucker Punch'?"

Starring Canada as -

Bored on Netflix tonight. Oh, "Devil", about people trapped in an elevator dieing off, I'd wanted to see that.

Okay, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania establishing shots, and now - Heh, that convenience store had a Canada Flag in the window. Wait. 333 - that's. That's Bay and Adelaide Tower in Toronto.

Well, that was okay.

What else is there.

Hrm. "Rupture". Looks lame, I'll give it a chance. Missouri liscence plates. Mom and son, driving through a residential area. My spider sense is on full blast. "Y'know, not EVERY film is done in Toro- oh no wait nevermind...

...There's the city hall curved towers logo on the side of that garbage bin."

I think it'd be cool it films made in Toronto were just. Set in Toronto? Like?

What's so inherently great about Philly or Missouri or Boston that they get to have the monopoly on devil possessed elevators, genetic experiments, or vigilante brothers?

Also, wouldn't it be WILD to have Toronto like, cannonically the most supernaturally possessed, zombie-ridden, suburban dream home city?

I can't wait to recognize all the locations when the new season of Umbrella Academy drops.

I love the two guys in the last bit. Their movements are casual, relaxed, confident, but also deathly careful. The way the one on the left secures his balance by hooking his foot around the diagonal bar. Get a hand on a point, then move.

Most everyone has three point contact, and I don't limit that to only hands and feet - shoulders, hips, heads are all 'points' to a stable tripod.

And doing it all in SUITS? Hell yes. Probably hot, but classy as fuck. I'll take that over beer stained T-shirts and ass cracks on 300lb brothers any day.

I fight tooth and nail that "safety guidelines have to be made for the lowest common denominator" which these days seems to be 6', 200lb+ white males over 45 years old with multiple substance addictions and bad backs/knees. Just because ROB doesn't feel safe free standing on a diagonal I-Beam, doesn't mean I'm not. I'll never do anything I don't feel secure doing, but being told I "can't" do something because someone got hurt somewhere once and filed a lawsuit... Hrgggh.

Oh well. Always wear your PPE and follow all local laws.

------------ Safety Rant:

Theatre's an odd bucket. We're partially Construction guidelines, partially Live Performance guidelines. 95% of the time the safety inspectors have no idea what they're looking at or why we're trying to use something in THAT way because they've never seen it done before. That doesn't mean it isn't SAFE. Part of the Artistic element of the field means not everything is capable of being X foot tall with railings and toeplates and harnesses and so on.

One time I got yelled at to put a harness on while working on the upper level of a two storey set. Even though I was working at the back wall of the set. A good ten feet from the front edge. And yet? The actors were expected to be up there, performing right to the edge, no railing, no harness. At what point does common sense kick in?

Best part of that was. The guy who got on my case to "clip off" fucked up installing the safety line for me and dropped the beam clamp right on his face. Shoulda just let me do my job.

I jest somewhat, but I'm also dead serious. I ride a motorcycle. Everywhere. No car. Bike 24/7/365. If Safety was First - I wouldn't ride a motorcycle. It's inherently unsafe. Two wheels in-line will flop over if unsupported. But science and skill and luck and more science make it all work. I ride for the 'Experience' First. But when things go wrong? I also have full body gear. ATGATT. Safety is Deathly Important, and needs to be given full consideration. But it's also frustrating when it ignores skill and comfort and physical abilities/limitations.

"You can't work off that ladder anymore, inspector says it's unsafe." So what do I use? "This scaffolding".

That's the other thing about Safety.

Safety takes TIME. Putting on all my motorcycle body armor takes a good ten minutes. I'm always last out the door after a show. But I walk away from crashes.

Now we gotta set up a rolling scaffold unit with railings. Or a collapsible rolling ladder with outriggers. Both take a good deal longer than a simple extension ladder. But then the Technical Director starts bitching because things take longer. It's "BE SAFE" but also "BUT GET IT DONE AS FAST AS BEFORE".

So we set up the scaffold and guess who's too short to reach the lamps? Can't just 'go up another rung' like on the ladder. "I don't know. Stand on an apple box," says the boss. Which now makes me taller than the railing. Which immediately makes it.

Unsafe.

Fffff....

So I give it a try. And inch forward to strain to reach... And the apple box suddenly flips forward because I'm at the edge. Thankfully my Bike Balance sense caught me and kept me from being tossed face first into the seats. But yah, that's the SAFER way to do it. Thanks for that, Inspector! Glad yer lookin' out for the safety of the 6' tall guys and leaving us runts to struggle.

Ah well.

Do be safe, really do.

I gripe and grief but I don't want anyone to get hurt. Know your limits and work within them. If projects take longer, then they take longer. That's part of being safe. And if the TD didn't factor that into the set up time, that's not your fault. They can't expect things to become more complicated and yet happen quicker. I mean, they DO. But they shouldn't.

Sometimes they relent that some laws are overkill. Sometimes everyone just looks the other way while a task gets done. Safely. But not 'by the guidelines'. Sometimes the guidelines aren't safe. So use yer common sense, move carefully and deliberately, and stay away from the edges of appleboxes.

Incredible colorised footage from 1929 of construction workers on the Chrysler Building in New York.

-A few hours gameplay later.-

"OH COME ON."

I really appreciate them letting Jin have emotions (other than rage) and tears through all this, though. Normalize strong men crying 2020.

Playing Ghost of Tsushima.

-Heart wrenching thing happens.

"Oh man, ow. That's right up there with what happens to your brother in Second Son."

-blank thought-

"Oh fuck right, same studio."

-pause-

-goes upstairs-

"Hey Garwik? Was there a tragic character loss in the Sly Cooper games? Is THAT why they're called 'Sucker Punch'?"

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) dir. Peter Jackson