Welcome, Jack!
Most of the time Cam (Lbil’s editor) and I can get a lot of editing done via phone, email and online dropboxes (our DIY digial asset management system). Nevertheless, each month usually requires two or so days spent working together in Cam’s editing suite in Brooklyn.
Since Cam and his wife Sara were expecting their first baby in February, I set up a week of work in New York at the end of January, and took my daughter Thalia out of school so that she could enjoy precious time with Mom. How fun it truly must be for an 8-year old to listen to the minutiae of editing discussion, observing a couple of humorless grownups cutting a film scene by scene.
Actually, my trusty overnight childcare support was not available. Poor Thalia. She did not want to miss school. She did not want to miss her gymnastics team practice. I did what I could to make things more fun. How about a delicious Nutella crepe for lunch? Healthy nutrition be damned. Just don’t interrupt the grown-ups while they’re working. Just don’t ask to go to the bathroom too often. Just sit still and let the grown-ups concentrate. PLEASE.
In all honesty, she was fine. I, on the other hand, was feeling tense. And Cam seemed more than a tad uneasy himself. Baby Mama’s health was of concern, you see. Her blood pressure had been unreasonably high over the last week or so.
Jack William Clendaniel.
b. January 27, 2011. 7 lbs. 14 oz.
Mother and child doing well. And Dad as proud and as happy as can be.
Lunchtime came and Cam just wanted to grab a piece of pizza. There was no inclination to enjoy a sit-down lunch across the street. There would be no theoretical editing discussions over lunch at
Superfine where we often leave Final Cut behind in the office, and hash out the day’s edit and more. We are prone to talking about our escapist ventures into select junk TV shows, inconsequential news of the day, and any number of subjects unrelated to the film. Often enough these tangential discussions unlock fresh approaches to the edit.
Before heading out for his lunch slice, Cam mentioned to Thalia that the pizza he was having is considered by many to be the best pizza in New York. Thalia kind of liked that idea. But I was neurotically fixated on the idea of indulging her with a ridiculous Nutella crepe. She ate it; she did not rave about it.
Shortly after lunch, we’d fallen into rhythm of edit again. After another escorted visit to the 3rd floor ladies’ bathroom, Thalia settled into the office couch, absorbed in a Percy Jackson book. Work could progress. Cam and I could continue to work with the footage from our epilog shoot and start to edit it into our current theory of the film’s conclusion.
At some point, Thalia even settled into a nap. Then Cam’s phone rang. Sara’s blood pressure was spiking again, and her doctor wanted her to head to the hospital immediately. Cam needed to leave.
Just maybe that baby needed to make his entrance. But he was not due till February. And first babies are usually a little late, right? Anyway, Thalia and I headed back to Massachusetts. Once we got onto the Taconic Parkway, she just let loose and started vomiting. And she vomited a putrid chocolatey goop steadily till we reached home about 3 hours later. Poor kid. Nutella crepes -- never again!
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I received the photo on the right from Cam the next morning.
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