Summer Movie Fare: "Dinner for Schmucks"

We saw the Paramount movie "Dinner for Schmucks" over the past weekend.  The movie’s actually not bad, even given the title. (Interestingly, the word “schmucks” was not spoken in the movie itself.) Steve Carell and the other actors are very good, and the dialogue is pretty funny. The concept is a little warped, but hey... it's Hollywood.

You may recall from earlier blogging that we were commissioned by Paramount to produce an intricate parquet floor for the set of this film. Naturally, then, you can expect we hooped and hollered over our "Hollywood" parquet floor The parquet floor filmed very well, and is quite visible during many of the dining room scenes, which take place in the second half of the movie.

I had a particularly good time because I was on the set for the filming of several of the scenes in the show, and recognized all the setups and action. Even though the movie gives the sense that action is going on all the time, and that there are relatively few people in each scene, the fact is that the set is jammed with people and equipment just outside the view of the cameras. The actors spend a little time acting, and then much of their on-set time standing around chatting with each other, getting something to eat (I met Carell at the snacks table), taking a nap, or going over lines. But not actually acting in a scene.

When scenes are being shot, the individual takes don't last very long; and they get done over and over. For example, one scene about one-half second long in the movie shows a mouse being dropped into a bucket - if you see the film, you'll recognize this scene. The actual shooting of that mouse being dropped into a bucket involved two cameras, an intricate lighting setup, a half-dozen people looking down into the bucket, and was acted out three or four different times, just during the time I was watching.

Pretty interesting stuff - that would give an efficiency expert nightmares.

Paramount has called us on two additional projects. We'll keep you posted on this "glamour" side of our business!

Opposite Ends of the World

I have a lot of fun in my job.

Most people know that the fall season in New England is beautiful. This is equally true in New York, and especially Long Island. I was there on business in October, and it was delightful in every way - the weather, the scenery, the food, the people. I'm ready to go back as soon as possible.

Now, I have just returned from another business trip, this time to Hawaii - the opposite end of the world. It is the same story - delightful in every way. Good weather, good scenery of course, great people.

Like I said, I have fun in my job.

New York was buzzing as usual. The overall national economy remains fairly rotten, but something's always going on in New York! Our group of architects and interior designers are not as busy as in years past, but they're uniformly still in the game. It's good to see existing friends, and to be introduced personally and professionally to new ones. I especially enjoyed meeting our new friends at Martha Stewart Omnimedia - a truly amazing enterprise when viewed from the inside.

Out in the Hamptons, houses were visibly being packed up for the winter. Yet at the same time, we discovered lots of planning being done for remodeling and sprucing up during the imminent unattended winter season. The concept of the Plantation customized prefinished high-end wood floor is not commonplace, and even somewhat counter-intuitive, so we have informing and educating to do about the advantages we bring.

Hawaii, at the opposite end of the world, is simply the scene of interrupted progress. Large commercial projects sit idle, from steel skeletons to "see through" buildings. There are tourists, of course. I'm convinced half of Japan was in attendance in Honolulu. But the fully-funded project under active construction in Hawaii is a rarity at the moment.

I again enjoyed seeing existing friends, and making new ones. Our exhibit at the Group 70 Sustainable Materials showroom in Honolulu was one of my first stops, since I had not actually seen it in person since it was established earlier this year. I was happy to have the opportunity to address the entire management and staff of Group 70's architects and designers - this firm Group 70 is a very prominent and progressive firm in the green building space.

In addition, I established some new venues for prospective customers to see our products on display in Honolulu. Details of the locations of these showrooms will appear on our website (www.plantationhardwood.com) in short order.

My good friend and our representative in Hawaii, Conrad Parducci (Parducci Hardwood Floors) and I took a wrong turn walking in downtown Honolulu, and ended up in the middle of the filming of a scene for the TV series "Lost." Look for us in an episode depicting a snowy street scene in, supposedly, New York City. If we survive the cutting room floor, that is. (Conrad's a good-looking guy, and we're thinking maybe he's been "discovered.")

I have a lot of fun in my job.

The neighbor islands in Hawaii have a different tempo and a different flavor than Honolulu and Oahu, and I'm more optimistic about business out there. Some of our long-suffering bids are coming to fruition now, and the area of heavy money real estate investing is starting to rumble again in Maui, Kauai, and the Big Island. I believe Hawaii will be a good market again, and sooner rather than later.

Back home in Los Angeles, we were invited to propose (successfully, it turned out) a flooring design for a movie set currently in production. Look for our intricate custom parquet floors in the interior mansion scenes of the upcoming film starring Steve Carell entitled "Dinner with Schmucks," in theaters later in 2010. My visit to the Paramount Studios lot for this project was complete with approval meetings with Oscar-level movie professionals, and of course, the attendant star-sightings.

I have a LOT of fun in my job.