5.21.2009

Random, unconnected memories from my "big night out.

Last night I went "out". First time in ages so it was a tiny bit of a big deal, to meet some people I'd never met before in order to get a group together to make films.. anyway.

*We met at Náměstí Republiky, at the metro entrance in "the middle of the square". This place is in the centre so it's kind of busy, and has many metro entrances, and it's not really a square in shape, at least you can't tell with all the buildings around, despite being called "náměstí" (which means square). Anyway, I got there at 7, as requested and didn't see anyone who looked like whoever was showing up out of these people who I'd never met. I wandered around looking at all the different exits (the same thing as an entrance) and couldn't see these "film" people. After about 15 minutes I started to wonder if they'd just gone, but I kept doing the rounds of all the exits. At about 7:20 I spotted this guy in a spot he hadn't been a few minutes ago. More modern garb, more colour in his face and shorter hair, but familiar looking. He was talking on the phone so I sauntered up close enough to be able to hear him a bit. He spoke in English with a Scottish accent so I kind of mimed "are you the film guy" and he nodded. I waited for him to finish his phone convo, someone had got off at Masarykovo nádraží instead of Nam. Republiky because the metro station has 2 exits which aren't really near each other... and this "point" is getting long so I won't go into much detail. We waited for him and it was this guy. Also with more modern clothes, and less makeup.

*Another point, one which runs immediately after the last one, so I might as well be telling this in regular story form, but he, the first guy suggested we go to a place that has coffee and cakes.. I thought. er... I'd like a beer. The other dude isn't really a drinker and likes coffee so he was all for it, so I thought.. whatev. That place was closed unfortunately :) so we went to some internet cafe in the area, it worked because it has both coffee and beer.

*Drinking beer, after you haven't been so* much used to drinking it recently, when other people are drinking coffee, can make you look a bit silly :). Actually one of the other guys drank beer too after the first coffee, but not as many as me. He explained all, no one from the first meeting was there, so we introduced ourselves, what we're interested in doing, and what ideas we have. Then we talked, with a bit of brainstorming, a lot of getting off topic and a fair bit of starting talking about one idea and coming up with 8 different mostly unusable ideas that resemble the original one not at all. There were a few good things in there, and between all the stuff we talked of, we might be able to do something. I introduced a few of my ideas which weren't completely laughed at or dismissed, which is nice.

*?

*I should just take my tripod with me whenever I go out at night, I always (particularly after drinking) get the urge to take cool night shots, and never have the proper shit to rest the camera on. I'd probably lose it though. It's best to go out, not drunk, with the aim of taking cool night shots, and I've been meaning to do that for, about 3 years now but haven't done it yet. Wait, I have, once, on the corner of my street.

*profit.

*Walking through the city at night, you're guaranteed to overhear English speakers, and pretty much always some Americans. I was walking out the metro and there was a group of young people, some woman said something about snow "it's pretty in the snow" and they talked of that for a minute, I thought it odd, considering the time of year, and then they referenced the blossoms that are all over the streets and she said "it's like a pretty snowfall" or something silly like that, and they went on about that for a bit, waxing poetic and the like. I swear it sounded funnier when I was walking amongst them drunk, and could remember what was actually said.

*Some ideas for a blog post are better than others :).

*I have been having a few beers at home occasionally, but not usually more than 2, and it's always Gambrinus, and last night I was drinking Pilsner which is slightly stronger. This is in reference to the "so" with the asterix after it by the way, as opposed to the bullet points :)

1 comment:

Barry Leiba said...

The "squares" in NYC often aren't very square either (Times Square, Herald Square, Madison Square... OK, Union Square is), except to the extent that midtown Manhattan is laid out on a grid anyway. The "circles" aren't always circular either, though they're more likely to be.

In your town, I always thought of Náměstí Republiky as sort of an area, more than a square. And Václavské Náměstí as about the most elongated-into-a-thin-rectangle square I've about ever seen. (And isn't Náměstí Miru kind of a circle?)

I've also been threatening to take camera, tripod, and darkness, and wander about NYC taking totally cool night pics. And I, too, haven't gotten 'round to it.