Latest
Update: August 31, 2001 by Ben Marcus
2:47
ALASKA TIME FRIDAY AUGUST 31, 2001 THE DINING ROOM
I'm
tired. This time I'm sleeping upstairs on a bunk and not in the
van. It's getting too cold out there already. Ike will just have
to sleep alone.
We
did three hours of processing today, all of it on the good line
and most of it big, solid silvers.
I
don't like pink salmon much. They are hard to cut and clean and
they are generally just a mess. I feel sorry for anyone who has
to eat them.
The
silvers are a pleasure. Big solid fish that cut easy and clean
easy and when you have one in your hands, you feel like you have
something valuable.
Not
much else to report. They were playing lots of 70s super hits
on the radio, which helped prod along the Santa Cruz article,
which looks at this fast-changing world from a 70s Santa Cruz
sensibility.
I
miss the 70s, but I believe I have said that already.
I'm
gonna pack all this up, put Ike in the van and hit the sack. The
line will be on at 9:00 tomorrow, so I better get some sleep.
I'm washing my Patagonia jacket and pants and socks, so maybe
I won't smell so bad tomorrow in the library.
That's
it for now. I'm pooped and I'm getting sick. This is not a healthy
life.
15:00
ALASKA TIME FRIDAY AUGUST 31, 2001 THE LIBRARY IN VALDEZ.
Wow.
I sat down in the library at 10:00 and have been working non-stop
ever since. They are processing fish today and I should be there
but I just felt I had better things to do.
The
question is: Do I?
I
just sat here and worked on the BORED! proposal and the Santa
Cruz article for The Surfer's Journal and the Specialty Event
story for Trans World Surf.
I
am probably not the guy to be riding about the ASP and all that
malarkey. I just looked at the WCT schedule and found that the
Pipe Masters isn't even an event this year. Could that be right?
Where have I been?
Anyway,
I hashed out an outline to the Specialty Event story and sent
it off to a bunch of interested parties, including Shaun Tomson
and Ian Cairns and Jason Borte and half-a-dozen others. Maybe
it will get some response and I'll get a good article out of it.
Maybe not.
I
also sent the BORED! pitch to Rosaldo Cavalcanti and anyone else
who I thought might be able to help finish it. I sent it to Rosaldo
first because he sent me kind of a promising e-mail.
In
a message dated 8/31/2001 2:02:02 PM Pacific Daylight Time, rosaldo@openlink.com.br
writes:
Hi
Ben,
Your
project sounds very good. I have one brazilian surfer that is
looking for to join the trip.
You
should have one Brazilian in the team in order to make it more
international.
Also,
i'd like to try to sell the series for the brazilian cable tv.
Can we work it out ?
Best
regards,
Rosaldo
ROSALDO
IF
YOU HELP ME WRITE THE PITCH AND MAYBE HELP ME RAISE SOME MONEY
FOR IT, YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU WANT.
LOOK
OVER THE BORED! PITCH CAREFULLY AND SEE IF YOU CAN ADD ANYTHING
TO IMPROVE IT.
I
ESPECIALLY NEED YOUR INPUT ON THE PART ABOUT THE AMAZON BORE.
WHAT
CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE BORE THAN I CAN PUT INTO THE PITCH
THAT WILL MAKE IT INTERESTING?
SEE
THE WAY I WROTE THE DESCRIPTION OF THE ALASKAN BORE? I BEGIN
AND END IT TALKING ABOUT CAPTAIN COOK.
I
WANT THEM ALL TO BE THAT COMPLETE.
WHAT
ARE THE DANGERS THAT SHAWN ALLADIO WILL BE FUSSING OVER ON THE
POROROCA? PRANHAS? CROCODILES? DISEASES?
WHAT
INTERESTING HISTORICAL OR SCIENTIFIC FACTS WILL MR. WOOSTER-FOP
BE YAKKING ABOUT IN BRAZIL?
AND
WHAT IS THE CHARACTER OF THE WAVE? IS IT DANGEROUS? FUN? CHALLENGING?
LONG?
PLEASE
FILL IN ALL THE INFORMATION YOU CAN, AND MAYBE WE'LL HAVE A
TV SHOW.
I'M
THINKING OF A BUDGET OF $300,000 TO $500,000 FOR SIX SHOWS.
IF
SHAWN ALLADIO GETS INVOLVED, MAYBE SOME OF THAT MONEY WILL COME
FROM YAMAHA. WORTH A TRY. IT PUTS THEIR SLEDS IN A GOOD LIGHT:
SAVING LIVES.
IF
WE PUT A BRAZILIAN GUY IN THERE, COULD YOU RAISE MONEY FROM
BRAZILIAN TELEVISION?
LET
ME KNOW.
THIS
COULD BE REALLY FUN TO DO AND WATCH.
BEN
P.S.
JACK MCCOY, IRA OPPER, MICHAEL GRABER, ANDY MARTIN, TOM WRIGHT,
SHAWN ALLADIO, PAUL TAUBLIEB, JOHN MARKEL, KEN WILKINSON
I
WANT TO ASK YOU TO DO THE SAME AS I HAVE ASKED ROSALDO.
IF
YOU ARE AT ALL INTERESTED IN IMPROVING THIS VERY SPECULATIVE
BORED! PITCH, PLEASE READ OVER THE DRAFT AND IMPROVE IT WHEREVER
YOU CAN.
THE
SYNOPSIS NEEDS TO BE WRITTEN COMPLETELY AND I WONDER ABOUT ALL
MY ROUGH FINANCIAL FIGURES. I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THINGS LIKE INSURANCE,
OR HOW MUCH OF A FILM BUDGET TO DO FOR EACH SHOW, WHICH I ASSUME
WILL BE SHOT MOSTLY WITH VIDEO AND DIGITAL.
SEND
ANY CHANGES TO ME BY E-MAIL, PLEASE.
THIS
THING PROBABLY HAS ONE CHANCE IN A MILLION, BUT WHAT THE HELL.
THINK HOW MUCH FUN IT WOULD BE TO DO.
THIS
WOULD BE GOOD TV: ACTION, ADVENTURE, COMEDY, HISTORY, SCIENCE.
I LOVE THE CLIVE WOOSTER-FOP CHARACTER.
I APPRECIATE ALL YOUR INPUT.
IF ANYONE KNOWS PEOPLE WHO ARE INTIMATELY FAMILIAR WITH THE
TIDAL BORES IN CANADA AND FRANCE AND SARAWAK AND CHINA, I'D
LOVE A CONTACT NAME AND E-MAIL
THANKS
FOR YOUR TIME.
AIM
FOR THE STARS, LAND IN A MUD-PUDDLE, EH?
SEE
YOU ON THE BERM.
I
also sent it to the Guinness World Records guys, even though the
TV guy sent me a discouraging e-mail today.
Ben,
Once
again, apologies, but we will not be attending your record attempt.
I'd be delighted to see the footage when it's done, but we won't
be sending a director from the TV department. If you want a
GWR representative, you will need to contact the Director of
Research Chris Sheedy at: chris:sheedy@guinnessrecords.com and
he will advise you.
All
the best,
Siomn
C. Gold
I
sent the following e-mail, with the BORED! pitch attached, to
both Simon Gold and Chris Sheedy.
Simon
Gold
Guinness
World Records
August
31, 2001
Mr.
Gold,
Thank
you for your patient response to my pestering.
I
am eager to do this Tidal Bore thing because I've seen the one
in Alaska and I can only imagine that the bores in England and
France and Sarawak are equally interesting and exciting.
I
am hoping to use this attempt on the Alaska tidal bore to prod
a BBC or Discovery Channel TV series into life.
The
pitch I am putting together includes a Monty Python-ish character
named Clive Wooster-Fop, who is pulled from the safety and security
of his job in the Guinnness World Records research library,
and reassigned to the field, to adjudicate a bunch of piratical
surfers who are travelling the world, trying to set a world
record for Longest Ride on a Tidal Bore.
This
whole BORED! idea may be cool or outlandish, I can't tell.
I
think it would be fun, interesting television. Fun to do and
fun to watch.
I
know you're busy, but if you could read the attached draft of
the pitch (which is about 80 % complete) maybe you could give
me some idea how my conception of this Wooster-Fop chap matches
up with reality, and also tell me if Guinness World Records
would be game for this sort of caricature of a Guinness employee.
Thank
you for your time.
Ben
Marcus
I
sent a lot of e-mails in the last five hours and I'd love to tell
you about them all, and I know you would love to hear about them,
but I have to go toe the Valdez Vanguard and mail some things
and then get back to the line, Hopefully they are doing silvers
now and it won't be too unpleasant. There were a lot of fish in
there when I left, and I'm sure there are some left over.
Slept
in the bunkhouse last night and it wasn't too bad. Warmer than
the van, although I did miss Ike. Can't bring him inside.
Woke
up with a cold and that's probably why I wasn't into processing
fish. You have to feel good to want to feel that bad, and I didn't.
At
least I washed my pants and everything and I don't have salmon-a-tosis.
Evan
accused me of writing a prank Caught Inside about Chris Mauro
today. It wasn't me, but I passed along my Bill Sharp/Chris Mauro
prank to Evan and Matt Walker.
Enough
said about that. Soon the world shall know.
I'll
work tomorrow, probably and then head for Anchorage on Sunday
with a couple members of Team Turkey. Need to pick up all my Patagonia
swag and whatever else is waiting for me at the home of Scott
Liska. He'll be running his Montagu Cup over Labor Day, hopefully
his wife will be around. I should call him right now.
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