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Post Historical Events Here are a series of articles (a 'journal' if you will) by Miguel and Chris that take place after the previous set of articles called 'A Show History'. September 2, 1997 Chris meets Buddy from Tejano Time (by Chris) ...And we didn't. We sat around and then went downstairs. Then we got taken back after waiting another 10 minutes. Now any other typical day we would be checked out right when we got back, but not today. We had to sit in the waiting-to-be-assigned area and wait to be checked out for the day for 30 minutes, then they finally let us go. Any other typical day I would walk to my car, get in and drive home, but not today. Today my car was in the shop and I had to walk home. So there I was on North Side Drive walking, reading about Princess Diana, admittedly, more interested in the way she died rather than who she is, thinking about fame and its good and bad points. I get to the underpass of I-35 when someone pulls up to the light and says to me, "Hey aren't you the Sniffles guy?" (I just want to point out for the record that he didn't sniff when he said the name.) He was a Hispanic male and at first I thought it might be one of the guys I had told about the show last Tuesday at work release because I recognized him too. Then he said, "I'm on Tejano Time. Your show comes on after mine." I was kind of shocked. I was like, "Yeah we've watched your show waiting for ours to come on." I was watching the red light wondering if I should ask him for a ride. He asked, "So how are you guys doing?" I told him just fine and that we were still working on it. He started asking what night it was again our show came on because he knew it was after his show, but he couldn't remember which showing. I told him Thursday and then said, "I hate to ask this, but I'm walking home right now and I was wondering if I could get a ride." He said sure so I got in. I told him the best way to go. He told me that he saw me walking and that he thought I looked familiar. Then when I flipped my hair like I "always do in the show" and he knew it was me. I noticed that he was wearing a polo shirt with "Tejano Time" embroidered on it as he told me that he thought the funniest thing was when we were "trying to get that girl to do the laundry." I wowed in the fact that he had been watching it that long. He asked me why I was walking so far from home and I told him I was on work release and that the skit where I was talking about playing a rock show in court was based partially in reality because I actually was awaiting a court appearance. He acknowledged that he had seen it, which I kind of knew because it's the one of the skits that I flip my hair in. He asked me where we edited as he complimented how well it was edited. I told him we used Miguel's VCR with a sychro edit jack and a jog shuttle. And that Miguel was going to UNT studying film. He said(probably referring to the laundry skit where I say, "You're the one who's studying film.") "Yeah I saw that one, but I wasn't sure if that was a joke or not." I told him that we had a skit that was shot for Miguel's film class that we did silent and scored with Mario Paint music I had written on the Nintendo. I told him basically up to the point where I pee on myself and he thought it was funny. He asked why we decided to do a show and I told him that we had a web site address posted on Episode 4 and the site had a detailed history, but I told him about "Myles of Smyles" and that the waiting for the access rules thing at the beginning of the chase thing was based in reality too. He told me that he thought that was funny and that he liked the way it was cut together. I asked him why he got started. He told me he had been working promoting outdoor Tejano shows and that he had met a lot of the artists that way. And that Channel 39 had a Tejano video show that they took off for baseball(and even though I don't actively listen to Tejano music, I must say selling out music for sports is bad.). He got involved with some Tejano dance show on 45 that had kids dancing to Tejano music and that he was trying to get them to implement videos along with the dancing because he missed being able to see the videos. They told him that they really didn't have the means to do it, but that he should do his own show and he was like, "What do you mean?" So they told him about 46. He called up some record company contacts he had made and started producing the show. I told him that I admired his drive to get it done and said, "I admit we don't listen to Tejano music and we usually just raz on the music while waiting for our show, but we had been wondering how you got started with your show." He dropped me off at the apartments and said, "Haven't you shot some stuff here?" I said, "You must be thinking of my Dad's apartments, like the camera fight." He laughed and said, "Yeah." I told him that we shot that at my Dad's and that the only thing we had shot in these apartments was one of the end meat segments. Again he laughed and acknowledged the skits by saying, "Yeah." He gave me a flyer and a business card and I gave him my work number and the pager number and I told him I'd send him flyers to his P.O. Box. To think of all the little things that contributed to both of us being at that light at the same time, including me stopping to go pee behind a tree. Go figure. September 17, 1997 Of All the People After we had left Brian's at around 11:30, Chris and I headed up to Denton so that we could edit together Episode 5. But first we had to stop off at Chris' apartment on the way so that we could pick up Binky to do the credits and title screens. From the apartment we went to the Kroger which is right up the street from where Chris lives so that he could get some Dr.Pepper. We noticed a bulletin board on a wall in the front entrance. Granted all grocery stores have them, but the thought finally came to actually put one of our show flyers on it. Chris took notice of a girl and some guy she was with, both of whom appeared to be our age, perfect people to try to promote the show to. We walked past them as they were getting into the car. It just so happened that the girl, who was driving, had her window rolled down. Chris asked, "Do you get Marcus Cable?" She didn't hear him at first so he repeated it. She said she did get Marcus Cable and Chris explained about our show. She seemed interested(for us interested means that she didn't drive off right away) so I ran to the truck to get her a flyer. When she looked at the flyer, she said, "Oh are you those guys...," cool maybe she had seen the show, "...that are doing that Pool Watch thing?" It's kind of a strange thing, but for a brief moment Chris and I actually shared the same thought. How the hell did she know about Pool Watch? At this stage, Pool Watch is something that Brian has only been talking about and has never fully scripted. We've been kind of blowing it off mainly because we're more concerned with getting Episode 6 out of the way and also because right now there is nothing on paper. I asked her if she knew Brian, an obvious question and she said that she did. Chris asked her what her name was to see if she might have been one of the many girls that Brian has been telling us that he's been talking to who are interested in being on the show, but about whom Chris and I are having doubts. She said her name was Tara. It didn't ring any bells. Finally she explained that she was Shannon's sister. The name Shannon rang a bell as she is one of the girls Brian keeps telling me wants to be in the show. If Shannon is as cute as this Tara girl is then we're definitely going to have to get the both of them on the show. It was kind of a cool coincidence and Chris said that the incident was even more frustrating, because although Brian has only been on the first four episodes a total of five minutes, he's getting a lot more attention than we are. Not only that but we had hoped that we could at least interest someone in the show that was in no way connected to us. Everybody that we know who has seen the show has either been people we know from work or friends of friends. September 17th 1997 Show 5 Completed Chris and I spent all day and night to get it done so that we could turn it into the cable office by Friday. By the time it was all over the both of us had managed to stay up 24 hours. The day was an accomplishment in the sheer amount of stuff that we managed to get done. Basically we shot a whole 7 minutes of the show which is the whole introduction before we even get into the much maligned Summer Project '95. The reason we were able to get so much done I think is because this is about the most simplistic we have ever gotten with our stuff. The first three minutes is basically us just sitting in front of the camera reading some viewer mail. There's not really a whole lot going on there. I usually feel guilty whenever we cut corners like that, but it does fill up show time and if the result actually works on some level than it's not too bad. We spent all night working on the final edit because Chris insisted that he have his own private personal copy to take home with him when we were done. I kept telling him that he was going to have to wait for his copy because it was not absolutely necessary that he have it that day. But he kept insisting and so it all got done, even Summer Project '95 which I thought would never be completed. I just knew that something was going to break down before the night was over or even later during the week before I would be able to get an S-VHS tape to make the copy for public access. Luckily none of that happened and I got it in on time. Now I'm bracing myself for what could possibly be some serious consequences as a result of this episode. I'm just sure that someone is going to have a problem with it considering the nature of what happens in the program. September 18th 1997 A Big Mixup I had talked to Chris the night before. He had just gotten his new phone installed. If you want the number...ahhh thought I was actually going to give it out didn't you? I've been telling him that he needs to give me expilicit written instructions because he's been complaining a lot that I don't listen to him. Case in point. He wanted me to dub the first four episodes of the show onto one tape before I turned in our public access dub of Episode 4 in. I understood it that he just wanted a copy of Episode 4 and that was it. That's all he got and so he accused me of not listening to him. I keep having to explain that 1.)I'm a visual learner. I can't just know exactly what you're talking about from verbal expression alnoe 2.)What I do hear is all dependent on what I'm doing when you're talking to me. If I'm involved in something else that's requiring my concentration then most of what you say won't even be processed by my brain. I think all of us are like that, but I especially hate when others try to use it against me as if to say that it's a defect in my makeup. So anyway, he was giving me some instructions that he was telling me to write down so that I could refer to them so that I would leave nothing out. This list of instructions primarily involved bringing the VCR down to Fort Worth for the weekend so that we could start editing Shows 6&7. We generally get together with Brian at his apartment at 9:00 on Thursdays. I mentioned to Chris that since I would have over 5 hours from the time I got out of class until the time that we were supposed to meet at Brian's that maybe I would stop off at Chris' earlier in the day so that we could start the editing. As it turned out the following day, I didn't manage to get out of Denton until almost 9:00. When I had gotten out of class I decided to start some of the practice editing. I had gotten so wrapped up into it that it was very late when I got finished with it. I was running very late but I decided to stop off at Chris' apartment first since it was on the way to see if he was still there. I didn't actually go in which was a big mistake. I went around the parking lot to see if his car was still there. I didn't see it at first glance so I assumed that he had already gone to Brian's. Since I was already late as it was I decided that it would be best not to stop and to continue on to Brian's. When I got to Brian's, Chris was not there. Brian told me that Chris had called to see if I had shown up there already. It would have been so easy to just call Chris, but there was one problem. I had lost the piece of paper that I had written the number on along with Chris' instructions. Brian didn't know what the number was either. In fact the previous night I wouldn't have even gotten Chris' number the first time had I not realized to ask before we hung up. Unfortunately information didn't have a listing for Chris(I later found out that Chris intentionally got the number unlisted so that certain people would not be able to get a hold of it). I thought to page him, but Brian was in a hurry to get out the door because he had to go feed the cats at Kim's apartment because she was out of town for the week. I left a note on Brian's door just in case Chris decided to show up while we were gone. We were gone for almost an hour and when we got back Chris had not shown up. By that time it was definitely too late to salvage the what was left of the night. I didn't get to Chris' until 1 a.m. He had been home the entire time. I somehow managed to miss seeing his car. The reason he never left was because he thought that I was supposed to meet him at his place and then we would go to Brian's together. Either HE WASN'T LISTENING TO ME or I just miscommunicated my intentions the night before. Maybe it's both. September 25th 1997 Switzer Discovers What It's Really Like to Work On Sniffles(sniff!) Switzer wanted to come down with me to work on the show with us. I stipulated that if he came down that he was going to have to take his own car because there was no way that I was going to take him all the way back to Denton. Actually I could have taken him back to Denton but he would have had to wait until after the weekend. What we had planned to shoot was the sequence for Show 6 where Brian and I drag Chris to a doctor. The doctor was supposed to be played by Modester who Chris had made arrangements with earlier in the week to get together with for the week. When Switzer expressed an interest in being in the show, I instantly got an idea on how to use him. I would have loved to use him as a camera operator but since I've given up on the storyboards and with them all hope of having moving shots, it wasn't necessary. I thought that it would be cool to have Switzer as Modester's assistant who is overly critical of how the camera crew(what crew?) is setting the shots up and blocking the scene. It would have been a good moment of self reflexiveness for the show. So Switzer followed me down to Fort Worth to Chris' apartment. We waited there until Chris got home from work and when he did we loaded up into Chris' car to make the trip down to Brian's. At Brian's Chris called Modester. Modester was already asleep when he called and he was absolutely unwilling to get up to spend an hour with us shooting the segment for the show since he had to be up at 6 the next morning. Modester said that we could get together Friday night since he wouldn't have to work all weekend long. Basically all of this meant that we had absolutely nothing to do. Switzer had driven down for nothing. I decided that we shouldn't let the entire night go to waste so we decided to do one of the sketches Brian has been talking about doing, specifically Hot Dog Cleaner Man. Just as we decided to do this Kendra walked through the door, home early from work. The major event of the night was our going to Kim's to help move her entertainment center. Switzer was very disappointed and Chris pointed out that this is how working on the show always is. Sometimes we'll get something done, but more often than not we'll be empty handed like we were that night. The only difference is Switzer had to drive 60 miles to learn it. September 26th 1997 Failing to make up for lost time Modester had told us the night before that since he couldn't get with us then that he would get with us on Friday night. The only problem was that both Chris and I had to work. No problem we would just get together when the both of us got out of work after midnight. Of course we ran into a serious snag. When I got a hold of Chris when I finally clocked out at 1a.m. he reported that no one was answering Modester's phone. Since Modester had just moved into a new apartment that day and neither of us knew the location, we couldn't simply go knock on his door until he woke up to answer it Chris sounded pretty tired as it was and since he had to get up early in the morning for work release anyway, I figured it was best to just let it go and not worry about it. October 1st 1997 Continuing to Slip/Show 5 Premiere I was late getting over to Brian's apartment. As I was getting there, Chris was also arriving as well. He said that he deliberately delayed showing up on time because he knew that I wouldn't be there on time. I smart-assedly told him that I also delayed because I knew that he would delay getting to Brian's expecting me to be late. Chris gave his usual unconvinced, "okay" and we went on with it. Of course we didn't have much time from that point anyway. Brian had to leave by 10:30 to pick up Kendra from work. We only got a few shots done. They are the ones where Chris has a big laughing fit over his cleverly dealing with a telemarketer and so he goes into the bedroom and his heart explodes or something like that. That was about two shots worth of stuff. We also did a shot that starts the whole telemarkete sequence where Chris is awakened by the ringing telephone. We also did a shot from inside the bedroom where Chris starts his head roll thing just in case we need that shot for editing purposes. Brian left after that and we pretty much knew that all production would come to a halt for the night from there on. We waited outside Brian's apartment while he left to get her. We waited around so that when they came back we could watch the public access debut of Episode 5 and so we sat around in my truck talking. Meanwhile there were these two teenage girls that walked past us on their way to and from, presumably, the convenience store since it is the only thing within walking distance of Brian's apartment complex. Chris seemed to think that one of them was particularly trying to show off by the way she was shaking her booty. I commented that they might have been cute, but I couldn't tell since it was so dark. As they passed by the second time, Chris blurted out, "You're right, Miguel. They are cute." He does that to me all the time, like the time when he had come up to Denton so we could edit Show 4. We had stopped off at Wal-Mart so that I could pick up a new VHS-C adapter because the one I bought back in '95 was about dead. While we were in line, there was this fairly young attractive girl in the line parallel to ours. She was with her father. Chris commented to me about how he liked her butt. It just so happened we were leaving our respective lines at around the same time and we walked past them. As we did, Chris called out, "You're right, Miguel. She does have a nice butt." He stopped for a moment and I kept on walking. He ran to catch back up with me. He said the girl just smiled and her father didn't have anything to say about it. So, as we're walking to my truck in the parking lot we pass by a couple. Chris yells out, "You're right, Miguel. His girlfriend is pretty cute." Again I just kept on walking. The boyfriend took exception to Chris' comments and he threw his arms up in the universal "Ya wanna fight, punk. Wus up?" signal. Chris just yelled to him, "Oh get over your macho self, " and the guy turned around and went into the store. Confusion is a good way to defuse a hostile enemy. I pointed out to him that had I been Switzer I would have left his ass at Wal-Mart. Switzer left Chris at Taco Bell for less and all Chris was trying to do then was say stupid shit to the drive thru person at the speaker menu and not outright get Switzer into trouble. So anyway, back to the present. The two girls smiled, I guess. I couldn't tell and walked back to their apartment building. I mentioned that we should have told them about the show and Chris jumped up out of the bed of the truck to go chase after them. I took my time following him just in case the girls yelled "rape!" When I got there they were listening to what he had to say about the show. I brought them a flyer and although they didn't have cable in their apartments they knew someone who did. They asked their friend if they could watch the show in her apartment. The friend agreed and so we left to continue wating for Brian. Brian didn't show up until almost 20 minutes after 11pm. Our show was half over not that it really mattered to me because I especially have a hard time watching Summer Project '95. When we came in it was at least up to the part that I can sit through comfortably. When it was over we walked over to the apartment building of the two girls. They were sitting on the stairs wating for us. They said they liked the show, but there were parts they didn't understand very well, particularly the ending. A lot of it was because they recognized the location so they didn't understand that it was supposed to be the afterlife. The older woman said that the two girls wanted to be in the show. They didn't say this themselves, but they nodded in agreement. Now that I could see them better, they were indeed attractive, but a little young. Sixteen years old to be exact, not exactly the kind of girls I need to be messing with. Their youth also presents a problem with our ever being able to ever use them in the show because until they turn 18, their parents would have to sign a release form agreeing to let them be on television. Since we wouldn't be able to use Brian's apartment for the rest of the night, we wandered around the River Oaks area hoping to brainstorm something we could shoot so that we could say that we had accomplished something for the night. We mostly talked about the possibility of starting up another show featuring local bands. Last Saturday, Brian had talked to one of the guys from the band Slow Roosevelt and he seemed to be very interested in doing a song for the show. Chris said that music bits really didn't have any place in the format of Sniffles(sniff!) and that it would best be served doing an entire show dedicated to the local music scene. Chris did come up with an idea that we shot that night. And that's where Brian and I are talking about how cool it is to be drunk. We shot it at a car wash in Brian's neighborhood and it probably won't be on for a while.
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