Java Quest

Cast of Java Quest

The quest for good coffee begins this summer in a town near you and ends with... me.

This summer you'll see me as Maya, the gas station attendant with the best darn coffee this side of the Andes. I was acting, for the second time, with the fabulous Mike St. James. He and his costar Alison Cook had to leap from chairs into the scene as I swirl around with perfect grace to hand them a steaming cup of joe. I was flawless. I was like Ginger Rogers, I'm telling ya. Mike & Alison however? I mean, how hard it is to "jump on 3"? Really, people. [/snark]

Working with your spouse--good idea or exercise in stupidity?

I thought I'd get around to blogging on the filming of the commercials, but two weeks have gone by and I just haven't worked up the chutzpah to do it justice.

The crew was professional. The directors were inspiring. They had staff who's entire assignment seemed to be escorting us under umbrellas to the cars waiting to chauffeur and bringing us coffee and snacks. I have to say the guys at United Refinery did a great job taking care of us. I can honestly say I've never been treated so well on a set. I will also say--while I'm blossoming with honesty--that I didn't mind the umbrella/coffee/carry my stuff thing. Not for one day anyway.

My transformation begins

Make-up was amazing. This woman did a fantastic job on everyone. My only moaning was that I didn't look like myself at all. Really. I wouldn't have recognized myself. The first person who saw me when we returned from the shoot was my own mother who said, "Oh you scared me! I didn't recognize you." And then my little sister Carolyn who said, "You don't look like you. Are you okay?" (Ah, family! What would we do without it to keep us humble?)

See the make-up? Mrs. St. James is under there somewhere.

The only hitch was that my wardrobe, which had been special ordered, wasn't ready. This will explain why you see me in these pictures wearing my comfortable--and wrinkled--oversize shirt that's perfect for road trips while the rest of the cast is in full wardrobe. What's a woman to do? Send someone to the mall, damn it! One lucky crew member got to go on a quest of his own for appropriate clothing for me. He came back with brown. I like brown. All was well.

"Location" for me ended up being an old abandoned warehouse where they built an absolutely amazing set. Honestly, you could have set up shop in there and never have known the difference. But lucky MSJ got to film in the attic of an old, creepy warehouse-converted-to-studio (I would love to have explored) and the orangutan exhibit at the Erie Zoo. It was a brilliant location -- looks just like Mayan ruins.

Creepy warehouse location, courtesy of Ed Bernik

Do you know how it is when you go to the zoo and you look right at the apes and they just ignore you? They won't look at you even if you're right in front of them. They'll just sit there or put a bag over your head or something? Well, I learned something that my biodiversity classes never taught me. Those apes are exhibitionists. The apparent apathy is simply a ruse. If you put black screens in front of their glass to control the lighting for, let's say, filming a commercial? Suddenly those bored-looking apes are sedentary no longer. They'll swing around, knock on the glass, try to peer around the screens to see what you're doing, and perform unimaginable antics to get your attention. This was my daughters' favorite part of the trip. Orangutans.