Soft Machine³ - Arts Tech and Other

A decade of hard use is a good life span for a pair of inline skates. 

 Richard & Tony skate dancing

After looking hard and doing a bit of research, I discovered that the old “Skates on Haight” retail shop no longer sells inline skates. Not only that, they own skates.com now, a large warehouse, and a worldwide operation. This skater attempted to schedule an appointment to visit the facility, by opening a “service ticket” as the website instructs. They never responded, and I left the ticket open.  I told them I would go elsewhere, and make sure skaters know there is no place to buy skates in San Francisco.

I was surprised by and disappointed in this new “online only” sales situation in San Francisco. I needed to speak to a knowledgeable person, and luckily ran across a mention of Black Diamond Sports in Palo Alto.

View Larger Map

As it happens I was traveling there to help a friend with his project by standing in as proxy in a “brainstorming” meeting.

Time was short and logistics complicated, so I called Black Diamond from Caltrain to warn them I was coming and hoped to buy skates. They are ideally located a few blocks from the station, and right away I was trying on a pair, getting expert help from someone who knew his stuff. 

Less than thirty minutes later I rolled away with a pair of skates that I couldn’t be happier with. I made it to the meeting with time to spare! As I skated to the station after, it was getting dark, and I was on unfamiliar roads. That was not a problem; my feet now have wheels again, like they did years ago.

UPDATE: via /Film: Duffy responds to Overnight

Boondock Saints Director Troy Duffy Responds to Overnight; Calls the Documentary an Unfair Smear Job

…For their part, the makers of Overnight have already responded to Duffy’s allegations and denied any bias in their filmmaking. Director Tony Montana explained:

…The proverbial keys to the kingdom were handed to Troy. The narrative of ‘Overnight’ changed as the protagonist and the events changed. We simply followed the organic themes.

Overnight’s producer was slightly more forceful in his response, saying:

…I have to admit it is impressive that he got the sequel off the ground after making enemies of the likes of the William Morris Agency, Harvey Weinstein and nearly everyone else in the industry…

In my interview with him, Duffy was equally derogatory about Overnight’s filmmakers, saying:

I could go point-for-point on the whole film. But the fact of the matter is, what I accomplished was a tall order, especially for somebody with no relationships in this business. From watching that movie, you have no fucking idea how I did it. Period. They did not tell you my story. That wasn’t a documentary about me. That was a smear job executed by two opportunists who decided to screw everybody who ever helped them.

This is the review of Overnight I wrote long ago. I’m refreshing it because Troy Duffy recently completed Boondock Saints 2, which will arrive in theaters soon.

I’d heard about this documentary a while back, and finally screened it.  It is the story of a blue-collar nobody from Boston who sells a script and then launches into Hollywood-scale hubris and excess. Celebrities. Partying. Shouting. Phone calls. Doesn’t end happily. Highly recommended. Imdb link.

Troy Duffy, an overnight Hollywood golden boy, sells a script for $300,000 and gets a Weinstein deal to make the movie (Boondock Saints), and the sound track with his band, as well as final cut, and part ownership of a newly trendy bar in L.A. where Duffy worked before the deal. He even gets signed to a record label, and he brags that his band is the first to be signed completely unheard. They didn’t even have a demo song. The label dropped them after Weinstein dropped their film, naturally.

Well into this docu-disaster Troy Duffy said to his inner circle that things had really fallen apart and it was time to actually produce the film. So he wasn’t being paid to get drunk and schmooze with celebrities?

It’s really sad the way he strung along his brother and close friends, who perhaps assumed a Weinstein nod would turn into mounds of cash.

Directors: Tony Montana Mark Brian Smith

Cast: Troy Duffy Taylor Duffy Jerry O’Connell Willem Dafoe Mark Wahlberg Patrick Swayze Billy Zane Vincent D’Onofrio Sean Patrick Flanery John Goodman Ron Jeremy Billy Connolly

via /Film:

“Boondock Saints director Troy Duffy held a live videocast answering fan and website questions yesterday about Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, which just wrapped production. We were asked to participate, but were too late to the game. Maybe we can get Troy on the /Filmcast Afterdark and get to the bottom of “Overnight”. Thanks to my friends at Geeks of Doom, I have the video embedded below.”