Friday "Friday Night Lights" Lights Blogging


Thursday night they were really going at it up the street shooting scenes for Friday Night Lights. I'm guessing they were still shooting scenes inside that were supposed to be daytime shots, or something like that. They had very bright lights pointed at all the windows from the outside. This was shot without a tripod from some distance away (for no reason other than laziness).

Monster

The Penny Aracde guys may be abandoning Lost for Heroes, but not me. Actually, I am hooked on both. As for last night's lost: Welcome back Monster. We missed you. Although focusing on the Others is ok so long as you make sure one of them gets shot every few weeks.

Acela Quick Shots


From the New England trip, snapshots on the Acela Express somewhere in eastern Connecticut. The top shot isn't blurred because the train was stopped . We ended up running late because some test train got stuck in front of us - Germany it ain't. Below, two shots along Long Island Sound while going something over 100 mph.

Picture This

I have got to start brining a quick shot camera to Barton Springs every time I go. I could have taken a photo of a hippie couple, VW Bus filled with bundles of flowers, putting a few bundles in the hands of the three "philosophers." Sorry there's no photo.

More Glowing Maples


More fall color from New England photos.

End of a Subscritpion Era

We've subscribed here to the Sunday New York Times for at least seven years. Sadly, they have raised their rates yet again, and we finally decided to cancel. It just wasn't worth $7 a week. They haven't helped themselves by the creeping increase in quantity of low grade articles and advertising sections. Oh well.

Poster


In case you were wondering which character from Friday Night Lights "lives" at the house up the street. Below, they put up trophies in the window as part of a scene shot inside. During the actual filming they put black felt (I think it was felt) up around the windows of that room. These photos are from after they finished up this weekend. They're supposed to be back again Wednesday.

More Glowing Maples


Thought it was time for another fall color photo.

Sunday Public Broadcasting


It's time for quality information to enrich the mind:

• The cruel reign of daylight savings is over for another year. Spring forward, fall back. Bonus phrase: Lefty loosy, righty tighty.
• My parents took a long planned trip to parts of Europe over the last two weeks. They spent some time in Budapest, and they ended up being there during some of the protests. Before the protests really got going, my dad took the above snapshot. That's the old tank the protesters later fired up. So what I want to know is when are some Austin protesters (because there's always someone protesting something) going to fire up one of those old tanks at the Texas Military Forces Museum at Camp Mabry? (dear DHS, this is a joke)

Weekend Austin Morning QuickShots


This morning I went for a long needed swim after a long week. I wasn't the only one there taking advantage of the early morning free period.
Afterwards, I stopped by the now-open-for-the-day mother-ship Whole Foods to buy some bagels and lox. I don't usually patronize Whole Foods, but I make an exception for their lox. Although they didn't have any locally-smoked stuff that morning. What's funny is that I saw several people from Barton Springs there in the coffee line (which is next to the bagels - I don't drink coffee).


Rather than taking Mopac back, I went up Lamar and Burnet so that I could provide the promised quickshots of some Burnet Road fixtures. I also desperately tried to get a photo at Pease Park of a frisbee in flight sailing into the middle of Lamar, but it didn't come out.
Of course, the following montage is by no means a comprehensive list of the more interesting establishments along my route:




(I've bought many a good quick lunch from these guys)



(Wish I still had the time to get some cheap beer and good music here on Thursday nights)



I don't go to Dog Almighty as much as I could, but they're good.

Good chiliburgers within. The sign is, of course, more impressive at night.

Fake Friday Football Band Truck Blogging


Seen up the street from me Thursday afternoon. They appeared to be carting various pieces of furniture & carpet into the house from the truck. That's financial efficiency for you, I guess: it's a prop and a piece of set equipment...

Filming Scenes News

I think I have previously mentioned a film or two having scenes filmed in our general part of town. Of course a lot of movies have had scenes filmed in and around Austin over the years. Up until now the closest site of interest was the Top Notch (featured in Dazed and Confused), which is on Burnet close to our street. Well now we will have an even closer site: we got visited Wednesday night by a "location manager" letting us know that they'd be filming some scenes for Friday Night Lights (the TV show) in a house just up the street from us (in fact, just across the street from the playground featured here a few times).

First stint of filming goes over the next few days (mainly Friday), and they will return several more times during filming this season. As I have followed most episodes of the show more or less, I asked the guy if he knew which character was supposed to be "living" in that house, but he didn't know. Guess I'll have to wait until Episode 9 to find out.

Apparently all the filming (at least this time around) will be inside the house. Nevertheless, I will make sure to post the obligatory photo of production trucks parked on the street everywhere just so I can pretend I am hip.

Glowing Maple Leaves


It was even better in person. Sorry.