e. gustavo petersen | cinematographer

Sat. – Ah, the big day is upon us.  Wish us luck!  I’m all groomed up and ready to go.  Not just shaved – all out. Shave, moisturized, trimmed, snipped, plucked, conditioned, and polished!  The car’s detailed, the shoes shined.  In mere moments it’s red carpets, champagne and caviar… oh, who am I kidding.  Still I’m sure it’ll be loads of fun.  Good friends and a fun event.  Really all I’m waiting for are those four little words, “and the winner is…”  (Dissolve to..)

…not us.  What the deuce!  Instead it’s some janky teen show.  Now, I know that by writing “janky” I sound like a poor sport and you’d be right.  You can tell me all day long, until you’re blue in the face that “the important thing is being nominated and recognized by your peers for your work or maybe, look who you lost to.”  To me that’s a load of crap.  If it was only about being nominated, there shouldn’t be a winner and just leave it as the best three.  As I’m so fond of saying, “if competition isn’t about winning, then why keep score?”

It’s too bad truly.  The video is a good looking project, whose content was well presented and well served and for an organization whose efforts deserved to be in the spotlight.  Is this organization any more deserving than the other two nominees.  No.  But from a production standpoint – yes.  This isn’t a case of a parent defending an ugly child.  Quite the opposite.  Since attending university, I have had little trust in awards (quality of the production rarely rates high in choosing winners).  But I’m still trying to keep the faith.

It was, I suppose, nice nevertheless to spend an evening with friends dressed up like adults, drinking free vodka cocktail drinks and enjoying an endless supply of desserts.  But victory would have made the evening so much sweeter.  Notwithstanding the loss, congratulation to Tony, Toby, and John and all the folks who supported this project.  Till next time – victory shall be mine!

My lover and me.  Take a good, long look ’cause you’ll almost never see me in a tie.

Toby found his own trophies by way of several free vodka drinks.

Here’s what we didn’t win.

…almost forgot!  Your moment of Zen.
On the same stage ladies and gentlemen, Danny Bonaduce, Sha Na Na, and Alan Thicke!  Jealous much?!

Fri. – One day left… The suit is pressed and the shoes are polished.  Tic-toc, tic-toc, tic-toc…

Thurs. – Two days until the Local Area Emmy Awards presentation. I got my suit ready – black suit, black shirt and grey satin tie (Or maybe white satin – er, maybe not.  Too Sapranos.)  Funktastic.