Info

Let the documentary commence.

On Wednesday, we had a real live shooting day complete with Master Tu. It was fantastic, but the day could have started out better.

We’d scheduled this day over a month in advance because in the fall Master Tu travels the country doing seminars. In the month of September, he was in New York, Atlanta, Houston and Dallas. In between trips, he headed off to his retreat in Mariposa to continue building his center.

Yes, I was nervous that one of his more important activities would trump my need to film the documentary. But last Friday, I confirmed with their daughter Jenny, who minds the studio when they are away, that they would be back for the filming. Hurray.

I live in Southern California That’s where we are doing the majority of the filming. It never rains in Southern California in October. Never, never, no not ever, does it rain. Not even a smidgeon of a chance.

The weather report for Wednesday called for rain. Rain all day. That can’t be right. I have to film one of the demonstrations outside.

If the weatherman call for rain, though, it will never happen. Because the people who are least likely to predict the weather are usually hired to do forecasts on television.

It rained. I was watching the weather channel like a hawk to see if there would be a clearing by the afternoon. Not a chance. The clouds wouldn’t move out until Thursday. I drove to the studio peering hopefully south to see if I could spot a clearing. Nothing but black clouds for as far as I could see.

It rounded a perfectly dreadful morning, so why shouldn’t it rain as well? I went to exchange some light scrims, but they didn’t have the size I needed. The Smart and Final where I went to buy eggs was mysteriously missing, replaced by a Salvation Army store. There was tons of traffic as Southern Californian Drivers lost their minds over the precipitation. I also forgot to buy a watermelon. Let’s just say my adrenaline level was up to eleven.

Sandy asked me if were still going to be filming despite the rain. I said we wouldn’t do the outside stuff and would concentrate our efforts inside. I brought some coconuts as a back up demonstration to do, as well, if Master Tu agreed to try.

I decided to start with the painting demo. Sandy asked where were the painting supplies. Oops. I thought they would be supplying that. Another mark for me in the column headed worst documentarian ever.

Master Tu and Sandy rigged something up. Have I mentioned they are the most helpful people on the planet. It’s amazing how much of their time they are giving to me for the sake of this documentary. I’m sure they are counting the days until I say I have enough footage.

Young Jake Alvarado made the trek down through acres of traffic to help with the shooting. He again agreed to join me in my folly. He’s also the only person I know with an HD camera. But he shoots on tape! Beggars and choosers and all that.

We spent two hours shooting the various demonstrations. Some were successful. Some were less so. But I got a bunch of stuff I could use.

If things had gone according to plan, the evening Qigong class would have arrived at this time. But since we had dropped one of the demos, I had an hour to kill. I went over the Tu’s schedule for the next two months. We mapped out some days at the ranch and another shoot day at Fremont.

We also debated the ice block break. Sandy says Master Tu has doesn’t this stunt in a decade. I countered with the fact that he’s going to be pulling more than ten thousand pounds with his testicles. Breaking ice should be no problem. We went back and forth. I finally offered the devil’s bargain. If I lifted a hundred pounds using the Tu techniques, he would do the ice break. Deal made.

For the next two hours, we filmed the class beating themselves and getting beaten. I’m happy I know now what that is all about. I had the class do some of the demonstrations that Master Tu did early so we could compare. Also so it would be funny. It was.

The class also wanted to do some of their own performances. They bent more bars with their throats. We tried to do brick breaks but the bricks were having none of it. My translator, Mark, ended up with a very swollen hand.

When I first started doing the class in August, Mark was able to break two bricks. This Wednesday, all he could do was bruise his hand. He vows to do better when next the camera, the bricks and he come together.

My next goal is to catalog the footage and start doing rough assemblages. I’m starting to see where the film should go and I hope with more footage, the picture will become clearer.

Our next scheduled film date is the first week in November at Master Tu’s retreat in Mariposa. I’m hoping to kidnap Master Tu from construction projects and take him to North Dome in Yosemite.