And now for something completely different

This week presented the usual cases, studying, professors, lunches, dinners, Bar of the Week, job applications, etc. Run-of-the-mill IESE fare.

But this week was special. Tuesday brought Halloween, but I was too exhausted to go out and anyway my Michael Jackson costume was sadly incomplete, and I'm an all-or-nothing Halloweener. So instead I prepped for Wednesday, a national holiday, and the day I had chosen to shoot a short movie I wrote back in August during a flight from Barcelona to Bucharest.

The original plan was to start shooting at 10 in order to avoid crowds at the sporting complex at Montjuic, but as most people were a little tired from the previous night's festivities, we ended up starting at noon. Only to find the track I wanted to use .... locked. So we jumped the fence. Why not? I've been held up at gunpoint by a SWAT team in Manhattan as a result of shooting a movie for film school on a rooftop (pre-9/11!) so I was pretty sure I could handle whatever the Guardia Urbana could dish out.

So five of us had made it over the fence by the time the woman who runs the place came over to tell us she was really sorry but we'd have to leave. In fairness, she was very nice to us and said she would let us stay but the guy who runs the bar next to the track would probably see us and call the police. Around that time, Juan, whose face was still painted red from the night before, said, "Why is the field locked today?" The woman replied, "It's a holiday." And red-faced Juan said, in all seriousness, "Well people like to do sports even on holidays." How that woman said she was sorry for our trouble without even cracking a smile, I will never know. At or around that time we decided Juan probably shouldn't be the spokesperson anymore.

Marc and Juan, moments before we got booted from the stadium

So our troupe moved on to the next location, further up the hill. A really crummy old track which wouldn't allow for some of the shots I had planned. But that was the least of our troubles. Our main actor had yet to make an appearance, and it was now 1pm. Two others hadn't shown yet either. So we got started and tried to make do, but finally the time had come. We needed Rafa, but he was proving difficult to track down. We bravely soldiered on without him and started rewriting the script as we went. So when Rafa finally turned up 15 minutes before this second location was to close at 2:30, we had already figured out how we could include him in the movie without even having to use any fancy CGI. Of course, we were so rushed and out of control, I'm not sure whether the footage can actually now be edited into a movie, but at least we spent three hours laughing and enjoying what turned out to be the last short-sleeves day we will likely have in BCN in 2006.

Max & the Italians make an entrance

Giving preliminary directions to my fabulous cast

The cast hits their marks

Shooting

Don't worry, Atsh isn't really suffering. Much.

After such an incredibly artistic undertaking, I felt the need for more. Fortunately for me, an overwhelmed first year student had given up a ticket to see Mozart's Requiem at the Palau de la Musica that night, and I was the lucky recipient. An economist might call this the positive externality of pre-midterm stress. I just call it SWEEEEET. It was my first time to the Palau and within five minutes I had already figured out all the other concerts I'd like to attend in the coming year. The only danger in my concert-going is my tendency to play air violin, particularly during pieces I played in my symphony as a kid, so I think I was kind of annoying during the Marriage of Figaro overture. A negative externality. By the way, if you have never seen the Requiem performed live, as I hadn't, I highly recommend it. But don't go if you are opposed to getting goosebumps.

After hearing such incredible music on Wednesday, I was even more excited about what Thursday night would bring... The first rehearsal of the IESE band. Muktambar, Quentin, Rhijn and I spent two hours rocking out in a rehearsal space in Poblenou in preparation for our debut at the upcoming IESE Thanksgiving dinner. Stay tuned for tour dates. If you join our fanclub, you will get early access to sold-out shows and concert tees.