URBAN TRANQUILITY

We’re back in civilization for week 2 of filming. Frankly, things were better when we were marooned in our little Shangri la out in the styx.

Tonight, we’re filming our hospital scenes in an Out Patient Center and, well, it’s not exactly Cedars-Sinai. This is small medical center -- about the size of your average dentist’s office -- and it’s located in a small shopping center anchored by a Ralph’s supermarket. In theory, that’s a boon for the production since we no longer have to drive for several miles every time we need supplies. There’s a mom and pop pizza joint here, too, that’s proving quite handy. It's so warm inside the medical center that the sound crew, Jorge and Taina, can wear mufti gear rather than bundle up like Eskimos.

But, when it comes time for the director to call “Action,” there’s an unholy commotion in the parking lot outside: “Whee-oh-whee-oh-beep-beep-beep-ack-ack-ack-whee-oh-whee-oh…” We’ve no idea whose car alarm it is. It takes a minute or two for it to stop.

And then it happens again. And again. And again. All night. Probably a car belonging to one of the workers inside the supermarket.

If this was a Jerry Bruckheimer production, he would have radioed in for a military helicopter -- equipped with an industrial-sized salvage-yard magnet -- to carry the offending car away to a convenient drop-off point. Like the Pacific ocean.

Tonight’s filming takes a while to get going and then, when it does, one scene gets endlessly regurgitated from a number of angles. Rus’s character is more spattered with more blood than Jason’s hockey mask at the end of “Friday the 13th XXVI.” To achieve that effect, Tina, the make-up artist, and Jessica, the script supervisor, look at a digital photo from last week to ensure that each streak of blood mirrors that of last week. By the end, Rus has a truly horrifically gory visage. Now, if only we could get Rus to stagger into the supermarket with a butcher’s knife and lurch toward the culprit who owns the car with the nuisance alarm…

But tonight should be remembered as the final appearance of Los Trios Amigos. In tribute, we offer the following photo homage.

-- Stephen Humphries (production assistant)