On the set of "Bored to Death"

Big Island Rachel--writer, office babe, Street Teamster, and now, television extra.

Yesterday, I shucked my big boots on and ambled down to the Brooklyn Lyceum to be an extra on the HBO show "Bored to Death." Since I don't have television, I've never seen it, but in case you're interested, it stars Jason Schwartzman, Zach Galifianakis, and Ted Danson, and this coming season they all go to Brooklyn Comic Con 2010. If you decide to watch it when it airs, look for me--I'm the convention attendee getting my comic book autographed by Zach Galifianakis just before Jason Schwartzman saves his life (sort of). This meant that for seven hours, I got to smile at Zach Galifianakis, take three steps back, and look scared.

Seven hours: smile, step back, look scared. And that was only the first part of the day. They must have liked my look. I was there for fifteen hours, and never again will I take a television show or movie for granted, because dude, if you've never been on a set, let me tell you, that sh*t takes some EFFORT. Before they can even yell "Action!" fifteen times for a single five second shot, they have to futz about with the lighting and the camera angles and all the finicky little details like getting someone's hat to fly off when they're punched, and make sure it flies off at the exact same angle and lands in the exact same spot for every take. There's people running around with combs and hairspray and blank comics and lasers and half-eaten sandwiches, and you think they know what they're doing, but I suspect they don't.

I thought that working on the newspaper was hectic. I knew nothing about hectic.

I did get to hang out with other comic book geeks for the entire day, though. That was pretty awesome. The high point was when the director called out for "Ted and Wonder Woman," and Ted Danson giggled and made him say it again. "Ted and Wonder Woman." Also, I made friends with a woman who made her own Catwoman costume that was exactly the same as Julie Newmar's Catwoman costume from the Adam West "Batman" TV show. I mean EXACTLY the same. She found the same kind of fabric used in Julie Newmar's costume, the same belt, she MADE a replica of the medallion, and even had the golden kitty pistol. She was quite the seamstress--she showed me pictures of all of her Star Wars cosplay outfits, and pictures of her cats. Good times.

I don't have any pictures, because that was against the rules, and that bums me out. There were lots of great costumes and the set looked fantastic. Catwoman told me that it was a lot like the original Big Apple Comic Con. Unfortunately, there is no Brooklyn Comic Con, though I imagine if there was, I'd see many of the same people there.

Here's a mind frag. I went to a fake comic convention, which means, and see if you can follow me:

I spent fourteen hours pretending to be a person pretending to be at an event where people pretend to be other people.

On my next post, I'll tell you what I learned from my first extended conversation about comic books with other comic book fans.