Hi everybody. Welcome to the blog where I talk about the past. Stuff I used to think of when I was on my back for so long.
You know when I lived in Australia I learned very quickly the sun is strong. I mean really strong. One day I was sitting at the beach and there was a film crew at the other end of the beach. I didn't pay much mind to them. I went for a swim and went home. After I was at home for a while, I had a beer, started cooking dinner. I turned on the tele and there was the same film crew at the same beach I was at. They were talking about sun damage. They were doing shots, you know, people in the water, people playing badminton on the beach. Then all of a sudden there was a picture of me! I'm watching the 6 o'clock news and there's a picture of my back. They were talking about sun damage and skin. My back is a disaster 'cause I used to surf in midday sun. I look like a freaking leopard. Actually, one night, in college, this is a little side note here, in college, I got really drunk. Imagine that. And my girlfriend thought it would be funny to number all the moles on my back. She and her friends played connect the dots. I woke up to some very abstract drawing on my back. I don't remember anything because I passed out.
You know, when I first got to Australia I started shooting and I brought my film into a lab to get processed. After I ran the first roll I said to the guy who runs the lab, "What's with your developing? It's so contrasty." He just laughed. He said, "All people from out of town say the same thing." The light in Australia is very white. Very contrasty. The light isn't like the light on Long Island or Europe. It's very hard. It's actually really difficult to shoot there. At the end of the day you can almost use tungsten film which is film balanced for the household light. It's crazy. That's film speak.
One last story I have about the sun there goes like this: I went to a dermatologist about every six months. My usual doctor was away. His assistant took over. The guy looked like he was about 14. Anyway, he checked out my skin and stopped for a moment. He looked at me and pointed at my nose and said, "Oy mate, that's got to come off." I was like, "My nose?! You're going to cut off my nose?" He said, "No mate, but the little bump on the side of your nose, it's pre-cancerous and has to come off." The guy pulled out a scalpel that looked like an ice-cream scooper. He said, "Lie down." I said, "Now wait a minute, it's gonna leave a big mark." He said, "Oy mate, stop your complaining. You're a bloke. What do you care if you have a little mark on your face. It's not like you're a girl." He said, "Hold still." And before I could say "No," he scooped out the cancer. I still have a mark on my nose. I tell everybody I had a nose piercing. It makes me seem less like an old fart.
That's about it for my sun stories. I just stay covered up all the time now. Hell, even when I surf with my long board I wear a big hat. I go every six months to get checked now. Anyway, I'll leave you with a few photos. Oh, and if you want to go back to my homepage it's www.briannice.com
Talk to you next week. Love, B. Nice
