Ten days and counting

I saw Chuck Gilhooly today. Chuck and I were in film school together back in the mid-80s. He came from one of those neighbourhoods where people didn't usually go to university. When the rest of us started to think that we were being radical, painting a campus room black or staying up all night or stashing some Kahlua in a locker, we could just look at Chuck and know we were all just lame. I never saw him do anything illegal or even immoral, but I never had a doubt that he'd done things I'd ever dreamed of. Perhaps it was all imagination, but I doubt it. Anyway, Chuck got out of the film biz, it was never kind to him. He's an electrician now, which is probably more satisfying in some ways. He's getting some software and a computer to work on some videos on his own. Go ahead and Google him, nothing seems to come up even though he did a brilliant film called "Steel Motion" back in '93. I wrote an article on it that you can try to find under articles on my web site, even though Google doesn't see it. It is a powerful, visceral 16mm film about the rhythm of the train and about his connection to his father who worked his life on the rails. He taught Chuck to love but to respect the trains. He's going to bring me a copy tomorrow, I've not seen it in over a decade but it still makes an impression on me.