From Sean Connery to um… Sean Connery

Day 4 (Friday)
History speaks. Interviewed a former factory worker today. The grizzled old Sean Connery lookalike took us around the ancient ruins of one of the giant textile plants. And then we got a rare glimpse of one of the only factories still in operation- a dozen machines the size of billiard tables clanking and whirring as giant spools of thread get spun into king-sized sheets. Clank! Whir! Clank! Whir! Huh?! Earplugs do what now?!

From there, it only got louder. And awesomer. Luka (our sound guy) played a show with his band at a bar on Piotrkowska Street (the main drag, and apparently the longest street of straight up commerce in Europe). Philip and I skipped dinner to get a front row seat for an endless night of vodka, ouzo, and great music. Seriously, great- they covered an Iggy Pop song. And they didn’t just “play” the song either. It was their own kickass Polish rendition. Wish I had a recording of it. Heck, I’m surprised I even remember it. When the ouzo was poured, Philip had instant flashbacks of a night he spent in Turkey that resulted in the “worst hangover ever.” …Of course, it’s not like we could say ‘no’… We needed the calories.

2am
We sat on the bar’s front porch, watching the rain. Damn. We still had to walk home… and if we wanted a kabob on the way, we’d have to run one block in the opposite direction. …You bet your ass we sacrificed dry clothes for a kabob. Delicious.

Day 5 (Saturday)
Dragging. But not as bad as Luka. He stayed on that porch until 4 or 5 (he couldn’t really give us a specific time). Interviewed the organizer of critical mass- a huge gathering of bikers that take over the streets to promote clean forms of transportation. And when I say huge, I mean HUGE. We’re talkin’ hundreds of bikers. And the day we showed up to film, it was raining and there were still hundreds of bikers. That’s passion.

We also ran around the University of Lodz with all the people playing this week’s “City Games.” It’s like a scavenger hunt, but each checkpoint involves some sort of task (usually revolving around science). It’s the kind of thing that might sound lame to an eighth grader, but once you start playing, it’s pretty freakin’ sweet. For one task, groups used a smoke machine to navigate through a maze of lasers that are set to trigger alarms. The only thing our footage is missing is a chick in skintight leather ala “Entrapment.” Huh- Sean Connery’s in that. I love it when things come full circle.