Whitley aluminum to make movie cameo
I have news for people who get excited when they hear that 007 will wear an Omega Seamaster watch, drink Bollinger champagne and talk into a Sony Ericsson phone in the next James Bond film.
In Clive Owen’s new movie, the actor uses extruded aluminum from Columbia City!
Well, I’m not sure he actually uses it. Maybe he just stands next to something made from it.
Either way, it’s exciting.
In this economy, it’s way more exciting than a $2,000 watch. You can’t even afford a Swatch!
For the movie “Duplicity,” opening Friday with Owen and Julia Roberts, Universal Studios sought the assistance of a Columbia City-based company called 80/20.
80/20 offers what it calls modular framing systems.
Basically, the company makes giant hobby kits for people who aren’t hobbyists. They’re for people who intend to put the kits to serious use.
Customized aluminum lumber from 80/20 has many applications.
Dave Wood, vice president for marketing and sales for the company, says products from 80/20 have been used to make pit boxes for NASCAR racers like Jeff Gordon.
80/20 materials helped create Nick Mason’s drum kit during Pink Floyd’s 1994 tour.
“You can see it on the P.U.L.S.E concert tour DVD,” he says.
Wood says aluminum lumber from his company has been used in “Batman” and “Spider-Man” movies, but this is the first time a studio approached 80/20 through various liaisons and requested a custom job.
For “Duplicity,” 80/20 created some sort of office set.
Of course, aluminum lumber isn’t as instantly recognizable as a luxury watch, but Wood says he has seen a still photo from the movie that is rife with 80/20 product.
Wood is getting the word out any way he can.
He can’t, of course, affix tag lines to his marketing materials that say things like “the official modular framing system of Universal Studios” or “Julia Roberts’ favorite aluminum lumber.”
So basically, he says, he’s just “sending e-mails to all our distributors around the country.”
Most of what 80/20 does isn’t as flashy as NASCAR and Tinseltown, but Wood says he might like to add more of that sort of thing to the company’s repertoire.
“It’s nice to get into that fun stuff,” he says. “It might be nice to see a little more of that fun stuff.”
Art sale to have show as follow-up
Josef Zimmerman has come up with yet another way to shake up the local arts scene.
Last November, his one-night, all-anonymous, red tag sale of fine local art at Dash-In called “By the Numbers” was an enormous success.
Now he wants to take us to the Rat Lab.
On April 4 at the Tiger Room, visual artists will collaborate live onstage with musicians and monologists.
The visual artists will paint and draw what they are hearing and the musicians will play what they’re watching.
Participants include artists Mike Shifflett, Josh Angel and Matt McClure and musicians Sankofa and Poopdeflex, who plays what Zimmerman describes as “hateful blues.”
“That man is so full of hate,” Zimmerman says, laughing. “It’s just his persona onstage. He hates everybody.”
John Commorato Jr. will also do a spoken word piece.
At the end of the night, all the artwork will be auctioned off, with proceeds going to Boys and Girls Club.
Zimmerman says the name Rat Lab is both a rearrangement of letters in the word “art” and a reflection of the experimental nature of the whole enterprise.
“It’s not just an experiment for the people on stage,” he says. “It is an experiment to see who will come out to see something like this.
“This is something new; artists nobody ever imagined would be paired together,” Zimmerman says. “I’d like to draw as many people as possible.”
Admission is $2, and a full bar and menu will be available.
Rat Lab starts at 7 p.m.
The Tiger Room is in the back of Calhoun Street Soup, Salad and Sprits at 1915 S. Calhoun St.
There’s a lot I’ve been feeling ranty about, so I am prepared to unleash a flurry of microrants and present them – for no good reason – in the “three dot” style of vintage gossip columnists.