#34 Smash Room with Kristin, Oliver, Jessie Eisenberg and Adrien Brody

Adrien Brody: I recognized him pretty quickly after the security guard warned Oliver and me to “keep it quiet because they are shooting a movie today” as we were entering the Syracuse Mall.

Ollie and I looked at each other and I murmured, “Let’s find a place we can blend in. I want to watch”. And we found ourselves on the third floor of the Syracuse Mall looking directly down on the filming of a movie titled, Ralph and the Gym or something like that according to the crew we made friends with.

There was a group of guys hanging out around the biggest movie camera I have ever seen. Granted, I haven’t seen many movie cameras in my day. I whispered to Oliver that I thought the guy in the blue sweater and McDreamy-type hair was Adrien Brody, to which he promptly said, “Who?”.

I said, “He’s an actor that’s been in lots of stuff like…..um….well…some serious things. I think he won an award. Anyways, he’s incredibly famous”.

We were so close to the action that we could see Adrien actively picking his nose and wiping it on his shirt – I’m sure much to the despair of the wardrobe department. He then turned to his co-actor to ask if there was a bat in the cave (not familiar with this term? Look it up!), and the guy next to him grimly shook his head no, rolling his eyes to the ceiling after Adrian turned away.

There was another actor who looked really familiar…kind of like someone you knew once upon a time from summer camp or Am Civ lecture at Penn. I couldn’t place who he was though. So as per usual, I injected myself into the narrative and started questioning our new crew friends who must have been bored out of their minds because they were more than happy to answer any question we threw their way.

They said the stars of the film are Adrien Brody (check!) and Jessie Eisenberg.

Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!! That’s right! Jessie was not prancing around like a super star so he didn’t draw our attention and had been turned into a ginger by the hair and make-up department so I didn’t recognize him. But after we knew who he was, I fangirled all over the place.

And Oliver yelled out “Yoooooooooooo Jessie”, after which we were promptly herded farther away from the action by the crew. (I love my boy!!!! He’s got courage I wish I had!)

Our new BFFs, the crew guys, told us about who all the key players of the crew are, how they get the lighting just so, and how they rig black curtains to block anyone that might get in the shot in error (ie: us).

They told us that the guy who was that was yelling at the top of his lungs was the Assistant Director: “The most important person on the shoot. Well paid too. Different than the Assistant TO the Director”. They pointed out the props team, the hair and make-up crew, and the sound checkers.

This was all so interesting because the day before, Emily, Oliver and I had the pleasure of meeting up with my beautiful niece Hope at Syracuse University. Hope is in her junior year studying film making and had just been filling us in on her experiences in this industry and what she hopes to do career-wise. It was so incredible seeing her goals displayed at an actual shoot. She wants to be the assistant director, and I know without a doubt in my mind she’ll be successful. Good luck in Prague this semester, Hope, and please send me lots of pics of your adventures.

And for those of you who remember "Badass Adventure #16 I accepted a celebrity challenge", being on a movie set is on my bucket list. Even though we weren't official extras, I feel this comes close enough to count. Right?

As exciting as it was seeing the film shoot, the best part of the day was yet to come. After a horrible bite to eat (food was good, service was beyond wretched. It was so bad that Oliver wrote a Google review on the spot. That boy has missed his calling as a writer, I think. Watch for the review to eventually be posted on Google reviews for the Sumera Restaurant in Syracuse), we got to meet up with Kristin.

She hasn’t changed at all!

Kristin was my childhood best friend, and we grew up together from preschool through third grade. You know when you meet your soul sister for life? That’s Kristin for me.

We were so close growing up that we would literally take each other’s identities. In first grade, we would get on the school bus in the morning, swap clothes and assume each other’s identity. I would only answer to Kristin. She would only answer to Beth. We sat at the other person’s desk, took tests on behalf of the other, and got in trouble as the other person. Our teacher, Mrs. Amico, was unbelievably supportive and allowed us to do this for an incredibly long duration.

Then there was the time when we both had gotten our first pair of toe shoes, and decided to perform the entire Nutcracker ballet, complete with tap dancing for some reason. On her mom’s beautiful wood floors. That were not so beautiful when we were done. Kristin said she actually found some of our markings earlier this year when she moved a piece of furniture. A permanent sign of our permanent friendship, though I am certain her mom wished we had found another way to memorialize our bond!

We were in ballet class together, 4H (sewing and cooking!) and Brownies. We had sleep overs, spent hours in Seneca Lake at her lake house and water skiied, and explored all over town unsupervised -- no helicopter parents in our generation! And even when I moved away, we still wrote and spent summers together.

So it has been 20 years since we have last seen each other, but we picked up as if no time had gone by. We talked for hours filling each other in on our lives and reconnecting in a way that touched my heart and made me grateful to have this beautiful friendship that has lasted for 45 years!

She had gotten in touch with me back at the beginning of Badass to say that she wanted “in on the Badass gang” and we agreed to do an adventure together when I would be up in the Finger Lakes for Em’s graduation. She suggested iSmash Syracuse, a Smash Room, and I absolutely adored that idea, so that’s what we did.

Oliver, Kristin, and I started with the “Breaking” room. We had to put on safety goggles and gloves. Every other piece of safety equipment was recommended but not mandatory. For photos sake, we put on everything, and thank goodness we did. When they say that glass is going to fly, they weren’t kidding! By the time we were done, the room was absolutely covered with shards of glass and shrapnel, fine bits of glass covered us, and sweat was absolutely pouring off our faces. It’s a workout!

We were given about 8 computer printers, speakers, and dozens of beer bottles, along with crow bars, sledgehammers, baseball bats and a lead pipe, which was my very favorite weapon. Except for the sledgehammer which was also my favorite because every time I tried to use it, I ended up in fits of giggles because I had to make a guttural groaning noise to be able to hoist it over my head. It’s hecka heavy, people! Don’t judge.

We played SmashBall (baseball), bowling and target practice. Surprisingly, the computer printers are amazingly durable. We would smash, and smash and smash and eventually it would break up but certainly not as easy as you would think.

They also had a speaker in the room for you to connect your preferred music to smash by for the full experience. I grabbed a playlist from Spotify titled, “Smash Room Playlist” (creative title, guys) and it did the job perfectly.

After our 30 minutes was up, we removed our glassy-gear and donned freshies—safety glasses, shoe covers and a rain poncho—to do the second half of our adventure: The Paint Room.

This black-light room looked like a Jackson Pollock painting on steroids. Splatters of every color of the rainbow covered the walls, the floor and some of the ceiling with the exception of three blank canvases hanging on the walls. There were squeeze bottles and tubs of brightly colored paint with a container of brushes for our use. The guide told us we are not allowed to splatter the ceiling, write obscenities on the walls, or paint any form of genitalia. (Oliver…she knew what your dastardly plans were!).

After she closed the door, we looked at each other with raised eyebrows. I sauntered over to the table and casually picked up a squeeze bottle full of Day-Glo orange paint. After looking Kristin dead in the eye, I proceeded to squirt her entire front with the paint and quickly turned to Oliver and did the same. The game was on!

We ran around the room squirting each other with more and more of the slimy paint, spraying the walls and the canvases with our colors, and when the squeeze bottles ran out, we grabbed the containers, scooped handfuls of paint and launched them at each other.

By the time we were done, we were absolutely covered from head to toe. There was no way we could go out to dinner as planned after this, right? But the minute we got into regular light, all the paint colors disappeared, and it looked like nothing was amiss. Totally weird experience, and yes – we went out to dinner after, and I don’t believe the server looked us at all strangely. Much. Maybe a little. But who cares!

Kristin, thank you for this hysterical experience, but most of all, thank you for your friendship. I couldn’t have asked for a better best friend growing up (even though I was very envious of your Dorothy Hamill haircut in second grade), and I am so glad we reconnected in person. I can’t wait to see what BadAss adventures you will be doing this year, and let’s not wait another 20 years to see each other again. I love you!!!!