>

I used to own a camera like the one above. It did not, however, become my ticket to fame and fortune. And yet…

Degree 1: Kevin Bacon was in Mystic River with Tim Robbins.
Degree 2: Tim Robbins was in The Shawshank Redemption with Morgan Freeman.
Degree 3: Morgan Freeman was in The Sum of All Fears with Ben Affleck.
Degree 4: Ben Affleck was in Chasing Amy with Mike Allred.
Degree 5: Mike Allred directed (and stared in) Astroesque with Shane Hawks as Executive Producer.
Degree 6: Shane Hawks borrowed my 16mm camera (a Krasnogorsk-3; see camera above) to shoot second unit shots for Astroesque – although I don’t know if they really used it. (I also went to college with Shane and we both worked at the local NBC affiliate together, but shooting movies is cooler.)

And that’s how Kevin Bacon and I are nearly friends.

P.S. I never considered this before today when a guy I work with mentioned the connection for himself – he was in Astroesque (which I did not previously know) – and then I said to myself “Ah ha!”
P.P.S. I wish I still had the camera, but I don’t want to pay for 16mm processing.