So I was given a background support system for Christmas, and I picked it up a couple of days ago and brought home white and black rolls of seamless. About an hour ago, I decided to assemble it along one wall of my living room. All good.

So I mount the 9 ft. white roll of seamless, and after having a lot of trouble tearing off that first perforation (it reminded me of taking the tape off of a new roll of gift wrapping paper, now there are all these little tears along the first edge) I let go for it to unroll.

Somehow - stupidly - I assumed the thing had some kind of invisible mechanism to stop the paper from unrolling when it got long enough. Or that maybe it was built to allow physics to take care of it. But, to my dismay, the whole entire thing spun out, unrolling a brand new roll of Arctic White seamless all over my living room floor, bending and creasing and twisting under its own weight until, at the very end, the glue attaching the paper to the roll let go, and the whole sheet ended the grotesque dance on the ground.

I just stood there and watched the whole cringe-inducing debacle with a horrified look on my face, planted like a moron in the middle of the room without moving while it happened.

And the thing is a bitch to roll up again, made even worse by the fact that all these little crinkles and creases probably will show up horribly once I start shooting.

Yay to burning fifty-dollar bills!

Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR! May you all have a fantastic, safe, and happy 2009!