Mary Higgins Clark + Spring

The other day I got to work on a book trailer for Mary Higgins Clark's new book. The crew and I interviewed her on where she grew up and how she started as a writer. It was interesting to meet her, she's a very driven woman and has a great sense of humor. I pictured her as a woman in her 50s, sort of campy, sort of like those women from 'Designing Women'. I hadn't realized that she would be older and actually quite cool. She talked about her distaste for The Situation and Snookie and how she had made her first million when she was still in college. Although I still don't like her writing, I think I've come to appreciate her as a person.

I miss warmer weather in New York. Found out that one of my friends is moving to L.A. I'm jealous that she'll be in nicer climates before it will come to me. Plus, it's going to be a little sad and boring here in the city without her. She's been fun to hang out with. I guess New York will just be a little colder longer.

Going home.

Well, it has been an amazing two weeks. Despite it being difficult and freezing, working on this short film has been a learning experience and a great adventure with my friends. I appreciate any chance I get to travel and see things I would never get to see if I weren't in the film industry. I got to see bisons, lions, elks and tigers. I got to meet cool people, especially the canucks on set. I saw stars and the moon on the horizon. I saw myself growing as a person. I hope to share pictures of my trip with you guys soon. In the mean time, here's a new song from Lykke Li which kept me inspired throughout my trip.

Lykke Li - Love Out Of Lust by LykkeLi

Santigold - Your Voice

Here in breezy freezy Toronto for the past few days. Enjoying the blistering winds and wet cold socks. Filming in the snow is just as every enjoyable as swimming in the middle of the ocean. While I'm here for a few more days, I'm going to chill out to the sounds of Santigold. I want to see her live again. Long live sANNEtigold.

Santigold - Your Voice

Toronto, Round 2.

Hey guys, so I'll be leaving tomorrow evening for Toronto, Canada. I'm going there for the second time to work on a short film with a few Columbia University friends. I'm going to be Camera Assisting on the RED One. About eight days of shooting, four days outdoors and four in. I'm leaving this cold weather for even colder weather, I am looking forward to it... Last time I went, it was around the same time, so I know what to expect. I just hope that I don't lose a finger or two to frostbite. Plus, we're working with more equipment this time around.

I've been a little stressed about the shoot these past few days. I normally worry about a shoot the day before it starts, but this has been building up for a while. A lot of things factor into it. I've been procrastinating in packing up and doing the laundry. I spent the last few days just watching movies and hanging out with my family. I've got like five other DVDs at home to watch. Hopefully, once I get into it I'll forget my worries and will get the chance to concentrate on my work.



This is a photo I took last time I was in Toronto.

Films to watch in 2011, Pt. 1

Just viewed a couple of trailers for 2011, some I'm super excited for and others not too hot about. Here's what I'm looking forward to so far:

Submarine (2010)
Just been purchased by The Weinstein Company for US distribution at Sundance 2011. Made by first time director Richard Ayoade, a music video director for Arctic Monkeys.

The music featured, "Quand On N’A Que L’Amour" by Jacques Brel, is very choice.



Sourced from "Twitchfilm.net"

Ceremony (2011)
Starring Uma Thurman and Michael Angarano. In this is romantic comedy about Sam Davis (Michael Angarano) attempting to get back with his ex, Zoe (Uma Thurman) who is about to get hitched to an absurd documentary filmmaker. The trailer looks promising, has your typical assuredness humor, things go wrong in a important event and wrong directions (from the characters, not the director). Complete with your trendiest bands to provide for the trailer's soundtrack.



It seems that this is the year of the Alien invasion. JJ Abrams' Super 8, Michael Bay's Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Jon Favreau's Cowboys & Aliens. All of which are produced by extraterrestrial advocate Steven Spielberg. The most promising of the three is Super 8, previously released information on plot and story were limited to an effective teaser of a freight train accident and possible monster unleashed.

The super bowl teaser provides a glimpse to a bigger and possibly emotional story behind all the sci-fi action. As with all the other bloggers of the net are claiming, this appears to be JJ Abrams' nod to the Spielberg films of the 80s that shares the awe and wonderment of aliens. I.E. Close Encounters of the Third Kind & E.T.



Beginners (2011)
Directed by Mike Mills, Installation artist/graphic designer/music video director, as his second feature after Thumbsucker. This film appears to be sentimental (but not as sentimental as Ewan McGregor's Big Fish, where Thumbsucker was more extracted in its view on the strangeness of its characters. This film is about a non-traditional father/son relationship, coupled with romance with a young woman and a dog that speaks in subtitles.

It May be Winter

But we can still party! Last night hung out with my buddies and went to Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn for the first time. We saw this band 'Tayisha Busay', an electronic/dance trio and they totally rocked hard. They come across as a crazy mix of Amanda Blank, Uffie & Ke$ha, but more hardcore. The venue was small, but they played as if they were in an arena. Check out their EP Shock-Woo on iTunes, it's well worth your money. You can find the link here.