I have done absolutely NOTHING productive that it's beginning to scare the wits out of me! I felt that I sort of needed time to readjust my body and mind after the exhausting shoot on a second year film in Jersey all through out last week, but now doing nothing is just driving me berserk.
No, really.
:(
The shoot was intense, but all four days consisted of interior shots around a nice, big house in Little Silver, New Jersey. It took me 15 minutes from home to Penn Station, and another hour and a half to get to location, but I guess it was all worth it because I did learn a whole new spectrum of things, especially about lighting. The crew and cast were a fun bunch, food was good, there wasn't much pressure involved although I was AC (camera assistant, right hand man to the director of photography) so I'd say it was a good winter break working gig, although the only thing that disturbed me the most was walking along 4th West subway train station to reach my apartment to the sight of this at 3am!!!
Absolutely freaky, no? It was in a window display from the Kimmel Student Centre I think, which featured various random works of art.
Well anyway, after catching up on sleep on Sunday morning, I went out for dinner at Mara's Homemade - a Cajun restaurant (southern/soul food) with Ummi and Ruth (a Malaysian and Singaporean who just graduated from Parsons last year, and are now designers) and an annoying PJ boy they picked up along the way. It was drizzling and I was feeling slightly light headed due to over-sleeping, and they had been there half an hour before I got there and ordered an appetizer which looked like fried chicken/fish but guess what it was?
GATOR MEAT.
Like, alligator. Those ugly, long snouted creatures which lurk in swamps and strangle their preys before swallowing them whole. I only had one bite before having them tell me it was gator meat. (Lindsay, in a phone call later, asked me, "Wow, is that even halal?") The rest of the food, which came with a hefty price tag was pretty good - roasted chicken, turkey and meat, and a fantabulously delish shrimp thing soaked in glorious buttery sauce, which we dipped bread in. Later we hung around a hookah lounge somewhere in the Lower East Side - a hookah is basically what would be known as shisha back home (which is something I don't enjoy very much, I totally remember back in MMU, Bob and Wanie persuaded Yan and me to try it at Uncle Don's in Hartamas, which resulted in headaches right after).
So the next day we were supposed to hang out some more because Joon, the annoying PJ boy was in NY from Oregon for two weeks, and wanted to go sight seeing so Ummi thought it would be a good idea to bring him around 5th Ave, where Gucci, Coach and all the big name stores were located at. But apparently Ruth had been arrested that morning since she bumped into a cop on the way down the stairs in a subway station and was detained in a detention cell somewhere in Canal Street, so Ummi had to correspond with the Singaporean consulate to get her out of it, without having to post a bail which would have cost $10 000. I mean, how ridiculous is that?! Cops in NY are really intimidating, and it makes me really mad that some of them are minorities with the need to abuse their power to insure some sort of security or standing in the society. Last two weeks Eirik, my classmate woke up with a big metal gun pointing at his face at 6am (in his own home!!!) because he had forgotten to close his front door shut, and the neighbours thought his apartment had been broken in, and alerted the cops. If it were me I'd been crying like an idiot, but these two people just laughed and scoffed it off (on separate occasions) with Eirik saying, "It was exciting for me, now I know how the society works here!" and Ruth's "I really didn't mind if they had wanted to deport me back to Singapore!!"
So while waiting for Ruth to be released we had cheap sushi at St. Mark's (in the East Village) and had wanted to go to Teany Cafe (owned by Moby) for cakes but it was closed! So we ended up going to the Cake Shop instead, a retro/rock inspired vegan cake plus record store shop for chocolate cake!!
Well anyway, after catching up on sleep on Sunday morning, I went out for dinner at Mara's Homemade - a Cajun restaurant (southern/soul food) with Ummi and Ruth (a Malaysian and Singaporean who just graduated from Parsons last year, and are now designers) and an annoying PJ boy they picked up along the way. It was drizzling and I was feeling slightly light headed due to over-sleeping, and they had been there half an hour before I got there and ordered an appetizer which looked like fried chicken/fish but guess what it was?
GATOR MEAT.
Like, alligator. Those ugly, long snouted creatures which lurk in swamps and strangle their preys before swallowing them whole. I only had one bite before having them tell me it was gator meat. (Lindsay, in a phone call later, asked me, "Wow, is that even halal?") The rest of the food, which came with a hefty price tag was pretty good - roasted chicken, turkey and meat, and a fantabulously delish shrimp thing soaked in glorious buttery sauce, which we dipped bread in. Later we hung around a hookah lounge somewhere in the Lower East Side - a hookah is basically what would be known as shisha back home (which is something I don't enjoy very much, I totally remember back in MMU, Bob and Wanie persuaded Yan and me to try it at Uncle Don's in Hartamas, which resulted in headaches right after).
So the next day we were supposed to hang out some more because Joon, the annoying PJ boy was in NY from Oregon for two weeks, and wanted to go sight seeing so Ummi thought it would be a good idea to bring him around 5th Ave, where Gucci, Coach and all the big name stores were located at. But apparently Ruth had been arrested that morning since she bumped into a cop on the way down the stairs in a subway station and was detained in a detention cell somewhere in Canal Street, so Ummi had to correspond with the Singaporean consulate to get her out of it, without having to post a bail which would have cost $10 000. I mean, how ridiculous is that?! Cops in NY are really intimidating, and it makes me really mad that some of them are minorities with the need to abuse their power to insure some sort of security or standing in the society. Last two weeks Eirik, my classmate woke up with a big metal gun pointing at his face at 6am (in his own home!!!) because he had forgotten to close his front door shut, and the neighbours thought his apartment had been broken in, and alerted the cops. If it were me I'd been crying like an idiot, but these two people just laughed and scoffed it off (on separate occasions) with Eirik saying, "It was exciting for me, now I know how the society works here!" and Ruth's "I really didn't mind if they had wanted to deport me back to Singapore!!"
So while waiting for Ruth to be released we had cheap sushi at St. Mark's (in the East Village) and had wanted to go to Teany Cafe (owned by Moby) for cakes but it was closed! So we ended up going to the Cake Shop instead, a retro/rock inspired vegan cake plus record store shop for chocolate cake!!
The next day was Christmas, and I was all pumped up to go ice-skating in Bryant Park, but when I got there the line was snaking and nobody wanted to wait in the cold, so we went to watch Persepolis, an animated feature length film which I have been waiting for since forever!!! Persepolis follows the life of Marjane Satrapi (director/writer/artist who drew the graphic novels) who went through the Iranian revolution. I really liked the off-beat humor, but in some ways it was portraying Islam in harsh light (perhaps because that time the Islamic fundamentalists were in reign after the fall of the Shah) And for Christmas, the cinema was FULL. Another thought to ponder upon, NYC was full of merry-makers which consisted of foreigners and tourists who were all eager to get a piece of this city while the rest of the bonafide dwellers were indoors Christmas carolling and drinking eggnog and whatnots.
Rest aside, I am really getting tired of just staying in bed, because it's sort of getting into me right now - the dizzy spells and harrowing light flashes and blackouts. Hopefully I'll get to do something productive tomorrow - like scour Chinatown for ingredients to make nasi lemak, or a good hour long run in the gym and find time to catch The Orphanage at Sunshine Cinema later during the day!! It's a new horror film by upcoming Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona, and produced by Guillermo Del Toro, who directed Pan's Labyrinth (which I watched on the boyfriend's computer because I overslept the night we were supposed to go the cinema to watch it, and how horrifyingly disturbing and beautiful, that was)
Ah! But I also want to watch Coppola's Youth without Youth and the new Coen brothers film, No Country for Old Men! So many movies to watch, yet so little money :( But yes, horror films will always get top priority in my list!! What makes it even harder is living 5 minutes away from Angelika and 10 minutes away from Sunshine Cinema (art house/indie theaters) and 15 minutes from Regal Union (which I've never been to yet, because that's for your usual popcorn mainstream fare)
Watched Knocked Up yesterday, and honestly speaking I've lost interest in watching mainstream comedy flicks. They're just so boring and there's no plot twist or resolution which ultimately results in the lack of viewing satisfaction. Sighness.
Off to terrorize the little kitty for now, until I fall asleep. Toodles!
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