August: Osage County

Tracy Lett's new play August:Osage County is currently playing on Broadway. I remember hearing about this play earlier this fall and wanting to go see it. Well, I finally got to see it over the weekend and it is one of the top plays I've ever seen in my life!

I had heard the running time was about 3 1/2 hours plus, which gave me some pause for concern, but then again Angels in America and The Kentucky Cycle are that long if not longer (and brilliant!), so I figured accept this since it has been getting rave reviews. Well, after the first act, I was a little worried. I thought "This is good, but nothing special." Then the second act started, and somewhere midway, I started to feel everything coming together, and the Genius that is Tracy Lett's came to the forefront. When the house lights came up after the second act, everyone in the audience roared with laughter and amazement after witnessing something truly remarkable on stage.

The third act served more as an extended denouement but even then, there were many secrets to be revealed and many times you could hear the audience gasping in disbelief and shock. Truly a great night of theatre. This is an alert for actors - especially actresses. Because of the Steppenwolf's belief in ensemble acting, there are lots of plum roles, and the complaint of there not being enough strong roles for women of (add age hear) years, well, the complaining should subside for a little while now. Tracy Lett's has crafted some truly amazing female characters of all ages.

Kudos to the Chicago cast for coming to Broadway and kicking ass!

Many people have speculated that this will be the frontrunner at the Tony's next year, and I have to agree. Time magazine just announced it as their top choice for best show of the year

Celebrity sightings at the show: Kevin Spacey, Paul Rudd, Julia Roberts, Bernadette Peters, John Stamos, and director Mike Nichols.

Christmas is coming! Part II

Here's some pics I snapped near Bloomingdales at 59th and Lex

Christmas is coming!

So I stopped at the Nintendo Store today to pick up a copy of Super Mario Galaxy for my Wii (I've been waiting all year for this one!) I saw the Rockefeller Christmas Tree still in it's scaffolding. I can't wait to come down here when the lights are up and people are skating (which I will be on Nora's birthday).

Fallingwater

DSC02400, originally uploaded by thenugespeaks.

Well, I finally made it to see Fallingwater, something I had wanted to do for years, ever since I was an architecture major in college. Enjoy the pics!

Friday
We spent most of the day driving to Donegal, a small town in Western PA located about 20 miles north of Fallingwater. As you can see in the pictures, PA countryside is quite pretty. The trip itself is about 6 hours. It took us probably 8hrs due to stopping for gas, restroom breaks, and of course lunch at Cracker Barrel!

Saturday
We started our day at around 11pm. On our way to Fallingwater, we took a quick excursion to see the 1000 lb Pumpkin. I can't say seeing this rather obese Pumpkin changed my life in any way, but it did make for some interesting photos. Then it was off to Fallingwater. The moment we stepped out of our car, we could hear the river in the distance. Our first stop was to the visitor's center which is built like a wheel with a central hub (main desk) and smaller hubs that spoke out from the center. The smaller hubs hold restrooms, the cafe, a children's daycare, and the museum store. The entire visitors center is built on pillars that sets it above the ground in order to preserve the grounds.

We followed the trail to the house and as we got closer we could see the sandstone terraces start to appear. You know that feeling you get when you finally see something that you've wanted to see for a long time, and it meets or surpasses your expectations? That was Fallingwater for me. The house is shrouded by yellow, red, and orange leaves (the sugar in the trees turns the leaves that color) . We took a self guided tour first (exterior of the house) and got some nice pictures.

The actual tour was good. Just the right length, but now I kind of wish we did the in depth tour, as they let you go into publicly restricted rooms as well as letting you take photos inside the house. It was interesting learning about the family as well. The Kaufmans and their contributions to the design of the house.

• The house cost $155K to build (originally budgeted at only 30K). Keep in mind houses were being built for around 4-8K.
• Frank Lloyd Wright designed not only the house, but most of the furnishings inside which included built in desks and sofas as well as a beautiful shelving.
• FLW wanted to break the "box" concept and introduced corner windows that opened out from the corner, virtually erasing the "corner" line of intersecting walls. (See pic)
• The house used these three basic elements: Steel, Concrete, and Sandstone.
  
• Fallingwater was the family's weekend home from 1937 to 1963. In 1963, Kaufmann, Jr. donated the property to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. In 1964 it was opened to the public as a museum and nearly four million people have visited the house since (as of July 2006). It currently hosts more than 120,000 visitors each year. (Thank you Wiki)

After the tour, Amy and I sat there for a long time, marveling at house and it's surroundings.

Saturday Night
After a nice long day at Fallingwater, we went on the hunt for a nice dinner. Our first choice was this Mexican grill in Ligonier, PA, about 10 miles north of Donegal. When we got there, we discovered that the Mexican Grill had closed a few months before and was now a Pizza joint. So, we decided to walk around Ligonier's main street which consisted of only a few blocks with a pretty bandstand in the center of town. We walked over to a little cafe that we found on the map but it was small and kind of depressing looking. On our way over there Amy and I smelled something good in the air, so we walked across the street to a great place called the Ligonier Tavern where we had a delicious dinner. When in doubt, follow your nose. It always knows!

Random photos on a Sunday Afternoon

Here's some random photos I took around New York last Sunday afternoon with my Treo.

Surf, sand, and Minstrels

Nuge on the promenade, originally uploaded by thenugespeaks.

Here are some photos of Long Branch, where Amy and I went to catch the final preview of Minstrel Show at New Jersey Rep, which I assistant directed for Rob Urbinati. Before the show, Amy and I walked down to Pier Village and checked out the beach. There are palm trees there! I imagine they won't make it through the winter. We had a great dinner at Stewart's Root Beer, which serves 50s style diner food.

Tuesday at Shea

Nora, Amy and I went to the Mets vs Nationals game on Tuesday. Nora scored us $5 tickets. Even though I'm a Yankees fan, I figured since I live in Queens, I should get out to Shea Stadium to see the Mets at least once. It was not a great game for the Mets, and after filling up on peanuts, beer, and every fried food imaginable, we opted to leave during the 7th inning as the Mets were down 3 to 8. Of course, the next morning in the sports section I read that the Mets rallied in the 9th to lose only by 1 - the final score was 9-10.

Huskers at the Rogue

Another year at the Rogue with new and familiar faces!

Busy busy busy

After coming back from a seven day cruise in the Mexican Riviera, I came back to work full speed. Not only that, it was one of my busiest and productive weeks theatre-wise.

When I got back from the cruise, I had gotten an email about an audition that I submitted myself before I went on the cruise. So, I brushed up on a monologue and went in and had a very good audition. I got called back and as it turns out it was me and one other actor up for the part of the Father (which I auditioned for). Admittedly, we are both a little too young for the role, but I did my best to look forty. I even wore my old glasses (sans lenses). I think I had a great call back, but even so, I've been on the other side of the casting table long enough to know there are so many other factors that come into play. So, I am still waiting to hear if I got cast or not, but even if I don't, I'm very satisfied with what I did artistically and even if I don't get cast from this, hopefully my audition will bring me other opportunities down the road.

I also worked feverishly to finish a second draft of my solo play and submitted it to the Public Theatre's Emerging Writers Group fellowship. Not sure what my chances are for even getting an interview for the fellowship, but even so, it was good way to motivate me into continue work on the script.

This Sunday, I attended a casting agent workshop where we got to do a Q&A with the agent. She is from LA and is working on a lot of big movies right now, but I can really mention her name because even though they are allowed to hold workshops, when they are working on movie projects with the major studios, they are discouraged against it. I learned a lot of things from her, such as when actors get sides to read for LOST, the sides are actually fake. This makes sense since the show's plotlines are so secretive. The last half of the workshop we worked on scenes, and I was very happy with what I got to do with my scene (which was from Six Degrees, the now defunct TV show from last fall). Also got good feedback from her, as well as a nice email from the workshop coordinator which said I was one of the few that she liked very much. OK, I think I've done enough this week to earn my labor day!

Why Don't You Let Me Take You on a Sea Cruise?

So, a few months ago my friend Erika invited me to go on a cruise with some other friends. I had always wanted to go, and it seemed like the perfect time for me so I said YES. Here are some highlights of my trip. Enjoy!

Click here for photos

LOS ANGELES
I flew into LA a day before the cruise due to scheduling. As our plane entered LA airspace I enthusiastically looked out the window to see the great La La land and saw a nice thick tobacco haze. Smog. Nice. Then I thought, is this it? Everything is so brown and flat. Where are the majestic skyscrapers like the ones that crowd the island of Manhattan? None were to be found. Oh well. I did get to visit Venice beach and walked out onto a pier and saw some interesting beach houses and street performers.

EMBARKATION - FIRST DAY AT SEA
I returned to LAX to drop off my rental car, and then went to the terminal where I met Erika, Nick and Teri. It was so good to see familiar faces! We laughed alot. Belly splitting laughter that makes me miss my friends from Omaha. We took a 40 min taxi to Long Beach where our ship was docked. Since we had time to kill, we checked out The Queen Mary, which is docket right alongside our ship. The Queen Mary is a gorgeous ship and is actually 30 percent bigger than the Titanic. It was been turned into a hotel and restaurant. We did a self guided tour of the ship and had a nice brunch on board. It was a great way for us to acclimate ourselves to a ship environment.

BOARDING THE SHIP
We boarded the ship, which felt like standing in line at Disney World. Ironically the boarding terminal looked like Epcot Center or as I called it, a big boob. :)

As we snaked through the lines we finally got into the terminal, and there were more lines! The staff was able to keep things moving along and we got checked in pretty quick. After that we were put into a holding area with a bunch of other groups. We were in the "Brown" group. I felt like I was an immigrant at Ellis Island.

We finally got on board and checked in to our staterooms. Our stateroom is pretty nice but not too big, which is ok since we don't really spend that much time in there. There's a nice window in our room and you can see the ocean waves.

At 4pm we reported for a safety drill where we had to wear our life preservers and listen to the safety instructions on muster deck A. Listen to me, our first day on board, and I'm already talking like a sailor. Better than swearing like one, I guess.

Teri and I were eager beavers as we made our way to muster deck A and found were were the first ones there. We stood around in our life vests looking like dorks. One of the crew members, a blonde Englishwoman noticed us and remarked "You're rather eager" Hmmm....I wasn't sure if we were supposed to take that as a compliment or an insult.

After that we had lunch and drinks. I had a cheeseburger and fries at the Burger and Fries station. Yummy. Than we walked around the ship to familiarize ourselves with it.

There are ten decks on the ship. We all went up to the Lido Deck and Sun Deck (levels 9 and 10) to watch the ship sail off. It was so weird to see it move. This monstrosity inching it's way towards the horizon. The movement is very subtle and you don't really feel it unless you think about it. On occasion you will feel a sway and some inertia in your stomach. Nothing bad however. I'm crossing my fingers that I don't get sea sick on this trip.

Dinner was at 8:15pm for us. The restaurant was nice and all our food was delicious. It was a four course meal, and I had a New York sirloin steak and it was a very good portion and tasted good. Although nothing really beats Nebraska beef!

We learned at dinner that the ship was splitting into two teams, Red and Blue and throughout the week, you could play for points by engaging in various ship board activities. We found out we were on the Red team.

After that we were all pretty tired. Nick, Erika and Teri especially since they had to get up so much earlier than me this morning. So we all turned in.


DAY AT SEA 2
This morning we all went to work out. The gym is tiny and crowded. I did a couple of exercises and than decided to run around the ship. I did 5 laps which equals almost 2 miles.

Today we watched the hairiest man contest. It was a lot of fun. There were five contestants and one of them had a red belly, which the fearless host quickly pointed out to the crowd!

Tonight was a formal dinner and we all got dressed up and headed to our table. It's funny how dressed up people get for these formal dinners. There were guys in tuxedos. In the lobby area, families and couples were getting their pictures taken in front of backdrops of a moonlit ocean, or in front of a grand piano. Oh brother.

We were able to get our own table which was nice, as we didn't have to make nice with complete strangers, which wouldn't have been bad either, unless they were not talkative. Than it would just be painful for everyone involved. I had a nice lobster tail and it was delicious. Although nothing beats fresh Maine Lobster from the Lobster Pound.

At the end of dinner the wait staff sang "It's now or never" in Italian, which is funny because the maitre D said there are 50 nationalities between the wait staff and none of them are Italian.


DAY AT SEA 3
Today Nick and I took a dip in the pool and then went down the water slides. Yes, there are water slides on the ship. Just imagine us standing in line with a bunch of kids. Nick got stuck in the middle of the slide until I yelled at him to "lay down, you'll go faster!" And then he did. Ah, physics.

Today during lunch we finally saw some land and it was Cabo San Lucas which we'll be stopping by at the end of our cruise.

Pretty much everything is inclusive except for alcohol and fancy dinners, although our dinners are fancy enough. Our waiter (Roger) is from the Philippines and he is great. Very quick and accommodating. I like that he says "Bon Appetite" before we start our main course. Now, if every waiter in NY could do that!

There are two pools although they are not big at all. You can pretty much just stand around, you can't swim laps in them. There are a few jacuzzis although they are always packed with people.

I think there are 1400 - 1800 people on board? Apparently there is 1 crew per 3 guests, so the service has been excellent!

We've been playing a lot of UNO and we've also been winning trivia games! We won three trivia trophies today, so now we each have one! Each trophy is a golden cruise ship (ship on a stick). Now that we have four, I call it our fleet. We also each got medals! Afterwards we walked to the aft of the ship to have a victory drink and play cards. As we walked through the ship, I held up our trophy and announced out loud that we had won and I said "Go Red Team!" and we got lots of cheers :)

Tonight for dessert I had creme brulee and it was delicious!

PUERTO VALLARTA
Today we docked at Puerto Vallarta! Across the bay I can see a Walmart. Hmmm....
Puerto Vallarta sits on a narrow coastal plane at the foot of the Sierras Cuale and San Sebastián (Thanks Wikipedia).

We are doing a Pirate ship excursion - which consists of going on a replica of the Santa Maria and drinking and looking at "authentic Mexican pirates" I had to laugh when I heard that description,
Wow, what a whirlwind of activity.

We all went out to do some shopping before our Pirate excursion but the heat was oppressive. After about ten minutes of shopping we all wimped out and went back to the ship. At the gangway we were greeted by a blast of arctic cool air and all of us were happy to be back. We played some more Uno. Teri and Erika are very competitive with each other when it comes to UNO. Nick and I just sit back and laugh at them.

The Pirate excursion was great! I was not expecting much, but all the Pirates (which doubled as servers and performers) had charisma and charm. They had funny little interactive skits that warmed the crowd up and Erika and Teri were brought up along with all the women on the ship to do a group dance. It was all silly but very fun. Definitely worth it.

Here is my morbid thought of the week: Tonight as we were walking on the Promenade Deck AFT, I saw another Cruise Ship off in the distant. What really got me was just how dark things get out at sea. I looked up and barely saw any stars and I couldn't even find the moon. Even our own ship, as bright as it is with it's tens of thousands of bulbs, struggled to break out of the tightest of perimeters around the ship. You could see a definite line of demarcation between the ships lights and the darkness of the ocean just ten feet off of the side of the ship. If one were to go overboard with no witnesses around, one would be doomed instantly. The ocean would simply swallow one up and the oppressive darkness just might give one a heart attack right there and then. Ok, time for bed.


MAZATLAN
Today we went docked in Mazatlan. I was running laps around the boat while it was docking, and the scenery was beautiful. Being on such a massive moving vessel while pulling in to port, the best way I can describe it is being on top of a moving mountain surrounded by other mountains.

According to our tour guide, Mazatlan means "Place of the Deer." We took a 45 minute catamaran to Deer Island, and they had light snacks and beverages for us. Nick and I swam in the ocean while the girls went on a hiking tour. Then, Nick and I went Kayaking with a group of people. I must say, my dragon boat skills definitely helped. It was really fun and the water temperature was perfect.

Back on the cruise ship, I realized after being so careful and conscientious about not forgetting anything, to my chagrin I left my new tennis shoes on the catamaran! Doh! So, I went to the pursers desk and asked them if they could retrieve it for me. I hope they do because tomorrow Nick and I are going on a Canyon Canopy excursion and I need walking/hiking shoes to do it.

After getting back from the pursers desk, I laid down for a nap and slowly started to feel awful. I started shivering and my stomach felt queasy and I started to ache all over. My skin felt like it was on fire. I was basically out for the night.

CABO SAN LUCAS
This morning we are in Cabo San Lucas. It is also called Land's End because it is the tip of the tail of the Baja California Peninsula. The Sea Of Cortes is the body of water that Cabo is on. It all looks very beautiful. Erika, Nick, and Teri are exploring Cabo right now. I opted not to go because even though I feel better than last night, I still feel pretty weak and I don't want to chance it. I did manage to get myself out of bed and do some reading. Had a pounding headache and with my sunburn, I looked like a lobster.

When the gang got back from Cabo, they said it was horrible. Very very hot, and lots of third party tour guides on the streets hassling them to sign up for a boat ride or something else.

Nick and I were supposed to go on a Canyon Canopy excursion today where we would soar over Canyons 100 ft in the air spanning 900 ft on zip lines. Unfortunately my sickness prevented us from doing that. The good news is that I was able to get a refund on the tickets ($200).

I'm really bummed I lost my tennis shoes, because now I can't go running on the ship anymore. I did work out this morning - just doing weights.

After dinner we checked out a show called Vroom. It was a musical revue of songs from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Lots of high energy from the singers and dancers, but kind of cheesy as well.

Then we played another game of UNO until 2am and retired.


FINAL DAY AT SEA
This morning we went to the 10am TV Theme Song Trivia and we won our sixth trophy! Our competing trivia team (that we beat by 1 point) officially laid down a challenge to attend the sports trivia this afternoon. Yikes! None of us know that much sports trivia. I predict they will lay a smack down on us this afternoon. But at least we won 6 trophies!

I dragged the gang to an art auction today and it was so much fun. We got free champagne, got to look at (and bid) on some authentic Picassos' and Dalis'. It was also a nice little lesson into the art world as I got to know some artists works. I wanted to bid on a beautiful painting called Paris Interlude. It was only $500. The gallery price was something like $1000, so it was definitely a bargain. They also offered a collection of authentic paintings from a little known collaboration between Salvador Dali and Walt Disney on a short animated film called Destino. The film garnered a lot of accolades at film destivals and also got an Oscar Nomination but it has never been released to the public, but we got to see the film at the auction!!!! It was great!
The set was selling for $9400 and it was already appraised at $20K. They had 6 sets to sell on the ship, and in a matter of minutes they were down to 2. Crazy. Once can definitely get hooked on bidding on art.

Our sports trivia did not go so well. We lost, but the team that challenged us lost as well. Of course, one of the questions we would have gotten right if our Teri, Nick, and Erika hadn't of doubted me. It was about the Yankees! Doh! It was all in good fun. I took a picture of the challenging trivia team. I think they are one big family. They are nice and have a good heart.

DEBARKATION
Today I coined a new term called the Bronson Conundrum. It is when you hate someone but respect them at the same time. The origin comes from our cruise director Jeff Bronson. He is one of the most cheesiest people I know, making lame jokes left and right, but every once in a while he'll actually be really funny. He is also very eloquent when giving his 40 minute Debarkation speech in under 25 minutes. So, a new word for everyone. The Bronson Conundrum.

It was sad to say goodbye to the gang, but I know I will see them soon again. I will definitely miss playing UNO.

LOS ANGELES
Since I wouldn't be flying out until the next day, I decided to drive around LA proper. I drove through downtown LA (after taking the wrong turn on the freeway). It was nice to see a decent skyline. I was about ready to give up hope on that. After making it back on the freeway, I headed north to Hollywood where I saw the Hollywood sign from my car! I stopped and had a burger at Tommy's, which apparently has one of the best burgers in the city. It was pretty good, but I've had better. Than I decided to go to Universal Studios which turned out to be pretty fun. The entire time I was there I felt kind of ridiculous, because I had just gotten back from vacation, why was I still having fun? I took the Universal Studios tour which I had always wanted to do. It was pretty fun. Our tour guided told us to go on the Back To The Future ride since it was closing down for good after labor day. So I went to that and it was pretty fun. It was basically a motion simulation ride. I ended the day taking pretty pictures of the sun setting over Burbank California.

Click here for photos

Rooftop Party

Last night, me and my fellow coworkers (Calvin, Alvin, and Cheryl) went to a private rooftop party at Hook Marketing, which is where my friend and ex-coworker Jean-Nicolas is now working. It was on the 19th floor of a building downtown between Duane and Reade Streets. I thought that sound peculiar because there is literally a Duane Reade pharmacy on every corner of Manhattan. So, now I know the origins of the name. Duane Reade is named after the two streets where their original warehouse was located. Nice bit of NY trivia.

But I digress....When we got to the offices of Hook Marketing, it seemed like a small non assuming place. It's an open area and the feeling in general was laid back. The people there were cool. Then we went out to the roof deck and whoa! What a view. Here are a couple of pictures that Alvin took with this Blackberry. One is our view of the city from the roof deck, and the other one is an artsy picture of me, Cheryl, and Alvin.

Vending Machine Conundrum

Vending Machine Conundrum

The vending machine at Hodes seems to be in a randy mood this week.
I walked by it and saw a box of Entemann's mini chocolate cookies stuck right above the recieving compartment. Apparently it had fallen from the top shelf and landing perfectly square and wedging itself against the corner of the machine.

What's funnier is that I came back later and saw a pack of mixed nuts on top of the cookie box. It was the classic conundrum of The Lady or the Tiger. Do I choose a snack on the far side, knowing it will escape the snack trap in the other corner, or do I do something good for my fellow coworkers and try to dislodge the snacks by getting something heavier to fall on top of it?

So, I put in my 85cents and chose G5, hoping my can of diet pepsi would fall on top of the snacks. It popped out and landed on top of the pile, but no dice.

I had failed, becoming yet another victim of the Vending machine. Of course, I wasn't about to shame myself further by putting up a sticky note with my name and phone extension on it asking the vending machine owner to kindly remit my snack or my 85cents. Sometimes in life, you just simply have to walk away and leave your ego behind. And that's what I did.

Vending machine links:

Police close to solving vending machine deaths

Vending machine accidents

Steam pipe explosion in NY

img311, originally uploaded by thenugespeaks.

Click here to view more photos

Last night started off as a normal commute home as I walked out of work and started to head to the subway. All of a sudden I saw everyone turning around and rushing back towards me and then I heard a lady yell "There's been an explosion!"

I immediately started to run back as did everyone else. I can't begin to explain the true horror involved when you see hundreds of people running away like that. We've all seen footage from 9/11 on the television, but to actually be there in the middle of it was one of the scariest things I've experienced in my lifetime.

I know it seemed foolish at the time, but I stopped a block away because I wanted to know what I was running away from. As I turned around, I saw smoke rising towards the Chrysler building. I later found out it was steam but at that moment none of us out on the streets knew anything. There was a loud rumble that never stopped and it sounded like a building coming down. My initial thought, which I'm sure was shared by everyone else was this may have been a terrorist attack.

Everyone was on their cell phones and I immediately got on mine and tried to call Amy but I couldn't get through. I got on my slingbox on my Treo to try to access the news channels, but at that point no one had been covering it yet. Luckily after about 10 minutes we got word that there had been a steam pipe explosion.

The responders came in full force, seemingly from every direction and I have to say how organized and in their urgency, how calm they seemed to be.

After talking to Amy to let her know I was OK, I decided to walk up to 59th and Lex, since surely subways going in and out of Grand Central had stopped running.

It was all very eerie, walking down the middle of streets that you know on any other day would have been packed with traffic. I passed abandoned buses and storefronts. I think the jolt of adrenaline I got earlier was beginning to wear off, as I felt extremely sluggish now.

I made it to the subway stop and made it home safe and sound.

Click here to view more photos

To Bryant, With Love....

Last night Amy and I went to the Bryant Park Film Festival, where they were showing To Sir With Love. They opened up the lawn at 5pm for the 9pm movie. Amy was able to snag us a spot on the lawn, although we ended up near the back. I got there around 5:45pm and the lawn was already filled up.


You can't lay down any plastic tarps or bring chairs or tables onto the lawn. Luckily we had the correct gear, although I found myself a little envious of the people sitting on the sides and near the back in real chairs. The official website says there are 4000 chairs available in the park.

I think if you go to one of these outdoor film festivals expecting the usual amenities of an indoor theater, you are going to be disappointed. You really have to go with the mindset that you like the idea of sitting outside on the ground surrounded by lot's of people and then as an added bonus, they show a movie.

Here's what I liked:

There's a sandwich shop on the grounds called Witchcraft. They will take your order right there on the lawn. They give you a balloon with a number on it, so they can find you later. we opted to get Chipotle and Cosi, but I might have to get in on this "lawn-side service" next time.

I love the park setting itself. In front of us is a big projection screen. Behind us is the New York Public Library. All around us are towering buildings hunching over staring down on us, and all the while, a row of trees surround us to muffle out the crazy distractions of city life.

I like using the four hours of waiting to relax, de-stress and chat with people. Almost like going to a baseball game, except lying down. I got to meet Amy's friend Anne and her husband. They joined us around 8:30pm and they brought cookies and strawberries. Good job Amy's friends!

At one point an announcement was made about a lost kid with an orange shirt and his mother waiting for him by the library. It was kind of sad and I'm sure the mother was freaking out. About five minutes later, we saw a kid with an orange shirt being escorted by Park Security to the back of the lawn. The crowd cheered and applauded the kid's safe return. I predict this incident will inspire parents to keep a closer eye on their young, as well as spark a surge on sales of orange shirts at the Gap.


Here's what I didn't like:

The smell of pot wafting through the air. It's TO SIR WITH LOVE, not THE WALL.
I actually don't mind the smell of pot, it just felt very uncreative to me, as if the pot smokers couldn't think of a million other places to go to light up.

I didn't like the people sitting next to me laying down a plastic trash bag (which is not allowed) to sit on and then proceeded to spill soda on it. My sixth sense picked up on the fact that they would try to let the soda run off the plastic and in doing so, unknowingly have it aimed directly at me, which is exactly what happened. That's what happens when liquid runs off the corner of something. It finds you. YOU.

The sound quality of the movie was not very good. The volume was too low and the sound system was just not set up to handle the acoustics of the park. I expected a little more considering HBO was sponsoring this.

When the movie finished, everyone dispersed, but you could still find many couples rolling around on the grass making out. I found myself having to carefully negotiate a path around some of these lovebirds, which brings me to my conclusion...

In life, don't let anyone step on you, even if you're locking lips with your honey in the supine position.

Click here to view the rest of the film schedule

Look! Up in the sky!

It's a bird...it's a plane...it's a Superman bobble head!

LIC Boom Boom

Fireworks 3, originally uploaded by thenugespeaks.

Do you remember how you spent your last fourth of July? Last year, Amy, me and my good friend Jeff watched the fireworks over the East River on the Manhattan side of New York.

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This year, I wanted to do something a little different, so Amy, my friend Nora, and I ventured into Long Island City, a wonderful up and coming area just directly across from the river in Queens and just a short 10 minute train ride from Astoria.

We had a great dinner at a nearby Irish Pub (Fish and Chips, ahoy!) and then walked a couple of blocks to the river. There were a lot of people already camped out, but no where near the number of people across the river last year.

I was so excited to see the fireworks from this vantage point that I found myself doing a cartwheel down the sidewalk as we walked to the piers. Then it started to rain. Damn. That cartwheel I did must have summoned the rain gods or something. So up went our umbrellas, and we stood there waiting, and dodging other umbrellas threatening to poke our eyes out. (Umbrellas indeed are one of the most dangerous things man has invented).

As flashbacks of Hal Daub canceling Halloween on a cold October night in Nebraska, I got the same sickening feeling that our independence celebration would be all washed up. Pun intended.

Than the rain turned into a light drizzle and the cannons fired. The crowd roared with cheers and Long Island City lit up with red, white and blue.

God bless America...and the Chinese for inventing fireworks. View Photos

Red, White and Blue In Astoria Park

Friday, June 29th

Me, Amy and Nora ventured down to Astoria Park to listen to the Tommy Dorsey band.

My typical running path takes me down to the Park, where it's vibrant with locals gazing out onto the river and the scenic view of Manhattan. When we got there, what really surprised me were the number of people there.

We made it in time to listen to only a few songs, but the band went out with a bang, literally, as the first of many fireworks lit up the eastern sky.

The display was really impressive, rivaling what I expected every 4th of July in Nebraska, and it wasn't even the fourth yet!

Here's a link to Nora's eyewitness account and some more photos

Touring Queens West

The Pepsi Cola sign, originally uploaded by thenugespeaks.

Saturday, Amy and I decided to hoof it along the East river to explore Long Island City. I had always wanted to explore the different parks along the river, but especially the Vernon Ave/Jackson Blvd stop where a slew of luxury high rises have been built along Gantry Park.

This is primo real estate and the views of Manhattan will knock you out. The first thing I realized was how peaceful and quiet the area is. There were people sunbathing on the green grassy nolls, walking dogs, and strolling.

Right across the river I could see where I watched fireworks last year. I'm thinking this year, this may be the spot to be. The high rises are towers of glass and metal and one can only imagine what kind of views the tenants have right outside their windows.

Click here for more Long Island City Photos

To read a much better written description of our day, click on my girlfriend Amy's post.

Belly Full of Anger rough cut trailer

It's finally here! I know some of you have been chomping at the bit to see some footage from Belly Full of Anger. Here's a rough cut trailer that my director Andre put together. I think Andre captured the look of old 70s and 80s Kung Fu films perfectly.

Filming 11:11 Part Two

Today we filmed in up in the Bronx. It was at a medical supply office, and as I walked onto set, my fellow actor Rick was in a hospital bed hooked up to an EKG monitor. The crew was setting up for my scene, where I come in and check out his neck. It was like being in a toy store – everything looked great and realistic. The area that where we filmed must have been in some medical showroom set up to resemble an actual hospital room. Everything felt authentic, right down to the ceramic tile walls and stainless steel medical cabinets. Today was a very easy and quick shoot. Before I knew it I was wrapped and small feeling of sadness came over me. I just met the crew yesterday but it was kind of sad saying goodbye to them. There’s an undeniable bond that I think we all go through when we’re all collaborating together to create some art here and there.

It was a great experience, and the shoot was organized efficiently.

Filming 11:11 Part One

Today was the first day of shooting 11:11, a New York Film Academy short written and directed by Greg Saltiel. I originally auditioned for two different doctor roles which soon after was combined into one for me. The film is about a motivational speaker who after attempting suicide, wakes up in a hospital with no recollection of what he's done. I play the doctor that is there to evaluate him and decide if he should be released or not. We filmed two of my scenes in an office on the 14th floor of a building next to Grand Central on E 42nd st.

Even though the office was small, the view out the window framed an epic New York landscape filled with the mint green roof tiles of Grand Central, the glassy facade of the Metlife building and the iconic and timeless Chrysler Building, which I consider the most beautiful skyscraper in Manhattan.

We had four person crew and a small light set up. Everyone was way cool and on the ball. We filmed on Digital with a Canon XL2. This Camera can give even a dull looking office room a cinematic and artful quality to it.

At one point during filming, I looked around the room watching the small and efficient film crew setting up the next show and here I was, sitting in a plush leather chair with a good role I can sink my teeth into, and the Chrysler Building behind me towering behind me and a feeling of giddy/surrealness came over me - and I imagine it's the same feeling one gets one one is doing exactly what one wants to do in life.

The Mills

My buddy Andrew (we call him Mills) dropped in for a short visit over the weekend. I met him at Penn Station and we quickly set off to get him some NY Pizza at Bleecker St Pizza. It was very good, and luckily we got there in time, because the moment we sat down a whole tour group of people showed up. The restaurant is very small - I'd say about ten seats or so. There was probably at least 15 people in the tour group. Like a couple of regular New Yorkers, we just ignored them and ate our pizza.

Next up was Ground Zero. They've made a lot of progress since the last time I was there. There were photo displays from 9/11 and pictures of the new Freedom Tower which no one really knows when that will be completed.

We tried to do the lottery to some shows but alas, the Broadway gods were not smiling upon us today, so we went to Chevy's (a favorite place of mine) in Times Square and dined one some good Mexican and Margaritas.

The next day we met Amy for brunch at The Grande Cafe. The brunch was quite good. Since Andrew is as big of a Superman fan as I am, I took him to the Daily News Building, where I work. This was the setting for the Daily Planet in the original Superman movie.

We headed down to Battery Park to catch a ferry to Liberty Island. When we got there, we discovered a really long line and decided to nix that idea. I talked Andrew into riding the Staten Island ferry, which is free and goes by the Statue of Liberty. I think he enjoyed that.

Then we headed back to Penn Station to wait for Andrew's bus. We decided to go across the street from the bus depot to a BBQ place called Shady Jakes. We both knew it was the right place to be when our waitress sauntered up to our table and we noticed she was wearing a Superman belt buckle. Ah...Kismet.

Here's a slide show of Andrew's visit....

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

I don't know if this is cute or depressing. I took this last year on New Year's eve. The snow had already gone away.

Poor snowman. Was he waiting for more snow to come his way? Or was he thinking about jumping?

What's your fortune?

This might have been the weirdest fortune I've ever received from a fortune cookie. Strangely enough, the sesame fish I ordered did taste like chicken. How did they know that?

Mobile mania

I love using my Treo as a phone, calendar, and media player.

However, I think one of my favorite things is to take random snapshots of life.

I took these pictures today while walking along the N/W subway line. This is right around Astoria Blvd.

Here are the final pictures with gamma, saturation, and contrast adjustments.


Click on the pictures or this link to view all my pictures taken with my Treo.

Nuge

Cheville Casse

My friend and coworker Jean-Nicolas likes to climb.....

Last weekend Jean-Nicolas went to the Gunks and climbed this....

He came home like this.....

In French, a broken ankle is called cheville casse.

While Jean-Nicolas's cheville is broken, his spirit is not. He will climb again. Viva La France!

A rainy day on Park Ave

A rainy day walking down Park Ave during lunchtime. Steam is coming up from the manholes, which lend an ethereal look to the city. Taken with my Treo.

TGIF

At the B-Bar after a long week of work. From L-R are my co-workers (Jean-Nicolas, Alvin, and Cheryl). We had a couple of drinks, than walked over to Shushi Park, a great Sushi place with half off prices on Sushi and Sashimi!

Ironically, when our check came, it was on a B-Bar tray! Realizing we had come full circle, we called it a night.

Another trip home

Another day of work ends, and another sun sets on the island of Manhattan.

Taken with my Treo - with Gamma, contrast and color correction.