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?