New York, New York pt.3

Travel



Returned from New York City, where I was spending some long awaited christmas vacation and, in addition, shooting a pilot for a film project of mine. Man, I must say New York is the place for me. Will move there, and soon....well hopefully soon. More precise documentation can be found at my Myspace blog

The heat is rising...2007 started off with a bang. I have a goood feeling about this year. In addition, I have to note the warm January Saturday in New York. 69F and T-shirt strolling in central park was something somehow surreal for early January. Another memorable moment was a completely improvised VJ set on Sunday 7th, in a little venue in Lower East Side. Thanks Jake for the opportunity.

Thanks to all you great New Yorkers I met. You have a special place in my memories: Kym, Taryn, Amanda, Erin, Colin, Ian, Andie, Andreas, Jalle, Jake, Marcel, Steve, Rich aka Finesse, Erick, Hans, Mandy, Gustavo, Nemecsek, Chelsea Star and the club Bembe. For the rest of you, I might have been going too fast, 200mph on the wrong lane, to remember your name. But my lips can still speak about you.

This was a small and important part of my life. And start of something better, because the dream is alive.

NYC photos

Travel

Some photos from New York

New York, New York pt.2

Philosophy + Travel

So the aim in during the New York trip is to find the 'Essence of New York'. I've been talking to and trying to find the essence from the lips of the locals and filming them. As you might remember, I believe you have to see it, before your lips can talk about it. So the locals are the best ones to do so.

So I've been given diverse comments on my question. It is been the subway, hot dog stands, people, the hue that encloses us all, Times Square etc etc etc.... Everyone has had their opinions on it and its been great to talk to them about it. I thank you all, see you on film.

However, it took the whole week, before I found the best description of the essence. Yesterday at a bar I ended up talking to Ian, the person who took Stuff-lifestyle magazine to USA. I've seen few people with the same inner light of acceptance radiating from people, but Ian was one of them. This is what he said: "The essence is not the normal material objects that make New York feel unique. They are a big part of the city of New York, though they are not the reason why people come here. The essence is the dream of something better".

There it was, like a bolt from the sky it hit me right on the spot. It is the same for London. The reason I moved there few years ago, was the dream of something better. It the reason why people move to the cities and why these cities are seen as gleaming diamonds to be.

Share @ Reboot

Performance

Last night I went first to see the new film by David Lynch, Inland Empire. What a damn trippy film, something very similar to Matthew Barneys films. Not much to say, as I didn't really enjoy it.

But after the film we went to Reboot, for a VJ night called Share. It is a event for people to VJ with visuals provided or to bring their own visuals. Had awesome time, nice 30min VJ set and talked to many fellow visual artists. I support the network feel of the event. Two thumbs up!

New York, New York pt.1

Travel

Just arrived to this beautiful city. First reaction is still a bit unbalanced. I was so tired last night when arrived that barely remember anything from the Times Square trip. New Years Eve's 36h of work at MoS just took too much to recover.

The one week shot shot of beautiful New York is hitting hard and good. I remember the moment when I sat down in the American Airlines seat on flight AA105 from London to New York. I remember thinking to myself that I need to go, that it is like these lips can tell only what these eyes have seen. Photographs are only a window, but you have to see what is behind the photograph.

It is like you can believe or not. The scenery behind makes it real, full-on experience. The moment my plane rose from the gray covered scenery of London's Heathrow, so lifted the weight on my shoulders. NYE was really memorable treat in good and bad, where I pushed myself to limit and needed this break. However, gliding over the cloud capped Atlantic Ocean proved to be a nice one. sitting next to an AIDS researcher Gash from San Diego, we talked everything from childhood travels to political situation in Iraq.

At the touchdown to JFK my heartbeat jumped. Here I was, in the city I have been dreaming since forever. I took off to Manhattan with a yellow cap (of course!) and my driver Franklin. He proved to be a avid Jazz fan, expecially from France. We jammed to it, and when the Empire State Building was rising above the other massive skyscrapers, 'New York, New York' by my buddy Frank was playing as I asked Franklin to do so.

However, next two weeks should give me some insight and some good film footage for my current project's pilot. I am staying in a nice Chelsea Star Hostel , next to Empire State Building. Relaxed down to earth place with multi-cultural traveller scene and very very affordable prices. Highly recommended.