At Jean’s invitation, Suzanne and I took the Long Island Railroad out to Bellmore to visit the Long Island International Film Expo. We were a little late for the screenwriting panel. Sadly the panelists, representatives of Writer’s Bootcamp didn’t turn up. That meant a 45 minute gap in the schedule which was very ably filled by three short films:

A Relaxing Day was a conversation on a beach between two people: an actress and a barman. Their talk ranged from pilot season to the power of self-delusion to a choice between love and a career. 4/5

The Wine Bar featured a young man walking into and asking for a beer. Those in the bar judge him immediately. He strikes out with an attractive woman at the bar, but goes on to learn and teach a lot more about relationships than he or us in the audience expect. 5/5

Wonderful Wonderful explored eating disorders and the issues of control they bring up. The daughter who can’t control her starve/binge cycle and the family and friends she controls by her self-obession. 3.5/5

We then wondered along the high street, soaking up the ‘non-New York’ atmosphere, which Suzanne and I had been looking forward to.

We then caught three more films: two shorts and a feature.

Afterwards we took the chance to explore further afield: just outside the border we found a bookshop filled with books. So many that it was difficult to walk between the shelves without knocking piles over. The books were jammed into the shelves so that it was difficult to get the books out to look at them. They were priced ‘not to sell’ – a book that was $13 fifteen years ago was only discounted to $8. To the owner all his books are collectors items. He didn’t seem to want to part with any of them.

On the way back to the station I said one too many things about film editing and my two friends snapped:

Jean gave me a slap

…and Suzanne strangled me.

Oh well. At least Suzanne managed to look a little wistful on the way back to Manhattan:

Suzanne’s message to the world is “Buy Buy Baby!”

Suzanne and I met at a bar in the East Village to witness ‘Another Night of Awesome’ – an amazing caberet evening. Four hours of fun and frolics for free.

Our host kicked off the show with a song entitled ‘Dinosaur Cowboys in Space’ – one of the few songs I’ve seen arranged for acoustic guitar and light sabre. He went on to introduce a wide variety of acts.

The first was one of the best: Michael Wagner. He performed beautifully written songs with great heart and style. Suzanne and I immediately bought CDs off him. Old-fashioned, I know, but we’re looking forward to playing his music to many people. He had star quality. Visit his myspace page. He can make a single tiny ukulele sound like a wide variety of instruments.

I recommend ‘Spooky Uke.’

Michael Wagner in some Gordon Willis-style lighting.

Then we had the first incarnation of Dave Burdick. He played the part of a laconic stand-up comedian. His material didn’t seem fully formed, but it didn’t seem to matter. He had the audience in the palm of his hand.

Then we had a virtuouso classical acoustic guitarist, sketches from Better than the Machine, and a debut ukulele performance featuring Queen’s Fat Bottomed Girls…

Waiting for the ukulele tech

A patriotic debut

Better Than the Machine did a song called “Give a Shit” that featured the following lyrics “Fuck You! Children’s laughter! Fuck You! New Orleans! Fuck You! Starving Nations!” – follow the link to their video to see more.

I also got a lovely kiss on the mouth from a very nice lady – whose act Suzanne described as ‘unsettling.’

After two hours of on-stage marvels, there was a short break. Then the Awesome short film show began. To give you an idea of what the many films were like, check out one of my favourites at the site run by the organisers of the evening: The Big Things. They showed a couple of other films shown on that website, including one where the only dialogue allowed was titles of Woody Allen films. Dave Burdick turned up again in very different form in some of the sketches on video.

The whole evening was almost too much to take. I hope that Gio and the others decide to have half as much material shown twice as often. If you are in New York, you owe it to yourselves to witness all future Nights of Awesome.

I also liked the double-wipe film and the story featuring the fairy penguin.

As we’ve been putting our reels together in class, I’ve been spending less time on the blog, but here’s a link to a old entry that appears on my editing reel. A film I edited for Miles Maker in September 2005: Street Sense.

We had wonderful barbeque food and watched highlights from each other’s DVDs. Then it was over all too quickly. I hope that we all keep in touch – at least they have a place to stay next time they are in London.

You’ll be seeing the product of our labours soon on the web: The Manhattan Edit Workshop will be posting our reels on their YouTube page. I’ll post a link as soon as they go up.

Thanks to Josh, Jamie, Kim, Amber, Maurice, John, Mark, Kenya, Jason, Steve, Derek and Valentine for helping me learn so much more than I expected.

Now there are no more excuses – time to get that job!

I’m doing something pretty ostentatious: I’m sitting out front. On the front steps of the place I’m staying in in New York. These steps are sometimes referred to as ‘the stoop.’

The weather has cooled down a little – 29°C (84°F) is more than enough for today, and there’s a gentle breeze. I’m here waiting for Suzanne, who’s coming here for a short break from London. She’s having some screenings of her documentary ‘Out of Time’ at the Soho Shorts Festival in the coming weeks.

Tomorrow is the last day of the six week intensive course at Manhattan Edit Workshop. My next decision is how long I’d like to stay… What wonderful problems to have!

Another thing I’ve learnt in the last few weeks: 4th July is a public holiday in the USA. I thought it was like bonfire night – a reason to have a party on the Fridays and Saturdays near the actual date.

Went to a wonderful barbeque at Nina’s. One of the dishes was a chicken stuffed with a beer can…

Night has fully fallen by 9pm at this time of the year, so we went up on the roof of her building.

Few people were out and about. They were at parties or organised firework displays. It is illegal to private individuals to buy fireworks in many US states including New York.

Sadly there was a big building between us and the largest display that was happening in the East River between Brooklyn and Manhattan.

Going back down to the 21st floor, I took a picture from the balcony during the firework display:

Twenty-five minutes later, the smoke from the display had reached us:

The view reminded me of the opening of Blade Runner.

Going out on a ledge:

Where are the bar codes? Williamsburg cats:

From the streets:

Just as I was making a few more edits to Miles’ short, he invites me to an actor’s event in the East Village. A series of actors go on stage and give a three minute monologue. Sounds OK? It was great.

If you are in Manhattan on the first Monday of the month, go to The Manhattan Monologue Slam at the Bowery Poetry Club. It is full of energy, comedy, excitement, actors, agents, casting people and odd hosts.

We were there to support Miles’ leading lady: Brea Cola. She was in competition with seven other actors. They each performed three minute monologues. Brea ended up in the top three with Carl Kissin and Kyle Grooms. Kyle Grooms performed an excerpt from a speech by Al Sharpton, Carl Kissin played a deranged motivational speaker in a piece called Sell Cell. Our Brea told a tale of the curse of having a wonderful smile – an not much else.

The second part of the evening was members of the public coming up on stage, having 30 seconds to impress us, the energised audience. As people walk on stage – classic music from the last 30 years is played mixed in with TV themes – the crowd joins in singing.

What makes it work are the hosts: the Galinsky brothers. They joke, play parts and gong off people who don’t need 30 seconds to show they shouldn’t be on stage.

Make sure you get there for 7pm! By 7.15, the seats were taken and people were sitting and standing in the aisles.

Yesterday I went to Washington Heights with Donna.

There I am, at 1:30 in the morning, near the till of the local bodega. A woman that a vaguely recognise asks me a question. As I answer I’m aware that however debonair I am, there’s a limit to how impressive can be. I’m holding a box of microwaveable White Castle burgers. Oh well. I’ve seen many chain restaurants in my explorations around Manhattan and Brooklyn, but not the fabled White Castle. One of the few fast food chains mentioned in at least two film titles. The closest I’ve come to trying their legendary food was in 1991, when Burger King did a limited edition run of ‘burger buddies’ – a mini double-bun containing two little burger patties. No doubt inspired by White Castle. So, within the next few days I’ll be that much closer to the real thing.

Wish me luck!

New Yorkers are so friendly. They ask for directions. They strike up conversations about Graffiti artists. They ask if they saw you earlier on the subway.

Megan heard me talk to Jean earlier on the subway. She gathered that we might be something to do with the New York film community (is ‘scene’ an old-fashioned term?). Of course, as we’re meeting late on a Saturday night in Chelsea, it turns out the she’s a film maker too. I’d be surprised if this sort of thing happened to me in London. After these last few weeks in New York, I almost expect it here.

Maybe Jean will be able to get both Megan and I into the Brooklyn Filmmaker’s Collective meeting on Tuesday. As guests only of course.

Jean and I were on the way back from a successful meeting of the Epiphany film networking group. We all enjoyed watching Terrell Perkins’ artistic short film ‘A Struggle’s Paradise.’ An impressionistic short film that owed a lot to ‘City Lights’ and the music of Mozart and Orff.

One of the other people attending was DJ Uch, who runs a film showcase each month. There’s a chance that he might show my new 1 minute short ‘First Cut’ at his next event on 22nd July.

All that and it’s only two in the morning!