no sleep

hey all,

still in london, going to try and get to paris today or tomorow. i looked around and decided against the train and the plane as it is around £100, instead going for the scenic route on the bus for £30. have been going to bed at like 7am or later every bloody night - it's crazy. the other night i had dinner with Zoe Tryon; steve's ex girlfriend. i havent seen her for like 7 years or somthing. so i turn up to her fantastic apartment and meet some very nice people, including Zoe's sibblings. we had a wonderful dinner and i had a great chat with her brother Ed who is a legend. he sells homes to football players like Crespo, Shevchenko etc...

last night was interesting: i thought i was going to leave yesterday so i dident rebook a room at the hostel. so after drinking at the bar it's 4:30 so i decide to have an early night but i have no place to sleep, but jake being the resourceful guy that he is makes do. it i so hot at nights in the hostel so most 14 bunk dorms leave there door open, so i walk from one to the other to see if there happens to be an empty one... all full. so i walk around and find this little room with videos, broken beanbags and lots of other random stuff. only problem is that it is next to this room, which has some sort of genereator which is loud and makes alot of heat. by 7am i still cant get to sleep so i get up and have the complimentary breakfast they offer. played some pool and sharked this dreadlocked aussie guy who dident sleep either. now it is 11:15am and i'm pretty tired but i am not going to sleep as i need to get my sleeping pattern back. discarded pizza boxes are an inexpensive source of cheese.... kidding.

jake.

Amsterdam

:D

 

this is one rocking city. arrived here from london yesterday night at around 10pm. had no accomadation booked. got of in the centre of the city, known also as something about red, or some district named after a colour i dunno :P i found a dorm so it's cool. this place is awesome. i dropped of my bags and went to a coffeeshop to chill out, then went to a bar and met some spanish born amsterdamn guy with slicked back blonde hair named ronaldo, we hung out for a while, then i went walking and got some food, had a look around. it is crazy here. it reminds me so much of venice with all the canals.... just with out the rules. got semi attacked by some coked up black guy, they start by asking for the time then try and talk nice to you, then they... well this one guy at least grabbed my arm and i guess in an attempt to perform capuera started trying to do this weird leg trip/kick. i shouted to his face a prophanity and told him to get off me, he did i was more worried about his circling friends, anyway it was fine it turned out ok although he and his mates did follow us for a while, we lost them then they saw us later and followed us some more. i guess the rick is to yell really loud or be really angry because they can allways try and rob an easier target, buti after being here for a night i guess i am an easy target, by my self, not a big guy - doesent help, but dont you worry guys and girls, jake will be fine. oh yesterday i got kicked out of the hoste l in London for sleeping in the storeroom, it was so comfortable with like 15  beenbags to lounge on, i guess that is why they allways check that spot at like 6 in the morning. so after 2 hours sleep and zero hours sleep the night before i was on the street with my bags. but i realised the night before i had left my cammera with the t ourist shop lady inside the hostel, so like a covert ninja i went inside evading and blending in and retrieved my cammera..... then lay down on the couch and slept for a few hours :D well i am of to go do something fun, or find a cool place to see,

 

much love, from amsterdam. oojlk kelooil jasaasl keejk (i dont know what that is but their language is crazy..

 

 

oH!! i forgot to tell you, i bought a rail pass so i am going to go to germany, switzerland, italy, france and spain for only 275pounds, so much cheaper than flying and the views are amazing i hear, especially through switzerland, crazy!!! but i dont want to leave amsterdam just yet. my destinations might change but that is the plan so far. munich, sttutgart, milan, nice, marsaille, barcelona, ibiza (if time permits) madrid, bordaux, paris - then london, ny, LA - MELBOURNE! i love it.

 

jake.

More from London

I got of the train at earls court, looked around but couldn't find any hostels/available. I called up my mate (whom I met in NY) and told him I was here- had 2 seconds left on the phone and he said to meet him at Tottenem something. So, T go to T Court rd. and lucky enough I see him there. We have a beer and catch up.

Anyway, I ended up staying with him for the first three nights, went out with him and his emo mates to some hardcore rock club called... Rock. It was pretty cool, had to adapt my dancing a little. We almost got into a fight with some punk/ skinhead morons.

Now, I am staying at The Generator. 848 people- has it's own club with 1£ pints and a hot tub... with more aussies than in Melbourne. I have allready met dudes who went to Wesley. It isn't too pricy here. I had dinner last night for £4, went with this aussie girl. Chips, beer and beefburger for 4£ is pretty good, I thought. I had an early one last night, got to bed at 10, needed to recharge hardcore.

Tonight i am paying 9£ for this deal at the hostel. We go to 3 clubs, one free drink and we get VIP access so we dont have to wait in lines... I doubt there will be any lines and I doubt I can get a free Fosters, prolly a green king ipa, but good way to meet more people (yes, sorry to report i have started drinking Fosters). I can't believe nobody told me that english girls were so hot!!! I was really expecting average central but, my god, there are hot girls everywhere! I had some good nights at the South Watford local - The George with Piers and his friends.

I am going to look around the net for some good deals on trips to Greece, Spain and France- I might find someone to road trip it with on gumtree.com haha that would be sweet. I just can't believe how many Aussies there are, a few of them are cool... but a lot seem like the children of the big fat Aussies that go to Kuta in Bali and are loud obnoxious and... ok relax.

jake.

London, yo.

For my last night in NY I went to dinner with Ajay, Heather, Atilla, Laset, Angelo etc... then about ten of us went out and got drunk for my last night. It was good. After we left there I stumbled into Roosevelt island, waking Lyndi and Heather up at like 4:30am or somthing like that.

So now I am in London, in Earl's Court. I've been looking for a hostel but cant find any. So I gave up momentarily to have my first "legal" drink in months. I'm going to give my mate Piers a call soon and hopefully hit the town tonight pretty hard...

Wow, i am in Europe :D The flight was pretty easy, only 7.5 hours. I have Zoe's email so I am hopefully going to get to see her in the next little while. (Zoe was steve's girlfriend years ago, she's a great woman!) I am very hungry and am looking forward to taste testing the English version of KFC. I hope I find a place to stay tonight. I'm pretty jet lagged but I will push through it.

much love,

Jake

2 days to go

Hey, hey.

So, I'm off in a couple. I had a great night the other night: Junior, Kristen, Heather, Lyndie and I left a bar and jumped into a limo parked out the front, $100 so $20 each. It's an hour-long ride and you get as many drinks as you want, then we went back to Roosevelt and partied till like 10AM - it was a sweet night.

Last night, I went to a BBQ out in Queens with Atilla, Tiago and Leset etc.. met lots of cool Brazilian people. As I was right next to the bridge to Roosevelt, I went over there to visit the crew. I had to go with Heather deep into Queens because she had to go collect some stuff from this guy she didn't like, so I went with her. We got lost and the taxi driver had no clues, and the trains took us to the wrong places. Finally, we find the guy's place at like 2:00AM, did what we had to do there, and I arrived back in Lower Manhattan by like 3:30AM.

The last three nights I've been staying at Angelo's while he was in Atlantic city. Angelo is a cool guy and was the Co-Producer of Ashes. If- after Europe and the planned LA film, I'll come back to NY and I think I might make some trips to Boston, Chicago and Atlantic city- sounds like fun? I love road trips... though I've never really been on many.

I would post pictures, but in NY there are only Apple Macs and I don't think.... not good enough Jake! I will get batteries and I will load my photo's up for people to see.

The job I did a while ago for yahoo music is now on the net. go to www.pepsismash.com Damn! I just checked it and the new "street buzz" has been made and has replaced the one I worked on and had a little cameo in ;)

I am sooo hungry, so i am going to go find that great little Caribbean diner and have some eggs.

Jake.

...booked my flight

Well, I officially booked my flight for london, i leave in a week. I will be there for approx one month. The great thing about it is Ryanair.com flights around europe are like $15 including all taxes and surcharges- so I might decide to go to France, Spain, Ibiza, Amsterdam etc... :D it is going to be crazy. Atilla is back in NY so I might see him today. Since leaving Ajay's, I have been moving around, couple of nights at the tapedeck, Lyndie's and Steve & Sarah's up in Harlem...

My friend Tyrone arrived back in NY yesterday from Detroit and he is staying in the Bronx, I haven't been there yet so I might have to check it out.

In Soccer related news, Melbourne Victory bought a third Brazillian player. So, we have a full line up and we are looking very strong. I know Olivia Richards is in London- anyone else I might know in Europe??

jake.

the tapedeck

hey hey!

Well, since moving out of ajays i have spent the last two nights at Nisian's with Koala Jack. The first night we went out to this fancy bar, club called tribeca grand. We met up with some people and had a good night - took people back to the tapedeck (Nisian's) and chilled on the roof.

Last night, I went to my mate Brian Tucker's going away party, he was a producer or similar on "Ashes" and is going back to Dublin so he had a roof top party, it was pretty good.

World Cup Wrap Up

Wow! what a game. I can't believe it! Zidane!! I just can't believe he ended his career in such a stupid fashion. this could have been a fantastic finish to an amazing career but instead he goes out like an idiot, I would have held him up there with Franz Becenbauer and Pele, but now... maybe he is on a Eric Cantona level. I gotta go- the computer is in hot demand!

Last night in the directors chairpad

The man himself, ajay naidu. tomorow he gets back with his girlfriend, heather burns:


So, I am back out in the mix. I'll be ok as I know many people now who I am sure won't mind having me for a couple of days here and there... I hope.

On the plus side, Attila is comming back from LA on sunday- great! He's a champion.

A couple of nights ago, Angelo ("Gelo") the guy who connected Steve and I to the film, and one of the cultural icons of lower manhattan (no joke) got me on the vip list for this great club called Avalon. It is in this huge church with two different rooms, hip-hop room and the techno room. There's nothing like walking through the velvet ropes, looking back at the huge line of people you just walked past- haha!. Also, Gelo gave me some free drink cards- so it was even better.

They look after me pretty well over in NY. I played some street basketball on Roosevelt Island which was fun, I have no fitness though!

Last night I went out to Brooklyn with Josh for a concert. The Broken Social Scene played and they were pretty good. Of course, we didn't pay $30 to get in, we just chilled with the other bums on the outside of the fence. The gig was in this big park called Prospect, kind of like the botanical gardens but it had nothing on the BG! It was really nice though to get out of the buildings for a while and lay down in amongst the trees and plants and watch the sunset and hear the music - it was very chilled out. I am thinking about going back their tonight as there is a reggae band playing and I think hearing that in the middle of Brooklyn that would be a cool experience, but I have to clean up Ajay's apartment, and make it all nice, then I am meeting someone at like 11:30 so I am not sure if I will go.

Brooklyn is pretty cool. I saw lots of spinning rims, baggy red shirts and loud music. oh and the best part was seeing these four old black guys playing dominoes on a little home made bench outside a deli. The fourth of July was a couple of days ago and steve, koala jack, and I went to this party in midtown with a fantastic view for the fire works. it was a pretty god party, i saw heaps of people I hadent seen for a few weeks, which was cool.


After that we went to this really exclusive expensive hotel/club/bar etc.. called The Hudson. Sarah- along with five of her friends(all of whom I met at the wedding)- used woth work at The Hudson, so they showed me around, Steve and I played pool against some rich father and son and we lost- was all my fault. I was happy to even just hit the right ball after a while... free drinks.


Tomorrow is Saturday night... I think I'm gonna have to party. I have been skateboarding all around the city the last few weeks- ever since my bike was stolen. I just dont want to fall of the board because one way you hit a parked car, the other way you hit a moving-towards-you-car, haha... Though it's not so bad- you don't need to worry yourself Dad.

Oh, my iRiver broke a couple of weeks ago, the bottle of drink in my bag opened while I was riding. it sucks, I have no music :( I go a little crazy with out music, but never in my life have I listened to as much music as I would like!)

Dad, can you please go to sam's house and let him know about my email and blog? I didn't see him before I left.

Friends-wise Could Clare (or someone) please give my blog address or email to people like Zak, Rowen, Bettsie, Aimee, Kat, etc.. as I would hate to fall out of contact with people. The night before I left to go to NY I was driving to Tom's to pick up something I left there and I went past zak's but he wasn't there...


(great story jake, great intrigue)

The Streets

We got the tickets! It was a great night! The gig was at Webster Hall- a special night as it was the last night of their longest ever tour. Hundreds of people... The crowd was loud- going crazy by the last song. I know most of my friends love the streets and I thought about them a bit when I was there.

Yesterday was insane; Steve calls me in bed, just before ten telling me to come and help him move apartment. I was out at Roosevelt Island so got a train back down town. Steve, Koala Jack, and I were moving Steve and Sarah's possessions from downtown Manhattan to Harlem thomasr: about 130 blocks . Sarah's old apartment is on the fifth floor, and there is no elevator, so we spent ages moving boxes and large furniture up and down the stairs. We had a small truck/large van and filled it to the brim, with each piece of furniture wrapped in hot furniture wrapping material. The roof of the van was made of plastic so the light and heat simmered the furniture, and me. Of course, there was not enough room upfront for Jake- no, no Jake had to sit in the back of a mobile sauna (without the nice refreshing feeling) So for 20 mins I sat there bouncing around hoping that the bookshelf wouldn't fall on to me from on top of the tea-chest.

I kept my self entertained for the full hour of this first leg of the trip by guessing whether the pool of sweat accumulating at my right elbow would beat the pool at my left. Outside it was around 31c with high humidity - inside, probably around 42 with humidity. There was no air, I'm not certain if the truck was airtight, but if it was filled with water it would take maybe two days for the water to drain out, so breathing wasn't exactly easy. Thirty 30 mins into the trip I was down to my underwear. An hour later we get to Harlem, the engine turns off, the back door opens up and this huge rush of freezing air comes in. It wasn't actually cold but 31c feels like 5c after a ride in a moving truck up through the streets of Manhattan out to Harlem. It took out a lot of my energy but we got right into it moving the boxes up, this time, only two flights of stairs... OMG I just realised- it was four story's up- just with only two flights of stairs, so they were longer. Once we had carted everything up the stairs, we got back in the truck. This time the back was completely empty so I couldn't rest against anything, so for the next hour I am bouncing around the back of the truck in my underwear! The Van's engine is right under the floor of the back so the only thing in the back that was not as hot to sit on were the furniture wrap covers, I think they were made of a mixture between wool, polyester and nylon.... and MAGMA. So, we finally stop back at Sarah's old place; the door comes up, and there I am sweating like crazy in my underwear- as one of those buses where there is no roof so tourists can get a good feel for the city comes by...

What could I do but wave?

we spent the next few hours moving the last of Sarah's stuff into the truck... and when I say the last it was actually more than the first trip, it barely fitted into the truck.

The guy who was helping us on the first trip- Theo- had quit for the day, so I got promoted from the position of "Mexican" to "up front rider". We drive up to Harlem again and spend what was left of our energy hauling more large furniture and boxes up the stairs. Finally it was all done at about 1:30AM- 15 hours from when we began. We drank a beer and marvelled at the magnitude of our accomplishment. I thanked Steve for letting me have use of his sauna and for the great workout - free of charge too- unlike every other gym in the city!

Then I departed back to Ajay's apartment, where I am staying now while he is in Chicago and LA. My body is pretty sore today, but I had a great nap in between world cup games today- Italy and Germany got through. gooooooooooo Nicaragua!!!!!!!

Australia 0 Italy 1

:( :( :(
I can’t believe it. Fuck that penalty! Bullshit. Very upset. I am proud we got that far but not happy with how we went out. 3 Min's of extra time and at 93:28 seconds they get a penalty, should have been a yellow for diving...

the last couple of days I haven’t done so much, just been chilling at Ajay's mostly, going out a bit. my friend Lyndie got the lead in this movie which is cool. i might still be going to the streets concert if my mate josh can get the tickets of the net.

So, what has the atmosphere been like for the world cup games with Australia? I had forgotten how attractive Australian women are until we started going to this Australian pub for all the Australia world cup games. believe this or not; $7(us) for a bottle of- Boags premium!!!!!! how crazy is that! that really means $8 because you have to tip $1 for every drink you get.\

Melbourne victory has on the preseason cup beating, grand finalists CC Mariners, young Socceroos and Yatai something (Chinese team) wooooooo good MV, and Alsop has been scoring goals too! ...and we bought a "exciting" left midfielder from overseas. In case you didn't know (or care) we also got two Brazilian strikers. It's a pity that I am going to miss the season, but props to Marcus and Aiden who are getting memberships, great work boys!!

Jake.

testing photos

Editors note: this did not work Jake- email me the pics OR download them to your PC first then upload them.

hey, these arent photos i took, ones that were sent to me:

click on these to see some photos,
1. walking in the met museaum with sarah and nissian etc... wedding day.
2. me and kerri at the wrap party for the film.


oh, and marcus:
i dont miss Fifa, i miss you me and aiden playing it together, i miss that brothers from different mothers shit :P

close call

Yesterday was interesting- I got hardcore scammed, for $25. He (the scammer) deserved the cash after a great performance so I am not so sad, and besides I have no chance going to war with the Canal St hustlers- so what can I do?

One of the scenes we did for the shoot was of these "coke whores" and they used my credit card as a prop for this one scene, anyway there were so many takes of this scene that my credit card got a little damaged. Last night I went to dinner with Angelo and I said I would pay but I didn't have as much money as I thought- I had forgotten about a certain $25!

So he's broke- it is 11- and the place is waiting for us to leave so it can close. Angelo is sitting there being the victim of like 5 Chinese workers angry stares while I am running around Chinatown looking for an ATM that works. I tried 5 and for some reason they wouldn’t accept my card, I thought it was because of the excessive use of the card in the coke scene. I had around $5 of change to my name and was a little worried that I would have to survive on that till I could get a new card or something like that, but luckily today my card was working again….

I am off to watch some World Cup action.

ciao ciao

australia 0 brazil 2

what a game, although we lost I don’t think the score really does reflect the game. I was at the eight mile creek pub (Australian pub) on mulberry st. there were hundreds of Aussies there and it was cool, Still wished I was watching it with my friends, but I was there with Steve, Sarah, Luke, his dad, Christian, some cool Scottish guy, koala Jack and a few others.

I had great bacon and eggs, brilliant, just not enough bacon.

The last few days, I have been going out a bit, Watching football. I made $100 yesterday. The unit production manager from the film ashes asked me to work with him on this job for yahoo music. Pretty simple work, just walking around the street looking for the "right" people and asking them and then briefing them on some topics we wanted them to talk about in front of the camera. when we were finished we went for a beer, then met up with Attila, Brian, Chad, Laset etc.. For more drinks, we found a cheap place called cheap shots which had $2 pots, the cheapest I have seen in NY by far.

so we drank there for ages, then me and Brian in our state thought we would go to this strip club to meet a friend of his who works there, but we ended up stumbling into a gay bar (apparently the club had moved locations). Then we went to this fancy bar, with heaps of open rooms and attractive young rich people.

I am sooo lucky, i move out of the actors loft on Wednesday and move straight into Ajay Naidu’s (the director/writer/star) apartment in the trendy east village for the rest of my stay here, he is of to LA with his girlfriend, she is there to work on this new big budget TV series. So things are cool right now. I just don’t want to leave for London, but I will have too so I can land in LA right at the start of the shoot there. i don’t want to have to leave half way through the shoot, it is to big a movie to do something like that.

bring on Croatia!!!!!!!!!

Australia 3!!!!!!!!!

My god! That game was incredible. I was at an Aussie bar with Steve, Jack, Luke etc... (Aussie guys) but i wished so much I could have been in oz for that game, with Marcus, Aiden etc... It was incredible, i couldn't even cry i was so happy insane!!!!!!! I cant find the words to describe it...

We finished shooting yesterday and we had a big wrap party which was fun. It has been a long time since I have posted so allow me to think for a second... It has been the craziest week, I say this every time but each week tops the others. Lots of crazy stories to tell but this isn’t the right place for some of them. The free apartment is fantastic!! Although the dream will end soon when i have to leave it. We have had some cool locations, namely the three story penthouse near times square, we had a fun party there after, crazy.

We shot on Coney island "warriors, come out and play!" and this huge club in Chelsea. I know i am going to miss the crew, everyone on the shoot rocked!! Every single person i liked a lot! And hopefully i will get to work with them again at some point. It is almost really emotional.(whatever that means -editor thomasr)

Australia vs Japan, the crew, NY, music, people I have met, things i have done, places i have been, it is just insane how alive I feel (I am sorry, a little drunk from watching the Germany vs Poland game so that is why i am writing in this whatever..) I miss chilling out with my amazing friends, i miss my family too. Little Louis, the coolest cat around. I tell lots of people about my little bro. I am glad to hear dads shoulder is getting better, you're a tough guy and i know you can deal with it so i am not so worried, like i was with the first shoulder surgery.

I have finished the shoot now and i am thinking about how i should keep my self busy, for the next few days at least i will occupy my time with world cup!!! Drinking, gym and Roosevelt Island.

I don’t want to leave NY for London, but; the show must move I guess :( then after that, to Hollywood I’m going to make a movie staring Selma Blair, Mathew Perry, Robert Downey jnr, and maybe Rob Lowe. That will be another crazy adventure I’m am sure. And since the movie is much more unionised and regulated I will have to try and curb my "crazy side" and play it a little quieter... And discrete.

Steve got back from Hawaii with Sarah so I have seen him recently. My bike got stolen about a week ago but such is the way of the city. Now I am freer, I will try and keep this blog more up to date. It was funny today, I was waling home from the game and i saw Josh, the sound guy from the shoot, he was talking to this Greenpeace chick- which was very fitting- then out of know where I saw Nate, one of the g&e guys from the film, he was in the middle of shooting a documentary of coffee in NY so me and josh got interviewed and i was quite drunk from the bar so I don’t remember if I said stupid stuff or not but it was a cool coincidence for us to meet at this spot. We shot this one scene at this huge club and it was funny as I had to block (walk the actors through the sequencing) the actors through this scene, where they come in sit down rack up lines and fake snort them, I had to show them how to breath out so the line disappeared but yet looked like they had snorted it (sweet n' low) and the sequencing of movement and who pulls out the credit card etc.. It was kind of funny, but cool as this is usuallythe role of the director or 1st AD.

ANYHOO:
3-1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ooowoooooooooooooooowowowdjasijfhasdfgaskdf asdhfashfiadhgsfasdfo

Jake.

Ohhhh yeahhh!!

hello,

check it: i got to my hostel at like 11PM after a looong day to find
they were booked out completely, so i had to get all my bags,
everything i own and ride in the rain looking for another hostel. i
find one and manage to get one night there. i go to my dorm, tired
scrap that, exhausted to find three European girls having a pajama
party eating pizza; usually i would be very happy to find my room
inhabited by attractive pizza eating euro girls, but not last night.
they kept me awake till like 3 in the morning; my alarm set for
4:30AM... i wake up at like 7am so i am already one hour late for
work. i find that my alarm is switched off, one of the girls had woken
up and turned of my alarm before it could wake me up, biatch. i get to
work at abut 8:30am i think and Bridget (art director) isn't able to
be there again so for 17 hours i was props, production assistant, 2nd
assistant camera, production designer, art and assistant art director.
i literally fell asleep leaning on a table by the end of the day, but
i worked hard and felt pleasure in doing so. today i feel great!
really tired but great. i moved into this huge apartment/loft on
Broadway st in Soho, just below spring street. (the hippest, coolest
location in NY) Attila, 1st Assistant Director joins me tomorrow and
we are staying there for a month or so. Attila is a legend!!! soo
funny, and i don't even know why but he is. i am right around the
corner from all the places i was traveling to when i lived in Chelsea,
it is the best thing that has happened to me yet in NY, getting this
place. tonight i am going to go get some dinner (i haven't eaten all
day) then at 10 i am going to go out for drinks with Lyndie, a cool
girl i met last weekend.
just curious, does anyone read my blog anymore? i ask because i
haven't really had a chance to keep it nice and updated, this last
week i have been literally finishing work and going straight to bed,
waking up and going straight to work, no down time at all.

Jake.

Late nights

hey guys.

We have had some crazy nights for the film but last night/two nights ago it was 11PM till like around 10AM on set then I couldn't book a room till 1PM, so I passed out right at the bottom of the stairs...! I still feel scattered and dazed, so last night I woke up at around 1AM and decided to go to the pub, which I am very glad I did.

Oh, I almost forgot! Melbourne Victory bought two Brazilian strikers!!!!

Woooooot!!!!!!!

What up.

I have been soooooo busy lately I haven't had time to get on a computer for a while. anyway I will try and remember what has happened this crazy week. Steve's wedding reception was fantastic. I got to sit next to the happy couple at the main table with my family. Tom and Steve both mentioned my mum in their speeches which was very touching.

I got to meet president carter and his family. The boat house is a beautiful place for a wedding. we had boat rides and lots of drinks and I eat heaps of smoked salmon. Then we went to this party (Steve's friends from school and me) at this nice apartment, there were some cool girls their and we drank lots more, amazing view from his roof of central park. Then a lovely girl named Dena arrived, a friend of Rachael. She is nice and we got on very well. That night we all went out to this club and danced and drank more. After that we went to some dudes house for another party. I think I got home that night.

This week of shooting has been so crazy. We are shooting from 4PM to 5:30AM so I get to sleep sometime after 6 and then wake up at like 1:00PM and have like one hour for my self before I have to be back on set. it's frustrating but still fun. Ee make it fun. The extras on set are so hilarious. They eat all the food, they pass around their portrait, they wear the most ridiculous clothes for the occasion, E.G. This one guy, OK OK the scene is an Indian restaurant, nothing fancy. This Italian looking guy with longish black hair is wearing one of those extremely tight pure white tops with long sleeves and one of those black boater hats, not sure if that is what they are called but picture what Rocky would have worn. Then this other guy, he spent 20 Min's practicing fake eating, then he asked me if I could find him a pair of black sunglasses to go with his suit.... idiot! who wears glasses at dinner, and besides his back was to the camera and he was out of focus. We are all starting to show our quirky side a bit more I think- which is funny- we all know each other pretty well now so it is always funny. It has been a lot of late working nights recently and they all kind of blurred into one. This last week, I have had maybe one hour to my self per day before getting to the shoot. Today I have the whole day off because tonight we shoot from 11PM till 11AM which shall be an interesting experience. I haven't even bothered to book a room for tonight as I wont be sleeping.... obviously.

I hope everyone is well and I hope that my family got home safely and everyone is in good health. I am still having fun in NY, it still rocks. oh last night was the first post wrap drinking session we have had. it was cool to see the real side of people like this. we played pool. Tiny table, giant balls, short cue's and the strangest rules I have ever heard of: never two shots on any foul ball, you must nominate the pocket and which ball you plan to sink.

It is insane.

Rainy day of shooting

Today was cool- hard but cool. I got a walkie talkie today, which was so cool. One of my jobs was to "Lock down" or "blocker" which basically means to stand at a street corner and tell people either to cross the street, or go a certain way and not to stop and look at the camera. At one point- and dad you can probably relate to this- it was like trying to herd sheep. There was a school just finishing for the day and hundreds of kids and their parents with four ways to walk, I had to make it three. But i got to use my walkie talkie :)

Then it started to bucket down with rain, I went crazy and ran around everywhere moving sets and equipment, ordering PA's to help lift sand bags to bunker down black screens and sun blocks.

I am starting to feel more like i know what I am doing and I don't need to be asked to do something as I already am on it. Although, the one time I am chilling talking to one of the extras (Italian women mind you) I got called out for not helping.

Whenever I can, I watch the monitor so I can see how the director of photography plans and sets up the look of the shot. The crew is cool and it has got to the stage where everyone knows each others names which is good. It seems like I am the only one on set who has cigarettes so I am the go to guy for that. I am wearing, right now, nine layers of clothing because of the rain and wind, should get warmer soon. We have the weekend off so it should be a good one.

I have a dinner tonight, a wedding reception tomorrow and something on Sunday, (I forget what) then we shoot scenes at a club on Monday. I have to recruit extras for that this weekend, partying kind of people, which is cool as it is a great way- "fitties" as my English friends would say.

Steve's Wedding

Hey guys!

Yesterday was my best day in America yet! Steve's wedding was fantastic! We went into the Met Museum and had the ceremony "illegally".

It was lovely and I was so thrilled for Steve. It brought some tears to my eyes. Afterwards, we went to this beautiful bar/restaurant called the "Boat House" on the lake in central park, had a few beers.

Then Krista and I had sushi (our little ritual) on 72nd street.

After that I went to Soho to watch the Champions League final; Barca came from a goal down and scored two in 10 Min's and won the match! After this we went to this really exclusive Hotel/social hangout of the rich and famous and had drinks poolside on the roof, it was called Soho House. I didn't stay for too long as I had prior engagements. Great day!!

Familigha Arrive

Last night was great. Went out to dinner with Tom, Rach, Steve, Sarah, Krista, Coralie and two of her long time friends who I hadn't seen for some time. It was great to see the family! Another looong day on the movie set today. I don't have much to do during actual shooting except odd jobs and heavy lifting. Today, Piper, best known as her leading role of "jersey" in the famous movie "Coyote Ugly" came on set to play the role of Bettina. She was very nice. This movie actually has some very well known faces. It is great to see the process of a film being made. During shooting, it is pretty long and boring with not much to do but props will be needed again in a few days and I will be back on the bike. I have made some good friends in NY. My first few weeks in London are already sorted accommodation wise thanks to my new English mates, namely Piers; funny guy and hopefully Hugo or "prince Harry" as we call him.

I miss my friends and my family but I am so glad to be here, if I was a billionaire I would pay for everyone to come over here instead.