Random moments

*I really miss lamb. I didn't realise how much until T and I met up with his workmate Mark at a bar near their work. The bar was New Zealand themed and I ordered a lamb burger with feta. Lamb is a fairly rare commodity in New York, perhaps because there are so few sheep. But man, would I murder a lamb roast right now.

*I saw an Oscar the other day. I arrived early for a screening at Sony and was chilling in their lounge. I was sitting back in a giant leather armchair, looking out over midtown when I spied a display cabinet. There, all shiny and gold, were 3 Academy Award statuettes, gleaming at me. One was for "From Here to Eternity", one for Eva Marie Saint and I can't remember the last. But what struck me was the tragedy of having these awesome Oscars in the same cabinet as cheap Green Hornet and Bad Teacher merchandise and props. Surely Sony must have produced a few more notable films in the time between From Here to Eternity and Bad Teacher?

*We bought our tickets to Europe in January! FINALLY! Timon is scheduled to fly to Amsterdam on the 2nd Jan, leaving me in New York with my family. I will be flying to Copenhagen on the 7th Jan to help Ida celebrate her 30th birthday. I'm so excited I might bust. From there we will meet up in Germany and farewell Timon's friend Tom and head to Poland. Then we have to make our way to England somehow because we're flying home from London on the 30th Jan. That means we also get to see Freyja and her new dorm room. If only Ross hadn't moved to Abu Dhabi it could have been the trifecta of awesomeness. Good one Ross.

*I went to my first NYFF screening the other day. Luckily I arrived a geeky hour and half early because by 3pm the queue went half way around the block. Apparently every writer and press jerk wants to see the opening film of the festival. I have been surprised at the age of people at these things. I am definitely in the young bracket and I'm nearly 30. It seems that most film reviewers are middle-aged to old men. This screening (Carnage, dir Roman Polanski) was full of white-haired old women. Weird. 

*In lieu of getting tickets to the Arrested Development Panel (which is today btw and I'm very grouchy about it) the PR woman for the New Yorker Festival offered me a ticket to a Beyond 3D panel that was held yesterday. I went along and listened to 4 special effects masters talk about their jobs and various projects they'd been involved in. One guy did Star Wars, Jurassic Park, The Abyss - one did Black Swan and Limitless - one did Avatar, Tintin, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and the last guy did all the Harry Potters. It was interesting to hear their stories although I rarely had any idea about the technology and techniques they were talking about. It's mind boggling. One little kid got up and asked them how they made the spells shoot out of the wands in HP. Aw, bless.