Danielle's Stop Global Warming space

Mary Pat (one of the producers of this film and one of my closest friends) just arrived in NYC and I'm stoked.

We're going to go together to Enat's edit bay, and then have a working lunch with Enat and Kimberley (our brand new and fabulous assistant editor) in Williamsburg.

And tomorrow we three - Mary Pat, Enat, and I, head up to Martha's Vineyard to spend the weekend with Laurie David. I'm excited for Laurie to meet Enat, and for us to discuss the film which is already taking such great shape - but is it wrong that mostly what I'm excited for is to go waterskiing?

I'm attaching some shots of my daily existence now - of Enat (shown in a downpour with her umbrella), of her cats Pepper (white) and Caterpillar (not white) - my two favorite cats (easy for me since I love dogs), a bit from my walk to work (including a quirky cake shop and a wasteful fire hydrant (!!)), and the view from Enat's Williamsburg loft that we take five minute breaks to stare out at between the long edit hours (notice 'Police Cars Unlimited'!)...

This is Mary Pat's first time to the Big Apple so I get to see this city through her new eyes. First stop: cupcakes at Teanys. I'm predicting it right here that she's going to love it so much she never leaves. I hope she packed for winter.

I just heard that a new law might come into effect in NY that limits our ability to film and photograph New York City freely. Not only does that limit freedom of expression period - but now that I'm a New Yorker I think I'd go into a deep dark depression if I was restricted from photographing every inch of this wondrous city!

Let's all sign the petition (no matter where you live) so that we can nip this thing in the bud before it's a real issue:

It takes 10 seconds: click here to sign the petition and keep NYC film friendly.

I've discovered that New Yorkers don't like to share pens or information.

When I ride the subway I like to do work, but nine times out of ten I've forgotten my pen at home.  So, my first thought is to ask my subway neighbor for one.  My first few times of asking I was struck by a very strange coincidence - no one had a pen on them.  It was the same thing every time: they'd open up their bag just a crack, peer in it, then look at me and shrug their shoulders apologetically and say, 'Sorry, I don't have one.'

At first I bought it.  Wow, I thought, New Yorkers don't write anything down.  But then it occurred to me that maybe New Yorkers just don't like to a) be bothered by strangers on the subway and/or b) don't like to share their pens.

I noticed this same pattern when asking people for directions.  Each time I go for a long run or bike ride I'll wind up in an area I don't know and ask a local where the hell I am.  Seems simple enough.  Most people know where they are on the earth at any given moment.  I should be the weird one in the conversation who doesn't - not them.  But, on at least seven different occasions (including one on my run this morning!) when I've stopped someone and asked 'Excuse me, what part of town is this?' each time the person has said, 'Sorry, I really don't know.'  Now how do you explain this??

It took me two people this morning before someone told me where I was ('This is Windsor Terrace' a guy eventually told me.  And then even though I didn't ask, he said 'the rent is cheaper here than in Park Slope.') - the first woman I met just shrugged her shoulders as if we were all lost in oblivion.

I don't know whether to be very concerned, or just less gregarious.  Either way, I'm never leaving home without a pen and a map again.

My new favorite thing is to travel across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan without a car.  Each weekend, I somehow always wind up either biking of walking across the Brooklyn Bridge.  Because it's so damn gorgeous.

When I first walked the Bridge I discovered that A) New York is really tiny (compared to LA), and B) you can get just about everywhere via your own two feet without emitting any CO2 into the atmosphere (except your own breath).

Which gave me an idea about my commute to the editing room:  The way Brooklyn is set up public transport wise, right now I have to take a subway into Manhattan, and then catch another out to Williamsburg.  Total commute is over an hour.  When I realized that New York isn't as big as New Yorkers claim it is, I mapquested Enat's apt and found she lives 4 miles from me.  In LA 4 miles = just around the corner!

So, on Friday instead of taking the subway, I put on my sneakers and ran to Enat's place.  Door to door in 35 min.  And the only thing I emitted was calories!

This week I'll experiment with biking there...

The pics below are from my ride last weekend from Park Slope across the Brooklyn Bridge, to Teanys - the best dessert spot in all the land (and it's vegan!) - in the Lower East Side.  What your drooling over in the pics below are the Oreo Cupcake and the Peanut Butter Bomb Cake...

Someone the other day said NYC is like an iPod on shuffle. Everywhere you go you hear some sort of music, and then a block later, it's something else.

The other day, I walked to the subway and heard this awesome music coming out of the cellar doors in the sidewalk - some band was reheasring in the basement of some building, and I was walking on top of them!

And at around midnight one night, I was waiting for a subway and heard this incredible music from the other end of the platfom... I went to check it out and found this guy playing his guitar with every ounce of himself, drenched in sweat and belting out the most terrific folky music I'd heard. Everyone tried to pretend like he wasn't there, but one by one, they all started bopping their heads, and I danced until the subway came.

The musician is Cuomo and I bought his new CD, 'Greenburg, PA.' I wish I could upload a song --- but will have to settle for linking to his older album that's on myspace... click here to listen to Cuomo!

I bet it'll make you bob your head whether you want to or not!