KAUFMAN STUDIOS, NYC

Yesterday I was fortunate enough mosey on into Astoria, Queens to go to the Museum of the Moving Image and make a way-side stop at Kaufman Studios -home of Nurse Jackie! I had some great fun with Laura.. we're absolutely ridiculous and just wing everything. Best way to do NYC is without schedules... and that's exactly how we do it!

Got to NYC had lunch at Untitled.. FRIGGIN' FANTASTIC! I cannot say enough good things about Chef Chris Bradley and his staff. They are all amazing!!

We left Untitled and immediately hit the subway got on the N and 15 minutes later we were in Astoria. We walked 10 minutes and then we saw Kaufman Studios!

I thought it would be hustle-bustle with 20,000 people milling about. Wow what a nice surprise. We were walking down looking for the museum and I saw Arjun Gupta standing there talking to someone. I recognized him right away and after he was finished talking I said hello and he was surprised that I even knew who he was. I was surprised that he would be surprised as he plays Sam, an RN on Nurse Jackie. He was a lot of fun to talk with. We joked around and he was great to take a pic with me!! I accidentally had it on video and we both started to crack up!

A few minutes later, Rob DeFranco showed up. I was surprised to see him as I know he was suffering the night before from a stomach flu. Was nice to see him again, wished him well and sent him on his way when his car came. Poor guy was so pale... he needed to get back to his bed asap!

Arjun went in to get Peter for us and Laura and I headed over to the Museum of the Moving Image to use the bathroom. The museum is nice... but it's completely lacking something. I think it's the stark white atmosphere that just leaves you feeling empty. The Muppet exhibit was well done but the museum as a whole was just missing something.

We headed back over to the studio just to see Peter going back INSIDE. *UGH* We had missed him by a mere moment. Cest la vie! The trip was not wasted... Meeting Arjun was awesome and we also got to meet Edie Falco and a few of the set technicians. One of the sound mixers talked to us for about 15 minutes. I wish I had gotten her name, she was so nice and gave us a little idea about her job. I had no idea the amount of people it takes to successfully pull off just one episode.

Just another adventurous day in NYC !!

Film Critics.... WTF!!!

Why do only "professional' Critics opinions count??

I'm going to go completely political here with this. I am a little bit annoyed and that will probably show as you read further into what I'm doing. I am really miffed that the only opinions that seem to count in the eyes of these film makers, actors, producers, etc are the opinions of 'professional' critics. How is the opinion of someone who's not even familiar with your work, your vision, your characters or your story even RELEVANT?? WHY do you care that Joe-schmoe thinks this or that about your film when millions ... yes MILLIONS of fans are standing around screaming praises all over the world? WHO GIVES A FUCK about 'joe-schmoe's' snarky critique? Joe-Schmoe has not read the books, Joe-Schmoe does NOT know the story, Joe-Schmoe has no idea about the storylines beneath the obvious. Joe-Schmoe simply is a shock-journalist with a big-ass mouth.
Sure, it's nice to see a good review in the paper. I bet it strokes the ego quite nicely and while I know that some people NEED to hear a professional critique before they will consider spending money to see a film, others will take the opinion of a fan much more seriously than some big-mouth journalist with no idea what the hell he or she is even talking about.

BOTTOM LINE:
The fan's opinions ALWAYS outweigh the 'film critics' opinions twenty-fold
JUST SAYIN'