Day 4: Our adventures in three boroughs

Yesterday was a blur. We started with Bagels and coffee for Michelle (yes
– I am still caffeine free for the NSPCC Kick bullying campaign) – Nick
went out on his scooter to go and pick them up for us. I had an
all-dressed one with all the toppings including onion. The thing about
these bagels that make them stand out is the salt. It's just a thin
sprinkling of it, but it makes all the difference. And you don't even need
to put anything on it, in fact I'd argue it'd sully the taste if you did.

First interview of the day was in Redhook with Jen and Brian Gubicza of
Zooguu (thanks to John DeYoung who set it all up!). They work out of a
warehouse space with around 12 other artists making stuffed toys to be
sold on Etsy, their own online shop and in craft fairs. The warehouse is
in an area that only a few years ago was known for crime – On the
Waterfront was based on that area and bodies have been known to wash up on
shore. More recently, gritty crime chases are filmed there – Matt Damon
was filming down the road the week before so I'm going to keep my eye out
next time I'm watching a chase scene down by the docks. A large amount of
the area was bought up by a retired cop who wanted to regenerate Redhook.
So anyone wanting to rent his properties has to put in a proposal to show
what they will be using it for. Which is why Jen and Brian found
themselves in a warehouse over looking the water (and the statue of
Liberty).

They are starting to get some interest from wholesalers, which can be
trickier as Brian traces and cuts all the patterns for Jen to sew by hand.
Yes, that's right. All Zooguu toys are hand-made. Lately they have been
doing more collaborations with illustrators (Brian being one of them), to
make stuffed toys out of their 2D work. The results have their own
Zooguu-esque quality that still keeps the aesthetic that the original
illustrations have.

All of the toys have a quirky appeal that makes them loved by adults and
children alike. And because they are homemade, you can pick what colours
you want each part to be. Jen always knows when a kid put the order in as
the colours are not ones most people would ever put together. But that's
what makes these toys so personal and something you could grow up with.
Though Brian teases her about it, Jen always makes sure she packs the toy
so when you open it; it looks up at you like it's greeting you like an old
friend. If you want one of your own, you can order them online and you can
get one sent to you anywhere in the world. Go. Do it. I'm going to.
www.zooguu.com

After lunch in midtown with my old friend Reisha, we met with Jill of
www.jillwrites.com, who is born and raised in Brooklyn and lives on Staten
Island. We took the ferry over to Staten Island with her and looked back
across the water at Manhattan. To me this ferry is the starting point of
my favourite movie: Working Girl. Well, one of my favourite movies. The
film opens up with Carly Simon singing her heart out as Melanie Griffith
makes the journey into Manhattan to work her way to the top. She has
brains and beauty but no one takes her seriously because of where she's
from. Honestly, the Carly Simon song went through my head the whole way
there AND back.

On the way to the Tweet-Up at BBH in the AT&T building (32 Avenue of the
Americas), Michelle and I made a special stop inspired by Zooguu's Brian –
the Ghostbusters fire station! Yes, photos and video were taken. It was
much narrower than I expected but what a beautiful little firehouse it
was. And just around the corner from where the meet up was.

Thanks go out to Dan, who helped make the tweet-up in New York happen. We
did a live feed as the night progressed so anyone, anywhere in the world
could be a part of it. I found that by capturing it and interviewing, the
two hours go by too quickly and I actually met very few people there. And
everyone I spoke was so interesting that I wish we had more time to meet
and talk with everyone there. But I guess that's how it all goes and the
people you meet are the right people to meet at the time. And in less
than 2 days, I've met so many wonderful people that I would have never met
under other circumstances.

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Day 3: New York & our venture into Brooklyn

It's Day 5 of Tuttle2Texas and we're leaving NYC about an hour late to
Washington. I can't believe we're already leaving New York as it feels
like we were just getting started. This leg of the trip Michelle and I
stayed with Nick and Martha Desbiens and their 2 year old son Adrian. When
we arrived on Thursday, we travelled out to Brooklyn where Nick and Martha
lived near Grand Army Plaza/ Prospect Park. After introductions and making
of fake pizza with Adrian, Michelle and I headed out to get some New York
shots before we lost the light. Unfortunately we did lose it in the end
as we were having so much fun chatting with Martha, that by the time we
got into Manhattan, it was dusk.

Waiting for it to get a bit darker, Michelle and I cruised around the tip
of central park, saw the horse and carriages lined up along the road, and
rounded back to Carnegie Hall. Then travelling south we headed towards the
daylight, I mean lights of time square, getting night shots along the way.
Times Square was packed with people and according to our hosts, was only
pedestrianised 3 months ago. I think that was a wise decision as I looked
around at all the tourists with their cameras as they wandered the square.

As it was New York and it was night, pretzels were in order which is why
Michelle and I had to partake. It wasn't as good as we thought they would
be (maybe they needed to be heated up a bit more?) but they were salty and
covered in mustard so it was a good between meal snack.

Nick and Martha have been in their Brooklyn flat for the last year and a
half and there seems to be tons of room for their son and them to live. It's still very small so there's not enough room to really play. I now
understand why there are play centres and why mom's and Nanny's are always
sitting in parks in the movies. We settled on Sushi for dinner and
Michelle and I picked up some Brooklyn Pale Ale. As I had tried UFO and
Samuel Adams in Boston, I had to try something local in New York. We
actually asked a man in the local grocery store what we should get as
there were about 5 coolers full of beer in the shop we went into. Supposedly, Brooklyn Lager is good for a spicy meal and Brooklyn Pale Ale
is perfect for a rich meal. It's always good to know local beers – it
makes it easier to impress locals on my next visit.

We interviewed the Desbiens the first night we met and Nick commented on
how it was the first time he had ever thought or spoke that long about how
he used the internet and social media. The next day…he started following
me on Twitter.

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My ponderings from Boston

This is day three of Tuttle2Texas and I’ve already have heard enough stories to last a lifetime. I think I could have stayed in Boston for weeks and still not have enough. One of the things I’m very glad of (though takes more time to organize) is staying with people in all of the cities we are visiting. In Boston, we stayed with John and Jay. John works in tech at Tech Superpowers and Jay is a lawyer who works with bio-tech patents. They have a beautiful daughter Maggie who is only 2 and is smarter then some adults I know (no offence to anyone out there). They also have 8 cats which worried me immensely due to my allergies but since my allergist is very sweet, I got a bunch of steroids that kept me from reacting. Yes. I’m doing Tuttle2Texas on steroids.

Last night John was making syrup out of the Sugar Maple sap he collected from the tree in the back of their new house. As we talked, he not only showed me how to make my own syrup but he gave me some insight into his values. Though he is immersed in tech and the tech world, he consciously puts aside time for the lost arts. The recipes of our grandparents, a more hands on way of doing things. A time where you can slow down and just enjoy the world. I feel the same way – though I don't really show that. Since getting my iPhone, it is always to hand. The moment I wake up, I’m on it and communicating to the world. Is this a good thing or am I losing a bit of my past and my culture by becoming so entrenched in social media?

Not only did we get to try to the homemade maple syrup (which tasted fresh out of a tree but in a good way), but John toasted up some homemade walnut bread for Michelle and I to munch on while we talked later than we thought we’d be able to stay up to. This all day filming is tiring. So much so, we left no energy to actually interview John and Jay which I regret – though the conversations we had were equally invaluable.

When we said goodbye to John last night, he gave us each a bear hug. The kind you give to an old friend. This morning we left behind new friends with a promise that we’d come back and when we did, we can stay with them whenever we want. No matter how nice hotels are, I’ve never got that from them.

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I’m not gone, I’m just Tuttling 2 Texas

While I am on Tuttle 2 Texas, I’m blogging on tuttle2texas.posterous.com and not on Oot and Aboot.  As much as I’m able to multi-task, one extra blog was one too many.  So if you want to hear about what we’re doing, please follow us on:

 

Tuttle2texas.posterous.com

www.youtube.com/user/tuttle2texas

www.audioboo.fm/

www.flickr.com/photos/tuttle2texas

 

 

 

 

 

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Airport bound: #tuttle2texas

So it's beginning today. In some ways it's already began, but now the bags are (over) packed and I'm on a very slow 137 on the way to the Piccadilly line.

People have asked me if I am excited. I'm not sure yet. It seems all surreal. And though I do have a calm vaneer about our travels I am worried as well. I think if I was just doing the journey, and leading discussions and taking too long train journeys, that wouldn't worry me as much. But shooting a documentary in 6 cities in 10 days and socially documenting it is making me more naceous than excited I think.

Am I ready? No. As usual, the night before travel all technical things that could go wrong did. But it's all par for the course, so I shrug and get on with it.

It's a bit strange - for this journey Im using the backpack that I used on my way to England, my first great adventure. I packed all of my belongings in this bag on 31 December, 2001 & started a new life on New Years Day. Now I feel the same - all my favourite clothes & electronics are packed (except my Zi8 which maddingly has decide to play hide & seek with me, and still hasn't been found.) And I'm off on one of the greatest adventures & challenges I've ever been on. There's even a maple leaf on my bag - but that's more because I couldn't get it off. Though, as this whole trip is about culture, it does become a reminder of where I came from.

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Tuttle2Texas: The final countdown

via AudioBoo

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