As I no longer have a links page or blogroll I’d like to draw your attention, if I may, to Biting The Big Apple; a great blog written by my friend Stephanie.
Stephanie and I worked together for a few years in London, then in 2007 Stephanie made the huge step of moving to New York to live and work.
Biting The Big Apple records that adventure and Stephanie’s thoughts and experiences of living in New York City.
It’s been really interesting re-reading a number of the posts with a new perspective following my first trip to New York.
One of the things that I kept thinking about in New York was how important films and TV shows had been in setting some of my expectations about the city, and also in making it feel oddly familiar at the same time.
I saw a number of locations from films in my all too short trip, but by far the most striking was Grand Central Station.
Grand Central Station was one of the highlights of my visit; it is simply beautiful and yet beautifully simple inside. There’s none of the clutter you see in UK stations; just a wonderful open space crafted from marble with the most stunning painted ceiling above.
Looking down across the concourse made me think of the wonderful scene in The Fisher King where Grand Central Station waltzes around the main characters:
Amazingly Grand Central Station wasn’t closed for shooting, and so the odd confused looking rail passenger can be fleetingly seen in the background.
A fittingly beautiful scene for such a beautiful building.
The panoramic photo was taken with the excellent iPhone app Pano
I have a soft spot for Virgin Atlantic having been fortunate to fly Upper Class on a number of occasions. I’ve always thought that the Virgin brand came to life completely on Virgin Atlantic.
Virgin Atlantic is 25 years old; I remember when they launched – 25 years has flown by (sorry). To celebrate Virgin have released a great advert stuffed full of brilliant 80s references from a red braced city boy with brick mobile to Our Price records which I’d forgotten even existed; see how many you can spot:
I love that all of the other airlines are beige or grey.
Volkswagen UK have had consistently brilliant TV adverts for as long as I can remember; but Night Driving is one of their finest.
The ad is beautifully shot and Richard Burton’s narration of Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas works wonderfully with the soundtrack which is by Cliff Martinez from the soundtrack to the film Solaris.
You can view the advert in high resolution at the Night Driving site or here is a crunchier version from YouTube:
I will admit to having watched this advert more than once whilst I was choosing and waiting for my Golf.
And all the people of the lulled and dumbfound town are sleeping now.
Hush, the babies are sleeping, the farmers, the fishers, the tradesmen and pensioners, cobbler, schoolteacher, postman and publican, the undertaker and the fancy woman, drunkard, dressmaker, preacher, policeman, the webfoot cockle-women and the tidy wives.
Young girls lie bedded soft or glide in their dreams, with rings and trousseaux, bridesmaided by glow-worms down the aisles of the organ playing wood.
You can hear the dew falling, and the hushed town breathing.
Only your eyes are unclosed to see the black and folded town fast, and slow, asleep.
I love night driving: I especially enjoy driving around London at night when the city comes to life but then just as quickly falls asleep.
