New York City

I took the Virgin America red-eye flight to NYC on Thursday night and met my big sister Norma at the JFK Airport. The Virgin America screens on the backs of the seats on the plane were SO COOL, you could watch whatever TV you wanted, and even cooler was that there was a sort of free iTunes music library where you could make a playlist. They had tons of Dave Matthews and it rocked, also I listened to a lot of Amy Winehouse (she is really talented, I wish she'd clean up her act), and Sara Barellis (who just might be the most attractive girl ever), good times. Anyway I got to NYC and met my sister there. We met up there, got an Egg McMuffin (apparently that's the only thing you want to eat at 8am after 1.5 hrs of sleep), haha - dropped off our bags and headed for Jamaica Station on the AirTrain. Cool, good, awesome, same as the AirBART in San Francisco... it just costs $5. :)

Then onto the Long Island Rail Road train, and 20 min later we were in Manhattan. We came out at Madison Square Garden, and then wandered past the Empire State Building and up Broadway. Lots of cool stuff, and a truckload of Wall-E photos and ads.

Then to Toys R Us, we went on the Ferris Wheel this time, and it rocked fierce. Then to Hershey's and the M&M Store and then to a glorious Kosher restaurant that a friend of Rob Kutner (the awesome Daily Show writer - see earlier posts) recommended via a friend of his. It was SO GOOD. We got the Blintzes (New York Times rated them the best Cheese Blintzes in the city... in NEW YORK CITY... i.e. they rocked), and some Chollent (which is kinda like Jewish bean chili). Good stuff. Then we wandered a little more, went to FAO Schwarz and then to their candy section, aptly named "FAO Schweetz", then to get some Cheesecake and head back to JFK.

Following that and somewhat of a commotion at the SAA Desk where they took my Visa by MISTAKE and I almost passed out cause I was so nervous that I could have lost it, and then found out the lady at the desk TOOK IT cause she just assumed it was a travel card and didn't read it and saw it was a Visa, then they thought we were on the wrong flights and told us Expedia had booked it wrong, and basically made me and my sister insanely worked up and nervious. Anyway, it all worked out. But thank goodness I had a huge NYC Peanut Butter Cheesecake to calm my nerves after almost missing our flights, losing my Visa, and getting our bags on the wrong flight. Oy. The joys of traveling, eh?! :) Anyway other than that insane ridiculousness and painful incompetence of the SAA Desk checkin lady, the rest of the time was relatively smooth and the 7hr flight to Dakar, Senegal was no worries.

Then another 8.5hrs or so to Johannesburg. I watched Juno and then Dan in Real Life on the flight, good times. Food was good, flight was smooth and it was all great. Now for some pics of NYC.


Getting packed


Norm and I on the LIRR on the way to Penn Station


Sweet, Madison Square Garden


Empire State Building


Norm with huge USA cookies


Sweet Wall-E ads


Haha hilarious dog purses


Funny spinning Red Lobster


Big Wall-E ads at Times Square


Hard Rock Cafe


Toys R Us


This rocks


Ferris Wheel


Me freakin' out at the glorious selection of Cars toys, I finally got "Gasprin" and another one I needed for my collection


This T-Rex growled, it was freakin' AWESOME!!


This was made out of LEGO, I love the NYC hat


That weird "Naked Cowboy" guy


Wall-E bus!


This looks so freakin' good


Norm at the Hershey's store


Haha cool shirt


Hahahaha!!!!!!!! The Red M&M guy scowling at traffic


Kurt Phillips, this is for you


Another Wall-E poster


National Jewelers Exchange, super random place... our Kosher restaurant was upstairs at the back, totally hilarious!!


The staircase to the restaurant... are we in the right place?!!!


Sweet!!!!!!!!!


They even had "benchers" for saying the after meal prayers. My sister and I joked that if some tourists came in and said, "Hey, what's with these weird letters on the menu?!" - they'd probably send them to McDonald's instead :)


Hilarious Jewelery place


Norm with the Chollent, me with the Cheese Blintzes


This pickle was SO garlicy and so freakin' good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


At Radio City Music Hall


NBC Studios


"30 Rock!"


Norm and I at Rockefeller Plaza


Lots of cabs


Wall-E stuff at the Disney Store


Cool store


Amazing apple store


Haha!!! Harry Potter stuff in FAO Schwartz


Haha the dog from Harry Potter


Me in the Harry Potter "sorting hat"... come on... Griffyndor!!


Reminds me of the movie "Big"


FAO Schweetz, the candy store


Hamentaschen at the bakery


The cheesecake that saved the day

Wall-E - HUGE reviews and opening!!

I am in South Africa, but I just had to find out.

Looks like Wall-E opened in USA Box Offices this weekend at $62.5 Million, a fantastic opening by many standards.

Even more importantly, the reviews are amazing. It's sitting at a 96% (97% from the Top Critics) on RottenTomatoes.com, and the reviews are just unbelievable. Some people called it Pixar's best film to date. Everyone talked about the attention to detail, the subtle messages mixed with the beautiful visuals... it is so AMAZING that I got to work on this project with such talented and dedicated people.

Check out some of these reviews:

"Though perfection in film is a highly unlikely proposition, WALL-E indeed has become 2008's first perfect film and one of the best Pixar projects of all time. "

"It is a story about love and loneliness, perseverance and triumph, the possibilities and pitfalls of human existence. That this story is told by way of the exploits of a tiny, faceless robot only makes it more extraordinary."

"I think Wall-E is a masterpiece. The folks at Pixar never rest on their laurels. They continue to push the limits of both computer animation and the storytelling possibilities that accompany it."

"WALL-E is Pixar's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial or its Pinocchio: an archetypal fable about loneliness simple enough -- yet deep enough -- to instantly captivate anyone who sees it."

"It works; this is Pixar's most enthralling entertainment since Nemo."

Amazing.

And 24 hours later, we're in South Africa

Mike and Norma Jutan, comin' at cha from J-J-J-J-Johannesburg, S-S-S-South Africa!!!!!

What a crazy few days! I took the red-eye flight from San Francisco to NYC on Thursday night, man Virgin America Airlines is totally awesome. Then spent all day Friday in NYC with Norm, it was totally siiiiick. More updates about that as the days progress and I have more time for blogging. NYC rocked, we got some super Jewishy food that was outstanding, and rode the Ferris wheel at Toys R Us in Times Square. There were Wall-E advertisements EVERYWHERE. :)

Then we spent the last approx 18 hrs on airplanes and got here tonight.

My Uncle Allan (Affie) and his wife Glenda met us at the airport, along with my Granny Leah, and Uncle Jimmy, Cousin James and Aunt Denise (Mookie). Everyone has crazy nicknames in this family!

We had a really nice dinner tonight here, everyone is SO happy to see us and already lots of great stories about the family and everything. This is going to be ammmaaaaazing!!

Anyway I'm super jet-lagged and tired, but I'm gonna try to at least blog a bit every day or two. Pictures coming soon when I figure out how to download onto this machine.

THIS IS SO AWESOME.
Much, much more to follow.

Your African safari'ing buddy,
Mike :)

Friends visiting

The last few weeks have been pretty busy. I kept planning to spend some time in my apartment, just chillin' out and getting ready for my trip to South Africa... and instead I spent most of the weekend running around the city and doing lots of exciting stuff. Awesome times.

My buddy Jansen from Toronto came in last week for contract work he was doing in the Bay Area!! That was awesome, and totally sweet to hang out and get some food and catch up. Pretty fantastic stuff. We partied at Sarah's house on Thursday night, and it also rocked.

Friday night Matt and I got some food, chilled out in the Marina, and walked across the city to Ghirardelli Square, got some ice cream, and then went downtown to find a book Matt needed. Then back to Ocean Beach to meet Brian and some of the Creature TDs for a bonfire followed by some late night Mel's Drive In food.


Jansen at my computer!!!!


Amazing clouds downtown on Saturday at the Ferry Building


Me and Gattabet at the Ferry Building


Waaaaaaaaall-E!!!!!!!


Then we ran into Jess and Katherine!!


More awesome Wall-E posters


Cool travel adapter I finally got for all of this crazy world traveling :)