The Detail is in the Doughnuts

It's funny the things that sometimes get my attention while covering a story. Sometimes they have nothing to do with the story itself. Take the ribbon cutting ceremony for The OUT NYC for example. Of all the things I talked about in the newsroom relating to this story, the thing they and I were most interested in was the doughnuts.

First, a little background. The OUT NYC on 42nd Street is the first straight-friendly hotel in New York City. What does that mean?

"It was built for people who are gay,to be comfortable than they often are in other hotels but straights are welcome too," Hotel President Ian Reisner told me, "I hear from friends all the time they often check into a hotel and they want a king-sized room and it's two men or two women and they very often get a weird stare. The idea of a gay couple kissing or holding hands in the lobby of a hotel very often makes them uncomfortable."

Ok, back to the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony.

Once they cut the rainbow-striped ribbon, everyone was let in to look around.

I took a look at the things you would usually look at on this kind of story - one of the rooms:

There are also three outdoor courtyard areas. This one is kind of a picnic spot:

There were two others that were not 100% finished, but one has waterfalls and they look like they're going to be pretty nice. You can see more of the concept images on the website TheOutNYC.com

And finally there was a reception area where we could do interviews. They were serving up cappuccinos and things like these doughnuts:

You can see they're colorful in this picture, but try the close up:

Yes, that's glitter. The doughnuts glittered! I don't think this picture really does them justice. I needed better lighting. But lighting or not, when I have shown people the pictures I took at the hotel, this is the one they are most interested in, the cute doughnuts.

By the way, when mentioned how cute they were to the Food & Beverages Manager he told me they wanted to have "gay doughnuts for the opening of a gay hotel." You can tell me if he hit the mark on looks, but I can tell you, they were tasty, with a hint of lemon.

Reporting - Behind the Scenes

Today's blog, a quick look at a couple moments behind the scenes of a story.

As I was covering the South Plainfield, NJ fire, I took a couple behind the scenes pictures to share.

The first I title 'How many reporters can you fit in a den?'



While covering the South Plainfield, NJ fire, there was only one person with video of the 3am fire. His name was Ivan, and Ivan lived right across the street from the home. Well, of course, all the media wanted to see the video so Ivan was kind enough to invite us into his home to watch it on his television.... all 20 of us. It was a stream of cameras, tripods and equipment bags pouring into his den, packed in pretty tight for the viewing of the video. It was very kind of him to allow this, and he looked a little overwhelmed at the time, watching the line of reporters seem to get longer and longer coming into his home, but I think he really helped us better our stories by allowing us to see what happened from his viewpoint.

The other picture I have for you today I call "Microphone Jenga".



When there's a press conference with a podium, there are plenty of places to clip on microphones or put up a stand, but that is not the case when the press conference in the middle of the street. This is what happens. You only see a part of the pile here... In all there were probably 20 microphones and recording devices piled in this stack. Only about half of of the microphones you see here are actually cliped in or attached to a stand, the others are balanced. And when it comes time to add a new microphone in, you have to balance very carefully because it doesn't take much for the pile to get top-heavy and tip. Usually one of us would hold the pile as a new mic was added to make sure the whole thing didn't tumble over. But even we are not perfect at Jenga. There were a couple times the pile started to go over and we had to reset the mics.

Why I Spent my Birthday Crying

Monday was my birthday... Monday was also the funeral of Lance Corporal Osbrany Montes De Oca in North Arlington, NJ.

That was the story I was assigned on Sunday afternoon. I'll be honest, I whined to my assignment manager when he first was going to send me. I know I cry at Taps... He was going to make me cry on my birthday. I was told I could just not work on my birthday like most people, but that didn't seem an option for me, so I took on the story.

A little history on the Lance Corporal. He was 20-years-old. He also has a twin brother named Osmany, also a Marine, and a 22-year-old brother who is also in the Corps. He and his twin joined first. They wanted to protect their country, cut and dry. He was infantry and sent to Afghanistan and just got his promotion to Lance Corporal a few weeks ago.

My first stop in North Arlington was the funeral home and church, which happened to be across the street from each other.

There were a number of police officers and firefighters out there, wanting to pay their respects and also a lot of people from town.



In this picture you see the line of police officers... but those folks on the curb across the street, most of them are people from town. There was also a crowd of them behind me. It was heartening to see. That said, one woman I talked to was angry there were not more people out. It was a holiday. She said she had hoped to see the entire town show up to pay their respects.

My first tears fell when the coffin was carried from the funeral home to the hearse... The finality that coffin signifies....





I think this is a time to mention a little about me. I don't think I am a typical reporter. Some of the other reporters and camera crews were off to the side, chatting about sports and the like 'between shots'. I can do that on some stories, like when we're waiting for the Governor to speak or something else mundane. But this was about the Lance Corporal and I almost kicked a trio of media folk for rudely chatting about sports while the rest of the street was silent just a few moments before the procession began. I feel stories... and I hope, in some respects, that makes me better at my job. You can let me know when you hear the stories later....

The service in the church was a private event, so I repositioned myself down the road, near the entrance of the cemetery. More and more people from town were coming out to line up along the road. By the time the hour-long service was over, there was nearly a half mile line of people from the church to the cemetery entrance, who wanted to send-off their fallen hero. The fire trucks worked to hoist a massive American flag and we all stood, quietly and waited for the procession to arrive. Seriously, hundreds of people lined the streets near me, but they didn't do much more than whisper. You could hear the flapping of the flags in the wind, the police radios, sniffling, but not much else....



The funeral procession made it's way into the cemetery. I followed, but at a distance. I stood off to the side with the police officers who were keeping watch.

It was a very traditional service, ending with the 21-gun salute and the playing of Taps. Then the flag presented to his mother. I had not heard a lot of crying (audibly at least) until this point... but that flag being handed over, that was the breaking point.

I truly think my heart was put in a vice when I heard the wails come from the family as the flag was handed over. Pain. A heart being ripped out and shattered pain was what I heard. I started crying again. Heck, I am tearing up right now typing about it, because that sound doesn't leave one's ears easily.

And then I thought, that Marine, the one who is tasked with giving the flag to the family, how the hell does he do his job? Does that man have to go home at the end of the day and drown himself in drink to try and erase the face of that mother? Do the mournful cries she let out ever leave his ears?

As I left the cemetery I saw more of the Marine detail. I wanted to run up and hug them. Many of them were close in age to the 20-year-old I just saw buried. I resisted the urge to hug them all and instead thanked them for their service.

So now I had to go to work... I had to do stories about the funeral... and, well, I tried to do his memory justice. I was told the first version was not just sad, but very sad. I will also admit, it took me three times to record the last half of it without my voice completely cracking and breaking.






So, I'm going to wrap this up now, with this - Yes it was a depressing way to spend a birthday, but also a hell of a reminder to love and appreciate all the things I have, the opportunities I have been given, and to not let any of them pass me by. Someone may well have died for them.

To all my friends in the service present and past, I desperately want to hug you all right now! But I will suffice for the moment saying thank you for your service!

Baby it's cold outside!

Well it's cold, but not that cold.... there was a little snow this morning... and here was the view from my bedroom window...




and it looks like a bird was making it's way across the deck...a snowbird perhaps? :)


Just a dusting of snow on the car...



But within a couple hours it had melted off...

Which has me thinking... if it's gonna snow... give me enough snow to play in! So, since I was too busy to post these before, here are some of the January Snow Day pics I took at the park down the road...

Well first, the view from inside the car before I pulled out the scraper....



Now the park down the road.....








Yes, if its going to snow it should be enough to make things look like a winter wonderland and allow the construction of snow art... if not... it's just a wet sloshy mess that is annoying... that is all :)

Super Bowl Wrap Up

My past week has been spent on Superbowl coverage... or at least a lot of it... and this is the first break I am getting...

So, here's my recap.

First, props to Amelia for picking the winning team.. we did a prediction with seeds....







Yep, she chose the Giants seed, left the Pats behind.. she's 1 for 1!




Then I went to Foley's bar in Downtown NYC to watch. The bar was all Giants... they even pulled Sam Adams off the tap.. you know.. it's from Boston....



The crowd was fantastic. And this is where Mike and I started our bar rivalry. He was at a Patriots bar across town.

Here's the audio:





They were major fans and they were on their feet (and later on tables) as the final moments on the clock ticked down. Then we of course snapped a shot...



Tuesday it was off to the parade.... I don't have pics of Eli and the trophy coming by because I was on the air at the time... but here's what I do have. HOURS before the parade started... the crowds were already huge!


ticker tape was falling early and rolls of toilet paper as well as footballs and beach balls were bring thrown back and forth across the road...



I ended up taking up a post in the McDonalds at Broadway and Maiden. They had a great view


and they were a sponsor anyways, so it was a win win. It even ended up being more of a win win when there was no cell service and they let me use their cordless phone so I could do reports from the crowd just outside their door!

Here's one of my post parade reports





and a couple more reports on things I learned.... 1 on what not to wear..



and one on the bathroom situation



Enjoy!

Janet Evanovich Interview - One for the Money

Ok, so some days I really love my job! Well every day I love what I do, but some days I really really really love it. This was one of those days.

Today I had the pleasure of a 15 minute interview with one of my favorite authors, Janet Evonovich. She writes the Stephanie Plum Novels, and One For the Money just came out in the movie theaters.

I used small pieces of the interview for stories that ran on the air today, but figured I would share the rest with everyone.

Here's the audio (transcript is at the end of the post)

　



And here's the trailer for the movie that opened today -




and wanna go for 1/2 off... there's a Groupon if you get it in the next couple of hours!

Transcript of my interview with Janet Evanovich:

M.M. : When you saw the script, and now that you've seen the movie, how did they do in taking the book and putting it on the screen?

J.E. : Well I never saw the script. I really didn't have any part in the production of the movie. This was sold way back when my first book came out, 18 years ago. I kind of lost track of it. You know, once in a while I would get a phone call and they would say, you know we've attached a screenwriter. But nothing ever happened. So, I had become pretty casual about the whole production. When they finally really went into production my schedule was so congested that I just didn't have a whole lot of time to participate. So, I was surprised by the movie.

When they finished the movie they asked me to screen it and they brought it down here to Naples for me. I was really terrified, you know, because I didn't know what to expect. I was afraid it might not be fabulous and what would I say? But the movie is great. I love the movie. I think they did an amazing job of translating that first book. The first book is a little darker and has a little more grit to it then the rest of the series. After I did that first book I decided to homogenize the tone a little bit more and to make everything a little bit lighter.

So, this is very much an action adventure film. It has some sexy moments and it has some funny moments but by no means is it a chick flick. It really is a very good representation of the book.

Katherine Heigl is fabulous. She is absolutely Stephanie Plum. She had a voice coach so she got the jersey accent right. She had the dark, unruly, curly hair. And she is just so talented. She has such good comic timing. She's such a good physical actress. There's a scene where she just takes this guy down, she clotheslines him. Take him down to the ground and Custan. I loved it. I was so relieved when I saw the movie because, you know, I thought wow I think my fans are really going to like this

M.M. : How was it seeing, one of your babies on that screen? You've been writing these for years and to actually see how people are going to see it in that light?

J.E. : I went to the theater with the attitude of you have to keep an open mind. I tried to go into the theater as a fan and not as the author. I think anytime a book is translated into a movie you have to realize it's not going to be your perfect image. You've created these characters in your head and no one is ever going to totally replicate that. So, I tried to keep this in mind. I think that when you walk into that theater what you really hope for is a good movie experience. You hope that you enjoy it. You hope that it has some of the same elements of the product that you like, the book that you love, but you have to be a little open.

Now, having said that, they did a pretty darn good job with this movie. I couldn't have asked for a better Stephanie Plum. Joe Morelli who was the Trenton cop that she's tracking down, in my book he's this Italian guy. Of course they cast Jason O'Mara, this Irish guy. But after about 45 seconds, you really don't care. He is so much the role. He is just perfect as this cop. And I found that pretty much to be true, once the movie started I was just enjoying the movie. I was just loving being there. I was into the story. I was hooked into the characters.

I have this character grandma Mazer who I portray being kind of like a soup chicken, you know she's this little, skinny little old lady that gravity has not been kind to. For whatever reason they chose to cast Debbie Reynolds in this role. Debbie Reynolds is by no means a soup chicken. Debbie Reynolds is still a very pretty lady. And she gave her own interpretation of grandma Mazer and she was fabulous she was so funny, and I really appreciated her the second time I saw it. I screened the movie a couple weeks ago. And then, I was at the premiere this past week and I saw it a second time. I realized just how funny Debbie Reynolds was in this role and I thought to myself "Oh man, I wish I had made Grandma Mazer Debbie Reynolds. I like that character better than the one that I actually created."

M.M. : That's quite a compliment to the movie makers.

J.E. : Yeah, yeah, they worked very hard, I think, to keep the integrity of the book and the series. It really shows.

M.M. : This is a movie that anyone can go see but for folks in New Jersey that are going to recognize the locations, the accents, the hair, the stereotypes to go with New Jersey, how do you think they're going to feel going in? Is it even more personal?

J.E. : Yeah I think it is. You know, it wasn't filmed in Jersey. I'm not sure exactly why not. I suspect it was financial reasons which is usually why locations are chosen, talent pools, tax breaks, you know all that kind of stuff. It was filmed in Pittsburgh, which they tells me looks a lot like Jersey. The house where Stephanie lives really does resemble the burg. The kind of gritty part of town where some of it takes place, I call it Stark Street, they scouted a pretty good location. They actually made it a little grungier, I think, then I had in mind when I created the story. But, it's very effective. I think people in Jersey are going to love it. Anybody that can embrace Jersey shore has to have a decent imagination anyway, because that really is stereotype Jersey, and my book is not quite that far yet.

M.M. : So I have to ask this on the side. How loved are you by the Trenton cops for making them all sound hot and sexy?

J.E. : (laughs) I have a really good relationship with the Trenton police. I love those guys. They've been really helpful to me. I have a couple friends who will be friends for life. I have a very good relationship with them and they have a very hard job. I would not want to be a Trenton cop.

M.M. : So you're down in Florida now?

J.E. : Yes I'm down in Naples. We got tired of the cold and a bunch of years ago we bought a house down here. I had been living in New Hampshire which is a very beautiful but for a girl from Jersey, you know, not so much. After the first year of being granola woman I just, I needed a mall. I needed shoes. There was nothing to do it night. There was no shopping. I just missed my jersey fix. So I wasn't ready to go to Jersey. I think if I ever move back to Jersey I'd probably never get a book written because I'd always be at Macy's and that wouldn't work for me. But, we did get this house in Florida that was supposed to be a mud season house for a couple months and then we just fell in love with Naples. So we almost never go north anymore. We stay here full-time.

M.M. : You were my introduction to Jersey through the books. And then I got the job up here in New York and I'm living in Jersey and thought okay I have the basics.

J.E. : Yeah, right, I got it down. I was like that the first time I went to London on a book tour. I knew everything because I had been reading Regency romances.

M.M. : Nice! Was anything else you'd like to add about the movie?

J.E. : I don't think so. It's out now and we hope it's going to be a success because then they would make more. And I think that there are a lot of fun books out there that I would like to see translated into a movie. Especially, in book 2, Stephanie Plum kicks Joe Morelli out of the car naked. You know, he only has his gun. I would like to see that happen to Jason O'Mara, who by the way is even hotter in person than he is on screen. And he's a really nice guy. But, I could go there!

In this movie, one for the money, the one that's out now, Stephanie Heigl is naked. She gets chained to the shower curtain rod in the book and they did it in the movie. And Jason O'Mara, who plays Morelli, is going through her apartment and emptying out big jugs of cheese doodles and you know, so he tells me that that scene took all day to do. For whatever reason, he was like Darn it, I just couldn't get it right. It had to take all day.

Tanker Truck Fire in Elizabeth Nj

Today I was out covering the story of a car the crashed into a tanker truck in Elizabeth, NJ.

Once again I marvel at emergency workers and the hard jobs they do.

A car hit a gas tanker and they both went up in flames. Rescue workers had a hard battle with it from the beginning. This is a picture I got from Mario, who worked at the gas station across the street.


"About 8,000 gallons of gasoline involved in fire. Elizabeth police tried to make an initial rescue, but it was too hot and they were driven back." said Elizabeth Deputy Fire Chief Lathey Wirkus.

The driver of the car was killed in the crash. But getting the fire out was not their only problem. There was spilling fuel.

"Gasoline did get into some of the sewer systems," said Wirkus, "We've done monitoring of all the homes in the area to ensure explosion levels are not there. We continue to apply foam that keeps the vapors down.

There was a literal sea of that white foam that was floating down 1 & 9, but he said that was necessary to keep the fumes down and from being able to ignite. They spent much of the morning siphoning fuel from the wrecked tanker into a new vehicle and then clean the roadway.

siphoning the fuel


The sea of foam


a close up... looks like clouds doesn't


See how far the truck is from the traffic light behind it... it's a good distance...


but the heat was so intense it burned and melted the traffic light


A video of the foam operations by the tanker.



and a video about 1/4 mile down the road of foam blowing/floating by.