So, here I am in Geneva. Now, I have traveled a bit, for work and otherwise. Admittedly, this has mostly been in the U.S. So a certain cultural misunderstanding of one’s environs is to be expected. You usually expect:

1.)        Wireless Internet in the rooms

2.)        A Gym

3.)        a coffee maker

4.)        An alarm clock

These are simple necessaties in the States. So, when I got none of these in Geneva, it was a quick slap to the forehead and improvisation that saved the day.

What my room DID come with was a kitchen, with some utensils. Still, the prospect of making one of my world-renowned cup’o’joe’s was slightly outside of the abilities that the tools presented me with. That, and the corner store didn’t have any filters.

So. How to Make Tea.

STEP ONE:

Fill a pot (or other appropriate culinary receptacle) with water. Preferably hot, to sepped up the boiling process.

 

STEP TWO:

 Place pot on burner, set to high.

 

STEP THREE:

Gaze at passer-by’s, wondering about intimate details and events in their lives, and if you could ever be friends.

 

STEP FOUR:

Pick a tea suitable to your tastes. Earl Grey is a personal favorite of mine. Since the corner store didn’t have it, I settled for his wife.

 

STEP FIVE:

Take water off heat, and submerge tea bag in pot.

Cover and wait.

 

STEP SIX

Eat a banana (optional).

 

STEP SEVEN:

Remove Tea Bag, discard.

STEP EIGHT:

Pour tea into cup. Add milk or sugar, to your preference.

 STEP NINE:

Pour over the first draft of your feature script, and come to the horrible realization of how much more work you have yet to do.

 (Optional)

If, for nothing else, the sheer beauty of it. It was a bright, beautiful Sunday morning, and I felt the need to take a look at this place. I started with the Lake.

  

Crowded with boats and skiers, fishermen and sun-bathers, Lake Genevé is the center around which a lot of the social life in Geneva happens.

 

Despite it’s urban development, you find yourself seeing things that you either miss, or just plain aren’t around in American cities. I saw a woman go swimming with her dog…

 …Water that I could actually see through…

 

 …And a woman teaching a child how to walk…

 

 

All in all, a wonderful day, traveling around. While at night, the place is just as bright as anything I’ve seen in New York.

 

…on the other hand, there were a few things I couldn’t quite grasp.

 

 And, seemingly, Daniel Radcliffe’s contribution to classical sculpture…

 

Despite the quirky sculptures (which are probably more an understatement of my ignorant American sensibilities), Geneva’s a lovely place. But tomorrow, back to work. I’ll be posting a few stills from the set, and on Wednesday: “How To Make Tea Without A Kettle Or Any Idea What You’re Doing”. And on that note, my new favorite beer…

 

Feldschlösschen. You mis-said it right…

As many of you know, I am currently doing sound/camera assist on a documentary concerning the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, entitled Particle Fever. I landed on the ground here at Geneva two days ago. The flight was a tad… rough. We spent two hours on the tarmac, first waiting on the queue for other planes that had been mysteriously diverted from a closing terminal. Then, a valve of some sort blew on our plane. Great start.

I was traveling with the DP, Wolfgang Held. He’s a great guy, and if you’ve checked out the indie circuit-breaker Teeth, then you’ve seen his work.

We touched down at 9:15 am Thursday morning, to meet our Swiss Production Manager Martin de Buck, and our gaffer, Joachim Chardonnens. Both great guys, they helped us pick up our gear, and get it through the rather daunting prospect of customs.

Neither Wolf nor I had any real sleep on the plane, and personally speaking, I was really looking forward to my first jet-lagged nap at the hotel. However, Martin brought up the idea that director Mark Levinson and producer David Kaplan were already at CERN, and that we should meet up with them for lunch, and maybe a little location scout. Off to CERN we went.

CERN itself is a huge collective. There’s no real “walking around”, because the property of it, as well as its flagship project the Large Hadron Collider (LHI), spans the borders of Switzerland and into France. To be frank, it’s amazing. We did a location scout of the warehouse where we’ll be doing interviews on Monday and Tuesday, and off to sleep I went.

Geneva itself is a mystery. For one, Switzerland’s currency is not the Euro, but rather the Swiss Franc. I took out two hundred from an ATM, and it turns out to be only one hundred and eighty eight. The prospect that there’s a nation with running water out there that favors the American Dollar was incredible. Then, of course, we went to dinner around eight. A little Indian place about two blocks from the hotel, and I’m paying thirty-five dollars for a cereal bowl of Lamb Madras with rice. Lesson one.

Yesterday, we went to the heights of Mont Blanc, which is about twenty minutes inside the border of France from Switzerland. Now, people make it a recreation to walk to the summit, and make a day of it. Maybe I’m just out of shape (and a smoker), but the idea of that seems frankly insane. We took a trolley up, and by the first summit, you could feel the effects of the pressure and oxygen deficiency. By the second summit (which was hands-down the most amazing (and frightening) trolley ride of my life), smoking a cigarette produced a slight dizziness, and an even slighter nausea.

While rolling sound at the summit, I did notice that we were getting frequent interference from the wireless microphones. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time to switch the frequencies, as there were three talent, one of whom had to be back down the mountain in under an hour. So, boom mic it was, which was a tad daunting in and of itself. If I lost my grip, a $1500 microphone would have plummeted to its rocky death about a mile down. Great…

But, other than that, the day was great. Martin was spinning last night at about three am, coming on right after Mixmaster Mike (Beastie Boys, you know it). I didn’t have the chance to go, but I’m looking forward to hearing about it from him later today.

We have a day off now, but I’m going to be doing some exploring of Geneva, and see if I can get a better perspective of this crazy town. More later…

 

DP Wolfgang Held

 

Mark Levinson discussing the schedule with Wolfgang.

Location scout with Mark, Wolfgang, and Joachim.

 

Mont Blanc, from the first ascension.

 

Hikers coming upon the second summit. These people are dangerously insane…

 

I am not sure what this mountain’s name is, but it certainly gives credibility to the phrase “Hostile Environment”…

“Well I don’t know nothin’ about nothin’, Mr. Frodo, sir… but that there mountain is the last place I want to go”