Growing Up

As I grow up and experience new and exciting things, I feel as though my blog should follow suit.

Http://www.thecoolcommentator.blogspot.com has evolved over the last two years from a blog where I talked about nothing worth reading to being a source of cool and interesting content and a place where I shared a book I was writing.

I have had quite a summer and have BIG plans for the future and so I felt it was time for a little bit of a change. Here is Stage 1.0 of this change....

www.thecoolcommentator.com

Click on that link and you will be directed to the new and improved cool content side of this original blog. I'm using a different engine and over time the design and layout will continue to evolve into something quite different - possibly even a BRAND?! Wait and see.

I would love to keep in contact with bloggers on blogspot.com who have been such great contributors over the years so please swing by and click the RSS feed. I will be posting to this blog also, but it will mainly be about my life and will not be as often anymore.

You can stick with me over on Twitter as well through this link:
@tommyjames

The new site is the start of a new chapter in my life, and this blog will continue to document this in small slabs. No one knows where my life is going to take me over the next two months, even me, so stick with it and enjoy watching this madness that is me and The Cool Commentator evolve!

This is not a goodbye...but a hello to new and exciting things!

Peace x

P.S. Yes that is my name there in the twitter link...or is it?! Is it really though?! Maybe you will never know for sure...

Will this dream end?

No post for a while - I just have not had time. A LOT has happened in the last couple of weeks, and A LOT has changed! More than I could imagine would change in such a short period of time. This time in two weeks I will be sat on a plane flying back to England.

I don't have time on my side tonight but let me just fill you in on some details:

• I have met some celebs these past few weeks - The Mighty Boosh to name but a few.
  
• I have met more and more wonderful people - industry types who I hope will become good friends in the future!
• I have seen/heard/smelled/tasted some amazing things.
• I have finally gone to a Broadway show.
• I finally met a girl from the UK that I have been needing and wanting to meet properly for a LONG TIME! Another friend I hope to keep for life.
• I have been working hard at Cunning and looking to the future
• I have made some business cards
• I have tried Sushi. It tasted like raw fish.
• I may have some BIG news to report later this coming week.
• New York might not need to miss me for too long.

That is just a snippet of all that has been going on. This place keeps throwing new twists and turns into my life. I don't want to live without it = maybe I won't have to for long?!

Here are some links for now...

http://www.thecoolcommentator.tumblr.com
This is my newest blog - it's where I'm now posting all the interesting content I find on the web! Check it out!!!

http://www.floydhayes.com
This is my creative director at Cunning. That is his blog. Check it out = he has a genius mind and it a grand fella to boot!

I will be posting again soon, hopefully with some good news!

Cunning Test Post

Cunning Test Post

A Saturday Night In In The City

Well, the last couple of days have been quite interesting to say the least. 

Wednesday night found me acting like a teenager again on Facebook talking to TA and listening to more of the playlist she sent me. We get on famously in cyber land and I was certain that the following night at The Anchor would prove that we get on well in reality too. I almost fell asleep at my desk whilst listening to one of her favourite songs waiting for her to come back from getting into her PJs. How I miss the days of late night MSN chats.

Thursday was such a fricking great day. The first good part of it was the lack of a hangover! During my runs of going out I forget how glorious it is to wander to work feeling fresh and ready for the day ahead. I was excited today as I knew I was making a trip up to Rockerfeller Center to spy on the Sci Fi Channel (now SyFy) event happening up there. The office was quiet, with half the team in Phili for the Piticure so we chilled and did some work. Myself, fellow intern IH and new boy on the block PP had a good creative meeting and went over a pitch and started to get our heads around a new brief that has come in.

Soon it was time for me to trek uptown to the Rockerfeller Center. I ended up going on my own as the others were busy but this was actually a good thing. I got the E train up to 53rd and 5th and gulped as I remembered I had to navigate a HUGE London Underground style escalator to reach the surface. Let me tell you now that I have a fear of heights and of moving stairs so escalators, the big ones, really freak me out! I gripped onto the railing with both hands and leant in a wierd position trying to compose myself all the way up. I made it, but I decided I would walk over to 34th to get the E train back to the office and take in Bryant Park on my way. I walked down to Rockerfeller Center and had a look around the event, it was pretty boring really. I won't go into details as the rest of my day was far more interesting.

So I was walking by Bryant Park snapping my favourite building in the city, The Bank Of America Tower, when I heard a lot of banging and cheering. I wandered into the park and found myself stood behind a large stage where STOMP were playing. I soon clocked the crowd of around 4000 people watching as well. It turned out I had stumbled across Broadway In The Park. Score. I watched the rest of STOMP and some of Avenue Q before deciding it was probably time to get back to the office. What an adventure so far.

When I left the office to head uptown there had been a whole array of lorries along Greene Street right outside our front door so I was pretty sure something was getting filmed around there and wanted to get back and see what was going on. I wasn't dissapointed. When I returned there were crowds of people on the corner of Greene and Prince so I rushed over to check it out. I was peering through the window of a perfume store trying to work out who/what was being filmed and quickly realised I was staring Blake Lively in the eye. Thats right, I got eye contact with a TV star. They were filming Gossip Girl. Blake and Leighton Meester could been seen walking up and down Prince practicing a scene. I joined the hoardes of teenage girls getting snap happy and played paparazzi. When I left the office I decided to take Wooster instead of going straight down Spring and found myself stood in the background of another Gossip Girl shoot. This time it was Leighton and Ed Westwick. I was ordered to cross the road so I stayed and took some more photos. What a celeb packed day I was having!

The night rolled on and I soon found myself taking advantage of the $20 open bar at The Anchor. By 9pm we were all happily drunk and the place began to fill up. TA arrived with her sister and a friend and we immediately hit it off as I knew we would. By this point we had a free bottle of Grey Goose at our table so I quickly got the three girls nicely drunk for free and we all partied until they left. As far as my hazy memory can recall we held hands for much of the evening and had a couple of kisses. She really is a great girl, and a breath of fresh air.

So Friday was a hard day, I woke up late and rushed into work to find everyone else hungover too! I struggled through the morning and soon found myself heading out with the creatives to check out a car my creative director might be buying. Walking back to the office I spotted a tshirt on a street stall that read I HATE MAYO! Now, TA and I share a love of ketchup and have had some good convos about this, and I discovered that she hates Mayo. This t shirt was too good to be true and I had to buy it for her, even though I had only known her a week. As I was paying the drugged up stall lady I noticed another t shirt which ready I LOVE KETCHUP! Once again I had to impulse buy. Is it cute or disturbing to buy a girl you barely know two random t shirts?! TA seemed to think it was cute! Phew! I get to give them to her tomorrow (Sunday) on our date.

Friday night started late, we went to Joshua Tree and ended up at Phebes. It was not very eventful. 

It has just turned Sunday morning now. I have stayed in my room all day today feeling hungover and bunged up with a cold. Tomorrow I'm taking TA to Central Park Zoo, or to a movie and for food if the weather is bad! It is actually the first real date I think I have ever been on, and I'm a little bit nervous if I'm honest. But I'm sure it will be fine as I won't be hungover and I know we have so much to talk about! And she will be reveling from the excitement of her two new t shirts. I will tell you about the date tomorrow once it has happened.

TA and I have been texting and talking non stop all week and last night we had a little bit of a heart to heart. She likes me, I like her and we both think each other is a breath of fresh air and something a bit special. I could be wrong here but I see things maybe blooming with this girl. I wonder if I will be right about this one?!

A Summary Of An Eventful Week And A Bit Continued...

So the 4th July had arrived. I had been in the states, Florida to be exact, a couple years ago for 4th July but it was nothing compared to the 4th in New York.

So the day got off to a bad start - I was hungover and unwell. I finally got out of the room around 3pm and went up and met up with K and G and their french friend EL. We wandered up to Columbus Circle and made our way into central park. Here we came across all manner of madness, most notably a crazy cool skating ring with a DJ and some totally insane characters and people just dancing around. We perched on a hill and settled down for a while. It was nice and chilled and gave me a chance to get to know K and G better. We walked further into the park and got to the lake and watched people in boats which was pretty funny! We then went back to the Hotel where I met H's sister JE properly, I had met her earlier but was too ill to talk to her properly. They were pregaming but I was off the drink for now. We made out way over to the fireworks display on the Hudson. We sat down on 29th and 12th and waited almost 2 hours for the show to start - it did at 9.20 and was truely awesome! After they were finished we headed back to the hotel and had some drinks before heading out and having a quick drink in Van Diemens and then went to Joshua Tree where we all got drunk and danced the night away to 80s classics! It was a lot of fun but quite uneventful really!

Sunday saw another hang over and another trip up to Central Park where we watched a bunch of cool street performers and wandered around! We made out way out into the Upper East Side and hunted for food before coming back to 34th and 8th and ate at Jimmys BBQ and had a laugh! Garrett was being pretty damn funny but we are all tired. We headed back to the hotel and just chilled out for the rest of the night. I watched a film called Seven Pounds (Will Smith) and thought it was very profound and a bit touching. I then had a shit nights sleep due to roadworks going on outside.

On Monday I worked. I then went and did laundry with B. This turned out to be more eventful than I was expecting as I walked right past a drumming idol of mine - Abe Laboriel Jr - who plays for Paul McCartney amongst others. I was too star stuck to talk to him, and he had headphones in so I did not want to disturb him. I wish I had now. Later I went to see the Carolina girls who are completely nuts, but quite funny when they want to be too! The night came to a close with a mammoth conversation with TA over facebook late into the night exchanging playlists and talking about all kinda of things. I felt 16 all over again but it was great.

Tuesday involved more work and then a kareoke comp at Van Diemens. The Carolina girls were shockingly hammered wayyy to early on, including Miss Texas. I had fun singing all kinds of songs all night including Wonder Wall, Don't Stop Believing, You're The One That I Want, Proclaimers, The Darkness and some others! Myself and U met two girls from Pennsylvania who came in to join the fun, they were a great laugh and I got their numbers down. Doubt we will ever see them again though!

So here we are on Wednesday evening. I had a bad hangover today once again, but had a good two hour creative meeting and helped set up the new Cunning Tumblr page for internal creative content we want to share with the rest of the team. I was also told that a BIG client I did some idea work for in my first couple of weeks REALLY LOVE one of MY ideas and are thinking about going forward with it in Dubai! Woo!!

Big night at The Anchor tomorrow, seeing TA again...I wonder what I will be writing about this time on Friday! Stay well!