Drove up to New York last week for a round of meetings. Parked in Brooklyn, walked over to Hanco’s Vietnamese sandwiches my favorite lunch spot in the area and on my way out I ran into Paul Dano on the street totally randomly. He told me he spent 3 months this summer wrangling Oxen and then went to Europe to work on a Tom Cruise film. Had a couple beers with the filmmaker JT Petty at a bar called Washington Commons in Prospect Heights. We talked about making horror films and getting screwed over by distributors.  Met my dear friends Sol & Rebecca’s new baby Paloma. She’s a beauty. A gift to the world. Went to a premier screening of my friend Andrea Arnold’s new film Fish Tank at BAM Rose Cinemas. Andrea and I were in the Sundance Institute Screenwriter’s Lab together in January of 2005. We’ve stayed in touch. She showed me her short film Wasp back in 2005 and I was blown away. The film still stays burned into my memory to this day. Her new film Fish Tank carries on the tradition of Wasp somewhat. Though the lead is younger and more innocent. And there’s a hip hop subtext throughout which I found interesting. Michael Fassbender co-stars in Fish Tank and he flew out from London with Andrea to do the Q&A, which was a “rowdy” Q&A to say the least. Andrea knows what I’m talking about. After the screening I met up with some friends to watch the BSC championship game. The next morning I took the train to Union Square to see Lisa Muskat and then hopped over to say hello to Tom Fontana at his office on 13th street. I don’t think I’ve been in a more beautiful office in my life. “This is what the evils of television can buy you,” was what Tom told me the first time we met there. It’s a massive multi-floor office space converted from an old church. Tom’s office is at the end of a long hall. His desk is at least 20 feet wide and the ceiling reaches up to the sky. It’s quiet and serene in there. My meeting with Tom was productive yet brief and formal. Then I took the train down to Broadway & Franklin to say what up to Josh & Benny Safdie at their Red Bucket Films production office. Totally opposite vibe. No less than 8 dudes crammed into that space doing all kinds of cool and random art. There was an energy of pure positivity coming out of that place. Josh and Benny were preparing for the Sundance premier of their new flick Daddy Longlegs. I first met them in November in Stockholm at a dinner with Susan Sarandon. (that’s not a joke). At that time their movie was called Go Get Some Rosemary. We had instantly hit it off over a love for Mary Bronstein’s amazing film YEAST (which I discovered they both have a cameo in) and a mutual friendship with Andrew Bujalski. They broke me off with a screener of Daddy Longlegs and as soon as I got back to my friend Andy Ball’s apartment that night we watched it. It’s an incredible film and gives me hope that the young generation of filmmakers still give a shit about making art. It’s easily the best film I’ve seen in recent memory. And I highly recommend checking it out. Here’s a shot of the poster which Josh created himself.