Jeremy Berger's Blog

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”

It’s hard not to love this place…

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…

Name: Martin de Buck

Occupation: Being a Rock Star.

Seriously, Martin and Joachim have busted ass every day so far, and showing no signs of letting up.

Now that I have appeased the Gods of production with the customary Rite of Introduction, let me show off a few of the people we have been talking to.

Name: Sotiris Vlachos

Quote: “I became a scuba instructor because I was tired of the blank stares people would give me when I told them I was a nuclear physicist.”

Name: Martin Aleska

Quote: “The amount of data that will have to be recorded is equivalent to every person in the world talking on the phone at once. Times ten.”

Name: Albert de Roeck

Claim to Fame: If a life devoted to science isn’t enough for you savages, how about this: He was the advisor to the production team of Danny Boyle’s Sunshine. 

(P.S. Beautiful movie, if you haven’t seen it)

(P.P.S. … you savages)

Which finally leads us to this. I know that all of you have been missing me dreadfully, and have been contemplating suicide as a result thereof. To stay off your imminent self-executions, here’s a pic of me.

Satisfied? I’m the sour-looking guy in the corner, swearing at various noise-makers and instruction-ignorers throughout the warehouse.

Tomorrow: Making Tea in Geneva.

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)

Some More of Our Favorite People

Name: Beate Heinemann

Beate elected to give us a physicist joke. Here goes.

“An Astronomer, a Physicist, and a Mathematician are on a train across Ireland. In a green pasture, they see a black-and-white cow. The Astronomer turns to his friends, and says…

‘Ireland has black and white cows!’

The Physicist turns to the Astronomer and replies…

‘We don’t know that. What we do know, is that there is a black and white cow in Ireland’

The Mathematician turns to the Physicist, and retorts…

‘We don’t even know that. All we know is that in Ireland, there is one cow, who is black and white on one side.’”

 …I didn’t get it either.

 Name: David Francis

Reputation: The Coolest Frickin’ Guy You’ve Ever Met

Quote: “What would I ask the Big Man? What was before the Big Bang?” 

Name: Tim Christiansen

Title: Rock God of Particle Physics

Quote: “Why did I get into physics? The girls, of course (laughs)… not a lot of people get that.”

And, finally…

 Name: Monica Dunford

Favorite Books: Crime and Punishment, The Blind Assassin… you know, feel-good stuff.

Quote: “The cultural difference between the Japanese and America is not nearly as great as the difference between experimental and theoretical physics.”

Ahh, Ms. Dunford. The hell we would end up putting you through…

…But more on that later.

I’d write more, but I have equipment to pack and batteries to replace, a mind to rest and a beer to drink. Tomorrow, THE BEAM…

Love, kisses, and Muons…

-J