That is what my mom said growing up.
Well. Not actually. But somebody's mom said it. Actually - my parents would usually yell at us before we got to the hurt. With three boys in the family - it is inevitable. So why use the "leave it beaver" pop psychology when you can get straight to the point?
But it seems like a plausible concept. Doesn't it?
A few people learned that hard lesson tonight.
I climbed up the basement stairs of Hari - a small "no sign" Japanese restaurant a couple of blocks from my hotel. The sake and plates of odd Japanese food that are served in working man's bars in Tokyo hit the spot.
It was also perfect because it is a Sunday night - and you have to know just where to go where you are heading out at 11:00 at night.
Ten minutes earlier, a couple of Japanese tourists sat next to me at the sake bar. They could barely contain their excitement. I kept my head down in my book. But finally, they had to blurt out to me, "They are making a movie out there!"
I looked up, trying to decide if I was going to be the nice American or the disinterested American. But since there were uncharacteristically Japanese by blurting something out - before they had lot of sake - I obliged and asked them what they saw.
"It is a race car movie," they said, pointing at their camera. Without me asking, they started to run through hundreds of captured images on their camera. I feigned interest. But I am sure there will be entire parties created over those pictures one day soon in some small prefixture in Japan.
My food was complete - and the clock nearing 1:30 am told me it was time to head back to the hotel.
As I climbed the stairs, the street looked oddly void of any activity. And I realized that down a half block, at Seventh Street, the real action was taking place. The movie.
I walked down the street, mostly because it was in the direction of my hotel. But when I came to Seventh - the main street that ends in lights in Time Square, I had to look at what was going on.
"Move to the side sir," a head phoned man in black screamed to me. It was odd to see this five lane one way street completely empty and silent.
And then suddenly, a loud bell rang, and the street suddenly sprang to life with taxis and cars. And just as sudden, five sports cars, their engines roaring and screaming, came barreling down the same street, weaving in and out of the cars.
I realized it was a shot for some Hollywood blockbuster movie.
The cars honked and weaved to one side. Engines roared. And they sped past where I was standing.
Suddenly, in the distance, you heard breaks screaming.
Wow. What a scene. So this is how they make those multimillion dollar shoots in Hollywood?
But just as soon as the breaks and horns stopped. And silence came from all around. Thing suddenly changed.
All of the walkie talkies and lapel microphones suddenly came alive. Most of the sound systems today are people with headphones. I looked at their faces - and by the instant changes on so many faces, you knew that something had gone wrong. Terribly wrong.
As pedistrians - we were not able to walk the side walk in the direction of the chase. But if we went "uptown" two blocks and the crossed the street, we could walk down the other side.
Curious to see what had happened, I followed the small middle of the night crowd.
That is when we started to hear the sirens.
It was like they were coming from every direction and every side street.
As neared the intersection of 49th and Seventh, it was clear that the movie race didn't go as they wanted.
One of the sports cars decided to leave he street - and make a path up the sidewalk. Eventually, it struck one of the corner light poles and veers into the corner food establishment - in this case - a Sbarro's.
Over the next thirty minutes, ambulances hauled away at least 4 people. The whisper among the microphone people is that one of the stuntmen had been hurt pretty badly.
I stood their silently watching the scene. I was less interested in seeing what had happened as much as watching all of the people.
Most were visitors to New York. As one New Yorker told me, in normal hours, they do everything they can to avoid Time Square. And so, at this time of night, it was younger tourists stumbling back to their hotels, stopping by for a bit of a gawk.
One guy tapped me on the shoulder.
“Did you see what happened,” he asked with big eyes.
“Not exactly.”
“And?” he nodded at me.
For a moment, the introverted part of me wanted to just walk away. But very much in the same way I am writing tonight, I recounted the story, filling in details either through actual observation, snippets of what I had heard or assumptions based upon car parts lying across the road.
The movies today hoping to make a $100m have big scenes. When you see those car chases, you never think about what it must take to make them happen. The amount of people. Or even the very idea that this production company rented two major downtown New York streets for filming. The amount of personnel hired, including off duty policemen were amazing.
Good for the economy.
But perhaps not good for a few stunt people tonight.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Author’s note: I seem to find myself in interesting places, eating interesting food, thinking interesting things. This is the first in at least 52 blog entries (a one year commitment) entitled, “Friday in the City.” As part of my new life style, I hope to find myself doing something interesting each Friday. And hopefully, when possible, not work. Most times, I will hope to be in San Francisco or San Jose, exploring a new neighborhood or restaurant. But if I am out of town – I will write something from the city where I am.
This weekend marks my one year anniversary of my “sabbatical” as I have been calling it. It was my goal to start writing my blog on this anniversary. And coincidently, I found myself in New York City this weekend.
I will write once each week. And sometimes maybe more.
And so – sometime on your weekend, when you have a moment, perhaps you might think to yourself, “I wondered what Rick did on Friday!”
Come to take a look: http://www.fridayinthecity.blogsot.com/
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