[Update] A walk in Venice Beach. More Mini Jakes to come! and Martha's Vineyard Part 2

Update: After what's been quite a while, it's great to have new pictures of Jake out and about. Jake and Reese were on Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice Beach on Sunday,walking back from Intelligentsia where they purchased Red Stuff. A worrying development is the new hat. Thanks IHJ! You can see many more there.



We have a shopping list for May 2010 - time to make room for a lot more than just lego ostriches and camels. McFarlane Toys have announced a new range of Prince of Persia toys that will include figures based on the 'exact likeness' of Jake Gyllenhaal. The 'toy line allows fans of all ages to bring home all the excitement and adventure of the live-action movie with a range of movie figures, battle horses, play sets, and even a collectible movie replica weapon all hitting retailers nationwide in conjunction with the movie’s release in May 2010.'


We will have fully articulated deluxe (6 inch) and standard (4 inch) action figures of Warrior Dastan and Desert Dastan. Then there's the elaborate battle horse set including a 4 inch articulated Dastan. Not forgetting the Alamut Gate play set with another Mini Jake who will have to dodge spear pits and other devious traps and contraptions. Finally, you can get an exact replica of the 10 inch Dagger of Time. No word yet on whether we can expect life-size and articulated replicas of Jake Gyllenhaal himself but it's a possibility - make some space, especially if you'll have more than one.

Martha's Vineyard Roadtrip Part 2

Jake once revealed that his favourite place on earth was Gay Head and its cliffs, on the end of Martha's Vineyard. I can now see why.




Back in Boston, having been driven off the island by tropical storm Danny, BBMISwear and I met up with a very special friend.



Includes pictures from IHJ, WDW and Ted and BBMISwear. I owe huge thanks to BBMISwear for providing me with very fun memories - they will be treasured!

Martha's Vineyard Part I - Chilmark, Jake Gyllenhaal, Us and the Prez

Tropical storms, tropical depressions, non-tropical storms, nor'easters, all conspired to deliver "rain all over the place", floods, 12 foot waves, "tropical storm energy", 18 foot waves onto Martha's Vineyard. Along with Barack Obama, BBMISwear and I took the only course of action open to us and fled to the mainland and a fish dinner at Legal Seafood. Despite having to leave the island 12 hours earlier than we wished, there's not an inch of road on MV that we didn't explore. This post is all about one area of the island that is especially close to Jake Gyllenhaal - Chilmark. We loved it so much, I bought the hat.


Chilmark is not your typical town - a store, a community centre with basketball, the Chilmark Tavern (and estate agent and police station combined) and that's about it. The Chilmark Store, right next to the Tavern, is well known to all Jake's fans, but what we didn't know was how good the pizza was, how relaxing it was rocking in the chairs, listening to the film producer next to us discuss how he was taking a movie in November to New Mexico.






The Chilmark Road Race, run just this month, has left its mark - literally. The startline was easy to spot due to a line across the road with START written on it. Call me Einstein.




The end, by the town hall, was also notable because it was right next to Chris Fisher's Beetlebung Farm. The sign in the background indicates where you can buy organic veg and flowers from the farm. And tomatoes (ask BBMISwear about that). A few metres to the left is the Chilmark Community Centre where Jake and Brad Silberling (of Moonlight Mile) have played hoops. I doubt they did as well as BBMISwear who got the ball in the net everytime, even though she didn't have a ball.



We've never felt alone on the island.


Time to take a breather...


Pics from IHJ and WDW.

One friend to another - Jake Gyllenhaal interviews Natalie Portman

One enigma questions another - Jake Gyllenhaal asks Natalie Portman the questions in September's issue of Interview and although it is Natalie's interview the questions are our first chance to 'listen' to Jake in quite some time. The extract can be found here with the full interview soon to be in the shops. Here are some very brief extracts.

'PORTMAN: Thank you for saying that, but I’m far from fearless. I’m afraid of everything. But maybe when you’re afraid of everything, it sort of seems like you’re scared of nothing. GYLLENHAAL: Well, there’s no courage without fear, so you must have great courage because you’re afraid of everything.'


'I went to the Smithsonian just the other week—probably around the same time as you were at the Laserium. I saw this show that Liam Neeson narrated about black holes. I think they had it at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City first, and now it’s at the Smithsonian. But it was also one of those things where you felt like you were being transported back to the ’70s. We watched it in this dome, so it kind of felt like a black hole. It would have been weird if we were having these parallel hallucinatory experiences at the same time.'

'PORTMAN: And so I’m an actor. GYLLENHAAL: There’s very good money in that—not a lot of skill required, but very good money. PORTMAN: [both laugh] I agree. Lucky. I mean, I can ride a bike, but I feel like most people can do that. GYLLENHAAL: You could be a bike messenger . . .'


'GYLLENHAAL: My favorite situation that I was ever in was when I was on a plane with a group of people and all of them took Ambien except for me, and two of them had adverse reactions. They were awake and aggressive . . . Apparently aggression is one of the side effects of Ambien. PORTMAN: And they were completely unaware, right—like they didn’t remember it after? GYLLENHAAL: No, I think they remember it. Everyone else was dead asleep, and these two people were like, bashing their heads against the side of the plane, trying to jump out. So I was like, If taking this pill means that there’s even a 30 percent chance of me getting aggressive like that, then I would just rather stay at peace. PORTMAN: You’re a very peaceful man, Jake.'

Thanks to FF for the heads up!

As for the Massachusetts road trip? It continues and, as a taster for the next post, here we set sail for Martha's Vineyard. More adventures in the next post!


Pictures from IHJ and WDW.

Moonlight Mile Road Trip part 2

Today, the WDW and BBMISwear Moonlight Mile Road Trip continued through Gloucester and Marblehead. with a little bit of Salem's Lot thrown in for good measure and lunch. I am delighted to announce that following yesterday's discovery of the Moonlight Mile post office, BBMISwear did indeed throw herself head first through the hatch. The post office mistress did the only thing she could have done in such a situation - stand well back and take pictures. We thank you, Deb! As recompense we did spend $2 on stamps...)




From Gloucester we took the scenic route to Marblehead (via other places which were in completely the wrong direction). Marblehead was the sight for Dustin's Real Estate office and for the diner across the street. We loved this town - it was quiet, with amazing architecture and with a very friendly bunch of locals. The Real Estate Office is now a toy shop but the girl behind the counter, despite being only 20, remembered the filming well and talked about seeing Dustin in the office. She also gave us the news that the floor we stood on was Brad Silberling's floor. Designed to last three days, it was still under our feet but was soon to be removed. In a WDW exclusive, BBMISwear's feet can be seen here expertly modelling Jake's Floor.







The post and the brick wall have all but been completely disguised by toys but they are still there.


After some long minutes of holding up traffic, we were able to take other pictures of places from the film. The girl in the toy shop remembered the benches that had been removed, the lamp posts that had gone, and helped us place Jake - and us - in the street.





Across the street from the office was the diner where the shooting had taken place. This diner is now a liquor store (their zinfandel is highly recommended and well tasted - let me just take a sip). We went in and the place looked like the interior actually had been used for some of the filming, which was a surprise to us. Yet again, the shop server was only too happy to take some pictures of us.






With the realisation that every town in Massachusetts has at least one Washington Street, we headed for the sea to watch Jake walk on water. These reconstructions placed us in great peril, at the mercy of a sheer two-foot drop.






And a witchy Salem interlude...



We have had the most marvellous reception from the people of the Moonlight Mile towns - as a result I expect rentings of the movie to soar in these towns! Thank you so much for your welcome.

Pictures from IHJ and WDW, with many thanks to the people of Gloucester and Marblehead (with no thanks to the people who design the signage).