Tiny Coffee Shops; Long Days in Class; and Conan, Avatar & Miramax in the News......

Sunday was a heat wave!  Well, comparing to the “feels like” near-zero temperatures of the preceding days, Sunday was darn near balmy.  And it was a good thing, since I was venturing out of the warm comfort of regulated central air to interview Nadia Dajani.

I will say here that I am a creature of habit.  For example, if I order in, it’s always from the same Chinese restaurant and it’s always steamed chicken with broccoli, black bean sauce on the side and brown rice.  (And they know it too – it’s practically at my door before I complete my phone order).

I have my places in the city I like to go, and I rarely try a new meet-up spot, especially if the person I am meeting up with is not someone I know very well:  There are always hits and misses from bars to restaurants to coffee shops.  So, when Ms. Dajani suggested that I pick out a place in the West Village for our Sunday interview, I panicked – I don’t have a “usual spot” in the West Village.

So I literally Googled “coffee shops in the West Village,” and the often-trusty New York Magazine was the first to pop up with their “Guide to West Village Coffee Shops.”  Perfect.  I settled on the first option, Mojo, thanks to several user reviews that commented on the relative ease of finding a place to sit, and it’s easy-going atmosphere.

When I walked in at 1:15pm on Sunday afternoon (hoping I’d found the right place since the only visible sign over the door said, simply, “coffee,” with no mention of Mojo from what I could tell), I did in fact see a few available seats, but the place was so small, it was impossible to imagine conducting an interview with the neighboring patron nearly sitting on our laps.

Fortunately, a very kind customer offered his relatively spacious choice window-flanked corner table in exchange for my itty two-top (Thank you again kind sir!).  Shortly after the swap, Ms. Dajani arrived, and the interview was under way (she was just lovely and has a great story which will be posted in the coming days, so check back!)

Monday and Tuesday were filled mostly with classes, however I did receive word back from actor Frank Whaley that he is happy to chat with me and found a few moments for additional phone calls – so I’m certainly encouraged with this feeling of momentum!

And now for some News Nuggets from the past few days:

• Chairman and CEO of News Corp. (and parent of Fox) Rupert Murdoch responded to questions regarding whether or not Fox will move into negotiations to bring Conan O’Brien to the network during their Tuesday earnings call.  According to Murdoch there have been “conversations” but no real negotiations.  He added that Fox affiliate stations currently run profitable syndicated programming from 11:00-11:30, but “If the program people can show us that we could do it and be fairly confident about making a profit, we’d do it in a flash.”

• Murdoch also commented on the possibility of an Avatar sequel…but although he confirmed that both sides are interested in moving forward with the idea, Murdoch said (and I love this), “Being Jim Cameron I wouldn’t hold your breath for an early one.”

• Now that Miramax is up for grabs, it looks like the Weinstein brothers might seek to reclaim the indie studio that bears the combined names of their beloved parents (and holds the library to their stock of films made at what was unarguably the height of independent filmmaking…and of their careers to date).  The Wrap’s Sharon Waxman reported that two hedge funds approached the brothers about a team effort to buy back the studio, which the Weinsteins’ sold to Disney in 1993.  Read more about it HERE.