for your VINformation

This morning, for shits and giggles, I typed "5 Takes: Latin America into iTunes – I mean how cool would it be to have a TV show I did on iTunes? – and there it was!

I can’t link to it, but if you have iTunes you can search for 5 Takes Latin America and buy episodes for $1.99 or the whole series for $12.99!

So, if you haven’t seen the show, here’s your chance!

If you just want to buy one or two eps, I would recommend, Buenos Aries or Costa Rica, both are pretty "Vinnie-heavy" – my favorite place to visit was Easter Island, but most folks who’ve seen the show don’t think the Chile ep. is the best representation of the series.

Today, in the new Walgreens at 1 Times Square – where the ball drops on New Year’s Eve on the site of the long gone Warner Bros. Studio Store and across the street of its first East Coast store in 1927 in the Paramount Theater building – I was recognized.

I was looking for nuts – more on that later – when someone tapped my shoulder. It was a cute dark haired girl, Hispanic.

“Excuse me?” She meekly asked.

“I don’t work here…” I said smiling, I’m such a dick.

“I know, were you on a TV show? Are you Vinnie from New York?”

“Yes, 5 Takes, that’s was me!”

Hearing that, her eyes got so big and her smiled brightened the whole first level of Walgreens.

“I’m from Brazil. I can’t believe I’m meeting Vinnie from New York in New York. I love you and your show. We watch it over and over again. Did you like Rio? Can I take your picture?”

“Of course you can. I loved Brazil. I can’t wait to get back down to South America, I had such a great time.”

A camera is passed off, a picture is taken and checked and kiss on the cheek is bestowed.

“Thank you, I can’t believe I’m meeting you. This is so cool.”

I couldn’t agree more.

I am so excited.

On Friday night, after only making $32.00 at work, I was walking home, dejected and worrying about money when I learned, the bodega – small grocery store/deli – one block away from my apartment which used to be run by two scary lesbians had be taken over and revamped by some guys from Colombia, South America.

After noticing the lights on – which is odd because when it was run by the "sisters" it closed at 3:30 in the afternoon making it useless to me – so I ventured in to check it out.

The first thing that hit me was the smell.

It was a good smell, a familiar smell.

Turning my head towards the source, I saw, in a heated glass chamber, the fried goodness I grown to love on my trip through Latin America, empanadas.*

Beef empanadas.

Chicken empanadas.

Yum.

At only a dollar , I tried one of each.

Yum!

The proprietors don’t speak very much English, which allows me to try out my limited Spanish each time I partake in the golden crispness of the tasty treat. Which has been almost everyday since…

I love empanadas.

*In Spain, Portugal, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Philippines, an empanada  is essentially a stuffed pastry. The name comes from the Spanish verb empanar, meaning to wrap or coat in bread. Usually the empanada is made by folding a thin circular-shaped dough patty over the stuffing, creating its typical semicircular shape.

Finally, I found the time to upload all the pictures I took in Latin America.

There were over two thousand, I had a lot of weeding and editing to do!

You can click on the picture below to be taken to It’s Vinnie From New York…

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me, it’s been almost five months since I returned from my trip of a lifetime but I still like talking about. I figure I can dine-out on this experience for at least six months; after that, it’ll just be sad.

Vinnie in Bogota, Colombia

I’m at the EPA yesterday and got recognized from 5Takes.

It was cool.

Of course, I was running the EPA, so it was also quite humbling…

Well, better late than never.

Like Evita herself,  the portrait was missing for what seemed like months, actually, it was months. I had left it in the hands of our Argentine tour guide with 100 pesos. I told him there was no need to send it fast and expensive, after all I wouldn’t be home for almost another two months, it not like I needed it.

There must’ve been a slight miscommunication ’cause from looking at the post mark it wasn’t sent until July 27 – two weeks after I got home. In that case, it actually arrived quite quickly – it was sitting at the post office since August 2, so all my fretting was for naught.

Also in the box, I sent home a half dozen of these great travel packets – for lack of a better description -  of dulce de leche. What’s dulce de leche, you ask, just the best spread known to man. I completely forgot about those, what a treat to find them in the box.

I was afraid that one of my most treasured memories of my adventure was lost forever, I’ve really very glad to have her safe at home in  New Jersey, where she belongs.

Don’t cry for me Argentina, don’t cry for me.

Tags: Evita, Ava Perone, 5 Takes, 5Takes, Argentina, vinnie costa

One of my extremely talented friends, Designer, Cully Long, made this for me and presented it at our weekly card game – it’s not anything cool like poker, we play a really geeky Upper Deck trading card role playing game with comic book characters both Marvel and DC, Vs.

Anyway…

He hands me this bag and says, "So, apparently it’s very hard to find, but I was able to get it on eBay…"

I almost cried when I saw it. An action figure of me.

It comes with all kinds of cameras, a Moai  and even the so-right. He’s wearing the NYC tee-shirt that I sorta wore out in Latin America but will continue to wear – in fact, I’m wearing it right now. The back and sides of the box have all sorts of great info and pictures.

Best of the all is the "clip and play Evita Perone" portrait – which for the record never made it to America – at least it’s on the box, so it’s kinda here, I may actually clip and play, of course, that would mean taking it out of the package and it won’t be mint anymore…NEVER. I need to keep the resale value up, it IS a one-of-kind after all, maybe a rabid fan or two would love to get their greasy little hands on this mini-Vinnie.

It has quickly become one of my most prized possessions.

My Last 5 Takes Latin America is up over on the YouTube. It’s of the kick-ass crew that I got to work with for eight weeks.

Go take a look.

After the slide shows, I figured I’d upload all the pictures to my Kodak Gallery.

Enjoy!

Argentina

The Amazon

Rio de Janeiro

Chile

Easter Island

Peru

Colombia

Costa Rica

Mexico

Over the course of the season, they shot and put together some really great web promos – I think some of them, Colombia and Costa Rica in particular should’ve been used as TV promos, they were that good.

I was able to snag them for myself – well, with the exception of the Amazon Promo, somehow that one never made it into my Mac – and turn them into a nice just under three minute highlight reel.

I kept the order of the season intact, except I flip-floped Costa Rica and Cancun since I felt Costa Rica was a better natural ending of the whole piece, on me, of course.

With iMovie, I’m able to edit just about anything. UND I’m getting pretty good at it, if I don’t say so myself.

I’m going to be puting together a new full acting reel, the one I had professionally made cost almost $350.00, money well spent in the year 2000 when I had it made, but now, I just saved myself $350.00 by knowing how to do it myself.

I’ve been working on the reel and I gotta tell you, I was ripped off all those years ago. The one I’m making now is so much better…

PS, Does anyone know who to upload DVDs to a Mac?

Colombia is up over on the YouTube.

In fact so is Costa Rica and Cancun.

And with that, it’s done.

I’m going to make a few more, different themes; the crew, travel days, two or three more I think.

I did take over 2000 pictures.

Peru – tainted by illness – number five in a series of eight slide shows chronicling my eight week adventure of a lifetime – is up over at the YouTube.

I’m having so much fun putting these together. It keeps me from the real world for a few hours a day.

Enjoy!

The Rapa Nui Slide Show is up over on the YouTube.

What an amazing experience I had, on what should’ve been, one of the new Seven Wonders of the World.

The hawk in the picture followed us around the island all day, our unofficial guide, it think he even made it into the show.

The Rio Slide Show is up over on the YouTube.

Rio was where I visited the first of three new Wonders of the World.

Christ the Redeemer was awe-inspiring.

And of course, Rio was where I got to pretend I was Batman and go hang gliding – I can’t recommend it enough, when in Rio use Super-Fly.

The Amazon slide show is up on the YouTube.

It took a little bit of tweakin’ but I think I got this all figured out.

Mac makes it really easy.