At least a few people seemed interested in the scenery from my PR photos. That was all in New Jersey. NJ gets a reputation for being ugly/smelly. Certainly wasn't the case where I lived. I was surrounded by a beautiful forest on a mountain that overlooked NYC. I loved the woods. The scenery was actually pretty fantastic for Power Rangers, too.
I filmed all sorts of things in those woods from middle school through college. There was also a quarry I was obsessed with in the middle of my neighborhood, which sadly they've since developed.
I drew where I'd ride my bike in orange. Riding through the woods was always so much fun. How safe was it...? Well, thankfully no perverts ever grabbed me! There was some shady activity in those woods, for sure. I have a handful of stories. I won't tell the worst one. The second worst was senior year of college. My thesis was having some trouble and I wasn't sleeping well. One night when I never went to bed, I decided to go watch/film the sunrise. There was a great viewing spot in the woods for that. I was in the car and I saw a man walk out of the trees. I thought I was alone, no other cars there and it was 5am. He started walking towards me and he didn't look friendly, to say the least. I decided I was going to leave. Immediately. I put the car in reverse, and he started running! I drove forward and now he was almost on top of me, and he chased me. He was able to keep up with the speed of the car for a bit, and just before he'd given up he spit on the back of the car. Yeah, he was totally going to steal the car but I thankfully saw him in time and got away. Carjacking was an issue in that area and it happened to us a bunch of times. And I have stories about several of those times....
But, things like that aside... really beautiful area. I think they've made it a lot safer since I lived there. There are new parks, parking lots, buildings...
I also have a Chris Rock story, since that's been all over the news lately...
When I was at MTV, they were filming a Blair Witch parody for the VMAs with Chris Rock, Method Man, and Janeane Garofalo. The location they had fell through for some reason and the shoot had to be that weekend. They were freakin' out a little b/c they didn't have a forest. I said I had a great location if New Jersey was an option, and that is where they ended up filming. Across from my house in NJ. So, that is the story of how Bruno saved the 1999 Video Music Award promos, and thus, the world. :)