Is Stephen supposed to hit every single state in his documentary or will he just do some areas or regions rather than every state - New England, deep south, midwest, etc? No offense, but what can you say about North Dakota that can't be said about South Dakota? Or Kansas - Nebraska? Alabama - Mississippi?

Yes, he's visiting every single state. That's the entire premise of the project. His plan is to experience the culture and not just the "here is the capitol of North Carolina, look at the trees!!", so he'll be hitting places a little more off the beaten path or the well known cities that still don't really get a lot of travel diary attention. And I have no idea what he might or might not say about any of those other states, but he spent a couple of days in Alabama and apparently had a blast, so he's finding things to occupy his time and film without too much trouble. Honestly, I'd think there would be plenty to say about each state. Simply because a place is in the same region or states border one another doesn't mean they don't have their own history. Savannah is very different from Macon which is wildly different from Atlanta. Alabama is vastly different from Georgia. Florida and Louisiana are unlike any other states in the South. I don't think he'll have a hard time uncovering interesting things to show and interesting places to visit.

I maintain that there is a second person, just off screen who is taking his passport out of his pocket. Just sayin'... ETA: I find myself in the unusual position of chiming in after amysusanne on the same subject with virtually the same answer. I don't know who I am anymore. There are drugs that can't help that.

I'm kinda hoping that when Stephen hits Ohio he goes to Wapakoneta. Simply to hear him say Wapakoneta a lot. And compose an ode to moon rocks. I will be interested to see what he comes up with, because while I can think of lots of interesting local festivals, history, and minority communities, I have hard time imagining anyone finding the day-to-day world of small-town Ohio I grew up in interesting :)

And how come no one wants to talk about how illogical it is that a man would be inside the terminal--an LA terminal at that--with an umbrella fully opened? Huh? Can we dissect that for a moment? I'll call Earl Warren. I can't tell if this was a brilliant typo or not. We'll go with whichever makes me look better. Back to Stephen: I'm actually pretty excited about this documentary just because I think an outsider with a wholly different perspective about the states can really come away with material that isn't the same old/same old when it comes to travel pieces, as it is. And I do love that he's hitting everywhere. I'm really anxious to hear his thoughts about the midwest because as far as I know, he's never been there before. I'm keen to see what he picks up on and finds worth mentioning. I'm really excited about it, too. I'm looking forward to his take on things that just seem completely normal to me as far as the Southern Culture goes. He went to the Auburn/Alabama game. Those sorts of southern football/university grudge matches are baffling to people who have lived with it since birth. I'd love to know what his thoughts were on it. So much of the little things we think are the norm look weird to other Americans, so seeing what someone from England thinks of them will be fun. I will be interested to see what he comes up with, because while I can think of lots of interesting local festivals, history, and minority communities, I have hard time imagining anyone finding the day-to-day world of small-town Ohio I grew up in interesting It's always weird to see what "outsiders" find interesting.

He went to the Auburn/Alabama game. Those sorts of southern football/university grudge matches are baffling to people who have lived with it since birth. I'd love to know what his thoughts were on it. So much of the little things we think are the norm look weird to other Americans, so seeing what someone from England thinks of them will be fun. And yet us Americans have trouble understanding soccer hooligans. :)

There was a blessay on his blog mentioning some things Stephen has done so far. Sounds really interesting: I have sailed, hunted, gone down a coal mine, followed a Presidential candidate for the day, talked to a witch, got drunk at a distillery, fished for lobster, chatted to the founder of Wikipedia, dealt blackjack, listened to the Vice President of the United States make a speech, bumped my head in a nuclear submarine, created my own Ben and Jerry’s ice-cream flavour and driven a London taxi some three thousand miles around the turnpikes, parkways, interstates and freeways of the Eastern United States. Now I also want my own Ben and Jerry's flavour...

And yet us Americans have trouble understanding soccer hooligans. I don't know...we might pretend we don't understand it simply because we, as a country, like to make fun of professional soccer, but can we really claim ignorance when we have basektball fans setting cities on fire after championship games? Probably not. Still, I did say that even those who grew up with it in their backyard don't entirely grasp it (much less those in other parts of the country), so if I find the Seven Saturdays to be a bit foreign I'm gonna hold tight to confusion over why people think it's okay to lose their shit in a soccer arena.

I have sailed, hunted, gone down a coal mine, followed a Presidential candidate for the day, talked to a witch, got drunk at a distillery, fished for lobster, chatted to the founder of Wikipedia, dealt blackjack, listened to the Vice President of the United States make a speech, bumped my head in a nuclear submarine, created my own Ben and Jerry’s ice-cream flavour and driven a London taxi some three thousand miles around the turnpikes, parkways, interstates and freeways of the Eastern United States. OK, how many states can you guess? Sailing may be RI or FL. Hunting may be NC. Coal mine may be PA. But then what will he do in WV? Witch is MA. Fishing for lobster is probably ME. Blackjack is probably NJ. Submarine may be CT. Ben & Jerry's is VT, I think.

I would think that blackjack would be NJ, but it's pretty popular in some of the non-Jersey casinos up that way. Foxwoods is always an option. Still, who's gonna do a travel show, on the network's dime, and not screw around in Atlanta City for a night? I don't think sailing is Florida because he posted that before he wound up in Florida. As far as I can tell, he started in Maine (he posted about that) and then through "sightings" we know he basically went down the east coast (though could easily be doing some pick ups later in states he's already hit and I have no clue if he really hit all states between ME and FL). No clue about the Carolinas, but he was in Georgia before and on Thanksgiving, then Alabama for the football game and then, if the report from a lj poster is to be believed (and I see no reason it shouldn't) he was in MN a couple of days after he was in Alabama. Then came Florida. There is just entirely too much information on the internet... I always thought if I had to go into witness protection I'd move to Parma because who would go to Parma? I used to work in a video store and the manager would always get really upset with me when I watched television instead of a movie. I was watching Drew Carey one night, early in the first season of that show, and the boss walked in. The show was just coming on and he stopped to watch the opening. I expected to get chewed out, but he just got this sad look on his face and asked, "have you ever been to Parma?". I told him I had not. He just said "don't" and went into the back room.

Sailing may be RI or FL. Has he said that he was going to visit RI? I'm a native Rhode Islander and haven't heard anything about Stephen visiting. Anytime a celebrity -no matter how major or minor- sets foot in our state, it always makes the news.

Gosh I wish we had access to his itinerary. I want to know if he comes near my neck of the woods. Of course, what I'd with that knowledge is anyone's guess. Stand alongside the road waiting for a London taxi to come along? I'd have no idea what he'd be doing or what places he'd be going to and so couldn't make sure to bump into him and make an ass of myself, blubbering about how much I love his work.