busy bee...

brothers and sisters,
greetings from my cubicle! things are good... work is busy as is non-work stuff... still coughing off and on... when will i be healthy?

So the other night, I saw "North Country". The reviews coming out today are understandably mixed. While I get why they're saying this, it's not a bad movie. I liked it quite a bit. Yes, some clumsy storytelling at points... Nontheless, it was visually awesome. Chris Menges and his camera crew, aside from some funnily lit night sequences, captured great landscapes (Nice work, 2nd unit!). Acting is across the board very good, even when the character arcs/motivations are clunky and/or implausible. It might not be a masterpiece, but I found a lot to enjoy in it. Charlize Theron showed up after the screening for a q&a gone awry due to technical difficulties/radio interference. Whoa, I don't know if anyone else has ever noticed that aside from being a good actress, Charlize Theron is, when you actually think about it, kinda pretty.

Pauli-G was in L.A. for work. I saw him a couple of times. Last night, PG, A-Scards, Alex and I went to Mori Sushi for dinner. Mom and Dad, I miss you. Please come out to L.A. and visit. And when you do, please take us to restaurants as good as Mori Sushi. We ordered a lot, I thought and expected the bill to be huge, but it was pretty reasonable for exquisite fish (yes, last night, I ate barracuda for the first time; barracudas are a lot less intimidating when they're cut into little pieces and served atop a li'l brick o' rice). I heart sushi. It's such a clean food. I always feel like it turns me (here comes a Nintendo metaphor) from little mario into BIG MARIO.

After sushi, we went to your typical L.A. lounge bar. The bouncers were total deutschmarks. (Alex arrived a little late and they weren't letting people in, so the bouncer was like, "you should give the doorman some money". So I did. And you know what, I'm never drinking or setting foot in that place again, not even if Charlize calls me up (who knows? maybe she's amused by whimsical wordplay) and she wants to meet there for our 1st date...) In any case, a lot of 20's - early 30's industry folk to talk with... A lot of them were miserable. But the ones that were happy to be working in the movies were fun to talk to... I have to get business cards made so networking can be easier (i.e. not "here's my number written on the back of a receipt. p.s. please don't look at what i bought at rite aid, it's a little embarassing. p.p.s. but if you do look, don't worry, the situation's cleared up nicely and i'm no longer contaigous...) In any case, I had a great time. PG and A-Scards are always great to hang out with... I'm also a big fan of Sony Johannes, A-Scards's cubicle sparring partner... Went back to PG's hotel, watched tv, and then drove back to my termiteless house in the los feliz hills. i went to sleep and dreamt vague dreams about warehouses with many doors...

So much work to do today. I wish I had a clone who was like me, but not as lazy. Don't we all? Come on diet coke, raise my sails, so I can head out on the journey that takes me to that magical place when sun sets, the work whistle blows and we all leave the movie factory behind for a couple of days....

I'm seeing Okkervil River in concert tonight. Yip Yip Yooray! - Eric