CELEB UPDATE

This is a quickie. It'll tickle your pickle. Maybe. Here are some recent celebrity sightings worth mentioning on this day that I have little else to offer.
1) Geena Davis stuck in traffic on Western in Koreatown. Our cars were side by side. She looked phenomenal, dare I say, presidential.
2) Tyrese in the gym locker cleaning his white Timberland boots. They were WHITE. He is about 5'10," very black, very thick. I see why women sweat him hard. He didn't work out. I don't know what he was doing there.
3) Today, Justin Timberlake at the gym with his huge black bodyguard/trainer/friend. They were doing shoulder presses with dumbbells. He has an average build, i.e. he's my height, my weight, my frame. He talks funny. Like a hood or something. He had huge bags under his eyes. COKE.

LOVE
ALEX

FISHSCALE

Ghostface's new record drops today in all markets all across the universe. I've only heard great things from various inside sources deep within the industry (e.g. my brother, GK, The New York Times). The last record I purchased in a store was I think (and this is the truth) TP3: RELOADED. No better follow up to the R than Ghostface Killah. Oh and apparently the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have a new record out today. I totally forgot they were still making music.

LOVE
ALEX

the universe and eric...

friday was a bad day at work. one of those days where you think of quitting your job. in related news, i think i'm too sensitive. not tough enough, at times, for the ridiculousness of hollywood. apologies for the lack of detail.

anyway, i feel like crap for much of the afternoon. at six, i go home, defeated. alex drives us over to The Hungry Cat for dinner with hilary. walking through Border's to get to dinner, we pass by the rows of CD's. and standing there at a listening station, headphones on, checking out a CD, is beck, bearded, and wearing a giant hat. on such a shitty day, it felt nice to have a beck sighting.

dinner was great 'though we had to rush at the end in order to make it to the 8:15 screening of Peckinpah's "Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia", a crazy movie. John Doe, bass player from X, introduced the film to a the audience of 12. Is L.A. just Peckinpah haters or what?

Saturday was Shleb's birthday shindig. We sat around a fire, which produced more smoke than heat, drinking beer and wine. Earlier in the day, I'd gone to a Clippers game with J Matty J, which was a lot of fun, excpet downtown was a mess on Saturday (movie shoot, protests re: immigration, etc.) so getting there was sort of an intense half-an-hour.

Sunday, I went to Barney Greengrass with A-Scards for morning breakfast, overlooking Beverly Hills. Nova & eggs is one of the best things in the world. It always makes me a little homesick...

Sunday afternoon, I felt physically ill, so skipped improv, did a couple of hours of work, played video games, took a nap, and then went on a drive to Barnes&Noble/Whole Foods in Glendale. Then we (Alex,Kat,Me) watched The Sopranos w/ M-Lawrs at her house. I had matzah ball soup and a turkey sandwich.

Today I woke up, and immediately began coughing. Came into work at 6:20. Hopefully, I can leave around 4 and go lie down on the couch and watch some movies.

Happy Monday to all, Eric

The big news this week for me...

The reunion of Os Mutantes. They're playing NY & LA in July. I just bought 4 tix to go see the 7/23 Show at the Hollywood Bowl with The Flaming Lips & Thievery Corporation. I haven't been this excited for a concert in a long time. I love their album, Tecnicolor and most stuff on Mutantes as well. Along with Caetano Veloso (Alegria, Alegria on his 1967 album is possibly my favorite song of all-time), these guys were responsible for Tropicalia (and all the excellent Tropicalia compilations sitting in your local record store, waiting for you to purchase them. For 4 tickets, I paid close to 50 dollars in Ticketmaster charges. I may hate Ticketmaster, but, you know, my love for Os Mutantes is something much much greater. Really can't express how excited I am. Paul and I sing each other the "gra-gra-gra" opening of Panis-Et-Circenses to each other as a secret code sometimes. (The proper response is "zoom zoom zoom zoom zoom") The only sad part is Rita Lee won't be a part of it. I'd pay whatever the cost to just to sit in a room and hear her sing "Baby". - Eric

dance footage from "Paralegal", my upcoming 13 minute short film...

This is footage of dancing that didn't make it into "Paralegal". Audioblog is great and all... but maybe not ready to post 3 minutes of video of me and J dancin'.

THAI CHILIES

The other night E and I went to dinner at our favorite Thai spot, Ruen Pair. We ordered some dishes I thought needed some complimentary heat. I asked the waitress if she could bring a thing of chilies in vinegar. Instead, she brought me a tiny colorful plate of chopped raw thai chilies, each slice no more than a mm thick and 2 mm in diameter. To test the heat, I first shoveled a fistful of pad see ew into my maw and then fingered a slice of thai chili and threw it in with the noodles. Thai chilies bring some kinda heat! I continued to consume them fully knowing I'd be paying for it the next day.
Yesterday, I paid for it. Burgle burgle burgle. That's the sound your guts make telling you it's time to give back to the world what you ate the night before. Spicy goin in, spicy going...

Last night, a couple of friends and I caught Claire Denis' THE INTRUDER. A dense experimental work, it is a wondrous reminder of why we call the movies motion pictures.

LOVE
ALEX

V FOR

E, V, and I caught V for Vendetta the other day. Suprisingly bereft of action. Lots of blabbering and unintentionally hilarious shot-reverse shot cutting between a lovelorn skinheaded Natalie P and a romantic goofy masked Hugo W. There are a lot of "V"s---symbols and words-that-begin-with--- throughout and all I could think of were VAGINA and V STEAKHOUSE. For real. VAGINA because in his introduction, V alliterates a kazillion words that begin eponymously. Conspicuously absent: VROOM, VERSACE, and VAGINA. What's up with that Wachowskis? Couldn't throw in a little VROOM or a swatch of VERSACE or an amuse bouche of VAGINA into the movie? (By the way, AMUSE BOUCHE is my new favorite catchall. e.g. "I have an amuse bouche of a headache. I had an amuse bouche of a woody watching 13 GOING ON 30. I dropped an amuse bouche of a log in the pooper.") I kept thinking about VAGINA over VROOM or VERSACE mainly because I wanted to remind myself to drop that bomb later that night in a game of Scrabble. Scrabbling words like HAD, GOT, and VAGINA is just plain funny. I didn't. I did however throw down a BONER. Yes, I'm a child but most times I'm an adult with an amuse bouche of wit.
V STEAKHOUSE because earlier in the day, KV and I went to Trader Joes to restock the fridge and shelves. After reading that Times article a few weeks back about the TJs that's just opened in Manhattan, I realized that I wasn't shopping at TJs like a proper TJs shopper should. I go to TJs to buy produce and essentials. HA! FOOL! TJs shoppers shop at TJs to purchase their mixed nut medleys, prepared frozen meals, flowers, and marinated slabs of meat. This time around, I made a point of shopping like a true TJs shopper. I bought some dried fruit and a mixed fruit/nut medley and a marinated 3lb slab of tri-tip. I had major reservations about the meat. I like to season my meat myself. (That didn't sound quite right.) But purchase it I did. So, sitting in the movie theater, bored out of my mind, hearing V V V everywhere, I thought about V STEAKHOUSE and the marinated tri-tip resting in my fridge.
Later that night, I grilled that tri-tip for over an hour (It's a fat slab of protein I tell ya.) and enjoyed it with my compadres. Then after that, E played video games and V and I played a tight game of Scrabble where after she put down her last tile, the score was tied 294-294. But I had one tile left. A "V." Subtracted that point value from my total and added it to hers. V was VICTORIOUS (I had to, sorry!).

LOVE
ALEX

p.s. Actually the last tile was an "I." But how great would it have been were it a "V"?

As Dr. Mike said...

Doctor Mike (now retired apparently) is the guy at Astor Place who cut our hair (A-Ross, M-Fish, etc.) in college. One of his catch-phrases was "always hook you up, never hook you down". Also, at the end of haircuts, he'd lift up the barber gown or whatever the blanket you wear that catches your hair is called, and announce loudly, "Ladies and gentlemen, the king is back!". Anyway, I was in Vegas for the past 3 days for Showest. I had an awesome time. Someone important (read: very important) thanked me for something I did (part of my job), and I responded with "No problem man, I 'always hook you up. Never hook you down'." It doesn't sound as cool when I say it, and elicited more akward confusion than needs to be discussed.

Showest was great. The fact that I'm getting paid for the trip to Vegas is greater. Going to sleep tonight after blowing it out last night on the dancefloor: that's gonna be the greatest. I came straight to the office from LAX, and am ready to crash. Your dancefloor hero, Nuggets

Somewhere in Los Feliz...

The summer before senior year, Alex and I crewed on the same film. The crew of "Somewhere In India", now titled "Indian Cowboy" was, for the most part, amazing. Alex worked in wardrobe dept. and I was a truck-driving set PA. Anyway, thanks to my friend Jaime dropping Patti's name in a conversation, I realized Patti, one of our bosses from the "Somewhere in India" summer, was living just a few minutes from our house, here in L.A. An e-mail later, and suddenly Alex and I were back in touch with Patti...
Last night, we got together for dinner at Cobras & Matadors, and then moved on to a Polynesian-ish dive-ish bar called the Cha-Cha Lounge for drinks. Was wonderful reminiscing about the days in Colonia, New Jersey, working hard to make a bare-bones (think 135,000 35mm feature and you'll get the idea) movie... Funny that we've been living in the same neighborhood as Patti for a year and a half, and never had run into her...
In any case, great to be back in touch with a friend. Walt Disney was right about it being a "small world after all". The next morning, on my way to work, I looked in my rearview mirror and of course, who's driving behind me? Patti!
Not a lot to report. Work has been busy. I haven't finished a Netflix movie in weeks... Went to dinner with CG-M last night... Maybe I was tired, but I went into storyteller mold/confession and just talked about all the things I'm too embarassed to talk about on the blog...
I'm exhausted. Work's been busy. I get to go to Vegas on Sunday for Showest. Going to be busy, but hopefully there'll be enough time to grab drinks with phone work contacts that I'm meeting in person for the first time...
Gotta run... Go see "Neil Young: Heart of Gold" when you get the chance.... Peace, Eric

P.S. Yes, I will be going to the screening of Harold & Maude at the New Beverly on Friday for my fill of Bud Cort & Cat Stevens...

BONDS

What does Barry do now? Folks have suspected Bonds of steroids use for a while now but this new book is the final nail in the coffin. He's done. But hell, I really love watching him play. The saddest thing about it is Bonds didn't need to juice up. He was well on his way to the Hall of Fame. When suckers cheat, that's somewhat understandable. When greats cheat, that's unforgivably greedy. I do hope Bonds plays this year --- partially 'cause I'd like to catch a Giants game up in SF this summer --- but I hope his records are expunged and he spends time in prison with other beefy bags of meat.

LOVE
ALEX

OSCARS

Some fun shit totally spoiled by the worst call in Academy history: Crash receiving Best Picture accolades. Man I can't tell you how risible I find that movie! Ugh. So. Aw. Ful. But then again, without Crash, there wouldn't have been the comic highlight of the evening: the burning car torturous slow dance performance of "In the Deep." That's classic.

LOVE
ALEX

Big day...

I'm overseeing a tech run-through for the L.A. premiere of our new film. By oversee, I mean stand there and watch the technicians work while I try to make sure things get done quickly... I'm excited 'cause I get to run around a giant famous movie theater in Hollywood and do my best to cover my bases so nothing goes wrong...

You like the Beck song "Debra"? So do I.... Read this. It lets you hear Ramsey Lewis's "My Love For You" where the wah-wah'ing goodness of Debra comes from...

I got a haircut last night. It is very very short now. Off to tech! - Eric

P.S. E-Hals and A-Tom's visited this weekend. All we did was eat. Proof. Foodies and gluttons everywhere should be proud of us.

WHOLE FOODS

Last night, Eric and I caught a great double bill: JOHNNY GUITAR & RANCHO NOTORIOUS. I picked him up from his office an hour before the first screening. En route to the theater, we brainstormed dinner options and settled on dining at Whole Foods on La Brea and 3rd. I hadn't eaten at a supermarket in a long time so this was a welcomed alternative. Whole Foods as y'all know is overpriced but generally the quality is pretty good. Not necessarily worth it, but at least you know what you purchase is labeled properly. Plus, you get to pat yourself on the back by patronizing an establishment that is powered by solar energy and sells water bottled by a company that invests a percentage of their profits in projects that help bring clean water to communities spread throughout Africa. So yeah, expensive but there's some good things about it.
We got our food---a pound of Israeli couscous for me, chicken teriyaki rice bowl for E---and eyed the dining section. When I saw our options, I turned and almost asked Eric if he wanted to eat in the car. You see, the Whole Foods on La Brea is both a supermarket and a shelter for homeless bag ladies and very masculine transvestites. Two homeless bag ladies---one sprawled on two chairs, exposing her swollen, distended, scarred, boil-rich legs---took up a long table each. They looked pretty content. The third table was occupied by a young couple: we could've sat next to them, but that meant that one of us would've been stuck sitting directly across from, in plain view of a very tall, very masculine tranny on table four. And I didn't want that for me and I didn't want that for E. I mean, this transvestive was SCUURRY. She had a shock of black wavy hair, super defined cheekbones and jawline, and a hauteur about her that reeked less of arrogance than of viciousness.
Eric and I squeezed into a small corner and at our food quietly. I'm not saying Whole Foods should police the dining area, but at least tape off a section for the weirdos so that us limousine liberals can enjoy our overpriced salad bar dinner in relative comfort.

LOVE
ALEX