Friday, November 30, 2007

Eric Idle's play in Hollywood

Trying to get caught up a little...

Went to see Eric Idle's new play entitled "What About Dick?" at The Ricardo Montalban Theater in Hollywood. Written as a radio drama, the players included Eric, Eddie Izzard, Tim Curry, Tracey Ullman, Jane Leeves, and Billy Connolly. Tickets bought online did not allow you to choose your seat, but instead would be assigned when you arrived at the box office. To my surprise the seats they pulled were first row, center! Amazing! Must have been the first person to buy them online.

They show was great and afterwards I hung out with a few guys outside the theater who were waiting to get autographs fro Eric Idle. What followed was a parade of the stars.

Coming out the theater door I passed Anna Friel from "Pushing Daisies". A few moments later a tall white haired man with a black suit and bright red hat headed for a parked SUV. I thought that was kind of a weird fashion choice. Right before he got in I could see it was Steve Martin. Tracey Ullman also exited the theater and walked by with a small entourage of friends.

Then I caught site of Jeffrey Jones and his wife heading out the door. I knew I just HAD to say something but was a little nervous. Remembering the pact I made with myself about not being shy to approach celebrities, I leapt a few feet after him, introduced myself, and said how much I loved his films and that I was a huge "Ferris Bueller" fan. He was really nice and then introduced me to his wife.

Still conversing with the Python fans waiting for that coveted autograph, I saw Tim Curry head out the side door to his awaiting vehicle. Probably didn't want to bother with the fans. I was really hoping to meet him as well so that was a dissapointment. There was just the three or four other guys out front. Everyone else attending the show had left. At this point I felt anybody who was going to come out, had already. After getting into my car and pulling out of the parking lot, I spotted Eric Idle crossing the street and shouted that I enjoyed the show. He responded with a smile and thank you for the kudos. Then I thought it might be a good idea to hang a u-turn and pull up in front of the theater to see who else hadn't left yet. 30 seconds later Eddie Izzard came out and I had a chance to say how much I enjoyed his performance and stand up. He looked a little bleary eyed but was still nice and asked my name.

Just an amazing evening right in the heart of Hollywood. Reminded me again of what I really love about LA.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day to one and all! Hey wasn't it July about a month ago?! And for those of you heading out to the stores on Black Friday, remember your hockey skills when grabbing for that Playstation 3 or other fine gift..."HIP CHECK, GET OUT OF MY WAY, BITCH!!!"

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Yay! CourtTV IS OVER!!!...oh yeah, no work.

The CourtTV rebranding project has finally, finaly, finally....come to a close. With too many cooks in the kitchen nickel and diming this thing into infinity and beyond, it seemed like their "on January 1st, 2008, CourtTV will become truTV" tag line would have to be revised because we'd probably still be working on the fucking thing then! God Almighty!

After the marketing head and head of the network inscesantly would not agree, the marketing guy finally pushed himself through, flew out to LA, and sat in on our last night of editing Version 32. You read it right...VERSION 32! After 6 hours this past Wednesday night with only a handful of changes, in person, he signed off on a 3 minute piece that should have been out the door months ago. All tolled, we (the producers and I) put in a grand total of 9 weeks work on this thing. AND IT'S FINALLY DONE!!! At one point about a week ago they took the project away from us because they wanted to handle everything themselves in New York. Not surprisingly they came back. Probably because they didn't want to go through hours and hours of footage from scratch. Dumbass CourtTV.

Of course the downside is I'm now out of work. However this gives me time to settle into my new apartment. Having a home life at last will be good.

Friday, November 9, 2007

The First Trip To LA: 5th Anniversary

Today is the 5th Anniversary of my first trip out here to LA. This would also be my first plane flight ever. So even though I was anticipating the 10 interviews that lay ahead of me over the course of the next 9 days, I was still pretty anxious about all this new stuff.

In celebration of that first voyage to The Land Of Dreams, I'll be heading to the Best Western in Hollywood where I stayed that first week and have lunch at The 101 Cafe, located on the first floor of the hotel. It's where I ate most of my meals while in town then, pretty much because the food was great and you couldn't beat the convenience.

And wow...here I am 5 years later living in a fantastic apartment, driving my dream car, and continuing a successful climb up the ladder of the film industry. If someone told me years ago I'd actually be out here and doing this now, I'd probably tell them to get off the drugs.