Bullet Points

Despite what you may have heard, I have not been in hiding since the disappointing Celtics loss in the NBA finals last Thursday. The days just seem to get away from me so here are a few bullet points as to what's going on...

+Yep, I lost that Celtics-Lakers bet, which means I need Twitter followers to start responding to me or Marisa with what show they think I must suffer through. And we're getting a lunch date on the books so I can endure the pain that will be donning Laker gear for a picture.

+KCRW's recurring series World Music Night at The Hollywood Bowl kicked off this past Sunday, and I was one of the lucky attendees. I went mostly for Brooklyn band Yeasayer, but I'm a huge fan of Tinariwen and Baba Maal as well - yes, folks, I love World Music, and if you've been following this blog you know this is nothing new.

+Yesterday I opened my mailbox to find a letter I had written to myself in April 2001. It was pretty crazy reading something from 9 years ago - and I had to laugh at my sweet worldly intentions - see I wrote it during the second day of a three day solo during a semester I spent in high school living on a farm in Maine (seriously). So it was hardly surprising that one of the items of advice I gave myself was "listen to birdsongs. You know them." Seriously. Truth is - I actually did know them; I spent that semester taking ornithology classes!

+Two weeks ago I went to the book party for the new Bret Easton Ellis novel, Imperial Bedrooms, the much-anticipated sequel to his well-known classic Less Than Zero. The party was exactly what you might expect - at a lovely suite in LA's famed hotel The Chateau Marmont, and I swear to God the DJ just took the soundtrack from American Psycho and pressed play. Celebrity spottings included Rose McGowan and Shannyn Sossamon, and then there was the general crowd of attractive-people-who-look-familiar so maybe there were more.

+I took a pause on writing up recaps of The Hills for The Huffington Post because that show is just so bad. I briefly considered writing them for The Bachelorette, but that show is way too long for me to be interested in recapping. I mean I'm all for making fun of crappy TV, but those 22 minutes on MTV are a lot easier to handle than two hours of awkward dates.

+I've been watching more TV pilots - including the much-buzzed about Lone Star, airing on FOX this fall - definitely a show to check out. The lead actor, James Wolk, is a sort of cross between George Clooney and Kyle Chandler.

+Two bands I've gotten into recently are Grum and Four Tet - check them out.

Happy Summer, by the way! Hopefully regular blogging will resume now that I've emerged from whatever fog my head's been in.

A Boner for Bomer

Last night I had the good fortune of attending a SAG panel for the fantastic USA show White Collar. I had only watched the first few episodes of the show, but they screened the mid-season finale before the cast came out and I was reminded of how great a show it really is. On a side note - USA has really stepped it up with their programming recently. Sister network NBC could learn a thing or two...

First of all, that cast is DELIGHTFUL. Not only are they all attractive (yes, Willie Garson, in his own fabulous way!) but Tiffani Thiessen (or as the 12-year-old in me kept screaming, "KELLY KAPOWSKI!!!") had the most lovely pregnancy glow and was seriously just adorable.

As opposed to other panels I've attended, this show was for SAG members exclusively (and those who somehow manage to work their way into such events, aka me), and so the conversation after the screening was a very interesting reflection on acting, auditioning, and the entire profession. And you know something? Acting is NOT easy. Acting is NOT stable. Holy crap the last thing I would ever WANT to be is an actor. Seriously. Matt Bomer, Tim DeKay, Thiessen and Garson all offered some really great insight on their careers, both the good and bad times - and shared some lovely anecdotes. (My favorite was probably Garson's story about filming his first scene on Sex and the City and hearing Darren Starr scream at him "GAYER! Play him GAYER!" Or maybe DeKay cracking up as he mentioned how he was glad he was no longer on an HBO show where he had to simulate masturbation, a la Tell Me You Love Me). These were four talented people, all who've had long careers and were grateful for now finding themselves on such a great show that's really gelled. They also acknowledged the show's excellent tone and writing, adding that television really is a writer's medium, and actors are just the vessel through which a writer's words come to life. That really resonated with me.

The main takeaway - for the actors out there - would be that this is a difficult career path you've chosen, so be sure to enrich your life with other things, most importantly - a social life to keep you grounded. Actually, that's some good advice everyone can benefit from.

Lastly, Matt Bomer, the show's star, is insanely attractive. Hence me attempting to work in the terrible (and anatomically incorrect) pun "I've got a boner for Bomer!" at every chance I get. Seriously, though, that dude is FIIIIINE. And for that matter, so is DeKay. I mean, the cast just GLOWS with prettiness.



Still regretting that I did not bring either a jean jacket or hair crimper for Ms. Theissen to autograph... Because, I mean... KELLY KAPOWSKI!

A Brief Essay on My Pathetic State

Around 11 pm last night I was waiting for a friend in front of the movie theater (coughTwilightcough) and while I was standing around contemplating why I felt it necessary to wear a winter hat when it was probably around only 60 degrees I silently observed people coming in and out of the theater. I noticed a group of what looked like teens, to be particularly well-dressed, when lo and behold I realized it was Frankie from The Hills (you know, Brody's BFF) and one of the Kardashian sisters (I am thinking Khourtney?). Immediately after I made this observation I asked myself, what is the more pathetic fact in this situation?

(1) That I know the names of these D-list reality stars (and eccentric name spellings)
(2) That I am seeing Twilight AGAIN?

I think the answer would probably be... well it's a tie. Both point to levels of pathetic that are dangerously high. The solution? I need to get myself out of the Hollywood/LA bubble ASAP. Like I've said... it's a good thing I'm going back East for two weeks over Christmas. I think people in New York might actually be a little more sane...

Organizing My Life

And the great car saga has ended! I guess the earthquake inspired me to really take charge because I went to bed last night the proud new owner of a 2009 Toyota Matrix. I wasn’t even considering this car but saw it in the process to find the right Prius... the hook, line and sinker for me was that it’s marketed almost exclusively to guys. I’m not really sure why, but I guess that made it a lot more appealing. Maybe it’s because I like to live out of my car... seriously, when I had to get everything out of my totaled CRV I had a tent, ski poles, a field hockey stick, several towels, a beach chair, a tennis racket, sleeping bag, endless amounts of CDs, water bottles, maps, a Red Sox hat, and the book Lyrics by Sting (don’t ask). Also, a car that is for dudes just seems to have a lot of features I like.

Anyway, all has been resolved except for the massive piles of paperwork that I am struggling to finish.

So besides unexpected earthquakes, it looks as though things are getting back on track and maybe I’ll start posting fewer “Dear Diary, OMG I want a new car LIKE now” type posts and a few more “I think it’s disgusting that People magazine got the Brangelina twin baby pics for a reported $15 million (vomit)” posts. It’s been a while since I’ve had any exciting random celebrity sightings to report. That was one nice thing about the old job—I am no longer on the route that takes me to the Starbucks preferred by Harrison Ford and others. Oh and I am no longer working out with Fabio either. He doesn’t go as far west as the Santa Monica Equinox, apparently.

Oh and I had my first awkward return to work where I was excessively sweating thanks to my lunchtime walk experience. It was an uncomfortable elevator ride.

Can I be your nanny?

This morning while stopping at the Brentwood Country Mart for a cup of coffee, I decided to forgo the usual Starbucks or its neighbor Le Pain Quotidien (that's Han Solo's coffee shop du jour) and try out the City Bakery, which is in institution back in New York (especially for it's magically rich hot chocolate). While walking in I notice a very pretty mom getting her adorable daughter of the car, not giving the pair much further thought while I wandered into the restaurant/shop. I browsed some of the juice selections then made my way over to the counter to order and notice this adorable mom was actually Helen Hunt and her daughter. They were the most precious little duo ever. The daughter was a peach, full of energy and really excited about her morning pastry. Ms. Hunt seemed really nice and normal and on my way out I passed them sitting on a picnic table outside and it was honestly the perfect portrait of a mother and a daughter. I really wanted to walk up to them and say, "Hi. Can I get in on this happy bubble? Do you need a nanny? Because I make squatters at my current job and could use a burst of whatever sort of happy juice you folks are drinking." But nope, didn't say any of that. Kind of like the time I imagined I accidentally hit Harrison Ford's car and while crying and telling him I was REALLY stressed he offered me a really high-paying job with some great hours and benefits. See the one I should really hope I get a random job offer from is Spielberg... maybe next time.

Starbucks, Spielberg, and other random thoughts

I saw Steven Spielberg again this morning. I am not stalking him (I swear) but apparently we both enjoy the same Starbucks. It was an LA cliche, however, as I was sitting at a table editing my writing (did I mention I'm taking a UCLA writing class? Is it noticeable in my blog entries? What no? Still an average of 20 typos per post? Great) and I paused to look up, in deep thought, and there he was again Mr. Spielberg.

I want to be Steven Spielberg. I don't. Well I do... well I just want to some day look back at my many accomplishments and think, well shit, that was all pretty great. The man is a filmmaking genius. I know little to nothing about filmmaking. I know more than I did when I was living in New York, but in the grand scheme of things--not a whole lot. (Perhaps this has something to do with the amount of time I spend at work blogging? Nah, that's what keeps me sane).

I am dangerously close to turning this into another existential crisis rant so maybe I should quit now and actually get some work done.

Or, I can comment on the fact that it's Thursday, I just had a delicious grapefruit, and despite my morning coffee, I am, as always... tired. The weekend can never come soon enough. I bought a CD at Starbucks this morning. I am easily sick of my music. But buying new tunes at a coffee chain? I'm totally caught up in the system. It's a good CD though, Duffy, who's an Amy Winehouse type minus the drug addictions, beehive and incarcerated boyfriend. Good stuff.

Apologies for the stream of consciousness. I am all over the place right now.

Celebrity Spotting (In the Geek World)

I saw Steven Spielberg this morning. It was awesome. He looks like any regular Joe Schmo. Good for him. Interestingly, I saw him at the same Starbucks where I saw Harrison Ford. Who will it be next? George Lucas? DARTH VADER? An Ewok? (They are so cute). OMG my little geek heart can't take it!

(Work is busy, hence the slow posting. Booooo work.)

Han Solo/Indiana Jones/Harrison Ford

This morning I went crazy. Not really, but I was just very OFF. Like when putting together my snacks for the work day I had serious difficulty locating a bag of carrots in my fridge, so much so that I had to ask my roommate for help (sorry Ashleigh). I then nearly caused not one, but two accidents, once while pulling out of my apartment building and again when trying to parallel park in front of the Starbucks on San Vicente by the Brentwood Country Mart.

Speaking of, the Brentwood Country Mart officially rivals the West Hollywood Equinox for Most Likely Place to See a Celebrity (or something). After a crappy parallel parking job I walked to the Starbucks, noting two bicyclists riding by. As they rode past, a car pulling out of the lot stopped and waited for them as well. One of the bikers waved and then said to his friend, "hey that's Harrison Ford!" Thanks to my high powered hearing skills I caught this little aside and whipped my head around just in time to get a glimpse of Indiana Jones himself (you'll always be Han Solo to me Harrison). How exciting! He looks like any other older guy, seemed pretty nice letting those bikers pass, and was driving a pretty standard looking Mercedes station wagon.

Then I had to wait for fifteen minutes in line for a latte (and a small one too because the Starbucks sizes confuse me and I always order tall when I should order grande, but wouldn't you think the tall would be tall?) and then I had the lengthy commute to work at which point I interrupted my dad in a meeting to tell him about Han Solo. He didn't care.

So that's that. Harrison Ford! Interestingly enough, and surprisingly--considering my established dork status, I am not sure I even want to see the new Indiana Jones. I loved the first three but feel pretty meh about this one. It was never the film trilogy that captured my heart when growing up. That of course, was Star Wars. Yes, I spent my formative years loving droids, ewoks, the Death Star, the ice planet Hoth, the symphonies of John Williams, and the power of the force. And Han Solo, who looks far less cool in a benz wagon than in the Millennium Falcon.

Spotted!

Hey Jaw Wired Shut-ers, Gossip Girl here. Actually not the REAL Gossip Girl, but your favorite West Coast GG wannabe.

Spotted Monday night around 6 pm at Urth Cafe on Main St in Santa Monica: Little T. That's little Jenny Humphrey to you GG fans, or the minuscule actress Taylor Momsen. Little T was looking pretty down and out while staring into her perfectly trendy California cuisine. Maybe it was the fact she was wearing high top converse with a flowing skirt? Could it be that her pale NY skin can't handle the LA sun? It looked like her momager's overuse of make up and animal prints might have something to do with Little T's scowl. In any case, that 14 year old looked like she could use some cheering up. Don't worry T, summer hiatus will fly by and you can go back to hanging out with twenty something year olds on set again (unless you want to move in with me and my friends. We'd totally help you on your math homework and stuff... too creepy?).

Until September... see you on Main St.

Who am I? I'll never tell (I'm so discreet).
You know you love me,
XOXO
Stamos

Paparazzi Drive By

Last night around 9 pm I was driving with two friends on Main Street in Santa Monica, a nice hub of stores, boutiques, restaurants, and local activity. We'd just dropped off another friend at his apartment around the corner and in the process had seen what looked like a large crowd including paparazzi huddled in front of some restaurant or store. We decided to do a drive by, and because "paparazzi love to talk" (or at least that is what I claimed to my friends) we thought that for such a crowd there had to be someone worthwhile inside.

It had been a long day, but in our semi-comatose states, we drove up to the front of the restaurant and yelled out the window to the crowd of paps and very stern looking bouncers and in our weak voices screamed, "Hey! Who's in there?" A few of them turned, looked at us incredulously, said nothing or mumbled something incoherent and irrelevant, so we figured it couldn't have been much of anything and we drove home, thinking nothing much of it.

Well, if paparazzi did love to talk, then they would have told us that inside that restaurant were Victoria and David Beckham, Kate Beckinsale and hubby, Eva Longoria Parker, Will Smith, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale and a whole slew of celebs out to dinner for a Scientology gathering, oops I mean, for Victoria Beckham's birthday party. Let's be honest, if those paps had told us who was there, even in our state of exhaustion we probably would have parked the car and joined the crowd--I mean, what other obligations did we have on this Sunday night? That's a pretty good random celeb spotting. I could have asked Tom Cruise to give me a little more info on Dianetics, or what it's like to be L. Ron's chosen prophet. Maybe Eva could have given me the 411 on her new restaurant and we could have become besties after I told her I was a fan of San Antonio. Maybe Gwen Stefani would have wanted to hire me to be the new nanny for her young one and bun in the oven. But, no. We proceeded with our drive by and returned home. I went to bed. Bygones.

On a side note, one of my friends, Roomie #1 in fact, asked if we could still just say that we'd seen all those people. I don't think a crowd of annoyed paparazzi is quite the same thing.

The Weekend Life

Every now and then there comes a Monday where your exhaustion levels are unusually high, where you have to struggle to stay awake at your cubicle (and it's only 11:30 am), where your throat is so sore and you know those vodka shots were the worst idea on Saturday night--but a Monday like that, a Monday like today, is merely the price to pay for a fantastic weekend.

I was having a conversation with a good friend last night in which we discussed some of the perks of living in LA. An incredible benefit we both easily agreed on was that weekends in LA can often feel like tropical vacations. Actually, I pretty much feel like every weekend I am taking time off from work, doing vacation activities, and enjoy life as though I had stepped out of Corona commercial. LA weekends are pretty fantastic. I'm not going to get into all the nitty grittys of my weekend, but I will provide a brief list to include some choice moments.

1. World Cafe on Main St. has the most incredible goat cheese, mushroom, and spinach pizza. Mmmm getting hungry just thinking about it.
2. Love that I can just wake up on a Saturday morning and walk to down to the beach.
3. Three good friends visiting from out of town is a guaranteed great time.
4. Sailing + beer = perfection.
5. Skipping the line at some hot, happening, au moment club feels pretty great.
6. Seeing Brody Jenner at said hot, happening, au moment club is great. He is just as attractive in real life as he is on The Hills.
7. Getting thrown out of said hot, happening, au moment club because one of the visiting friends is too drunk to stand makes the evening even more hilarious.
8. Taking a cab to another club and telling the bouncers that the friend who can't stand up on her own was roofied is a brilliant strategy for getting into places when you clearly shouldn't.
9. A $65 cab ride back home to Santa Monica might blow... but it's worth it for the memories... or lack thereof.
10. Drives to Malibu to sightsee are perfect Sunday hangover activities.
11. Pulling over on PCH so hungover friends can vomit might be a little dangerous but is completely necessary.
12. Pinkberry solves all problems.
13. Sitting on my balcony on a Sunday night and having casual conversations with random passerbys below--great entertainment and a great way to make some new friends.

I want to live in a place where weekends are forever... I am so not cut out for cubicle life...

Surprise

So in a surprising twist of fate, and even after f-ing up twice at work today I was sent home early. Unfortunately I can't enjoy the sunny afternoon because I am sick. However, on my way home I did have two excellent star sightings.

I had to stop by my boss's home to drop some stuff off for his wife (yes, I too didn't know errand-running was in the job description, but it's Hollywood so I should have expected it) and on my way home swung by the Brentwood Country Mart where there is a City Bakery, one of my favorite New York transplants. When in City Bakery getting a lemonade I spotted Felicity herself, Keri Russell, having an animated conversation with a friend at a table in the corner. She looks just like she does on TV, although I wish her hair had been curlier/nappier and perhaps if she had been wearing some Chuck Taylors and maybe wearing a napsack, ooooh or maybe if Scott Speedman had walked in and said something really poignant and touching but just not sensitive enough--well then that would have been perfect.

When I was leaving, I drove by Bruce Willis getting out of his car with his girlfriend, who promptly jumped into his arms and straddled him while he carried her. She was a poorman's Demi and the PDA was unnecessary.

Regardless, not too shabby for a five minute trip to get some lemonade.

Now I'm home in bed... trying to nap... blogging instead.... always blogging...

Urkel is in the building

Steve Urkel himself just walked into our office for a meeting. He is now in our conference room. He drinks water.

Apparently Urkel's real name is Jaleel White. But my co-assistant just made an ass of herself when saying "Here's your water, Steve." Brilliant. Now she's bright red. It's incredible. But what does he expect, we grew up with his infamous TV character! I'm hoping for Mr. Cooper and an Olsen twin to come in to make it a TGIF reunion. Oooh or one of the cast members from Boy Meets World. I definitely don't know Cory Matthews real name.

Today has turned out to be even better than I initially thought...

1. Left work at 1:30 pm
2. Did not run out of gas as was deemed likely.
3. Lunch with boss's former assistant was both enlightening and encouraging.
4. When getting an eyebrow wax in Santa Monica I saw Kimora Lee Simmons with her daughters and current beau, actor Djimon Hounsou.
5. I got a SWEET parking space outside of the building.
6. The weather is BEAUTIFUL.
7. I just downloaded a kickass José Gonzalez song on iTunes and am listening on repeat.
8. I am doing laundry now which is oh so wonderful to get it out of the way.
9. I made friends with a neighbor while doing laundry.
10. Said neighbor works for Anheuser Busch and just dropped off two cases of Bud Light.

It certainly is Good Friday...