Munich

Finally saw Steven Spielberg's latest film, MUNICH. I went into it thinking I wouldn't like it. That's probably why it took me this long to see it. However, I have to say, I thought it was very good to excellent. One of the best films of the year. Though it is very intense and extremely violent. Much like SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. My head hurt afterwards and I needed a drink.

Unfortunately, we missed the "Dancing with the Stars" finale. I thought we would be back in time to see the winner announced, but we didn't make it. And I didn't realize everyone was going to dance again. I thought it would just be a recap of the season. Oh well. Stacy Keibler should have won, she was the best throughout the season. I liked Drew, as well, and I'm sure his teenage fanbase didn't hurt in the voting process.

So we went to the outlets on Saturday in Camarillo, CA. Raul bought two suits and a tux at Hugo Boss. 40% off. Hello. He needs a suit to attend two important functions this week, one involving the Italian Ambassador and the other with movie stars in attendance.

Anyway, as we were walking past some of the stores, this little girl comes running down the sidewalk all by herself and runs past us. Raul stopped her and I asked several people passing if that was their little girl. Nobody claimed her ....

The little girl moved against the wall, squated down and didn't speak, but she listened to Raul speak to her in Spanish. By now, several other people gathered around alarmed as we were for this poor, sweet, innocent girl all alone. I thought for sure she must have been abandoned and was running amok because her clothes were filthy.

Meanwhile, a store clerk called security. Finally, somebody found her mother in a nearby store. After ten minutes -- she didn't even realize her daughter was missing! We should have called Child Services, but we continued on our marry way. I, however, could not get that little girl out of my mind. Her clothes were so dirty and who knows what would've happened to her had we not stopped her. Absolutely amazing.

The Getty Villa

Raul and I were lucky enough to secure tickets the other day to tour the Getty Villa Museum in Malibu. Somehow they had tickets available Thursday afternoon and Friday morning only. After that -- it's sold out for the next six months!

The museum is set on a bluff overlooking the ocean and it's designed to look like a palatial Roman villa. The gardens and setting are beautiful and the museum pieces are most impressive. A lot of them are from Herculaneum, which was buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvias and dated anywhere from 6,000 B.C. to 400 A.D.

Meanwhile, I'm still awaiting my script notes from the two semi-quasi producers who are interested in one of my horror/thrillers. At least they contacted me yesterday to apologize for the delay and said my script is a priority for next week.

Last night we saw MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS, starring Dame Judi Dench, which I highly recommend.

Jet Lag

I just had a sneezing fit. The second time in a couple of months. Usually, when I sneeze it's two to three times. But when I have a sneezing fit, it's continuous sneezing for at least ten to twenty minutes. What's that about?!

Anyway, Raul arrived safely in LA after a very long delay. His flight yesterday departed at 7am EST and was supposed to arrive in LA at 10am PST. Well, he didn't land until 6pm PST. Eight hours later. Reason? His plane was struck by another airplane as they taxied onto the runway during takeoff. Both airplanes had to be replaced. When they finally replaced his airplane, he departed at around 12pm-ish EST. However ..... they ran out of fuel .... and had to land in Albuquerque, NM to refuel due to the high winds. Have you ever heard of such a thing?! So he finally landed in LA at 6pm PST -- eight hours late.

Today, we saw Helen Mirren in The Home Depot's nursery on Sunset in Hollywood. Can I just say, Hollywood the city is a complete and utter shit-hole. The question is, why?

'N Bits

Not sure if I ever mentioned I sorta met Shirley MacLaine through work. Spoke to her on the phone and saw her in person at an event, but never shook her hand. Anyway, I thought it was cool that she gave me a Christmas present this year. I mean, how often can you say you received a Christmas present from Shirley MacLaine? It was a small token of her appreciation -- a stone necklace for growth & change with my initial on it. Love it that it represents growth and change because that's exactly what I am experienceing right now.

Kibbles 'N Bits

I had a nibble on one of my scripts from two semi-quasi producers. They currently work separately for two successful producers, one of which produced THE ITALIAN JOB, and they're ready to break out on their own. We spoke today via phone and they want to develop my script further with me and will be sending me notes soon. Works for me.

Tomorrow, I'm working on that short film again. Call time? 7am. In the Valley. Ugh. Hopefully, I won't be parking cars this time.

Raul returned from Dubai (and has since been to Puerto Rico and back, and will return to LA on Monday) where it reminded him of Collins Avenue in Miami Beach. Pretty much a major construciton zone. He said the architecture is amazing. Very modernistic. However, the neighborhoods outside of the city are pretty much like a third-world country.

Looks like rain is headed toward SoCal (the first time, I think, since the holidays), so I better get off my ass and walk to Blockbuster to return my movies and pick up a new one.

Oops, I Did It Again

So I worked on this short film today. My friend's partner is co-producing and I volunteered my time to help out since I'm currently not working. Well, one of my resposibilities was to move cars on the street (since they decided not to use a local parking garage), as there was only two hour parking until 6pm. Our call time was 7am.

So this one time, I had to move two Fords -- one a Ford Taurus, the other a Ford Bronco. I move the Bronco, but it didn't look close enough to the curb. So I pulled out the car keys from my pocket again that said "Ford" on them, stuck it into the ignition and turned. SNAP! The key broke in half! I had stuck the Ford Taurus key into the Ford Bronco's ignition and it broke the key!!! Just my fucking luck, people!

So we have a Bronco with a broken key in its ignition and a Taurus without an ignition key. I told my friend the producer what happened and immediately called 911, er, AAA. They could extract the broken key for $115 (against my membership premium). I wanted to use tweezers to remove the broken key, but my friend wanted to use AAA. Okey-dokey. And how stupid and embarrassed do I feel? OMG. However, another person parked their car over a pedestrian walkway and received a $300+ ticket from the Beverly Hills parking authority. Somehow, I don't feel so bad.

So AAA comes, removes the broken key and said the Broncos broken ignition actually snipped the key in two. So it really wasn't my fault, aside from the fact I inserted the wrong Ford key! Whew!! I was able to get a copy of the broken key that worked in the Ford Taurus ignition. Thank God!!! Drama ovah!!

Did I mention my bad luck with cars since I moved to LA? Lets see, there was my windshield shattered by a pine cone; I not only scraped my car against my parking garage (and I wasn't even drunk!), but I also scraped my former boss' car against their brick wall in their driveway ($700+ later!); and now this!!!

Really, I'm not a bad driver. I just have bad luck. Apparently.

For Better Or For Worse

I passed on the personal assistant job to the dermatologist of the stars. I hope I made the right decision. I just feel like I need to take advantage of the time right now and WRITE. That said, it's in the 80's today, so I'm off to the beach. Yes, to write!

On my way, I have to drop a script in the mail to a manager who reps, of all people, the guy I mentioned before who wrote SUPERMAN RETURNS.

PS: I forgot to mention I also saw the chick who is Drew Lachey's dance partner in "Dancing with the Stars" at Beige last night, too.

Decision Time

So I had my second interview today with the dermatologist to the stars in Beverly Hills. I gotta say, Bev Hills is so posh and pristine -- it's like an adult Disney World. The only other place I've seen like it is Monte Carlo. It's just so ... perfect.

The interview seemed to go well. He did most of the talking. He's best friends with Carrie Fisher, as in Princess Leia from STAR WARS, he knows a bunch of people in the industry, and some of his clients include Sharon Stone, Dolly Parton and Cher (a very good friend). He got his former assistant, a huge fan of STAR WARS, into the last premiere and somebody else (maybe his assistant; I don't know, he talks so fast) box seats at the Hollywood Bowl to see the Rolling Stones. He obviously knows the movers and shakers in Hollywood. But is that going to help me? I have no idea.

On a side note, he talks a mile a minute and babbles. During my interview, he abruptly asked me out of no where if I grind my teeth. Well, yes I do. How did you know that, I asked. Because your lower lip hangs slightly he said (mind you, if you looked at my mouth you would never notice). He said he could fix it with two injections into my jaw. Well, okay. Then, out of nowhere once more, he asked me if I have allergies. Why yes, I had asthma as a child. You have dark circles under your eyes called "something lines" and that's why your skin is very dry. How the fuck did he know my skin was dry?! I wanted to ask him -- is there anything else you see that's wrong with me??!!?! Totally bizarre.

Anyway, is this a job I want? I don't know. It's a job. It's money. I have to let my placement person know tomorrow before they make me an offer. If they don't offer me the job, I will be relieved. At the same time, it could prove to be an interesting job. I don't know what to do!!!!

Tonight, I went out for dinner and drinks with a friend. I really needed a fucking cosmo. We ended up at Beige at the Falcon on Sunset. Seen: Wilson Cruz, whom I saw twice last week at my gym; my former roommate; and one of the development/producer guys from that Situation Comedy show on Bravo that Sean Hayes from "Will & Grace" created.

It's Official

I'm a stalker. Well, at least a semi-stalker. Returned to the coffee shop today that is Bryan Singer’s haunt and who should be there once again? Yep, you guessed it. He did a double-take when he glanced at me. Almost as if he were looking at me suspiciously. Or is that just my paranoia speaking? Hopefully, I just looked familiar and he was trying to place me. He was meeting someone there, so once again there was no interaction.

In other news, Raul returns from Dubai tomorrow. Dubai, as in the Middle East. As in the United Arab Emirates. He went with a friend who won a fabulous high-end trip with accommodations at the Ritz-Carlton. It’s supposed to be an amazing place. Can’t wait to hear all about it.

Meanwhile, my step-mother, who beat her breast cancer last year, had a re-occurrence. This time her breast cancer metastaticized to her liver. Apparently, liver cancer is very hard to cure. We’re hoping and praying for the best. She just started her chemo treatment, so I will know more in the coming weeks. Unfortunately, if the chemo doesn’t do anything, there’s not much hope. Like I said, we're hoping and praying for the best. What else can we do?

The Usual Suspects

So I'm a member of this alumni networking website where I noticed one of the members, who happens to have written the upcoming SUPERMAN RETURNS movie, looked at my profile. I happen to know he's friends with the director, Bryan Singer, so I send him a message asking him how he met Singer and how did he get his big break.

On a side note, both of them are members of the so-called Velvet Mafia, if you know what I mean. But all I hear back are the sound of crickets. No return reply. Hmph.

So I'm at a coffee shop on Santa Monica, which shall remain nameless, and who do I see, but Bryan Singer. I go again a few days later and he's there once more. I learn on another website that he's a regular at this particular coffee shop. So now I feel like a stalker -- I know where Bryan Singer lives, er, hangs out! Oh, how I'd like to meet this guy ... and join the fucking Velvet Mafia myself! Only time will tell if I get the opportunity to introduce myself.

General Hospital

I have to admit a dirty little secret ..... I've been watching "General Hospital" this week. There, I said it. I had heard they were bringing back a couple of "legacy characters", among them, one of my all-time favorite daytime soap opera characters -- super-spy, Robert Scorpio. He's been off the show for like 15 years. So, since I wasn't working this week, I decided to check it out.

It's like the GH of old when I first started watching in the 80's, when Luke, Laura, Robert, Holly and Anna were all the rage during their globe-trotting adventures. This week Robert returned from the dead, having been undercover all these years, to track a deadly virus to GH. He quickly quarantines the hospital during an outbreak of the deadly virus (undoubtedly created by the government or the evil Cassadines).

Having successfully brought back Rick Springfield, who plays recovering alcoholic Dr. Noah Drake, the next character to return on February 20th is Bristish actress, Emma Samms, as the fabulous Holly Sutton Scorpio. Now if they can just get my all-time favorite daytime actress, Finola Hughes to return as former double-agent Anna Devane, I will be really excited.

PS: I saw the guy who plays Manny the mobster dude from GH at Buzz Coffee yesterday.

What's New

Well, I'm on the hunt for a new job. Sorta. I filed for unemployment and can see myself living a life of leisure and writing for once, at least for a few weeks or months. But no, I had an interview the other day with -- are you ready for this? -- a fricken dermatologist. Yes, a dermatologist! But not just any dermatologist -- no, a dermatologist to the stars. Like Michael Jackson is a client. In fact, that's how Wacko-Jacko met Debbie Rowe, the woman who bore his children.

I told my placement person I am declining a second interview. After all, I didn't move to LA to work for a doctor -- I moved to Tinseltown to work in the entertainment industry. At least he's got celebrity clients, though, right? So they called me again tonight to reconsider for a second interview. The placement person said I was doing her a favor because they narrowed it down to me and one other person. I was a stand out. Of course I caved and will be meeting with King Botox next week. Ugh. What have I gotten myself into?

Unfortunately, the position I was most interested in doesn't seem to be a possibility at the moment. They scheduled their first round of interviews and I was not among them. They wanted somebody with a strong theatrical background for their theater & film production company in NY.

Had I landed this job, I would have been the third assistant to a wealthy lady who lunches in Beverly Hills. Actually, she mostly spends her money on gifts for people. In fact, they have a full-time gift wrapper on staff. Yes, I'm serious. The family has a staff of 40! Housekeepers, chefs, drivers, security, etc. They must have a parking garage on their estate.

The staff even has their own chef who prepares their lunches daily. And, get this -- the staff has their own masseuse who comes in once a week! Isn't that outrageous?! The job would have entailed travel domestically and internationally on commercial jets and on their very own airplane. Very good pay, overtime and amazing benefits package. The hours are what's totally killer. And not in a good way. The hours, at least right now, are 10am until sometimes midnight. Talk about having no life. Yikes!

Meanwhile, I'm collaborating with an aspiring director on a horror script. And, I'm trying to start a new high concept spec script.

So, why do I have a feeling I lost my audience, if I ever had an audience, aside from Rock. You still out there Rock? You were my rock, Rock. Sorry, it's been a rocky road lately and I haven't been up to posting.