Buzz

Random celebrity sightings this summer that I forgot to mention: actor, Paul Rudd, and producer Michael Patrick King ("Sex and the City") both at coffehouse Buzz on Sunset.

And in other news, busy revising my script. Changed the main character's motivation, and hopefully, punched up the dialogue. One of the producer's last comments was: "this is turning into something special." Let's hope so, I'm counting on it .....

Snakes on a Motherf*ckin Plane

Yep, I saw it. Basically, it's so bad, it's good. It's really a fun B-movie romp. An all-American cheese-fest. Frankly, I'm surprised it didn't do better at the box office. Especially, after all the hype. Just goes to show you, you never know what audiences are going to connect with. I mean, Pirates 2? C'mon! At least LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE is rising at the box office.

Last night I caught "Million Dollar Listing" on Bravo. It's interesting to note that one of the realtor-stars works at Re/Max, which apparently has an office at the Director's Guild of America building down the street from me, as it was featured. Also seen in her office, her co-worker who lives down the hall from me. I tell you I'm surrounded by reality stars. First Pe rez Hil ton (that vile gossip queen lives in the building next door), now him. Okay, Mr. DeMille, I'm (almost) ready for my close-up.

Crunch

Looking over my blog entries, I noticed I complained a while ago about not losing weight after going to the gym regularly. Well, fast forward to today and the truth of the matter is -- I've lost a whopping ten pounds, so far. Yep, it's a new svelte me.

Actually, several people have commented that I look good, that I've lost weight. Basically, I've lost pounds in my face and stomach. Raul mentioned I look like I used to look when we first met ten years ago. Now if only he looked the same, too. I'm working on him next .....

My secret? Sorry, it's an ancient Chinese secret ..... Ha! Remember that commercial when we were growing up back in the 80's?

Anyway, no, I learned from the best -- Oprah's doctor. I happened to catch Oprah one day when her doctor said to avoid high fructose syrup and sugar, especially. Most items in your cupboards and refrigerator contain high fructose syrup. If they do, don't eat them. Discard them.

Today, my diet consists of cereal and a banana for breakfast, plus a half glass of OJ, two cups of coffee and my vitamins. For lunch, and this is important, I eat a salad. I've noticed if I have anything else, like a sandwhich and chips, it makes me groggy in the afternoon, which requires caffeine. Which equals more calories. In between lunch and dinner, I snack on raw nuts (non-roasted), yogurt or cottage cheese. For dinner, I'm eating half the portions I used to eat topped with Olive oil. I don't consume as much alcohol (wah!) and drink healthy liquids, like water and promegranate juice. It works -- try it! Not to mention, you gotta go to the gym on a regular basis and burn off those calories. It's the only way, unfortunately.

I've also noticed my gym regimen and new diet is a great mood stabilizer. If I get sad, mad or depressed, it doesn't last as long as it used to in the past. Because I'm eating more healthy and not ingesting artifcial crap into my system. Here's to the new me! Cheers!!

Celebrity sighting: actor, Hank Azaria, in the Coffee Bean at the end of my street.

Vegas, Baby!

Back from Las Vegas with a renewed outlook. We stayed at the beautiful Bellagio and had a fabulous view of The Strip and surrounding mountains. Not that we were in the room very much. Mostly I was lounging by the pool. Saw several friends who were attending the conference along with Raul. We enjoyed several fine meals and an amazing Cirque de Soleil show, called "Ka", at the MGM Grand. All in all it was a good trip and an easy drive through the desert and mountains.

Celebrity sighting: No, not in Vegas, but back in LA at the Grove. Cameron Diaz, sporting a brunette look. She and a gal pal walked right past Raul and I as we were waiting for a friend near the Cheesecake Factory.

Little Miss Sunshine

What a great year for movies so far:

This winter we had AKEELAH AND THE BEE, a great drama. Let's hope the Academy remembers this movie come Oscar time. They should considering it was produced by the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Then this summer:

SUPERMAN RETURNS. Okay, so I'm a sucker for super-hero movies. But I thought this was very good. Maybe not as good as BATMAN BEGINS, but it's up there.

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA. Who did not love this movie? Meryl should be a shoe-in for a Best Actress nomination.

ANOTHER GAY MOVIE. A riotous, laugh-out-loud, tears streaming down your face gay comedy.

THE DESCENT. A great horror movie. Very well done. Many jump-out-of-your-seat moments.

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. About a quirky, dsyfunctional family with a great ending that's like the punchline to a very funny joke. Another laugh-out-loud, tears streaming down your face moment. Celebrity sighting: Eddie Cibrian (from "Third Watch" and ABC's "Invasion") sitting in the audience.

World Trade Center

Saw this very powerful movie the other day. It's very realistic and authentic. I was an emotional mess pretty much the whole way through. But it's an amazing true story. And a true miracle that these guys lived to tell about it. It does make you realize that most of those people who died down there had no idea what happened to them. It all happened so quickly. Which is probably a blessing.

In script news, received some more comments from the guys about my revision. We're going to discuss it more on Sunday and they're going to, eventually, send mores notes. We're almost there, I think. Though, it feels like the development and rewrite/revision process is never ending. So I'm rather frustated at the moment and lacking the drive I was before. But it's important I get psyched again to keep the momentum going.

Maybe it's a good thing that I'm going to Las Vegas on Tuesday to meet up with Raul for a few days. It's always good to get away and recharge your batteries. Though, I'm a little stressed because I've got the fact that I need to find a job hanging over my head. Which will require a change in my writing and gym regimen. Wah!

Easy Rider

So I had a cool interview this week. I interviewed to be the personal assistant to actor Dennis Hopper and his wife. AfterI worked myself up into a lather about meeting fricken Dennis Hopper(!), alas, I didn't get to meet the man. I only met with his lovely wife, Victoria Duffy. However, I did happen to drive past him in his Jag just before I reached his house in Venice, CA.

I must say his house is rather unique. Driving down his street you would never guess a movie star lived on the block. Then again, Venice isn't exactly Beverly Hills. I call it the East Village of LA. Or maybe that's Silver Lake. Anyway, I guess they're kinda the same. Artsy and bohemian. His home is set up like a studio garage or warehouse even. Very open with catwalks and modern artwork adorned on all the walls. Not only does he have an extensive art collection, he himself is a renowned painter and photographer. Who knew? His home was rather messy and cluttered. Not to mention, rather warm. Either they don't have AC or they just weren't running it. I, however, had to literally peel my shirt from the back of my chair when his wife showed me to the office.

As it turns out, I didn't get the job. Nor did the other two who interviewed. Nobody was a good match. And that's how I felt when I was there. This is not for me. Besides, there's no way I could work in an environment without air conditioning. Oh well, at least their German shephard took a liking to me. And now I can say I've been to fricken Dennis Hopper's house!

The Descent

No, not the descent the US and the world are slipping into -- but the movie. It's an independent horror/thriller about a group of gals who go spelunking into a cave in the Appalachian Mountains and come across some crazy-ass creatures. I know, it sounds like a total cheese-fest. And that's exactly what I thought when I heard about it. Then, I read the glowing review in "Entertainment Weekly." I think that's the first time I've seen EW give a horror movie a great review, so I thought I better check this thing out.

First, I looked up the writer/director Neil Marshall and discovered he directed another well-received horror film a couple years back, called DOG SOLDIERS, about werewolves in the Scottish wilderness. Rented it this weekend and loved it. Very well done. So last night I saw THE DESCENT, and I gotta say, this is one of the best horror movies I've seen in a very long time. If not ever. It has so many great scenes that will make you jump. Not to mention, it's very well directed. A must see for fans of horror films.

As for the descent the world is going into, yeah, we're headed towards World War III, if you ask me. First, we've got Iraq fighting a civil war. Yes, it's a civil war, whether the military wants to admit it or not. I recently read this great article in "GQ" about Iraq and the reporter confirmed the Sunnis and Shiites are fighting a civil war, as Iraq continues to spiral out of control.

Meanwhile, Israel and Hezbollah continue to duke it out, further destabilizing the area and Iran & Syria threatening to join the fight against Israel. Not to mention, Iran's continued nuclear development. And then, on the other side of the world, we've got North Korea developing their nuclear power, threatening to destablize that region, as well. See where this is going?

On a lighter note ....... Celebrity sightings: Johnny Galecki, best for known for playing Darlene's boyfriend on "Roseanne", shopping at the grocery store with another guy (<-- his boyfriend?), and Mary Murphy from "So You Think You Can Dance?" posing for a fan's picture at the Grove. Gotta say, Mary is much taller than I thought she would be and she's much better looking in person. She's gorgeous with a beautiful smile. And that laugh. Yes, I heard that laugh. Love it!

An Inconvenient Truth

It's time to face the music, people. I recently saw Al Gore's global warming movie AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH. I urge everyone to go see this. RIGHT NOW. It's very scary and disturbing. You owe it to yourself and future generations to see this eye-opening movie. The human race depends on it. If we don't do something now to reverse the effects of global warming ..... we're f*cked. We're already seeing the consequences of too much CO2 in the atmosphere. 100 degrees in NYC today? A recent heat wave in CA with record breaking temperatures? Not to mention, humidity in SoCal? Unheard of! What's going on? Basically, in the last century, we had a boom in world population and industry, and are now producing excessive amounts of CO2, which is becoming trapped in our atmosphere and melting our glaciers. At a very rapid rate.

What can we do? Visit www.globalcrisis.net for starters. Write your congressmen. Recycle. Demand cars with better gas mileage (cars in Asia and Europe have developed cars with increased gas mileage). Better yet, demand electric cars. American greed has put a stop to both electric cars and vehicles with higher gas mileage. Vote and boot the Republicans from office. The current administration has repeatedly ignored warnings from scientists about global warming. Obviously, they don't care. Katrina anyone? The highest gas prices ever? Did I mention American greed? Yeah, that would be Bush and Friends.

Extreme times call for extreme measures. I personally think we need to have worldwide population control. The more people there are, the more waste and CO2 is produced, the more global warming we have, and the more famine and less water we have, and the more regional disturbances and war we have. And so on. Isn't the world chaotic enough? It's just going to become worse, if we don't do something now.

I know two people from my high school class who have four and five children respectively. Who needs that many kids in this day and age? That's just irresponsible, if you ask me. Why do you have to add to the population and strain Mother Earth any further, when there's so many homeless children around the world who need homes?

Please think about what you can do to stop the madness. We all matter. And we're all responsible for saving our planet. If we don't do something now, we're doomed. Let's rise to the occasion and do something.