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People here seem to be all about enjoying life. It's refreshing. Especially compared to the day-to-day cynicism I experienced, and contributed to, in NYC. Granted, the majority of my time is spent where I work and live (the beach communities of Venice, Santa Monica, and Marina Del Rey) and the vibe in these coastal towns might be more laid back than in Hollywood.
To give you some idea of the culture shock - this is a place where folks send me emails telling me to be aware of an upcoming "cosmic trigger event" where "...an ultraviolet (UV) pulse beam radiating from higher dimensions in universe-2 will cross paths with the Earth." The email encourages one to go outside and bask in the beam so their positive thoughts will be manifested here in our dimension. The still-cynical New Yorker in me thinks it's just a government ploy to flatten out the population by giving us all cancer more quickly. Maybe this email was circulating on the east coast, but out here, they take it seriously.
I just passed my test to get a California state driver's license. You can't just hand in your NY license, you have to take a written test. I got down to the DMV, and it was all decked out for Halloween. Again, something you probably wouldn't see in NYC. Cute, but I don't think there's any point in trying to make the DMV any more scary than it is. There's also something a bit disconcerting about asking a woman behind a huge spider web for a DL-44 form.
A fun distraction here are the celebrities. Of course, there are many celebs in NYC, but out here it's like a famous-person-petting-zoo. They'll come right up and eat out of your hand if you stand still enough. I was out with some work friends and we ran into Deep Roy, the dwarf from the new Willy Wonka movie. Some of the people I was with had cast him in a commercial awhile back and offered to buy him a drink. He was too busy with the ladies and said "no thanks." You know your pecking order in LA when even the 4' 4" celebrities turn down your drink offer. Here's a pic of Deep Roy taken at some point before he snubbed us:
The next day, I was invited to Houstons for a birthday brunch for my friend Clint. Houstons, while being nice and classy, is a chain restaurant. In NYC, no one seems to go to chain restaurants. My friends and I would marvel at the tourists on line to get into the NYC Olive Garden. Who the fuck goes to New York and eats at the Olive Garden? But out here, there's no point in wasting precious sunny-time to go looking for some out of the way bistro, so Houstons it was. The food was actually great. Actor Owen Wilson was there. And Brian Setzer, from the Stray Cats, was at the next table. Houstons is hopping! After the birthday ice-cream arrived, Brian came over and wished Clint a happy birthday. It would have been cool if he sang it. Here is a picture of Brian Setzer taken at some point before he was chowing down at Houstons:
Clint scored tickets, and backstage passes, for the Ladytron show at the Ford Theater. It was a great show at a terrific outdoor venue. He got the passes because he produced the videos for the opening band, CSS. They're a fun-loving Brazilian group out of San Paulo. Their full name is Portuguese for "Tired of Being Sexy." I'm a new fan after seeing their show.
In other news, my PowerBook G4 has broken down so often that Apple has agreed to swap it out for the new MacBook Pro laptop. Whoo Hooo! Until it arrives, I imagine my blog posts will continue to be spotty.
I've been living in a Marriott hotel since I arrived. My stuff doesn't get here from NYC until February, so I found a sublet until then which starts in about a week. It's a guest cottage right on the Venice Canals. It's a beautiful area and I feel very lucky to be able to live there, even for a short while. Here's a picture of the Venice Canals taken at some point before I got my apartment there:
Not too shabby, huh? I'll post some pics of my own once I settle in. Off to Houstons. Bye.
The Co-Chair of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children is caught sending sexually explicit instant messages to young male pages...
...and the House Majority Leader weighing in on the issue is named Boehner?
Who's writing this stuff?
Geez, I haven't written anything here in awhile. Guess that's because so much has been going on and I've been pretty busy. Hmmm, that's precisely when I should be updating this thing isn't it? Well, here's what's kept me away...
After freelancing for four years, I've accepted a full time writing gig at Ground Zero, Los Angeles. (www.groundzero.net). I went out there to freelance for a few weeks and it felt like a great fit. Not sure when exactly I'll be going back out to LA for my official first day. I have to sort out some things here in NYC first (apartment, etc.) but I expect I'll be out there again within a few weeks. Until then, if you're in NYC and want to hang out before I take off, drop me a line. Assuming I know you that is, it's not a good time for me to start new friendships, I'm leaving soon, and I'd only end up hurting you.
I dropped my cell phone in the jacuzzi yesterday.
If you have Sprint, and plan on dropping your phone in a jacuzzi, I highly recommend Sanyo's Katana phone. Mine still works.
The second episode of my "Night Light Theater" film project made it into the top 10 of the Huffington Post's Contagious Festival for August. That means it stands a chance of winning the Jury Prize. Considering the contest tends to reward projects which are political or viral, I don't think my chances are very good. But, I'm glad to place in the upper ranks.
Speaking of Huffington Post. Check out this little short which features Arianna Huffington herself. It's a little dated, but still worth checking out:
When ad agency Ground Zero called me to come out from NYC to LA for a freelance assignment, with a presentation date of September 11th, I had to throw my own 9/11 reference into the mix and say "let's roll."
Ground Zero's a terrific agency with a long reputation of doing fun, smart, and innovative work, so I was psyched when they tapped me to freelance towards a possible full-time gig. I've been out here a few days now and it's been a cool experience so far. There's a great vibe around the agency and you can tell everyone really enjoys working with each other. They've teamed me with a partner whom I hit it off with right away, so we were able to hit the ground running on our first assignment. The place is in Marina Del Rey, a short bike ride (no car yet) to Venice Beach.
Got to go now. It's 90 degrees and sunny, so I'm headed down to the beach. In the meantime, check out this cool site one of the art directors here turned me on to - it's this artist who turns children's drawings of monsters into real ones. Pretty cool.
The other day I received a postcard from The Netherlands. All that was written on it was "High from Amsterdam." I noticed the stamp, which had been postmarked, was a bit thick and puffy. Peeling it back revealed a postage-stamp-sized block of hash.
Ingenious.
Delicious.
Anonymous? Not really, I have my suspicions.
Today I was having brunch with some friends at one of my favorite places, Le Gamin. Looking out the window, we saw an unusual sight. There was a female clown, hurriedly packing the trunk of her car with clown props and costume accoutrements. She was wearing most of her clown outfit already, and her painted face showed signs of panic, as if she was late or something. An older gentleman was helping her get her big clown shoes and stuff into the trunk. I thought it was odd that a clown was having trouble fitting stuff into a car's trunk, when dozens of them seem able to fit inside a car itself.
Anyway, she probably felt really stupid rushing to get to work once she realized today is Saturday. It's not a work day. All that pancake make-up for nothing.
The Holocaust. Without doubt, one of the worst atrocities man ever committed against man in human history. We've all seen the horrific images of Jews starving away in concentration camps. But one has to imagine, there must have been one week there when everybody looked really, really hot. Folks walking around with 2% body fat. It must have been impossible for them to keep their hands off each other. Maybe that's why they had to separate the men and women. It was becoming a sex farm.
But seriously, my own family has dealt with Jewish persecution. In fact, when my great-great grandparents came thru Ellis Island, they changed their last name to avoid anti-Jewish sentiment in the New World. They chose "Greenspan," the name I have now. They just felt it was less Jewish sounding than their original last name - "Kyke."
Okay now, these jokes might have you branding me as some sort of anti-semite. And whatever else I do will now be filtered through that opinion of yours. That could be dangerous.
For instance, take a look at Mel Gibson. Everyone's wondering is he anti-semetic? The media keeps debating what his true feelings about the Jews are. Actors are taking full page ads out in Variety magazine distancing themselves from him and his Jew-hating diatribes. The public needs to know, is Mel Gibson anti-semetic? How does he really feel about the Jews?
While everyone's busy debating whether Mel's a Jew-hater or not, nobody seems overly bothered by the fact he's a FUCKING DRUNK DRIVER! This millionaire could afford to have TWO designated drivers waiting for him. Instead, he gets behind the wheel intoxicated, endangering innocent people's lives! What a schmuck. To me, that's a whole lot worse than being anti-semetic.
Mel's now pegged as an anti-semite. That gives him a free pass for whatever else he might do. Drunk driving? Anti-semite! Caught shoplifting? Yell out some derogatory words about the Jews, and problem solved. Now you're not a shoplifter, you're an anti-semite. What if he goes out and starts raping women in the town square? There goes Mel, that wacky anti-semite.
So, don't be bothered over whether my jokes make me an anti-semite or not. It's a distraction. It keeps you from realizing I could be something much, much worse.
Did my stand-up show tonight at Bowery Poetry Club. I got the gig after being "spotted" at a local open-mic. I had an AWESOME time, and the crowd seemed to as well. I was psyched to share the evening's bill with some terrific, and well-known, comedy and musical performers, including Mike Dobbins and Jason Trachtenberg of the The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players.
I hope to keep performing, and improving, my stand-up material. I'll keeps ya'll posted.
Some friends and I took the ferry out to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, to bike along the beach. It was a beautiful day, and a long fun ride. We peddled all the way to the Sandy Hook Lighthouse, the oldest working lighthouse in the U.S.A. The lighthouse is 242 years old. Our tour guide was roughly the same age.
Before the tour started, he warned us we'd be climbing a whopping 95 stairs to the top. He then warned us he'd have to make a few stops along the way to catch his breath, given he was "a bit older" than the tour group. At first, this sounded a bit cute and charming.
If you've ever been caught behind a slow moving elderly person, you know how frustrating it can be. It wasn't like we could breeze past him or anything. It was actually more comical than annoying. That is, until he veered off his "tour script" and started "improvising..."
(pointing towards some buildings lined up in ascending order)
"If you look out this window, you'll see a row of buildings. They kind of look like that Cingular commercial..."
(silence)
"The one with the signal bars that go up and up..."
(silence) (cough)
"You guys know that Cingular commercial? The one with the bars?..."
(group groans "Yessss.")
"Well, I get a kick out of it."
If Cingular is paying this guy for product placement, that's brilliant. If Cingular's competition is paying this guy to make Cingular appear even more annoying, that's even more brilliant.
On the way down, I thought maybe they could put in one of those motorized chairs that takes folks up and down staircases. Can they put one of those in a lighthouse?
All in all, it really was a wonderful day. Oh, we also stopped and gawked at a nude beach. Again, the Cingular commercial came to mind.
My excursions into the world of comedy consist mainly of performing improv and writing sketch. I've only tried stand-up a few times in my life. This past Sunday, I gave it another go at FaceBoyz Open Mike. It went really well! It was a good sized room, about 40 people, and they laughed (at the right places).
One of the other performers was Jessica Delfino. She's a terrific comic, and the organizer of Shitload of Stars, a monthly East Village variety show. She thought I did a great set and invited me to join this month's show. Not bad for my 4th time getting up there, huh? If you want to come down and see my 5th time trying stand-up, and some other cool acts (including Jessica's) the details are below:
Monday, Aug. 14th, 8 PM at Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery.
$5 suggested donation, which means it can be free.
Today, where I'm freelancing, some people were discussing the prevalence of female circumcision in Africa and how horrible it is. I don't see the big deal. Personally, I don't think women should have foreskin.
New York license plate AMG4910. Even though our time together was brief, I felt something special. I think you did too.
Maybe it was the way you ran that red light at the corner of 10th Street and Ave B. Or the indifference you showed when I slammed on my brakes and toppled off my bike. Whatever it was, I think some call it Kismet.
At first, I wasn't sure you even knew I existed. But when you drove away, even after I banged on your car to let you know my bike was a bit damaged, I knew you were just being coy. Our dance had begun. I was surprised to see you chose to stop at the next red light. I was even more surprised when I managed to catch up to you, since my brake was now stuck to my back tire.
Remember when I placed my bike directly in front of your car, so you couldn't pass? Oh wait, remember when YOU called the police? Adorable. You were even cuter when the police showed up and you explained how I was the one breaking the law by not wearing a helmet. That officer, holding back a laugh as he told you that law was only for children under 13, ruined an otherwise wonderful afternoon between us.
Things went down hill from there. I accidentally hit the other officer in the face while he was examining my bike, and got bike grease on his nose and eyes. And we both found out unless an officer SEES you run a red light, nothing can be done to you, even though there was a outdoor-restaurant full of witnesses at the corner who cheered me on as I raced to catch up to you. Alas, the officers, and ultimately I, had to let you go. You obviously needed to be free. I'll hold on to the receipt for my bike repairs, to remember you always.
P.S. Call me.
As some of you may already know, I've been working on a series of experimental, stop-motion comedy shorts - done with night lights.
I've collected a bunch of "character" night lights, and gathered together some terrific NYC improvisers (including folks from SNL's Weekend Update, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, VH1's Best Week Ever, The Daily Show, and Late Show with David Letterman) and recorded them as these personalities. Simple stop-motion and miniature sets bring the worlds to life.
The second installment is done and can be viewed in the Independent Projects section of my website. Or, take the easier way and just watch it below. Feel free to leave comments. Hope you enjoy it.
A couple of years ago, my dad was hospitalized. For awhile, it wasn't looking very good. It got to the point where I had to fly down to Florida to be with my family while he was in Intensive Care. During this time, my dad gave me what amounted to his "goodbye talk." I'm very happy to say he fully recovered.
The whole event now feels similar to when I leave work, and someone walks out with me and gives me a big "goodbye," only to wind up walking the same way as me. We'll be standing together at the corner, waiting for the light to change or something, it's so awkward. We've already said goodbye. We're not gonna start up a whole new conversation. We just stand there like dorks. Worse is when they walk the same way as me for a block or two, at the same pace. I usually just stop and fix my sock or something and let them pass. Some people really know how to ruin a "goodbye."
So, my dad's goodbye was a bit awkward, but I'm glad his parting chat was positive. I sometimes imagine what it would have been like if he said: "I've never approved of you, or the way you've led your life. And why couldn't you have been taller?" and then recovered. That would have been REALLY awkward.
Speaking of awkward moments, check out my friend Hunter Fine's book, OK Then, See You Later. Useful Awkward Phrases to Make People Feel Uncomfortable Around You. It's chock full of ideas to help you create your own.
Dear Gentle Readers:
I had this idea where I'd make a t-shirt which read "Don't mess with me, or I'll blog about you." I'd wear this shirt for a week and any jackass, inept customer service folk, or just plain mean person I encountered - I'd document their lameness on my blog. I promptly relaized I'd never do this, but some friends liked the t-shirt idea.
Threadless is a website that allows anyone to submit a design or slogan for a t-shirt. If enough people give your idea a "yay" vote, they'll print them up and sell them on their website. I submitted this sogan, and it's up on their site while it gets voted on.
If you like the shirt idea, I'd sure appreciate if you'd visit my Threadless profile page to vote. You won't see the voting buttons unless you register first, but that literally takes less than a minute. Swear.
Thanks.
I can't understand how people can walk by a homeless decorative pillow on the street and do nothing to try and help.
All too often, these pillows are given as a well-meaning Christmas or birthday present, only to be tossed away when the "fun" wears off and the responsibility they require sets in.
I work with a local rescue group, so if you'd like to open your home to this plush little guy, please contact me. He's quiet, colorful, and seems to be a mix of 60% goose down, 37% Polyester, and 3% urine.
Pic taken on NYC street
The next day, I was invited to Houstons for a birthday brunch for my friend Clint. Houstons, while being nice and classy, is a chain restaurant. In NYC, no one seems to go to chain restaurants. My friends and I would marvel at the tourists on line to get into the NYC Olive Garden. Who the fuck goes to New York and eats at the Olive Garden? But out here, there's no point in wasting precious sunny-time to go looking for some out of the way bistro, so Houstons it was. The food was actually great. Actor Owen Wilson was there. And Brian Setzer, from the Stray Cats, was at the next table. Houstons is hopping! After the birthday ice-cream arrived, Brian came over and wished Clint a happy birthday. It would have been cool if he sang it. Here is a picture of Brian Setzer taken at some point before he was chowing down at Houstons:
