September 2011
1 post
2 tags
August 2011
1 post
3 tags
Top Contributor
So I’m writing today and I decide to look up interesting road trip stories for inspiration. I type into google “worst thing road trip”. The first link is of course yahoo answers, which is always a bunch of baloney (amiright?) but I click anyway. The question is “What are the worst things that can happen on a road trip?” There are but 2 answers. The first answer...
June 2011
1 post
February 2011
1 post
January 2011
3 posts
check me out
http://youhaventseenbraveheart.tumblr.com/
:-)
September 2010
0 posts
Airtalk 8/31/10
One of today’s powerful topics on Larry Mantle’s daily KPCC call-in show “Airtalk” was How Do Smokers Deal with the Stigmatism of Smoking? Jennifer from Los Feliz (my turf) called in and described how, as a smoker/pregnant lady, she would have her partner walk ahead of her to protect(?) her from all the insults and disgust that the general public would cast in her and her...
August 2010
2 posts
July 2010
3 posts
on reducing junk mail:
Our mailboxes get stuffed with junk mail EVERY DAY! Personally, it angers me. RRRRRaaaarrrrrgggghhh!!!!
If it angers you too, check out how to stop the flow of junk mail.
From that website, here are some numbers to call:
888-5OPT OUT or 888-567-8688 to stop the four main credit bureaus from sending you offers.
Call list brokers and request to be removed from mailing lists: Acxiom...
4 tags
Recycling in LA County
It’s just one of those days when I can’t stop thinking about the Plastic Trash Vortex. I was reading the latest issue of edible Santa Barbara (courtesy of Haley), and got inspired by the article about what can and can not be recycled in Santa Barbara. It’s important to be aware of what can go in that big blue bin, not only because those items are trashed during sorting if they...
June 2010
4 posts
this just made me so happy →
May 2010
2 posts
April 2010
5 posts
Unique LA this weekend! →
This is something you should go to, especially if you enjoy crafts, jewelry, art, fun, clothes, and food. Which I’m pretty sure you DO!
4 tags
Film Review : "Eve's Necklace"
Last night I had the pleasure of viewing Eve’s Necklace at its Los Angeles premiere as part of the American Cinematheque’s film noir series. I was introduced to this film by one of my favorite partners in bizarre-film-going, Melissa, who frequent readers may remember from my adventures at Sundance this January. Melissa happened to be in town last night for the screening: double yay.
...
Club 33 →
When you wish upon a star, make sure to include something about getting on the list at secret Disney restaurants…
7 tags
The New Cup of Sugar/Ghosts of Your Career Future
Try to imagine yourself approaching an acquaintance, let’s say on the level of not knowing their last name, or only knowing for certain three basic facts about the person. This limits your acquaintance to your frequented grocery store check-out attendant, a mail delivery person at your job, or your dentist. Imagine yourself running into this person in a public place, and they greet you...
WatchI call this video “Alligator Man”.
From yesterday’s commercial shoot… I find this incredibly funny.
If you don’t find it funny, save it for a time when you’re good and sleep deprived, then enjoy…
February 2010
1 post
January 2010
33 posts
I. rode. the. L. A. SUBWAY!!!!!!!!!!!
I rode the godsdamn subway. In Los Angeles. The subway we have here. I rode it.
I must say it took a truly dire situation to force me to do this. Here’s that situation:
As I was exiting the plane I took from Salt Lake City, UT back home to Los Angeles, I called my darling boyfriend. (I do mean “as” : I was getting up from my seat and doing that awkward plane aisle...
bake sale for Haiti!
This Sunday, from 2 to 5, go to Scoops on Heliotrope and buy some treats! All money goes to Doctors without Borders.
More details here!
Day 7 - The End
I’m sitting in the Salt Lake City airport, waiting to be whisked away to L.A. (I love free internet!!) I wish I could have stayed until Sunday with Josh, but I have to start a job this week. But now that I’m leaving, I’m excited to return home.. The cold was pretty exhausting, along with the hustle of movie-going. One week of 20 degree weather is my pathetic limit, I...
"HIGH School"
Wowee! What a way to end my Sundance journey! We saw this film last night at midnight, and I was so tired walking to the Egyptian Theater that I thought about just going home and going to bed. I’m so glad I didn’t wimp out!
This one tells the story of a high school valedictorian named Henry, who smokes weed for the first time right before graduation. When the vengeful principal...
Sundance Volunteer of the Year
There’s a strange phenomenon that happens at Sundance : people talk to each other! I mean, immediately. You get in line, get on a shuttle, sit down for a film, and right away you’re talking to someone. Everyone wants to know what films you’ve seen and what you thought, why you’re here, what’s your story.. It’s amazing. I know I posted earlier about the...
"Casino Jack and the United States of Money"
Documentary on super(evil)-lobbyist Jack Abramoff and how he bought Congress. I thought this film was incredibly interesting and well made. Excellent content, unbelievable interviews, dramatic pacing.. I like!
It’s 2 hours long, but don’t let that hinder you from seeing it.. maybe they will cut it down a bit if it’s released. We saw it at 9pm, and I did doze off for a few...
"Welcome to the Rileys"
I should be able to bang out this review since I just finished watching it, but it’s proving a bit difficult.
Walking out of the theater, so many others in the audience were talking about Tony Soprano. Not James Gandolfini. Tony Soprano. I was thinking about him too. I’m so glad James Gandolfini is taking roles that aren’t like Tony Soprano, and actually doing very well in...
"Howl"
“Howl” is a film about Allen Ginsberg’s famous poem and the trial about it’s vulgar language and literary worth, basically the attempt to ban it from America.
I enjoyed precisely 50% of this film. If you see it, you’ll immediately know to which half I hated. If Ginsberg saw this film, he would be mortified. I daresay this film could not have been made while...
"Abel"
(Pronounced : Ah-BELL, but the “b” is soft and sounds like a “v”, which people who speak Spanish would know… not me. Said it wrong all week before I saw it.)
This was an adorable and well-constructed Mexican film about a little boy with an anxiety disorder.
The young actors in “Abel” were amazing. The adult actors in “Abel” were just...
"The Runaways"
I really enjoyed this film. It’s in the style of a classic bio-pic, only it focuses on the younger years of Joan Jett’s career. It’s not all about Joan Jett though. It’s based on a book Cherie Currie wrote about her beginnings in The Runaways, called “Neon Angel: The Cherie Currie Story”, which I didn’t know going into the film.
Dakota Fanning, who...
Day 6
This is my last full day at Sundance and I’m seeing 4 movies. I started out the day with “Howl”, and now I’m waiting for “Welcome to the Riley’s” to start. As luck would have it, someone on the bus randomly sold me this ticket as I was on my way to stand in the wait list line! So I will actually see the movie that Melissa and I were denied after being...
Day 5
After a few hours of sleep, we woke at 7am to get to an early screening of “The Runaways”! It was worth the sacrifice. However, now I’m exhausted.. I spent a good chunk of the afternoon trying to get in to “Holy Rollers”. Fail. Hopefully it will get released. We have 6:30pm tickets to “Abel”, which is exciting, but I’m hungry and tired and generally...
“Frozen”
– Now THIS is an indie low-budg film that makes me LOVE them!!
We saw the premiere of “Frozen” last night at midnight. I was going on 4 hours of sleep, but I was wide awake.
I knew this movie was going to be amazing, and it was. The director, Adam Green, is also responsible for the...
“Lovers of Hate”
– This is the kind of independent low-budget drama that makes me hate independent low-budget dramas. I keep talking about how big the movies are at Sundance (bigger budgets, big stars) but then I see a movie like “Lovers of Hate”. The acting was overdone, the cast didn’t fit the...
A few words about lines
Lines at Sundance are studies of human behavior. I keep thinking : “If only people cared as much about politics and their communities as they do about their place in line.” I’ve seen a(n) (over)grown woman call security on someone who butted in line. I’ve seen people try to push their way into a screening, claiming someone has a seat saved for them. Today, an...
Day 4 is going very well, indeed.
I came home and took a nap after that early screening. I decided to take a break and type up these reviews instead of trying to see “Blue Valentine”.
I’m glad I did, because we just got free tickets to “Lovers of Hate” this afternoon, and “Frozen” at midnight… AND : “The Runaways” at 8:30am tomorrow morning!!
So excited!! Full...
"Jack Goes Boating"
This was the film I saw at 9:15am today.
It was a play first, and it was directed by Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who also starred in it. At first I thought: “Oh this is going to be a PSH movie that’s quirky and has an indie-rock soundtrack, I get it.” And it was, but way better than I thought it would be! I was burying my head in my jacket, laughing so hard.. and I teared up at...
"Buried"
Second film : midnight movie. Starring Ryan Reynolds, and pretty much only Ryan Reynolds. It was a very intense movie, and it was a nail-biting experience just getting in to the theater.
We went out for dinner at 9pm, thinking we’d have plenty time to get to the 11:30pm movie. Dinner (at the Blind Dog, delicious) took way longer than we thought and we ended up trying to run to the...
"Night Catches Us"
This was the first movie I was able to see at Sundance.
It’s a fictional drama set in Philadelphia, 1976, and follows a group of former Black Panthers. It was… a movie. It made me think that I need to study the Black Panthers and re-familiarize myself with those events, because the film doesn’t really explain any history. Just a lot of stock footage throughout and a fantastic...
1 tag
Day 4
It’s 8:15ish here. I woke up at 7:45, despite my alarm being set at 6:45. I ran to the shuttle stop to get in line for “Jack Goes Boating.” I got in the wait list line, so there’s hope! Day 3 turned out amazing! Melissa and I ended up seeing “Night Catches Us” and a midnight screening of “Buried”, both courtesy of Josh calling headquarters and...
2 tags
Day 3 - great success!
Well, success preceded by enormous failure. Melissa and I got wait list tickets (#38 and #39) for “Welcome to the Rileys”, but arrived back to the line FIVE minutes late. Thus, we had to stay at the back of the line. They let in #s 1 to 40!! It was a devastating turn of events, and we were both fairly bummed.
However! Josh got us tickets to TWO screenings later today/tonight! Great...
end of Day 2
I didn’t end up even attempting to see a movie last night. Instead, we stayed in and cooked a delicious meal:
with our friends Marc and Melissa:
(Yes, that’s a flute of diet coke.)
This meal was/is/will be better than any meal we eat at any restaurant here. For some reason, as I’ve hinted at, all the restaurants here (save 2, maybe) are terrible.
The first year I was...
Denied!
Well, so much for “Hesher”.
After waiting in another line for almost an hour, no one from the wait list line made it in! Boo.
Maybe I’ll have better luck tonight. Now I have a date with some hot chocolate, excuse me.
Snow gear fails
Warm and comfortable are always in fashion for me in the cold winter mountains. Not so for some here at Sundance.. You’ll always see the guy in flip-flops and the girl in heels falling in dirty roadside slush. So far, my favorite snow gear fail is the girl I saw last night in the parking lot of FM(FA). She had thin leggings on that stopped mid-calf with red high-heeled sandals. That’s...
Day 1 recap
This is technically Day 2 for the festival and for me: opening ceremony was last night, right while I was arriving. Right while my plane was delayed and my shuttle to Park City was delayed.. We got to our cabin at 10pm.
Then we walked in the pretty snowfall to the "Fresh Market"! It was shocking.. This store has always been an Albertsons, and is a point of reference in the area, so much so that every map and sign says: "Fresh Market (formerly Albertsons)". Thankfully our cabin is very close to FM(FA), because the restaurants in Park City suck a big douchenozzle, but I'll get into that later..
Thus, my Day 1, after a long journey, ended with Annie's Mac+Cheese and 1/2 a beer, not a screening of "Howl". Ah well!
Ooh the line is moving! Looks like I'm getting my first ticket!!