Hot in Studio City

It's rainy here in the San Fernando Valley. My friend Lucy came down from San Francisco. She's never been to a taping so I rustled up some tickets to a taping of Hot in Cleveland. Tapings are fun to a certain extent, but they're long and usually during dinner, and if the show provides food, which HIC did, it's not necessarily appetizing, which it wasn't.
At a taping of a multicamera show, the audience is entertained between takes by a comedian. Thankfully, HIC doesn't employ the same guy I've seen at a bunch of other tapings. This guy was frantic but funny, and at the end he ran a little game where whoever guessed the most number of TV theme songs correctly won their choice of a HIC script signed by the cast (including Betty White) or a sliver of the Wheel of Fortune wheel signed by Sajak. I wasn't one of the first contestants, and I didn't know some of the songs, but someone finally got 30 Rock wrong, and I raised my hand, and he called on me.
And I never got a song wrong after that. Thankfully, all the songs I didn't know eventually said their name in the title, so I got lucky because I didn't answer until it came. So I won and I got the script. Because come on. They didn't get a SAG ensemble nod for nothing. Also, when the Friends song played, I did the hand clap, and the comedian then made me do it, like, two more times.

Also, we had lunch at Hatfield's. Rec'd.

favorite things of 2010

It's been an unusually long year, and yet I've accomplished so little.

Some of my favorite things of the year.

Books: Running in the Family, Salt and Saffron, Await Your Reply, The City and the City, several plays, Elif Batuman's The Possessed, Manhood for Amateurs, The Little Stranger, and The Helmet of Horror
I'm currently reading Never Let Me Go, which might make the list.

Movies: The Kids are All Right, Black Swan, Toy Story 3, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
The King's Speech and Blue Valentine were also great, performance-wise.
I liked 127 Hours but didn't find it, you know, magical.

TV: Community, Luther, Raising Hope, Huge (RIP), crazy Spartacus: Blood and Sand and The Pillars of the Earth, Curb Your Enthusiasm (thanks, TV Guide Channel)
I am not going to mention the numerous shows I liked that got canceled this year, except for the one that also just started this year.

Music: Mumford & Sons, Florence & the Machine, Duffy (I really got into her this year), Broken Bells, Band of Horses' Laredo. Honorable mention: Neon Trees and The Black Keys (Tighten Up is good, but there's just something about that song that feels incomplete/too similar to Cee Lo Green)

I hate that Lady Antebellum song. HATE.

places: Lake Hollywood, Larchmont Village, Toluca Lake (my new residence), San Diego (first time I've visited), Grauman's, Quality Meats, Sweetsalt, The Thrilling Adventure Hour, Twitter games

et cetera: the New York TV Festival, the Norwegian Let It Be video, AFI Fest, DeLoreans, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, making my own ice cream, the Groundlings, seeing Persons Unknown cast members in my neighborhood

thanks to Walking Dead

I had a dream last night that a group of people and I had finally found our way to a coastal area free of zombies. Suddenly, massive amounts of survivors appeared and their loud presence attracted a literal wave of zombies. They were walking out of the ocean towards us. I started climbing this cliff, no longer afraid of heights, and, as I was waking in a panic, I thought, "Can zombies swim?"

My biggest problem with The Walking Dead, in terms of zombie development, is the explanation of zombies' motor skills. I understand they have to be able to climb stairs and ladders or else escaping zombies would be super easy, but if you start explaining the "science" of zombies, like happened in the finale of this season, you get into murky territory. I've read that, theoretically, zombies wouldn't be able to swim, but since they don't need to breathe, they can walk under water until the water has a degrading effect on the body. So my dream was accurate before my knowledge.

But that still doesn't answer a fundamental question...
Can zombies do jumping jacks?

today

Today I found the Lake Hollywood Reservoir, the pristine gated lake hidden in the hills. You can walk partway round the Reservoir and end at the Mulholland Dam which has the goshdarn prettiest view of the Hollywood Sign there is. I parked at the North Gate, so my roundtrip walk was 4.6 miles, but if park at the East Gate (the one that's actually open), the walk's only 3.2 miles. Even with the big wire fence, I highly recommend it.

Tonight I saw a screening of David Cianfrance's Blue Valentine, which is a very layered and short-story-ish movie that I quite liked. Ryan Gosling is particularly excellent, and as soon as the soundtrack is on iTunes, I'm totally buying his version of "You Always Hurt the One You Love."

details, malaise

Today is two days after Thanksgiving.
I had my dinner with my roommate, her boyfriend, her brother, and her brother's wife at her brother's apartment in WeHo. The food was fantastic, and we watched old SNL episodes. The sparkling grape juice was a revelation.
I bought jeans 1/2 off Friday morning, so now I own three pairs of jeans. This is a remarkable feat. Then I bought a Best of Prince album off Amazon for five bucks because I only had Kiss and 1999. I used to be afraid of Prince. I still am a little bit.
I bought China Mieville's Kraken at Bookstar in Studio City today because I had coupons and my grandma's discount card and I'm a cheap sumbitch.
I bought groceries.

My hands will smell like gingerbread pretty much for the next few months because I have a gingerbread man-shaped bar of soap. If you are wondering if it is also brown and decorated, yes.

Yesterday I put up my fake Christmas tree with a single string of lights and seven ornaments. I wrote Christmas cards today and watched a TV Christmas movie with James Van Der Beek. Now I'm writing my name into bookplate stickers for books I do not own.

Tomorrow is my father's 61st birthday.

I have retro-orbital pain. Maybe I have dengue... or a sinus infection.

Question of the hour:

So I saw a vanity plate today that said Water Bunny. Okay, it was missing a few letters, but that was what it was supposed to be. I don't get it. What's a water bunny? Is it like a beach bunny, but one who spends all her time in the ocean? How would you know she's a "bunny" then? You're not seeing the bikini, she's not playing volleyball or tanning, or any typical "bunny" activity.

Also, where does the expression beach bunny even come from? Does it have something to do with the Playboy bunny? Is it because bunnies are supposedly cute, and the girls lounging at the beach remind people of cute, little rabbits hopping around? I don't understand the original term, so this variation is even more confusing. Anyone care to enlighten me?

Read this:

Zadie Smith's article in the New York Review of Books about Facebook. I don't 100% agree with her on everything, and I'm not canceling my Facebook account anytime soon, but it's thought-provoking.

something to look forward to

It's that time of year again. Oscar-bait time! Whoo!

I'm really excited about a few films. I already have plans to see Due Date next week and Black Swan at AFI Fest. I'm most interested in:

Blue Valentine
The King's Speech
Somewhere (despite my dislike of Coppola)
The Illusionist (animated, by same people who did The Triplets of Belleville)

More commercial fare:
Unstoppable
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
The Tourist
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

I'm also semi-interested in 127 Hours, Morning Glory, and, if they did a better trailer, Tangled.

What are you looking forward to? I know I should be including True Grit, but, honestly, it doesn't excite me that much.

Halloween dreams

I had this atrocious dream last night that I was in some kind of party/toy store where there was a remote control T-rex in some kind of vehicle that was voice-operated by someone else in the store, and it was totally harassing me. So I ran around the store trying to escape from it while everyone in the store conspired to have it come after me, even when I hid in a closet. For some reason, Amy Adams showed up and was like, if anyone's gonna be a wuss and hide in there, it should be me. Her argument did not carry a lot of water.

I also had a weird falling dream where I was in the many thousand-mile long race along mountains and I (third-person me, I think) slid down a mountain and my estranged father (played by Tim Daly in this dream) came down after me, and we had hit the part where we were falling slowly through this icy landscape instead of sliding, and this guy had also chucked him off the mountain to save us, but he brought a stretch of fabric that, when he reached us (gravity impossibility), we'd grab one side and he'd grab the other, and it made a parachute. So we lived. I don't remember anything after that except really connecting with Tim Daly.

bad chef, good ice cream

I have a small, wonderful ice cream maker. I didn't buy it. It was a gift.
I also have Perfect Scoop, an ice cream book written by the incomparable David Lebovitz.

From that book, I recently made a batch of peppermint white chocolate ice cream with a couple of twists because I didn't have the proper ingredients (i.e., milk). It came out amazing anyhow.

6-8 ounces a bag of white chocolate chips

1 pint heavy cream

1/2 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon peppermint extract

3 large egg yolks

1. Set the white chocolate in a large bowl and set a mesh strainer over the top.

2. In a medium-sized saucepan, heat the heavy cream, sugar, and peppermint extract.

3. Whisk together the egg yolks in a small bowl and gradually whisk in half of the warmed liquid, then scrape the warmed yolks back into the saucepan.

4. Cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly with a heatproof utensil, until the mixture thickens and coats the utensil. I'm not sure how long to do this for and I was concerned I took it off too early, even when there was a thin coat on my spatula.

5. Immediately pour the custard through the strainer into the white chocolate and stir until smooth. I had added a handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips in with my white chocolate chips, and they didn't smooth out. It worked out fine.

6. Chill thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The half-melted semi-sweet chocolate chips will glob a bit at the bottom, but just scrape that in too. It will add a nice fine chocolate chip texture to the ice cream.

Your ice cream is not for presentation but for taste--light, creamy, minty, smooth, white chocolate and chocolate, it's delicious. But the mixture of the white chocolate and semi-sweet makes it gray and hideous. Just trust me on this, though. It's yum and a good way to hold off cravings for Haagen-Dazs's seasonal Peppermint Bark ice cream.

best thing about Freedom

If I'm ever famous and you decide to steal my glasses and run away, a la Franzenfest, you best get away because if the coppers catch ya, I won't press charges, but I WILL go to your house and make you tell your mom what you did. With a camera crew filming it.

Actually, my favorite part of this is that the glasses-nappers left a Hotmail address. You know what that says about you.

songs of the year so far

I've been listening to a lot of British garage rock recently, but I just wanted to share some of my favorite songs of the year so far. Some of them aren't from 2010--I just discovered them this year. So, enjoy.

Little Lion Man by Mumford & Sons
The High Road by Broken Bells
Light of the Morning by Band of Skulls
Cosmic Love by Florence and the Machine (I like it better than Dog Days Are Over, has overtones of Bjork)
Mas Que Nada by Sergio Mendes feat. the Black-Eyed Peas
Laredo by Band of Horses
Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys (I really only like her part, but it's still great)
Kings and Queens by 30 Seconds to Mars (I got the video right after Christmas of '09, so it counts; This is War is also pretty great)
How You Like Me Now by The Heavy
Sweet Disposition by the Temper Trap

I've also continued to love Duffy, Muse(mostly), MGMT, Phoenix, and Weezer (despite myself).

What about y'all? What are you listening to?

I had the craziest dreams last night. We had these donkeys on a cart, and they came to this bridge that hadn't been built yet, but if you had some interns suddenly appear by their side, the donkeys were too worried about what that meant to notice there was no bridge and were able to walk through the air to the other side. As were, oddly, the interns, as if the donkeys were capable of changing reality. Amazing. Also, the place I was in was actually at the edge of the earth and you could step from earth into space for a moment. Your foot would go numb briefly, but it wasn't dangerous. Some scientists has been commissioned to study the exact edge of the earth, which was made up of special, unusual substances. Finally, I watched a great rift occur, which just consisted of a line of earth shooting upwards in great puffs through this village/vineyard area.
Other stuff happened, but that's all I remembered when I woke up. I tend to have fairly repetitive dreams, so this was a whole new thing that does not appear to have been much influenced by anything I've watched or read lately. Bizarre.

in praise of miniseries

I love a good miniseries. There are not many miniseries in any given year, and most of the ones we do get are on premium cable channels or come from overseas, so I often don't get to see them until they come out on DVD. What's fantastic about them is that you never EVER have to worry about it being canceled midway or that the writers don't know what they're doing. Most of the time, miniseries are based on books too, typically classics, which is an added benefit for people who care about things like plot. And if you haven't read the book and you enjoy the miniseries, you can go read the book. I just bought Pillars of the Earth for that exact reason.

The other great thing about miniseries is that they often get top actors who might shy away from doing a regular series with an uncertain run.

Here's a list of some of the miniseries I have seen and enjoyed:

Pillars of the Earth (naturally)
Little Dorrit (I'm halfway through it right now, but so far so good)
Syfy's Alice (particularly Andrew Lee Potts)
Band of Brothers
The 10th Kingdom (very cheesy, but enjoyable)
Pride and Prejudice (Colin Firth!)
Emma (the Romola Garai one)
State of Play
Angels in America
Dune and Children of Dune
Jekyll
Elizabeth I (I'm 99% sure I watched this in grad school and liked it, but it's hard to keep track of all the Elizabeth stuff that has come out during my lifetime)
I think I also liked parts of Mists of Avalon.

The Stand was bizarre, and most of Syfy's miniseries are, well, best not to talk about them too much.
I also don't remember thinking too highly of the '98 miniseries Merlin.

I don't count Planet Earth, though that was incredible, because it's more a doc series.

There are plenty I haven't seen that I want to, like The Pacific, Roots (want to read the book first), Tsunami: The Aftermath, John Adams, The Thorn Birds, Gideon's Daughter, Brideshead Revisited, Jane Eyre (2009) and so forth.

Anyone have any suggestions or recs?
And, yes, I would love to write a miniseries some day.

Burbank Times police blotter

I was just eating yogurt at Menchie's and read a copy of the Burbank Times, and let me tell you, this city has the most interesting police blotter. Apparently, there are "Back Seat Bandits" terrorizing the parking lots of the area, stealing the third-row back seat of all cars with such a feature. Who knew? Also, some prostitutes hanging out at the local Quality Inn and some young women who tried to steal alcohol from the local Pavilions. Also, apparently my Bank of America branch was robbed recently, and the guy got away! I mean, there was no gunplay and only a couple thousand was stolen, but that's incredible to me. So, if you're ever in Burbank and bored, I absolutely recommend picking up a copy of the free Burbank Times for the fascinating and detailed police blotter. There's a lot of crazy stuff going on in my neighborhood.

I tweet

too much.

In fact, one of my tweets was quoted in Gawker last year.

They could have, like, told me.

4% shot at happiness

Screw grad school (for now).

things I like right now

Starz miniseries The Pillars of the Earth (hate that I have to read that now--book is friggin' huge)

all things Chris Hardwick

my reading list--go check the margin of this blog to see what I've been reading

that the cast of gone-too-soon Party Down continues to work in amazing stuff like Childrens Hospital, which is now on Comedy Central's Adult Swim and has already begun working on Season Three (Season Two premieres next month).

broccoli slaw

the short story I just finished writing (first draft)

lack of humidity in LA

the problem with writing a shell game...

Well, that should be obvious, shouldn't it?

incidence v. coincidence

Had a writing class dream last night in which I was a student and possibly the teacher. It's been a while, I think, since a writing dream.

The teacher brought out a bunch of stories that had, strangely enough, featured Nyquil, which seemed to be inappropriate to the time or place of the story. The teacher than brought up coincidence v. incidence, which was neither here nor there, I think, as far as the students' mistake, but it is an equally important issue. Great writing utilizes incidence in favor of coincidence every day and I sometimes forget that and write foolishly. It's good to know that, inside me, there's a far more clever writer than the one currently in play.

some of my best/fave tweets

I blew off a chance to be social this afternoon (the beach is sooooo far) and have decided to go through my 2,500+ tweets and bring you some of my faves. But just 2010, because, though I'm lame and crazy, I try not to be both at once.

time to unleash the flock of sheep in my brain. i keep them in close quarters in a small pen in the back of my thalamus. don't tell PETA. 11:24 PM Jul 3rd

if this whole writer thing doesn't work out, I guess I could always move to Thailand and sell cow placenta. Saturday, June 26, 2010 3:10:26 PM

If we're going by smell, my supervisor just microwaved a homeless person in the break room. 12:30 PM Jun 23rd

My eyes need resting. Don't know why. They don't do shit. 11:26 PM Jun 11th

people who couldn't be chefs because of their last names: John Ratzenberger. 10:37 AM Jun 8th

If you had to ID me just by my current stomach contents, you'd presume my name was Peter Peter and that I had a wife, but couldn't keep her. 1:53 PM Jun 7th

If someone is hospitalized in "grave condition" and doesn't die, I feel like the Grim Reaper got punk'd. Thursday, June 03, 2010 10:40:59 PM

Fabiola: feminant variant of Fabian, not an extra-ridiulous variant of Fabulous, like I was gonna guess. It may mean "one who grows beans." Saturday, May 15, 2010 3:31:28 PM

You complete m Saturday, May 15, 2010 2:44:36 PM

this is like 39 in my emotional 40 years in the desert 1:43 PM May 13th

Chocolate solves everything. If Kagan doesn't work out, we should appoint chocolate to the Supreme Court. Tuesday, May 11, 2010 4:53:24 PM

At la brea. Just heard a kid call a sabertooth a cybertooth. 4:26 PM May 1st

If you pronounce respite like it rhymes with cess pit, let's hang out. 5:12 PM Apr 27th

I don't have standards so much as everyone's gross. 4:13 PM Apr 25th

If "Pretzel Stand" was a perfume, I wouldn't just wear it, I'd buy it for all my friends. 9:40 PM Apr 23rd

Is getting seafood at the mall a bad idea? Well That's why my momma named me bad idea stevens. 7:14 PM Apr 23rd

water is no substitute for something that my body can convert into fat. 2:50 PM Apr 22nd

My calves are barking. That's right. So sore they don't even make a bovine noise. 3:29 PM Apr 16th

Mega Piranha, next weekend, on @SyFy. Honestly, any fish that size is gonna be scary. It could have been Mega Trout, same movie. 10:06 AM Apr 3rd

Leafy greens rhymes with beefy spleens. Coincidence? 12:50 PM Apr 1st

gonna get girl scout cookies today! yay! take a knee, diet. take a knee. 10:15 AM Mar 12th

I am not about to renege on a promise or flee my impending nuptials, so why are my feet so cold? 8:38 PM Mar 11th

Just sneezed a jellyfish. Sunday, February 28, 2010 6:00:33 PM

Ate too much the yo that is fro 2:17 PM Feb 27th

Latvia's trending? did they win a medal? or did Pattinson move there? 'cause I can't think of another reason for anyone to care. 10:28 PM Feb 23rd

whoa, Ted Danson's hair in Body Heat, whoa. Friday, February 19, 2010 8:29:07 PM

It's one of those soreness at the injection point kind of days. 11:51 AM Feb 6th

feels too crappy to eat solid foods. is there a thing called baby disease? 1:39 PM Feb 2nd

God forbid There's ever a fire at my apartment building. More cars park in front of the fire hydrant than you can shake a flaming stick at. 2:23 PM Jan 15th

Now the shower's off but She's still in the bathroom. Mutton faxer. 12:27 AM Jan 2nd

Rape victims take shorter showers than my roommate. For crying out loud. 12:14 AM Jan 2nd

think I'm belatedly jet-lagged. if i don't slap my face into my pillow soon, my face will never forgive me. face vengeance...shudder. 10:14 PM Jan 1st

conditions of the body, soul, living quarters

I have accepted my enemy as he is and decided to keep him close. My secondhand bookshelf that would not come together perfectly I have decided to keep and use in its unfinished condition. Three out of four screws will suffice, and the heavy books will go at the bottom. No fragile objects.

Saw Over Her Dead Body, which is a terrible movie for a variety of reasons. Something about Lake Bell's hair was particularly unpleasant. But I did like the talking bird at the end.

Also Toy Story 3 (and the short that came before). Simply fantastic. Best Animated Picture winner. Calling it now.

My friend who lives in Long Beach came up today and we talked for hours and ate food at restaurants I hadn't been to. I found a bed at Urban Habitat that I will buy when I win the lottery. It's crazy ornate, but I love it. My throat is sore from the unfamiliarity of talking so much, which is nice. Considering my roommate's gone till the 10th and I'll be alone till Wednesday night, having a friend around really helped.

Since I was a teenager, I've had this skin condition where my upper arms are quite bumpy because of an overproduction of keratin. The condition's called keratosis pilaris, and it's supposedly not uncommon, but I've never seen anyone with it. It's just a mild cosmetic issue, nothing too awful, but, boy, little, unalterable physical flaws have a way of breaking down your self-esteem in such a way that you sort of give up on the whole. I try to be healthy (and fail), but the idea of outer beauty is a real problem for me because of all these relatively insignificant but very present flaws like the KP that, even if I was slim and glistening, will never completely go away. I KNOW plenty of people have worse problems in their lives, but it's kind of a mind-fuck anyhow, I got to say.

Working on some ideas. Reading a billion things at once. C'est normal.

Hope everyone has a great weekend, and for those of you working like me, I have you in my heart.

fly in the soup

It might be 99% goodness, but boy can that fly just ruin things. I mean, I'm not a big fan of soup in general, but the metaphor stands. I've had some positive turns in the last few weeks but one really massive disappointment (for me) that just jacked the soup.

Gonna try to see Toy Story Cubed manana. And this 4th weekend, I'm gonna write like a maniac fueled by graphite and ink and Intel. Word(s) up.

ugh

I just realized I've only read a little over half as many books as I wanted to have read by this point this year.

Only two of the last 15 books I've read have been by women, but of the four (yes, four) books I'm in the middle of now, two are by women. Not a conscious decision, but I'm glad of it anyway.

Playing the waiting game for several things. Tiresome.

just once...

I would like a reality show contestant to say, "I AM here to make friends. Screw winning. I'm here to become lifelong bosom buddies with the whole gang here. Especially the dude who gets eliminated first. 'Cause that's got to be tough, and real friends are friends even when you're going through a rough patch. Check out the lanyards I made for everyone."

if I had three wishes...

I would wish for:

1) that everyone would use their turn signals every time they, you know, turned or changed lanes
2) that people wouldn't bail on me repeatedly, whether in life or on IM
3) that everyone suddenly develop an allergy to making and/or using weapons of any kind (except water guns and shurikens)

intense

I had this A-Team meets Harry Potter dream last night where magical forces were keeping all these kids in a school and I had to get them past trains and out of classrooms and so on. Also, in my dream, my recently-graduated-from-college sister had lost all her math skills and I was trying to reteach her addition, and, at one point, my whole family was in a bunk bed above me watching a horror movie and wouldn't turn it off, so I had to hum the Nutcracker to myself in the bottom bunk. For a long time.

I'm exhausted.

Scoundrels

My review.
I might be too nice.

the 'wood and update

Yesterday I took the subway (uneventfully, thank God) to the new W hotel at Hollywood and Vine. It's pretentious and pretty, so it works for that area I guess. My friend's in town for a bachelorette weekend and they're holing up there. We had lunch at Kitchen 24 and passed about a million World Cup fans at various bars shrieking and hollering. This was an hour before the England-USA game. So that was odd.

Have read some good books lately. Love my new apartment in West Toluca Lake, except for the screechy bed upstairs (I don't think they're getting down every night--I think the bed is just old and needs some oil or something). All my fellowships but one are done. Finally have DirecTv hooked up. And my white whale, a bookcase I bought secondhand and have been unable to put back together for over a week now, is sitting in my lovely bedroom taunting me like a professional.

In other news, Betty White is everywhere. One wonders if there isn't a Betty White clone or if future robots/aliens haven't infiltrated us, all looking like Betty White. We would be sitting ducks.

dream Emmy nods

I'm a little behind on Breaking Bad, Damages (who's still alive on that show?), and FNL, but that's okay. I'm going with what I loved this year, and if I couldn't think of enough to love, I went with people who'd been good the year prior (Glenn, for example).

Bones
Breaking Bad
Friday Night Lights
House
Lost
Trauma (I loved it, so deal)

Best Lead Male/Drama

Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)
Hugh Laurie (House)
Ian Somerhalder (The Vampire Diaries--seriously)
Jon Hamm (Mad Men)
Kyle Chandler (FNL)
Michael C Hall (Dexter)

Best Supporting Male/Drama

Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad)
Bruce Campbell (Burn Notice)
Michael Emerson (Lost)
Terry O'Quinn (Lost)
Tim DeKay (White Collar)
Zach Gilford (FNL)

Best Female/Drama

Anastasia Griffith (Trauma)
Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad)
Connie Britton (FNL)
Emily Deschanel (Bones)
Glenn Close (Damages)
Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife--haven't seen it, but I've heard good things, and it's hard to find lead females)

Best Supporting Female/Drama

Aimee Garcia (Trauma)
Chandra Wilson (Grey's Anatomy)
Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives)
Lindsay Price (Eastwick--probably counts as lead and there's no chance in hell, but she sparkles in everything she's in)
Lisa Edelstein (House)
Yunjin Kim (Lost)

Best Comedy

Better Off Ted
Chuck
Community
Cougar Town
Modern Family
Parks and Rec

Best Lead Male/Comedy

Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)
Jim Parsons (Big Bang)
Joel McHale (Community)
Neil Patrick Harris (HIMYM)
Ty Burrell (Modern Family)
Zachary Levi (Chuck)

Best Lead Female/Comedy

Amy Poehler (Parks and Rec)
Courtney Cox Arquette (Cougar Town)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (New Adventures of Old Christine)
Lindsey Shaw (10 Things I Hate About You)
Portia De Rossi (Better Off Ted)
Tina Fey (30 Rock)

Best Supporting Male/Comedy (toughest category by far--could have easily been five other guys)

Daniel Pudi (Community)
Donald Glover (Community)
Hamish Linklater (New Adventures of Old Christine)
Jonathan Slavin (Better Off Ted)
Nick Offerman (Parks and Rec)
Tracy Morgan (30 Rock)

Best Supporting Female/Comedy

Alyson Hannigan (HIMYM)
Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Rec)
Busy Phillips (Cougar Town)
Christa Miller (Cougar Town)
Jane Krakowski (30 Rock)
Jane Lynch (Glee/Party Down)

The good and the bad

The Good:

Lunch at Mimi's Cafe.
Iron Man 2 at Cinemarama Dome (the film's fun and entertaining).
Early dinner at The Waffle (Neil Flynn, aka The Janitor from Scrubs, was one of the only other people in there).

The Bad:

I have to drive my parents to LAX at about 4:00 in the morning. Ugh.

here in the Southland

So my parents are in town for the first time since I transplanted my person to the Coast that is West, which means being a total tourist.

Saturday we went to Aroma on Tujunga in Studio City for lunch where I created French Fry jenga with my mother, much to the joy of everyone present.

Then in the afternoon we hit the pits (La Brea, that is) and saw a crazy light installation at LACMA, where I totally fell and twisted my ankle.

Thanks to the wonders of physical therapy when I was in grad school, my ankle bounced back in a day, and it did not impede on the crazy itinerary I've set out for the 'rents. Then we had dinner at the Grove and saw The Thrilling Adventure Hour at Largo at Coronet, which EVERYONE SHOULD DO. It was AWESOME.

Sunday we went to the Getty Villa in the Palisades and then up to Malibu for lunch.
The Gettys have interesting taste.
The Chocolate Box Cafe at the Lumber Yard, btw, does not have good chocolate. In case you thought they might. That night we did the Hollywood/Highland thing.

Monday we drove to San Diego and stopped at Oceanside for lunch. Me gusta. We stayed at the Dana in Mission Bay, which is within walking distance of Sea World. Had dinner in Old Town, where I was finally converted to salsa consumption, and bought my dad's birthday and/or Christmas gift.

Also, I bought Mexican bingo. 'Cause why wouldn't I?

Tuesday we did Sea World. In line for one of the rides, some OC douche flicked a cigarette near a baby and the baby's dad confronted him, and there was nearly a brawl because, rather than apologize, the OC douche was like, oh, I should mouth off to a new father who kind of looks like he's in a gang or did jailtime. Seriously, some clothing came off. It was exhausting. I don't particularly like the concept of Sea World, but it didn't totally suck. Dinner was at Bread & Cie, which is in a bitch of a location for parking, but I quite enjoyed my turkey pesto sandwich.

Wednesday we drove back and stopped at the Mission San Juan Capistrano, which is where I would like to get married some day. We ate at El Adobe, which was fantastic, and then rested at home.

Today my wonderful roommate showed us around the Fox lot. We got lucky that the It's Always Sunny set was open and were permitted to walk on. I won't tell you what I saw (don't want to get anyone in trouble), but it was AWESOME. Well... maybe this photo is okay.

I'm psyched for the new season. Had lunch at Moe's (like the guy on The Simpsons) and bought a "It's Not Lupus" shirt from the studio store.

Went to Venice and walked around the canals, which are out of control gorgeous, and then hung out in Santa Monica, where I finally got the surfboard clock I've been wanting for two years.

Had dinner in Encino, came home and watched Iron Man in prep for manana (somehow my parents missed seeing it when it came out). And I'm almost positive I saw Spielberg drive past my street. I wouldn't bet a child's life on it, but maybe an old person who I didn't like too much.

So great week so far. Tomorrow is the last day. Then back to reality and all that awfulness.

the oil spill

When we play Russian roulette with our eco systems like we do with every offshore oil rig, we're not just biding our time until we mutilate our environment, we're also taking huge chances with the economies that depend on those environments. The Gulf's economy, what's left of it, is going to get screwed nine ways to Sunday by this spill. Even if you don't care about wildlife and think God put other living creatures on this planet for us to slaughter willy-nilly whether for food or fun, you should at least care about the way the spill is going to hurt the fishing and tourism industries. No one wants to swim in a wasteland or eat Maine lobster in the Big Easy. Anytime we put the environment in danger, we put ourselves in danger, period. So stop sneering at clean energy, Republicans, and understand that it's not just foreign oil we'd be smartest to stop depending on, but all oil. At the end of the day, offshore drilling is NOT worth the inevitable (and this spill was inevitable) price.

Martinique

My parents are coming tomorrow. Fellowship season is underway. I am not getting the amount of reading done required to finish 100 books in a year. Not that that's particularly important.

I've been reading Wideman's Martinique book, and I'm not loving it. His book is unfocused (purportedly on purpose) and he talks about Martinique almost solely through his lens of guilt at being "white" by being wealthy enough to go there as a tourist and having a Caucasian girlfriend. All of the history of slavery seems to converge upon the island, and he refuses to see a single islander as anything more than a byproduct of that terrible history. They do not appear to have any other qualities, and Wideman, so dismissive of fellow tourists, says he feels as if he is in a dream, yet I doubt the Martinicans feel this way, that they so box themselves in.
Yes, slavery is and its history remains a critical aspect of the development of Martinican culture, identity, and economic development, but it's not EVERYTHING. Germany and Germans are not all about Nazis. China and the Chinese are not all about Communism. Yes, the tourism industry with its catering to the upper-class, which in this case is largely European, can feel like not too far a leap from days prior. But Martinique is not the only place in the universe where a person's day job is to cater to someone of another race who has more money. This is practically universal. If you want to write a sociological study of tourism and what it means to Caribbean islands or Pacific islands or minorities in any given nation, do it. But don't throw all that weight on Martinique and call it a day.

I have to go to the gym, get my hair cut, clean my car, submit by CBS app, and go to Santa Monica today to pick up an air mattress and see Hot Tub Time Machine with a friend.

a good day

I had kind of a good day today. Did two hikes in the Walking L.A. book -- High Tower and Highland Bowl and the Whitley Heights one. Kind of killed me, but it was cool, and I also went to Lucky Devils for lunch, which was delicious. Found a Modern Library copy of Sons and Lovers in the giveaway cart at the Studio City library. May or may not go to a screening at the Fox lot tonight. Depends on if my exhaustion dissipates.

Goals this weekend: laundry, finish Modern Family spec, and go to the gym for a little bit. Maybe make some waffles since I accidentally bought 1% milk and I only drink skim...

regarding this awesome day

I love April Fools' Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!







Gotcha! I actually hate it.

Episode: Awesome

This blog is not going to be about reposting amazing videos, even though I've been doing that a lot lately. As soon as I do something interesting, I'll letcha know.
In the meantime...

AMAZING.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Weezer has no human friends, apparently

Do not watch this music video if you are on any illegal substances.

No, wait, scratch that. ONLY watch this music video if you are on illegal substances.

good/bad

It hasn't been the easiest month for me, what with burning my abdomen with boiling water and some other things, but there are reasons to smile.

Yay, health care reform! I never thought I'd see you! You're not exactly how I imagined, but I welcome you with open, surprised, insured arms anyway.

This NY Times article about David Simon and the upcoming HBO show Treme. Makes me wish I had HBO (as does The Pacific).

Art Plus Celebrity Tweets Equals Awesome.

So good!

And they include Firefly!

Breaking Bad blog

My friend Kate is a WA over at the ever-stellar Breaking Bad and is doing a blog for AMC as Marie Schrader, the sister-in-law on the show. Enjoy!

booked

Finished reading The City and The City. I feel about it the way Ashton Kutcher felt about Twitter before it became all mainstream and passe. Reading Lion's Honey now, which is less a reinterpretation than a laparoscopic look at the subtext of the story of Samson (the Old Testament being what it is).

I have a lot to do. Gah.

amusing dream

I had the weirdest dream last night that my stepdad was Vanna White's nanny on the set of Wheel of Fortune (and my stepdad's a little more Clint Eastwood, a little less Fran Drescher). At one point one of the kids slipped onto the stage and my stepdad had to run out and take the kid from Vanna. The camera closed in on him, he put the kid down, and looked into the camera... and started to speak Hawaiian (or some other Polynesian language). My stepdad's Polish/Russian, and I'm pretty sure this wasn't one of the episodes they do on the road, so that was particularly weird.

Also, and I say this with all due respect, suck it, James Cameron!

hooray!

My mom's coming to visit me! Probably late April, but I can't wait! She hasn't visited me since I've been out here, so it's super-exciting.

I'm reading The City and the City. I love the idea of it and the execution so far, but we'll see how it pans out.

Outlining a spec sitcom pilot. I'm definitely feeling it.

And of course more news to come...

in the good

I'm so happy my heart feels like it was tickled by the Easter Rabbit's whiskers and then hugged by Mrs. Claus.

I'll leak details as they trickle on through.

best pairs skating choreography ever would be...

If the guy threw the girl into the stands where someone caught her, threw her back, and the guy caught her again. Add a triple-something in there and you totally win the gold.

past is present and a bright satin bow

So I've made a decision about my future. I'm not gonna say what, in case it comes to nothing, but it made me read my MFA thesis again, and holy God. I can't imagine anyone reading that thing and not thinking the author was both genius and madwoman. Like, I should be on some major meds.

In any event...
a month and a half, 14 books. I think we know why I don't have a boyfriend.

Culver City

I've been to Culver City before, but not like today where it was the destination. And, much to my surprise, it's not a terrible place. I gazed lustily at Sony and just really enjoyed Washington Blvd. Stopped at Surfas, which seems to have developed fully-formed out of a chef's head, and got my mom a gift and a delicious biscuit at the cafe. Then a Valentine's pseudo-whoopie pie at Essential Chocolate Desserts. Amazing. Then I went to the Culver City Westfield mall and watched some strange people in retro orange and white gym outfits demonstrate an exercise device that attached to your door. I thought it was called Core Door, but I can't find it online. Anyhow.

I LOVE Sherman Oaks, but if I ever had to work Sony (and I would give all my fingernails to do so), I could handle the move.

Got a new roommate with the same name as me, except it's spelled differently. In fact, it's spelled more bizarrely than my way. Does that make me the normal one? Perhaps...

Feb. 1

Ten books down. Boo-yah!

Granted, none of them have been massive tomes or even the books I expected to finish, but I am wending my way through the Canongate Myth series, so that makes me happy.

I expect this month to read more of the Canongate Myth books, A House in Bali, Evia, T.C. Boyle's The Women, and hopefully The City and the City. Perhaps some others.

Also, Russell Brand wears boots with heels and is very, very skinny. And I think his favorite adjective is "pleasant"--he even used it to describe his fiancee.

That is all.

untitled

I'm going to admit it: I'm a sucker for a gimmick in a book. Not a formula, necessarily, but a gimmick in terms of structure. You have funny footnotes, Jasper Fforde? You got me. You wrote a book in the form of an online forum conversation, Victor Palevin? You got me.

Of course, this isn't always true. I read Sorrentino's all-questions book Gold Fools and hated it, didn't I? So I guess it's not a universal way of seducing me.

In any event, I mention it because I picked up Twilight of the Superheroes expecting something to do with, you know, superheroes. Maybe something like Alan Moore meets Michael Chabon. Not so much. People love these short stories, but of all the short story collections I've read recently, this one drags the most. And I'm wondering if it's because I was expecting or hoping for a gimmick. Sigh. Back to work.

the first four

15 days into 2010 and oy. I don't have to go into the personal dramas at home and work, let alone reiterate the insanity of the earthquake in Haiti and how quickly and beautifully most Americans have leapt to help (and how quickly and viciously a few have leapt to attack). We get the Earth we get.

So far I have managed to avoid cupcakes, though my other resolutions food-wise have faltered a bit. I've read four books this year, two from the Canongate Myths series, one a large photography book that almost doesn't count, and Agassi's autobiography. The latter is by far my favorite, and I urge any and all tennis fans to pick it up. Even if Agassi pissed you off, it's a fascinating read. I've been a fan of Baghdatis for years, so I appreciate the time Agassi spends talking about his last ATP match win, which was against him. How he talks about Rafter is also gratifying. If you're a big fan of Sampras, keep a cool head. As you can imagine, Agassi had a complex relationship with Pete.

I have to finish at least four more books in the next two weeks (I'm thinking The Water-Babies, Homage to Catalonia, The Helmet of Horror, and Twilight of the Superheroes), finish my Nick fellowship, go scream like an idiot from the Golden Globes grandstands on Sunday with Luce, and try once more to do an open mic. When I'm stressing and lost, I must remember that my problems are good problems to have.

41 is not 100

I finished reading 41 books last year. That doesn't include (a lot of) scripts, short stories, interviews, or books I partly read, but it does include books I started before 2008 and didn't finish until 2009. In any event, it's way less than 100. In any event, I have 717 books on my to-read list. A few of these are more "to own" reference books, but there's still well over 600 books I want to read, plus 16 in my so-called "currently reading" list. I've heard of people reading 100+ books in a year, and if I want to make a significant dent in my to-read list, which I do, I think I should shoot for 100 as well. Anything to take my mind off how little a dent I've put in my student or car loans.

So 100 books means 8 or 9 books a month. I have yet to finish a single book this year, so, along with my not-insignificant work and life goals, I have my work cut out for me. I think the first two books will be Homage to Catalonia and A Short History of Myth, then probably Water Babies, Shah of Shahs, and whatever the library sends me first from my holds list. That means I should read at least one of the many unread books I have at home. Since the Australian Open's coming up, that may mean Agassi's bio, Open. Can't wait!

'010

Calling this year '10 will be weird, so I think I'm gonna call it '010. Feel about that as you will.
I'm not gonna "resolve" anything, but there is stuff I am going to do this year.

1. Not eat cupcakes, ice cream (froyo is allowed), or anything from the vending machine at work, no matter how hungry I am. I should drop a bunch of weight right there. I'm considering no soda too. I've gone years w/out soda, I should be able to do it again.

2. Go someplace I haven't been before. This may be San Diego, Seattle, or Sydney. Doesn't matter, as long as it's an adventure.

3. Be me, do good, and try to figure it all out. No pressure.