Wrap Up

A lot has been going on. I had a great Christmas in Nashville. Ash and I had fun in PG for New Years, we got to hang with her family and her nieces and our friends for the most part. We didn't get up to Towson this time though. We're coming home again for Spring Break though hopefully.

On our plane from Phoenix to Burbank we rode with Dave Gruber Allen aka Mr. Jeff Rosso from "Freaks and Geeks" and The Naked Trucker from "The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show."



Also, at Big Wangs last Tuesday one of the characters from the show "Work Out" was there, Brian Peeler. That makes two "Work Out" characters we've seen out and about since we saw Jesse at Pinkberry a few months ago. Here's the Brian guy.



I have another movie that I wrote coming to DVD soon and the company sent me a screenshot of the DVD cover.



I hope the HIS praises that they're singing are God's and not Pastor Jones', the cover doesn't make that clear. It's like Pastor Jones, singing HIS praises. Hopefully this will be better than the Johnson Family disaster and I can show it to people and be proud of it, you know? According to Wal-Mart's website the release date is May 12, 2009 but I'll keep you updated.

In other film news I am almost done with another draft of my screenplay loosely based on the Cheverly pool. I hope to send this one to everybody I know and get it read. Best case scenario it could get me an agent, worst case no one cares. I'm hoping somewhere in between.

Alright, lots to do today but I'll leave you with this...

I watched 293 movies this year, falling short of my 366 movie goal. This year I'm just going to try and go for an even 300. Here's 2008's list:

Movies I’ve Seen in 2008

All The King’s Men (2006) Steve Zaillian
Wayne’s World (1992) Penelope Spheeris
Shooter (2007) Antoine Fuqua
Hoop Dreams (1994) Steve James
October Sky (1999) Joe Johnston
Murder By Numbers (2002) Barbet Schroeder
Superbad (2007) Greg Mottola
One Missed Call (2008) Eric Valette
Paris Je T’aime (2006) Various
The Break Up (2006) Peyton Reed
Blue Crush (2002) John Stockwell
Reservoir Dogs (1992) Quentin Tarantino
Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope (1977) George Lucas
Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Irvin Kershner
Idiocracy (2006) Mike Judge
Eastern Promises (2007) David Cronenberg
Big Fish (2003) Tim Burton
Do The Right Thing (1989) Spike Lee
Airplane! (1980) Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker
Huo Yuan Jia (2006) Ronny Yu
Gangs Of New York (2002) Martin Scorsese
Rushmore (1998) Wes Anderson
Dogville (2003) Lars von Trier
Hooked: The Legend of Demetrius “Hook” Mitchell (2003) William O’Neill, Michael Skolnik
There Will Be Blood (2007) Paul Thomas Anderson *
Cloverfield (2008) Matt Reeves *
The Godfather (1972) Francis Ford Coppola
The Departed (2006) Martin Scorsese
Manderlay (2005) Lars von Trier
Y Tu Mama Tambien (2002) Alfonso Cuaron
Swimming With Sharks (1994) George Huang
The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001) Joel Coen
3:10 To Yuma (2007) James Mangold *
The Big Lebowski (1998) Joel Coen
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) Brett Ratner
Eagle vs Shark (2007) Taika Cohen
Saved! (2004) Brian Dannelly
Rocket Science (2007) Jeffrey Blitz
Alpha Dog (2006) Nick Cassavetes
Wayne’s World 2 (1993) Stephen Surjik
Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi (1983) Richard Marguand
Juno (2007) Diablo Cody
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) Quentin Tarantino
Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) Quentin Tarantino
Barton Fink (1991) Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
The United States of Leland (2004) Matthew Ryan Hoge
The Elephant Man (1980) David Lynch
The King of Kong (2007) Seth Gordon
Visions of Light (1993) Arnold Glassman, Todd McCarthy
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Gunslinger (1993) Joel Hodgson
The Savages (2007) Tamara Jenkins
Hot Fuzz (2007) Edgar Wright
Blade Runner (1982) Ridley Scott
Unbreakable (2000) M. Night Shyamalan
Harold and Maude (1971) Hal Ashby
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) Tim Story
Dan In Real Life (2007) Peter Hedges
Gone Baby Gone (2007) Ben Affleck
Jumper (2008) Doug Liman
Diary of the Dead (2007) George A. Romero
X-Men (2000) Bryan Singer
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) Andrew Dominik
Once (2006) John Carney
Michael Clayton (2007) Tony Gilroy
We Own The Night (2007) James Gray
Trois Couleurs: Bleu (1993) Krzysztof Kieslowski
Michael Caine: Acting In Film (1989) Michael Caine
The Darjeeling Limited (2007) Wes Anderson
Saw IV (2007) Darren Lynn Bousman
The Limey (1999) Steven Soderbergh
Fargo (1996) Joel Coen
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters (2007) Matt Maiellaro, Dave Willis
Apocalypto (2006) Mel Gibson
Knocked Up (2007) Judd Apatow
A Simple Plan (1998) Sam Raimi
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) Anthony Minghella
Lust, Caution (2007) Ang Lee
No Country For Old Men (2007) Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Lars and the Real Girl (2007) Craig Gillespie
El Orfanato (2007) Juan Antonio Bayona
Awake (2007) Joby Harold
Rendition (2007) Gavin Hood
Sunshine (2007) Danny Boyle
The Amateurs (2005) Michael Traeger
American Movie (1999) Chris Smith
Southland Tales (2006) Richard Kelly
Borderland (2007) Zev Berman
Semi-Pro (2008) Ken Alterman
Bread and Roses (2000) Ken Loach
Best In Show (2000) Christopher Guest
Tooth and Nail (2007) Mark Young
O Brother Where Art Thou? (2000) Joel Coen
Into The Wild (2007) Sean Penn
Crazy Eights (2006) James Koya Jones
The Machinist (2004) Brad Anderson
Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006) Goran Dukic
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) Tim Burton
Breaking the Waves (1996) Lars von Trier
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007) Jake Kasdan
P2 (2007) Franck Khalfoun
Jackass Number Two (2006) Jeff Tremaine
The Lion King (1994) Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff
Atonement (2007) Joe Wright
The Baxter (2005) Michael Showalter
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) Nicholas Stoller * *
Alien (1979) Ridley Scott
Wet Hot American Summer (2001) David Wain
The School of Rock (2003) Richard Linklater
Smiley Face (2007) Gregg Araki
Bee Movie (2007) Steve Hickner, Simon J. Smith
Iron Man (2008) Jon Favreau
The Ruins (2008) Carter Smith
I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With (2005) Jeff Garlin
Teeth (2006) Mitchell Lichtenstein
Confessions of a Superhero (2007) Matt Ogens
Billy Madison (1995) Tamra Davis
Jim Gaffigan: Beyond the Pale (2005) Michael Drumm
American Cannibal (2006) Perry Grebin, Michael Nigro
Two Days in April (2006) Don Argott
Zach Galifianakis: Live at the Purple Onion (2006) Michael Blieden
American Pimp (2000) Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008) Andrew Adamson
I’m Not There (2007) Todd Haynes
Seven Up! (1964) Paul Almond
Seven Plus Seven (1971) Paul ALmond
Finding Neverland (2004) Marc Forster
Baby Mama (2008) Michael McCullers
Speed (1994) Jan De Bont
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) Steven Spielberg
What Happens in Vegas (2008) Tom Vaughan
Speed Racer (2008) The Wachowski Brothers
The Strangers (2008) Bryan Bertino
Mission Impossible III (2006) J.J. Abrams
Cassandra’s Dream (2007) Woody Allen
Elizabethtown (2005) Cameron Crowe
Sicko (2007) Michael Moore
The Wedding Singer (1998) Frank Coraci
Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (2005) Jim Sheridan
Pastor Jones 2: Help Save My Daughter (2006) Jean-Claude La Marre
Cashback (2006) Sean Ellis
The Happening (2008) M. Night Shyamalan
Pastor Jones 4: Sisters in Spirit 2 (2008) Jean-Claude La Marre
Hell House (2001) George Ratliff
Kung Fu Panda (2008) Mark Osborne, John Stevenson
Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show (2006) Ari Sandel
Funny Games (2007) Michael Haneke *
Horror Business (2006) Christopher P. Garetano
An Evening With Kevin Smith (2002) J.M. Kenny
Happiness (1998) Todd Solondz
An Evening With Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder (2006) J.M. Kenny
Be Kind Rewind (2008) Michel Gondry *
Super High Me (2007) Michael Blieden
The Grand (2007) Zak Penn
The Puffy Chair (2005) Jay Duplass
Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2007) Scott Glosserman
The Onion Movie (2008) Tom Kuntz, Mike Maguire
Small Town Gay Bar (2006) Malcolm Ingram
In Bruges (2008) Martin McDonagh
Almost Famous (2000) Cameron Crowe
Almost Heroes (1998) Christopher Guest
WALL-E (2008) Andrew Stanton *
Film Geek (2005) James Westby
Full Frontal (2002) Steven Soderbergh
Charlie Bartlett (2007) Jon Poll
Spun (2002) Jonas Akerlund
Wanted (2008) Timur Bekmambetov *
The Host (2006) Joon Ho Bong
Match Point (2005) Woody Allen
Drillbit Taylor (2008) Steven Brill
What Would Jesus Buy (2007) Rob VanAlkemade
Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs (2008) Peter Avanzino
The Ten (2006) David Wain
Saving Private Ryan (1998) Steven Spielberg
Jerry Maguire (1996) Cameron Crowe
Get Smart (2008) Peter Segal
The Mist (2007) Frank Darabont
300 (2007) Zack Snyder
Just Add Water (2007) Hart Bochner
Vanilla Sky (2001) Cameron Crowe
Dreams On Spec (2007) Daniel Snyder
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) Robert Rodriguez
Johnson Family Dinner (2008) Jamison Brandi
Dan in Real Life (2007) Peter Hedges
In The Valley of Elah (2007) Paul Haggis
Saw II (2005) Darren Lynn Bousman
Solaris (2002) Steven Soderbergh
My Kid Could Paint That (2007) Amir Bar-Lev
Dreamcatcher (2003) Lawrence Kasdan
Pineapple Express (2008) David Gordon Green
Boyz N Da Hood (1991) John Singleton
Doomsday (2008) Neil Marshall
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) Peter Jackson
Space Jam (1996) Joe Pytka
Overnight (2003) Tony Montana, Mark Brian Smith
Step Brothers (2008) Adam McKay
Stop-Loss (2008) Kimberly Peirce
Beowulf (2007) Robert Zemeckis
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Peter Jackson
George Washington (2000) David Gordon Green
Jurassic Park (1993) Steven Spielberg
Beverly Hills Ninja (1997) Dennis Dugan
Gerry (2002) Gus Van Sant
All The Real Girls (2003) David Gordon Green
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) Steven Spielberg
Smart People (2008) Noam Murro
Risky Business (1983) Paul Brickman
Lucky # Slevin (2006) Paul McGuigan
Hellboy (2004) Guillermo del Toro
Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008) Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg
Tropic Thunder (2008) Ben Stiller
The Life Before Her Eyes (2007) Vadim Perelman
The Family Stone (2005) Thomas Bezucha
Matchstick Men (2003) Ridley Scott
The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning (2008) Peggy Holmes
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) Michel Gondry
21 (2008) Robert Luketic
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) Joel Coen
Baby Mama (2008) Michael McCullers
Outsourced (2006) John Jeffcoat
Changing Lanes (2002) Roger Michell
Jurassic Park III (2001) Joe Johnston
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) Peter Jackson
Postal (2007) Uwe Boll
Son of Rambow (2007) Garth Jennings
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) Alex Gibney
Burn After Reading (2008) Joel and Ethan Coen
Snow Angels (2007) David Gordon Green
Heart and Souls (1993) Ron Underwood
Clerks (1994) Kevin Smith
South of Pico (2007) Ernst Gossner
Eagle Eye (2008) DJ Caruso
The Foot Fist Way (2006) Jody Hill
Hot Rod (2007) Akiva Schaffer
Choke (2008) Clark Gregg
The Heartbreak Kid (2007) Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Bigger, Stronger, Faster (2008) Chris Bell
Cabin Fever (2003) Eli Roth
Batman (1989) Tim Burton
Jackie Brown (1997) Quentin Tarantino
You Don’t Mess With The Zohan (2008) Dennis Dugan
Enchanted (2007) Kevin Lima
Masters of Horror: Dario Argento: Jenifer (2006) Dario Argento
Paranoid Park (2007) Gus Van Sant
The Eye (2007) Xavier Palud
Bad Boys (1995) Michael Bay
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (2005) Robert Greenwald
Young @ Heart (2007) Stephen Walker
W. (2008) Oliver Stone
Saw V (2008) David Hackl
Synecdoche, New York (2008) Charlie Kaufman
Fracture (2007) Gregory Hoblit
Run, Fat Boy, Run (2008) David Schwimmer
Role Models (2008) David Wain
Body Of Lies (2008) Ridley Scott
Good Luck Chuck (2007) Mark Helfrich
CQ (2002) Roman Coppola
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) Wes Anderson
The Promotion (2008) Steve Conrad
Batman Returns (1992) Tim Burton
Johnson Family Christmas Dinner (2008) Eurika Pratts *
Vantage Point (2007) Pete Travis
The Morgan Lacrosse Story (2008) Luke David
Mean Girls (2004) Mark S. Waters
Freddy Vs. Jason (2003) Ronny Yu
Milk (2008) Gus Van Sant
The Incredible Hulk (2008) Louis Leterrier
Groundhog Day (1993) Harold Ramis
Horton Hears a Who (2008) Steve Martino
Monster (2003) Patty Jenkins
Four Christmases (2008) Seth Gordon
All About the Benjamins (2002) Kevin Bray
The Year One (2009, advanced screening) Harold Ramis
I Love You, Man (2009, advanced screening) John Hamburg
Sin City (2005) Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez
The Dark Knight (2008) Christopher Nolan *
American Teen (2008) Nanette Burstein
Transporter 2 (2005) Louis Leterrier
Transporter 3 (2008) Olivier Megaton
Bolt (2008) Byron Howard
The House Bunny (2008) Fred Wolf
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) David Fincher
Bedtime Stories (2008) Adam Shankman

* = multiple viewings

It's weird/ cool, I can remember what was going on in my life around those movies. Like the LAFSC era, seeing Iron Man right before going back to MD for a month. Seeing Kung Fu Panda at the Paramount studio lot with my roommate before Ashlea moved out here. Good stuff.

This was a very long post.

It isn't the end of the year yet but I think I have fallen short of my goal of watching 366 movies this year. I haven't totaled it all up yet since I've seen a couple movies multiple times (Wall-E, Funny Games, Wanted, etc.) but in this post I will list the movies that came out (either to theaters or direct-to-DVD like Johnson Family Christmas Dinner and the "Futurama" movie) in 2008 that I have seen.

1 Bolt
2 Transporter 3
3 American Teen
4 The Dark Knight
5 Four Christmases
6 Horton Hears a Who
7 The Incredible Hulk
8 Milk
9 Johnson Family Christmas Dinner
10 The Promotion
11 Role Models
12 Run, Fat Boy, Run
13 Synechdoche, New York
14 W.
15 Saw V
16 You Don’t Mess With The Zohan
17 Bigger, Stronger, Faster
18 Choke
19 Eagle Eye
20 Burn After Reading
21 Baby Mama
22 21
23 The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning
24 Tropic Thunder
25 Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay
26 Smart People
27 Stop-Loss
28 Step Brothers
29 Doomsday
30 Johnson Family Dinner
31 Get Smart
32 Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs
33 Drillbit Taylor
34 Wanted
35 Wall-E
36 In Bruges
37 The Onion Movie
38 Be Kind Rewind
39 Kung Fu Panda
40 Pastor Jones 4: Sisters in Spirit 2
41 The Happening
42 The Strangers
43 Speed Racer
44 What Happens In Vegas
45 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
46 The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
47 The Ruins
48 Iron Man
49 Forgetting Sarah Marshall
50 The House Bunny
51 Semi-Pro
52 Jumper
53 Cloverfield
54 One Missed Call
55 Pineapple Express

(I also saw Year One and I Love You, Man which haven't been released yet.)

Since I haven't seen a lot of "Oscary" movies yet I won't do a traditional top 10 list but I think I'm gonna do some silly "Best-of"s instead. For the next couple of posts with just the 2008 movies and later with all 200-something movies I've watched this year.


Best Use of an iPhone
Winner: The Happening, it was by far my favorite scene of that movie. The guy waving at the lion, lol.
Runner-Up: Bolt

Best Johnson Family Dinner
Winner: Johnson Family Christmas Dinner for numerous reasons.

Biggest Tear Jerker
Winner: Milk Fraannncooooooo!!!!

Least Scary Supposed to be Scary Image
Winner: The evil baby with the cell phone from One Missed Call unless it was my phone and it was using my whenever minutes.
Runner-up: The trees rustling in The Happening/ most of The Happening in general.

Best Follow Up to a First Movie Role
Winner: Emma Stone as Natalie in The House Bunny, she was only in Superbad as Jules before this and The Rocker which I didn't see so it doesn't count. She had some funny stuff in House Bunny even though the movie wasn't great.
Runner-Up: Rachel Bilson as Millie Harris in Jumper. She was only in The Last Kiss before that. Jumper sucked, she was good.

Worst Amount of Christmases
Winner: Four Christmases


Best Use of a Tattoo
Winner: Synechdoche, New York, in the hospital room with Phillip Seymour Hoffman's Daughter!!!! No, spoilers, but awesome.
Runner-Up: Angelina Jolie in Wanted. Just bad-ass.

Single Frame I Wish I Had as a Huge Poster warning, both kind of creepy images...


Winner:

Brutal.
Runner-Up:

I think this movie was underseen, it was really tense.


Be Smart and Don't See This Movie
Winner: Smart People, Ellen Page...Who cares? Sarah Jessica Parker is gross.
Runner-Up: Get Smart, I'd holler at Anne Hathaway though.

Least Consistent Canadian Accent
Winner: John C. Reilly in The Promotion, really good movie though.

That's enough for now. Feel free to add your own.

I'm looking forward to My Bloody Valentine 3D so hard.

Weird

Ok guys, so the movie I wrote, Johnson Family Christmas Dinner, is apparently out and for sale (at Wal-Mart, Best Buy online, amazon.com, etc).



and you can:



Make sure you read my earlier blog about how they butchered my script.

Here are some LOL inducing reviews. They sound fake, especially because the cast and crew list and synopses on most websites is wrong.

From The Black Gospel Blog

Alicia Newby said...

This seems like it will be very interesting. I may purchase it for some holiday laughter.

Darla said...

Yea, the movie has a really strong message. It's great for movie night. Its from Jean-Claude La Marre who was apart of the Malcolm-X film. Picked up my copy for my mother at wal-mart. It's worth the watch.

http://blackgospel.blogspot.com/2008/12/johnson-family-christmas-dinneron-dvd.html

From Film Crave.com

just recently purchased this movie for my parents for christmas. My parents are really huge on christian family movies that deal with family issues and have a bit of humor. From what i hear, it wasnt that bad. I was told it could have uses a larger budget but the overall message in the movie is what really sells it. It has a loving cast and would make a great flick for movie night. Vivendi

And Film Crave has a more accurate synopsis as well!!!!!!!!

http://www.filmcrave.com/movie_page_main.php?id=27717

At Flixter.com

NOT INTERESTED

ouch, but at least I got this one too:

It's a decent family flick that you wont be afraid to watch with your children. Just in time for the holidays. Jean Claude La Marre is attached to it. He was apart of the Malcolm-X movie. Check it ou!

http://www.flixster.com/movie/johnson-family-christmas-dinner

here's another one by the same guy as the review before only on a different site called crosswalk.com

Jean-Claude La Marre who was apart of the Malcolm X movie, just released a movie titled Johnson Family Christmas Dinner. I found the movie at the store while I was out buying Christmas presents for the family. It’s one of those black Christmas movies that everyone watches because of all the humor and drama. Vivendi. If anyone has seen it, let me know if it was any good.

http://forums.crosswalk.com/m_4043457/tm.htm

I guess he ended up buying it.


iconocast.com

Looking for a great movie to enjoy with the family? What about a great Christmas gift for somebody? 'Johnson Family Christmas Dinner' is a great movie that the entire family can enjoy.

http://www.iconocast.com/EB000000000000074/R5/News1.htm

this poet wrote a review on movieweb.com

I am really into Jean Claude LaMarre’s work, he produced Malcolm X and the tv series Law and Order. He is really good in my opinion. He has a new film coming out Dec 9th that I’m looking forward in seeing called Johnson’s Family Christmas Dinner. It sounds pretty good, I read the story line and shit, and it doesn’t seem to be like every other x-mas movie that are all the same. I found out about it here…

http://www.amazon.com/Johnson-Family.../dp/B001D68ND6


Rob
UMGD

http://www.movieweb.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20992

Yes, this is what I was looking for, a little good natured razzing. I found it on screencrave.com

HORRIBLE STRAIGHT-TO-DVD OF THE WEEK

“Johnson Family Christmas Dinner”

The reason this movie takes the prize is because of its full title: Black Christmas Movies Presents: “Johnson Family Christmas Dinner”. What is Black Christmas Films? Is it a new production company? Is it some new genre?

The real question is can we look forward to other ethnic holiday productions from studios that only make films featuring a specific race about a specific holiday? Such as:

* Asian Thanksgiving Movies Presents: “Turkey Day with the Nguyen Family”
* White Fourth of July Movies Presents: “Fireworks with the O’Connors”
* Latino Easter Movies Presents: “The Great Hernandez Egg Hunt”
* Indian Arbor Day Movies Presents: “The Patels Plant a Tree”

It could go on forever!

I personally think from now on every holiday film should be qualified with the race of the main characters and the holiday they’re celebrating. Because a DVD cover featuring 10 African-Americans and a title containing the word “Christmas” really isn’t clear enough.

http://screencrave.com/2008-12-09/this-week-on-dvd-the-dark-knight-horton-hears-a-who-the-wire/

and finally, Johnson Family Christmas Dinner's Rotten Tomato Meter Reading is... N/A

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/johnson_family_christmas_dinner/

Get on there and review it if you've seen it.

I recently sold this guy my roommate's broken iPod nano.


eBay listing


In my listing I made it clear that the iPod was broken and all that. I think he has a slightly different strategy.

LOL at this:



Also, I couldn't find a picture or the name of this guy, but remember the Black guy on "Undeclared" that had a crazy face and a crazy overbite and glasses? He lived on Jay Baruchel's floor and always hung out with the Samoan guy? I saw him walking down the street today on my block. Just walking, hanging out.

I always see this guy at the gym too:



and this is just plain silly:

UCB

Last night Ash and I went to the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theater for the "Midnight Show." It's basically like SNL, there's a celeb host and a musical guest. Last night Dax Shepherd hosted with musical guest Tim Kasher (Cursive, The Good Life). Kasher is one of my favorite singer/songwriter/lyricists/etc. He was awesome. Dax was funny. The show was good. In the audience with us was Dax's GF Kristen Bell!!!!! and the guy who played Rachel McAdams jerky fiance in Wedding Crashers and a guy who must have been Dax's brother becuase they looked exactly the same and had the same voice. It was one of those nights when we (especially Ash) were glad to live in LA. I saw my first real life paparazzi scheming outside the theater (there was only one dude and the theater owner yelled at him). Ash and I also couldn't wrangle an invite to the after party even though we knew a friend of a friend. We didn't get home until 3 anyway so it was still a full night.

Thanksgiving in Chicago was fun. At LAX before we left Ash saw Danny from The New Kids On The Block. I saw him too but I don't know what that dude looks like and I don't know any of his songs so I didn't care. However, Robin Tunney, from "The Mentalist" asked me when our plane was supposed to land in Chicago and I told her. She was also on "Prison Break" and Empire Records.

Only a couple weeks until Nashville then PG. Are there New Year's plans yet?

Life

I finally saw some of my background acting expertise displayed. I am on the show "Life" on the episode titled Black Friday which you can watch on the internet for free right now.

http://www.nbc.com/Life/

I am wearing jeans, a navy blue vest, a light blue polo shirt with a light gray long sleeve t shirt underneath. My hair was a little longer at the time. Here are the timecodes of when you can see me:

5:23 i walk by in the blue vest on the right,
5:41 i cross screen.
6:38 in the way back to the right of the kiosk guy's face,
7:02 when the kiosk guy points i'm to the left of the kiosk girl,
similar position in 7:12,
7:45 good shot of me with bag exact center of screen in blue vest,
8:03 by the suit guys head

So that's good.