Gosling-a-thon

I was within arm's reach of Ryan Gosling at the gym today, no bull. He had a "giving tree" tattoo.

It has been a long and exciting week. Drew, Heather, and Ashlea are all here. Ashlea called me last Thursday to tell me that she decided to come visit me on Friday, the next day. I postponed my trip to Vegas a day and picked her up from Burbank on Friday. We came back and saw my apartment then drove the 4-5 hours to Vegas through the desert which was 115 degrees in some places.

Las Vegas was fun we handled business, saw some sites. Corey has a really nice house with a pool and most of his roommates were cool, we didn't really meet one of them. But we did what we needed to do in one night and came back the next day.

Sunday we went to the church I go to in Hollywood then walked around Hollywood boulevard. Then we drove down Sunset Boulevard and Rodeo Drive to scope the scene. Beverly Hills is nuts.

Monday we went to the Santa Monica beach/pier and all got a lot of sun but had fun. Ashlea got pooped on by a bird which is supposedly good luck. We came back and watched The Mist which is so good.

Yesterday Ashlea's bird poop good luck came to fruition. She got a job interview at a charter school in LA County so we took her there and hung out at a mall while she interviewed. It went really well so she expects to hear good things from them.

Last night was incredible. We went to the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater and saw four hours of comedy for $5. Among the performers were Matt Besser from Dewey Cox, Drillbit Taylor, and Junebug. Also, JUDD APATOW! Then Judd brought out Jonah Hill to do stand up for the first time in his life. Jonah Hill killed and one of the comics later said that Jonah Hill had a bunch of people backstage like Jason Schwartzman. Overall it was awesome and I want to go every week.

A bunch of pictures from the trip will probably be posted somewhere soon.

Meeeeeeeee And Pastor, Pastor Jones

I'm pretty much done with the script. I'm going to send it to the producer tomorrow and she's going to read it and see if it needs any work then we're going to meet next week so she can pay me. She's in the casting process.

I'm going to Las Vegas tomorrow to stay with Corey Reid and hang with Drew P and Heather. I'm looking forward to that. Heather and Drew are riding back to LA with me and staying at my place for a few days then Heather is flying back home and Drew is going to an organic farm. Then Drew is coming back to LA and we're making Pastor Jones. So that's all good.

I sold this Prince shirt for over $50.



So eBay is going well. I'm going to a few thrift stores today in fact.

When I get back from Las Vegas and the producer has signed off on the script I can start preproduction. I probably won't storyboard because I just draw stick figures anyway (that Steve Holt made fun of) but I'll do detailed shot lists. I have to show Drew Pastor Jones 4: Sisters in Spirit 2 so he's on the level.

I temped at 20th Century Fox a couple times. I made $15 an hour but they didn't have much for the other temp and I to do. On one day we put files into boxes and on the next working day we took the same files out of the boxes in different locations.

I have so much writing I want to do. I have about 9 loglines, I'm in the middle of rewriting Happenstances, I'm perpetually rewriting Hot Rodney aka Life's A Drag, and I haven't even looked at Suicide Watch since LAFSC but I have a lot of ideas for that too. I'm also formulating in my head an Andy from Suicide Watch spinoff. That will probably be the next fresh screenplay I write (even though In Sheep's Clothing should be at the top of the list always). Hopefully though none of that matters right now and I can write another script for Nu-Lite and get paid more and actually get paid to direct.

Oh yeah, so it's July, half way through the year and I've watched 169 movies (maybe 171 because I watched There Will Be Blood and Cloverfield twice if we're counting that), so not quite enough to be on track. I need to step up my game. I know that none of you care or want to see this, but:


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

It's a pretty good list. I'm probably going to watch 10,000 BC today too so mark that off on your tally sheet. Drillbit Taylor was better than I expected but some parts, like the rap battle, were painful to watch.

Film Geek is by far the worst movie I've ever seen.

The Host was so much better than Cloverfield.

Clever Blog Title

Happy 22nd birthday Ashlea!
Inappropriately, here's a picture from my birthday two years ago, but you get the idea. Party hats.



Yesterday I temped for the first time. I went to the Fox building in Beverly Hills and emptied drawers into boxes, then on Monday I will return to put those boxes of files back into different cabinets. I only worked a couple hours because my co-temp and I did the job pretty fast but I was making $15 an hour so I made a little bit of spending money. It was a boring office proving there are many (probably mostly) boring office jobs in the entertainment biz.

Last night a few of us went to Universal City which is an outdoor mall type place before the entrance to Universal Studios theme park. That just made me want to go to Universal Studios theme park. I ate an enormous cookie at Bubba Gump.

Here's a very, very early Oscar prediction. I predict that Heath Ledger is going to win Best Supporting Actor for playing the Joker in The Dark Knight. I know you're saying "duh, Pete", but here's the twist. I predict that Daniel Day Lewis will accept the award on his behalf. At last year's awards shows, SAG and Oscars, Daniel Day said very nice things about Heath Ledger about how much he respected him, etc.

The Pastor Jones screenplay is going well. I am hopefully going to finish this weekend. I want to deliver the script by Thursday of this week. I'm also trying to work on some ideas for the next Pastor Jones movie so I can get another job with Nu-Lite. Pastor Jones Goes to Camp? Alien vs. Pastor Jones? James and the Giant Pastor Jones? You Don't Mess with the Pastor Jones? The Love Guru 2: Pastor Jones? The possibilities are endless.

WALL-E and Wanted come out today. I would see WALL-E but I'm not rushing out to see it, but Wanted looks awesome.

Jasper is on the internet!!





Watch it and tell everyone you know to watch it here:
http://web.mac.com/lafsc/iWeb/Films/Jasper.html

On Friday I played basketball with Rick Gonzalez aka Spanish from Old School. He was in Pulse, War of the Worlds, Biker Boyz, etc.



Then, as I was leaving, Joel Moore came to the court and I wished that they would know each other but I don't think they did. They have both been in Vince Vaughn movies though.

Earlier on Friday I turned in my Act One of the Pastor Jones script. The producer really liked it and only had one note about something that should happen later in the story. She left a message on my phone while I was at the gym.

So I was feeling really good about everything and then I went to the gas station and I waited forever for this woman, who wasn't even pumping gas, to pull away from the pump. I backed up to give her a lot of room and still waited for minutes. When she finally left the pump she sped up backwards and hit my car.









I should shoot the second half of a car crash scene now and the first half after I get my car fixed.

But so it's not that bad and I shouldn't have to pay anything but it is annoying and totally out of the blue. I'm probably not even going to call the temp place tomorrow so I can work on getting my car fixed. I also am supposed to talk to Nu-Lite and I need to talk to the technology director from the LAFSC about renting equipment but they announced at church this morning that his wife just had their baby this morning so he might not be in for the next few days.

Speaking of babies I talked to Mia on the phone today and she said to give her a shout out in my blog and I said "A shout out? No one says that anymore. Where have you been?" And she was like "Give me a break, I'm less than a week old." Then I said "You've been here almost a week and you don't even have a job yet? Slacker." Then she had to go because she had some errands to run and she had to start thinking about what to make for dinner, etc, etc.

I went to a BBQ at my mentor from Mr. Mudd's house last night and had a good time. He only lives a mile away so I might try and hang with that group more often.

Another thing I've accomplished:


So to recap, Tomorrow: get car fixed, get insurance claim figured out, talk to Nu-Lite, Send Ashlea's birthday present, Send thank you note to my uncle, e-mail Patrick about renting equipment, write a Black Christian screenplay, gym, maybe thrift, maybe finish reading The River (The sequel to Hatchet)

Sounds pretty good.

Does anyone have any questions that I haven't answered?

I saw Joel Moore at my gym again yesterday so I guess he just goes to the same gym as me. That's awesome. I bet he gets so many dodgeball challenges every time.

If you look at the comments for two posts ago I'm pretty sure David Wain, director of Wet Hot American Summer and The Ten, creator of "Wainy Days" commented on my blog. "Wainy Days" is great, it's on www.mydamnchannel.com and you should watch every episode every day. I watched a show called "Horrible People" on that site too and it's funny also if you like the Wet Hot American Summer, "The State" guys. Also, the woman who plays the Flight of the Conchords number one and only fan is on that show. I'm not thinking that David Wain needs my endorsement or anything but I do like his stuff a lot. All that said I'm going to go fondle my sweaters.

I met with Nu-Lite today. We signed some paperwork so it's a done deal. We have a working title and we're going to start casting as soon as I get Act One done, which will either be tonight if I work on it or tomorrow if I don't get called in to temp.

I have one day less than a month to finish the script, get a crew, and rent the equipment. Not so bad since I don't have a real job yet.



Over 2000 views, thanks guys. I'm taking into consideration that probably 1000 of those are just Ashlea.