Fenxy

Oh drat, I'm at work on Pacific time. Things like this make me wanna quit my job.

Making a 3 on the first try can't HURT a presidential candidate, I'm thinking...

@RightOn: Yeah I would agree - definitely off-limits for a 6 year old. I would be hesitant with even 10 year olds! (Based on my limited knowledge and experience with kids that is. :P ) Clowns have seriously been the scariest thing for me my entire life. I don't know how children ever got entertained by clowns. Just the make-up and the fake happiness and joy is freaky. And so with Joker and his face make-up ... that's just a recipe for disaster.

I don't know so much about the "active" marketing to 6 year olds (I guess I've yet to observe an example). I think the only reason it got its PG-13 was because it wasn't bloody, per se, but definitely violent! Also was a bit of a psychological thriller in that way, more than all-out gore.

I think my next stop in a few weeks would be IMAX.

@TJenkins: That's so interesting you noticed the beginning was rushed. I would agree - but also with the movie itself being 2.5 hrs already I guess it's just a real challenge to fit all that material in. At the same time, when it ended, to me it did not seem like it was a 2.5 hr movie. Or actually, my friend told me he was checking his watch and thinking, "Oh good, I still have __ min of this movie."

It was so awesome. The parallels they drew in that movie... The action scenes were much more developed and integral to the plot than Batman Begins (and I own that DVD). And the way they saved Batman from being a flat character was done really well.

Dunno so much about Maggie Gyllenhaal so much but she was much better than Katie Holmes (not that that bar is raised very high).

Seeing Heath's performance made me sad but just so in awe of his talent - you can really see how much he lost himself in that role. It was pure genius. He really did give me chills.

Tonight!! I can't wait!!

@Tyme - Yeah that whole Britney nomination thing boggles my mind. Good indication that something's severly wrong with the nomination process.

About the writers' guild strike, I guess it's easy to get pissed that the seasons got screwed up. All the same, if you look at the cut the writers have gotten over time, their share has shrunk over time despite their part in the creativity process as the driving force behind scripted, non-reality shows. It's a natural, known cycle that the writers' guild strikes every 20 years because otherwise they can barely make a living. They can barely make a living as it is. I have friends who make in the hundreds per episode that airs that they co-wrote - whilst actors get easily in the thousands if not tens of thousands. It really is unfair IMHO. Writers themselves suffered a LOT as a result of the strike; I've done my fair share of taking up the tab when out with writer friends - but it was something they really had to do in order to invest and negotiate for their future in the industry.

You could go the other route and say this is her being a snob to her writers and telling them to give her better material because she feels she is worthy of such material. But let's assume that isn't the case and in this instance she is acting quite noble. Of course if she gets nominated again this act of nobility will probably help her and some people will assume she won because of this act.

Noble or not, in the entertainment world this is potentially career suicide because she risked (intentionally or not) the perception that she is basically not a team-player and is actually selling out the Grey's writers. Who really knows what's going on inside her head but it is a pretty risky move. Add to this that entertainment work in L.A. is very guild (union) -oriented and even centered. It doesn't necessarily mesh well when you break solidarity - it better be for good reason.

Yeah. Definitely cheating. :( But it was still fun to come up with the list.

It's cheating that I live in L.A.; you're essentially bound to run into at least a reality TV "star" if you're here for a week. But I thought I'd indulge myself. :P

Recently:
BJ Novak, who's Ryan/a writer for U.S. edition of The Office (Coffee Bean, driving on the street)

Jason Bateman (Hollywood and Highland Center)

Drew Barrymore with Justin Long on my birthday this year (Culver City)

Amy Smart (West LA) 2 weeks ago, whom I actually stopped and talked to because I was bursting that my best guy friend in the world had just wrapped shooting in Hong Kong opposite her as her newlywed husband

Santino Rice, a Project Runway contestant (LACMA)

Bijou Phillips (Pre-party for an LA Film Festival premiere)

Eva ? , winner of an old America's Next Top Model (Grand Lux Cafe at the Beverly Center)

Not so recently:
Adrien Grenier (LA Fashion Week)
Jack Black (LA Fashion Week)
Bruce Willis (Koi on La Cienega), who at the time told me that I "looked like I owned the place?"
Adrien Brody (Koi)
James Caan (Koi)
Ryan Seacrest (Beverly Hills Four Seasons)
Tara Reid (Beverly Hills Four Seasons)
Paris Hilton (Hollywood Palladium) w/Nicky Hilton (Farmer's Market at The Grove)
Ivana Trump (Hollywood Palladium)
Lindsay Lohan (Hollywood Palladium)
Nicole Riche (Hollywood Palladium)
Heather Locklear (Hollywood Palladium)
David Spade (Hollywood Palladium)
Christina Aguilera (Hollywood Palladium)
Jeremy Piven (a brunch place called Toast)
Selma Blair (also at Toast)
Jesse Metcalf (also at Toast)
Giovanni Ribisi (Mani's on Fairfax)
Cameron Diaz (Urth Cafe, Melrose)
Cheryl Hines (Johnny Rocket's)
Sarah Jessica Parker (outside my work, Beverly Hills)
Sarah Silverman (Coffee Bean) and her dog
Bai Ling (LA Fashion Week)
Trishelle-that-skanky-girl-from-Real-World-Las-Vegas (The Griddle on Sunset)
Jennifer Love Hewitt (The Abbey in WeHo)
Haha...Bobby Trendy (also The Abbey)
Lorne Michels (Paramount Pictures studio lot)
David Boreanaz (Paramount Pictures lot)
Tom Cruise (Paramount Pictures)
Kiefer Sutherland (Mammoth Mountain)
Kobe Bryant (Santa Monica)
Kerri Strug (UCLA)
Michelle Kwan (UCLA)

Ugh. Their tattoos are so corny.

Yeah seriously. Did I also hear that she married him without a prenup? Or is that just fodder?

Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up

I'm suspicious of everyone, today! I guess it's fortunate enough that I've cut my browsing during work in recent months...

AndyDickTracyMorganFreeman

(I've never actually heard their music, but this name is KING.)

I have to say Old School for sure. It's a classic and probably the dumbest movie I actually remember. I know this will sound cheesy in that girly annoying way, but I really enjoyed Bring It On. The sequels that came after it, though, might have spoiled it... I also enjoyed Elf. Might be more of a Christmas movie but has a similar jovial thing to it.

Same here as Ozone42 - almost exactly the same age. Hits kind of close to home that way. I thought he was so brilliant in Brokeback. I was also (still am) looking forward to his role as the Joker.

Oh man, I can't believe I missed the first episode. I was so excited to hear it was coming back!! I have mad nostalgia for that show. It's going on the TiVo, for sure. I'll report back once I've actually watched it.

*sigh*

Sigh. Oh man. I'm at work, crying right now.

It's anthropomorphism at its finest, really. When you take anything other than humans and attach a caption to them as if they could talk (with poor grammar and spelling), it's some sort of overt irony. So here we humans are, as supposedly intellectually superior beings, getting some sort of sick rise out of making fun of living, breathing creatures who don't communicate as we do. We twist their snapshots capturing compromising positions and expressions into subjects of our asinine humor while we laugh vindictively on the inside thinking, "Heh heh, they can't actually talk," while knowing we will never ever be called out for this because these helpless animals can't fend for themselves.

In short, it's not really supposed to make any sense. ;)

Disclaimer: My best friend is a cat.

It was amazing, but I really have to say to not go in there being unfamiliar with the Coen brothers' work, or just know that it's an incredibly dark movie and this is its strong suit. It will blow away any expectations. All the actors were incredibly impressive and the characterization is really the heart of the movie. The dialogue was simply awesome.

I love Sesame Street! It was my favorite show growing up (a close second was Reading Rainbow). I seriously had Big Bird in my dreams.

This is what's in my head this morning:

@ericjohnson:

Watch me. Haha. Kidding. No seriously, the entire movie I thought, "Why am I watching this?" I don't know any other movie I remember thinking that non-stop throughout the movie. Maybe I just don't watch bad movies, so the comparison's just lacking.

Kidding! (Again.)

There's no way I would ever shell out that kind of money. I've gone into the 3-digits for festivals but like Jen-sized said, those were festivals where you saw multiple performers. Now, even if there's a festival with a ton of performances I want to see, I'd consider it but I'm feeling a bit old to go from stage to stage ... much less worry about concurrent performance times.

I mean, maybe if the Beatles rose from the dead and were playing a show I'd pay that much ... so if anybody hears of that happening be sure to let me know.

RightOn: I feel you--the same thought strikes me when I see the army green caps with the red stars in the middle as a sort of fashion fad.

They sell them in Chinatown here at the cheap touristy giftshops and it amazes me to no end how 1) they even sell that stuff, considering what it represents and 2) people buy them as their Chinatown souvenir and then sport it with pride.

There's this awesome hole-in-the-wall place that sells Vietnamese Pho in Chinatown that I love. While my friend and I were eating, a group of tourists walked in, each person in the party wearing one of those green caps with the red star in the middle and the child in the group was carrying a replica Samurai-style sword. What they did not notice was people snickering as they walked in. Of course, what they also didn't realize were the huge human rights violations that red star represents--for instance, they were wearing replicas of caps the Peoples Republic of China soldiers were wearing while they shot peaceful protesters in the middle of Tiananmen Square. If there were immigrants in the restaurant directly from China, that star represented the kind of oppression they were seeking asylum from. And a Samurai sword? Samurai are Japanese, not Chinese.

But how are they to really know, especially if they're up for sale in a tourist shop selling only things that were made out of a sweatshop in China? The frustration I felt was definitely dualfold--including that they could even buy them in Chinatown.

[/sorry for taking this way off-topic] Okay, about gang signs and white chicks, again?

@hthth: I found this, where it says:

We used to think of hip-hop as just a black thing, but it's not. The largest share of rap music sales in America goes to white listeners.

...even though it doesn't quote a source or actual numbers/statistics. So it probably remains arguable. Plus, there are more whites than blacks in America so I'd say it's not a tough thing to outnumber a minority in sheer sales numbers if it is popular in general.

What I'm thinking is that these girls probably do it for the "irony." And irony is ALWAYS funny. Yeah, I'm saying irony in quotes because it's no longer ironic. You know, like hand signs are supposedly an African American guy thing and like, ... whoa, I mean, these chicks are ... wait for it ... Caucasian!!

:)

Man, that's hilarious.

Did I hear somewhere that the largest demographic purchasing rap music (not to be confused with hip hop) is middle-aged white men? I'll have to do more research on that.

Hahaha ... it's cute, Andrew. I heart stuffed platypuses. Platypusses? Platypi?

@Tyme: I see, that makes complete sense then when you look at it from that angle. Amazing, then, how his ego can really get in the way of common sense. He can't handle the criticism even a little bit to recognize that his fans got him there in the first place. Sounds a little bit like SMS...

Disclaimer: Not that there's anything wrong with guys being short, btw. A bad 'tude is always a bad 'tude no matter who's got it. ;)

In combination with hthth's recollection of how they planted free copies all over of Prince's CD, I simply do not get it. This doesn't make any sense. Maybe that was just a publicity fluke, an isolated incident of benevolence.

Prince's latest initiative is likely to please record industry executives and music retailers, who have not always seen eye-to-eye with the 49-year-old.

He has referred to the record industry as "the speculation business" and gave away copies of his new album "Planet Earth" for free with a British Sunday newspaper.

(Yahoo Music)

I've heard he really is an egocentric guy. If you're on set with him for a project, you're disallowed from looking at his face or addressing him directly. (One of my contacts is a Hollywood animal trainer--they used her animals in his video and she was on set to direct them. I guess one of the atrocities she committed was by going up to Prince directly and asking him where he wanted them and everyone just kind of stared at her for daring to talk to him.)

Then again, Chappelle has parodied Prince for inviting people over to his house and cooking pancakes for them...which I've heard actually happens. Haha!! Celebrities, anyway.

Hahahaha I love it.

Here's your link

Wow.

That was absolutely horrible. I think the idea of flubbing live performances obviously no longer means "career suicide." Well...I guess we'll see where we go from here. Like in Britney's case, it seems like her horrible performance had no bearing.

On the other hand, Madonna's contract with a tour company seems to speak otherwise.

I need to see this performance. Be back after the YouTube jump.

Oooh. When Princess Allura got to fight in the blue lion in Voltron!! It's like a parallel to my life, you know. Being a girl in an all-guys world. ;)

Uhh...not that I'm a princess, though. w00t.