Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Every now and then the entertainment industry manages to do something right. Last night I saw Little Miss Sunshine at The Westwood Crest Theater, my favorite place to watch a movie. Aside from a few trailers I’ve seen on TV, I had no idea what to expect from this film, so I was pleasantly surprised when it was wonderful. At one point I was laughing so much that I was crying. (I think that hasn’t happened since the last time I saw Steve Carell on the big screen, when Jim Carrey was making him talk nonsense in Bruce Almighty.)
At one point I was laughing so much that I was crying.
How about this? When’s the last time you saw a flick featuring two actors with whom you’ve shared many a beer? I had no idea that Justin Shilton and Wallace Langham were in this movie. Justin is — follow me here — the ex-boyfriend of my girlfriend’s parent’s good friend’s daughter. I haven’t seen him in about two years, but I used to hang out with him all the time; we went snowboarding together in Big Bear and I actually ran justinshilton.com for a year or two. And Wally is my girlfriend’s ex-best friend’s ex-boyfriend’s good friend. (I haven’t seen him since 4th of July ‘05 when we watched the fireworks with him and his son at Lakeside Country Club.) Both of them are good guys and I was very proud to see them on the big screen.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
So it took me 33+ years, but I have finally started golfing. I am a complete and total idiot for not listening to the dozens of friends that have been trying to convince me to play for the last ten years. It is amazing fun and paralyzingly addictive. I played for the first time in January of this year at my friend Kelly’s 40th birthday party on the Balboa Golf Course in Encino, CA. At the end of January my dad had some business in Vegas and he flew me there for the day to play the Las Vegas Golf Club. I’ve played about 10 or 15 rounds since then and am hooked.
It is amazing fun and paralyzingly addictive.
In early June dad had another business trip on my coast and we played a municipal course in Chula Vista, CA, where my grandfather lives. Dad gave me a set of his old clubs while I was there and I bought a slick Nike bag to hold ‘em. The next day we played with Guy Denniston, the president of American West Worldwide Express, at Tijeras Creek in Rancho Santa Margarita. A few days later dad was here in LA and we played the Malibu Country Club with Kelly and Eric Clarke, the president of Four Truckers (photo).
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Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Tricia and I had dinner at Citizen Smith in Hollywood last night. ‘Twas quite an adventure just getting there. We didn’t have directions or know the address when we left the house. Cingular’s 411 service is frustratingly bad. It’s all computer-aided voice prompts now and they inevitably connect you to the wrong number the first time you try. Once we finally got through to the restaurant, it took three calls to find an employee that apparantly knew exactly where the place is.
My pork chop was pretty darn good.
So. We were an hour late for our reservations. (This is shockingly not uncommon in Los Angeles.) We were seated right away, though, because it wasn’t very crowded. There was some confusion with the waitstaff and after getting our waters it wasn’t for another fifteen minutes before Gerron, our waiter, realized we were in his section.
He recommended and beautifully described the night’s chef’s special: Linguini with clams. Tricia ordered that and a red wine and I got the pork chop and a pinot grigio.
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Monday, August 21, 2006
If you’ve never seen Midnight Run, I’m here to tell you it’s a pretty damn good movie. Charles Grodin always cracks me up. I am way behind on my media consumption this month. There’s the five most recent episodes of Rescue Me and the last two episodes of Entourage waiting on my TiVo.
I’ve been on a bit of a reading binge lately, though. In the last month or so I’ve knocked off How to Lose a Battle: Foolish Plans and Great Military Blunders, Dr. Twitchell’s excellent Branded Nation: The Marketing of Megachurch, College Inc., and Museumworld, and The Best American Sports Writing 2003. I also have four books that I’m dying to read in the on-deck circle right now, too: The Secret Life of Lobsters: How Fishermen and Scientists Are Unraveling the Mysteries of Our Favorite Crustacean, Positively Fifth Street, Next Man Up : A Year Behind the Lines in Today’s NFL, by John Feinstein, and Dr. Twitchell’s Where Men Hide.
