Tricia

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.

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.

[click to continue...]

My girlfriend and I had dinner at Mr. Chow last night to celebrate her dad’s 60th. Paris was there with — apparently — her entire family. Bummer for them: They were seated on the much-less-prestigious right-hand side of the dining room. (We, of course, were on the left.) The paparazzi was in full force out on the sidewalk because Jessica and her mondo entourage were sitting at the table next to us. I could have sworn her little sister was there with her, but my girlfriend’s little sister told me it wasn’t her, and it’s a wise man that defers to someone less than half his age when it comes to matters of pop culture.

Let’s see … What can I do for Easter this year? I know! I’ll hop on a G4 and jet on over to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I’ll attend Sunday’s service at the National Cathedral and then hang out with GW for the Easter Egg Roll on Monday.

My girlfriend manages Aly & AJ; they’ll be singing the National Anthem and performing two concerts on the South Lawn. They’re going to stay on the East coast to tape Good Morning America later in the week. (I’ll be returning to good ol’ LA on Monday night.)

We had brunch at the 17th Street Cafe on Montana in Santa Monica on Sunday. It’s a great little place to have breakfast. The service was excellent and the food was delicious. It was a smidge expensive, but that might have just been because of the mimosas.

Family Guy is now leaps and bounds ahead of the competition, tied with West Wing for my favorite show on television right now.

In other news: My girlfriend’s apartment burned down on my birthday last month, which should explain the sudden dearth of postings here.

My girlfriend and I spent most of the last week in Mexico. One of her best friends got married at the El Dorado Royale resort in Cancun. Almost five full days of tequila and sun makes for a pretty good time. The place was terrific and the wedding was lovely. I’d love to say more, but every day was wonderfully monotonous — wake up, breakfast buffet with bloody mary, lay in the pool reading magazines with a never-ending margarita, lunch buffet, cervezas on the beach, dinner buffet, martini bar evenings … If you’ve never done an “all-inclusive” vacation, you don’t know what you’re missing.

Sometimes it’s ultra-cool to live in Los Angeles. My girlfriend’s little sister is in town, so we went to Mr. Chow for dinner tonight. (It’s only the best restaurant in the universe, so if you ever get a chance, I highly recommend it. Sly Stallone and Burt Reynolds were sitting together at the next table, which was pretty nifty.) Then when I got home, suprise, there’s my buddy Rob guest-starring on CSI: Miami. (Yes, believe it or not it’s filmed here in LA.) And — hell — I forgot to mention that just the other weekend right on my street I bumped into and subsequently had Sunday brunch with Bill Caco.
[click to continue...]

My girlfriend, Rob, Rebecca and I went to see the Pixies at “the Greek“. It was a great concert; they played a ton of stuff that I love. It was totally cool to see them still rocking after all these years.

I’m also completely hooked on the new Green Day CD, which is a surprise because I really just didn’t like anything they’d done until this. American Idiot, though, is just incredible. I highly suggest you grab it.

Aaarrghh. I have just got to get the new one. My iPod quickly became my favorite toy. My girlfriend gave me a 20gb one for Christmas. I upgraded to the 40gb in January, and I listen to it daily. iTunes is even a damn good WinAMP and / or MusicMatch replacement, and Apple did an amazing job with the iTunes UI. Anyway … Can anyone tell me any sob stories about switching from a 40gb 3rd-gen to a 40gb 4th-gen? Was it shmoove? What happens to all my m4p files? Are there issues with migrating “authorized” songs? Talk to me, kids.

One of my friends is in a movie called Pranksters. My girlfriend and I went to the premiere Thursday night down at the Laemmle on Beverly. (It’s an independent film with quite a few sponsors; Krispy Kreme provided free donuts for all.)

Another friend keeps popping up on a late-night comedy show. He’s done some pretty funny Candid Camera-type sketches that are hysterical. Both he and his roommate had birthdays last week so Friday night we went to Cat & Fiddle on Sunset to celebrate.

The patio bar was packed all night, but somehow- even with fourteen million people wandering around LA - I bumped into a guy I hadn’t seen in almost two years. (Crazy!) It was good to learn he’s doing well and hasn’t squandered the hundred thou he won on Hollywood Squares last year. (He was back in town for a tournament of champions week.)

I drove over the hill and down into West Hollywood yesterday for an interview. At some point during my trip I topped 10,000 miles on my truck. After the interview I met my girlfriend at the Olive Garden and then we booked to the Kodak Theater. Our friends, Michael and Deanna, got us tickets to the taping of Barry Manilow’s concert. (He’s on tour promoting his new CD and his most recent greatest hits CD.) I had a great time. I’d never seen Barry live so it was quite a treat. He played a bunch of classics and it was cool because, since they were taping it, he kept stopping between takes to tell stories about the songs and ad lib. Our ticketed seats were up in the mezzanine but there weren’t enough people on the floor so we got to be seat fillers closer to the stage.
I highly doubt we got on camera, but you can catch the show on CBS next month.

How cool is this? My girlfriend went to the V for Violet Fashion Show and Launch Party Saturday night and was photographed by the paparazzi!

Tricia and I watched Ghost World last night on DVD. It was almost a good flick. I really enjoyed the first 4/5ths of it, and then it just died. I was watching a terrific film, and then it was as if the writers simply quit.

It was David Byrne-esque, and I enjoy that, but because it had no ending I just can’t recommend it. What was annoying is that it wasn’t as if it had a deep, “artsy” ending that I just didn’t “get”, and it didn’t have a rage-inducing, horrible ending (like the remake of Planet of the Apes). It just had no ending. Don’t bother.

My girlfriend has been on a mission to see all of the Oscar movies before the Academy Awards tomorrow night. Several weeks ago we went to see A Beautiful Mind. When it was over we ducked into the adjacent theater and watched The Lord of the Rings I: The Fellowship of the Ring. (It was the first time I “stole” a movie since my mom and sister and I stayed in our seats to watch Rocky III twice in a row when it was in the theaters.) Last night we stole again and saw both In the Bedroom and Gosford Park. It’s really, really hard for me to feel guilty about “stealing” a movie when I pay SIX DOLLARS for one little bag of popcorn. I mean, I know it’s still stealing and I’m a rotten person and everything, but … c’mon. Six dollars?
So anyway … now she’s seen all five, but I still haven’t seen Moulin Rouge. We have it on DVD so maybe I’ll try to watch it tomorrow before the Awards …