Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween: Part 2

Happy Halloween! 

One of my favorite holidays. Although any excuse to get dressed up is a pretty awesome occasion. But I love the whole premise. Tricks and treats, a reason to revisit old scary movies, and as I mentioned an excuse to dress yourself up an adopt an alias for the night. 

But what I don't get was that for some reason this year there were two Halloweens. Maybe this didn't happen for everyone, but here in LA Halloween apparently happens twice. The first time happened last weekend, where I saw numerous costumed party goers roam about the streets of Hollywood, and I can only assume people are going out to dress up tonight, on the actual calender Halloween. 

Now granted I love getting dressed up. And I understand that LA is a city that is largely created upon throwing on fake identities. But celebrating one holiday twice? Halloween is occurring on a Friday this week as well, so it's not like you're going out on a weekend because you don't want to go out on a weekday. Grossing over $6.9 billion a year, economic experts have given this careless spending spree a name even: Falloween. I don't mean to hate on people partying, dressing up, or having a good time. I just hate when commercialism encourages us to go overboard holidays. And now with overnight halloween stores, holiday isles popping up in September, and now two Halloweens I just think this holiday is getting ridiculous. 

I think for my birthday next year I'm going to celebrate it twice. First on the weekend before my birthday just in case anyone is busy, then another on my actual birthday. And yes, I'd like two presents... 

Thursday, October 30, 2008

World Series Champions 2008: The Philadelphia Phillies

Congradulations Philadelphia. After 25 long years of having your city win a major sporting title here it is: your World Series Champions the Philadelphia Phillies. 

And for those who thought this was was going to be a boring World Series because no big market team was in it for shame. You can't get much better than a bringer hitting a binger, free tacos, and a half game due to a rain out. An NL team hitting with the power of the AL team, and an AL team small-balling it like the best NL team. It was a great world series, and truly the best team won it. Props to Moyer for stepping up and putting forth a strong outing, shutting the Rays down and placing my foot firmly in my mouth. And props to Lidge for over-coming his Pujol's trauma to become the relief man of the year. 

Congratulations Phillies and fans!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

The Dark Side of Hollywood

So I recently started a new job. A pilot for a major music station (Starts with an M, ends with a V, and has a T in the middle). It's a great gig so far, and I love the people I work with. I'm learning a ton, and I'm getting thrown into a lot of areas that I've never worked in before (casting, locations, etc...). I have many more stories, but I'd like to devote more time to telling them. But in the mean time I have a fun anecdote. 

So I was getting ready with my Production Manager to head out and do MOS (man on the street interviews. Not to be confused with the filmic term MOS which means "Mit Out Sound", another story) at Hollywood and Highland. Having worked as a PA collecting releases there before I was sharing my horror stories with her. One obstacle in particular is dealing with the wackos that dress up as various movie heroes and villains that hang around the area. They pose with tourists, then request a modest tip for their "performance"...

Me: I hate dealing with the characters there. They are so annoying. Especially Darth Vader, he's a jerk. 

PM: Yeah. Darth Vader's a big jerk. Who would've thought.

Me: And all this time I just thought it was a bad rap. 

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Give a little love and it all comes back to you

So I was watching TV tonight and I saw a commercial for a new video game coming out called "Saints Row 2". The commercial was a bunch of clips from the new video game where, from my understanding, you can play as a gangster. Looks like you can shoot people, steal cars, and other gang type things. Maybe it's me getting old, but I think the violent influences in our soiety today are extremely disturbing. Many video game company executives claim that their products offer no more influence than violent movies and television programs. Two thoughts on this:

A) Violence in movies can be just as bad. And it's not something I completely condone either.
 
B) Media (TV, film, web) is a passive media. You watch and absorb, your mind shuts off. In video games you're an active participant in the violence you're creating. 

I remember last year I was at a Christmas exhibit back near my home town. They had a small collection of old toys. I remember looking at them and noticing they were just a little more than metal with paint. Nothing shot sparks, no glowing eyes, and hardly any moving parts. In order to play with those toys you had to exercise your imagination. Use your brain to play. I worry for today's children and the effect that all of the over-stimulation and adult themed media is having on them. In film school I had a professor who once told our production class to be wary of what we want to put into this world because it will manifest itself. The more violent content we create the more violence we propagate in our society. As Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." I think the entertainment industry at large needs to take a good hard look at itself, and be a little bit more responsible with the "art" they are supplying our society with. 

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Everybody's getting Naked

I just started a new job with MTV where I do a lot of research, so I thought I'd share some videos from my researching. 

Keeping in the naked theme from yesterday, I found this video today which I thought was pretty ingenious and hilarious. 
THE BPA - TOE JAM FEAT. DAVID BYRNE & DIZZEE RASCAL

Monday, October 13, 2008

Naked Love

I saw this online today during some random research for my work. I thought it was cute, so I'll share. 

Also check out the site that made it all possible. Too cute. 



Monday, October 6, 2008

VP Debates



I noticed, and you may have as well, I have a lack of political comments on this website. I enjoy political debates, and I enjoy talking about politics. But I find political conversations always seem to end one of three ways. 

1. Both parties agree on their points of view
2. Both parties disagree, and after talking in circles both parties agree to disagree
3. One party becomes so heated in the discussion they become loud, and the conversation ends in a huff

Anyhow, given a big election is happening soon I figure I might as well use my soapbox. So like my friend I thought I would talk about the VP debates from the other night. And like my friend I think I'll just do some bullet points. A few thoughts:

• The polls showed that Biden "won" the debate, but Palin seemed more "likable". I could easily see why. Palin dodged every hard question, and repeated her thoughts on renewable energy about five times. And after she over-played that card she resorted to "Well I'm obviously new to this Washington game. Awww shucks." I'll agree she's likable, but I'm just hoping people weren't blinded by her charisma and see what a poor VP candidate is she is. 

• I was pretty impressed by Biden. He stands by his views, and I like that. I thought he was a good debater, and I'll buy what he's selling. 

• I am disappointed by both parties to dancing around the gay marriage issue. I think it's great they're both recognizing equal civil rights for homosexuals, but why can't they make the logical leap into "redefining" the institution of marriage? I realize this is a hot button issue, and probably the reason why Kerry lost in '04. I understand this is a big taboo of the catholic church, but don't we have the separation of church and state in this country? At least I thought we did. 

• I think Palin made a big boo-boo to comment that she had no idea as the to the factors of global warming, and I'm glad Bidden called her out on it. 

• I'm all about clean coal technology. And had I been in Biden's shoes I would have also pointed out that coal is abundant in our country, and by supporting that research we'd be adding jobs in American, not supporting foreign countries for energy. 

• I think MLB should have waited a bit longer before starting the NLDS game. Country should come first... then baseball. 

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Hello October

Well it's October, and if you're a baseball that means title time. Forget those 162 games you just played for the regular season, now is the real deal. 

I love baseball, and being one I can't help but to love this time of year. I'm a Yankees first and foremost, but I won't let their absence get me down. This was a great year for baseball, and there are so many great stories heading into this play-off race. 

• The Evil Red Sox are returning to defend their title, over coming the Angels ace away. 

• The Dodgers getting two wins in Wrigley field. Both due to phenomenal hitting and three hefty errors by the Cubs (did someone say the 'C' word?). 

• The Phillies dominating the Brewers. Taking their ace for 5 runs at home. 

• Tampa Bay Rays, a team with ten consecutive 90 loss seasons coming out on top of the tough AL East (ahead of both Red Sox and Yankees), topping a veteran Chicago White Sox team. 

Not to mention a the second year in a row a play-off spot came down to a single game play-off. In case you're not tuned in check out the schedule, and turn on TBS for the games, or your local ESPN radio channel for the games on broadcast. 

As for me. I'm rooting for the Dodgers. I figure they're like me, from New York, ended up here in Los Angeles. Plus the Torre connection, and I have a man crush of Russell Martin. 

GO BLUE!!!!