JONIZZLE

Random niblets that have been floating around my mind to blog about (I started this earlier in the week):

- In my 27 days since arriving in Los Angeles, I have refeuled the Jetta five times, for a total of $168.47.

- It should come as no surpise then that on working days, I spend at the minimum three hours a day in the car. That means on a good day, about 12.5% of my day is spent in traffic.

- Because of this high percentage of car time, I have developed an appreciation for sports radio (710 ESPN here in SoCal). I think people who call into radio shows are oftentimes similar to those who post on message boards; they're delusional idiots.

- As mentioned previously, MadTV is filmed in a stage next to my office. On the opposite side of my office is the stage for the Suite Life of Zach and Cody, and That's So Raven. I haven't sighted any of them yet, but I do see a lot of other child actors/extra's walking around. Yesterday I saw a kid wearing a bright pink shirt that said, "Real Men Wear Pink". He walked past me, looked up, and smirked real big at me, all Hollywood like. Needless to say, I laughed out loud once he was past me.

- Is no one else's interest piqued by the phenomenon of John Mayer and the Killers having two songs with nearly the same exact chorus? Has this happened before in music, where three fairly unique words (fire, wire, higher) are used the exact same way?!?! I mean seriously, it kinda creeps me out.

- The Bears game Sunday night. I see or hear a few Bears fans talk about how "THAT WAS THE GREATEST BEARS GAME EVER OMIGAAAHHH!!! Well, I wouldnt be too proud of your "greatest game" being a come from behind victory against a perpetually crappy team with one playoff win since 1947 starting a rookie at quarterback. That just doesnt seem like it should be the pinnacle of a franchise. Do you really want your greatest game to be against the Arizona Cardinals? THE ARIZONA CARDINALS?!?! I don't think so. The vaunted Chicago team should never have been in that position. I've also been having humongous poops the size of peoples forearms. Its like giving birth analy. (Just trying to sneak that information into this post. And that giving birth analy description I just made up sounds HORRIBLE...but its true in my case.)

- I am pretty confident that I could make a very comfortable living in this industry being a producer of sorts. Is that cocky? A little too confident? A little too naive that I can climb this supposed ladder quickly? Doing a job seems like doing TAF, except it is a new job every one or two weeks and on a professional level. Instead of counselors you have camera crew, grip crew, lighting, etc, instead of ILT you have Production Assistants, and instead of campers you have actors and talent agencies.

- I spelled OUTSWIMS for a 143 point score last night in Literati. It was my highest word score ever. The T was open on the board, the O went on a 2x word score, the W (which is 4 points alone) on a 3x letter score, and the end S on a 3x word score. The 2x and 3x makes it a 6x word score, which is pretty sweet. So it came out to be (in OUTSWIMS ORDER) 1+1+1+1+12+0+1+1=18 (my I was a blank) * 6 = 108 + 35 for a Bingo Bonus = 143. I'm a nerd for writing all that out, but it was pretty awesome. I finished the game at 380 points.

- 99% of the people that I have met in the commercial film production world have been extremely nice and friendly. From my superiors who always say thank you to me, to the guys on set who are always open to giving advice and also saying thank you, to the guys at the film supply stores who offer you coffee or cookies when you're waiting for your order. It is very refreshing to feel that day in and day out in and around work.

- Moving on from that, one of my bosses asked me to bring them a coke the other day and to wash the ice for her. Yea. Wash the ice. So I did just that, and I washed the ice before I poured her coke into a glass. Haha...

- It's SOOOO COLD HERE! Like 51 degrees. CHILLY!

- We eat ridiculously well in this industry. There is food galore. Like mentioned earlier, coffee or snacks are offered while you wait to get equipment. There is a kitchen in my office stocked with all kinds of snacks and beverages. On film days, I have had grilled salmon, bbq ribs or chicken, etc etc, for a meal. They serve hot breakfast too. And everyday we order lunch (which is paid for by the company) and my meal usually costs around 10+ dollars from a fancy shmancy Hollywood cafe. I think thats why I don't mind work so much. You feed me, I stay happy, and therefore I work better for you.

- I need to run. This industry is making me gain weight.

- Continuing with food, we filmed our commercial last Thursday at a home in LA. The nanny took the kid of the house out for dinner, since we were filming in their kitched. My Production Manager Tracey said sure, no problem, we would pay for it and call it a location fee since it was logical. But then the nanny came back from dinner and handed Tracey a receipt for $143 dollars. Uh...WHAT?! You took an 8-year old kid out for a $143 dollar sushi dinner?!?! WHO DOES THAT ON SOMEONE ELSES DIME?! You are a bad bad person.

- I like to add pictures to spruce things up visually sometimes. So here is a photo of what happens to Mei Mei when she does something bad and needs to be punished.



We make her stand up for a few minutes and make her think about what she's done. As you can see, Father Lo is making sure she understands to never run off from the house and chase rabbits in the night and get herself all dirty. Bad Mei Mei.