JONIZZLE

Further evidence of Scrabbles signifigance in my life:

1) I came back to Vince's house, and I found my guitar tuner which I had lost last winter. Vince and Ming had looked for it for me back then, but no luck. And where did I find the guitar tuner eleven months later? In the Scrabble box.

2) I'm posting this while Vince and Alex (team #1) and Ming and Helena (team #2) try to complete their Speed Scrabbles after I (team #3) finished first.

Yeaaa....

I haven't made fun of Karen in awhile...

I have been back in Illinois since 5am central time at O'Hare International, and I am now sitting in my bedroom at home in Springfield.

And all I can think about is how freaking cold I am right now.

Alfonso Soriano! With Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez for the next four years! Yea yea yea! Oh and to point out something, the Cubs handily defeated the Cardinals head to head last year, thus backing up my fact that the Cubs are the BEST TEAM IN THE WORLDDDD.

Go Cubbies!

I listend to USC visiting USC for a basketball game tonight. As in, the University of South Carolina vs. the University of Southern California. Both of the schools happen have a maroon/goldenrod logo. I've also held this belief for years that there is some jokester conspiracy between the nicknames of the schools. Southern Cal is popularly known as the Trojans, while Southern Carolina baseball caps were popular years ago because their mascot is the Gamecock, and on hats, it was simply "COCKS".

So we have two teams, with the same abbreviation, same jersey colors, and one team is called the Trojans and the other the Cocks. Right...

South Carolina won in overtime though, so in regards to the spread, the Trojans were unable to cover.
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Here's a photo of the sandwich I mentioned yesterday.


Know that I took a few bites out of the sandwich before remembering to photograph it. What you see is about 2/3rds of 1/2. Yes, picture the sandwich a little bit bigger, TIMES TWO, and that was what I was given for lunch. It was large.

Some days this job can be very easy. For instance, a day like today. My only actual "job" activities or assignments included: walking the hundred steps to pick up the mail, walking the two hundred steps to drop off Fedex, ordering and picking up lunch, organizing some books on a shelf, and keeping the office kitchen tidy.

The rest of the time was spent: playing literati, filling out the LA Times crossword, writing on multiple facebook walls somewhat randomly, making plans with Marg Yoo next week, trying to see how many times Karen could call me retarded/stupid in a day (3!), researching for my fantasy sports teams, and eating a humongous sandwich for lunch, in which I could only finish half. If Jon Lee can only eat half of a sandwich, it must be big. I'll post a picture of it when I get home if I remember to, before I eat it for dinner.

I would love to spend time complaining about the insurance company that I have been dealing with, but it is only a waste of time. If I could get someone on the phone, it would feel SOOOO good to yell at them. But alas I can only contact phone operators, which doesn't help.

I fly back to the Midwest Monday.

my aunt and uncle have a guava tree in the backyard. i also have been having amazingly huge and tough (physically) poops lately.

and conclusively:
"Guava leaves are used for medicinal purposes, as a remedy for diarrhea[citation needed], and for their supposed antimicrobial properties. The same anti-diarrheal substances which are useful in folk medicine may also cause constipation in the case of consumption of large amounts of guava fruits."

Cndncrippler1 signed on at 6:24:00 PM.
thendxcrd: this is oooouuuurrrr country
Cndncrippler1: no
Cndncrippler1: dont do that

Ahem. Following up my last post, I went to church today, and leading worship was Tim Hughes. And if I hadn't gone to church today and had my rental car, I would have been working on The Shins music video. So, yea, famous people everywhere. And I'm sharing this with you like its relatively important news. Yeup.

I wonder what it must be like to grow up in Los Angeles, California. With my Midwestern eyes, I feel like it would be somewhat surreal. Film, television, and music are arguably the most accessible global entities, being consumed across the United States and the world twenty four hours a day, 365 days a year. The vast majority of it starts and finishes here in Los Angeles. I could argue that this is the center of the world for many people who idolize movie stars and Gwen Stefani. So in your daily life, you're bound to cross paths with famous people who, in my Midwestern mind far removed from growing up in the sunny shores and bright lights of Socal, seem to be larger than life. It's like those sidewalk interviews you see on Jay Leno, where people know who Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are, but couldn't recognize Allen Greenspan or Tony Blair, aka people who probably have had a MUCH greater impact nationally and internationally on people’s lives than Bennifer would have ever had.

As I sit down and watch TV, it's completely different to watch "The OC back" in Champaign, Illinois, than to watch it here. I now recognize where they're filming. I used to wonder why all the characters on the show wore sweaters and jackets with them living in the famed sunny Cali climate, but then I realized that yea, its cold at night. You start to notice little things like that. It makes it a little more real and less real at the same time. Instead of The OC being in "California", it’s just at a place I was walking around yesterday. "Arrested Development" takes place in Orange County too, and in one episode their oddball lawyer goes to the City of Industry to pick up a hooker (for comedies sake). And um...the City of Industry is oh, just north of me. I could ride my bike there and listen to “Konstantine” only once. Anyways, one of my first thoughts was, "I wonder if they just chose to say that the male prostitute was in the City of Industry because the rest of the nation wouldn't know better and it sounds like a city where there would be male prostitues." Because really, the 340 million other non-LA citizens of the United States would have no idea right? (Although there really could be a place like that in the CoI, I wouldn’t know.) And actually, my first thought after seeing "City of Industry" on the bottom of the screen was figuring what freeways he took to drive there from Newport (the 57 North to 60 West probably).

I was filming last weekend near the Santa Monica Pier, which is close to 8th & Ocean. I didn't even realize it till a few days after I was there. When you see it, it is not "8th & Ocean", it’s just...an apartment building. I was reminded of this as I was looking at apartments online. In a few years I could be living at say, 4th & Ocean. I bet Jeff would be too happy to hear that and ask me to go find the twin models for him. This also brought the song “Ocean Avenue” into mind by Yellowcard. This Californication (another song) is everywhere. I am proud to say that I haven't listed to Phantom Planet while driving to work on the 101 yet. Cuz you know, "driving down the one-oh-one" is not as glamorous as it seems in between the hours of 600-930am and 330-630pm. Traffic is never fun.

There is just so much of the entertainment industry here. I have yet to be really star struck, and I hope I don't because in reality they're just people, and you should figure that out quick when you're here because you shop at the same places and drink the same coffee they do. But the fact is people do get star struck and a little delusional (ex: all of the bad singers who go on American Idol and think they’re legitimately good).

In the wikipedia article for Hollywood, it says this:
"Every year, hundreds of runaway adolescents leave their homes across North America and flock to Hollywood hoping to become movie stars, as portrayed by the lyrics of the 1960s Burt Bacharach song "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" whose lyrics include the words: "All the stars / That never were / Are parking cars / And pumping gas." Such individuals soon discover that they have extremely slim chances of competing against professionally trained actors. Many of them end up sinking into homelessness, which is a problem in Hollywood for adults as well as youth."

It is however, fun to tell to people who aren't here, because usually we all get a kick out of it. But why is it so hard to make it out here? Is it really THAT hard to get into the entertainment industry? Perhaps it's because my chosen path so far has been production...but schmoozing with famous people doesn't seem too far off down the road. It would just be part of my job. I give credit to my fortune of having a normal childhood and an education, family and friends who are supportive, and who don’t get swept up in all this shiny Hollywood shtick.

Ryan noted months ago that he liked the song "Boston" because unlike many songs you hear (and film you see) that "make love to California," "Boston" was the antithesis to that. But then again, the song is still largely about California. And when I listen to it I feel like, sure, some snow would be nice, but really...75 degrees in November with no humidity and watching the Sun set off the Pacific Ocean is pretty hard to beat. My point though is that you gain all these real ties to the mass media. Their world is your world.
(I bet “Entourage” can really screw with peoples heads. It is a fictional story set in a factual industry with factual people making cameos as themselves who work to create a fictional world for us in the real world to consume.)

You sit in the same traffic and breathe in the same air, watch the same sunset and walk on the same sand. You shop at the same places and eat at the same restaurants. "Hello Jim Edmonds, Bobby Lee, and Jamie Kennedy, welcome to Yardhouse!" Grace would have to say...minus their names, while I sit in the corner and eat my buffalo wings. Reality and surreality collide. (Wow, that’s not a real word, but it should be.)

So this is my best guess as to why we keep making love to California. For those of us outside of LA, were drawn to it by all this glitz and glamour and the hopes of becoming rich and famous. And for those that are here, the reality that you formed in your own mind about life is now blurred by film, television, and music once you arrive. Your world is seen and heard around the world through media. Your world is the center. And so you feel a little more important. A little more like a big shot. We give celebrities way too much time and credit than we should. My guess is that if we can claim a connection to someone famous, it makes us all feel a little more famous too. Fame is power and acceptance, and maybe that’s a deep human desire acting out in all of us.

So, LA isn't all that its cracked up to be. But sometimes, it is. Some people really just come out here for the weather or job opportunities. It's certainly good enough for both. Just don’t get too caught up in all the Californication.

(Yes, it is ironic that I tell people not to get too caught up in loving California while quoting from a song about California.)

Oh and for Howard and Karen (and the StL kids for fun), Jim Edmonds should be BHC #3. It's a freaking cinder block on his shoulders.

I broke 400 in Literati for (I think) the first time tonight.



In a nice coincidence, I had hot pot tonight for dinner, which is my favorite partly because of huo guo's association with using sah-tsah sauce. In said Literati game, I used the English spelling for sah-tsah, SATAY. What gloriousness this day has brought forth.

Well, today was not the best of days.

First, as we were wrapping up set location last Saturday for the music video I was helping Karen produce, an unfortunate accident involving (not) my car's trunk and the driveway gate of the house we filmed at occured. It was one of those things were there was nothing more I could have done to be cautious, but I still end up with a $1100 estimate for damage.

Fast forward to today, where I had the chance to witness a little VW Beetle drive into the side of my door, and watch glass shatter past me into the car. I'm okay, physically and mentally. It is quite a unique two-second process to go through however; see car, see driver of car looking other way, see driver step on gas and turn right into you in the middle of an intersection, and see glass shatter everywhere. It was actually pretty intense.(And hopefully the other driver's insurance covers everything, since it is very much her fault.)

And so, unlike Howard's two accidents in the span of 15 minutes, I had two accidents in the span of three days. Add Marci getting backed into on Saturday also, and Jules getting into a pretty bad accident last week...I'd say DRIVE SAFE to you all right now. Or don't drive at all, which is what I plan to do voluntarily (I don't want to risk any more on my current streak of bad driving luck) and involuntarily (since well, there is no window on my car).

So yes. This is currently my reality here in California, which makes this day not so great. Oddly, last night I had the premonition of getting into an accident with an attractive girl, as the girl who actually did hit me was a 5'10" white version of Jamie. But let me tell you, it's no fun meeting models when they just hit your car.

It was 94 degrees out today too.

Since no one watches it anymore, here's a play-by-play summation of tonight's The OC.

thendxcrd: the oc has gone downhill right.
Mahoney575: i didnt even dvr it tonight
thendxcrd: yeup.
thendxcrd: i didnt realize it was on.
Mahoney575: thats how little interest i have in it anymore
thendxcrd: im watching it for old times sake.
thendxcrd: its kinda like watching a car accident ya know? so bad, but you cant turn away.
Mahoney575: ha
thendxcrd: ohmyGod.
thendxcrd: lukes 2 little twin brothers are characters on the show now
thendxcrd: its so bad.
Mahoney575: thats awful
thendxcrd: one of the possibly developing storylines in this episode
thendxcrd: is that ryan and marissa's mom are having an affair
Mahoney575: gross
thendxcrd: or at least theyre alluding to that
thendxcrd: hahaha
Mahoney575: lets hope not
thendxcrd: yea
thendxcrd: everyones cheating on everyone
thendxcrd: at least they still have cool music
Mahoney575: thats one thing
thendxcrd: summer aged
thendxcrd: oh wait ok
thendxcrd: ryan and marissas mom arent having an affair
thendxcrd: thats good.
thendxcrd: theyre meeting to kill volchek.
thendxcrd: hahahaha
Mahoney575: makes much more sense
thendxcrd: yea
thendxcrd: ryans brooding as ever.
thendxcrd: he doesnt care about anything!
thendxcrd: he didnt go to marissas funeral!
Mahoney575: youre a nerd
thendxcrd: im giving you play by play on the show.
thendxcrd: i bet youre laughing.
Mahoney575: just a bit
Mahoney575: ha


Sigh. Season 1 was so great. I am contemplating buying it just to cherish a season of great writing and storytelling. Season 2 had it's moments (like the Spiderman re-enactment). Anyways.

I don't have anything else pertinent to say now.

Except you all should watch Arrested Development, which has now been cancelled, and you should all watch Friday Night Lights, so that it won't be cancelled.