ob la di Not much going on in my world right now. I’m a bit disgruntled with life and feeling a kind of a down kind of a hang-dogish feeling. A bit blue. A dash of ennui creeping in. A tad bummed. A smidge melancholic. I’m tired, not feeling 100%, bored, hopeless-ish about this life in LA. My show ended this weekend. Shows have ended too many times in my life to keep count, and with The Film Pigs, 20 times. But this one felt different. More final. For one, my angry friend Robb is leaving LA. Not giving up but moving on. So this was his last show. Going back in Indiana for a bit. Then… who knows. So that was sad. He’s a good guy and I need all the friends I can get. But in general I think we’re all a bit tired of doing LA Theatre. It is a lonely little world, unsupported and unrecognized. It is an art form floundering silently in the monolithic shadow of the biz here in Angeltown, and it feels much that way. So I’m not sure how, when, or in what form the Pigs will continue. M.’s grandma died the other day, and while it was not unexpected, it was shocking with what swiftness she deteriorated. Two years ago she was a strapping Finnish matron living in San Diego, and then she began to forget things, and then… you all know the story. I went through it with my own grandma who lived with us for a time near the end. I know all about it. M. has decided to leave LA and follow the path she always planned on following – going to grad school for acting. She’s been here 3 years. If anyone needs Acting school less, it is her, but I understand her feeling and applaud her action in leaving this town she hates so awfully much. I just don’t know where that is going to leave us. We talked tonight and we don’t know. It is not an immediate thing, but it is a troubling thing. I therefore feel strange and morose. And contributing to my overall feeling, no doubt, is the lingering fallout from having rented Snake Eyes the other night. What the hell is De Palma doing with his life? What the hell is Nic Cage doing with his life? For fuck’s sake… The movie made no sense. Had no rhythm or arc or surprise. They gave away the identity of "the killer" – ah fuck it, who cares, it’s Gary Sinise folks – in the first 5 minutes by having him give a sinister little look after Cage walks off screen. Oh, and I caught the MTV Movie Awards on tape. Loved the set design. Lisa Kudrow was a fine host. Her shtick, while predictable, is quite effective and funny. There weren’t nearly the good bits that there were last year: the Samuel Jackson Male Actor Decathlon skit, the Dawson’s bit, the Stiller bit. This year, the Star Wars bit was just OK, as was the Best Dramatic Pause, though Kudrow’s tag to the scene was a bit much. I don’t know what Jim Carrey was doing with the late Jim Morrison meets Hell’s Angels thing, but any hint of obtuseness, no matter how I-just-played-Andy Kaufman influenced it is, is welcome. Will Smith is likable. His rapping is likable. Dru Hill, Kool Moe Dee, and especially Stevie Wonder, were an unnecessary and unwelcome sight in that context. One day at NYU, Shannon and I were informed of the existence of a CD by former Life Goes On star Chris Burke (AKA Corky). After an immediate and extensive search, we found a copy. As stated before, we are horrible people, but it is one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard. If you can get your hands on it, and like that sort of thing, get it. For her birthday that year I got her the Chris Burke autobiography. I can’t remember what it’s called, but I know one photo caption has the quote, "I don’t have Down Syndrome. I have Up Syndrome!" Oh man. This is where I let Larry King take over my body for a few minutes. Can't get the TLC song out of my head, "I don't want no scrub. A
scrub is a guy who can't get no love from me." And I know they're putting
"scrub" into the popular lexicon, but no shit we were calling each other that in
7th grade up in Berkeley...speaking of the Bay Area, the A's swept the Dodgers this
weekend. Ha Ha...I went to the Getty Center for the first time yesterday. More later, but
LA truly does not deserve it...
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