Lists

It's been a while, apologies.

Marks of a successful day:
1. waking up and getting out of bed
2. being ready and on-time to Church
3. meeting new people and hanging out with friends after church
4. making that hang-out involve show business/networking
5. coming home and actually doing productive things like:
        laundry
        cleaning (bathroom, kitchen, various rugs)
        eating my leftover thai food (delicious)
        going for an adventurous run around my neighborhood

Why I love my neighborhood (Los Feliz, Los Angeles, CA):
1. The Griffith Observatory is visible from my street and every time I come home at night it is lit up like a giant star on a Christmas tree guiding me home and making the area seem more cheerful.
2. It contains various coffee shops, an awesome book shop, a boulangerie that reminds me of Paris, a diner that is not only famous but is green and orange, and an historical looking theater!
3. Walks around the beautiful neighborhoods (above me, where I can't afford to live) are filled with floral smells, wafts of outdoor dinner party conversation and happy clinking sounds, snippets of a classical clarinet player practicing, and a spectacular view of the sun setting behind the observatory.
4. I can work out by walking through said beautiful neighborhood because most of the hills are at 45 degree angles or more.
5. I can come home to a cozy apartment and write this while drinking some lady grey tea all snuggly warm in recently dried clothes.

"springtime" milk

Today's morning went as follows:
wake up, roll over, close eyes, roll over, pick up computer, email, buy running shoes, get hungry, go to kitchen and make pb and j, decide that a glass of milk sounds perfect with that (an unusual experience for me as I do not normally drink straight milk), pour milk in pretty pink plastic cup, sit down to read "The Brother's Bloom" script, munch on sandwich, pick up glass, drink a sip of milk, something is off....it's like....flowers....the smell of them....in my mouth, realize there was still soap in my glass and I've just drunk the palmolive "springtime" soap.  Lesson learned: milk is not for drinking, I'll stick to water.

First Day of Work

Today was my very first day as an (unpaid) intern and it was fantastic.  I always thought that I would hate office jobs but that was when I was never interested in what the company was doing.  This company is producing films and television shows.  I got to spend all day reading interesting material and organizing it.  To most people this sounds tedious, and maybe it is a little, but I was the child that grew up making my father pretend to sign a large stack of "forms" (read: old paper from his office that was being thrown away).  I mean I did the whole scan certain clauses with your pen, write an x, end with a sweet smile saying "sign here please...and here....and...here." The other benefit is that they fed me and as a poor (unpaid) intern I relish the wonderfully organic Trader Joe's goodies they are stocked up on.  And the coffee.  Oh, man.  They have a milk foamer and almond milk plus different levels of strength coffee thingys (you know like keurig but better).  There is (almost) nothing better than a great cup of coffee and some interesting material to read.

The Heart of a Pirate and Men on Fire

found this vid on my friend Caroline's blog, she's rad. Check her out!

The Grove

The Grove is a shopping mall in the district of Fairfax, Los Angeles near Park La Brea and Beverly Hills.  It is a large outdoor shopping mall that has an aspect of whimsicality to it. An historic free trolly runs through the middle of winding streets marked with notable store brands and beautiful cafes.  One road looks like it could almost be a European side street (except much cleaner and newer and generally more American).  One of these cafes, the Marmalade Cafe (a local chain in the Los Angeles area), was the site for a birthday celebration of my new friend Katie.  It was her twenty-first and we had a wonderful waiter who both brought out the cake her roommates had bought at the right time with lighted candles and an ice cream sundae from the restaurant (new ice cream and cake dance?).  I was also able to try this wonderful pear flatbread.  Savory pears? Yes. On warm flatbread with cheese and balsamic drizzle.  It was simply delicious and much more affordable than the gargantuan bowls of pasta they offered.      

View from my spot on top of the 1759 Historical Trolly Ride!

Malibu (updated)

I was going to try and upload some pictures from the lovely ocean town of Malibu, CA but time and exhaustion have prevented me from doing so (not to mention that here at the beach June Gloom hits things more prominently making the mornings and evenings foggy and, thus, unsuitable for pictures).  I am here at a Catholic Monastery for Act One's kick off retreat.  It has been fabulous to meet and talk to the sixty or so other participants about the intersection of art, truth, beauty, and filmmaking.  Tomorrow will be a long day of workshops and information but tonight was a lot of fun and a little exploring.  I went with two new friends down to the beach and into the town of Malibu tonight where we talked of muppets, musicals, and a love of diet Dr. Pepper.  The more time I spend learning about "the business" and talking with the other people here the more at home I feel.  I am so thankful to have this opportunity to learn from experienced writers and producers in this field and to get to know people who share the same love of story-telling that I do.  In an effort to avoid the cliched "coming home" and "these are my people" statements I will simply state that I am uncertain what the future holds but confident that this is where I am supposed to be.  More to come after the retreat ends...

UPDATE:
Here are some pictures from Malibu and the retreat!

Love Shack?

Alyson and Barnabas

Santa Monica in the distance

self-explanatory

View looking out on the Malibu neighborhood we were in

View from outside the balcony on my floor at the retreat

Garden and bench

Serra Retreat Center

The most beautiful and heartbreaking statue of an angel I have ever seen

...Forever (see previous post)

The line waiting to get into the cemetery

        Last night was my first night attending one of Cinespia's screenings in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.  Right by Paramount Studios, the cemetery was filled with people eager to see Johnny Depp (in all of his youthful cut-off shirted glory) play Glen Lantz in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).  It was my first viewing and I was happy to find that not only did the movie make you jump even with dated effects (there was the added element of seeing it in a cemetery at night with a man dressed as Freddy Kreuger sneaking up on unsuspecting audience-members) but it was also quite funny.  Small quips throughout, playing off of a comical reverse of parental roles, made the movie much funnier than expected.

       Although we were a bit of a ways aways from the screen it was a lot of fun to sit out on blankets as the sun went down over the not-so-distant ocean.

I went to a flea market today and picked up a piece of artwork for my room: a painting of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Even though it's in the wrong city I suppose it reminds me of the east coast.  The price was right at $22 for an oil on canvas that's about 1.5 ft by 2.5 fit.  Looks great in my new room.     

 

On the way home I passed this sign.  I thought that it was a remarkable idea, perhaps I'll try it when I run out of books on "tape" (aka CD or iPod, times they are a changing).  First, I have to get my Los Angeles library card, something I was happy to find was on the top of one of my 

friend's to-do lists upon moving to LA as well.