The L.A. Dime

Oct 26 2009

U2

Last night we went to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena with friends (and amazing cheese-gatherers) Laurie and Gary, plus 100,ooo other Angelinos. With the whole world watching live on YouTube, we saw the the greatest band in the world play an epic and historic concert. That was the third time I saw U2. Pop in the ATL was fun, but eh… Then, I saw them a few weeks after 9/11/2001, and the raw emotional outpouring will be forever impossible to match. During “One,” they projected the names of all those killed across the crowd in the Staples Center. On our faces and chests. An unforgettable moment. No one could withhold tears.

The 360 tour can only be described as HUGE. It takes 333 people five days to set up the stage. Giant stadiums, giant stage, giant screen, and certainly a giant, iconic band that somehow perpetually remains cool. There were senior citizens there, as well as nine year olds, and everyone in between. All races, all creeds, all colors. As I sat in wonder at the spectacle before me, I couldn’t help but imagine what it must feel like for Bono, The Edge, Adam and Larry to look out a galaxy of humanity; 100,ooo people who paid on average $100 per seat, and withstood hours of traffic and inconvenience, to joyfully gather and see them play music. What power. What influence. And the thing is, these guys — they absorb that power, that energy, and even that money, and they turn it into good. I am no music expert, but in my very humble opinion, they rank with The Beatles as one of the greatest bands of all time. Deny me if you will, but look at the volume of material, the albums, the hits, and then…consider their social influence. Bono urged the crowd not to give up on them, that they still have a lot left to give. Witnessing the fun they have performing, and the passion they have for their music and their message, I have no doubt that I will be seeing the boys from Dublin again.

Photos courtesy of Gary.

Details about the logistics of the concert here.

: Boom Boom Pau Gasol

: Debra Messing

: Screen dropped to the stage

: Sunday Bloody Sunday (for Iran)

: bad ass

: with Laurie and Gary

One response so far

Aug 12 2009

Credit Where Due

Published by admin under The Industry,The Media

Visionary trendsetter, Apple, does not include writing credits on its iTunes movies. Why? Please email itunesmarketing@apple.com to ask.

2 responses so far

Jun 11 2009

All Things Considered

Published by admin under The Industry,The Media

Almost everyday, I get my afternoon news from NPR’s All Things Considered — a national radio show carried locally on KCRW. It’s been a pocket dream of mine to somehow get on that show someday. Well, on Tuesday, while I wasn’t mentioned directly, my movie Road Trip – Beer Pong was featured on the show in a rather ignominious story about one of our principal locations, Agnes Scott College. You can read the full story here: http://tinyurl.com/kjtzjp

scott_2_540

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Apr 16 2009

A Shout Out from Kelso

Published by admin under The Industry,The Media

This is stupid and silly, and kinda Hollywood Blvd. touristy, but last night, while watching Ashton Kutcher’s ustream feed as he battled CNN for Twitter supremacy, I sent him this @reply: “Cobra Kai! Sweep the Leg!” About a minute later, he gave me a shout out, and even pronounced my last name right. Tina witnessed the whole affair. We heard Demi laughing in the background. I don’t usually get crazy about celebs, but thought that was pretty cool.

6 responses so far

Apr 12 2009

Rose Bowl Bound

Published by admin under The Media

The Easter Bunny brought me U2 tickets to see the October show at the Rose Bowl! Actually, I hear there were several bunnies involved. Thank you Easter Bunnies, bach bach! Now, if we can only get Bono to improve his Twitter Tweets.

new_5

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Apr 04 2009

The Killer Angels

Published by admin under The Media

Good friend Mark S. gave me a book for my birthday almost three years ago, that I just now read. The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara, is a Pulitzer-winning fictionalization of the Battle of Gettysburg (on which the 1993 film, Gettysburg, was based). It’s an amazing read, and one need not be a war buff to appreciate the heart-rending personal accounts of this battle, told from the individual perspectives of its various commanders and combatants. Given the difficult times we face in our country right now, I found it helpful to revisit the greatest trial we have yet endured.

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Mar 21 2009

Goodbye Ole Girl

Published by admin under The Media

Most of you never knew her. Maybe all of you. But last night, I spent two final, wonderful, exciting, and frankly, sad, hours with her before she flew into the sun. I’m talking about the Battlestar, Galactica, and her host of human and cylon occupants, neighbors, and enemies. This gritty, contemporary, and often topical reimagining of the 1978 series unfortunately concluded its four year run last night.

While some of our most enduring fiction and cinema is Sci-fi, as a genre, it still orbits the outer fringe of mainstream entertainment. Battlestar, though, like any good story Sci-fi or otherwise, was about human drama at its core — about the relationships between people, their hopes, dreams, ideas and fears, far more than it was about laser beams and hyper drives. I will miss this show like I still do Cheers and The Sopranos. Yes, it was that good. Fortunately for you, the Sci-Fi Channel will continue to air episodes (but may never recover from this loss), and of course, it is available on DVD. Fortunately for me, I was able to visit the set in Vancouver, and see a bit of its creation first-hand.

Do yourself a favor and check Battlestar Galactica. You won’t be disappointed. So say we all.

battlestar_galactica_iso

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Feb 07 2009

Good reads

Published by Tina under The Media

After I graduated college, I set a goal to read one of the New York Times’ recommended Bestseller books every month. Especially during those 5 years of consulting and being on the road all week, every week, I started to build quite a nice collection of books. I read mostly fiction but have stretched myself a few times to read include some others. Here’s my list of top favorites or maybe “noteworthy”:

1) Empire Falls (Richard Russo) – Great small town story about a single dad of a teenage daughter and the various characters involved in his life

2) Plainsong (Kent Haruf) – Tom Guthrie is a high school teacher whose wife can’t–or won’t–get out of bed; the McPherons are two bachelor brothers who know little about the world beyond their farm gate; Victoria Roubideaux is a pregnant 17-year-old with no place to turn. Their lives parallel each other in much the same way any small-town lives would–until Maggie Jones makes them intersect

3) Life of Pie (Yann Martel) – After a harrowing shipwreck, the precocious 16-year old son of a zookeeper finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean, trapped on a 26-foot lifeboat with a wounded zebra, a spotted hyena, a seasick orangutan, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker

4) Three Cups of Tea (Greg Mortenson) – One man’s mission to promote peace…one school at a time

5) Eat, Pray, Love (Elizabeth Gilbert) – Plagued with despair after a nasty divorce, the author, in her early 30s, divides a year equally among three dissimilar countries, exploring her competing urges for earthly delights and divine transcendence

6) The Corrections (Jonathan Franzen) - All five members of the Lambert family get their due, as everybody’s lives swirl out of control; including Christmas homecomings gone awry, cruise-ship follies, self-deluded academics, breast-obsessed screenwriters, stodgy old farts and edgy Tribeca bohemians equally at sea in their lives, and the mad, bad, dangerous worlds of the Internet boom and the fissioning post-Soviet East

7) A Million Little Pieces (James Frey) – Wanted by authorities in three states, without ID or any money, his face mangled and missing four front teeth, Frey is on a steep descent from a dark marathon of drug abuse. His stunned family checks him into a famed Minnesota drug treatment center where a doctor promises “he will be dead within a few days” if he starts to use again, and where Frey spends two agonizing months of detox confronting “The Fury” head on

I’m looking for a new book now, what are some of your favorites?

3 responses so far

Jan 28 2009

Road Trip 2 Location in the News

Published by admin under The Industry,The Media

Located in Atlanta, is a replica of the White House that was used as a location in Road Trip 2. Today, the owner is featured in this CNN story about the economy. In the movie, the mansion is home to Arash, the Crown Prince of Tandoor, who was sent to America to study accounting because he lacks good dicatorial instincts.

No responses yet

Jan 20 2009

Beer Pong Goes Legit

Published by admin under The Games,The Industry,The Media

Only on the L.A. Dime can you get a heart-felt, patriotic, drippingly emotional discourse on the glory of American democracy, followed by a shameless shill-job for an R-rated movie about Beer Pong.

That being said, since Road Trip 2: Beer Pong (which I wrote) will be released later this year, I thought I’d share this great article by famed ESPN columnist Rick Reilly about his trip to The World Series of Beer Pong. Enjoy. And God Bless America.

2 responses so far

Archive for the 'The Media' Category

U2

Credit Where Due

All Things Considered

A Shout Out from Kelso

Rose Bowl Bound

The Killer Angels

Goodbye Ole Girl

Good reads

Road Trip 2 Location in the News

Beer Pong Goes Legit

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