Well, not really. I’m sure you’ve all heard by now that two days ago, the City of Los Angeles was shaken to the core. By an EARTHQUAKE. Not the big one, but it sure as hell wasn’t little either. Earthquakes are an interesting phenomenon. We got hit by a 5.4 that lasted just over 20 seconds. Twenty seconds is a looooooong time for an earthquake. So long, that while you are watching everything around you shake like it was a boat on choppy water, you have time to think “this is still happening.” Then you watch people go crazy, screaming and think again “this is still happening!”
Being from the East Coast, I have heard instructions on what to do in an earthquake a couple of times, and filed them away in my head. Interestingly, I remembered that the best place to be was either in a door frame or under a table. Unfortunately, they were all taken. I got to experience this in the open, where stuff could easily fall onto my head. My adrenaline began to pump, and my fear went away. I looked out into the street to see cars moving up and down, shaking side to side and could feel the ground rolling beneath my feet. I was reminded of being on a carnival ride like the shake shack. Oddly, the emotion I felt was a strong connection to the planet. It was as if I had never really felt the ground beneath my feet before then. And this piece of rock that I am standing on is hurtling through space, at warp speed. I felt infinitely connected to everything that is.
Then I thought about how this rock we live on is all we got. It carries us around the sun to keep us warm and provides us with vegetation to sustain life. We can either take care of it now or we will be forced to look for another way of living.
© 2008 MD TOTAL all rights reserved.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Who Are These People? Why Should I Care?
I am not from Los Angeles, though apparently, some people are. (who knew?) I was raised in a big southern city with a strong suburban experience. I then moved to New York City, where I finished growing up and because of that, I have a unique experience of understanding both urban and suburban environments. In New York and LA, like no other city in the States, there is an entire population of people who are out and about in the middle of the day! There they are, shopping, taking yoga, having lunch, and generally annoying me with their stupid traffic decisions. Who are they? What do they do?
Growing up, I clearly remember ditching school to go to lunch and a movie, or lunch and shopping, or shopping and a movie. Or - The Price is Right and a joint! The major upside of being out during the weekday was that no place was populated, and definitely never crowded. That was part of the reason to skip school, right? To get out of class and get away from the annoying people you see every day. The world was yours for four hours!
In LA, if you are lucky enough to get out during a weekday for lunch, or to steal some quiet time at the gym, you are decidedly not alone. At first, I thought I was unaware of some sort of national bank holiday, but slowly realized over time that it was like this every single day. I know that here in LA, many people work nights as waiters and bartenders, or doing weird data entry jobs, or are actors doing all three. But damn! Is the entire population of actors out all day, every day?! And if they are working later that evening, why the hell are they getting drunk at lunch?
Who are these people?
I only ask because lately I have a schedule that allows me a little weekday fun from time to time. For example, last week, I was lucky enough to get away to lunch with friends who were in from out of town. The whole experience was mind-blowing because I got to do the whole “go for a hike, run three errands, drive over the hill on the 405 where there was an accident, then to the 101 where there was another accident (something involving a flatbed truck carrying port-a-potty’s! ICK!) which obviously made me take surface streets the rest of the way to Studio City. Hiking, traffic, heat, headaches and lunch with friends! Another typical weekday?
And then it hit me: When did I become one of those people?
© 2008 MD TOTAL all rights reserved.
Growing up, I clearly remember ditching school to go to lunch and a movie, or lunch and shopping, or shopping and a movie. Or - The Price is Right and a joint! The major upside of being out during the weekday was that no place was populated, and definitely never crowded. That was part of the reason to skip school, right? To get out of class and get away from the annoying people you see every day. The world was yours for four hours!
In LA, if you are lucky enough to get out during a weekday for lunch, or to steal some quiet time at the gym, you are decidedly not alone. At first, I thought I was unaware of some sort of national bank holiday, but slowly realized over time that it was like this every single day. I know that here in LA, many people work nights as waiters and bartenders, or doing weird data entry jobs, or are actors doing all three. But damn! Is the entire population of actors out all day, every day?! And if they are working later that evening, why the hell are they getting drunk at lunch?
Who are these people?
I only ask because lately I have a schedule that allows me a little weekday fun from time to time. For example, last week, I was lucky enough to get away to lunch with friends who were in from out of town. The whole experience was mind-blowing because I got to do the whole “go for a hike, run three errands, drive over the hill on the 405 where there was an accident, then to the 101 where there was another accident (something involving a flatbed truck carrying port-a-potty’s! ICK!) which obviously made me take surface streets the rest of the way to Studio City. Hiking, traffic, heat, headaches and lunch with friends! Another typical weekday?
And then it hit me: When did I become one of those people?
© 2008 MD TOTAL all rights reserved.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Box-Office Round Up : 7.27.08
1. The Dark Knight $75.6 million
2. Step Brothers $30 million
3. Mamma Mia $17.9 million
4. X-Files: I Want to Believe $10.2 million
5. Journey/Center/Earth $9.4 million
Holy Crap! My personal favourite movie to come out this year, The Dark Knight broke two more records this weekend! It now has the distinction of having the highest second weekend gross ever, and is also the film that reached the $300 million mark the fastest. (The former record was held by Shrek II, which had the benefit of opening over a holiday weekend. In regards to the latter record, no movie has ever reached the $300 million mark in the first ten days.) This picture really deserves all these accolades - if you call backing up the Brink’s truck an accolade - because it satisfies the genre needs for a superhero movie, and is also a real movie with a compelling story that is told well! Pictures that are good stories well told are always my favorites.
Step Brothers doing $30 mil is a good sign! A lot of insiders were wondering if the Will Ferrell/John C. Reilly matchup would cleanup like Talladega Nights. It did not come close to the $47 mil opening of that picture but when the number one movie has broken three records in 10 days, $30 million don’t sound so bad.
The one true disappointment would be for the X-Files: I Want to Believe. Ugh. Even I’m disappointed, I wanted to believe (wink) that this would do well even though it has been TEN YEARS since the first installment! I had heard that it was supposed to be fun! Oh well, it’s the third week in a row that Fox has not done so well. But – at least using traditional opening weekend math, the sequel will make its money back (not including prints and advertising) which is a better fate than Meet Dave.
I would also like to take a second to ponder the way that movies’ box-office receipts are reported is designed to make it into a competition as entertainment for an audience. I happen to agree, and it’s not my favourite. Why do a weekly Box-Office Round Up if I feel that way, you ask? I am attempting to challenge myself to greater understanding of what’s going on in the marketplace aspect of my industry. I am a person who loves, loves, loves this business, and the fact that our business is to attempt to make art. But the fact that our entertainment costs money to produce and we sell tickets (commercial air time, product placement, yada yada) to cover that cost means that I have a responsibility, as an artist, to at least try to understand why people choose to see what they do. Then we can begin to have an inkling of how much to spend and how to best position our ideas in the audience’s mind to cover those costs so we can all come back to do more projects in the future. Best of all, we get to discuss it together!
And that’s the weekend!
© 2008 MD TOTAL all rights reserved.
2. Step Brothers $30 million
3. Mamma Mia $17.9 million
4. X-Files: I Want to Believe $10.2 million
5. Journey/Center/Earth $9.4 million
Holy Crap! My personal favourite movie to come out this year, The Dark Knight broke two more records this weekend! It now has the distinction of having the highest second weekend gross ever, and is also the film that reached the $300 million mark the fastest. (The former record was held by Shrek II, which had the benefit of opening over a holiday weekend. In regards to the latter record, no movie has ever reached the $300 million mark in the first ten days.) This picture really deserves all these accolades - if you call backing up the Brink’s truck an accolade - because it satisfies the genre needs for a superhero movie, and is also a real movie with a compelling story that is told well! Pictures that are good stories well told are always my favorites.
Step Brothers doing $30 mil is a good sign! A lot of insiders were wondering if the Will Ferrell/John C. Reilly matchup would cleanup like Talladega Nights. It did not come close to the $47 mil opening of that picture but when the number one movie has broken three records in 10 days, $30 million don’t sound so bad.
The one true disappointment would be for the X-Files: I Want to Believe. Ugh. Even I’m disappointed, I wanted to believe (wink) that this would do well even though it has been TEN YEARS since the first installment! I had heard that it was supposed to be fun! Oh well, it’s the third week in a row that Fox has not done so well. But – at least using traditional opening weekend math, the sequel will make its money back (not including prints and advertising) which is a better fate than Meet Dave.
I would also like to take a second to ponder the way that movies’ box-office receipts are reported is designed to make it into a competition as entertainment for an audience. I happen to agree, and it’s not my favourite. Why do a weekly Box-Office Round Up if I feel that way, you ask? I am attempting to challenge myself to greater understanding of what’s going on in the marketplace aspect of my industry. I am a person who loves, loves, loves this business, and the fact that our business is to attempt to make art. But the fact that our entertainment costs money to produce and we sell tickets (commercial air time, product placement, yada yada) to cover that cost means that I have a responsibility, as an artist, to at least try to understand why people choose to see what they do. Then we can begin to have an inkling of how much to spend and how to best position our ideas in the audience’s mind to cover those costs so we can all come back to do more projects in the future. Best of all, we get to discuss it together!
And that’s the weekend!
© 2008 MD TOTAL all rights reserved.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Frank Sinatra Has A Cold
Frank Sinatra, holding a glass of bourbon in one hand and a cigarette in the other, stood in a dark corner of the bar between two attractive but fading blondes who sat waiting for him to say something. But he said nothing; he had been silent during much of the evening. The two blondes knew, as did Sinatra's four male friends who stood nearby, that it was a bad idea to force conversation upon him when he was in this mood of sullen silence, a mood that had hardly been uncommon during this first week of November, a month before his fiftieth birthday. Sinatra was worried about his starring role in an hour-long NBC show entitled Sinatra—A Man And His Music, which would require that he sing eighteen songs with a voice that at this particular moment, just a few nights before the taping was to begin, was weak and sore and uncertain. Sinatra was ill. He was the victim of an ailment so common that most people would consider it trivial. But when it gets to Sinatra it can plunge him into a state of anguish, deep depression, panic, even rage. Frank Sinatra had a cold.
In 1966, the now legendary Gay Talese published a story in Esquire Magazine about Frank Sinatra that changed the way we think about journalism, and is heralded as ushering in a wave of what is now referred to as “New Journalism.” To be frank, “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold” changed the game. Never before had we read such narrative in a magazine - that kind of writing was reserved for novels. But now, forty years later, we find that this new narrative style was not the only prescient aspect of that piece. Gay Talese followed Frank (if I can be so bold) around for three months, burning through an expense account on a hunch that this could be a real treat for Esquire’s readers. So much access! So much freedom! So much scotch! And with Frank! All he had to do was write a coherent story about what he learned whilst basking in the warm glow of a legend, and it would be worth every penny. No one could have imagined that this would be the real birthplace of reality TV. Hell, I never thought of it that way myself until recently. Most think of MTV’s “The Real World” as the beginning of the reality movement. But before that, Madonna had cameras follow her around with unprecedented access during her Blond Ambition Tour in 1990. Though there had been documentaries about famous artists before that, none were granted that sort of unconditional access. We know now that even before Madonna’s “Truth or Dare”, there was Frank giving us more than anyone ever had before. As he had been doing his entire career. Gay Talese’s article is a triumph of popular literature and I love magazines.
Considering every magazine piece I have ever read in my entire life, “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold” is my favourite, easily and by far. Check it out, this story has informed your life if you’ve ever picked up a magazine that was published since 1966. Yes, it's true. It's that important.
© 2008 MD TOTAL all rights reserved.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Even Louis XVI would swoon!
Los Angeles is most often thought of as the Capital of the Entertainment Industry. Swimming Pools! Movie Stars! Grauman’s Chinese! Rodeo Drive! Harry Winston! (!!!) The Kodak Theatre! What most don’t know is that LA really is the Hamburger Capital of America. LA is as American as America can get (for being in a blue state) and what’s more American than a burger and fries? The most popular joint in town is In-N-Out Burger, hands down. This fast food chain is so intent on burgers, that burgers are the only option on the menu. Well that, and fries. Oh, and shakes! Outside of a couple of simple substitutions, that’s all they got. No chicken at all- nuggets or sando’s. Or tangerine slices for that matter, if you want to get all up in the bidness…
Imagine my surprise when I found out the one city I would call the polar opposite of Los Angeles secretly and self-consciously began serving (shudder!) hamburgers in their haute cuisine restaurants? That city is Paris.
Really. Paris, France.
It seems that since so many expatriate French chefs have come to the good old US of A to open restaurants (and put their own spin on the burgers on their menus) Parisian chefs have heard the silent okay to put them on their own menus. And these burgers are taking the city by storm! To be fair, when they are made from wagyu beef and topped with foie gras (those motherfuckers think they invented that? Apparently, they’ve never been to a drunken BBQ full of foodies and chefs!) they aren’t our parents’ burgers. Even crazier variations exist, but most importantly, the classic American burger is being offered everywhere. The fact that a burger with smoked bacon, dill pickles, ketchup/mustard on a sesame seed bun is around is a monumental change. All in the eight months since the first Starbucks opened in Paris! Coincidence? Clearly. But the tide in France seems to be subtly changing for the first time since, well... When exactly did the French have the idea to put butter on bread?
It seems like “bonne cuisine” chef Paul Bocuse has opened (gasp!) a fast food restaurant in Lyon! Yes, and apparently he is calling fast food the nouvelle cuisine! A man after my own heart! For those who don’t know, this man’s restaurant in Paris has three stars! And his new restaurant of “fine fast” food, is attached to the new Pathé Cineplex. If only the food at the ArcLight café was imagined by a three star chef?! Ouest-Express cooks its pastas in front of the “clients” and bakes bread every two hours! I can see “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” and then cry into fresh pasta with a seafood sauce of mussels and squid afterwards?! Paired with a Guyot Côtes du Rhone or a Georges Duboeuf Mâcon Villages! After that movie, that’s exactly what I need!!!
Yet again, France appears to be where it’s at.
© 2008 MD TOTAL all rights reserved.
Monday, July 21, 2008
[insert phenomenon]
At this moment I am speechless and proud of people whom I have never met, for the first time in ages. I heard about a show that these musical theatre writers were posting on youtube. Now, these aren’t established Broadway folks, they're newcomers who wrote a show about writing a show and taking it to Broadway. They were accepted into the NY Musical Theatre Workshop and then had a sold out run Off-Broadway. All the while, they were making changes and tweaking the show so it got better. And here’s when the two writers decided to start making ten minute shorts about their process to get to Broadway to upload to their site and youtube.
Now, to recap: There is a show on YouTube chronicling this show’s trip to Broadway. The show they are chronicling is about the very same writers writing a show and trying to get it to Broadway. This show is akin to the snake that eats its own tail.
Ouroboros, motherfuckers!
The snake’s all: Yo, my butt tastes like chicken!
But wait, it gets curious-er and curious-er. Because of the YouTube show, they attracted producers interested enough to secure a move to the Great White Way! Now that’s viral marketing! (are you listening, 20th Century Fox??!!) They decided to tell the world who they were and that the rest would fall in line. I am on board completely. And I strongly suggest that you check out “The [title of show] show” on YouTube. Start with episode one, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
Last week, on July 17 [title of show] opened on BROADWAY at the Lyceum Theatre! If you are in the tri-state area, get your ass to the Lyceum because this show is special. Otherwise, make a pilgrimage to New York to see this show!
© 2008 MD TOTAL all rights reserved.
I am.
Now, to recap: There is a show on YouTube chronicling this show’s trip to Broadway. The show they are chronicling is about the very same writers writing a show and trying to get it to Broadway. This show is akin to the snake that eats its own tail.
Ouroboros, motherfuckers!
The snake’s all: Yo, my butt tastes like chicken!
But wait, it gets curious-er and curious-er. Because of the YouTube show, they attracted producers interested enough to secure a move to the Great White Way! Now that’s viral marketing! (are you listening, 20th Century Fox??!!) They decided to tell the world who they were and that the rest would fall in line. I am on board completely. And I strongly suggest that you check out “The [title of show] show” on YouTube. Start with episode one, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
Last week, on July 17 [title of show] opened on BROADWAY at the Lyceum Theatre! If you are in the tri-state area, get your ass to the Lyceum because this show is special. Otherwise, make a pilgrimage to New York to see this show!
© 2008 MD TOTAL all rights reserved.
I am.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Box-Office Round Up: 7.20.08
Thanks to the numbers being re-estimated, I had to wait a little longer than normal to get them, and was forced to eat peanut butter M&Ms to pass the time. Seriously, someone twisted my arm. By 8AM today I knew that the record would be broken, but when records are in contention, everyone wants to be sure before reporters and bloggers go and tell the world. It's an interesting process.
So, without further ado: Here’s this weekend’s box office estimates!
1. The Dark Knight $155.6 million
2. Mamma Mia! $27.6 million
3. Hancock $14 million
4. Journey/Center of the Earth $11.9 million
5. Hellboy II: The Golden Army $10 milion
7. Space Chimps $7.3 million
Well, well, well, wasn’t this quite a weekend?! The Dark Knight came in at $155 MILLION, doing even better than it was tracking and breaking all previous records! And congrats to Universal for having their own great opening with Mamma Mia. The whole world is surprised about how well it did, seeing that it’s a movie based on an ABBA musical, but it is based on one of the most successful stage musicals ever. It was a huge success in the UK and on the road in America before it even got to Broadway. My only issue, is that this project is what Meryl Streep chose to be her first movie musical? I don't know what I would have preferred to see her in, but I definitely would not have chosen a jukebox musical! Oh well, I always say that at the end of the day I'd rather see B Movies with awesome actors. The number seven movie is occupied by something called Space Chimps. I’ll admit, I’d only seen a couple of billboards that barely registered in my brain (awesome marketing!) and I had to watch the trailer before I wrote this. Apparently, it’s animated.
We know that The Dark Knight had a high level of interest because the first installment was so good, but also because of the extremely sad, surprising and untimely death of Heath Ledger this past winter. Mr. Ledger’s penultimate performance is nothing short of revelatory, the performance of a lifetime. The Variety review said his performance makes previous Jokers look like clowns, and Nicholson was good! Heath’s inspired performance is liberating, fresh, funny and fucking scary. It is, at once, intensely theatrical and subtle. I must admit, he was so good that I teared up thinking about how amazing this actor was becoming, and what we will never get to see...
This is a good movie, and was far darker than expected. For me, this is the best comic book adaptation/superhero movie I have ever seen, and I am a fan of the genre. So kudos to Chris Nolan and the rest of his gang, I hope that they are proud of their work. I sure am.
And that's the weekend!
© 2008 MD TOTAL all rights reserved.
So, without further ado: Here’s this weekend’s box office estimates!
1. The Dark Knight $155.6 million
2. Mamma Mia! $27.6 million
3. Hancock $14 million
4. Journey/Center of the Earth $11.9 million
5. Hellboy II: The Golden Army $10 milion
7. Space Chimps $7.3 million
Well, well, well, wasn’t this quite a weekend?! The Dark Knight came in at $155 MILLION, doing even better than it was tracking and breaking all previous records! And congrats to Universal for having their own great opening with Mamma Mia. The whole world is surprised about how well it did, seeing that it’s a movie based on an ABBA musical, but it is based on one of the most successful stage musicals ever. It was a huge success in the UK and on the road in America before it even got to Broadway. My only issue, is that this project is what Meryl Streep chose to be her first movie musical? I don't know what I would have preferred to see her in, but I definitely would not have chosen a jukebox musical! Oh well, I always say that at the end of the day I'd rather see B Movies with awesome actors. The number seven movie is occupied by something called Space Chimps. I’ll admit, I’d only seen a couple of billboards that barely registered in my brain (awesome marketing!) and I had to watch the trailer before I wrote this. Apparently, it’s animated.
We know that The Dark Knight had a high level of interest because the first installment was so good, but also because of the extremely sad, surprising and untimely death of Heath Ledger this past winter. Mr. Ledger’s penultimate performance is nothing short of revelatory, the performance of a lifetime. The Variety review said his performance makes previous Jokers look like clowns, and Nicholson was good! Heath’s inspired performance is liberating, fresh, funny and fucking scary. It is, at once, intensely theatrical and subtle. I must admit, he was so good that I teared up thinking about how amazing this actor was becoming, and what we will never get to see...
This is a good movie, and was far darker than expected. For me, this is the best comic book adaptation/superhero movie I have ever seen, and I am a fan of the genre. So kudos to Chris Nolan and the rest of his gang, I hope that they are proud of their work. I sure am.
And that's the weekend!
© 2008 MD TOTAL all rights reserved.
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