LaLaLiving

Oh Danny Boy June 29, 2007

As previously mentioned, I get to interview Danny Boyle on Saturday for Life After Film School. He is wicked awesome. His new movie, Sunshine, is coming out next month and the advance reviews are glowing (no pun intended, to quote my friend Tom).

I think he is one of the most creative directors working today, and I’m so interested to see what he does with a sci-fi film on a budget ($50 million vs the $8 million for 28 Days Later, or the $2.5 million budget of Trainspotting).  We get to see an advanced screening, before the interview - perks!

F’n Prince June 28, 2007

So, the beau was going to treat me to a spectacular concert at the Roosevelt Hotel tonight.  He bought tickets to the first of the seven Prince shows scheduled, since they happily coincided with his trip to LA, and neither one of us has ever seen him live before.  Joy! Rapture!

Cut to phone call the same afternoon as the show.  They cancelled tonight’s performance, no reason given.  Bastards.  They gave us the option of going Friday night, but I have to be up at the crack of dawn for a Life After Film School interview Saturday morning, and really didn’t want to look like a zombie on film (although that might be an oddly fitting tribute to the guest, Danny Boyle).  And the beau is so wiped out from being on crutches over two days at the Hollywood and Games conference that we just scrapped the whole thing and took the refund.  The Saturday show wasn’t an option apparently.

Me thinks someone overestimated the appeal of the $3,121 reserved seating seats, and us standing-room-only folks weren’t worth it on our own.

Bastards!

Europa June 27, 2007

So, we got our itinerary for Europe. And apparently Prague is in, Poland is out.
Bodie and I (go Team Delta!) will be hitting Munich, Vienna, Prague, Venice, and Rome. Our shortest stop is Prague (1 1/2 days) and the longest is Venice (4 days). I feel like such a whiner for saying this, but I am bummed about the allocation of days. Partly because I’ve never been to Prague and would love to have some quality time there, but also because I’ve been to Venice before and four days is, shall we say, overkill. It’s a small island, with too many tourists and not enough good, reasonably priced food. Seriously, the worst food in Italy. It does have some awesome art tho’, so I suppose I will focus on that. And the free gondola ride.

I also get to pop in on my old friend (and childhood next door neighbor) Cyndi and her son Shawn in Wurtzburg for a few days before joining the first tour group. I have been dreaming about the Brat mit Sauerkraut since my visit last May and plan on gorging myself. Mmmmmmm.

Food, Glorious Food June 25, 2007

In case you missed it, Jonathan Gold’s pick of LA’s essential 99 restaurants is in this week’s LA Weekly. The beau, not being from these parts, keeps picking places to try off the list way the frack out in, like, San Bernardino. Um, I’m sure those fish tacos really are to die for, but …

Furniture in the LBC June 24, 2007

Yesterday the beau and I went to a lovely baby shower for old friends Dave & Anh, part of the Art Center crowd. We got to talking about Dave’s new-ish design store in Long Beach, which we had yet to see (for shame!), so today we made the trek down to the LBC to check it out.

I already knew that Dave had great taste, but was still duly impressed with the furniture and accessories he carried. David Galindo Home is set up in a great old house, with the rooms decorated as big displays. The products range from couches and chairs, some of which Dave designs himself, to lighting, ceramics, dressers, and jewelry, all with a beautiful modern aesthetic, reminiscent of mid-century modern.

Dave does a lot of interior design work for private clients. I can’t wait ’till I’m in the market!

David Galindo Home: 2815 East Broadway, Long Beach CA 90803 * 562.930.0033

Loretta as Travel Whore June 23, 2007

The beau is taking a nap (poor thing got no sleep last night, and no sleep on his crack-of-dawn flight, because some rude, smelly people were sitting next to him. Also his knee is still really bothering him and so he’s still hobbling around on crutches and miserable.), so I’m getting some random stuff done.

First up, I added a TravBuddy map on my About page (and also below). I had been meaning to do this for a while, since reading about it in the Johnny Jet e-newsletter, but just hadn’t gotten around to it. I was reminded when I saw one on Bodie’s MySpace page, so I finally got off my arse and got an account.

It’s sort of fun to tick off all the places you’ve visited, but I feel almost like I’m cheating — the program only recognizes entire countries for the most part, so I get a giant swath of green for Russia when in fact I’ve only been to a very teeny portion of it (St. Petersburg, Novgorod, and Moscow). That entire Siberia section just got tacked on, no choice about it.

I am also horrified to see how non-green all of South America is on my map. It’s kind of pathetic, given that I live in the Americas and all. I’ve gotta get cracking on that. Lake Titicaca here I come!

The eyes have it June 22, 2007

I went in today for an eye exam.  It had been, like, ten years since my last one so I figured I should take advantage of the student health center (which tricks you into thinking it’s some great free socialized medical system, but in reality I’ve already paid for with some tacked on fees to my tuition…sneaky).

Anyway, the eyes are fine, still no glasses needed, blah blah blah.  But for the exam the doctor dilated my pupils and now I look like some weird anime chick.  It freaks me out every time I see myself in a mirror.  To drive home I had to wear the giant ’70s sunglasses I bought last week as part of a costume for a friend’s birthday party.

Big Week June 21, 2007

Big week, with some more big news coming today. To recap:

• Free kick-arse trip to Europe
• Mark Gordon agreed to be my mentor for school, which is fantastic because he is brilliant
• I got chosen to be one of three TAs for next year’s incoming producing class (free tuition PLUS a salary - woo hoo!)
• AND, best of all, I get to see the beau for 2 1/2 weeks straight, beginning Saturday!

Pinch me!

A very special movie

There was just an original promo on TCM for I’ll Cry Tomorrow, the “true story of singer Lillian Roth’s battle against alcoholism.”

The promo flashes: “This story was filmed on location…{dramatic music}…INSIDE A WOMAN’S SOUL”

I’m not making this up.   Gotta love the ’50s.

Europe or Bust June 20, 2007

I found out last night that I get to go to Europe this summer - woo hoo! All expenses paid no less!

TravCorp, an umbrella company that owns Trafalgar Tours and such, is creating a new marketing campaign and approached UCLA about having 12 film students (in teams of 2) join a few of their summer tours armed with a video camera. Travel whore that I am, I of course applied, and talked the ever-lovely Bodie (whose advanced film I co-produced) into applying with me.

There were 6 different trips planned, and we got our first choice: a combination of eastern and western Europe, going through countries like Italy, Austria, Germany, and Poland. We’ll be joining several different tours in progress and stay with them for a few days before jetting off to the next one, for a total of 2 1/2 weeks.

Traveling by “coach” with a bunch of strangers certainly isn’t my first choice, but having someone else fly me to Europe, put me up in nice hotel rooms, and feed me, all while building my resume in the travel production arena, is more than enough to overcome any hesitation!