I Didn't Get Lost In LA Even Once - It's BESHERT
Hello! So obviously this post is going to be about LA, but before I launch into that, I just found out something very exciting! My buddy Will is going to be taking over a role in Billy Elliott! I have been dying to see it for a while now but the tickets are pricey, even student tickets are like $40. But now that I know someone in it I'm definitely going! This is awesome for so many reasons, not least of which is that I'm eager to see Will attempt a Yorkshire accent.
Anybody who checked my Facebook lately knows that I had a great time in LA. But I did not have a great time doing the actual traveling. That sounds like a no brainer. Traveling is a pain in the ass - bags to carry, long waits etc. But I have always loved to fly. I like airports, I like being anonymous and I like that they all look the same; it’s comfortable. I like the free time that flying gives you. Nobody can get a hold of you; it’s entirely your time. But whoever is in charge lately is absolutely ruining flying. I know airplane food doesn’t have the greatest reputation but at least it was a “free” meal. Now they charge you 10 bucks for a sandwich the size of your pinkie. The new charges for checked luggage? Fucking ridiculous! As I said to albauk in an incensed text, I could easily fit all my things into one carry on, except their policies about how many ounces of liquid you can bring prevent me from doing that. It’s $20 extra to check a bag I wouldn’t even need in the first place if it weren’t for them.
But those little annoyances are nothing compared to the flight home debacle. My 10:45 pm flight was delayed about 45 minutes. They finally loaded us and we were taxiing. In the middle of the safety video all the power went out. Then they wasted time with some bullshit about trying to find a mechanic to fix the problem, and in the end of course they ended up having switch planes anyway. We took off two hours late and I missed my connecting flight. They told us that they were re-booking everyone who had missed a connection onto later flights. Yet, shockingly, when I got to the gate for the next NY bound flight they had no prior notice about the situation. Quelle surprise. On top of that, when I finally did get home, I had a cabbie who was as inept as the airline. I live fifteen minutes away from LaGuardia, but not only did the driver not know how to get where I live, he kept asking if it was in Manhattan. I asked him if he could get to the Cross Island and he said he could, so I told him I could give directions from there. Turns out, he did not know how to get to the Cross Island. He didn't even know where Shea Stadium was (don't anyone dare say that it is called Citifield now because we all know that isn't really true)! Unacceptable! From door to door it ended up taking sixteen hours. I could have gotten to Asia in sixteen hours! And all I can really think is “I didn’t even want to leave California in the first fucking place.”
I also think I might be done with hostels. It is worth the extra money to have the privacy. I realized on this trip that I was alone during the day when I wanted company, and in a full room of ten at night when I wanted to be by myself. In the future I’m going to look for other ways to cut costs. I am too old to be climbing in and out of a bunk bed.
On Fraser once there was a joke about how the only thing better than an absolutely perfect experience, is an almost perfect experience with one thing to complain about. Truer words have never been spoken. So now that the complaining is out of my system, onto the good stuff!
I walked out of the airport and into the most gorgeous night. It was in the high sixties with a light breeze. I could smell the flowers in the air. It was exactly the weather I would wish for year round. It was already 11:00 by that time, so I didn’t get to do anything. The drive from the airport to Santa Monica was nice though, and I shared my shuttle with a woman from Dallas and a man from Dubai - quite the eclectic group!
I'm not a particularly great planner when it comes to vacations. I like to have a few ideas about what I might want to do, but also have room to wing it. My haphazard planning worked out really well. Tuesday was my culture day - museums followed by Farragut North, and Wednesday was my touristy day. I started off with a walk over to the Santa Monica Pier. The ocean and the area around the pier are so picturesque. It was a great morning walk, and I got to see the carousel from The Sting. Sadly, it wasn’t open yet, so I could only look through the window at it, but still that is Paul Newman’s merry go round!
After that I got on the bus to the Getty Center and made friends with a Japanese gentleman who was taking a world tour! He had just been to New York and was telling me all about the things he’d done. Taking the bus over there we passed by UCLA and an insanely long block filled with frat houses. I had never seen frat houses before!!! That was a trip. There was something almost anthropological about looking at them like that. It was fascinating. Except for the AEPi house, onto which I heaped scorn and derision because anybody I ever knew in a frat was in AEPi, and out of all those dudes I can't think of a single one who was a likable human being.
The Getty Center was amazing. I associate trams with the monorail at the Bronx Zoo - my favorite thing to do at one of my favorite places, so I was really excited about the tram ride you have to take to get to the museum. I took a guided tour of the Central Garden, which wasn’t designed as a garden in the traditional sense, but as a living sculpture. It’s just a gorgeous place. All the space outside the museum is beautiful. I think I enjoyed the outside more than the inside. It was designed as kind of an outdoor living room, and everything in it had such specific architectural and artistic purpose. There is this feeling I always get in Central Park, the way you’re in such a beautiful lush green space, and yet you look up and there are the tops of all the skyscrapers. This was similar to that, but sort of opposite - you’re in this lovely space looking down and out onto LA. I just loved it. Inside the museum, one exhibit really stood out to me. The artist is Joanne Callis. I’d never heard of her before and she does awesome photography. The works they had on display were all sort of borderline kitsch, but without sacrificing artistry. The colors are beautiful; I even got a little fridge maget of one of her photos. It was such an enjoyable exhibit.
I grabbed dinner at an Italian place called Tanino, and had duck ravioli in mushroom garlic sauce topped with... fresh blueberries. I really wanted the ravioli but was wary of the blueberies. I figured I would try it and could always take off the berries. But wow! Those blueberries made the dish. That little hint of sweetness offset how strong the other flavors were. It was crazy.
I also went to the Hammer Museum. At first I wasn't sure if they were open because there were crews setting up for a private event. But they were open and I looked at some etchings by Munch and an exhibit of Larry Johnson, who reminded me of Warhol, not in style but many of the themes about celebrity and fame are similar. I ended up sitting in their bookstore for about an hour, and happened to overhear someone asking the clerk what they were setting up for. Turned out they were having the after party for the Public Enemies premiere there later that evening. Now, I’ve had a lot of right place right time moments, but the sheer dumb luck of that situation, that I would accidentally stumble onto information about Johnny Depp’s whereabouts on the one night I happened to be in LA, nd that those whereabouts were two blocks away from the play I was going to… that is some crazy shit. To cut the suspense now, I did not see Johnny Depp. But not for lack of trying because believe you me I headed right back over there post-theater. In an ironic twist he left early to catch a flight to New York. Of all things! But I did sort of see Peter Fonda. I say sort of because we (I befriended other would-be Johnny Depp stalkers) were across the street and I saw people get out of a car and someone was like “hey, Peter Fonda”. But there were several people there, and all I could see were the backs of their heads and more than one of those heads belonged to an elderly man. So, I did technically see Peter Fonda. I just couldn’t tell which one he was.
The stalker like behavior all happened after the play though, and the play was the Main Event. In fact, I'm going to go out of chronological order and save the best for last. So know now that it was the best, most interesting part of my trip, and you can totally skip down if you want to. It's the exciting bit.
Wednesday was my touristy day, so I went right for Hollywood Boulevard. I took a tour of the Kodak Theatre. That basically made my life. I mean I flipped. Hands down Oscar night is my favorite night of the year, and has been ever since I was twelve and I would make myself a fancy dinner and pour ginger ale into a champagne flute to watch the telecast. Even when I hate the Oscars, they never fail to provoke thought and good conversation and interesting arguments. It is sorta disappointing how the Kodak is inside a mall, but I can get over it. They have a beautiful display inside of large black and white photos of several famous Oscar wins. We got to go into a little VIP room where they keep an actual Oscar! I want one of those little dudes! I do not have a plan how to go about that just yet but looking at that thing was like the mothership calling me home. I was mentally thanking everyone I knew. We also met the General Manager of the theater and he told us that they had just announced that morning that next year Best Picture will expand to include ten nominees. I’m not sure how I feel about that, but hearing it on the day it was announced while inside the theater = AWESOME! And our guide told us a great story about how the year Eddie Murphy was nominated for Dreamgirls he got furious when he lost and he and his date left, so two of the seat fillers got to watch the entire show. I love stories that confirm my suspicions about actors I don’t like. Then we got to go in the elevator that they take the winners up in for doing press. Excitiiiiiiiing.
I went to Grauman’s Chinese, which was way smaller than I imagined. I guess I always thought there were like miles of footprints in front of that place. It was also cooler than I expected. I thought it would be a fun kitsch thing to do, but it was seriously cool. I loved that they got Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward to do theirs together, and he put his actual feet in there. Everyone else’s footprint is really their shoe print, but on Paul Newman’s there are the toes and stuff. I saw some of the contemporary ones - Geroge Clooney, Matt Damn, Tom Hanks, the Harry Potter kids, but the old ones are the most exciting. Jimmy Stewart, Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, Clark Gable - the real classics.
I took a bus tour around the old studios and other sights like the Hollywood sign (which I will admit occasioned an inner squee), but the tour was mostly worth the price not because of the sights but because it was a trolley car and we drove on the freeway in it. Our guide was one of those trying too hard to be funny guys. He was such a quirky oddball, in the movie of his life he would totally be played by Gary Oldman; and yet I still took a dislike to him. He kept doing voices and telling bad jokes. There was an option to double up on tours and also do star homes in Beverly Hills, which I didn’t do out of some sense that maybe it isn’t nice to take bus tours to gawk at people’s houses. It wasn’t until I was on my way back to the hostel that I realized what a dumb choice that was considering that I am not only a celebrity junkie, but also a real estate obsessive. I go orgasmic looking at big pretty houses. But there always has to be something to keep on the list for next time.
Since I still had a few hours before my shuttle to the airport, I had dinner at a place called Lobster, right next to the Santa Monica pier. I had a delicious salmon in blood orange béarnaise sauce. It was so yummy, and I had a seat with a beautiful ocean view. I treated myself to a glass of California chardonnay too. I meandered back along Ocean stopping often to gaze out at the water. It broke my heart to be leaving.
With about an hour to kill waiting for the shuttle, I watched Heroes on my laptop and in the episode I watched they shot a scene in the exact same spot near the pier that I had just been at 5 minutes ago. I'm not even gonna pretend like I didn't get inwardly giddy. It's weird how even though I live in New York and stuff like that happens all the time, and I see celebrities walking around a lot, being on vacation made it ok for me to behave like a real geek.
It was a short visit, and everything is better when you don't have the annoyances of a job, or family giving you a hard time, and all those real life things, but I had so many "I could live here" moments. I used to get them in Australia a lot. There are places I go and enjoy myself, and then there are places I go and I can picture what my life could be like there. I'm really trying to figure out how I could go live in California for a little while. I know living there won't be anything like going there on a short vacation, but I think just being someplace else might give me a much needed shake up. I really need to live somewhere else for at least a year or two, and I think LA could be the way to go.
As for the play
I saw Farragut North, which is about people working on a presidential primary campaign. So already, this play was tailor made for me. Chris Noth is the campaign manager and Chris Pine is a brilliant young press secretary. I don't want to get too into plot details because they're in talks to make it into a movie and I wouldn't want to ruin anything, but it is about backdoor politics and what people will do to get and keep power. Olivia Thirlby plays an intern on the campaign, and it's one of the best parts for a woman I think I've ever seen. I'd love to see them expand it for the movie. Coming on the heels of our latest election cycle, I think the play is even more resonant, because it is about the in-fighting between the Democratic candidates (gee, how familiar). Knowing people who worked on HRC's campaign, I think the play gives a real sense of the intensity and the insanity of being in those positions. There are these "I can't believe he just did that" moments, but I thought they rang very true about what a person will do if they get desperate.
Seeing Chris Noth in this role was interesting, he's sort of the anti-Big in that he's very crass and coarse, but there are also character parallels where part of him wants to be a good guy but another part of him is an incurable asshole. Isiah Whitlock Jr who I only knew from a small part he had in The 25th Hour was really good, and Dan Bittner from Adventureland also had a small role, but I was way more excited about him from Adventureland than I was about anything he had to do with the play.
Chris Pine... is... the greatest. Personally, when the trailers for Star Trek started coming out, and even the first time I saw the movie, I thought he was just your typical all-American good looking guy - yawn. I don't know why or when or how this changed but by the second time I saw Star Trek I had totally changed my mind. One of the reaons I like seeing movies over and over is that once you're familiar with the plot, you're free to notice little things that you may have missed. With Star Trek, I was originally bowled over by Zach Quinto's Spock, but then seeing it again, I was so impressed with Chris Pine's reaction shots. The emotions his face registers and his body language are remarkable. During the first act of Farragut North I was sitting in the mezzanine so I didn't get to see those subtleties, but I was able to find myself an orchestra seat (third row center!) during the second act and he really has the best face. He should be playing that part in the movie. Right now the cast is supposed to be George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio. The character is supposed to be 25 years old! I love Leo, and no offense is meant to him at all, but he is 35, and I sort of thought we had all accepted the fact that he is well past the point in his life where he should be playing enterprising kids. He can not pass as 25, and if they change the age of the character the story changes. God, I wish my job was that everyone in Hollywood had to come to me with all choices regarding casting. So many mistakes would never be allowed to happen. Anyway, Chris brings that Kirk swagger and cockiness to Farragut North, but this character is much harsher. He charms everyone to get his way, but when charm doesn't work for him he has no qualms about turning to cruelty and manipulation. And he makes it look sexy.
Anyway, so the silly exciting part of this play is one scene that I was not previously aware of, where Chris' character is in bed in black boxer briefs and a tee shirt. During the set change you can still see what the actors are doing and as he was undressing I was like "Excuuuuuse me what gloriousness is happening here?" I've never been so excited for any man in my life to take off his pants as I was about Chris Pine on that stage. It is a miracle I have any idea what even happened during that scene. During the second act when I was sitting up close I was half wishing I had been sitting there from the beginning, and half thankful because I'm almost certain that it could have caused brain damage. But sitting up front was way better than sitting in the mezzanine. People always say how front row mezz seats are the best. Bullshit! In the mezzanine I knew it was Chris Pine, I could see him, recognize his voice, etc. But sitting up close was a whole other story. I was sooooo close! And he was wearing all these sexy suits and is just the perfect man. Ummm... did I mention that he was in tight black boxer briefs for a good long time? Although I do think whoever is in charge of costumes should be fired, or at least given a stern talking to. They seemed to think he needed a shirt during the bedroom scene, which clearly means they and I fundamentally disagree about life.
I hung around after the show, feeling like a geek. Dan Bittner came out with Chris Noth, and I told him how much I loved Adventureland. He was a sweetie After he signed my program he turned around to Chris Noth and made sure he also signed my program. Finally the important Chris came out. I did go a little brain dead then and now I'm kicking myself for all the things I thought of saying to him after he was gone. He was nice but he was obviously just trying to get through everyone quickly and go about his business. Luckily half a brain cell jump started itself and I mentioned something about Bottle Shock. Then he stopped and looked me in the eye and got kind of excited that someone mentioned something besides Star Trek. It was too cute. And by cute I obviously mean his clothes, my floor, right now please.
Anybody who checked my Facebook lately knows that I had a great time in LA. But I did not have a great time doing the actual traveling. That sounds like a no brainer. Traveling is a pain in the ass - bags to carry, long waits etc. But I have always loved to fly. I like airports, I like being anonymous and I like that they all look the same; it’s comfortable. I like the free time that flying gives you. Nobody can get a hold of you; it’s entirely your time. But whoever is in charge lately is absolutely ruining flying. I know airplane food doesn’t have the greatest reputation but at least it was a “free” meal. Now they charge you 10 bucks for a sandwich the size of your pinkie. The new charges for checked luggage? Fucking ridiculous! As I said to albauk in an incensed text, I could easily fit all my things into one carry on, except their policies about how many ounces of liquid you can bring prevent me from doing that. It’s $20 extra to check a bag I wouldn’t even need in the first place if it weren’t for them.
But those little annoyances are nothing compared to the flight home debacle. My 10:45 pm flight was delayed about 45 minutes. They finally loaded us and we were taxiing. In the middle of the safety video all the power went out. Then they wasted time with some bullshit about trying to find a mechanic to fix the problem, and in the end of course they ended up having switch planes anyway. We took off two hours late and I missed my connecting flight. They told us that they were re-booking everyone who had missed a connection onto later flights. Yet, shockingly, when I got to the gate for the next NY bound flight they had no prior notice about the situation. Quelle surprise. On top of that, when I finally did get home, I had a cabbie who was as inept as the airline. I live fifteen minutes away from LaGuardia, but not only did the driver not know how to get where I live, he kept asking if it was in Manhattan. I asked him if he could get to the Cross Island and he said he could, so I told him I could give directions from there. Turns out, he did not know how to get to the Cross Island. He didn't even know where Shea Stadium was (don't anyone dare say that it is called Citifield now because we all know that isn't really true)! Unacceptable! From door to door it ended up taking sixteen hours. I could have gotten to Asia in sixteen hours! And all I can really think is “I didn’t even want to leave California in the first fucking place.”
I also think I might be done with hostels. It is worth the extra money to have the privacy. I realized on this trip that I was alone during the day when I wanted company, and in a full room of ten at night when I wanted to be by myself. In the future I’m going to look for other ways to cut costs. I am too old to be climbing in and out of a bunk bed.
On Fraser once there was a joke about how the only thing better than an absolutely perfect experience, is an almost perfect experience with one thing to complain about. Truer words have never been spoken. So now that the complaining is out of my system, onto the good stuff!
I walked out of the airport and into the most gorgeous night. It was in the high sixties with a light breeze. I could smell the flowers in the air. It was exactly the weather I would wish for year round. It was already 11:00 by that time, so I didn’t get to do anything. The drive from the airport to Santa Monica was nice though, and I shared my shuttle with a woman from Dallas and a man from Dubai - quite the eclectic group!
I'm not a particularly great planner when it comes to vacations. I like to have a few ideas about what I might want to do, but also have room to wing it. My haphazard planning worked out really well. Tuesday was my culture day - museums followed by Farragut North, and Wednesday was my touristy day. I started off with a walk over to the Santa Monica Pier. The ocean and the area around the pier are so picturesque. It was a great morning walk, and I got to see the carousel from The Sting. Sadly, it wasn’t open yet, so I could only look through the window at it, but still that is Paul Newman’s merry go round!
After that I got on the bus to the Getty Center and made friends with a Japanese gentleman who was taking a world tour! He had just been to New York and was telling me all about the things he’d done. Taking the bus over there we passed by UCLA and an insanely long block filled with frat houses. I had never seen frat houses before!!! That was a trip. There was something almost anthropological about looking at them like that. It was fascinating. Except for the AEPi house, onto which I heaped scorn and derision because anybody I ever knew in a frat was in AEPi, and out of all those dudes I can't think of a single one who was a likable human being.
The Getty Center was amazing. I associate trams with the monorail at the Bronx Zoo - my favorite thing to do at one of my favorite places, so I was really excited about the tram ride you have to take to get to the museum. I took a guided tour of the Central Garden, which wasn’t designed as a garden in the traditional sense, but as a living sculpture. It’s just a gorgeous place. All the space outside the museum is beautiful. I think I enjoyed the outside more than the inside. It was designed as kind of an outdoor living room, and everything in it had such specific architectural and artistic purpose. There is this feeling I always get in Central Park, the way you’re in such a beautiful lush green space, and yet you look up and there are the tops of all the skyscrapers. This was similar to that, but sort of opposite - you’re in this lovely space looking down and out onto LA. I just loved it. Inside the museum, one exhibit really stood out to me. The artist is Joanne Callis. I’d never heard of her before and she does awesome photography. The works they had on display were all sort of borderline kitsch, but without sacrificing artistry. The colors are beautiful; I even got a little fridge maget of one of her photos. It was such an enjoyable exhibit.
I grabbed dinner at an Italian place called Tanino, and had duck ravioli in mushroom garlic sauce topped with... fresh blueberries. I really wanted the ravioli but was wary of the blueberies. I figured I would try it and could always take off the berries. But wow! Those blueberries made the dish. That little hint of sweetness offset how strong the other flavors were. It was crazy.
I also went to the Hammer Museum. At first I wasn't sure if they were open because there were crews setting up for a private event. But they were open and I looked at some etchings by Munch and an exhibit of Larry Johnson, who reminded me of Warhol, not in style but many of the themes about celebrity and fame are similar. I ended up sitting in their bookstore for about an hour, and happened to overhear someone asking the clerk what they were setting up for. Turned out they were having the after party for the Public Enemies premiere there later that evening. Now, I’ve had a lot of right place right time moments, but the sheer dumb luck of that situation, that I would accidentally stumble onto information about Johnny Depp’s whereabouts on the one night I happened to be in LA, nd that those whereabouts were two blocks away from the play I was going to… that is some crazy shit. To cut the suspense now, I did not see Johnny Depp. But not for lack of trying because believe you me I headed right back over there post-theater. In an ironic twist he left early to catch a flight to New York. Of all things! But I did sort of see Peter Fonda. I say sort of because we (I befriended other would-be Johnny Depp stalkers) were across the street and I saw people get out of a car and someone was like “hey, Peter Fonda”. But there were several people there, and all I could see were the backs of their heads and more than one of those heads belonged to an elderly man. So, I did technically see Peter Fonda. I just couldn’t tell which one he was.
The stalker like behavior all happened after the play though, and the play was the Main Event. In fact, I'm going to go out of chronological order and save the best for last. So know now that it was the best, most interesting part of my trip, and you can totally skip down if you want to. It's the exciting bit.
Wednesday was my touristy day, so I went right for Hollywood Boulevard. I took a tour of the Kodak Theatre. That basically made my life. I mean I flipped. Hands down Oscar night is my favorite night of the year, and has been ever since I was twelve and I would make myself a fancy dinner and pour ginger ale into a champagne flute to watch the telecast. Even when I hate the Oscars, they never fail to provoke thought and good conversation and interesting arguments. It is sorta disappointing how the Kodak is inside a mall, but I can get over it. They have a beautiful display inside of large black and white photos of several famous Oscar wins. We got to go into a little VIP room where they keep an actual Oscar! I want one of those little dudes! I do not have a plan how to go about that just yet but looking at that thing was like the mothership calling me home. I was mentally thanking everyone I knew. We also met the General Manager of the theater and he told us that they had just announced that morning that next year Best Picture will expand to include ten nominees. I’m not sure how I feel about that, but hearing it on the day it was announced while inside the theater = AWESOME! And our guide told us a great story about how the year Eddie Murphy was nominated for Dreamgirls he got furious when he lost and he and his date left, so two of the seat fillers got to watch the entire show. I love stories that confirm my suspicions about actors I don’t like. Then we got to go in the elevator that they take the winners up in for doing press. Excitiiiiiiiing.
I went to Grauman’s Chinese, which was way smaller than I imagined. I guess I always thought there were like miles of footprints in front of that place. It was also cooler than I expected. I thought it would be a fun kitsch thing to do, but it was seriously cool. I loved that they got Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward to do theirs together, and he put his actual feet in there. Everyone else’s footprint is really their shoe print, but on Paul Newman’s there are the toes and stuff. I saw some of the contemporary ones - Geroge Clooney, Matt Damn, Tom Hanks, the Harry Potter kids, but the old ones are the most exciting. Jimmy Stewart, Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, Clark Gable - the real classics.
I took a bus tour around the old studios and other sights like the Hollywood sign (which I will admit occasioned an inner squee), but the tour was mostly worth the price not because of the sights but because it was a trolley car and we drove on the freeway in it. Our guide was one of those trying too hard to be funny guys. He was such a quirky oddball, in the movie of his life he would totally be played by Gary Oldman; and yet I still took a dislike to him. He kept doing voices and telling bad jokes. There was an option to double up on tours and also do star homes in Beverly Hills, which I didn’t do out of some sense that maybe it isn’t nice to take bus tours to gawk at people’s houses. It wasn’t until I was on my way back to the hostel that I realized what a dumb choice that was considering that I am not only a celebrity junkie, but also a real estate obsessive. I go orgasmic looking at big pretty houses. But there always has to be something to keep on the list for next time.
Since I still had a few hours before my shuttle to the airport, I had dinner at a place called Lobster, right next to the Santa Monica pier. I had a delicious salmon in blood orange béarnaise sauce. It was so yummy, and I had a seat with a beautiful ocean view. I treated myself to a glass of California chardonnay too. I meandered back along Ocean stopping often to gaze out at the water. It broke my heart to be leaving.
With about an hour to kill waiting for the shuttle, I watched Heroes on my laptop and in the episode I watched they shot a scene in the exact same spot near the pier that I had just been at 5 minutes ago. I'm not even gonna pretend like I didn't get inwardly giddy. It's weird how even though I live in New York and stuff like that happens all the time, and I see celebrities walking around a lot, being on vacation made it ok for me to behave like a real geek.
It was a short visit, and everything is better when you don't have the annoyances of a job, or family giving you a hard time, and all those real life things, but I had so many "I could live here" moments. I used to get them in Australia a lot. There are places I go and enjoy myself, and then there are places I go and I can picture what my life could be like there. I'm really trying to figure out how I could go live in California for a little while. I know living there won't be anything like going there on a short vacation, but I think just being someplace else might give me a much needed shake up. I really need to live somewhere else for at least a year or two, and I think LA could be the way to go.
As for the play
I saw Farragut North, which is about people working on a presidential primary campaign. So already, this play was tailor made for me. Chris Noth is the campaign manager and Chris Pine is a brilliant young press secretary. I don't want to get too into plot details because they're in talks to make it into a movie and I wouldn't want to ruin anything, but it is about backdoor politics and what people will do to get and keep power. Olivia Thirlby plays an intern on the campaign, and it's one of the best parts for a woman I think I've ever seen. I'd love to see them expand it for the movie. Coming on the heels of our latest election cycle, I think the play is even more resonant, because it is about the in-fighting between the Democratic candidates (gee, how familiar). Knowing people who worked on HRC's campaign, I think the play gives a real sense of the intensity and the insanity of being in those positions. There are these "I can't believe he just did that" moments, but I thought they rang very true about what a person will do if they get desperate.
Seeing Chris Noth in this role was interesting, he's sort of the anti-Big in that he's very crass and coarse, but there are also character parallels where part of him wants to be a good guy but another part of him is an incurable asshole. Isiah Whitlock Jr who I only knew from a small part he had in The 25th Hour was really good, and Dan Bittner from Adventureland also had a small role, but I was way more excited about him from Adventureland than I was about anything he had to do with the play.
Chris Pine... is... the greatest. Personally, when the trailers for Star Trek started coming out, and even the first time I saw the movie, I thought he was just your typical all-American good looking guy - yawn. I don't know why or when or how this changed but by the second time I saw Star Trek I had totally changed my mind. One of the reaons I like seeing movies over and over is that once you're familiar with the plot, you're free to notice little things that you may have missed. With Star Trek, I was originally bowled over by Zach Quinto's Spock, but then seeing it again, I was so impressed with Chris Pine's reaction shots. The emotions his face registers and his body language are remarkable. During the first act of Farragut North I was sitting in the mezzanine so I didn't get to see those subtleties, but I was able to find myself an orchestra seat (third row center!) during the second act and he really has the best face. He should be playing that part in the movie. Right now the cast is supposed to be George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio. The character is supposed to be 25 years old! I love Leo, and no offense is meant to him at all, but he is 35, and I sort of thought we had all accepted the fact that he is well past the point in his life where he should be playing enterprising kids. He can not pass as 25, and if they change the age of the character the story changes. God, I wish my job was that everyone in Hollywood had to come to me with all choices regarding casting. So many mistakes would never be allowed to happen. Anyway, Chris brings that Kirk swagger and cockiness to Farragut North, but this character is much harsher. He charms everyone to get his way, but when charm doesn't work for him he has no qualms about turning to cruelty and manipulation. And he makes it look sexy.
Anyway, so the silly exciting part of this play is one scene that I was not previously aware of, where Chris' character is in bed in black boxer briefs and a tee shirt. During the set change you can still see what the actors are doing and as he was undressing I was like "Excuuuuuse me what gloriousness is happening here?" I've never been so excited for any man in my life to take off his pants as I was about Chris Pine on that stage. It is a miracle I have any idea what even happened during that scene. During the second act when I was sitting up close I was half wishing I had been sitting there from the beginning, and half thankful because I'm almost certain that it could have caused brain damage. But sitting up front was way better than sitting in the mezzanine. People always say how front row mezz seats are the best. Bullshit! In the mezzanine I knew it was Chris Pine, I could see him, recognize his voice, etc. But sitting up close was a whole other story. I was sooooo close! And he was wearing all these sexy suits and is just the perfect man. Ummm... did I mention that he was in tight black boxer briefs for a good long time? Although I do think whoever is in charge of costumes should be fired, or at least given a stern talking to. They seemed to think he needed a shirt during the bedroom scene, which clearly means they and I fundamentally disagree about life.
I hung around after the show, feeling like a geek. Dan Bittner came out with Chris Noth, and I told him how much I loved Adventureland. He was a sweetie After he signed my program he turned around to Chris Noth and made sure he also signed my program. Finally the important Chris came out. I did go a little brain dead then and now I'm kicking myself for all the things I thought of saying to him after he was gone. He was nice but he was obviously just trying to get through everyone quickly and go about his business. Luckily half a brain cell jump started itself and I mentioned something about Bottle Shock. Then he stopped and looked me in the eye and got kind of excited that someone mentioned something besides Star Trek. It was too cute. And by cute I obviously mean his clothes, my floor, right now please.