If It Ain't Broke ... It Will Break Eventually

Aaaaah, the weekend is over already? Welcome to the working world.

It's funny, due to the kind of random nature of the nbc page program, our hours are pretty uneven depending on the day and week. So my natural instinct is, obviously, to rejoice that, tommorow for example, I only work until 4:30 pm. And of course, my first reaction to seeing that one day I don't have to be at work until 12 pm is "sweeeeeeeet." But wait, hold the phone, I am getting paid by the hour here. Dammit, this sucks. I can't really be all that happy about getting to leave work early or start late, since doing so takes away from my cash-money flow. Oh, the internal conflicts that come with being in the real world. I better be a millionaire soon.

To be honest this weekend was pretty boring, yet still very tiring. I had to go rent a car, since it became pretty obvious that there is no way in hell that I'm getting my car back in the next few days. I really don't like having to bother people at work for rides, and I also am trying to find an apartment ASAP, so the car was a necessity. I am now driving a semi-ghetto Chevy Cavalier, which, strangely, I realized has a bunch of not-quite empty grocery bags in the trunk. What's in them? Don't know, haven't looked yet because my paranoid, fantasy-prone mind tells me it will be a severed hand or something. Maybe I'll just let 'em be until I return the car ...

RANDOM THOUGHT: I really like the song "Come Undone" by Duran Duran, but what's with the talk about "radio jews" in the lyrics? What is a radio jew? Duran Duran, I better not find out you're like some kind of antisemites or something.

So anyways, I looked at a few apartments as well this weekend. One seems pretty cool, not too bad a price and good location. I'd be sharing the place with another guy but would have my own large bedroom and bathroom, so it's a very good deal. I guess there's a number of interested parties so I'll see if it comes through. But I've gotta let the people at my current building know what my deal is soon, so hopefully I can get it all resolved quickly.

Oh, my packages from home finally arrived, and guess what? MY PLAYSTATION 2 IS FREAKIN' BROKEN - IT DOES NOT PLAY GAMES OR DVD'S! That really does not make me happy, as I've had a real desire the last week to wind down after work with a few rounds of Metal Gear Solid 3. I filed a complaint to UPS, so we'll see if that actually results in anything. They better buy me a new PS2, they owe me!

Also, while I'm in that kinda mood, why are the shopping centers in the LA area all completely filled 24/7? OK, I understand there's a lot of people here, but it's kind of ridiculous how you have to wait to find a parking space in like one of those dinky little strip malls with a dry cleaner and Subway as their main attractions. And the big mega shopping centers with Best Buy, Target, etc? Fugettaboutit.

Ah yes, so much drama, I know. Seriously, this week should be good at work, lots of big name guest on the Tonight Show and it should be a little less crazy now that I can drive myself and am a bit more comfortable with the different jobs we pages do. Oh yeah, so Friday Mr. 24 himself, Kiefer Sutherland was on - daaaaaaamn. Okay, so I really just like the Jack Bauer character and the show, it's not like I'm a diehard fan of the actor. But it was kind of cool just to see an actor who I've actually been watching for the last few years in person. Plus, craziness ensued during the show! They somehow forgot to fill up two front row seats, which are ON CAMERA throughout the show. Now, I don't THINK that that was in any way my fault, but again, paranoia ... But yeah, so me and another page had to run in at the start of the taping and sit in those seats. Pretty crazy. Of course it happened so fast that we didn't even think to take off our nbc uniforms. I think the cameras tried to avoid us so we wouldn't be on caught on tape. But hey, I got a front row seat. Nice.

The main person I'm actually excited to see this week is the kid from Napolean Dynamite who played Napoleon. Friggin' sweet. Gosh! It'd be cool if he was in character, ala Ali G / Borat when they appeared on Conan. That happens on Wednesday, I believe. Some other big names though this week like Cate Blanchette, Jamie Foxx, and Leonardo DiCaprio. But they just don't have the same skills like NAPOLEON DYNAMITE has. You know - nunchuk skills, computer hacking skills ... (see the movie if you don't know what I'm talking about ...).

So when do the swanky parties with bigshot celebrities start?

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

FOX SUNDAY NIGHT QUICK REVIEWS:
King of the Hill - A- Another Hank vs. the System episode, and as always it was funny stuff. What a classic show. Hank is one of those characters who has become so familiar that longtime viewers can pretty much predict how he'll react to any situation, right down to the inflection in his voice. But the character is so great that it is these familiar yet always hilarious reactions that keep us coming back week after week.

Malcolm in the Middle - A Continuing a streak of vintage Malcolm, hilarious episodes. Hal as hairdresser left me rolling in laughter, and the Malcolm in love with his car subplot was also very funny. I think the key with this show is that it is at it's best when it has an innocence to it - it portrays childhood and parenthood better than any other show. When it becomes a show about hormonal teenagers, it falters. This year they've taken a step back from all the girlfriend subplots and really benefitted from it. I don't know why this show, after initial critical praise, now seems so underrated and underappreciated.

Simpsons - B Not bad, but not great either. I mostly take away points for the fact that we've seen the main plot points (trouble in Homer and Marge's marriage, Moe trying to overcome his loneliness, changing up Moe's tavern) a thousand times already. But this episode seemed very on in it's comedic timing - lots of funny jokes and dialogue, plus the plot, though familiar, was pretty cohesive. So overall this is what, three above average Simpsons eps in a row? I'll take that.

Arrested Development - B+ Again, it's another episode where the plots are, as usual, brilliantly woven together and cleverly set up. But the jokes just don't seem as funny as they used to be. Why does Buster keep disappearing when he is consistently one of the show's funniest characters, and an easy and reliable source of humor? The George Michael and Ann subplot is kind of just dragging, as is the open marriage of Lindsay and Tobias. Maybe they need to just focus less on these ongoing subplots? I'm not sure what the answer is, but this is slowly becomong one of those shows that you realize is made by very smart and talented people, but just isn't as funny as it should be. That being said, I am only speaking in relative terms as compared to the best episodes of the series. On it's own, this is still heads and shoulders above other comedies on TV, so if you're not watching, you by all means should be.

BELATED SMALLVILLE THOUGHTS:

So we finally get a new episode this week, and it's like many of the eps this season. Very cheesy, heavy on the sex appeal, light on logic, and with only a few flashes of the old, good Smallville, usually thanks to the two Luthors and the great actors who play them.Honestly, this show should be ashamed of itself. No, this wasn't a horrible episode. But this isn't Smallville, and it certainly isn't Superman. This is now officially a show about mind control. Every other week we have someone out of their mind, being mentally controlled by another, mind-swapped, under the influence of mind altering substances, or just plain gone crazy. ENOUGH ALREADY. Superman is about good vs. evil, morality, truth, justice, etc. This show is about one of two things at this point. What psycho chick of the week will seduce Clark, or who will be mind-controlled this week. Oh yeah, I forgot - who will be this week's weekly person to see Clark use his powers and then conveniently forget and/or get knocked out cold just as he uses them? This show has sooo much potential. It has a number of promising actors, and a great mythology with which to play in. This episode had a decent plot, but it was just undermined by gratuitous sex scenes and total lack of logic (Clark is suddenly in love with a girl who tried to kill his friends? Martha Kent yells at Clark for things he did WHILE MIND-CONTROLLED?) Ugh. On the OC, I can accept this kind of stuff. But a show about Superman, even if it is before he dons the costume, should inspire me, not make me groan at it's exploitative cheesiness. C -

Back to work tommorow. Good thing my work involves working the Tonight Show and not filling out TPS reports or something.

Seeing Red (and Mr. Belding!)

Today's title is brought to you by the band Unwritten Law, who played Leno tonight. I met the parents of the lead singer and told them that I saw the band play a few years back in Hartford at the 104-fest, right after they had their big breakthrough hit ... Seeing Red.

So my car ... ugh. This morning I'm getting ready for my big day today -- first day giving solo tours and working the Tonight Show by my lonesome, and the jerk from the dealership calls and matter of factly states that my car needs to be sent off to a shop to repair an engine valve, it won't be back for a week and a half, and it will cost $1,700, not covered by my warranty despite the fact that I just got the car less than two weeks ago. Riiiiiiiight .... there was no way I could even process that at that moment, so I basically asked if I could call back later. Luckily my dad was able to talk to the guy and I don't know how, but he somehow managed to convince them to cover the cost of the repair (as well they should!!!) and to try to have it ready by Monday (still highly skeptical 'bout that happening). So I may rent a car for the weekend, not sure yet. But I reaaally need to look for apartments, so having a car would help with that.

Okay, so my first tour went pretty well today. Only four people in the group, and they were kind of mellow, so I kind of rambled on for a while and took a full hour and a half to give the tour. But I think I did a pretty solid job. But get this - I'm walking the group past Jay Leno's car on the tour, and some guy walks by, makes some friendly comment to our group which I can't quite recall, and waves and walks away. I look up and see that some guy is not just some guy but MR. BELDING FROM SAVED BY THE BELL, aka Dennis Haskens. Why he was at the NBC Studios I don't know. But there he was, clear as day. Of course, the older folks on my tour were like what, who? But they could see my excitement as that icon of my childhood got me giddier than I would have been for any big pop star.

Then it turns out that the motorcycle-signer on the Tonight Show was none other than Cosmo Kramer himself, Michael Richards. Sweeeeeeet. I was reeeally tempted to forego the usual page-as-buckingham palace-guard-routine and start bowing in honor of this comic deity of Seinfeld fame, but restrained myself ... barely. Almost as good was yesterday's surprise appearance by Rocky, yep, Slyvester Stallone. That was very cool as well. Today also featured Caron Butler, who I guess I kind of like as he went to UCONN, but also a part of me hates since he is a Laker. But his story was very moving and it was pretty weird to see an athlete like Caron start to tear up while talking about his rough early years. I came away very impressed with the guy.

More animals today too. Carson regular Joan Embry brought along a sloth (I think, or some variation), an aardvark (!) and a CHEETAH (!!). Nice.

I also enjoyed seeing Chris Matthews on the show yesterday. He seems like a class act and I think he's one of the few bright spots in the messy, ugly world of cable talk-news.

Some good developments: I have my full page uniform. No more worrying about that. Also, my shower is totally fixed, finally.

After talking with doctors, nutritionists, and readign an article in the latest issue of NEwsweek, I have determined this sad truth: NO FOOD IS GOOD FOR YOU. EVERYTHING YOU EAT DAMAGES YOU. Fruit = too much sugar. Milk = doesn't do a body quite so good. Bread = no good for counting carbs. Basically all you can bet on is vegetables, and then yer misiing out on vitamin C and calcium. Nutrition is ridiculous.

Why are there like 5 fire trucks passing my apartment per hour lately?

(Even More) RANDOM THOUGHTS:

- Veeeery belated FOX SUNDAY NIGHT thoughts: finally watched the tape. King of the Hill - very funny episode. Hank out of his element is always comedy gold. Malcolm - also very funny, a nice "origin" of Lois' matriarchal mania, and finally had a funny and important role for Francis. Also, Reese's diving-board subplot was classic Malcolm. Arrested Development - Finally - a great episode! Maybe even best of season? The return of Lucille II, along with a bigger emphasis on Buster and Tobias, reminded me why this show is so good. They set up some great subplots with George Senior as anonymous Hollywood script-reader and the strange Gob/Lucille Austero romance.

The OC - Another good episode, though this one felt almost too geeky. As much as I appreciate the Seth Cohen character, they can go way overboard sometimes in making him some kind of emo freak who has NOTHING on his mind except himself, his girl problems, and his need to talk about comic books ALL THE TIME. Yes, he likes comics, WE GET IT. I just feel like this was originally a really different, brilliant character, but he's now become kind of a self-parody. It makes any dramatic scene involving Seth just seem out of place. Now, they are really going to tease out this Alex-MArissa thing, huh? Those canny writers know what they are doing. And did I call mom Kirsten as alcoholic or what? Some telling camera shots really foreshadowed that subplot tonight. I think the center of the show is really becoming Ryan-Lindsay though. They actually have a pretty believable relationship. Imagine that.

Well, gotta go get my laundry and then GET SOME SLEEP. Holla back, playa.

In the Presence of Greatness

First of all, I have to vent a little. A few problems, all related to getting settled here in Californ-Eye-Eh, are currently really annoying me and dammit all I am going to tell you about them. So, in no particular order:
1.) Dammit, my car is being repaired. It was supposed to be that I'd bring it in this morning and pick it up this evening for touch ups and repairs. But NOOOO, of course I get dropped off after work at the dealership (by fellow new NBC page Tracy, who was extremely nice to help me out with transportation!), only to find out that my car HAS NOT EVEN BEEN LOOKED AT YET! Sonova, they weren't planning on telling me about this? I TOLD them to call if anything got held up. AND ... they assured me that it'd be no problem to give me a ride back to my apt from the dealership if I needed. So Tracy drops me off, I talk to the guy there ("Uh ... yeah, your car, uh, yeah we didn't really get to it today ..."), and I'm freakin' stranded. Poor Tracy had to turn around and pick me up again. See, this week the car has been flashing the "Service Engine Soon" light on the dash while the engine is running, and I wanted this checked. But nope, apparently DOING MORE THAN ONE THING PER DAY IS TOO MUCH for my good friends at the dealership. Of course, it didn't occur to me until after I finally got home that ...

2.) Dammit, my NBC page uniform! The two blazers I had are at the cleaners and were supposed to be picked up today. Not gonna happen. And then, I try on the pants that I finally got today to complete the uniform, and they are WAAAAAAY too long. So those are going to have to be shortened, and I need the whole uniform ready by THURSDAY. I better have my car by tommorow evening, so I can run to the cleaners, and they had better be able to shorten those pants ASAP by Thursday morning. Dayum. But, at least I finally can stop worrying about ...

3.) Dammit, my shower is still messed up! So the same inept plumber dudes come by at like 9 pm last night with the brilliant solution of using a variant of DRAINO to fix up the drainage system. Well, it seems to be working okay, except that the stuff they used caused my apt to smell REALLY BADLY the whole night. But then, as the plumber pointed out to me LAST NIGHT, yet DID NOTHING TO FIX, the fawcett is loose and is causing little water streams to spray out at crazy angles when the shower is on, which is bad. CAN THEY PLEASE JUST FIX THE FREAKIN SHOWER ALREADY? But hey, it's okay because soon I'm going to be ...

4.) Dammit, I cannot find an apartment. So I am already almost to the midway point for the month I'm staying at this place, and I can't find anything on Craig's List or other sites, don't have potential roommates, and I NEED an apartment ASAP. Of course, I found a place that sounded good over the weekend, go to visit the place, only to find out they were only showing it from 1 to 3 pm. And apparently the residents don't exist at any other time, because they weren't answering calls or emails or doorbell rings. Will someone from BU please move to LA and get an apt with me?

Okay ... now that that is settled ...

It's been a VERY cool few days at NBC. That coolness does kind of stem from a very sad event though, the passing of the king of late night TV, Johnny Carson. While his late night gig was sadly pretty much before my time, I can see and respect the talent of this man in all the clips I see and tributes I hear. He hosted the Tonight Show for THIRTY YEARS, 1962 to 1992, and his humor, style, and class is all just as obvious looking at his career and work today as it was back then. Leno, Letterman, Conan, and all other late night hosts owe a HUGE debt to Johnny, and there will never be another like him. That being said, Monday's Tonight Show was simply amazing to be a part of. Originally scheduled was aTABLOID STAR, Paris Hilton. What we got instead were true, bonafide LEGENDS. Ed McMahon, Bob Newhart, and Don Rickles graced the show with their presences, and it was really a sight to behold. Sure, some of the ditzy teenagers in line were disappointed that their pornstar/heiress/TV flav of the month was replaced with a bunch of old dudes, but for everyone else it was a great show - one that celebrated a kind of comedy that you don't see much anymore, the kind practiced by the likes of Rickles, Newhart, and of course Carson. They were true characters. They had a larger than life mystique. They were from the old school of comedy -- and yet their appeal, amazingly, was universal. While today you see comedians who appeal to specific demographics, these guys, Johnny especially, were American icons. They reached an extremely large, broad audience, and made all kinds of people laugh in a time when the nation was bitterly divided, as Jay pointed out in his opening essay. As a fan of comedy, it was a very momorable and special show to be a part of.

Today there was another humbling experience, as a group of marines attended the show (featuring Dennis Miller as guest), just before they begin a tour of duty in Iraq. To see these extremely young looking guys (most probably younger than myself) laughing and having a good time, just days before they put their lives on the line in a foreign country, was really amazing. For a while I was scared they weren;t going to get into the show, because they were in the back of the line and had a large group, but luckily they did and had a great time. At the end of the show many stopped and said thank you to me (I got them into the line and gave them their tickets), as if I did anything so great that deserved a thank you. All I could really say was that we really appreciate what they do, and wished them good luck. I was just feeling guilty that these guys almost didn't get into the show and yet we had rows of obnoxious high-schoolers and plenty of stuck-up LA types who got in no problem. There really should be some kind of NBC policy towards the troops that helps get them into shows, but I guess I'm not in a position to change corporate policy at this point.

Our training is almost at an end, and I think most of us newbies at NBC are feeling more confidant that we can do the tours, Tonight Show stuff, etc in the coming weeks. If I could just get my uniform all set ...

Oh yeah, Sunday provided a MUCH NEEDED fun diversion from all dis craziness. Fellow Northeast - to - LA transplant Paul Lurie was nice enough to put me on the guest list to a party that he won via a drawing. The shindig took place at Howl At The Moon, a local dueling piano bar in the Universal Studios CityWalk pavilion (to which I get free parking as an NBC-Universal Employee -- sweeeeeet, cuz it usually costs like $10 ...). Basically it's the LA equivalent of Boston's own Jake Ivory's. Now the slightly annoying thing about these kinds of places is that it's very difficult to carry on a conversation with the pianos constantly a-dueling. But nonetheless I was able to meet some cool people (and some pretty crazy people - I guess that's par for the course in LA when yer in the showbiz), and it was great to get out for a bit on the weekend. Of course staying out late Sunday screwed up my sleep schedule for the next few days, but hey, I've still got some of that ol' college willpower in me ... at least I hope I do. Well, I felt sapped of all willpower when I had to wake up at 6 am this morning to bring my car in before work at 8:30 ... but then again I have NEVER been a morning person.

One thing I'm realizing is that the working man has precious little free time during the week. I get home, eat dinner, watch some TV, and I'm done. It sucks. I have time for like one phone call a day, which of late has been my parents calling every five seconds, so I just haven't been able to talk to everyone like I'd like to. And I have got to cut back on IM and whatnot. I get home, start chatting to ppl, next thing I know it's 8:30 pm and I'm starving and haven't eaten and have a million other things to do. Things should calm down a bit in the coming weeks though, as out NBC schedule gets a bit lighter (not good in terms of getting payed though, and you know I gots to get paid).

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

- taped the FOX Sunday night lineup and still haven't watched yet. I think only King of the Hill, Malcolm, and Arrested were new though.

- SWEEEEEEEEET episode of 24 on Monday! That first ten minutes was simply KICKASS AWESOME. Honestly, no other TV show even comes close when it comes to staging action sequences. At the first commercial break, I called my brother in Boston, screamed "DAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN!" and hung up. Intense. The Arab son vs. his kra-zay father story is kinda cool, but I hope they throw in some twists to keep it from being too predictable. Right now it looks like it's gonna be Mother gats mad at husband, Husband kills repentant Mother, Son tracks down over-the-edge Father and ultimately goes all patricidal on his old man, thus saving the day. And then ... SPOILERS ...

... Aisha Tyler is EVIL? Sure, we knew she was bitchy, but full-out, terrorist-lovin' evil? Nah, I don't buy it, it's too obvious. I call her as a double agent. And ya gotta love the Sec. of Defense character. Reminds me of a politically-motivated Hannibal from the A-Team. But this show is really carried by Kiefer Sutherland, who seriously deserves and EMMY for his intense, consistent acting on this show.

- I'm watching Real World now and it's killin' me. I don't know why I am watching this buncha idiots being mind-numbingly stupid 24/7, but this show is just so darn addicting, despite seemingly lowering the bar for its cast members each and every season. Oh Landon and Shavonda, why deny your love, you two crazy kids? Oh wait, they aren't denying it anymore as of tonight. Who would have guessed?

- It's hilarious - before every Tonight Show they pick a mix of twenty-somethings and senior citizens to get up on the stage and dance for the crowd. Aside from there always being one atrociously bad white-girl dancer each time, you can ALWAYS count on some old grandma getting up there and shaking it like it's 1949, but EVERY TIME, they will for some inexplicable reason, start to DO A STRIPTEASE for the crowd. Every freakin' time. Today a large older woman wearing a sweater got ready to dance, and I said to another page, "I GUARANTEE this woman will remove that sweater while dancing as if she were a 70 year old stripper." and SHE DID, like clockwork. What is with these people? They must have like years of repressed desires in them, accumulated from years of sitting and watching TV and being innundated with pop cultural images of young woman prancing around and being singers / strippers / divas. So now, when the spotlight is finally on THEM, they think that it is their right, nay, their solemn DUTY, to start a-strippin' right there at the Tonight Show. That being said, it is pretty hilarious.

- Alright, more to come soon from sunny Burbank. So long Ladies and Germs, and goodnight Johnny Carson.

Live From LaLa Land

So after months of being in a state that has NOT A ONE modern rock radio station, I am all psyched to be in a place that is home to the "world famous" K-Rock, and I have to say I'm kinda dissapointed with it. I mean I've heard that same song by The Killers about 5 million times in the last week. I will say that good ol' WCCC in CT has a pretty unique style and playlist that you don't find elsewhere. Sure, they play waaay too much nu-metal type stuff, but they just don't really give a crap about being trendy or whatever, which is cool. You can always rely on them for a good Metallica song. Here, all the DJ's sound like Ryan Seacrest wannabees, and there is this weird, fake vibe that all the stations seem to have. Just a small observation from the West side. But hey, at least I finally get to hear some NEW rock music for a change.

It's been a looong week but overall I have been enjoying it. Most everyone I've met at NBC has been extremely nice, for one thing, so that's definitely helped. But this is definitely not the type of job where you can zone out or stay holed up in a shell. You're constantly on the move and dealing with people, so it is mentally pretty exhausting. Next week we start doing more stuff on our own, no more shadowing other pages. They are kind of throwing us new pages to the wolves, but hopefully it won't be too bad and people cut us some slack as we learn the ropes. Finally cracked open my Page and Studio Tour manuals today - should probably read through those before Monday.

I really do enjoy just talking to and meeting random people at the Tonight Show. I guess my dad having been a politician really instilled in me the value of being a man of the people. It's fascinating to hear the stories of people in line for the show - they just come from all over the country and world, just to be in the audience. I hope that I don't get so jaded that I stop treating them like people.

But I think I'm really going to be relying on my teaching and camp-counselor-ing experience at this job. If you can handle a group of third graders (and what groups I have had) then you can probably handle just about any kind of group. When I think of the kids I've had to deal with at Camp Shalom alone ... well, I still have nightmares about Terrell.

The Tonight Show on Friday was pretty sweet - Steve Irwin the Croc Hunter (CRIKEY!) was there with crocodiles, snakes, and A CAMEL in tow. Standing backstage with us pages was a team of doctors ready in case something went wrong. Cool! Also, news anchor Brian Williams was there (and he made an unsettling joke about the humor in him describing the "swinging balls" of the inauguration -- wait, Brian Williams is some kind of pervert? That's just wrong ... but then if Marv Albert of all people can be so freaky, anyone can I guess. Not to say anything bad about Brian Williams, but there is something off about those robotic news anchor types, ya know?). But yeah, the Croc Hunter was pretty awesome to see live, almost as cool as SNOOP DOGG a few days earlier.

I am so bad with directions. I swear I live 5 minutes from NBC right now yet constantly miss the turn to my street. It's like this weirdly angled turn that is very easy to miss, at least for me.

It is kind of weird how most of the other new pages are from right here in California. Nobody to commiserate with about moving across the country and not knowing how to get anywhere. Speaking of which, looks like the potential apt sharing with the other two pages has fallen through, so it's back to looking for a one bedroom for now.

See, I leave Boston and the northeast and all of a sudden there's snowstorms, terrorist threats, and who knows what other craziness is goin' on.

Looks like the shower in my apt is finally fixed, so I now longer have to live in two rooms simultaneously. It was nice to come back to my room today at 3 pm and find like five dudes sitting on the couch eating lunch. So I left quickly and took my snappy NBC-issue sport coats to the NBC-approved dry cleaners to be altered / cleaned. I hate how I'm still at the point where going anywhere requires a visit to Mapquest.

This coming week on The Tonight Show we've got Paris Hilton (note to self: check out the green room that day ...), Kiefer Sutherland (24! 24! 24!), and .... OZZY OSBOURNE!!! But dammit, he's only a guest, not performing. Dammit I would love to see him play while he still kind of can (never been to Ozzfest to see hime before). The audience guy from the Tonight Show was asking us who our dream band / guest would be. I think a re-united orginal Guns N' Roses lineup would definitely be up there. Aerosmith of course would be sweet. Getting more and more into fantasy I would love to be able to see a long broken up band like Led Zepellin play, or a pre-tragedy performance by Queen or Nirvana. As far as a guest goes, I really couldn't say. For pure comedy, I think the best I saw on Conan was Sascha Baron Cohen in character as Borat from Da Ali G Show. I was cracking up the entire time. I'd love to see a legitimately brilliant comedian / creator like Ricky Gervais, for example. Someone offbeat like a Gilbert Godfried would probably be really cool. Of course, there are a lot of stars I could care less about but it'd just be interesting to see them in person (just so I could say I caught a glimpse of Britney Spears or whatever).

Well, next week should be a trip. Hopefully I'll finally settle into more of a groove here and feel more comfortable. I'm telling you though, IBA: The Movie is money. Believe that, playa.

Only Two Days In and Already I See Kenny G - What More Is There?

Wow, I am freakin' exhausted. I guess that's to be expected after making the transition from sitting on the couch all day to working 9 to 6 pm after moving across the country, in the land of the worst traffic ever, complete with a 3 hour time difference. So please, forgive me if this post is slightly rambling or severely incoherent.

It's been A LOT to take in. I've been inundated with so many rules, forms, information, directions, and people that my head is on the verge of exploding (as was evidenced by the massive headache I had from about 7 to 8 pm today). But yeah, basically in my first two days at the nbc page program there's been some informational meetings, as well as a lot of following other pages around and observing / helping them as part of our on the job training.

The other new pages and I ahve shadowed more experienced pages as they gave tours of the nbc studios, and also as they do various tasks involved in seating and organizing and monitoring the audience at the Tonight Show. Working the show is probably the coolest but also most tiring thing I've done so far -- it's awesome to see the show in person, for one thing. No, Leno is nowhere near as funny or clever as Conan, but his production is HUGE. He's got an awesome set, A-list guests, and a sweeet house band (never realized how much they completely rock before). The audience is very big (about 300 ppl), and the set is very nice and looks very high-budget. In only two days, I've seen Samuel L. Jackson, Tara Reid (and her two freakishly oversized new friends ...), Sheryl Crow, Matt LeBlanc, and yes ... the MAN, the MYTH, the LEGEND ... yep, today I saw KENNY G himself. Oh maaaan, I remember driving on car trips with my parents when my brother and I would just be BEGGING for them to change the radio station so we no longer had to listen to those neverending saxaphone ear-torturing "songs." And there he was today, playing Outkast's "I Like The Way You Move," with old-school funk band Earth Wind and Fire, classic flowing mane and all. Trippy. But it is all kind of stressful and hectic. There's so much going on during the show that there's just a lot to manage at once, and it never calms down. Still, we get to see the show, so that's pretty sweet. And tommorow -- Snoop Dogg -- nice.

The tours of the studio don't seem too hard to do, but for some reason I can't establish any sense of direction yet at nbc. Like I just have not gotten a grasp yet of how to get around the large complex. Hopefully that part I can learn soon.

And then we have to eventually start wearing snappy NBC page uniforms -blue blazers, grey slacks, and ugly-azz yellow and brown ties. I was surpriesed to find today that the supply of uniforms was in quite shabby shape. The only pairs of pants they had in my size were totally ripped to shred on the legs, the jacket I got is missing a button, and my tie is all frayed on the back. Um, okay, good thing they pay for repairs and alterations.

It definitely seems like a diverse mix of personalities in the program. For the most part the people seem very ambitious and confident in themselves, so I can see there being some intense competition when assignments start coming up that multiple pages are gunning for. I just hope I can get something I want and not have to compete with too many people to get it.

Overall it's been two loooooooong days so far. But it's been exciting and I think things will get easier as I get into the routine. But then again, it's possible that after seeing KENNY F'N G, it can only be downhill from here. Or not.

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

- LOST --- great episode tonight!!! That RULED - best episode since the early, now-classic Locke ep. The backstory of Michael and his son was very well done and emotional, and the tension / respect between Michael and Locke was handled quite well. The revelation about Michael's son's strange "abilities" was very interesting, as it really offers new insights as to what's happening on the island. Dis the kid unwittingly cause the plain crash via his apparent mental powers? Or, could EVERYONE on the island have some kind of metahuman cognitive ability (ie Locke willing the use of his legs back, Charlie willing his guitar back, Jack willing his dead father back to life, the kid willing the polar bear from his comic book to exist)? Verryy interrresting ... and then on top of all that, sweeeet twist, cliffhanger ending - Claire's back, sans baby? Wazzupwitdat? Very, very good ep, that brought back a lot of my slightly waning faith in this show.

- Well, as of tommorow it's official - four more years of Bush in office. I think it's clear at this point that Kerry was not the ideal man to win the hearts and minds of America, but still, I have little faith that much good will be accomplished in the next four years nationally and internationally. What can we expect? Continued, unending conflict in Iraq with minimal international support. Lack of resources available to deal with impending crises in Iran, North Korea, and elsewhere. Little progress in Israel without America's full attention or support. Continued poor cultural relations with the rest of the world. Continued concessions to big drug, oil, and other corporations at the expense of the middle class. Stalled progress in moving away from foreign oil dependence. Lack of funding for important scientific research such as stem cell work. Continued influence of the Christian Right over domestic policy at the expense of equality, civil rights, freedom of speech, and the essential element of separation of church and state. Appointment of supreme court justices who will try to revoke decisions like Roe V. Wade and will bring set us back 50 years. Continued positions for cabinet members like Donald Rumsdeld, Condaleeza Rice, and others who have been proven to mislead the public and miscalculate in their critical decisions. The continued reign of a president who is simply not open-minded, intelligent, or intellectually curious enough to lead us into a better future. So yeah, four more years ... woo-hoo.

- Did I mention I saw KENNY G, live? Bwahahahahahahaha.

- OK, time to go collapse in my bed and wake up at 7 am to do it all again tommorow. Who knew that having a job allows one so little free time?

LA Confidential

Here it is - my first post from sunny California!

It's been a crazy and hectic few days, and now, finally, things have sttled down a bit, at least for the time being. My dad and I flew in to LA on Thursday, and had a very exhausting day after our early morning, very long, and somewhat turbulant flight, followed by a long line for the car rental, and heavy freeway traffic to get to Burbank from the airport. The next few days after that were an insane blur of supply and grocery shopping, driving around Burbank, and the biggest task of all - finding an inexpensive but solid used car. I ended up lucking out by finding a pretty sweet 99 Oldsmobile Alero for a good price at a local dealer. Of course, just when it looked like we had that purchase all wrapped up, there were problems with getting the car insurance, which was a big headache. Suffice to say that Saturday, which ideally would have been spent touring around LA, was instead spent visiting the insurance office and chewing out the incompetent woman who we were dealing with (though we did get in quick trips to Mann's Chinese Theater / the Walk of Fame and the Universal Studios City Walk for dinner ...). Overall though, despite the great weather (high 70's all week so far) and a number of excellent meals, I'd have to say that it was a pretty stressful first few days in CA. Just a lot to take care of and of course my dad wanted everything all set before he returned to CT (just in time to take my brother back to BU -- not the most fun thing after a 7 hour red-eye flight). But today I finally got to take it easy, set up my apt to my liking, and drive around on my own a little and get the lay of the land.

I really like Burbank so far. It is more suburban and less flashy than LA (and as everyone keeps saying, less exciting), but it is a very nice area with a ton of shops and restaurants. The downtown area is great, and there's everything you could want in terms of stores and places to eat within a very short distance. Plus where I am now (staying a month at an extended-stay inn in Burbank) is just a few minutes from NBC and the other big Burbank studios (WB and Disney). The truth is that Hollywood and LA are not technically far at all, it is just a question of how bad the traffic is when driving there (and it's usually bad).

The place I'm staying is okay so far - don't think I'd want to stay here more than a month though. The location is perfect, right on a main road and close to everything. But the place itself is slightly ghetto. The walls are pretty thin for one thing, you can hear every conversation outside for example. Plus the windows are arranged in a way that it feels like people outside can see right into your room even with the blinds closed, which is a little annoying. Plus, I of course ended up in a room that as soon as I moved in, realized that there was some kind of problem with the shower. It works fine for me, but apparently whenever I use the shower water leaks as it goes down the pipes to the floor below me. So the repairs are going to take three whole days, during which I don't think I'm going to be able to use the shower. Dammit, they better let me use someone else's or something, because I don't want to start work this week without being able to take a shower ... that would suck. I will say that the people who run the place are extremely nice and apologetic about everything, but still ... why did it have to be MY room?

Still, I am getting pretty psyched for the start of the page program on Tuesday. I'm a little worried about giving tours, since I've never really done that before (guess maybe I should have done Shield and Dragon (this group that gave prospective students tours) in high school ... or not. I figure that it'll be like being a camp counselor, only instead of leading around a bunch of eight year olds all day it'll be a bunch of middle aged women from Texas who reeaaaally like Jay Leno, or something. I don't know. I did give a pretty good tour of BU by senior year, whenever someone I knew was looking at the school.

Oh, speaking of BU, I was looking on their website and saw the page about the new cable TV. Damn, they are really going all out with that, and really promoting it too. Never would have happened under Silber.

I am also realizing how uneven I've been with telling people about my move to California. It is really hard to keep track of who exactly I've talked to, and, though hard to believe as it is, not everyone reads my blog religiously, as they should ... haha well anyways, yeah, it is getting hard to tell everyone I know about the move and remember who I have and haven't talked to. I want to send out a mass email, but since I've mostly been using AOL for email lately, I don't have many ppl's new emails, since the stupid, old version of AOL I was using at home doesn't save contact info. Plus, I don't think I even have a lot of people's updated email addresses anymore, now that many of my friends have stopped using BU accounts. So as a stopgap measure I resorted to a kind of dumb, cheesy way of contacting people, which was a mass message over Facebook.com ... I don't know how many ppl even check that site anymore now that they've graduated, but hey, that site does it all. I wish I had invented it -- I'd be rolling in sweet, sweet cash right about now.

So here I am in Burbank, CA. I'm sure I'll have a lot more to talk about soon once I start at NBC. Hmmm, I wonder if I now have to speak the company line now that I'm an employee of NBC-Universal? Well, probably more than half the TV I watch is on FOX (Simpsons, 24, The OC, Arrested Development, etc) and I have to admit I don't think I have watched a primetime show regularly on NBC since Seinfeld ended (never been a Friends fan, not really into Law and Order). Still, I am a huge fan of old-school SNL (it completely sucks now and has progressively gotten worse since the last heyday of Myers-Carvey-Hartman-Spade-Farley-Sandler, etc) and of course Conan. I'm still bitter that NBC screwed up and cancelled one of the all time greatest ever shows (even though it had so few episodes), Freaks and Geeks. What were they thinking? Now, as far as other NBC-Universal stations, I'm not a big Sci Fi channel fan despite being a sci fi fan. Sure, they have reruns of the Twilight Zone (greatest show ever), but I never got into any of their original stuff like Stargate or Farscape, except for when they aired the last season of Sliders, one of my all time faves (even though that last season was pretty lame). They seem to do well with the occasional big budget miniseries like Taken, but overall I think they need to overhaul the network and get some more original, quality stuff. Now I used to be a loyal viewer of USA. Yep, USA. I mean, hey, they were the home of WWF wrestling throughout my childhood years. Ah, those early Sunday mornings waking up to watch Mean Gene and Bobby the Brain hosting All-American Wrestling ... those were the days. And also USA, once home to an endless stream of B-level exploitation shows (Silk Stalkings, Pacific Blue, In the Heat of the Night, etc) seems to churn out a kickass cult classic show like the awesome La Femme Nikita, a very much missed favorite of mine. Anyways, from now on I'm going to be a company man, so ... watch LAW AND ORDER ... JOEY IS AWESOME ... LENO IS HILARIOUS, BETTER THAN LETTERMAN ... and yes, MEDIUM IS THE YEAR'S BEST NEW SHOW!

Now that those NBC suits are off my back, time for some ...

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

- saw the last half of this week's OC. This was kind of a breather episode after the heavy soap opera of the last few weeks, but it seems like they might be leading up to a huge Kirsten Cohen as alcoholic storyline, or I could be wrong, but I think that's where they are going to go down the line.

- FOX Sunday Night thoughts: King of the Hill had a great episode tonight, the ones with Hank's dad Cotton are always hilarious yet also kind of poignant, and this one was no exception. Malcolm was also extremely good, one of the best episodes of the season I think. Again, the Hal-centric episodes are some of the funniest, and this one was another example of how great a character Hal is on the show. Then, a trifecta - The Simpsons had a legitimately excellent episode! Why was it good? Let me break it down:

Why this Simpsons episode was different, and thus BETTER than the typical nu-Simpons ep:
- one consistent main plot / theme that spanned the ENTIRE episode
- humor from clever dialogue and character moments, not just total absurdity
- a theme (prescription drugs) that was timely but done in a well-thought out fashion
- used many characters well and in the natural flow of the episode
- had an actual point to the humor and plot, a beginning, middle, and end
- felt mostly new and not like an idea that's been recycled a million times

Nice, three for three ... then Arrested Development came and delivered a pretty solid episode, again, not quite up to Season 1 standards, but funny and clever nonetheless. They are getting away from Tobias too much (his bits were easily the episode's funniest), and Buster as well. Still, this was overall maybe the best FOX Sunday in a while - plus we got some classic Family Guy at 9, rather than some terrible reality show or whatever. See, even in CA, ya gotta keep some old traditions alive.

- Whoah, in the Sunday LA Times they have TWO comics sections, filled with tons of strips I've never heard of before along old favorites. No Zippy though, but still that's kinda cool. Now I just need to find a good bagel place to make my Sunday mornings / afternoons complete.

- So many freakin' fast food chains over here. And here I am trying to eat healthy. All I know is that the logo for the Carl's Jr. chain (a weird cartoon star-shaped guy who's giving a perpetual wink) really freaks me out for some reason. Also I have never seen so many donut shops as here, I wonder why that is.

Well, I'm finally starting to get settled in. I'm stocked up on the essentials (yep, got my Special K cereal in the kitchen), and starting to learn my way around. If you're reading this and in the LA area, or plan on visiting, drop me a line.

"California Here I Come ..."

Yeah, you knew I had to use that title eventually ...

So tommorow morning is the big day - my dad and I will be getting on a plane and making the journey to sunny LA. All I know is that the warm sunny weather will definitely be sweet compared to the slushy cold icy-ness over here in CT. I really have no idea what to expect in CA, I guess I'm just kind of playing things by ear. I still don't know what I'm going to do about a car but I really hope that I can find a good but cheap used car while my dad is there for a few days so that I can just get that purchase over with and not have to worry about transportation. The job at NBC starts Tuesday, so I have a few days to acclimate myself. Right now I'm trying to pack all my stuff and hoping that I have enough room for everything I want to bring. I admit that I am a pretty terrible packer, and am horrible at acknowledging that I probably can live without certain clothing items or whatever, so I always overpack and end up bringing too much stuff with me wherever I go. Ultimately I guess I'll have more exciting stuff to report in the next few days and weeks. You know, stuff like partying with bigshot movie stars, selling my screenplay for IBA: The Movie, and driving through crazy mudslides.

Next time I update, it'll be from CA, which I think deserves a hearty "DAAAAAMN!"

Random Stuff:

- Awesome Veronica Mars last night -- one of the best eps yet I think, and the mystery is really starting to deepen. And who knew that Kristen Bell / Veronica could sing? A talented detective AND an accomplished vocalist? What can't this girl do?

- Thought the second 2 hours of 24 was a bit weak compared to the first 2, but still, gotta love this show. They are kind of starting to fall back on familiar storylines though, which is not a good sign (Jack vs. authority, Jack commiting a crime out of necessity, interoffice politics, cheesy teen subplots, strange issues with kids @ home, lots of interoffice politics ...). I just hope former President Palmer comes back soon and kicks some ass. Also, great to see Alberta Watson, aka Madeline from La Femme Nikita (one of my all time favorite shows) back in a similar role as Driscoll. Now why can't we get Nikita to come and team up with Jack Bauer?

- Finally watched last week's OC - nice ep, next week looks good. As a big fan of bagels and a Jew, it was nice to see such a poignant ending involving schmearing cream cheese on bagels.

- Good luck to all my friends who have big moves coming up! Keep me posted and I'll try to do the same!

Alright - set a course for LAX. Let's do this.

My News Update: Viva California, Paging NBC, and more!

Well, the last week or so has been crazy to say the least. After a few days of freaking out and asking everyone and their brother for their opinion on the matter, I decided that I would accept the position at the NBC page program in Burbank, CA. There have been and will be moments where the idea of moving to CA on such short notice just gives me a headache, and I want to say screw it, but for the most part I am now getting more and more excited about going. I have been put in touch with a few current and former NBC pages, and they really helped get me psyched up to start the program and to get out to LA. As far as the NYC program goes, I feel pretty good about my chances of getting called up for a second interview and then of getting accepted, but again, nothing is guaranteed, and at this point I feel ready for and committed to the Burbank program. As far as housing in CA goes, what I decided on is to stay in an "extended stay" hotel for a month to start out, and then look for an apartment during that first month. It's just too difficult to find an apartment when I'm home in CT and not that familiar with the area, and can't check out the places first-hand. This way I'll be in a furnished room for a little while, can ship my stuff later, and will have some time to sort things out and maybe even find a roommate or whatever. The trickiest thing so far is the issue of transportation. I'm on a pretty tight budget for this move, and the car prices I've seen in CA are typically higher than here in CT. So with four days to go before the move, I don't know if I'm going to buy a used car here, in CA, or ship my brother and I's extremely well-worn Taurus which may not have much life left in it. Any suggestions?

Overall, it's really been a whirlwind and I'm hoping things will settle down a bit once I get to CA. At least the weather there should be better - this last week in CT has just been horrendous. Snow, ice, sleet, just terrible weather that is going to make me appreciate the LA sunshine that much more. I also shipped my trusty computer today. Oh man, what a hassle, I can't believe I've had this same bulky desktop since freshman year of college, and lugged it to Boston, CT, New York, and now LA! I can't believe it even runs with all the near-fatal meltdowns it's had, but hey, it's been working fine as of late and the money it costs to ship is still a lot less than buying a new PC, so I guess it's worth it. This week I have to go through my stuff and see what else I want to have shipped to CA. Maybe some clothes, definitely the ol' PS2 (gotta have that DVD and game playing wonder-box) and probably some other miscellanious stuff. Basically the car thing is the major issue right now, once I get the car (and related expenses, like car insurance) out of the way, it will be a big relief.

So on Thursday, despite already being pretty much committed to the California program, I hopped on a Greyhound bus and braved the WEATHER FROM HELL to journey to NYC ... ONE LAST TIME (sorry, been watching Lord of the Rings ...). I headed for 30 Rock and NBC to do my interview with the page program. kind of just for the heck of it I guess (plus my dad seems half-convinced that I'll spend two weeks in CA, hate it, and want to go back to the Northeast, thus the need for a backup plan ...). Once there I did kind of sense the differences between LA and NYC. You could kind of feel the atmosphere in NYC as being more all-business, more "yeah, we've got SNL here, but we're mostly really, really serious." The interview went well though, despite some crazy questions just begging for total-B.S. answers (ie what are the pros and cons of NBC being owned by GE? - take note prospective page program applicants!). But actually I think it was a really good interview and if I wasn't going to CA I'd probably feel pretty positive about the NYC program and my chances of getting in. But the reality is that for better or worse LA is the place to be for entertainment and TV, and even if for some reason I don't like it at least I can say I've tried it. But I think I'll like it and it should be a great experience ... one former page I talked to described the program in CA as summer camp for college grads, which while I'm sure is only accurate some of the time, still touched the right nerve with this summer camp vet. So it should be good times and a great experience and opportunity.

NYC for the day was also fun, because, speaking of summer camp, I got to have lunch with two former Camp Shalom counsellors, Bre and Melissa, which made the terrible weather a little more bearable and a gloomy day a lot more fun. There were a ton of people I would have liked to have seen in NYC, but time and weather didn't allow. All I can say is: come visit me in Caliornia! IT's crazy, just when I am freaking out about the big move, my friend Kirsten tells me she's going to Australia for a year of grad school, and my other friend Heidi says she's planning a year of teaching in China! So yeah, this is cake.

Didn't get to visit the Conan offices while in NYC, as they were on hiatus, but who knows, maybe I'll see 'em in LA in 2009. It will be weird I guess being around the Tonight Show in LA after having worked at Conan in NYC, especially since I've never been a big fan of Leno's late night humor, especially as compared to his heir-apparent Conan's Harvard-educated comedic genius. Oh well, it's still pretty cool I guess.

I was looking on Variety.com's website at the shows currently produced by NBC Universal. Nothing right now being made that I'm really into that's done in CA, but the cool thing is that new stuff is always coming out. I see that they are making a new Kojak series for USA starring Ving Rhames as Kojak -- now THAT sounds like it could be sweet to work on. Speaking of the Univeral merger, can anyone say discounts to Universal Studios? So who cares if I won't have medical insurance, I can get 15 percent off the Mummy 3-D roller coaster.

Man, talking to Jeremy Yanofsky the other day about his upcoming BU semester in London really got me nostalgic for jolly old England. I really hope I can get back there someday soon to at least visit. LA is sure to be cool and all, but at some point I'd love to do some international traveling, and I also need to go to Israel at some point which I am ashamed to say I have yet to do (and yet I've been to the Vatican ...). Maybe I'll get a chance to go on Birthright Israel while I'm still in the eligible age-range - I guess I'll have to wait and see how things go.

But yeah, LA should be great. I'll have the same cell number, IM, email, etc, so I hope everyone keeps in touch! And come visit! I'll further update how the move goes, but for those wondering about my last entry's stunning CLIFFHANGER ENDING --- the resolution is pretty much this: Thursday I'm going to California.

RANDOM STUFF:

- Holy crap, I am psyched for 24. The hype this year is huge, in TV guide, EW, even the NY Times. Two hours Sunday and Monday is going to be intense.

- Finally, last night my brother and I sat down and watched all 5+ hours of Return of the King - the Extended Edition. All I can say is: DAAAAAAAAAAAMN. That ruled. Lots of sweet new scenes that really make the movie flow better - Theoden's speech to Sarumon at the tower, Gandalf vs. Witch King, Aragorn and the army of the dead comandeering the black ships -- all awesome scenes -- "We will fight!" 5 star awesomeness.

- Nice ep. of Lost on Wednesday, though we still don't really have a clue what's going on, and the flashbacks of Evangeline Lilly's Kate character pose a lot more questions than they answer. It looks like someone's biting the big one next week. I'd bet on the bratty blonde chick, but you never know with this show.

- Also a good ep. of the show you're not watching, but really, really should - Veronica Mars. This was another very dark episode, and it seems like they are gearing up for some big revelations soon about the Lilly Kane murder. Nice to see that girl from Napoleon Dynamite with a recurring role here, she was really good in that movie, and is doing a really good job in a totally different type of setting here.

- Still haven't watched my tape of The OC from this week ... I wonder who will be revealed to be related to Seth Cohen this week?

- That was some crazy stuff on The Real World this week too. Man, what a bunch of strange characters they have on this season - Landon is like the confirmation that inside the minds of many a Abercrombie-wearin' preppy jock is a scared little boy who waves knives at people when he's drunk and likes himself a good cry on a daily basis. Remember when this show was about a slice-of-life look at young adults? Now it's like let's see how much trouble these seven idiots will cause together. Still, addictively entertaining in a why did I just watch that crap kind of way.

- Watched The Ladykillers on DVD the other day. Now I'm a big Cohen Bros. fan, and I love Big Lebowski and Fargo, and this one was pretty good in it's own right, but not great like those two classics. The wordplay was typically clever but the characters were a little grating and the ending just kind of came out of nowhere. Still, gotta love the crazy dialogue.

- Read that The Office's mad genious Ricky Gervais (aka David Brent) is going to be WRITING AN EPISODE OF THE SIMPSONS! Now that could seriously kick ass, as those Brits know and appreciate their bloody Simpsons, as well they should.

- RIP to Will Eisner, aka one of the greatest pioneers of the comic book artform, and a true American original, as well as an outspoken member of the Jewish community. While I have not yet had the privelage of reading many of his well-known works, I can only aspire to follow his example of innovation and storytelling mastery. He weaved his experiences, his religion, and his character into numerous award winning works, and his name is synonomous with quality and exceptional artistry (hence the Eisner Awards, the Oscars of comics). This was really sad news and I hope that in the future I can read and discover some of Will Eisner's works.

- On a lighter note, I want to state for the record that even though I'm going to be in LA, have no fear, I will STILL HATE THE LAKERS. As far as sports, the only real loyalty I feel now is towards BOSTON, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. You gotta keep it real, right?

- Wow, that was a long entry. I'm sure I'll have plenty more to tell in the days and weeks ahead. Hope everyone in school had a great vaction and has a great start to the new semester. Peace out.

The Time Is Near ...

If this was a normal nothing-happening day in the CT wasteland, the above title would probably be referencing this week's long-awaited release of the MILLENIUM SEASON 2 DVD this week. But no, while it is still pretty sweet that it's coming out soon, that ominous title refers to tommorow's momentous decisions that must be made. What, you say, am I talking about? Check out my recent post entitled BIG NEWS to get the answer. So sitting here at almost 10pm on Sunday night, I am still not really sure what I'm doing. At this point the biggest thing on my mind is that even if I really preferred NYC over LA, I don't have any guarantees that I'll get into the page program there, at least as of right now. So if it's take LA or risk losing everything, then I say take LA, right? But if the NYC program turns out tommorow to be more of a sure thing ... well, that kind of shakes things up a bit. I guess that's all I can really say for now ...

- But, thanks to everyone and anyone who gave me advice today and yesterday, I really appreciate it. Also, sorry to those friends of mine who as of now I still haven't yet talked to about all this, what can I say it's been crazy.

- Strangely in the midst of all this craziness my brother has gotten me into the Harry Potter movies, which until now I've avoided watching (never read any of the books either). I guess all the hype just really turned me away even though I usually like that kinda stuff. Well I did end up really enjoying the first movie, the characters were great and it was a lot of fun. The second one was kind of confusing plot-wise I thought, but still enjoyable. I hear the third movie is darker and different that the first two, so that should be cool.

- I also saw Meet The Fockers a few days back, which I thought was kind of disappointing and not as funny as the first which I thought was hilarious when I first saw it (but less hilarious in retrospect). It was like, oh, let's throw in Barbara Streisand and Dustin Hoffman and it will be funny just because it's two legendary actors acting like idiots. Sure, there are some funny moments but overall the jokes were pretty lame and obvious, and way too much reliance on grossness for humor. Anyone who loved this but hated Napoleon Dynamite needs to get their sense of humor checked (sorry if that applies to you, um ... yeah ...). BUT, I want to stress that although the movie wasn't my favorite, it was a good time, especially since seeing it involved a CAMP SHALOM REUNION with my ol' co-counsellors, future cantor Mike "Zoos" Zoosman and aspiring film-maker Matt Silver - the duo who helped create the legendary, original COSMIC DOODAD movie, which is still spoken of in awed whispers by former Camp Shalom campers.

- For the record I hate the word "gi-normous" and hope that no friend of mine ever uses it in conversation. What a dumb word.

- Okay, tommorow's the big day. For all I know nothing will be resolved and I'll still be in as much of a dilemma tommorow as I am now (as is so often the way with these things ...), but hopefully it all works out for the best. Either way at least it will be exciting times ahead.