The All-American evening out

Dinner and a movie.
Dinner at a restaurant that looks like a club frequented by teenagers who are not able to get into clubs...
Large megaplexes with no character and overpriced beyond oblivion (does that make sense?...i.e. really overpriced!!) popcorn and other snacks... Both will be packed, both are doing extremely well...mmmm...go figure. I like hole in the wall kind of places, the latest foodie joints and eclectic entertainment...but if you're gonna cheese it up - you may as well go the whole way!

Both will likely host me+friends this evening in full prowl mode - teenagers need not apply.

I know! Channel the Cruz...the other Cruz!

Ahhhh....Penelope. Look at her wave just like Eva Peron..."do not cry for me - I am just happy to have worked with my mentor once again - Pedro makes me so happy...so happy that I will sign autographs for you - the people, my fans...feast your eyes on my beautiful awe-inspiring Sophia Lorenesque decollete...yes, they are marvellous, non?"

"They are what kept me going when I was with Tom and they are what keep me going now with the rumours that I am with Orlando, please - I will not speak of it...he is like a child to me, a child...I rock him to sleep in my bosom each night. At least he does bathe...unlike Matthew...he was much too comfortable with odour - any kind of odour...ohhhh, those were heady times. But I must go, now...I hope I have made you feel better as you - the people have helped me in my work...channelling the ordinary life - I thank you. Gracias. Gracias."

Ah, yes my non-latino latina...my fellow Iberian - we are so similar. And yet not...but you have cheered me and I will channel you as an inspiration tomorrow...perhaps because we are the same age...perhaps because we are both inspired by Pedro - Talk to Her is one of my all-time favourite movies...and who doesn't love watching Antonio Banderas in a little man-on-man action from time to time...when his butt-cheeks rivaled her bosom?

Gracias, PENELOPE, gracias.

the doldrums of constant wetness

So I know we live in the only temperate rain forest in the entire world, but seriously! Seriously! This is getting to be a bit much...I am really surprised that west coast dwellers have not grown gills as of yet. Personally, I always wear a scarf in such weather thereby keeping my neck several degrees warmer than the rest of my body and much drier just in case.

It's making me bitchy...I know as I am saying - 'What do you want me to do about that?' to a co-worker, that I am being bitchy...but it's like the words are escaping from my mouth before I can stop them. I blame the rain, the incessant, constant pounding, forming ponds and rivers on our ashphalt landscape and creating bogs and lakes in our parks and forests.

Yes, I realize that is why it remains so green and verdant even in the increasingly dry-due-to-global-warming summer months, but just how much is one supposed to endure!!! And sorry, but the Wednesday/Thursday half-day respite this week just didn't do it for me...I stopped me from killing myself, yes, but it did not permanently lift the spirits...how is one supposed to work under these conditions..sitting at my desk sifting through academia? How am I supposed to invite in creative inspiration for my audition tomorrow with this soggy blanket hanging over my head???

An Ode to Dri

There are those people that always stay with you ...that are so obscenely talented and wise beyond their years...that are so generous of spirit that you cannot help but be a better person through knowing them. When these same people are also self-effacing, intelligent, funny, spiritual, able to kill it on a dance floor and pick you up from one when you fall down...these are great friends.

So Dri, can't wait until tonight - it's been too long.

xo

mo.

LA #3...and scene.

Sooo nothing makes you forget a great getaway like this giant sheet of grey we've got covering us and smothering us right here in good ol' VAN. LA now seems like a distant dream...and yet I feel obliged to finish off my travelogue..so let me use bullet points:

• Sunday was hard...A hangover and the start of my transformation into Will Smith from Hitch - but we made it to the Alley -teeming with populace and kinda scary if you're not used to crowds...I was not going away empty handed and 2 pairs of Dior knock-offs made it into my possession for $10!
  
  
• A cruise in our ride for the weekend (our Chevy Malibu in grandfather tan...provided by I's sister as a birthday gift to I-- and me here thinking I could do LA without a car...well, I could have but it would have been a very different trip where no heels would have been permitted and I never travel without heels) through the Hollywood hills, along Mulholland Drive and out past the Beverly Hills Hotel and then over to Whole Foods to stock up on our Oscar meal and snacks...do not get the crab dip there!
  
  
• Watched the pre-show and show at home...and frankly not only do I blame my cold and the unwashed masses of the Alley for my eye infection but the longest Oscar telecast in the history of my watching the Oscars...no wonder puss started ooozzzing out of my eye!
  
  
• Nothing could stop me from trying to spy the stars though so we zipped up and headed to the Vanity Fair party with cameras in hand - at the right is my best handywork although my friend did get a great one of Penelope Cruz and her cleavage! SEND ME THE PIC!!!! Others who came over to sign and shake hands were random B-C list film and TV stars and- JLo and Marc - I guess the latino contingent wants to keep it real, heh? or at least act like they are...and I know, I know, Penelope is not latino, or from Mexico for that matter...neither am I...but it helps to racial profile sometimes;-)
  
  
• Monday was LA highway day - avoiding a five-car pile-up in the merging lane thanx to I having 'both hands on the wheel' ...we arrived at the Getty to find it closed!!!!! Yes, closed. Ok, it does say that they are closed on Mondays on their website, but it is not by any means obvious! so.....they have the Getty Villa in Malibu for the losers like us who do not pay attention to the fine print - which is like a roman villa with outdoor greek and roman sculpture and some travelling exhibits. OK, my museum fix was somewhat satisfied...and they had an exhibit on Tunisian Mosaics. I happen to like the medium given my people also make a mean mosaic.



• Santa Monica for window shopping, lunch, Fred Segals, and a walk along the beachfront including Venice Beach where I managed to get a last minute pair of white pumps the likes of which I have been looking for and coveting for a while now...with the peekaboo crochet on the side....will obviously have to wait a while before I trott them out in Vancouver.



• Anyhow....we returned the Malibu and gas ended up being $8 US each WTF??? Crazy, I know, I swear if it wasn't for the plane ticket this trip was almost free!



• Thanx to my friends for hosting, I for the itinerary and Holloywood for being so Hoff!!! ooooo - I took a picture on top of David HasselHoff...in a drunken orgasmic daze...lying down on Hollywood Boulevard....I know, kinda gross...not gonna post it, wouldn't be prudent...Johnny Depp was close by though for good measure.



• AND SCENE.

LA -part deux...and there's still more!?!

Soooo Koi was foodie heaven!!! deep fried soft-shell crab, tuna sashimi to die for, sauteed eggplant extraordinaire!! It was all good and so was my wine - no idea what kind..(we all took turns buying rounds) but let me tell you it was waaaayyy over the usual piddly 6-8oz pour you get here. My friends martini was overflowing, but that's OK, 'cause at Koi an unobtrusive staff member wisks in and wipes up the mess at your feet and you don't even notice - like a stagehand changing a set (both dressed in barely visible all-black uniform). Great food, great conversation and some of my favourite people in the world to share it with - definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

Off to the Marmont, where due to I cancelling our reso and the fact that they were still seating dinner at 12:30am - we were denied!! Fine, was not to be....next time maybe...we also had invites to a birthday gathering that provided the desert for the evening - these cupcakes were so good G had to take the address label off the cupcake box for future reference...large ceilings - looked like a brewery - dark leather...packed...my memories are getting fuzzy at this stage but I do know we did not stay long...and off to our random club it was...hopped in another taxi and we thought he was taking us for a ride but it was probably that the streets were all closed around the Kodak...upon arrival, we were greeted as the 'Canadians', got VIP wristbands slapped on us and were shuttled up some stairs inside - here's the DL on the club:

Montmartre Lounge/Day After

Since opening in November 2004 with a secret show by The Killers, this sleek, modern boite has become a playground for young Hollywood pros and the celebrities they worship.Established in 1922, Montmartre Café is supposedly where the term "see and be seen" was coined. That motto still holds true for today's Montmartre Lounge, home to Leonardo DiCaprio's Aviator premiere party, Alicia Keys' Grammy after-party and more. Though the multi-roomed playpen is located on the opposite corner of the Hollywood & Highland complex, the Montmartre Lounge is hard to find: The front entrance is completely blacked out and the sign is an "ML" painted on the small, white awning. (Enter around the corner on Highland Avenue and climb the spectacular staircase to get inside.) Even on the colorful, candlelit balcony, which serves as an outdoor lounge and the path inside, the hustle and bustle of Hollywood Boulevard already feels miles away. Two lounges are decorated with brown velour couches, a VIP section is outfitted with white vinyl seats. On the large dance floor we once spied Efren Ramirez, who played Pedro in Napoleon Dynamite, showing off his theatrical dance moves to 50 Cent. —Alexandra Le Tellier

SO, basically we killed it!!! Again, planning in advance pays...a little e-mail to the promoters list to say we were down for the Oscars, and voila! No stars to spy...and the crowd was quite young but the music was A-list and we shook until the lights came up! ....and then...more food of course - to soak up the alcohol at the jewish deli - Canter's on Fairfax around the corner from our friends place in west Hollywood where I gave a resounding performance of a dolphin or was it a seal on crack...caught for posterity on I's video feature on the digital camera...it cracks me up every time I see it - you had to be there, I guess.