Today was a long day on the conference floor here in Tampa, but a very productive one. When I got back to the hotel my feet were killing me though. It was cool seeing Brent again though.
It’s weird how close we live to each other, but the only time we hang out is at these trade shows. After the floor closed we hit a few parties, and then went out for a good Italian dinner and laughed our asses off. I have to be down there by 8 tomorrow, so I best get some sleep (since I haven’t had much all week!) I leave you with…..Sanjaya! G’night.
I obviously didn’t watch American Idol tonight, but I thought this clip from “The Soup” was hilarious! I think Sanjaya brings out in everyone, that desire we all secretly have to be a slightly androgynous teenager who can’t sing. LOL So do you really think this has something to do with it?
I made it to Florida finally…long flights, long day, but minimal problems and no fights with the TSA (Should have slept last night though, I’m beat!)
Janice Dickinson was on one of my flights. UGH. That’s the 2nd time I’ve run into that bitch this week. Wednesday they were filming her show on Santa Monica Blvd when I went to lunch. If you don’t know who she is, here are some photos I took of her last year in Hollywood on the red carpet at the American Idol finale. LOL. She’s the poster child for plastic surgery gone terribly wrong. She claims she’s the world’s “first supermodel”. Seems like more SuperFreak to me…she’s super freaky
And here are a few other more recognizable faces from the same finale last year:
Simon Cowell
Jennifer Hudson
Constantine Maroulis
Elliot Yamin pre dental work and hair do (whose new album released last week is supposed to be great) ??
Kelly Pickler (who supposedly also has a best selling record out now and big new boobs)
Carrie Underwood (one of the most successful Idols)
Did anyone see the season finale of Rome tonight on HBO?? WOW! That show is getting better all the time. I hope they win something come Emmy time.
Attia of the Julii (played by Polly Walker, above) is the best diva on TV in years. Her performance tonight made me laugh uproariously and gave me goose bumps too.
James Purefoy as Antony plays the historical downward spiral of (both) Caesars’ rival and Attia’s one true love, brilliantly. His drug addled orgy scenes tonight with the actress who played Cleopatra were Oscar worthy I thought, not just Emmy worthy. This show is far better than most Hollywood productions. It’s filmed in the famed Cinecitta Studios in Rome, and is like going back in time for an hour each week. They stretch the vernacular a bit, but all of the characters are amazingly well written and the bond between Vorenus and Pullo is especially interesting and serves as the story arc of the historical drama. If you’re at all interested in Roman history and the decline and fall of one of the greatest civilizations on earth, I suggest checking out the reruns or getting the DVDs. There are so many similarities between the fall of Rome and what’s happening in the United States today, it’s scary. Next season, if they stick to history (which they haven’t exactly always done), we can count on little Caesarion, now 17 years old being named King of Kings before he himself…. (I won’t ruin it for you if you’re not a student of history )
Too bad they didn’t have DNA testing back then
Are any of you keeping up with Eurovision? (If you haven’t heard of it, you might compare it to American Idol, only for all of Europe.) It’s been going on for 52 years, since 1956. Perhaps the most popular band to come out of Eurovision was Sweden’s Abba in 1974. Popbitch reports that:
Sweden’s official entry this year, The Ark‘s, lead singer Ola Salo is already a star in Sweden, and a prominent gay rights activist. In their adopted home city, Malmo, the band are nicknamed “When clap came to town”. Since they moved there in 1996, the story goes that hundreds of girls and boys have been left with a special reminder of the band. Watch out Helsinki! Here’s their entry:
He kind of reminds me of Pete Burns from Dead or Alive who incidentally starred in Britain’s Celebrity Big Brother last year, and now completely looks like a woman!
Scary huh Daniel? “What I really need to do is find myself a brand new….”
You can see videos of all the Eurovision entries by using the Song-O-Mat.
I think Bill Maher is reading my blog! Did anyone see his show the other night? He mentioned four things I’ve written about in the past week or so. Abu Ghraib, Purity Balls, Haditha and Infidel. ??
I can hear Dan now, “Don’t flatter yourself!!”
I’m flying to Florida in a few hours….just packing now before I get a couple hours of sleep. I wish I was flying there in this:
A USA Today/Gallup poll last month found that 45% of respondents said they would vote for a “well qualified” presidential candidate who was an atheist. Ninety-five percent said they would vote for a Catholic candidate, 92% a Jewish candidate and 72% a Mormon candidate.
Reading this reminded me of Julia Sweeney’s (It’s Pat) One Woman Show – “Letting Go of God“ I’m no atheist (or “non-theist as the above article describes) but this woman is quite funny. We saw her perform this 2 hour monologue last year here in LA, and it was certainly thought provoking.
vs.
Trouble in Trinidad/Tobago
Next month’s Plymouth Jazz Festival on the tiny island of Tobago features a headline appearance by Elton John. Not all islanders approve. Breakfast TVshow “Rise & Shine” this week had a phone-in about Elton. Presenters refused to condemn a caller who thought Elton should be subjected to earthlyhellfire for his “poisonous” lifestyle, while another asked, “Is it your understanding that heis planning a hideous nude gay orgy on stage orin private during his visit?”. Callers complaining about the homophobia were told onair, “Opinions are like noses, everyone has one”. Now a Tobago lawyer has unearthed a section of the Trinidad and Tobago immigration code which bans self-professed homosexuals from entering the country, and a Church crusadeis underway to try and make the government enforce it. Music fans on the island are hopingElton manages to get through this gauntlet of hate…they say they’d rather LL Cool J was banned from the jazz festival instead.
Update: 4/5/07: I’ve been getting a ton of hits from a Jake Gyllenhaal fan site I can assure you all that this is all true. If you continue moving forward you will see photos from Morocco, but none of your star, sorry. (Though I did see him in Whole Foods grocery store once several months ago. I’ll try to get a cell phone picture next time. I had no idea he had so many fans
This just came from my friend Carol, who is an Art Department Coordinator and lives in Studio City. We’ve been friends for over 20 years. She was actually my college professor and I baby-sat for her kids. When shedecided to stop teaching, she came to Hollywood to follow her dreams. She’s worked on dozens of movies, and her latest is called “Rendition” starring Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal and Meryl Streep. It sounds like anamazing film, and quite topical, because of its torture theme (see my post onthe Ghosts of Abu Ghraib. I can hardly wait to see it! Her experience in Morocco was much the same as mine. A truly beautiful country. –Carey—
—-Original Message—– From: Carol Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2007 1:08 PM To: Carey Subject: We Have Finished Filming in Morocco
I can hardly believe it. After all the anticipation last winter and all the hard work these last few months, and after four windy days on location in Essaouira on the coast, we finished filming in Morocco on Thursday and the wrap party was last night. The party was a very classy affair. It was held at a private villa in an oasis called the Palmeraie on the outskirts of Marrakech. (Julia Roberts stayed there when she was working on CharlieWilson’s War.) There were fire eaters, stilt walkers in elaborate costumesand makeup, belly dancers, red carpets everywhere, men dressed in beautiful robes, light shows, torches, candles, smoke effects, horses decked out like they were in parade dress, Moroccan food, open bar, drums, music and lots of dancing. I’ve never experienced anything like it. I’ll send some photos next week. (I left them at the office.) For crew gifts, they gave us eacha leather portfolio custom made here in Marrakech with Rendition embossed inEnglish on the front and in Arabic on the back. We also got T-shirts andhats. I bought a few items that were used as set dressing and they will be reminders of this unique experience.Our director (Gavin Hood) gave a lovely speech in which he expressed his joy about this cultural exchange that was Rendition.
We had an international crew from the US, the UK, South Africa, and Morocco. We came from different cultures, different races, different faiths, spoke different languages and we made it work to tell an important story about avery difficult subject. Morocco, our host country, is wonderful and beautiful. The Moroccan people are gentle and kind and they welcomed us and protected us. (And they fed us fantastic Moroccan food … I will miss that!!) This has been an experience of a lifetime. As much as I’m ready to come home, it will be difficult to say goodbye. I finish my work on Rendition on Wednesday or Thursday and I leave for my camel trek in the Sahara early Friday morning. I’ll probably be gone (and off line) from March 29 until April 2. Arlene and I head for Cairo on April 11. I’m back in Los Angeles April 21 and then I head for Nashville to see family and friends April 25-30 and then I’M HOME. More later…. Carol
—–Original Message—–
From: Carol
Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2007 2:42 PM
To: Carey
Subject: Re: We Have Finished Filming in Morocco
You are a rock star.
xxoo
“Call me Helen Keller, ‘Cuz I’m a Fuckin Miracle Worker”
Best of Ari Gold – Hollwood’s Uber Agent (Sorry about the language…not for the kids!
“What if you could know that your unborn baby boy is likely to be sexually attracted to other boys? Beyond that, what if hormonal treatments could change the baby’s orientation to heterosexual? Would you do it? Some scientists believe that such developments are just around the corner.”
“For some time now, scientists have been looking for a genetic or hormonal cause of sexual orientation. Thus far, no “gay gene” has been found – at least not in terms of incontrovertible and accepted science. Yet, it is now claimed that a growing body of evidence indicates that biological factors may at least contribute to sexual orientation”…Read On
“Conservatives opposed to both abortion and homosexuality will have to ask themselves whether the public shame of having a gay child outweighs the private sin of terminating a pregnancy (assuming the stigma on homosexuality survives the scientific refutation of the Right’s treasured belief that it is a “lifestyle choice.”) Pro-choice activists won’t be spared either. Will liberal moms who love their hairdressers be as tolerant when faced with the prospect of raising a little stylist of their own? And exactly how pro-choice will liberal abortion-rights activists be when thousands of potential parents are choosing to filter homosexuality right out of the gene pool?”
I personally think this guy is a result of too much chlorine in the gene pool!! And get this, the reason he’s drawing ire, is not because of the “cure” but because of the admission this terrible scourge might in fact be genetic…Read On
“We expressed yesterday that the separation of Father Fessio from the University’s administration had nothing to do with our shared commitment to our mission as a Catholic university ex corde ecclesiae.
If you’ve never heard of Ave Maria University, that’s because it’s new. It’s the first new Catholic University founded in the United States in the last 50 years. This University is special though. It was built around the building of a completely new town called “Ave Maria“, scheduled to open this summer. Can you say “Stepford“??!!!
“Ave Maria, FL is a flourishing town amidst a new university. Inspired by Europe’s everlasting charm and featuring modern day luxuries, Ave Maria reinvents hometown-living. With state-of-the-art amenities, a variety of homes in diverse price ranges, retail, entertainment, commercial and health & safety facilities. Ave Maria FL is an exciting place to live, work, play, and learn for every family, every lifestyle, and every dream.”
We saw it with the music industry and now the video & movie industry. When will these ridiculous multinational idiot companies realize that someone will always be one step ahead? It’s really a great irony that the biggest corporations in the world can be outwitted by computer geeks who don’t think you should have to pay for a 2 minute segment of The Colbert Report or of Jake Gyllenhall singing Dreamgirls in drag on SNL! Like Napster before it, YouTube will soon fall by the wayside as a home video site only. But others will surely sprout as long as there’s an Internet. So screw you Rupert Murdoch. You have enough of our money already.
Viacom has filed a lawsuit seeking $1 billion in damages from Google, alleging copyright infringement by YouTube, its video-sharing site.
Filed in U.S. District Court in New York last week, the legal action follows a complaint Viacom made to Google last month over the alleged unauthorized posting of Viacom videos on YouTube.
At the time, Viacom demanded that Google remove more than 100,000 of its clips from YouTube. Google responded that it would comply with the request.
In the lawsuit, Viacom claims that YouTube has allowed and benefited from “massive intentional” copyright violations of its video content. In addition to the monetary damages, Viacom is asking the court for an injunction barring Google and YouTube from continuing the alleged infringement.
Apologies for the fact that I kept adding to that last post. I thought it important to keep those entries all together in the same stream of consciousness for a while. I know it was a lot to digest, but when I look back at it years from now, I will be glad that all of those random thoughts seem cohesive. I have several little things to mention today.
First, because I admire his work so much as a young photographer, kudos to Blake for posting some great photographs of the protests last weekend to mark the fourth anniversary of this unjust war (which were barely covered in the mainstream press by the way). Few people his age have the passion, talent and drive to take such consistently good photos. On top of that, he is able to articulate through his chosen art forms, the chaos and the beauty that abounds in the world today. Check his work out at: http://www.pbase.com/blaketake
Mika and I finally went to see “300” tonight at The Grove. It really was the “feel good movie of the year” LOL. It definitely was a visual smorgasbord. The TV commercials make the effects look more unpleasant and dark than they actually were, but they definitely worked, especially for bringing a graphic novel to the movie screen (think Sin City meets Kill Bill) This is definitely not your mother’s Spartacus (or Gladiator for that matter)! It was a guilty pleasure though if you look at it as a graphic novel brought to the screen and not an epic historical drama. It didn’t take itself too seriously and was actually quite campy. Xerxes, looked liked many of the drag queens you might see out in West Hollywood on any given night And although the Spartans were truly known as great warriors who raised their sons for military and physical dominance starting at age 7, I’ve never seen a statue of Leonidis that showed the Spartan King with abs of steel! I imagine most history scholars would bristle at some of the liberties taken in regards to ancient Sparta (I hardly think they referred to their women as “M’ Lady”, though they were know to have the best manners of anyone in Ancient Greece), but the story/legend in the movie was fairly/loosely historically accurate. The Battle of Thermopylae is often cited as the first of the “Last Great Stands”.
Mika brought up the inevitable comparison to what’s happening in today’s political climate and it is apropos. I read this on MSNBC and I thought it was an interesting observation:
Is the Greek hero, King Leonidas of Sparta, intended to carry echoes ofPresident Bush, or does that distinction belong to his enemy, thePersian emperor Xerxes? Could it be that the Greeks, who pridethemselves on their fighting skills and their knowledge of theirterrain, correspond to Afghanistan’s fighters? Do the Persians suggestan invading force lost in a quagmire partly of their own making? (ed: my vote goes to Bush as Xerxes! )
Oh, and by the way, if you didn’t know, the actor who played Xerxes is none other than the Brazilian soap star/actor Rodrigo Santoro who’s currently starring on Lost. Quite the transformation, don’t you think?
Finally tonight, I’ll end with something I thought was pretty funny. Again, I’m still trying to figure out how to control my temper while mainly doing 2 things: driving in LA, and calling up any corporate entity bigger than my local video store. I have a hard time tolerating stupidity, and being Italian I tend speak loudly and authoritatively. You may have remembered a letter I emailed recently to one of the banks that holds the mortgage on my investment properties. The letter was vicious, but accurate and authoritative (though in hindsight the dishonest criminals who rape people… part may have been a bit over the top, LOL).
After writing the email and getting a form letter response, I had to call them today. Practicing my best “anger management” skills, I called, and after navigating through the obligatory satanic phone tree, a customer service representative answered; for the sake of anonymity, we’ll call him Mark. (I suspect he might read this, and I wish him no ill will.) As soon as he answered I politely asked to speak to a supervisor. He told me he would see if one was available. When he came back, he said that they were all tied up, but he could have someone give me a call back or he could try to help me. I asked how long it would take for a supervisor to call me back and he said 48 to 72 hours, at which point I laughed.
He said he would try to help me, and I said, “Are you sure you want to do that?” He said he could try. I said, “OK, but here are the ground rules:”
I am going to read you a letter I wrote to your company. It is a long letter and I would like you to listen without commenting
I will then read you your company’s canned response to said letter
I will next read a letter you sent me in the mail contradicting what your website is telling me
Once all this is done, you can let me know if you can help me
Don’t ask me why, but he agreed. I did everything I said I would (discreetly excluding the rape analogy I regretted). At the end of my diatribe he did something completely unexpected. He agreed with me, and told me he would fix the problems. To my amazement, he did exactly what should have been done months ago to clear up these problems with my loan that were caused by his company. Imagine? A customer service rep who actually serves the customer! A presumably low level employee who actually took accountability for his corporations egregious errors and remedied the situation! I could hardly believe what was happening. Sometimes you really do catch more flies with honey than vinegar!
When we were through, I told him that although I trusted him to make all of these changes; I had no way of holding him accountable if the changes did not end being made as promised. I asked him to write me an email detailing everything he did (expecting the canned response, “We don’t have access to email”, which I hear 99.9% of the time; and I usually respond, “Then send it to me from your Yahoo when you get home tonight, you Yahoo!”). Again to my amazement he told me he would send me an email.
The customer service gods were clearly smiling on me today, and “Mark” wasn’t even in India! I thanked him, and we hung up. A few minutes later I received the following email:
From: Mark Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 5:07 PM To: Carey Subject: 3/20 Phone Conversation Overview of Loan #xxxxxxx
Carey,
I spoke with you today concerning your loan with XXXX. I resubmitted the draft for $xxxx.xx to make the payment due on 3/15/07. I also setup your ACH draft for the 30th of the month starting on 4/30/07 in the amount of $xxxx.xx. This amount was to accommodate the daily interest (DSI) which your loan payment is based on. I also checked our credit reporting dept. and can confirm that there has been no negative reporting done byus on this loan. There will also be no fees assessed on your account and no fees associated with your ACH draft. Thank you for your patience with this situation. To which I replied:
From: Carey Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 5:35 PM To: Mark Subject: RE: 3/20 Phone Conversation Overview of Loan #xxxxxxx
Thanks Mark, I appreciate your help. Now, you’d think that would have been the end of it, right? But if you know me, you know there has to be more to the story! About an hour later, I received another email from “Mark”. It read as follows:
From: Mark Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 5:49 PM To: Carey Subject: RE: 3/20 Phone Conversation Overview of Loan #xxxxxxx
I apologize for contacting you for non-business reasons but I have a question for you. I have been looking into attending the ____ ____ ____ on Sunset Blvd which I see is just a few miles from your house. My question is about the neighborhood in that area and if you could recommend any locations for me to look into as far as living arrangements. Once again sorry for contacting you on a non-business matter.
Mark Customer Care AgentTo which I replied:
From: Carey Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 5:56 PM To: Mark Subject: RE: 3/20 Phone Conversation Overview of Loan #xxxxxxx
No problem. How long will you be staying? There are some short term rentals available, but they are rather pricey. Depending on your price range I might be able to make some suggestions for accommodations. Let me know. Thanks –Carey To which he replied:
From: Mark Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 6:02 PM To: Carey Subject: FW: 3/20 Phone Conversation Overview of Loan #xxxxxxx
The stay would be for a year. My budget is not large at all. I don’t need much more that a bed and a shower and somewhere to set a microwave, I’m just not having a lot of luck with online searching for places to live so I thought I would contact someone from the area.
Mark Customer Care Agent I don’t think I need to continue, but you get the idea, LOL. Now I should tell you that I told “Mark” that I had already posted my vicious complaint letter on my blog, naming his company, and putting it in the public domain that they were a terrible company to deal with. He also knew the name of my blog, because it was in my email signature. So, long story long, I have decided to remove his company’s name from the blog posting in question Ai’nt I sweet?? LOL. I have been asked however to keep the complaint letter in the “public domain” as a template for future complaint letters, which I’m more than happy to oblige. Note: I have not removed United Airline’s name from my last complaint letter!
So now you know why I’m up until 5 in the morning most nights. Crazy.
So do you really think this has something to do with it? 
vs. 
