Laura Smiles World Premiere
at the MUSIC HALL 3

“Sharp dialogue, idiosyncratic characters and a wickedly brilliant structure that subtly derails expectation make LAURA SMILES a rarity among mellers. The most unjudgmental view of sex and the suburbs since Kim Novak sought solace from the nearest warm body in Strangers When We Meet . . . feature traces the quietly psycho, often hilarious disintegration of an American housewife (a Tippie Hedren-perfect Petra Wright) . . . LAURA could become an indie American Beauty.” (Variety)

Daniel and I went to another “red carpet” world premiere tonight (sorry Pat).  The movie was called “Laura Smiles“.  It starred Petra Wright, in a star making turn, as Laura, a beautiful yet troubled woman struggling with her demons.  The movie also starred Jonathan Silverman of “Weekend At Bernie’s” and “The Single Guy” fame.  It was was invitation only, and when I arrived I walked into the theater and found someone holding the invitation list.  I told him my name and he instantly handed me 2 tickets.  When he looked for my name on the list however, it wasn’t there.  Apparently he thought I was one of the actors, as he was holding the actor’s list.  When he found out that I was a mere mortal, he quickly snatched the tickets back and sent me to the back of the line.  Turns out he was the director of the film.

Daniel wasn’t particulary enthralled with Laura   

All in all it was a good movie.  It dragged a bit in the middle, but the performances were solid, with a surprisingly strong performance by Mr. Silverman, who has not always been treated kindly by the critics (or the years for that matter).   To wit:

After the movie, there was supposed to be a Q&A with the director and the stars, but when the lights came up, the Chariman of Laemmle Theater Group got up to say that he had some bad news.  Apparently, after the movie began, the director had a bad seizure in the lobby of the theater.  He fell and hit his head, and was taken away by ambulance.  The star of the movie rode in the ambulance with him, so we were left with Jonathan Silverman and the Cinematographer, LOL.  Apparently the director is going to be fine

After that we went to the famous Canter’s Deli; probably not the best dessert choice at 11 PM on a Monday in LA, but oh well.  At the table next to us, sat the eccentric radio personality Rodney “on the Rock” Bingenheimer:

Snapped Rodney unwittingly on my cell phone.  His hairstyle hasn’t changed in 40 years.

Bingenheimer arrived in Los Angeles in 1965, and he soon became so well known around Hollywood that actor Sal Mineo (**see below) dubbed him “The Mayor of Sunset Strip”. He formed close friendships with the cream of the LA social scene including many top pop stars of the day such as The Byrds and Sonny & Cher. In his own words, Bingeheimer “became the talk of the town because I had the perfect Brian Jones ‘do’ (hairstyle)”.

Many events and incidents contributed to Bingenheimer’s notoreity — he and Sonny Bono were reportedly asked to leave the Hollywood restaurant Martoni’s because of their hippy appearance (prompting Bono to write the song “Laugh At Me”), Bingenheimer brought Brian Wilson to the legendary recording session for Tina Turner’s lead vocal on the Phil Spector classic “River Deep, Mountain High“, and he was namechecked in a song by the all-girl band The GTOs on their Frank Zappa-produced LP Permanent Damage.

In the late Sixties he was hired by Nik Venet to do publicity for Linda Rondstadt‘s group The Stone Poneys, but he became so disenchanted by the LA music scene during this period that he moved to London. It was there that he discovered the nascent British glam rock scene and met emerging stars David Bowie and Rod Stewart…

We also sat behind an up and coming Hollywood hunk.  Can you guess who it is from these grainy cell phone pics?

We also noticed a strange accoutrement in our deli booth.  The restaurant opened in 1931 and must have been quite advanced for its time, give the state of the art telephone connection in our booth.  I’ll be back when they get Wi-Fi

Daniel showed his fondness for restaurant telecommunication

** Incidentally, when I moved into my condo here in West Hollywood, I learned an interesting bit of neighborhood lore.  Sal Mineo, who played James Dean’s best friend/obsessed love interest in Rebel Without a Cause was murdered right on the corner of my very street.  Stabbed to death in fact.  Sal, we hardly knew ya!

Song of the day

Through Tyson, I’ve been lucky enough to meet a
lot of great people in the Cubing
community.  None are more talented however, than
Macky.  We’ve been trying to get
together for some time now, and he was nice enough to head out to the
Hotel Careyfornia today before leaving for Math Camp
for the summer, and then off to Princeton in the fall.  (He
turned down Cambridge and Harvard!)  Over dinner we discussed
everything from Game Theory to Phonetics.  You might think that
would make for dry dinner conversation, but quite the
contrary.  Macky has a unique way of making even the
most black and white subjects explode with color.  He makes
you think about things in ways you never have.  I always feel
so energized after spending time with young people with such drive and
intellect.  It give me a hope for a better tomorrow in this
country.  Thanks Macky!  I’m looking forward to
watching the next few years unfold. 

He was
even nice enough to sign a cube for Daniel with his record solve time of 12.11
seconds.

ON THE
LIGHTER SIDE
“Starting
Tuesday, if you’re caught talking on
the phone without a hands-free device [in California], you get hit with
a $20
fine. That’s almost an eighth of a tank of gas!” — Comedian Jimmy
Kimmel

My cousin bought a new laptop and a new router today.  I got the laptop completely set up, and removed all the crap they load on it these days.  I installed Microsoft Office, Picasa, Google Toolbar and other PowerToys I find helpful.  I configured her email, and all of the startup, internet and wireless options.  I got the router connected and finally got it to work with her VOIP and the two other laptops in the house (that all run XP).  That was all relatively easy.  What I’ve been trying to do for the past 4 hours however is set up up a file and printer sharing network on Vista.  I have tried everything in my bag of tricks.  I finally called Linksys, who usually has pretty decent support, but as soon as they heard I could connect wirelessly through their router on Vista, they wouldn’t touch the file sharing problem.  It seems I’m not the only one who finds this impossible with Vista.  They’ve basically disabled the “Add Network Places Wizard”  The nearest fix I can find, I’ve reproduced below.  I don’t expect anyone to look at it, I just want to post it here on the off chance that someone reading this might be able to help. 

Not much else going on today.  We went to Costco and  then Best Buy.  Jenn brought dinner over and by 10:00 most everyone was beat.  It’s now 1:20 and I’m still trying to get this stupid thing to work.  Here’s a cute picture of Andy from dinner.  Must sleep….

Note  Windows Vista no longer supports the Online Print Wizard, but this method can still be used to generate the Add Network Place Wizard.

Syntax

HRESULT Initialize(      
    IDataObject *pdo,    DWORD dwOptions,    LPCWSTR pszServiceProvider);

Parameters

pdo

[in] A pointer to an instance of IDataObject that represents the files or folder to be transferred, if pszServiceProvider is “InternetPhotoPrinting”. If pszServiceProvider is “AddNetPlace”, this parameter is NULL.

dwOptions

[in] A combination of the following flags.

SHPWHF_ANYLOCATION

For use with the Add Network Place Wizard. Only valid in Windows Vista. If this flag is set, and pszServiceProvider is “AddNetPlace”, the Add Network Place wizard will show an option to select a network location other than the locations or providers that are registered to appear in the wizard.

SHPWHF_NOFILESELECTOR

Do not allow the user to change the file selection within the wizard.

SHPWHF_NONETPLACECREATE

Do not create a network place shortcut when the data transfer is complete. This flag is for use with the Add Network Place Wizard.

SHPWHF_NORECOMPRESS

Do not allow recompression of image data. For use with the Online Print Wizard.

SHPWHF_USEMRU

Not supported.

SHPWHF_VALIDATEVIAWEBFOLDERS

For use with the Add Network Place Wizard. In Microsoft Windows XP, if this flag is set and an attempt to open the network location using World Wide Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) fails, the Add Network Place Wizard will attempt to create a Web folder for the location, using support for Web Extender Client (WEC). In Windows Vista and Windows Server 2003, this flag has no effect and network locations without support for WebDAV may not be opened as Web folders.

pszServiceProvider

[in] Unicode string indicating the type of wizard to display. The following case-sensitive values are supported in Windows Vista.

AddNetPlace

Initialize the Add Network Place Wizard.

InternetPhotoPrinting

Initialize the Online Print Wizard. Not supported in Windows Vista.

Return Value

Returns S_OK if successful or an error value otherwise, including the following:

E_INVALIDARG	In Windows Vista, may indicate an attempt to initialize the unsupported Online Print Wizard by passing “InternetPhotoPrinting” in pszServiceProvider. In Windows XP, may indicate that the pdo parameter is NULL or points to an empty selection, when initializing the Online Print Wizard.
E_NOTIMPL	The pszServiceProvider parameter is not one of the supported values, or the dwOptions parameter contains an unsupported combination of flags.

Remarks

IPublishingWizard::Initialize, implemented by a Publishing Wizard object, is called to initialize the wizard object.

The sample below will not work on Windows Vista because the Online Print Wizard cannot be instantiated via IPublishingWizard in Windows Vista.

Copy Code

/* initializing the Online Print Wizard in Windows XP or Windows 2003 Server*/hr = pPublish->Initialize(pDataObject,               // A data object representing                                                      // files or folders to transfer.                          SHPWHF_NOFILESELECTOR,     // Flags                          L"InternetPhotoPrinting"); // Display the Online Print Wizard.

IPublishingWizard::Initialize does not actually display the initialized wizard. See the IPublishingWizard topic for information on how to display the wizard.

Today was a day to relax and unwind.  I’ve gotten even less sleep this week than I normally do, and my body is starting to feel (and show) it.  This morning we went to Cole’s swim meet.  It conjured up memories of my summers long ago.  It was a gorgeous day.  Here are some photos I snapped throughout the day:

See how tired I look?

These days, kids even play DS at sporting events!

Cole in Lane 4, the poor guy was so exhausted from this harrowing week, he finished last.

Like a trooper he kept going though.

He didn’t even want to compete in his 2nd event.

But eventually he decided to keep going.

And did quite well in the backstroke.

Cole & Mommy

Cole & Daddy

After the meet we went for a long leisurely lunch, then stopped at the Pet Supply store.  Remember a few weeks ago when I wrote about Garbo & Ruby’s “designer” dog foods, which Dick Van Patten supposedly ate out of the can?  Well, apparently this new line tastes even better, LOL.

The Pet Supply store was apparently owned by some right wing Christians who had a a literature stand filled with pamphlets like this:

Apparently, my computer is going to hell.

Roxy was glad to see us when we got home!

Lisa, positively glowing

Funeral flowers certainly don’t last long…too bad.

Roxy, being playful:

Cute little bugger ain’t she?

We went to see Hairspray tonight, and it’s exactly what we all needed.  I must admit I didn’t have high hopes.  Very rarely do I enjoy movies that are based on musicals I’ve seen on stage (i.e. Rent).  Also, John Travolta bugs the hell out of me (closet case).  The movie was superbly done however.  There were cute cameos by John Waters and Ricki Lake.  There were a few new songs that were actually quite good.  James Marsden makes a much better Corny Collins than an X-Man, and Queen Latifah was delightful.  As for Travolta, he’s no Harvey Fierstein (who is?) and he’s certainly no Divine, but he wasn’t as bad as I thought.  I’m sure they cast him to draw an audience, and apparently it worked, as it made more than $27 million its opening weekend.  It also got an extremely high 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. I looked around the theater several times, and most of the people there had big smiles on their faces the whole time.  What’s not to like about this story too?  I could see it over and over.  Loved it.  Of course, maybe I was just in the mood for a fun, light movie.  Go see it….if you don’t like it, I’ll pay you double. 

Needless to say I haven’t done a lot of blogging this week.  I also haven’t been able to read my friends blogs, and I feel like I’ve missed a year’s worth of information!   Have you ever thought about what would happen if the Internet really did crash?  Well, the good folks at The Onion have, and they offer this delightful sendup:

“Perhaps even harder hit was the blogging community, billions of pages of commentary and minutae permanently deleted.”

By the way, thanks to all of you who commented and emailed condolences to my family.  I took my relatives to the airport tonight.  I’ve decided to stay down here through the weekend and be back home next week.  After that, you should be back to your regularly scheduled programming.  Have a good weekend!

The oxymoronic thing about funerals is that they can be so much fun.  Though the sadness is often overwhelming, the gathering of family and friends from far and wide and the memories shared, often result in laughter to the point of tears, but tears of joy, as we remember a life well lived. 

I learned many things about Dave this week.  I learned about his childhood from his kid brother.  I learned about what kind of father he was from his daughters.  I learned what a good friend he was from over 100 people who came to a memorial on a Wednesday afternoon to celebrate his life.  Of course I knew all of these things already, they were facts.  But as we all stayed up until 4 or 5 AM the past 3 nights and rummaged through boxes of old photos and told stories, these “facts” developed a genesis.  Through Jennifer’s eloquent eulogy to Cole’s tears of anguish at never being able to see his “Bampa” again, I learned how he was adored.  From Lisa’s unwavering spirit after painful surgery to Tommy’s matter of fact innocence in the wake of such a loss, I learned how his spirit was infectious to his family.  From Dar’s brave face and smiles through the tears, I realized how much joy the man she loved brought her every day of their life together. 

He was a man who defied all the odds and his spirit will live on in the family that loved him so much.  Here are some of my favorite photos from the week.  We’ve been joking about how happy we all look in these pictures.  If this is how our family acts at a funeral, imagine what we’re like at a wedding!  LOL.  To wit, a celebration of a life well lived:

Song of the day

After the funeral today we went back to my cousin Darlene’s house and ordered some pizzas.  While the kids ran around and released steam from a stressful day, the adults started playing cards.  They wanted me to join but I kept declining.  I’d rather play with the kids anyway, plus I had a bunch of photos from today to upload (not to mention the fact that I don’t know any card games, save for solitaire!)  They weren’t playing poker, but they were playing some game with money and they were very loud and animated.  I’ve never ever gambled, and have no desire to do so.  I have nothing against it, it’s just not my cup of tea.

So, as the night wore on, they kept asking me to play and I kept refusing.  Finally they switched to a seemingly simple game of chance called “Horse” which uses a board that my Dad incidentally made for them.  They coerced me into getting all my change (just like drug dealers) and I began to roll the dice.  The game was completely illogical; all chance no skill.  I was immediately obsessed with how much money I had and how much money I was throwing “into the pot”.  Through complete luck, I won money the first four games, but the entire time I was so stressed out about the fact that I was risking real money (albeit spare change) in a game of chance.  I thought it might be better if we played with say, jelly beans.  But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that even losing jelly beans for no logical reason would stress me out.  I’m just not a gambler, plain and simple.  So, I took my winnings (all $3.50) and left the table…but not before snapping a couple of pictures to brag and blog about!  LOL.

David Champeau 1947-2007

I’ll be gone this week spending some time with my cousins and helping to watch the kids while they make arrangements.  Before Dave died peacefully in his sleep this morning, he was likely the oldest person in the world with Cystic Fibrosis.  Life expectancy in usually under 37 years old, and he was 60.  He leaves behind my cousin Darlene, 2 daughters, Jennifer & Lisa, and 4 grandchildren, Cole, Tommy, Tressa & Andy.  Throughout his lifelong illness, I never heard him complain once, though he was in constant pain or distress.  Even in the hospital this past month on life support, he would continue giving the thumbs up whenever you asked him how he was feeling.  He loved his grandchildren more than anything, and enjoyed taking them fishing on the lake.  He was the definition of “joie de vivre” and he will be missed.

Well, after a month of endless hype, Christ has returned in the form of David Beckham.  I bet every star in Hollywood wishes they had Posh & Beck’s publicist, because they have been absolutely everywhere.  No one’s sure if it will work though.  We had “good seats” for the game and my cousin Joel kept grumbling the whole time how boring it was and that Americans will never like soccer.  He may be right, but if Beckham doesn’t turn America on to soccer, it won’t be for lack of trying.  If it doesn’t succeed however, it never will.  This is soccer’s last chance in this country.  Just to have my entire family watching a soccer game was a major coup.  None of them had even seen a whole game before.  I can’t brag though.  Even though I went to the World Cup last year in Germany, I can barely tell a goal from a home run.    And come on, let’s face it, if he didn’t look like this, would there even be any hype at all?

Beckham the ‘Jesus of Consumer Culture’

LONDON- England fans may pray for him to lead the country to victory in next year’s World Cup, but not even his most ardent admirers have ever compared David Beckham to Jesus. Until now, that is.

An academic conference was to hear Wednesday that while Beckham has yet to perform any miracles – at least off the football pitch – he is perhaps the closest thing modern British society has to a Messiah figure.

“Beckham the brand is all about salvation, redemption, even resurrection,” said Carlton Brick, on the politics and sociology faculty of the University of Paisley in Scotland.

“It is not me that is saying Beckham is a pseudo Christ-like figure, but it is how he is often portrayed, and it is how he portrays himself,” he told The Guardian newspaper. Read more…

So here are today’s photos:

Grapes in Darlene’s backyard

 

 

Grandma & Andy

 

Buster eyeing Andy’s pizza

 

I told you we had “good seats”

 

 

The crowd goes wild

 

 

 

Reviewing my pictures on the computer

 

Roxy!

 

It was so beautiful in LA today. At 5:30 I headed over to Ann & Jorge’s, and snapped a couple of cute photos of  Arielle, and then walked Roscoe all through Beverly Hills.  Daniel called me at 7:30 and we decided to go see Ratatouille so I rushed home and we headed to The Grove.  The movie was amazing.  We laughed so hard.  The animation was brilliant and the story was not predictable at all.  Sheer genius those folks at Pixar, sheer genius.  After the movie got out at midnight, the Harry Potter book came out, and the crowd was ginormous!  We goofed around there for a while and then headed to Thai town for a midnight snack.  What a great day!

No more paparazzi, please!

Do NOT enter!

An accidet waiting to happen

A “hairy” fan

We didn’t know this guy, LOL

You can’t stop the beat