Let it Burn...

Taking Usher's advice and walking away... So I'm not usually one to talk about my emotions or feelings (I've actually been told that getting me to open up about my feelings is like talking to a wall) but for one night only, I'm gonna say what's really on my mind. An emotional fire sale if you will. I have decided to leave LA. I'm headed back to michigan to get some more schooling, probably for only one more semester but you never quite know with me I guess.

I have heard a lot of talk about how it's always hard to move to a new far away place but really, I just hate LA. California is wonderful, San Diego is gorgeous and the ocean is amazing, but Los Angeles might just be the worst city I have ever lived in, counting Springfield Ohio where I spent my first semester of undergrad. It is overwhelming and confusing. Did I give it a fair shake? Probably not, but honestly I would rather be happy than to try and force something that isn't working. I am sure that given enough time, I could stand living here but I would rather enjoy my neighborhood and feel a sense of community than live in this disparate sea of millions of people. Unlike New York, LA is scattered all over a large area with no rhyme or reason. And I'm sure that in time I could figure out the city and know where everything is, but I would still have to wait in traffic for an hour to go 10 miles. Two of the things I hate most in the world are lines and traffic. Driving here is a nightmare and I miss being able to walk everywhere.

I guess what it boils down to is that I'm not happy here. Who wants to be unhappy? I've got a plan for the next 6 months or so and during that time I'll figure out what I'll do next. Perhaps out here but more likely back to NY to try and make it out there. I'm not giving up on wanting to be a director but I did realize that career dreams are not more important to me than the people in my life. It sucks being 3000 miles away from the people I care about and it sucks even more being 3 hours behind them. I will spend the next semester writing and honing my skills as a director and hopefully working on some things to do with tv or film. I feel kind of like I failed which sucks becuase I'm trying to tell myself that I didn't, that I"m doing the right thing. Anyways, it was a pretty hard decision to make but once I made it it felt like the right thing to do. Everything happens for a reason and I think that I learned some things about myself that I may not have learned if I never moved out here. Live and learn I guess.

So I'll blog again soon hopefully. Did anyone watch my original Subaru Diaries? Should I do it again on the return trip? As always, get your feet off the ground and reach for the stars. Pain heals, chicks dig scars and glory lasts forever. Go big or go home. Carpe diem. Your heart is free, have the courage to follow it. Life's short, live large.

-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - I guess this wasn't really that emotional or expressive. that's just how I am though I guess. New album I picked up, Katie Herzig, she's fab. Check it out. also the title was in refernce to the Usher song, not the wild fires out here, which I want to talk about soon.

What to Watch...

The last couple of weeks has been interesting. Eye opening maybe. I've been doing a lot of thinking about my life and questioning what I'm doing in my life. Could be headed for a big change soon but since I don't know yet, I'll leave it at that. Should decide within the next week or so whether or not I actually want to stay in LA though and if this city is really all it's cracked up to be. Now I would say no, it's not. I'd like to move but we'll see what happens. One never knows where life will lead...

On to less cryptic talk... There are a lot of new shows on the boob tube these days and while I don't have cable at the moment I will comment on what to watch. A top 5 I guess. First of all this is just for shows that I watch or deem worthy of being watched. This does not include shows that are currently not on such as Psych (my favorite show on tv), Monk, Entourage or Pistons basketball which as we all know is always the greatest thing to watch on tv or in person. First I'd like to talk about a couple of shows that didn't make the cut but are worth mentioning. I know there has been a lot of negative reviews about it but if you haven't seen "Cavemen" then you should check it out. I'm not a fan of sitcoms. There is an abundance of terrible shows without a comedian that just aren't funny. The fact that Two and a Half Men is still the top rated sitcom boggles my mind. It is the worst show ever. It has a laugh track for god's sake. Cavemen actually isn't half bad though. It spends a little too much time setting up jokes that don't always work, but usually the dialogue isn't half bad and actually pretty funny. Also Carpoolers isn't bad. ABC has both these shows on tuesday between 8 and 9. Carpoolers isn't as funny as Cavemen and will probably get cancelled but there are some great conversations that the 4 main characters have. It's more of a guy show than anything and worth a look if you're bored on tuesday at 8:30. Catch it before it's gone.

This is a pretty close contest actually. The top three shows are all really good and the last two are good but I don't hold my breath waiting for them. Funny that all of my top 5 are on two networks, 3 on NBC and 2 on ABC. It says something about the qaulity of shows people like (2 and a half men, other bad sitcoms and dramas) are on CBS which is the number 1 rated network. I don't understand people sometimes. This is why Bush is still in office.

At number 5 is Grey's Anatomy. How the mighty have fallen. It isn't exactly the show it used to be. It's starting to get what I call "ER Syndrome." What happens is that shows that have great chemistry with the characters make us care about what happens to them and as a result, writers make these crazy freak accidents like train wrecks or plane crashes or drownings to make a really dramatic "can't miss" episode. ER took this to the extreme and kept on having all these insane accidents which is why I stopped watching. Grey's is doing it not with accidents but with story lines for characters and it's getting old. Every week something insane happens that just doesn't work for the show and it is taking away all that I used to like about it.

At number 4 is Heroes. Still a really good show but needs to do a little more than last year to keep me waiting for the next episode like last year. It's hard to match because last year it was so original, but now that there are established characters it's slowing down a little bit. It is early still and is setting up the season so I am giving it a little slack and time. Still a really good show and definitely worth watching if you have the time Monday night.













At number 3 is Chuck. A new show on NBC that comes on right before Heroes. It's about a Geek Squad type guy who got zapped or something (I missed the Pilot) by some super computer and downloaded all this super computer info into his brain and now helps out a super hot chick spy and her partner. It is actually funny and well paced and the characters are enjoyable. I find myself growing attached to each of them and I like where it's going. Not saying it is some deep drama, but there is definitely more depth to it and the characters than the light fluffy show it would come off as. Check it out, it's worth it.













At number 2 is the not so surprise hit Pushing Daisies. It's on ABC on wed at 8 and it's fantastic. It's created by the same guy who brought you Heroes and Produced by the same imagination that brought us Men in Black and Lemony Snickets and a bunch of other fantastical stories based in reality. It's really well written and acted and fun to watch. It's pretty original and the characters are all fun to watch. If you haven't watched it do yourself a favor and check it out. You can watch all the eps online at abc.com and you won't regret it.
















At number 1 is NBC's Friday Night Lights. Picking up where it left off last season as number 1, it is definitely worth your time. It moved to friday night at 8 which will probably mean it's ratings will drop and it will be one of those amazing shows that gets cancelled for no reason other than people would rather watch Charlie Sheen and some pudgy kid make terrible jokes that a laugh track is even hesitant to laugh at. It's acting is still awesome and the story lines, except for one new ridiculous one (that is getting less ridiculous) are great. It may be spreaing itself too thin at the moment because all of the characters are going through their own drama, but it keeps me in on a Friday night which is pretty easy since I have no friends.

Anyways, that's all I feel like doing right now. I'd talk about some movies but to be honest I haven't been watching as many as I used to in NY. LA is a drag so far so if I talked you into moving out here, hang on to that thought because I might not be here for long. Headed down to surf again this weekend which should be awesome so I might not get to blog again til Sunday. If not, keep your ear to the grindstone and all that stuff. yadda yadda yadda.

-M, p,z & shredder

oh ps - lots of new albums out as well. I haven't been able to keep up but if you have heard anything good, let me know or burn me a copy.

pps - Forgot to mention but definitely my guilty pleasure this season: Gossip Girl. It's on the CW at 9 on wed. It's f-ing ridiculous. Most of it doesn't make sense and boggles my mind and of course all the highschool kids look to be around their early 20s but it seems the creators of the OC have done it again. Not as electric as the oc but def all the drama and then some.

Stair-Master...

First off I forgot to mention the new title for Harold and Kumar 2, "H&K Escape From Guantanamo Bay." It's going to be ridiculous. I can't wait til next year.


So I had my first job in the industry on Saturday and I must say it was awesome. I had so much fun. I was expecting to be bossed around to no end by people who had short tempers and loved to yell, but instead it was a very calm fun set to be on. It was for a show on cable (not mentioning the network name b/c I'm not sure if I'm allowed to) and it was pretty awesome. I signed a lot of papers, one of those may have been a non-disclosure agreement which would mean I can't say anything about the show specifically so I will refrain from talking about it extensively. But I will say that I am in it a couple times. It's a reality type show and I'm in it as myself for two quick scenes. So if you saw me on the Tyra show last week look for me on this show which I will name in the near future after I find out if I am allowed to or not. There was a 'challenge' on the show however, which I was a stand in for during run throughs and I must say it was pretty hard. We were on the 18th floor of a building and we had to run down the stairs to the 10th, then back up to the 18th, then carry 2 (heavy) dummies down the hallway to another flight of stairs where we had 5 minutes to get to the roof which was essentially the 31st floor. I made it in 4:50 and I was struggling. Anyways, all in all it was really really fun and I met a lot of nice people and one of those people I met got me a job intervie with her boss tomorrow. I'm sooo glad I quit that telemarketing job...


















Also I'm not sure how many have you heard but over the weekend (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071020/ap_en_ce/books_harry_potter) JK Rowling told the press that Prof. Dumbledore was gay. And that he was in fact in love with Gellert Grindelwald, whom we all know he successfully dueled later in life. It's pretty awesome if you ask me. Extreme Christians have had a long battle with Harry Potter and I remember when I first started reading the books back in highschool that they believed Rowling was just trying to recruit people into Wicca. Now they believe she is a rebel rouser and claiming that she is trying to make people be Anti-Christian. JK Rowling is awesome, and the fact that she makes these people so mad makes me lover her even more. Hopefully there will be an 8th book about Dumbledore's days with Grindelwald.

That's all for now. I actually started this blog out as a review of new tv shows but that'll have to wait for next time. I'm not one to call out other bloggers but hopefully someone, Brown Guy I'm looking at you, updates his blog soon because there's nothing worse than starting a blog, getting people into it and then quitting (yeah right Muki).

I'm out

-M, p,z & shredder

oh ps - I'm sad MSU lost saturday but glad I didn't watch, I had a much better time working. Good things came from that game though: we played the number 1 team in the country and only lost by one TD, they usually only allow less than 7pts and we scored 17 and it was at OSU. We have a big game this week and then next saturday when Mich comes to town hopefully we can handle our business. Go state.

Boiler Room...

So this was an interesting last few days I guess. I wasn't getting any jobs in production or even in a production office for the last couple weeks so I decided it was time to get a job and make some money. I took a job as a telemarketer (one that only calls businesses and not people's homes so it was only slightly excuciating). That lasted all of one day. I went in on Tuesday and met with the site manager and he told me to come back for training the next day. The pay was $10 and hour plus commisions and he said most people averaged about $600 a week which isn't too bad seeing how I was making $0. So I went in on Wed and somewhere around noon I realized that I was taking a step back in life. This lady who was training us kept talking about making our dreams come true and doing all you can to realize those dreams, and I realized that my dream wasn't to call businesses 8 hours a day. No, I moved to Hollywood with no money, no friends and no job for a dream. A dream to be a Director. I could care less if I'm famous or not or if I make a lot of money, but I do want to be happy with what I'm doing in life.

During our lunch break I made the decision that not only was I not coming back to work the next day but also that my stomach was really going to hate me for filling it with a Grilled Stuft Chicken Burrito (Taco Bell was the only place around and only the second time I have been there all year). So I finished out the day content in the fact that I would not return but not content in the fact that I had to make calls for a couple hours. I felt really bad quitting so I didn't tell anyone until the next morning when I called and explained myself to one of the nicest bosses in the world who told me to "not foget my days in the boiler room and to remember him when I get famous." It actually was a boiler room. It was a brand new location for this company and the tile floors were cracked and coming apart and the office is shared with two other companies on the floor.

The point of this story is that in my previous 25 years of life I have always just gone with the flow. Taken what's been given. Sure I had to work for things and apply for things and be proactive in my life, but now it seems that isn't enough. But never has it been the case when me just wanting something doesn't make it happen. I don't like asking for help, and have really never been one to make my problems others, but I have realized over the last couple of days that I will go nowehre unless I get help. A girl I went to highschool with lives out here so I reached out to her despite the fact that we were'nt really friends before (and by that I mean pretty much mortal enemies) and fortunately for me she is now the nicest girl in the entire world and has gone out of her way to help me. Anyways, I have my first job tomorrow, it's only one day but it's a start and hopefully I meet some people who can help me out some more and give me a shot at doing something I love. I had to give up an awesome day of surfing in San Diego and watching my Spartans kick some Buckeye ass, but it's a small price to see my name on a call sheet for a real production. The best part is that I get paid. I would do this for free. It's kind of cool getting paid for something you love to do. "Your heart is free, have the courage to follow it."

Anyways, more after my day of work. Blah blah blah...

-M, p,z & shredder

oh ps - lots of movies and shows to review. to come very soon. sunday maybe. GO STATE!!

Macbook 1.5 - aka The Shredder...

Same computer, new engine...

My computer died over the weekend. Without any indication whatsoever, it just died. I was listening to that Fergie song, "Big girls don't cry," and apparently my computer knew better and punished me for it. For real. It just froze and then I turned it off and it never turned back on. The 'Genius' at the Apple store told me that sometimes hard-drives just die. Then he chastized me for not backing up my hard drive which I should have done, but since I did not, I lost about 2600 pictures that I never moved to my external drive. Booo-urns to that. I do have my old hard drive still and can probably recover the data, but it will cost at least $300 which means that it is going to sit in a ziplock bag until I win the lottery.

They say you don't know what you've got til it's gone, but this really sucked. It is one thing if my phone breaks or my ipod or whatever, but my computer is like my best friend, at least in LA it is so far. I use my computer more than most people, I'm on it for regular use: email, blogs, pistons news etc, but I also use it a ton for film editing and photo stuff. I generally use my computer as much as most people watch tv, and then I still use it while I watch tv so total, at least 6 hours a day. Anyways, when it died I realized how important to my life it is right now. I have no job, no apartment and no friends and this was my tool to finding all three of those. Not only that it was my tool for keeping in touch with the friends I do have that are 2500 miles away. There are only a few people I can talk to on the phone for extended periods of time so email and little messages here and there along with blogs is my preferred method of staying in touch. My point is, I had taken it for granted before but now I am going to give my computer all the adulation it deserves, starting with a name. I decided that all my pet's names will be video game characters (peach, zelda) so since I already named my car Leonardo, I am going to have a vehicle/technologies TMNT theme going. So my new improved Macbook with almost twice the hard-drive space is, "The Shredder" or just "Shredder." It's looks too bad ass to be nice, hence the evil side.













Now that I have completely soldified myself as an idiot, on to other things... I went to see this apartment last week and this guy gets out of his car and after I say, 'Hello,' the first thing he says to me is, "Are you a curry cooker?" After a brief thought that it was the most roundabout way of being racist that I've ever heard, I thought I would take his words literally. So I tell him that, "yes, in fact I do cook curry." He then shakes his head and replies, "we had an Indian couple live here before and she cooked curry all day and the hallways smelled [probably delicious I thought] and that when they moved out we had to change the carpet twice to get rid of the smell." I proceeded to tell him that I am not an Indian wife and I do not have time (even though I do right now) to cook curry all day. He didn't believe me and pretty much told me that aside from that it would be too much of a pain in the ass for him to have my parents co-sign a lease with them being in Michigan, and that in the week it took to get all the paperwork together the apartment would probably be gone. It is still available.

So I have unsuccessfully applied for a few jobs that I really want and also for a few jobs that I don't really want. Hopefully I hear back from somebody soon because I need to start having interactions with real people, as you probably guessed from my torrid love affair with Shredder. In most places they would call me a loser but since I am in cali and now a surfer you can refer to me as a surf-bum.

As always, get your feet off the ground and reach for the stars. Go big or go home. Pain heals, chicks dig scars and glory lasts forever. Carpe diem. Your heart is free, have the courage to follow it. Life's short, live large.

-M, p,z & shredder

oh ps - I have refrained from talking about the Darjeeling Limited for about a week now because I am trying to figure out my feelings. Worst Wes Anderson movie ever? Yes. Bad movie? I'm thinking. My standards might be too high for him. I know what you're thinking, "his standards are high? He saw dragon wars! He has no standards!" Well indeed I have no standards for most movies but for my film sensei, I expect nothing but perfection.

Episode III...

So here is the final installment of my road trip. I got kind of lazy and didn't put any music to it and also I realized in the last part that my music in the car was too loud to hear much of anything else anyways. I got my first haircut in years today. I usually just buzz it but I'm starting to grow it out so I thought I could use a trim on the sides and what not. Anyways I walked into this place called, "In the Cut," and I should have realized after I saw the sign written in old school bboy font that it was a black barber shop. I wasn't sure what kind of a job they would do seeing as I'm not black but it turned out to be pretty sweet. My boy Deon gave me a low fade and it looks pretty stellar. Thats all for now, I'll blog for real soon.



-M, p &z

oh ps - it really is kind of like Barber Shop the movie, people are just hangin out watching football and talking. I'm definitely going back next time I need to look right.

Episode II...

Here is most of episode II, the day was very very long and thus, so was the video. Episode II finale and III to come tomorrow.



-M. p & z

oh ps - thanks nate, though it was fun guessing what the japanese characters mean i'm back to english...

Quick note...

watch the tyra banks show tomorrow (thursday) as i was there for the taping back in august and should be in most of the audience shots since the camera was in my grill the whole time.

also, my blogger page is now in japanese tex for some reason, anyone know why or how to fix it?

-M

Road Trippin'...

So I completed the road trip with both me and my car in one piece. Good times (kind of). I made a video diary, though I'm not sure how compelling it is, it's funny at times. Here is the first installment (day 1) of the trip.



enjoy.
-M, p & z

oh ps - once again I have moved to a state that does not allow ferrets. What the hell, why can't I just have my pets. Leave me alone silly arbitrary rules that are asinine and archaic ( i just wanted to see how many different a words I could use right there)

100...

So this is my 100th blog (at least since I switched to blogger) and I must say it feels like I have blogged a lot more than that over the past 21 months... Just a few things on my mind lately, hence no blog for the last couple weeks. First of all it's finally October which means the Pistons have media day today and then start training camp tomorrow. I am ridiculously pumped for this season and looking forward to seeing what the new kids can do.

Also, yesterday Nickelodeon had a 3 hour period where it was dark and over it was an announcement telling kids to go outside and play. Then they had a show afterwards about being healthy and getting excercise. Kudos to Nick for getting those fat lazy kids (like me) off their ass and outside.

Then there's this...










New Wes Anderson movie Darjeeling Limited debuted at the NY Film Festival on friday. Released in a few theatres. Pretty pumped for this movie. Too bad it won't be realeased in many theatres so most of you either own't be able to see it or will have to wait until it gets a wide release. You can go onto I-tunes and download a short called Hotel Chevalier (thanks bill) which is supposed to be a little prequel to the character of Jason Shwartzman though if you ask me it is easily Anderson's worst short that I've seen. Natalie Portman does get naked though but it's done in a way that makes me uncomfortable. It's not very funny but other than that, it's free so download it and check it out. It has some redeeming qualities but mostly it was lame and kind of broke my heart.


Also there's this...











Pretty much the opposite of lame, this game kicks ass. It's been a while since I played a game that was actually challenging enough to a point where I would yell when I died. I have yet to play it on super hard but playing it on hard was really fun, kind of like the Castelvania that came out for PS2 4 years ago, I forgot the name though, or Devil May Cry 3 which was practically impossible. Halo ended up having a pretty solid story and I was pleasantly surprised at the ending. Online play is same as usual, it is f-ing awesome.


I'll be road trippin it soon and instead of lame blogs where I write things, I decided I would do little videos of my road trip. In case you didn't know, i'll be driving to California this week. I leave thursday morning. I'll try and update before I go with my intended route but if it goes as planned I should be there saturday afternoonish.

Anyways, yadda yadda go big.

-M, p & z

oh ps - don't go see Dragon Wars. Quite possibly the worst movie ever. I was hoping for another dragon epic like Reign of Fire, something that really sucks but is fun to watch but this movie just sucked all around. How cool is the title? Much cooler than the movie apparently. It was even't dragons, it was about one ginormus snake that in the end fought the good snake after it turned into a dragon. They should have called the movie, "Wait til the last 10 minutes when the Dragon fights the Snake"

also, just for Brown Guy and just in case anyone thought she wasn't slammin'...