Wednesday, November 07, 2012

A snapshot from Silverlake

When Obama won 4 years ago, we started a spontaneous victory party on the corner of Sunset & Hyperion (relive the beautiful madness HERE and HERE).

Last night, we were all a little more subdued -- we'd been so anxious all day that we were just so RELIEVED that we could finally breathe again. We started saying our goodnights. But then I was like: wait, hold on. We can't just GO HOME. We have four more years of Obama, the first president to ever acknowledge gay people! Four states made huge progress in the marriage equality fight! An out lesbian won a seat in the Senate! These things are huge and we should REALLY CELEBRATE, like we did four years ago.
 
So we headed out to the corner of Sunset & Hyperion again. We shouted at cars with joy and the cars honked back. Neighbors came out to join us, some of the same people we celebrated with four years ago. We danced and laughed and screamed until our throats were sore. We made jokes about how screaming and dancing on street corners is really good cardio. (IT'S TRUE, TRY IT.) And then suddenly, somewhere in the distance a man started playing the Star Spangled Banner on his trumpet. It felt unreal, like a mass hallucination, we couldn't even figure out where the music was coming from. Finally we found the trumpeter standing in a second story window down the block. We sang along to our national anthem and we soaked in some victory.
 

Thursday, April 14, 2011

new blog post coming soon

Is this thing still on? Anyone still out there?

For those who were following updates on my friend Uma back when I used to post on this blog --(links in the sidebar) -- I'm going to be posting a new update either today or tomorrow. She has been going through some more health issues and we're trying to raise some more money to help her. But I'm not even sure if anyone will see anything here anymore....leave a comment if you're out there, my lovely former blog readers.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Raising money for Uma...

It's been awhile since I've sent out an Uma update. She's doing well, but she's had a rough few weeks, and I thought it would be nice to counteract that roughness with some love and help flowing her way, so I'm raising money to cover some therapy bills. For those of you who don’t know Uma & John’s story, here’s a brief timeline to fill you in on some significant moments:

January 31st, 2007: while she was in New York visiting her fiancĂ© John, a musician who was in NYC on tour, Uma suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm. She was only 27-years-old. Uma was in a coma for several weeks, during which time she had a stroke. Her doctors told us she would probably die (they gave her a “20 percent chance of living” on two separate occasions). But Uma’s a fighter. She woke up from the coma with aphasia (she was unable to speak, read, or write) and with restricted movement on the right side of her body.

March 12, 2007: Thanks to the incredible generosity of friends and family and strangers, we were able to rent an air ambulance to fly Uma out to an in-patient therapy center in California, where she started learning how to walk and talk again, with the help of John, who’s always been by her side.

July 14, 2008: Uma and John got married! It was a beautiful ceremony. A day we’d all been looking forward to with so much hope.

2009: Uma continues to fight to regain her speech and movement on the right side of her body. She does several hours of speech and physical therapy every day. It’s basically her full-time job. She recently applied to be a volunteer at Cedars Sinai, where she will work with other aphasia patients to help them in their recovery.

October 16, 2009: Uma was taken to the emergency room with an incredibly painful headache. There was a lot of fear that she might have been suffering from a re-bleed of her aneurysm, but after undergoing dozens of tests (MRI, catscans, angiogram, spinal tap, etc), her doctors have ruled out all of the scary stuff and it looks like it’s “just” a migraine. As great a relief as that is, she’s still been in the hospital for two weeks now, in a state of constant pain. John has been at her side the whole time. After almost three years of speech therapy, Uma continues to improve. Studies have shown that aphasia patients plateau when they run out of motivation and/or money for therapy. The motivation thing isn’t a problem for Uma. Like I said before, she’s a fighter. But they could always use more money for therapy, and after these last two stressful weeks in the hospital, it would be so nice to ease some of their financial stress. John and Uma aren’t the type of people to ask for help, but when Silvie suggested setting up a website to collect donations for them, I thought it would be nice to ask for them. All of their friends and family have already been so generous in the past, and everyone’s struggling financially right now, so please don’t feel any obligation if it’s not a good time. But even the smallest donations add up quickly, and you would be providing them with such great relief. Thank you!

To make a donation, go here: http://tiny.cc/kaQfG

(TO READ PREVIOUS UMA UPDATES, CLICK ON THE "UMA" BUTTON SOMEWHERE ON RIGHT SIDE OF THIS PAGE.)

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

last blog post

I realize I haven't blogged in seven thousand years and I don't even check my statcounter anymore (because I haven't been blogging, so why bother) so I have no idea if anyone ever still comes by these here parts, but I figured I should officially announce that the My Year of New Things blog is dead. I'm not going to post anything new here. It was a fun ride, and it's way over. At least in this incarnation. I might start up a new blog, but if I do, I need to find a new hook. My literal "year" of new things ended nine months ago. This is a dead horse. I'm gonna stop kicking it.

In other news, do what you can to support the WGA. If you're not in the WGA but still sympathetic to our cause (especially if you're in SAG, because we're fighting for you too), come on out to the picket line and march with us! It's kind of exhausting, really, but it can be invigorating too--to feel like you're a part of something bigger than yourself--and the more people who are there, the more it feels like we're making an impact. (And no one wants this strike to last long, so the more impact we make up front, the better the chances of this thing ending sooner.) I'll be posting photos from the line on my flickr account, here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/theumafund/

Also, I'm posting an email below from my friend Sian Heder. You should seriously check out her film. It's a wonderful piece of work and I'm proud to be good friends with someone so talented. Support short films on itunes! Okay, I'll let Sian speak for herself:

"Hello all,

"Just a note to let you know that my short film, MOTHER, is now available for download on iTunes! It's only two bucks...actually $1.99...which is a pretty damn good deal. What else can you buy for 2 bucks? A sponge. Some paper towels. Two packs of gum. Maybe an 8 oz Tecate in a dive bar? (Not including tip.)

"If you haven't seen it, now is your chance! If you have, watch it again! Short films are fairly new to iTunes, so the more support we have, the greater the likelihood of iTunes supporting filmmakers in the future. Dooo it...dooo it...Here is the link:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewMovie?id=267267840&s=143441

"Enjoy! And please pass this along to anyone else you think might enjoy the film! Our festival run is coming to a close and it would be great if this little movie could continue to have a life online...

"Thanks and my love to you all,
Sian"

Sian Heder
Writer/Director – MOTHER
www.motherthemovie.com

*

That's all.
Over and out.
It's been real.
And in the immortal words of Angela Chase:
We had a time.

Rock on,
Erik

Friday, September 28, 2007

Blessing Andrea Stern

Obviously I haven't posted in, like, 500 years. I've been thinking lately that the blog break might be for good. Or sometimes I think that I need to dump "my year of new things" and start fresh with a new blog. I dunno. I've been super busy, which is great, but the blog suffers. Anyway. That's not why I'm posting. I'm posting to send you AWAY from my blog, to my friend Andrea Stern's blog. Andrea was recently diagonosed with AVM (it's the brain thing that Nate had on Six Feet Under) (what the fuck is up with brains lately?) and if you're reading this, please take a moment to send her some good thoughts, good vibes, love, all of that jazz. If I've learned anything from the last year, it's that positivity and prayers fucking work like a mofo. Andrea's doing really well, and she's scheduled for surgery soon, which is obviously scary, but it needs to be done. So if you've come here to read my blog again and you're like, dammit, Erik hasn't posted anything new, then go over to Andrea's blog instead, because I'm sure Andrea (and her close friends who are helping with the blog) will be updating regularly, and you'll find stuff to read there.

Much love to you, Andrea!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Catherine the Cat

So I got a cat yesterday and I named her Catherine. I didn't even realize that the word "cat" was in her name until after I named her--she got her name because when I first saw her at the rescue shelter, she was sitting on a newspaper advertisement for the movie "No Reservations" starring Catherine Zeta-Jones. I realize it's phenomenally gay to name your cat after Catherine Zeta-Jones, which is another reason why I enjoy the name. Also, I'm not particularly a fan of Catherine Zeta-Jones (I'm not NOT a fan, I'm more indifferent), and I think it's kind of funny to name a cat after an actress that I have absolutely no attachment to whatsoever. I assumed that I'd be calling Catherine "Cat" for short, but then yesterday I discovered myself calling her "Cathy," which I enjoy as a cat name more than all of the other above-mentioned names combined. So I'd like to introduce you to Cathy.

This is her, y'all:

In non-cat news, Eleanor got me hooked on the amazing dating reality program Rock With Love. If you’re watching (and if you aren’t, what’s wrong with you?), I’m rooting for Heather to win Bret’s heart. (Though it would be pretty fantastic reality television to watch her go home after having tattoo’d Bret’s name to her neck.) Jess is actually my favorite girl, but I think she’s too good for Bret and so I want her to get second place and then go on to bigger and better things.

In other non-cat news, my friend Andrea hosts an essay-reading night in Miami, and she just posted a video of her latest essay on youtube, and it’s pretty brilliant. I love Andrea, you should too. Check her out:

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Matt & His Feats of Strength

My brother Matt is totally going to be the next YouTube sensation with his series of videos in which he performs moderately difficult feats of strength. I once sat next to LonelyGirl15 at a thai restaurant, so I have my finger on the pulse of these kinds of things.





Wednesday, September 05, 2007

All of my poop lately...

...is totally soft serve. What's up with that?

Monday, September 03, 2007

3 of 30

i don't know why i let jesse sucker me into blogging again. it's too hot to blog. i spent the morning in my underwear sitting in front of a fan, and then uma and i went to see The Nanny Diaries (which was pretty terrible, but thank god for the air conditioning), then we went over to my brothers' house to welcome my oldest-younger brother Josh back from Burning Man and look at his photos (he had an amazing time, but I don't think I could handle Burning Man for a week--maybe a weekend, but not a whole week) (i need a real bed), and now I'm back at my apartment sitting in my underwear in front of the fan again.

2nd post of september

Jesse, I know you're thinking that I've already failed the whole "one-post-a-day-for-every-day-in-September" thing, but I haven't gone to bed yet so it's technically still Sunday in my head and this counts as my September 2nd post. The story of why I'm just getting home at 4:44 a.m. is so completely not debaucherous, but omitting all details at least gives it the air of debauchery, so I'm gonna leave this post at that and go to sleep already.

Saturday, September 01, 2007

A whole bunch of random quotidian facts

1. Oh, dear dear abused and ignored blog.

2. I’m sorry you haven’t been getting any love from me.

3. Seriously.

4. I’m all jacked up on Starbucks hot chocolate right now, so I thought I’d check in.

5. Even though I’ve been thinking maybe you were dead, dear blog.

6. But then I was talking to Jesse and he was like “let’s vow to write one blog entry every day for the entire month of September.

7. And I was like “no fucking way, the blog is dead.”

8. But then I started drinking all of this fucking aforementioned Starbucks hot chocolate and now it sounds like a good idea.

9. So, like, here I am.

10. I made these two new friends, Corey and Trixze, and I totally have a crush on them.

11. Not an inappropriate crush.

12. A friend crush.

13. It’s just, when you meet someone at a party and you’re like “oh my god we have to hang out” and then you actually do it—it’s a nice thing, when that happens.

14. So my two new friends Corey and Trixze invited me over to their home last Sunday to watch all 22 chapters of the “Trapped in the Closet” saga…

15. …which was amazing.

16. I don’t want to ruin any of Trapped’s myriad surprises if you haven’t seen it yet, so I don’t think I’ll say anything else about it.

17. Which is difficult because I haven’t blogged in so long and all I want to write about is how fucking surreal and weird and wonderful the new chapters are.

18. If you’ve already seen the new chapters, we need to talk about Pimp Lucius and “the package.”

19. I mean, seriously.

20. R. Kelly is stirring shit up.

21. SPOILER ALERT: I think everyone might die in Chapter 23 and then maybe R will continue his saga with an entire new set of characters. How radical would that be? Not that I don’t love all of the current characters, I’m just saying that I hope Kelly continues to shake shit up. Because just when you think he’s only knows one melody (after you’ve heard it five hundred times), he throws in a gospel choir; and just when you think he only knows one way to twist a plot (they’re sleeping together!), he throws in a completely random dream sequence; and just when you think no one else could possibly get trapped in a closet, someone else gets trapped in a closet—and it’s a flashback to boot! Genius.

22. My mustache TOTALLY smells like hot chocolate right now.

23. True story.

24. That’s the thing—and if you don’t have a mustache, maybe you’ve never even thought about this occupational hazard of being a Person With A Mustache—but the thing is, if you don’t wash your ‘stache frequently, stuff gets in there.

25. My friend Fefe was telling me about this massage place she went to where they throw buckets of water on your back in the middle of the massage. At least, I think she told me about a massage place she went to where they throw buckets of water on your back in the middle of the massage, but everyone I’ve mentioned this to has told me it sounds insane and unlike any massage place they’ve ever heard of. And so then I started to wonder if I made it up in my head. And so now I’ve convinced myself that maybe it isn’t true. But the problem is that I had started to think that it sounded like it might be, as Angela Chase would say, “a time.” And I was gonna call Fefe and ask her where to go to get this so-called bucket-drenching massage. But now I guess I should just call her and ask her if I’m insane and I made it all up.

26. Stay tuned.

27. Angela Kang (who just finished her first week of grad school!) (raise the roof for Angela) recently introduced me to Guitar Hero, and if I didn’t have so many other things to keep me busy I think I might move into Angela’s living room and just play Guitar Hero 24/7.

28. I rock, but only on the “easy” level.

29. My brothers have Guitar Hero too and I went over to their house to get in a few more guitar licks and I tried the “medium” level and I sucked ass at it.

30. Total ass suckage.

31. Seriously.

32. So for now I’m sticking with “easy.”

33. It only requires three fingers.

34. Do phone numbers have an expiration date? Like, when you meet someone at a bar and you get their phone number, how long is too long to wait to call said person who’s phone number you got? I ask because I got this guy’s phone number at Akbar about a month ago and I haven’t called him yet. Is it too late?

35. Sure, I realize it’s never too late, unless he’s gotten married or died in the last month.

36. That’s a terrible thought, the “died in the last month” one.

37. Maybe he won’t remember who I am, and then we’ll be able to tell people “I waited a month to call him and he didn’t remember who I was and now look at us.”

38. But is it intrinsically weird to wait a month?

39. Not that I really care if it’s weird.

40. I’m just asking.

41. Speaking of waiting too long, I wonder if anyone will ever even read this blog post, or if it’s been so long since I last posted that no one reads anymore because you all got so tired of checking the blog and reading the same damned post about how I was “Too. Busy. To. Blog.”

42. And every time you read that, you were like, “whatever asshole.”

43. Sorry about that.

44. And that last “The Walker Identity” post was a sorry excuse for a post, i.e. not really a post at all.

45. And I’m sorry about that too.

46. Oh my god I’m listening to Ani Difranco on my ipod right now and she’s totally my new music crush. I’ve always loved people who love Ani Difranco, but I’ve never really listened to Ani myself, so I never knew what all the fuss was about, and now I can’t get enough about her and I’m all, holy crap THIS is what all the fuss was about.

47. Current favorite Ani song: “Imperfectly”

48. My current second favorite Ani song: “Untouchable Face”

49. I wasn’t intending to be transitional and all segue-ish here, but speaking of “face,” I got dragged onto Facebook this week and I hate it, but I’m already obsessed with it.

50. I need more hot chocolate.

51. BRB.

52. Okay, back.

53. Theatre of NOTE is producing my play “He Asked For It” in April, so mark yer calendars.

54. I’m excited.

55. It’s been way too freaking long since I’ve had a play in production.

56. I miss being in a rehearsal room, figuring it all out.

57. Okay, stop reading right now if you’ve ever walked barefoot in my kitchen because I have to tell you the most disgusting story.

58. It’s so completely gross and it makes me want to throw up, so I figure it’s perfect fodder for the blog. I’m getting all situated in my new apartment, right? Moving in, spreading out, making the place my own. Loving my space. Even though it’s really hot. Like, abnormally hot, unless you have the fans running in every room at all times. That kinda hot. I mention the heat because it’s important and I totally BLAME the heat for what happened next. I don’t eat at home very much because I don’t really cook. And I had thrown away some meat in the kitchen trash can, but it was at the bottom of the trash, and then it took a week for the trash can to fill up, and I forgot about the meat at the bottom of the trash can, and I forgot about the heat, and these are all things that I should have been really aware of. Because, like, you shouldn’t let trash stay in your trash can that long, especially if that trash includes meat and you’re dealing with sweltering August heat. You just shouldn’t let the trash sit that long. I KNOW THAT NOW. So, like, the trash was finally full and I pulled the bag out of the can and then I felt these little things falling onto my bare feet. Little wet squishy things. And then I looked down at my feet, at the ground, and I saw, with horror, that fucking maggots were freaking raining down from the bottom of my trash bag. And that’s when I started screaming. I’m not embarrassed to admit that I started screaming. It was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life, give or take the time I threw up bad milk and the throw up somehow managed to hit the kitchen ceiling. So at this point I’m still freaking out about the maggots on my kitchen floor and ON TOP OF MY BARE FEET and then I looked inside the trash can and my horror multiplied. The bottom of my trash bin was, like, straight out of Suspiria—that’s how many maggots there were. Like, YOU COULD NOT SEE THE BOTTOM OF THE BIN because there were so many maggots swimming all over each other. And those buggers are fucking fast movers, slithering all over the kitchen floor. So I dumped the maggot-leaking trash bag back into the bin and then I grabbed the only artillery I had in my kitchen—a can of Pledge—and I fucking Pledged those maggots to fucking death. And I was still screaming, but I started channeling my inner Linda-Hamilton-in-Terminator-2, so instead of screaming in disgust, now I was screaming AT the little assholes: “Die you little fuckers, die!” It was intense. And then there were all of these dead maggots everywhere, covered in Pledge. (So, like, shiny as all get out.) All of these dead little white things all over my beautiful wood floor. It was a total massacre of the maggot kind. So then I wiped up all of the dead little maggot bodies and I threw them into the trash can with all of the still living maggots that I’m trying not to think about, and then I lifted the entire trash bin into a huge, hefty Glad trash bag and tied up the bag and then I brought the entire thing down to the dumpster around the corner and threw them away, trash can and all.

59. It was so gross.

60. Like, the story above only scratches the surface of how gross I felt.

61. Maggots are the enemy.

62. And I throw my trash out EVERY SINGLE DAY now.

Monday, August 27, 2007

The Walker Identity

Okay, I'm still too busy to blog, but I just had to say one thing:

There's an episode of "Walker, Texas Ranger" on USA right now and Walker has amnesia and I swear the plot is eerily similar to that of The Bourne Identity. And despite the fact that I have time to watch "Walker, Texas Ranger," I'm technically taking a lunch break and Chuck Norris is part of that.

That's all.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Too. Busy. To. Blog.

Sorry!

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

The Sum of All Years: 30

Bonnie posts yearly life updates called The Sum of All Years on her blog on her birthday every year, and ever since I first read through all of the sums of all of her years I've wanted to do my own. I figure 30's a good year to start. (It is a pretty cool fucking birthday, after all.)

What is The Sum Of All Years? I'll let Bonnie explain: "The Sum Of All Years is an autobiography where the word count for each post is limited to the corresponding age for that entry." Pretty simple, pretty cool.

So here's my first entry...

*

The Sum of All Years: 30

Family craziness. I feel like a “man.”
Uma’s brain explodes, but we make miracles happen: healing, speech, love.
Professional screenwriter, breakdown goes out on my birthday.
New home, new hope(s).

*

One of these days I'll get around to writing entries for the 29 years that are currently sumless, but for now I'm just gonna say a toast to the end of my twenties and say hello to a decade I'm really looking forward to. Salut!

Monday, August 06, 2007

Heinz Ketchup

A few weeks ago, I posted a high school diary entry where I talked about seeing my eight-year-old brother Josh performing a scene and a song for some class and I pontificated on Josh's future as an actor. (If you don't recall my particularly mortifying pontifications--and I use the word "pontificate" twice because there really ain't no other word for the kind of diary writing I was doing--I pondered: "Is this a beginning? As much as I hope it is, pity he who goes into acting for a living, for I know there isn’t much out there to make a living off of in ratio to the number of actors out there.")

Well, fourteen years down the pike, my brother Josh is now twenty-two and he's not an actor--no, he's pursuing a career that's probably even more difficult to break in to: he's currently going to film school to become a director. And I don't think I'm being biased when I say he's pretty damned good at it. I just think he's just pretty damned good at it.

He has a short little film on youtube right now, a commercial for Heinz Ketchup--Heinz is holding a contest for the best 30-second commercial, and they're giving the winner 57 thou. They have a committee of judges who are narrowing the videos down to 15, then a popular vote chooses the winner. I imagine that the number of times a commercial has been viewed on youtube might affect the judges selections--you never know--so I want to spread the word and get my brother's commercial gets more "views." So if you have 30 seconds (I mean, hello: it's only 30 seconds), please check out my bro's video. It's below. Just click on the "play" triangle.

Today is...

...the second to last day of my twenties!

Friday, August 03, 2007

Check out my brilliant friends!

I'll be at both of these shows/parties, and you should be at both of them too:

(1) Friday night, August 3rd, (that's TONIGHT!):

Christy and the Nonos
will be bringing a whole lotta music-love to the people live on stage
at the Bootleg Theater
(the space formerly known as the Evidence Room)
for one night only
The band will be performing all of the songs from their new album, The Runner.
Chris Wells, Fred Cassidy, Laural Meade, John Ballinger,
Patrice Quinn, Polly Segal, and Darrin Embry
will be making all the love happen for you. TONIGHT, Aug 3rd!

Doors open at 8:30, show at 9:00pm
The Bootleg Theater
2220 Beverly Blvd., LA, 90057
$15 at the door
213-389-3856
reservations are recommended but not required

and

(2) Saturday afternoon/evening, TOMORROW, Aug 4th!:

at 6011 Fair Ave, North Hollywood 91606

RACHEL KANN'S BOOK RELEASE PARTY FOR "10 FOR EVERYTHING"!!!
4PM Cookout - Bring Something to Eat
5PM Open Jam - Bring Something to Play
6PM Plugged in Music Starts Outside... - Bring Something to Something- and blankets, chairs, whatever makes you comfortable on the grass.
Rob Thain
co-lab-oTASTIC Ben Thomas
BOLT www.breathoflifetribe.com
Rock Yoga with Jen Swain!!!

9PM Rachel Kann and friends
Special Guests:
AIMEE BENDER!! The Girl in the Flammable Skirt (NY Times Notable Book)

Guy Hoffman of the violent femmes!!!

Gayle Brandeis, winner of the Belleweather Prize for Social Change for The Book of Dead Birds

Tod Goldberg, winner of the OV Short Story Collection Prize for Simplify

11:30PM Unplugged Music Starts Inside...
Mike Weiss
Eric Bloom

*

p.s. LET ME KNOW IF YOU'RE COMING TO EITHER EVENT SO I CAN LOOK OUT FOR YOU!

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Michael Cera won’t leave me alone, and (spoiler) Superbad is Fuckinggood

Okay, this blog post was supposed to be about how so fucking good Superbad is. When Eleanor and I walked out of the sneak preview screening we saw tonight, that was the first thing I said to her: “I can’t wait to blog about how amazingly funny that fucking movie was.” I think that’s an exact quote. We weren’t planning on seeing Superbad. It just kinda happened. I was stranded in Burbank earlier this afternoon (that’s a long story and it’s totally boring so I’m not even going to go into it) and so I called Eleanor and begged her to pick me up and drive me home, but of course I wanted to give Eleanor a carrot so I told her I’d take her to see The Simpsons. So we went to the Burbank AMC 16 for a 5:45 showing and as we were running up to the theater (at 5:52), we noticed people lined up for the aforementioned screening of Superbad. We didn’t give it much thought because we were late for the Simpsons movie and I can’t stand to miss the beginning of a movie. (Eleanor was like, “it’s okay if we’re late,” and I told her I was okay with it too, but I was lying, and I think she knew I was lying, but she didn’t say anything about it.)

Um, I’m sitting at the Bourgeois Pig coffee shop right now and I totally have to poop so bad that it’s hard for me to concentrate on writing this blog post, but the barista is really cute and I was flirting with him and when I tried to go poop a few minutes ago, the poop wasn’t coming out as easily as I would have liked, and I didn’t want to be in the bathroom long enough for the barista to know I was pooping because that’s not exactly the first image I want him to have of me in his head, so I gave up on the poop and came back out here to write this, and I’m kinda pissed at my bowels.

Anyway. So we got into the Simpsons movie just as it was beginning, we weren’t late at all, and everyone keeps telling me that it’s like a really long, good episode of the TV show, but I have to admit that I only agree with the “really long” part and not the “good” part. I would say it was about fifty percent good. Which isn’t enough. Sure, the fifty percent that was good was hella good and all, but I need some more bang for my fucking buck. Especially where the Simpsons are concerned. I would say every fifth or sixth joke landed, and I wanted more.

So then we walked out of the theater and the line for the preview screening of Superbad was just being let in and the first person I saw was my cousin Matt. Who I didn’t recognize. Not because he looked any different than he ever looks—but don’t you ever get that thing where you’ll see someone who you know really incredibly well but you’re seeing them out of context and unexpectedly and your brain won’t compute? That’s what happened. Like, the first thought I had when I saw Matt was: “why is that guy waving at me?” And then, oh, say six-and-a-half seconds later, my brain was like: “um, because he’s your favorite cousin, asshole.” (Apologies to all of my other cousins.) Yeah, okay, so we talk to Matt and we’re all jealous that he’s about to see the preview screening of Superbad, but he’s nervous because the movie’s rated “R” and he’s not seventeen yet, so he’s not sure if he’s going to be able to get in. He tells us that he’ll give us his tickets if they turn him away at the door. So we’re like: “awesome, okay.” And I’m sorry Matt, but for a second I was hoping that they were going to check your I.D. because I knew that Superbad was going to be better than The Simpsons and we really wanted to see a good movie after being so disappointed in the Simpsons. And then I felt guilty for hoping my cousin wouldn’t get in to the screening, and now I’m glad that he DID get in to the screening because it was SO superbad of him to get in and be underage and all.

Oh my god, I’m going on and on about so many things that aren’t even important and I haven’t even gotten to the part where we met Michael Cera. Okay, so: flash forward. We got into the movie and the movie fucking rocks and we were laughing so hard we almost broke our faces. Seriously. So hard that sound stopped coming out of our mouths. I don’t even want to say anything else about the movie because it’s too good to spoil even the tiniest jokes. I have a feeling that Superbad’s gonna become my new Wet Hot American Summer, (which is to say I’m going to see it a dozen times this summer). Go see this movie. (Grandma, you might want to skip it.) (Or go see it, just be prepared for a lot of penis jokes.) (Which I’m sure you’ll enjoy.) (Because who doesn’t enjoy penis jokes.) (I can’t believe I’m talking to my grandmother about penis jokes on my blog right now.) (Because the thing is, my grandmother actually DOES read my blog.) (Hi grandma.)

So after the movie, Eleanor and I were famished because we had been planning on getting dinner after The Simpons, but then we were hijacked by the whole Superbad screening, and we weren’t even able to get popcorn because they ushered us into the theater too fast, and so then we headed over to Birds for some eats. And of course we’re going on and on about how much we loved the movie, and we’re walking down the street towards the restaurant, and I see a few people standing in a group up ahead and immediately notice that one of them is Michael Cera. And I whisper to Eleanor, “stop talking about the movie, it’s Michael Cera.” And then she sees him too and we walk by him and we’re totally freaking out. Not because he’s a celebrity or anything—I see “famous” people in Los Angeles all the time and it doesn’t faze me anymore—no, we started freaking out specifically because here’s Michael Cera who we’ve just been watching for the last two hours in Superbad and whose brilliance we’ve just been going on and on about. Like, it felt like we manifested him or something. It was just too weird. Oh, and I should say that I was holding my shoes and walking down the sidewalk in black dress socks. (Which is part of the whole “stranded in Burbank” story, but again I’m not going to bore you with those details.) Oh, and also, one of the other people in the group with Michael Cera was Charlyne Yi, the hilarious stoner girlfriend from Knocked Up, and we recognized her as well, and we definitely thought seeing her was cool, and maybe if we’d literally just walked out of Knocked Up we would have freaked out about “manifesting” her, but we hadn’t manifested her, we’d manifested Michael Cera, and she was just a by-product of that manifestation, so we were freaking out about Michael Cera. Anyway, if I’m obsessing right now, it’s because I still have to poop and the barista is still way too cute, and I still haven’t gotten to the good parts of the Michael Cera story, and how many times have I typed his name in this paragraph? Too many times.

So we walked past Michael Cera and then we got to the end of the block and Eleanor was like, “we should have said something to him—we should have told him how good he was.” Because the movie doesn’t open for a few more weeks and we thought he should know that his movie is about to become a huge fucking hit because it’s brilliant. And Eleanor was like, “we missed our opportunity, we have to go back.” And then I was like, “yes, let’s go back.” And then we both were like, “we’re gonna look so weird.” And then Eleanor was like, “you’re holding your shoes, you already look weird.” And then I was like, “let’s go tell him.” And Eleanor was like, “go, go, now!”

So we walk back down the sidewalk towards Michael Cera’s group, and they’re totally immersed in conversation, and we totally interrupted them, and I was like, “Um, uh…excuse me?” (I don’t think I actually said “excuse me,” but I’d like to sound a little less rude on my blog so I’m gonna say I said “excuse me.”) And then I stammered out a couple more “uh’s” because I was completely acting as un-suave as a human being can act, and by then everyone in the group was looking at me like, “you just interrupted our conversation, say what you’re trying to say,” but in a nice way. So I continued: “We just saw a preview of your movie in Burbank and it was so good.” And then Michael Cera said: “Wait, you saw the preview?” And I said, “yeah, in Burbank, you’re so funny.” (I don’t know why I kept saying it was “in Burbank”—I think I felt like the words “in Burbank” gave me some validity, like he’d know there was a preview screening in Burbank and therefore know exactly what we were talking about.) But then Michael Cera was like, “or, wait, you saw the whole thing?” And then I realized that when I said we’d seen a “preview” of the movie,” he thought we’d come over to him to gush about the trailer before some other movie. Which was kind of embarrassing because we’d actually seen the entire movie. So then I was like, “yeah, we saw the whole thing,” and then I felt the need to overexplain, so I continued: “And then we walked past you and we got to the corner and we couldn’t walk away without telling how good you were, so we came back, and here you are, and you were really good.” And then Michael Cera, sounding exactly like Michael Cera, said: “Well, thanks for coming back!” And then Eleanor and I smiled and thanked him for being so good and continued on our way to Birds. And even though our encounter with Michael Cera was totally awkward, we were happy and ready to go on our way to dinner.

And that should be the end of the story. But it wasn’t quite. Because as we were finishing our meals at Birds, we looked towards the door and noticed that Michael Cera’s group was standing outside, waiting for a table. They were basically standing right in front of the door, which meant the only way for us to get out of the restaurant would have been for us to walk THROUGH their group. And we didn’t want to have another awkward encounter with them, so we were stuck. And we sat there at our table for, like, twenty minutes, waiting for Michael Cera’s group to either get a table or leave. Just so we wouldn’t encounter them again. We’d had our moment. We didn’t want another one. Just. Too. Awkward.

But they just kept standing there. And we kept waiting. And they kept standing there. And we kept waiting.

And then we saw our chance. Charlyne Yi came into the restaurant and walked over to the “to go” counter, so apparently that’s what they were waiting for. "To go" food. And as Charlyne Yi walked up to the “to go” counter, Michael Cera walked away. We were like, “awesome, he’s leaving, this is our moment to get out.” So we paid for our food and we snuck out of the restaurant, and we made our way over to the Bourgeois Pig (where I’m sitting right now, making sexy-sexy eyes at the cute barista and not pooping) and as I reach for the door handle to enter the coffee shop the door suddenly opens and suddenly Michael Cera is standing in the doorway holding some sort of smoothie, and he sees me and Eleanor and immediately recognizes us as the weird people who saw his movie tonight, and we immediately recognize him as Michael Cera who starred in our movie tonight, and then we all kind of step back awkwardly as if to let someone else get out of the doorway first, and the sudden awkward movement causes Michael Cera to jerk his smoothie towards the door and smoothie flies all over the door, which we all look at, again awkwardly, and then he was like, “um, hi,” and we were like, “um, hi,” and then Eleanor and I parted so that Michael Cera could pass through us and then we went into the coffee shop and now we just want Michael Cera to let us enjoy our food and drinks in peace, please.

Oh my god, but you have to see his movie. At least ten times. It fucking rocks cock in the best way.

Now I really have to go poop.

Monday, July 30, 2007

good news, nothing to worry about

We just talked to both of Uma's doctors. John already sent the latest news out to his email list, so I'm going to cut and paste his update:

hi everyone,

dr. shevienk just came out, he's the neurosurgeon
here, and he said the 'neck remnant' of the aneurysm
has actually gotten smaller than it was in the
previous angiogram of feb. 16th. it is actually too
small for more coils and that it is probably too small
to clip as that might easily damage the main artery
the aneurysm protrudes from. so......he is 'without a
doubt' comfortable with waiting another six months for
another look. he said this is 'good news', the fact
that it has not gotten any bigger in the last six
months.

just wanted to let you know - this will be on-going
but we will breathe a bit easier now.

with my whole heart i thank you for your prayers and
thoughts. thank you.

we will probably go home in a few hours!

love,

john

at the hospital right now

John just sent this out, and I thought I'd post it:

hi everyone,

we arrived at the hospital at 7:30 this morning and it's now
10:20 am. they just took her into the interventional
radiology room. i'm here with erik and marie. we all
met the doctor, dr. alexander. he has done
more aneurysm coiling than anyone in the country and
he talked with us about what some of the options and
risks are.

he said that the fact that she has been previously
coiled makes the clipping surgery more complicated -
it can make it more difficult to attach the clip. he
also pointed out that clipping isn't always permanent
and that they use a polymer coated coil
that speeds up the scarring/healing/clotting process.
we all feel really comfortable with him and with this
whole facility. it's so different than anywhere else
we've been.

there is a five per cent risk factor, statistically,
for complications such as: bleeding, allergic reaction
to the dye used in the angiogram, stroke, bad reaction
to the anesthesia, etc. so...it's not risk free, but
little in a hospital is. please pray and send love.

it should take between 1.5 and 3 hours and they'll
probably have to keep her over night for observation.

all my prayers, all my love to uma.

more later,

john