Rage, Rage...

Cancer is never a great diagnosis, and when it comes to someone so close to you it seems like you dwell on the little things in life a little more than you usually do. My Father was diagnosed with a pretty aggressive form of prostate cancer last week. He still has many years ahead of him and a lot of treatment possibilities, but it still angers me. I have been thinking about it a lot recently and am amazed at the amounts and ranges of my feelings towards it. My father has been my hero for as long as I can remember, always putting aside his best interest for his family or others. Unfortunately, karma seems to have always dealt him a little bad luck and this seems to be a trend in the same direction. He is reviewing options for treatment now and needs to make a decision as to how to tackle this thing. Yes, it is unfair, mean, horrible, tragic, sad and inconvenient but he so far has handled it with the grace and dignity that demonstrates why he is my hero. My dad has always been able to get back on his feet from any setback; including unemployment, brain surgeries, bankruptcy, moving etc. and this will be no different. I will be there to cheer him on.

Earth, Mud, & Fire

So, there was a mudslide yesterday above out apartment and I didn’t even know about it. The video is pretty cool though. It’s because the fires have weakened the hillside so much. I wonder what’s next for our little village hamlet. Also, I warned you before that cuts and downsizing was coming to my movie studio. It looks like the mainstream media got a hold of it as well so I am sure I will be getting calls from my family wondering if my job is secure. Like I care. I’m off on Paternity leave in three weeks anyway. I great comment comes from a fellow worker who adds their two cents (in parenthesis) to one of the funniest paragraphs in the article about the budget cuts and layoffs:

“At Warner Bros., efficiency has been the watchword for months. Four months ago, Meyer and Horn held a three-day meeting with 95 top Warner Bros. executives at the St. Regis Resort in Dana Point. (with rates starting at $395.00 per night x 95 x 2 nights = $75,050.00 + meals) There, the studio chiefs instructed their division heads to comb their 2006 budgets looking for ways to shave costs. What they came up with is under discussion.”

All Hail large corporations and big thinking!

Blood and Bowling

I went bowling with my family for lunch break today. It was quite refreshing and fun. There is a bowling alley right down the street, and we were giving our son a reward for good behavior. I was amazed that he could bowl all by himself (with the help of those little bumper things). I also donated blood today. It is becoming quite routine for me, but I feel it’s my duty, as well as I get free cookies. They were putting together a pretty outrageous set for ‘ER’ where they are redoing all the facades and bringing in wrecked burning cars and plane wreckage to spruce up the place for some disaster. Pretty cool stuff. And…in Shark news, great whites go all the way.

Birthday Cuisine

My son; of the Blackfoot tribe. Actually, it’s just so cute when they get their newborn footprint stamp. I have found the true way to a woman's heart is Root-Beer-Float Cake that you make from scratch. Working on it for two hours was well worth the reward. It looked really cool to boot. I consider my wife's birthday a success because we got my 2 year old son to eat crawfish, crab and octopus at a Chinese restaurant. My wife’s parents are in town so I took them around the movie studio to see cool things being filmed. Unfortunately, the place is WAY busy right now and we could barely go anywhere because everything was off limits for filming. We did get to see George Lopez and Clint Eastwood walking around though. I guess I should look forward to these busy times however seeing as Hollywood is calling it quits.

Mormon Porn

Now this, is funny. My cousin works for Halestorm, the production company that made the 'Everclean' boy band spoof film. I wonder what he will have to say on this. Oops!

Pizzaz says "Take That"

So the paparazzi are getting it out of their system before the new law goes into effect Jan. 1st forbidding them to harass and destroy people’s lives and fining them if they do. Poor, Poor Lindsey Lohan…she doesn’t want to be in the spotlight or famous at all so leave her alone. In other News, Los Angeles has officially boycotted Root Beer. I spent days trying to track down some root beer extract to no avail till a wonderful family friend came to the rescue with a smuggled bottle from Utah. They do not carry it at Ralph’s, Albertson’s, Vons, Trader Joe’s, Smart and Final, Brewery stores or restaurants, specialty shops or food manufacturers. I only needed a tablespoon full to make my wife Root Beer Float Cake. Curse you LA, for disdain for the great mid-west, non-alcoholic red state drink nectar of the gods. As much as I am a movie person, we do get around to playing board games every now and then. Unfortunately, one of our favorites is also one of the most ghetto. Our scrabble was made in the 30’s and has pieces missing, paper ripped off etc. Despite these deplorable conditions, there is an even more white trash version available…printed on paper. scrabble (pdf)

*UPDATE* Lindsey Lohan is a crash magnet! There was NO paparazzi involved, just an innocent worker making a U-turn. Darn, I really wanted another reason to hate the Pizzaz!

Take That Pizzaz!

Shwartzenegger, Sczenegger, Shortsineger...Our governor puts a smack down on all those eager Paparazzi who are running into Lohan and stalking Witherspoon. Bout time they get some come-uppance! Oh, and Dilbert predicts that I will be fired.