Goth servers, the Studios and a Job

When I made my last post on here drunk as shit. Travis came home on Sunday and we just kicked it with the neighbors that night. On Monday he took me to NBC Studios where I got my first look at the WGA on strike. All up and down this road called Brahman (I think), which is where NBC and I think WB and a few others are, the writers were picketing, walking over the crosswalk at every red light and asking that you honk to acknowledge their cause. We honked everytime.

NBC Studios was pretty sweet, mostly just a giant labyrinth of hallways and buildings, but still cool nontheless. We tried to get on the Tonight Show set but it was locked. Got to see the Tonight Show greenroom and where they all park and stuff. I also got to meet a Production Manager named Wendall who works for Moving Parts Productions who produces NBC programming. In Wendall's office there was a mock up drawing of all the new American Gladiators which was really sweet. Wendall was really nice and Travis was nice enough to let him know I'm new in town and looking for work so hopefully that pans out. Only other cool thing we did Monday was eat at Big Wangs. I didn't misspell that, Big Wangs son. It's a pretty amazing chicken wing joint and if you've ever seen the show Rob and Big it's the place that Big Black enters the wing eating competition for Rob. Good stuff.

Yesterday was pretty monumental for the fact that I landed 2 jobs. I'm working for free with Travis tomorrow on a web commercial and I'm totally happy with working for free for a few reasons: if I screw up anything they're not out any wasted money, I'll obviously get to learn a lot, I might be able to get some office days if I do good, and he said they'll throw me any leftover money if they got it so for me it's win win. Travis also hooked me up with a job on a music video next Monday the 3rd. I'll get 100 bucks to be an assistant, basically just help out with anything they need, and hopefully I'll get more work out of it.

I've learned that out here you really only get work because of who you know and I'm really fucking thankful to have moved into this situation with a guy who knows the right people and is willing to help me out.

Couple of other cool things: I ate at a diner called Fred 62's for lunch yesterday. Aside from the food being really good all the servers dress goth which means I'll be frequenting that place. We had late dinner at El Gran Burrito which is a few blocks over from where we live. El Gran Burrito is great for a few reasons: 1 - it's all outdoors and made to order, 2 - It's cheap, I got a forearm sized burrito for 4 bucks, 3 - the lady that takes your order speaks english, but no one else does, so I had to learn spanish on the fly last night when the cook dude is asking me about my order in spanish. He starts asking me something and I catch "Aqui" so I'm like "aqui aqui" for here and not to go. Then he looks at me and says "Carne?" and without hesitation I bust him with "Asadaaaaaaa." Finally he waves his hands over all the toppings and I say, "EVERYTHING MUCHACHO!" He knew.

I Turned Into a Martian

Not really but I think I found my bar of choice here, the Good Luck bar which is about a half a mile away. It's got a lounge/chinese motif, which sounds weird but basically it's really dark with asian style lamps and mixed drinks named after asian folklore (i.e. the Fists of Fury, Jade Buddha, etc...). I didn't mess with those, just had a few bloody mary's and a couple bottles of the chinese beer they have called TsoTsing I think. The jukebox was incredible; I saw the Misfits and Bad Brains after a couple of turns and played them all night. Needless to say I was happy just because of that. The bartenders were really cool, and prompt, and everyone there was really nice. There were two girls sitting next to me that ended up asking if I wanted to ride with them to another bar but I respectfully declined. I stayed for 3 hours and ended up leaving when it started getting really packed.

Earlier in the day, around 5:00, I decided to just walk around. I took Sunset Blvd. to Vermont and ate at another taco stand on the corner. I kept walking down Vermont and ran into the Dresden! Now for those of you who have never seen Swingers you won't understand how amazing it was for me to see the Dresden. I went in for a few drinks and it was everything I expceted. The bartender was really old and Mexican so he had a sort of suave to him, and all the servers and barbacks were really old too which I thought was funny. By the way, if you know Swingers than you'll appreciate the fact that Marty and Elayne play there everynight, besides Sunday, from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.

After the Dresden I hit Starbucks then walked over to Good Luck.

New things I've found today: Bars here don't serve beer on tap, it's all bottles. I stopped at a few bars in between the ones I spoke of and none of them had draft so I found that out and that liquor is the drink of choice around here. I found out my neighbor Martin is cool as hell. And it's pronounced Marteen. I found out there's a shit ton of places for me to go within walking distance, I didn't drive anywhere at all today. Oh, and they sell 40's here. I bought a 40 of High Life on my walk home and I feel so much more gangster.

News Update! Fires hit Malibu today. It was the first of my fires sweeping California experiences and it was all over the local stations today when I woke up. The fire was only in Malibu and the only celebrity house in danger was, get this, Axl Rose. Oh yeah, Axl from GnR was the only celeb talked about to have had a home in the path of the fire.

Anyway, that's that. Just got a pizza delivered and I'm about to hit my 40.

Niggas is Crazy in LA

**Quick Note** I started this blog over a year ago to talk about movies and what I was doing to get into the film biz. Now I am officially in LA and will use this blog to document my adventure, and of course still talk about movies.

I hope no one's offended by the title of this post, but as far as a first post of what life is like in LA this was really the only fitting label.

Brett and I got into town around 7:00 Thursday night, which was coincidentally Thanksgiving. After we checked out the house we decided to go to Wal Mart to pick up a few things. Even after TomTom told us Wal Mart was located on Crenshaw and MLK Blvd. we still decided to go. Upon pulling up to the front it didn't take us long to figure out we needed to turn around. I don't really have to go into details why, I'm sure whatever you can come up with is pretty close. What we saw happening at the stop light though you just can't make up.

Across the intersection there was a guy side kicking the metro bus sign as hard as he could. He wasn't even doing it wildly, he would set up, kick the shit out of it, wait a second and then set up to do it again. The best part wasn't that he was wearing a Cobra Kai gee (cause he wasn't) but it was the sight of a group of people standing around him acting like it was every day business.

A guy kicking the shit out of a bus sign at 8:00 on Thanksgiving night with a group of people unphased by his actions...welcome to LA.

Currently both of my roommates are out of town until Sunday. I still haven't met one of them, Hugh, but I've heard good things so I'm optimistic. The house is pretty sweet, 3 stories but one of them is the garage. First floor is living room, kitchen, full bathroom, and 2 bedrooms. 3rd floor is a loft, half bath, a balcony and my room. The main floor is hardwood and the upstairs is carpeted. I'm living on a street called Edgemont which is sandwiched between Sunset and Santa Monica Blvd., which is fucking awesome. I had dinner at a Denny's in Hollywood tonight and made my first friend, a waitress named Heather. Earlier I ate at a taco stand on Hollywood Blvd. and went to a horror store which was like a slice of heaven. Other than that it's mostly just been buying the essentials and unpacking. I am having a little trouble with this time difference though.

I've been here a little over a day and I'm still too new to form an opinion. So far I love it, everything about it.

I love that everyone drives like they have the balls of a Nascar racer but for some reason it works out well. I love that 3 blocks to one side of me is a town filled with Eastern European gangsters, but 3 blocks the other way is million dollar houses. I love that I saw a resturaunt called "Chinese food and Donuts." I love that I found a store dedicated to horror movies, horror books and horror memorabilia. I could go on, but the point is I'm pretty happy with everything so far but a lot of that has to do with the fact that its still so fucking new to me.