Mar13

Manhattan Beach 10,000 B.C.

by tonyd on March 13, 2008 at 5:47 am

The weird thing about L.A. is that it can take you over two hours to cross it and if you drive away from a city like New York for two hours, you’re in NJ.  The Comic Bug was in Manhattan Beach and even with Brother Hollywood’s considerable knowledge and skill of the L.A. roads, it seemed like it took forever to get there.

It was a good little signing and the Comic Bug has a great selection.  We sold some books, said hi to some fans, ate a burger, drank a beer—  Very laid back, like California itself.  Then we went to In and Out Burger, met up with Ahmet, got some frozen yogurt and went to see 10,000 B.C. with our signing money.

10,000 B.C. was the sort of movie that made you wished you had watched the Transporter 2 again, even though that sucked.  It didn’t suck nearly as much as 10,000 B.C.  No boobies, CGI animals and a very loose command of pre-history.  Did you know the mammoths helped build the pyramids?  Gee, maybe the dinosaurs helped Aristotle invent philosophy!  Apocalypto was so much better.  When the audience is laughing out loud at the movies costumes and they’re supposed to be cavemen, you know you’re in trouble.

Fortunately, we were able to wash our eyes by going up to Ahmet’s house and watching South Park.  Although it was a weak season opener, it was way better than the cavemen and the CGI animals.  Tomorrow we’re having dinner with Chris Moreno and probably doing lunch at this cheese shop I keep hearing about.

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Mar12

Ball of Sushi

by tonyd on March 12, 2008 at 2:11 am

Another fun, food filled day in Los Angeles.  Got up early and the bros took me to Uncle Bill’s Pancakes.  Ironically, we did not order pancakes, but we did have breakfast for lunch.  Next we stopped at the Comic Bug.  Brother Hollywood set up a signing there from 6 to 8 on Wednesday.  So if you’re around, stop by.  We’ll be inducting bros, selling Super Frat, including the T-shirts and some of the old classics.  Brother Hollywood will also have his comics for sale.

Next we stopped by the Bongo Comics offices.  Picked up some cool Simpson swag (thanks Terry!) and dropped off some new Simpson pitches.  I dropped the bros back off at their pad and headed over to Chris Moreno’s.  Later, I took my hosts James and Karen out for sushi.  Good stuff at Sushi Dake, which was next to the Donut Prince.  Also, at Sushi Dake we had a Dodgeball, which was a ball of Spicy Tuna wrapped in avacado.  Awesome.  The rest of the evening we just sat back and watched DVD’s, including Big Train, Simon Pegg’s sketch comedy show.  More tomorrow.

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Mar11

Huff, huff, huff…hike

by tonyd on March 11, 2008 at 1:36 am

Brother Hollywood has dropped 30 pounds and he and Ahmet are rockin the exercise. I heard about the infamous hike they took Brother Homewrecker on and I was trying to duck it. But today they finally talked me into it. At first we were walking down hill. Great views in the hills. Cool houses. You could even see the ocean. Finally, we turned around. Suddenly, I was walking up hill and it was not fun. Total time, 90 minutes. That’s about 89 minutes more than I ususally hike. Again, we talked scripts and meetings. Sounds like we got it goin’ on.

Back to Ahmet’s awesome pad which he calls “McFearless Manor” just like his book. He has a great view, but I wouldn’t want to be on his balcony in an Earthquake. We grabbed a shower and headed to Santa Monica. Ahmet and Brother Hollywood had a meeting. Myself and Homewreck cruised Santa Monica and the local comic book store, Hi Dee Ho. Not bad. Mostly graphic novels. On the street, Hollywood ran into Josh who writes Vertigo’s Unknown Soldier. Our other celebrity spottings included the girl from Scrubs on the hike and on the way to dinner, the singer Fiest from the ipod commercial. You know, “One, two, three, four, tell me that you love me more…”

Finally, I’m back at James and Karen’s pad. Still can’t get my laptop to work, but Karen has kindly loaned me her Mac lap. Macs are pretty sweet I must admit. I might have to make the switch.

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Mar10

Shit Switch

by tonyd on March 10, 2008 at 1:27 am

So I was hanging with the Beranek bros. They just moved into a new place. I went with them to pick up their fridge and bed. Unfortunately, since my Internet and cellphone signal is a little spotty here, I missed sushi lunch and had to grab a Tommy’s burger. While we were waiting for the truck guy, the burger went south. Fast. It was the dreaded “Shit Switch”.

Brother Hollywood immediately pointed out a building at the top of the hill that looked like a business, so I started walking there. Unfortunately, it was a nursery school and it was closed. In a panic, I started walking around, clenching and praying a bathroom would reveal itself. Finally, a coffee house emerged. Hunched over, I ran inside. It was a photo finish, but I’m happy to report that I did not shit my pants on the 42 nd birthday.

Later, we met up with Ahmet at Katsu-ya Sushi. Most awesome. Ahmet is “The Mayor of Studio City”. He knows everyone out here. He couldn’t walk 20 feet without saying hi to someone. Then we went to frozen yogurt. I’m doing a lot of eating out here, but in between, we’re talking scripts. It’s a very California way of doing things I think.

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