Wednesday, March 29, 2006

a week passes so fast ...

I can't believe its been over a week already since my last edition ... where in the world is the time going?!? I have no clue, I'm losing track of time but I am not sure if that is bad or good.

Recap:
Nothing really exciting happened this week. Had a charity mixer for the organization I am part of called Young Variety at a Spanish Tapas Bar. It was a mild success but still a very good time. What freaks me out the most is when people know who I am but I have no clue who they are! Ok, what have they heard and who do I have to silence?

General Movie stuff:
"Ice Age: The Meltdown" which is the sequel to "Ice Age" opens this Friday. Folks tell me it is funnier than the first one. The first one I thought was really good and Scrat is seen more in the newer film. Did you know that Scrat was almost not going to be in the first film but test audience loved the character so much, they added him throughout the story as a side story much later. I like when studios do in fact listen to audience however with that said, sometimes you may get a dumb audience and then you are screwed later on.

Work:
Its been fairly busy lately but that is a good thing. Eventhough Vegas is gone and done with, the next project is up and going. I have been working on our department's new website. Its still in development stages but by end of April it should be up and running 100% and the new look is pretty cool (IMO) and its bringing the current site into the year 2000! But I guess that goes for all technology type of things that they progress and get bigger and better. I also heard they are building some bungalow's for Nicole Kidman on the lot ... but who knows if that is true and its hard to tell because they are doing all different kinds of construction on the lot!

Q&A:
None for this go around.

Other News:
Was listening to the news recently and they were discussing the "Kyoto Treaty". Basically its an agreement by a country to make a more consencious effort to help the environment. It's not mandating anything or saying you must do this but merely saying, "hey ... give green a chance." 150 nations have signed this agreement except the US. Bush for some reason refuses to sign it but this is no big surprise to me at all since he is a big oil man (with MANY oil friends). Most of his personal income outside of what he makes from being the US President deals with oil and resources associated with that like electricity. A pact like this potentially can dent his income in a huge manner.

Facts and Tips:
When the moon is directly overhead you weigh slightly less.

"Ted, while I agree that, in time, our band will be most triumphant. The truth is, Wyld Stallyns will never be a super band until we have Eddie Van Halen on guitar."- Alex Winter as Bill S. Preston, Esq. in "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure".

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Recovery ...

Still trying to shake this running nose that came with the set of sore throat and cough last week from Vegas. Other than the non-stop nose issue, I feel perfectly fine.

The weather here lately has been very odd. It feels more like the midwest with the ever changing patterns. When we use to get rain, it will last like a day or several hours. Instead it lasts maybe 10 minutes and then its sunny again. On top of that it has been going from super cold for several days to very warm ... not typical for the SoCali's! Can't explain it ... but then again don't really want to. I just want mass rain on the weekends then I will be happy.

Above is one of the pics I took on the road to Vegas last week. The skies were so blue and the clouds so puffy, it was one of the best scenic drives I have ever taken on that road.

Movie Review:
Recently I watched a film called Bride & Prejudice starring Aishwarya Rai and Martin Henderson. It is directed by the same lady who did "Bend it Like Beckham" and its a great mix of Hollywood and Bollywood.

I am not familiar at all with Jane Austin's Pride & Prejudice but from what I have been told, this is a pretty good version of it with a comedic and musical twist. It has several dance and musical numbers you would find in a Bollywood style film. Aishawarya (sitting on the bed in the below photo) has to be one of the most beautiful women on the face of this earth.

I won't go into the story because its kind of complicated and too long for me to type. But again, if you are familiar with Pride & Prejudice then that is all you need to know. I give this film **** (4 out of 5 stars) and its rated PG. Its odd though because there was no kissing ... I think for Bollywood one kiss can change the rating from a G to PG and two kisses from PG to R! This film is now out on DVD by Miramax Home Entertainment.

Q&A Section:
Some questions asked from the previous post. First one was about the "Female Star of Tomorrow" and who that is. Her name is Jennifer Hudson and she was a contestant on one of the seasons of American Idol. She is starring in the upcoming film "Dreamgirls" with Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles and Eddie Murphy. She plays Effie White and its based on a Broadway musical about a trio of black female soul singers that cross over to the pop charts in the early 1960's.

The next question was in regards to Dakota Fanning and her award that she won. She received the "Best Supporting Actress" award from ShoWest from her recent rolls in both "War of the Worlds" with Tom Cruise and "Dreamer" with Kurt Russell. The difference is because Jennifer Hudson recieved the "Tomorrow" award because she basically isn't a name in the business and this could be her break-out role so to speak. Dakota has been acting for the past 6 or so years (she is currently 12) and has a large body of work which include "I Am Sam", "Uptown Girls", "Hide and Seek", "The Cat in the Hat" and "Man on Fire" in addition to the previous two listed ... and that is just some of her credits.

The last question was regarding the percentages of who was in the green room. I really don't know what the point was given who was in there. I don't think some of those folks should have been there but that is me.

"According to Greek mythology, the Titans were greater even than the gods. They ruled their universe with absolute power! Well that football field out there tonight, that's our universe. Let's rule it like Titans!"- Denzel Washington as Coach Boone in "Remember the Titans".

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Home sweet home ...

Vegas is fun and all but after 2 or 3 days of it, its time to come home. Unfortunately I did not have that option and I returned yesterday (Friday). I did get sick with a cold so this weekend is all about the recovery so I can go back to work on Monday (weeee).

This was my first ShoWest with Fox and it was a busy one. Funny, I thought naps were never really a big thing to try and get one ... I sure was wrong. The nice thing about working for Fox with this convention is that you actually get to stay at the hotel the convention was at! That was probably the biggest gripe I had when with MGM and how we always had to stay at the MGM Grand with the convention at the Paris. But anyway, another convention down ... and I am exhausted.

Thursday was the final night dinner awards for the convention and this was also my first time in the "Green" room. That was cool but it also was a bit crowded. My guess is 75% exhibitors, 14% studios, 10% press (which is very odd) and workers with 1% celebs. Thanks to a good friend, I was able to get a small handful of photos with some of the award winners! I did miss two big names that were there but oh well, what can you do.
"No capes!"- Brad Bird as the voice of Edna Mode from "The Incredibles".

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Duckburg Gazette * ShoWest 2006 Edition

Zoooooooooooooooooommmmm ……

Just watched a movie this evening and it turned out to be much better than I thought it would be. Disney Pictures presented from Pixar Animation the film “Cars” tonight at ShoWest. Featuring the voice talents of Owen Wilson, Paul Newman and John Ratzenberger along with many others.

The story is about a young rookie car on his way to California to try and win the Piston Cup and hopefully a real time sponsor, Dinoco. On the way to the big race, he gets sidetrack by a little town off route 66 called Radiator Springs. Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is the young and friendless finely tuned racing machine that gets into all kinds of trouble in Radiator Springs but learns the value of true friendship.

A good animated feature that goes up to the next step for Pixar. The animation was amazing however the overall story was decent. It ranks up there for me in Pixar films but not my top favorite. The end credits were extremely funny all the way to the very end and the dedication/short tribute to Joe Ranft was very touching (passed away last year in an auto accident, voice talent of Heimlich in “A Bug’s Life” and other Pixar features).

John Lasseter (Director and creator of Pixar) presented the film this evening. Feature is rated a STRONG G and opens in theatres this June. **** (4 out of 5 stars).

Other ShoWest happenings … so much is going on and so very little sleep. Meeting after meeting, can’t enjoy a nice sit down anywhere before I have to get to another appointment.

The convention itself is being held at the Paris Hotel and portions at Bally’s Hotel (both of them are connected). I get to actually stay at the Paris this time and it’s a nice hotel.


But some highlights have been the “Cars” screening and some cool cocktail parties where I got to meet:

All of these folks were extremely nice and on Monday I met Lisa Lu who apparently knew my grandfather very well. She is here at ShoWest representing the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

That is about it on the ShoWest Vegas report. The photos within this blog are taken from an amazing photographer who made real photos look like they are miniatures! I thought they were cool and thought someone might think so too.

Questions from previous post: I think I can remember at least the highlights from the week. :)

I end this blog with this … “That's cool, baby..You know how it is...rockin' and rollin' and what not.”- John Travolta as Danny Zuko in “Grease”.

Friday, March 10, 2006

Not a daily blog ...

So I think I have decided that the Duckburg Gazette will be a weekly blog and occassionaly an extra special edition from time to time. My weeks are not exciting at all so its not worth doing a daily post unless you like to see:

AM- woke up
Noon- eat lunch
Evening- go home
Late evening- sleep
**repeat**

In about three weeks I will have a new office. Its the old kitchen here at work being converted because our department is expanding by one. My boss is getting a new assistant so therefore I move. It will be good because it will be a private office instead of a main walkway to and from the boss' office. But three weeks? That is going to be fast but they do amazing stuff here.

To answer the comment question from the previous post- no, this quacker is going solo to Vegas. The offer was made but that is ok, right now it looks like I will have to go back to Vegas in May anyway for the Variety Children's Charity International Conference.

"You wanna know how you do it? Here's how, they pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way, and that's how you get Capone! Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that?"- Sean Connery as Officer Jim Malone in "The Untouchables"

With that, have a safe and dry week those who visit and read this ... Sunday I am Vegas bound! Not to be confused with bound in Vegas ... they charge extra for that.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Burg or not to Berg ...

So the question was posed to me about the difference between "Burg" and "Berg". Well both are from the German language and "Burg" simply means town or villa I guess. The world "Berg" means mountain (typically one that is covered with ice).

So an iceberg means ice-ice-covered moutain.

Did you know that Steven Spielberg means Steven Playmountain (with ice)?

Oh hey look, I learned how to insert pictures! Not as hard as I thought but its still early and I could screw things up very easily.

Next week is my annual convention to Vegas called ShoWest
I was actually hoping to dodge out of it this year because its just so tiring and when I did think about it, I figured I might not have a job during this time frame ... well, since I am going it didn't work out that way. Sometimes you just want a break and this year it looks like it will be a TON of work. Last year was awesome though ... probably one of the best times I have had in Vegas because I didn't have to do anything!! Just live it up and I did ... on the company's dime :p

So with that, may not blog for a bit (even though this is only the 2nd blog) because I will be traveling all next week. Besides, who knows if my week next week would be blog-worthy if I wasn't going ... I'm just saying.

I end this posting with this ...

"Never give up! Never surrender!" -Tim Allen as Jason Nesmith playing Commander Taggart in "Galaxy Quest"

Sunday, March 05, 2006

My First blog ... wow, how exciting is this. I will hopefully learn how to input photos eventually but I am not that tech savy, eh!

I'm not sure how often I will blog either but at least I have a space to do so and ... well ... bore the minds of everyone, then I shall take over the world!!!

For starters ... why "Duckburg Gazette"? Well, why not? I am a big fan of Scrooge McDuck and from the series of DuckTales they lived in Duckburg ... well Duckburg must have had a local paper right? Chances are it was called Duckburg _____ . I just simply put in Gazette because to me it sounded more ... duckish? So with that, is the story of the "Duckburg Gazette" and history was made ... (fade to black).

About me- maybe some other time.

What to blog about? To Blog or not to Blog, that is the question ... hence, we blog. I would like to blog about my day last Wednesday (3/1/06). I got invited to the IATSE (cinematographer's union) Publicist Awards luncheon. It was a pretty cool event and I have never been before. Jimmy Kimmel was the host and he was really good at it too. He said we should all spread the word and how the Academy Awards are called "Oscars", the Publicist Award should be called "The Pubie" and I agree! Nice ring, easy to remember and just plain fun!! So back to the award luncheon, presenters and other guests included: Teri Hatcher (kind of annoying), Hillary Swank (The Next Karate Kid!!), someone from a soap opera, Delta Burke (nice person), Marcia Gay Harden (nice person) and KIRK DOUGLAS (WOW). I got lucky during this lunch and snapped a photo with:
  • Delta Burke
  • Marcia Gay Harden

Some folks from WB won an award and they mentioned Dan Fellman a couple of times. That was pretty cool they remembered the distribution side of the business. Plus he is the dad of my former boss Brett who was an awesome boss among bosses.

That is about it, I typically do not write much because I simply don't have much to say. But this being the first blog and all I felt ... I don't know, fingers have a mind of their own sometimes. So in closing my first blog I would like to say ...

"MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYY CHRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSTMAS! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY!" - Santa Clause in "Santa Clause Conquers the Martians".