Archive for July, 2009

PAPER HEART follows Charlyne as she embarks on a quest across America to make a documentary about the one subject she doesn’t fully understand - love.

I see I have a little over a thousand people following me on Twitter. First off, thank you followers. I’ll be tweeting more often now that I know what a tweet is. (recent example: I'm only sorry John Updike is not still with us. Imagine him on Twitter? I'd love to see him try to get a single thought into 140 words.)

So anyway, with that as an idea of the solid gold you might receive from me on a somewhat regular basis, along with updates on new blog posts, I’d like to try a little experiment. I’d like to see if I can get more people to sign up for my Twitter account this weekend.

The goal: 4,563,472.

By Monday.

It’s kind of like a telethon except there’s no good cause and no Norm Crosby or Tony Orlando to provide entertainment. On the other hand, I’m not going to go all “Gene Scott” on you either. Gene Scott was an LA televangalist in the 80s who owned a local station way up on the dial. He was on the air 24/7 teaching the gospel, but 23/7 of it was pimping for money. And I’ll be honest, I don’t think Jesus saw one dime of the return. Gene would sit on a big wooden throne adorned with buffalo horns and yell at you to pick up the phone. Sometimes with utter contempt he would just stare at you… for an hour. Eventually the FCC kicked him off the air. Too bad. Even just staring, he was still more entertaining than half the cable networks on today. But I digress.

I want to test out this whole “viral” theory. So if you sign up, and tell one friend, and maybe mention it once on your Twitter page I should be able to get 4,563,472 followers lickity split!

So just click on this link or the Twitter icon.

I'll be updating all weekend on Twitter to let you know how I'm doing.

Again, thanks for your support. And bless you my children.

Update: 11:30 PDT. 1,130. Off to a bit of a slow start.

It's going around but if you haven't seen it, you're in for a treat. Done for Will Ferrell's website. You've got to admit Lindsay is a GREAT sport. Enjoy.

Aubrey Plaza discusses working with Judd Apatow on creating her character 'Daisy' and opens up about her favorite experiences on the film.

This Friday’s question comes from reader Alyson:

I recently rewatched Frasier - great show, even better than I remembered. I'm curious about the fencing scene in "An Affair to Forget" from season 2. Awhile back, you wrote a nice post about Jane Leeves and how she learned how to shoot pool for an episode. So my question is: We all know David Hyde Pierce is a great physical comedian. Did he learn how to fence for that episode, did he already know, or was he just winging it?

Not knowing the answer to this I asked someone who does – David Hyde Pierce. Alyson, here is his response:

As I recall, the writers asked me about my fencing experience before they wrote the episode. I’d been trained in stage combat by a guy named B.H. Barry, and I’d done two big sword fights for B.H., one in Cyrano and one in Kevin Kline’s Hamlet. ( In each case I both fought with and understudied the lead, which meant I had to learn both sides of the fight So, theoretically I could challenge myself to a duel and lose.) Coincidentally the actor who played Maris’ fencing instructor had also trained with B.H., so since we spoke the same language fencing-wise, we were able to learn a fairly elaborate fight in a relatively short time.

Hope that’s helpful. Happy Summer,
Dhp

Many thanks to David Hyde Pierce along with David Lee.

The episode was directed by Philip Charles MacKenzie and the script by Anne Flett-Giordano & Chuck Ranberg won the Emmy that year for writing, beating out the more famous “Matchmaker” episode.

Here’s the actual scene. What’s your question?

Here's another small excerpt from the book I'm writing about growing up in the San Fernando Valley in the 60s. It's 1964 and I'm too young to drive. My guess is today nothing's changed.
The Topanga Plaza opened!

Finally! A place for teenagers to loiter in air conditioned comfort!

The Topanga Plaza was L.A.’s first indoor mall. So take that West Covina and Terminal Island! It’s one thing to just call yourself a great suburb, but now we had an Orange Julius, Montgomery Wards, and Morrow’s Nuts to prove it! No wonder the Soviet Union viewed Woodland Hills as a target!

The mall was about the size of a city block, two tiered, flanked by Broadway and May Co. department stores with a Monkey Wards in the middle. There was also an ice skating rink (a reminder that in other parts of the world they had this thing called “winter”), Don Paul’s Seven Seas food court (affectionately known as Seven Sewers), and the world’s coolest fountain.

Beads of water (actually glycerin) ran down these ceiling-to-floor thin transparent plastic or nylon tubes creating a rainforest effect. When psychedelic drugs became fashionable a few years later this fountain became a big attraction. Just staring at it for ten hours became very commonplace.

On the opposite end of the mall there were kiosks with exotic birds and monkeys in large circular cages. That might not sound like a big deal but I don’t know one kid who didn’t love those monkeys.

But the real attraction to anyone under 20 was the Wallichs Music City record store. Owned by the ubiquitous Clyde Wallichs, his Music City stores were an L.A. institution. The main branch was at Sunset & Vine and was the hang-out capitol of Hollywood. It stocked the most complete collection of records anywhere and far more important – had listening booths! This was a revolutionary concept. You could take a sample album into this little glass booth and play it. Without having to buy it!! Why not just pass out free crack?

Every kid flocked to the Topanga Plaza for one simple reason. Most of the time we were all bored. Despite what you’ve read about how exciting the 60s were, those of us who grew up in it spent a great deal of time looking for crap to do. When our children were out of school we filled their summer days with karate lessons and dance classes. Back then we just hung out, sitting around the food court, wandering aimlessly through stores (like I gave a shit about the “Raj of India’s” Pooja Accessories Sale).

From time to time they filmed WHERE THE ACTION IS at the Topanga Plaza, which was quite ironic considering there was no action there ever. This was a daily afternoon dance show on ABC that was all shot in “groovy” locations. If anything helped perpetuate the California Myth it was this show. They’d be at the beach, the zoo, Marineland, drag strips, Pacific Ocean Park, Knotts Berry Farm, Griffith Park stables, Pickwood Pool, Busch Gardens (a combination tropical forest/brewery – Disneyland for tosspots). I say “myth” because if you didn’t have a car (or worse, not know how to drive) you were shit out of luck. In all those anthems to Surf City never once do they mention getting there by city bus.

Frequent guests were Paul Revere & the Raiders. It would be a thousand degrees and they'd be on the beach in Malibu in their heavy wool revolutionary war garb. Too bad they didn't have shorts and tank tops in the 1700s.

Tomorrow: David Hyde Pierce guest blogs and answers one of your Friday questions.

THE JEAN-JACQUES BEINEIX COLLECTION GIVEAWAY

In conjunction with our lengthy interview with the French auteur, we are also offering our readers a chance to win a free DVD from The Jean-Jacques Beineix Collection. Last time we gave away free copies of Roselyne and the Lions to two lucky readers, Marc-David from Portland, Oregon and Roger from Los Angeles, California!

This time we are giving away two copies of IP5 – released in France in 1992 and never released before in the US – thanks to Cinema Libre Studio! Sign up here by 8/10/2009 to win! http://cinemalibrestudio.com/icontact_images/beineixDVD2.html

Jamine O'Brien on the role of the Assistant Director.

Last weekend I co-emceed the Hollywood Stars softball game at Dodger Stadium. Over fifty celebs participated including former slugger Larry King. Lots of movie, TV, NFL, and music stars. Even a couple of contestants from last season’s CELEBRITY APPRENTICE so you know they’re celebrities.

My job was to interview the stars during the game. It fulfilled my dream of always wanting to be Ryne Seacrest. I had been given bios of everyone. Rob Lowe’s failed to mention he had once passed on a pilot of mine but otherwise they were very complete. The Dodger staff is first rate.

The assignment did not start well. My very first interview -- I said, “I’m here with Joel Madden, the lead singer of Creed.” He then says, “Uh, Good Charlotte.”

Oops!

In addition to feeling two hundred years old at that moment I also felt like a complete idiot. I had read the wrong thing. Would it shock you to learn I do not own a Good Charlotte CD?

I covered as best I could and got him to agree to add Dodger organist Nancy B. Hefly to the group because she always wanted to be in an emo band. But there was no getting around my gaffe.

Having done live radio and TV for years I can tell you it wasn’t my first. But what I’ve learned is this: own up to it. And if possible use it to your advantage.

My next interview was with Kate Flannery from THE OFFICE. I introduced her as the lead singer of Creed. In fact, I pretty much introduced everyone as the lead singer of Creed except for Scott Stapp.

It’s a time honored comic device -- turn your goof into a running joke. You can’t buy it back; you might as well have some fun with it.

I named my baseball book IT’S GONE… NO WAIT A MINUTE! after my signature blown home run call in the minors. And when I did play-by-play for the Seattle Mariners, we had a feature in the post game show – “the Mikeda Power Tools Play of the Game” where we replayed the game’s most exciting moment. If I muffed a play or had a pitcher “throwing up” in the bullpen that’s what I would reprise as the Play of the Game.

It just occurred to me, if President Obama starts saying Congress acted “stupidly” and the press acted “stupidly” and the cabinet acted “stupidly” I’ll know he reads my blog. Cool!

Thanks to Jon Soohoo of the Dodgers for the top photo.