Friday, January 15, 2010

star struck

I didn't think I'd be the sort to get all giggly and excited about lots of stars in one place, but oh hey, guess what? I am. Today was the 2009 AFI Awards, and as I am working at SDAC (it's like AFI's version of the cage, but way less fun) the other guy who works there and I had to go shoot it. I was all excited because maybe George Clooney was going to be there; turns out he wasn't, but WHATEVER, it was still packed with famous people. Before the banquet started my friend Tyler and I stood by the interview set-up, "helping" by saying "Thank you!" to the famous people as they left their interviews. In between, we giggled and discreetly pointed and generally geeked out about the whole thing.

The best part was when Jon Hamm from Mad Men was leaving the interview area- he looked at me and said "I like your shoes!" !!!!!!! I was wearing my good old Shirley Temple Doc Marten saddle shoes with the pink star laces. I had no idea what to say but managed to say "Thank you!" and to not add "I like EVERYTHING about YOU!"

So, because I live in a sucky city that has few merits, and because one of those merits (that of sometimes seeing celebrities) was on display today, I am now going to brag with a big long list of people I saw and was excited about. I'm sure I'm missing a few too, but this is who I could remember:

FAMOUS PEOPLE I SAW AT THE AFI AWARDS
Jon Hamm (Mad Men)
Henry Selick (!! - director of Coraline AND A NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS)
Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights)
Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights)
Michael Stahlberg (A Serious Man)
Alan Arkin (A Serious Man)
Richard Kind (A Serious Man)
Gabourey Sidibe (Precious)
Ben Foster (The Messenger)
Woody Harrelson (The Messenger)
Heather Graham (The Hangover-- but more importantly, Twin Peaks!)
Julianne Moore (A Single Man)
Tom Ford (director of A Single Man)
Amy Landecker (from A Serious Man)
Jeremy Renner (from The Hurt Locker)
Katherine Bigelow (director of The Hurt Locker)
Christina Hendricks (from Mad Men)
CCH Pounder (from The No. 1 Ladie's Detective Agency and Avatar)
Jesse Tyler Ferguson (from Modern Family)
Ty Burrell (from Modern Family)
Ken Marino (from Party Down, which I have never seen)
Ryan Hansen (from Party Down)
Adam Scott (from Party Down)
Deborah Ann Woll (from True Blood)
Sam Trammell (from True Blood)

My camera was right near the A Serious Man table and if only the Coen brothers or Roger Deakins had been there, I think I would have died right then.

Then I came home and my mom had randomely sent me four filet mignons from Omaha Steaks, which was pretty awesome, and I had dinner with Arielle, Li-Wei, Joey, Blake, and Kelly. So all in all, it was a good day! I need more of these in my life.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

NARWHAL UPDATE

I didn't think I could love narwhals more... and then someone went and made this, which is both delicious and gross looking, notable primarily for its whimsy.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

pros and cons

Pros of Moving Back to San Francisco:
1. Being near family.
2. Being near friends, the kind who are not just half friends and who actually sometimes want to do things with you.
3. Hopefully not being sad all the time as in LA.
4. Ability to work at Pacific Primary and actually make money.
5. Potential of maybe finding a teaching job.
6. Not as much competition in film-related fields as in LA.
7. Ability to actually walk places, sometimes even to work!
8. The plethora of good book stores.
9. The weather.
10. The close proximity to real nature, not fake nature like in LA.
11. Having some sort of support system for when I feel as incredibly awful as I constantly do down here.
12. Ability to possibly not pay rent and save money for a couple months while I figure things out.
13. My kitties.
14. Kaiser in San Francisco sucks a good deal less than Kaiser in LA, as evidenced by the various times I've gotten sick while at home in the last year.
15. Actually living in the city that I want to live in forever, thereby abolishing the possibility of meeting/dating someone in LA and being stuck here forever.
16. Being there when my family needs me, for whatever reason.


Cons of Moving To San Francisco:
1. All AFI-related people and much of my family will assume I've either just given up on film or am too lame to ever get hired and make it work, and many of them will be disappointed in me.
2. Parents, while happy that I would be home, are probably not thrilled with the idea of me moving back in.
3. I'm not too thrilled with that idea either.
4. Having to find a storage unit and move all my crap.
5. Leaving the three or four good friends I have here.
6. People will stop hiring me for AC/gaffing jobs if I leave, no matter how much I tell them that I can come down to LA.
7. No 24-hour grocery stores for uncrowded shopping trips.
8. Radio stations in the Bay Area have really gone downhill.
9. Leaving my gym- I really like my gym, despite the fact that it's sometimes crowded with soccer moms and every now and then the star of my thesis film comes in and I have to hide from him.