I’ve been in Hollywoodland for six months, and have been to about the same number of movies in as many months. An interesting event has happened at every one of these movies that I’m mildly fascinated by. At the beginning and closing of the movie, the audience breaks into applause and cheers.

Granted,  I’ve only attended some of the more headlining movies, so my sample size is small and narrow. However, in my years of attending movies, I can only count on about two or three fingers the number of times I’ve heard noise from an audience in the midwest, save for the midnight geek fest showings: Dark Knight, Rocky III, Top Gun, Matrix, Star Wars.

Is this because I’m in the Hollywood, the land where movies and stardust is born from? And somehow it settles on the localized population, causeing such outbursts? Is it because a notable count of the populous is involved directly or indirectly in the entertainment industry? Does this happen elsewhere, and on a regular basis?

I’ll continue to collect data and monitor the situation.

Hang on, as this ride will be quick and wicked as I get up to speed. This waxing will also be shot from the hip, and unabashedly less poetic than perhaps I prefer it to be.

About six months ago, I left Indiana and moved to LA for a change in career; moreso, I did this for a change in life and scenery. The job I had in Indiana was pretty good. The work, the environment, the cash, the benefits. Some good people. All great things. However, I wanted to taste life a little differently than I had been. So I took a risk and left it behind. A leap. And during a tremendous national economic strife.

Get busy livin, or get busy dyin.

Well, more of a calculated gamble. I was fortunate to have a good job lined up. That being said, I knew there were risks, as the new gig was clearly fraught with its own perils of chance and being impacted by the recession. However, the move west happened, and life was an adventure. Much good new life, and reflection on experience past.

And then winter happened (a crazy thing for a midwestern volk to experience, their first “winter” season in southern California). Mid January, one of our clients dropped. Such is business, and such is the entertainment/TV industry. Our workload slacked (particularly mine since I directly handle work from this account). Panic stunk the air, like burned out electronics; not sure where it is burning or what it is burning, but you know it is just not good. Danger of shakeup in the company.

(more…)

Really, this just seems so far away in my mind…

Photo Chris Bergin, The Star Press (Muncie, IN)

Autumn is crawling through the slag of summer’s furnace and getting me stoked for cooler weather. The best months of the year are September and October. Maybe it’s the residual excitement from a new school year beginning, but I have always felt a greater sense of awakening in fall than in the spring.

Some see autumn as the season of death, but they just don’t understand what makes it so great. Two things, really: cooking and football.

The summer is too hot to be in the kitchen. It’s too hot to eat most of the time too. But September brings this feeling of relief, where I can wear an ex-boyfriend’s pajama pants and putter around the stove stirring polenta for 55 minutes (as I did last night, working on a new recipe that includes porcini mushrooms, rosemary and parmesan). And in a combination of the best of both worlds, Sundays become feast days, when I can cook all day and then sit in front of my television and watch football while I eat. How great is that?

I have been reading a lot of preseason stuff and I tell you, this is going to be a great year. A Colts repeat? Will Plaxico Burress finally be what Eli needs to be the quarterback he was bred to be? Can Detroit win more than four games? Will Sexy Rexy inhale more nitrous? How many months will Vick get and what will the NFL do with him when he gets out?

And the season opener… Saints at Indy. What can I say except that I will be making a gumbo and a sugar cream pie.

Go Bears! 

P.S. Why do we not have a Sports category on this site?

After a host change and a database meltdown, we are back online. His honor the BP and I will be working to get things back to normal (whatever that may mean) here in the coming days. We hope to offer a much better and more regular blog as we go forward.

Keep your eyes peeled, kids. The Phoenix is about to rise.