uncle. (coming soon)

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 08:23:01 -0700

uncle. there, i said it.

that’s all i’m saying.

everything else is under wraps.

good things do happen to bank robbers (and buddhists and beautiful filmmakers)

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 21:55:10 -0700

yesterday i ran into a former agent/producer friend of mine in trader joes. he was one of the first people i met in hollywood more than a few years ago. we had a brief but rich conversation about the importance of being human and telling ‘good’ stories about humanity in this industry. we were in the hollywood and vine trader joes in the heart of it all. at about the same time, my i phone was getting an email from the trade publications Variety and Deadline Hollywood announcing that the award for best first feature at the Toronto International Film Festival went to my good friend Nathan Morlando for the film he wrote and directed and was produced and promoted and birthed by his wife Alison Black.

it was a perfect synchronicity of events to reinforce the fact that good things happen to good people. and that patience, virtue and talent always rise to the surface. i had just left a filmmaker’s workshop sponsored by the Writer’s Guild that involved filmmakers mentoring filmmakers - and spent four hours that morning with a-list directors who were interested in sharing what they have and passing it on - and all of them essentially were saying the same things - to be a great filmmaker and a great director, you have to be a good human. that at the end of the day, creating a film means inspiring and managing and motivating a large group of people to do their best and their highest. (this is NOT true of all of them, matter of fact, i know it’s not, but of these people donating their time and talent - it is).

i’m not one to say i told you so, but in the case of edwin boyd and my friends nathan and alison, this is the case - i told you so. i met the filmmakers years ago when they were developing with the same heart another project. everyone told them the uphill battle they were waging to make a film - any film. and they heard it but didn’t listen. that project hasn’t happened, but edwin boyd, a longtime passion project had gone away (the rights had been taken over by someone else) but it returned to them and now here they are some 10 years later, celebrating not just with accolades and a little cash, but truly the accomplishment of bringing life and vision to something they see, care about and did together. and proving that faith is of utmost importance.

it’s probably no coincidence that the story is about the fall and redemption of a notorious canadian bankrobber. they wouldn’t just do any story unless it had those qualities. i saw an early rough cut and was not only moved by the story but by the sensitivity and passion that anchored the story and plot. the filmmakers found a way to care about a character that was hard to care about on the surface. but isn’t it what happens beneath the surface that we root for anyway. aren’t we all trying to break through the surface and rise above it all.

i know for a fact that this is the journey that myself and my friends and the gentleman i ran into the other day in the middle of hollywood - are aiming to do - rise above it all and emerge with stories and films about hope and humanity and beauty.

and if it turns out that at it’s core (it’s very very deep and buried core) that’s what hollywood is really fighting to do to, wouldn’t that be wonderful.

the obama lama: friends with benefits?

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 19:49:45 -0700

don’t get me wrong. i like them both. i voted for obama and i have studied, read, followed the dalai lama. i’ve seen him speak and almost touched his robe. i like them both. serious.

but why did they meet again?

sure they have world attention and nobel prizes in common.

but why now?

why as the chinese economy is thriving and we are on the brink of collapse. why at this moment in time. the dali is having a birthday. that’s nice. obama is having a meltdown. ok. why now. dali lama has stepped out of the political arena as head political leader of tibet - stepping away from his post there but hanging out at the white house - what is up his sleeve?

i scoured the press and the only clue, the only thing i can come up with is this quote from the dali lama himself:

"...we developed a very close sort of feeling for each other."

oh ok. that makes sense. they like each other. it’s not political. it’s not pr stunt. it’s not. i get it. they’re just friends. no benefits. no political, social, spiritual or financial benefits. yeah. right. i don’t mean to be cynical about two of the worlds leaders but doesn’t this whole set up sound like a pitch for a bad rom com. obama lama; friends with benefits.

you get it right? president of a troubled country and leader of troubled religious heritage bond and become bff’s. you can’t keep them away from each other. their friendship starts to get in the way of their work and they have to decide whether to be friends, or political. it writes itself. the only question left is this: who will play them in the film?

that’s too, is a no brainer.

a good old fashioned blockbuster (without the late fees)

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 10:44:22 -0700

so i guess since this is a blog about hollywood, i should talk about movies. and since there’s not so much happening in the theatres this summer (that i care about anyway) i have resorted to something that many of us have forgotten and some have never experienced - the good old fashioned rental.

yes, no streaming, no red box, no net flix, there’s this thing that happens where you go into a store, a shoppe, an actual location and you kinda shop for the movie you want to see. you touch the box or case that the movie comes in, you read a review or two, you hold it in your hands, you might even carry it around the store while you decide if you want to see it or not.

it happened the other day at a place called ‘rocket video’. rocket video is so old school it’s new school. dusty, amy and i were set lose in the place that recently relocated from it’s decade old spot on la cienega to the new space - on a different la. this one - la brea. at la brea and beverly. just because it looks closed - and dirty - don’t shy away. inside it’s almost like a movie set. a movie set of movies.

they have all the classic and the new blue rays. we picked up ‘point break’ the kathryn bigelow classic that has it all - cia, sex, buddhist theories, surfing and keanu reeves wooden acting (the interesting thing here is that he hasn’t gotten any worse, he was just as bad then as he is now, and that was pre-green screen).

but the movie is fantastic. it holds it’s own against the blockbusters of the summer - xmen, super 8, all the superhero things that are littering the cineplexes.

here’s the problem though, and why this charming old fashioned approach to renting movies doesn’t work anymore. i was 4 days late on returning the video and they’re trying to charge me 20 bucks. i can buy 5 used videos at blockbuster for that price. which is what i did next. i went to blockbuster. remember that place?

well, it’s the new blockbuster (i think they went bankrupt and then got bought out) and now, they’re giving the movies away. for a mere $1.17 i rented two of the best movies i’ve seen in recent history (and none of them are streaming on netflix). in bruges, a brilliant movie and amazing performance by colin farrell that someone flew under the radar (except he won a golden globe for best actor - who knew?), the last station - a gem of a film about Tolstoy’s last days and incredible performances by Helen Mirren and Plummer and James McEvoy.

so i brought them back and not only did they thank me and welcome me back to ‘the new blockbuster’ but they told me i could rent another movie for free. FOR FREE. did you hear that redbox. take that one, netflix. and eat me! rocket video. i’m back at blockbuster (until they start charging me late fees and then i’ll find another way to stay out of the summer cineplexes).

Resurrection in Palm Springs

Tue, 7 Jun 2011 19:49:28 -0700

Something happened in the desert. On Easter Sunday. 2011. Actually, a lot of things happened. But when we travelled to Palm Springs for an Easter get-away there was a subtle but sure Easter miracle.

One night, one room, five of us. The Ace Hotel, Palm Springs, USA.

Here is what I mean by the five of us:

Me, niece Amy, nephew Dusty, min pin Meme, and Curious, the big white dog.

Here are some of the things that happened: I bought hip boarder shorts. Dusty rode a bicycle. Amy took a long nap. Meme pooped in a four star hotel room. Curious lounged by the pool. I sat by a fire and meditated and fell asleep. We went on a candy run. We ate two good - and one mediocre - meals. We went to outlet malls. We played ping pong. We laughed.

First - a flashback:

Last fall when I returned from my Bay Area Berkeley summer, Amy moved in with me in a new fourplex in West Hollywood (we call it Blackburn Station). She embarked on her CBS internship (which she aced). Dusty showed up in November. All of us in one house. We danced around each other for awhile, got to know each other a little bit. Had Thanksgiving in Malibu and celebrated a birthday or two. Amy left in December and returned to the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, graduated early and by March was back to LA for good. By that time, Dusty was interning with Clooney at Smokehouse, had two waiter jobs, and racked up more than a few dates.

I turned another year older (and another year sober) on March 30th.

So by Easter, we were ready for something to happen. We were thirsty for a miracle. For all of us, there has been more than a 40 day and night stretch in the desert - a long period of loss and the unknown - a famine of hope - and each of us trying in our own ways to piece together a semblance of home. Apart.

For me, Hollywood, Silverlake, the beach, Oregon, San Francisco and back again. For Dusty, from college to the coast, then to college again. For Amy, college, an internship, back to college.

And now. Here we were all together, on an Easter Sunday in paradise, sitting by the big, clean, sparkling pool of the almost too chic Ace Hotel. We waded in the pool and into a new version of all of our lives. Together. Without even knowing what was happening - and what was happening was this... we were becoming something.

Three humans. Two dogs (don’t tell the front desk). A small room. High count sheets. A new kind of family of sorts. Plopped together under completely unreasonable, unplanned, unexpected circumstances. Him. Her. Me. My sisters’ kids, from two different mothers. Two different fathers passed on. My parent’s grandkids. The oldest boy and the oldest girl. And me, the perpetually wandering, single uncle... lived alone, travelled alone, content to be alone for a decade.

And as we were standing there, a gardener from the grounds at the Ace took my camera and took the pictures you see here - snapped these beauties. So this is a new version of the old Uncle Hollywood. Out of the desert. Rising from the dust, the ashes. A new blog, a website.

And to be sure, when we returned to our abode on Blackburn and La Jolla, it was quite clear that it wasn’t just the Uncle Hollywood blog that was resurrected, it was a little bit of each of our spirits.

But we didn’t talk about that. We would save that conversation for this very blog.