Moving On Up

Well, it’s official, our move to the Eastside is complete.

Apologies for the absence of blog in the last week or so, but as you can imagine, the move was rather time consuming and also came with a period of no internet as well.

However, now that I am all settled (well, almost all settled — there’s still some unpacking to do), blogging should resume on a more regular schedule (which, admittedly, lately, hasn’t been all that regular).

Anywho…time to get the day started and get some work done so that I can be relaxing in front of the tv this evening for the season premiere of Rescue Me.

Later kids.

TV Giveth And TV Taketh Away

For those people who work in the industry, along with people who work in advertising, as well as people who’s lives obsessively revolve around watching television, this past week is arguably the most important week of the year.

This is the week in which the major television networks announce their fall line-ups after debuting previews of their new programming for Madison Ave. advertisers (called Upfronts) in hopes of getting sponsors to commit millions of dollars towards shows that have not yet aired.

For someone like myself (who qualifies under two of the aforementioned categories - though primarily as an obsessive watcher) this week is particularly important as it begins to give me some idea as to how i will be spending every night of my week come the fall.

Unfortunately, this week is also bringing with it much sadness (some extremely unexpected) as the new line-ups inevitably mean the cancellation of shows that I have grown to love.

Obviously, a show like the West Wing (a favorite of mine) won’t be back, however, this has been something that I was told well in advance of this past week, and therefore I was able to prepare for the loss (along with being able to see the series conclude with a sense of closure, I also have the new Aaron Sorkin show Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip to look forward to).

The same could be said for Arrested Development, which was also expected to be cancelled and therefore the creators made sure to tie up there major arcs when writing the last few episodes of this past season.

However, for every West Wing/Arrested Development that ends with some sense of closure, some shows are cancelled without ever really giving viewers the satisfaction of answering many of the issues they raise when on the air.

The one show whose departure I am most upset by is Invasion. The brilliant sci-fi/drama that ABC had on after Lost was, in my opinion, the best new show on television this past season, and arguably the most consistent hour of television as well (i never was disappointed by any episode all season long - high praise for a show like this).

Anyways, I found out two days ago that Invasion was not being picked up and this made me very angry. Obviously, because i like the show, but also because this decision was made after the series had finished shooting its season finale (which is now the series finale). At the time of the filming it was expected that the show would be picked up and therefore the finale was (along with being an amazing episode) a cliffhanger designed to spin the show in a direction that would lead to the main arc of season 2.

So, not only did I not get to find out the answers to the greater questions raised as the show progressed through the season, I was left with more questions that will never be answered.

Needless to say, I’m pissed. And quite frankly I blame those of you who didn’t watch the show. Or at the very least those 22 million + among you who watch crap like American Idol and Grey’s Anatomy but couldn’t find the time to watch Invasion. It’s all your fault.

If that wasn’t bad enough, HBO just announced that they were releasing the cast of Deadwood from their contracts, thereby effectively signaling that this season will be the last for that show as well. Which (seeing as how this decision was also made after this forthcoming season 3 has wrapped) will mean that most likely there will be no sense of closure for this show either, and I will have to watch every episode this summer with the simmering resentment that comes from knowing that all these (presumably) brilliant storylines will never get to go anywhere.

Now sure, I suppose the argument could be made that if I didn’t invest my life so heavily on television shows then perhaps i would not have to deal with such disappointment.

But you know what, if I didn’t ever fall in love then I wouldn’t have to worry about heartbreak either.

No, I say it’s better to have loved and lost.

But, seriously, next time I tell you to watch a show…do me a favor and watch…my sense of well-being is at stake.

The Last Flood?

My apartment has flooded again.

Thankfully, the flood occurred this morning a little before 10am, and it was contained to my brother’s bathroom and the hallway outside his bedroom (both areas that have tile rather than carpet). So all in all as far as flooding apartments go, it could have been worse.

Also, it was a lot easier to remain calm with the knowledge that we are outttttaaaa heeeeereeee. Later this afternoon, my brother and I are going to be signing our new lease, and although we were initially planning on moving to the new place at a leisurely pace over the next two weeks, we can, obviously, speed that process up if the need exists (which it now, thanks to the new flood, seemingly does).

Our new place is up in the base of the Hollywood Hills, a few blocks north of Hollywood Blvd. just west of the 101. I’m rather excited about moving to the new location — obviously we’ll be a lot closer to the “action” as opposed to the peaceful seclusion of the westside, so it should make for an interesting change of lifestyle (though presumably i’ll still spend the majority of my time in my apartment watching tv and writing — only now the option of going out will actually have more possibilities behind it for me to dismiss).

Anyways, as far as i’m concerned as long as the new place stays flood free (and since there’s nobody living on top of us this time - a big selling point, needless to say) we should be in decent shape.

Well…I suppose i’ll take my leave for now and go back to work and wait for the plumber/cleaning people to arrive…

ahh, there’s the phone ringing now.

Magic Man And A Rabbit

Well, the David Blaine special was enjoyable albeit a slight let down. As I’m sure you are all now aware, David only managed to hold his breath for 7min 8sec, as opposed to his goal (and what would have been a new world record) 9min. Certainly seeing a person hold their breath for over 7min is impressive enough (though debatable as to whether or not it’s deserving of a prime time sweeps special), but the true source of entertainment in the show came from Blaine’s street magic segments.

In these segments he walks around to strangers performing tricks that make their jaws drop - or in one case make their teeth (apparently) fall out - and leave the spectators claiming that he is either a)amazing b)unbelievable or c) the devil himself…I like to think it’s a combination of all three.

Anyways, one would presume it’s only a matter of time before he does something that either maims or kills him on live television, so i’ll probably continue to tune in.

Otherwise today was a relatively quiet day, I spent most of the day on the phone setting up appointments for the rest of the week to check out more apartments. Which was productive, if not slightly less than exciting.

So, since today’s highlight so far has been Sportscenter, I will instead elaborate on my encounter with the homeless man dressed in the rabbit costume this past weekend.

I was having dinner with my brother and a friend in the 3rd St. Promenade area of Santa Monica and after dinner we were walking back to the parking structure where my car was, and as we were walking along, enjoying the evening and engrossed in conversation I looked up and noticed the giant rabbit sitting on a suitcase holding a sign that said, “Homeless American, Please Help.”

Needless to say I was rather taken aback — seeing as how it is not every day one encounters a giant rabbit holding a sign (or for that matter a giant rabbit sans sign). He almost looked like the rabbit in Donnie Darko, and perhaps he was. I don’t know of a lot of other work that that rabbit’s had since the film, so perhaps if he didn’t invest his money wisely he might be on the streets by now.

Anyway, the thing that perplexed me the most was that at some point this person had to have (presumably) purchased the rabbit costume from a store. Which (unless he found it in a dumpster somewhere - which is i guess definitely possible) would be, in my opinion, not a very good allocation of funds if one were homeless. Then again I suppose if the homeless were better at allocation of funds they might not be homeless in the first place…it’s sort of a chicken or egg situation i suppose.

The other thing that perplexed me is the decision itself to opt for the rabbit costume. What compelled him to go with rabbit over say a dog or even a bear? I would hope that some thought went into it, because chances are that guy is going to be spending the better portion of the rest of his life in that rabbit suit. That’s the thing about being homeless, you don’t really have a lot of options, so if you find yourself in the position to purchase an animal costume in the hope that it might get you a few extra bucks from people passing by, you better think long and hard about what choice you’re gonna make. Personally, i have to believe that i would have opted for something that didn’t have white fur. As nothing turns a homeless person in a rabbit costume from fun-loving to scary and creepy quicker than a costume with dirt, piss, vomit, and other street stains.

Back In Business

Whoever said, “nothing is ever accomplished by being lazy,” obviously had no idea what they were talking about. Case in point, my router situation. After several weeks of avoiding the task of getting off my ass to go out and buy a new router my problem managed to resolve itself yesterday afternoon when my router began working again. I have no idea what caused the sudden shift in my router’s behavior, nor do I really care. The only thing that matters is that I once again have wireless internet access, and I had to do absolutely nothing in order to get it (save for sit around and wait for a couple of weeks - and occassionally complain about the situation).

Anyway…I’m back.

So, it’s been a while since i’ve done some serious blogging and I’m almost unsure of where to begin. Quite a bit has happened lately, and there is much going on in my life that is blog worthy, so hopefully in the next few days those of you who’ve been starving for some of my posts will get your fill.

First off…I am currently in the process of looking for a new apartment. My brother and I gave our 30 day notice on the 1st of the month and now have until the end of the month to find a new place to live and move. Now, this is not the ideal situation, as normally I would have preferred to have had at least some idea as to where I was planning to move before giving notice on my current lease, but I suppose not much has been ideal when it comes to this apartment.

The problems arose when it was discovered that my lease runs out at the end of this month. My brother had been telling me that it ran through July. The reason for this confusion is somewhat unclear, but mostly the basis of it comes from the fact that I didn’t sign the lease until July. I suppose my brother was under the impression that the two months preceding my signing of the lease during which he had already signed (because he was living here, and I had not yet moved from Miami) did not count towards the 1 year lease term. Regardless of the reasoning, the end result is the same, we gots to go. Which I certainly am not overly upset about…as long as we find somewhere good to go to next.

The process of looking for an apartment is always enjoyable and entertaining if not time consuming and strange. You get a fresh start and can have your pick of things (which I am happy about given my better understanding of where things are now as opposed to when i first moved out here).

So far the search has not produced much but places that were either too small, in bad areas, or not worth the price being asked.

We did look at one really nice place near the Grove, but it was definitely too small…however it led to a rather humorous discussion with the landlord about the apartment later that evening. The landlord was an elderly woman who was very nice if not perhaps a bit hard of hearing (or perhaps in the early stages of senility…i’m not sure).

Anyways…i spoke to her 3 times before we went to check the place out, mostly this was because the day before we were stood up by a landlord and so my brother and i didn’t want to waste our time again - and needless to say she didn’t exactly inspire confidence over the phone that we could trust her memory to be there. For example every time I called her she asked who I was, why I was calling, and then I had to wait while she got a pen to write it all down. And each time I explained that i was just checking to make sure we were still meeting to see the apartment at 2pm, only for her to tell me that she couldn’t meet at 2pm because she already had an appointment at that time…at which point i had to explain that I was the person who had the appointment.

But, to her credit she did show up and we looked at the apartment as scheduled. Which as I mentioned was nice, but too small for the two of us (plus Socrates). So, we thanked her and her husband who showed us around and then left, thinking that would be the end of it. However, later that night I got a phone call from her asking me what I thought about the place. I explained to her that it was nice, but smaller than we needed. At this point the conversation took a comedic turn.

Her: Well, what price did you see the apartment listed at?
Me: Um, I believe it was $1850, but i don’t remember.
Her: Well, how bout I make it $1800.
Me: That’s very nice of you, but like I said it’s not an issue of price, it’s just too small.
Her: Okay, how bout $1750
Me: No, really, it’s not a matter of money, we can afford the cost, but it’s not big enough for us.
Her: What do you do?
Me: Excuse me?
Her: Do you have a job?
Me: Yes, I write, and I teach part-time. And my brother is a student.
Her: Okay, $1700, but that’s as low as I can go.
Me: Um…Yeah, again, it’s really just a size issue, but seriously thanks for your time.
Her: Fine…your welcome, but if you change your mind let me know.
Me: Okay..have a nice night.

Then I hung up.

Anyways…I suppose you can’t blame a person for trying.

There is a lot more to come in the next few days here at my blog including more stories about my search for a new apartment, Scientologists, a homeless man in a giant rabbit’s costume, and more…

but for now, it’s time for me to get that dinner thing started before i begin my evening’s television…which tonight includes the David Blaine special Drowned Alive, which I highly recommend everyone watch.

Until tomorrow…