It's 122 pages long, it's sitting on my nightstand, it says "Intolerable Cruelty" on the cover.

Tuesday night, Carey and I went to visit a friend of ours in Burbank, Ben Bays. (Some guy with whom we used to go to school in years past. Directed a film awhile back.) Now, Ben is all about movies. No, really, he's ALL ABOUT MOVIES. He's out there raising the money, borrowing the equipment, making the deals, meeting the right people, writing, plotting, directing now and then. Ben's a filmmaker. The man bleeds celluloid.

So, we battled through about an hour and a half of LA rush-hour traffic (which is its own story), to finally arrive at Ben's humble apartment on Elm St., in Burbank. Near Studio City. We caught up for a bit... talked movies, jobs, commute times, life in Southern California... and so on. We decided to go to Bob's Big Boy in town (which, for those who didn't know, happens to be the historical very first Bob's Big Boy ever. Apparently, it's a big screaming deal and a local favorite among Burbank folks and the occassional celebrity).

On the way there, Ben told us the story of The Time He Saw Tom Hanks At Big Boy. Aparently, Tom enjoys a burger, fries, and cherry pie as much as the next guy. As it turns out, we ended up sitting in the very booth where the Hanks had sat (Carey sitting in Tom's seat, which delighted her to no end). After a delightful dinner, Ben graciously picked up the tab and took us on a short driving tour of the studios.

And it's really amazing, if you've never done it: Scrubs, ER, Friends, Frazier... all shot in the same little building off to the left. A block away was the Warner Bros. lot, where movie magic was being made. Across the street, ABC. Another block, Disney studios and the Disney Channel. There's Paramount. There's Universal. All right there, wedged in together. It was all terribly fascinating. Probably the most influential 4 block radius in the world. To be perfectly frank, I'm surprised it wasn't the #1 target on 9-11.

We returned to Ben's crib to find his roommate, Aaron (who also happens to be in showbiz, as a freelance production assistant). While Aaron may not be rich, he's hobnobbed with some of the bigger names in The Industry. (He had a conversation last week with Frances McDormand and a few months ago, Michelle Pfeiffer bought him a beer.) Over the last few weeks, though, he's been working on the set of a Coen Brothers film.

It's difficult to describe how much envy I have for Aaron right now. If he weren't such a nice guy, I'd probably punch him in the neck. Joel and Ethan Coen are easily my very favorite filmmakers of all time. Fargo. O Brother Where Art Thou? The Big Lebowski. Raising Arizona. Anyhow, he was giving me the skinny on the latest Coen flick, starring George Clooney and Catherine Zeta Jones. He mentioned, in passing, "oh, and I have the screenplay in my bedroom. Do you want it?"

I don't usually blubber, but this was an original on-set copy of an in-production Coen Brothers Movie. I managed to finally stammer out that, yes, I really would like to have it. Aaron handed it to me and also gave me a call sheet and several storyboards drawn by Joel Coen himself. It's difficult to describe how exciting this is for me.

And, I've read it. And, of course, it's absolutely hilarious. I can't reveal any details, however, or I'm sure the Hollywood mafia would somehow descend upon me. It's called "Intolerable Cruelty" and it'll be out Christmas time of 2003.

And it's sitting on my nightstand.

Hah.

posted by Jeremy Bear 3:20 PM

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Sunday, August 04, 2002

I'm looking at my arms right now and the word "lobster" comes to mind.

Yesterday (Saturday) Carey and I went to the Huntington Beach surf competition. Apparently, this is one of the premiere surfing events in the United States. I have to confess that I'm not entirely sure how one judges a surfing competition (duration? wave selection? trickiness? board design?), but you have to respect anyone who has the gumption to make a career out of hanging ten. These surfers made their craft appear effortless.

We were invited to the show by a good friend of our dear old pastor back in Hilliard, Tom Bennardo. Tom hooked us up with a tremendous chap by the name of Michael Bischof, an Orange County pastor and church-planter, and his family. Michael was kind enough to take us to lunch and give us the skinny on his current masterpiece: a cell-based church plant here in So-Cal. After chili-fries and vanilla cokes on the Huntington Beach pier, we checked out the surfing competitions and strolled the boardwalk.

This place was insane. As far as California surf culture goes... believe the hype, baby. The entire beach was a living, breathing, MTV-spring-break-grind-dance-n-surf-party-bonanza. Shake your money-maker till dawn. Both Carey and I were pretty awed by the whole display. "Wait, so, we live here? Is that the story? This is our home?"

At the end of the day, we were fried in every sense of the word. Most immediately, our respective skins were burnt like summer brats. It was Aloe and early bedtimes all 'round, but, make no mistake: this is what we signed up for.

And you know? It was a lot of fun.
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So, we live near a Thai restaurant called "Phuket Thai". I'm not making this up. But, I digress.
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Our apartment is still a shambles. We're inching closer to having the place squared away, but it's taking time. It's strange: there's something about having a clean and organized casa that makes one feel as if they have more time for more important things. Even our respective job searches seem to be hindered by the Ragnarok state of every room in our home. But, we're getting there.
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Tonight, we attended Ekklesia (sp?). It's Michael Bischof's cell-church and I can honestly say that I've never met a warmer group of folks. Carey and I were heartily welcomed by these dear brothers and it's obvious that each and every member has a sincere heart for others.

Since this cell-church bit is a start-up, they were very interested in the details of our cell-church back in Hilliard. We told them what we could and filled them in on how, yes, a cell-group-based church really can work and let-me-just-tell-you-about-how-much-we-miss-our-own-group and on and on.

The group was very committed to praying for our transition and our job situations and, you know, it's really really great to have people that care about you when you're in a strange place alone.
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Still looking for work. Things are going all right on the freelance end, though, and I've met several people in my particular industry, so I hope we're on the cusp of something fabulous. Thanks again for the prayers.
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Oh, and Wednesday is the big day. I'll finally be able to reply to emails and, oh, all sorts of wonderful things because, hurrah, we'll finally be connected to the internet. It's been a long time coming and the hour is finally very nearly here. Again: thanks for your email. I really will reply soon.

posted by Jeremy Bear 11:47 PM

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