Mar11

Huff, huff, huff…hike

by tonyd on March 11, 2008 at 1:36 am

Brother Hollywood has dropped 30 pounds and he and Ahmet are rockin the exercise. I heard about the infamous hike they took Brother Homewrecker on and I was trying to duck it. But today they finally talked me into it. At first we were walking down hill. Great views in the hills. Cool houses. You could even see the ocean. Finally, we turned around. Suddenly, I was walking up hill and it was not fun. Total time, 90 minutes. That’s about 89 minutes more than I ususally hike. Again, we talked scripts and meetings. Sounds like we got it goin’ on.

Back to Ahmet’s awesome pad which he calls “McFearless Manor” just like his book. He has a great view, but I wouldn’t want to be on his balcony in an Earthquake. We grabbed a shower and headed to Santa Monica. Ahmet and Brother Hollywood had a meeting. Myself and Homewreck cruised Santa Monica and the local comic book store, Hi Dee Ho. Not bad. Mostly graphic novels. On the street, Hollywood ran into Josh who writes Vertigo’s Unknown Soldier. Our other celebrity spottings included the girl from Scrubs on the hike and on the way to dinner, the singer Fiest from the ipod commercial. You know, “One, two, three, four, tell me that you love me more…”

Finally, I’m back at James and Karen’s pad. Still can’t get my laptop to work, but Karen has kindly loaned me her Mac lap. Macs are pretty sweet I must admit. I might have to make the switch.

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Mar10

Shit Switch

by tonyd on March 10, 2008 at 1:27 am

So I was hanging with the Beranek bros. They just moved into a new place. I went with them to pick up their fridge and bed. Unfortunately, since my Internet and cellphone signal is a little spotty here, I missed sushi lunch and had to grab a Tommy’s burger. While we were waiting for the truck guy, the burger went south. Fast. It was the dreaded “Shit Switch”.

Brother Hollywood immediately pointed out a building at the top of the hill that looked like a business, so I started walking there. Unfortunately, it was a nursery school and it was closed. In a panic, I started walking around, clenching and praying a bathroom would reveal itself. Finally, a coffee house emerged. Hunched over, I ran inside. It was a photo finish, but I’m happy to report that I did not shit my pants on the 42 nd birthday.

Later, we met up with Ahmet at Katsu-ya Sushi. Most awesome. Ahmet is “The Mayor of Studio City”. He knows everyone out here. He couldn’t walk 20 feet without saying hi to someone. Then we went to frozen yogurt. I’m doing a lot of eating out here, but in between, we’re talking scripts. It’s a very California way of doing things I think.

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Mar09

Eating my way across L.A.

by tonyd on March 9, 2008 at 5:20 am

I’m a food guy.  I like food.  Been eating it all my life.  L.A. is rife with it.  Especially fast food.  Today, since it’s the weekend and most of the big time movie guys have the day off, James and Karen took me to Papoo’s Hot Dog Show.  I really wanted to see a puppet made out of hot dogs, but this turned out to be just a good place to get really good hot dogs and hamburgers.  After chowing down, we drove down to the center of Hollywood so I could buy some souveniers for the missus.  The tourist scene gets old in L.A. real quick.  There were lots of guys in costumes taking pictures including that Superman dude that I saw on the Daily Show on time.  He seems pretty obsessed with Supes.  He even had a blonde girl with him that was dressed up as Supergirl.

After that, we ended up at the Cold Stone Creamery in the mall.  I gorged myself on ice cream, since I hadn’t really had it in a while.  Later, I ended up going to In and Out burger with Brothers Hollywood and Homewrecker in Westwood.  There I spotted the former site of Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash.  The store had been closed.  There seem to be lots going on in Westwood.  Possibly a movie premiere for Vantage Point, but I’m not sure.  After burgers, the bros insisted on a stop at Diddy Rees, which makes awesome cookies and awesome ice cream sandwiches made with their cookies.  Again, I had way too much ice cream.  After a brief drive around L.A. (where I saw National Lampoon’s World Headquarters and many, many beautiful hotties out for the night) we went back to the bros’ new pad and talked scripts.  We have plans for some of my new projects and we’re presenting them this week to some Hollywood movers and shakers.  Now, normally that wouldn’t mean much, except these guys are actually very good at making movies.  I mean, lots of comic book guys SAY they’re talking to movie guys, but they usually mean movie guys like I’m a movie guy.  Just some guy that worked in movies.  These are like real movie guys.  They made movies that you actually heard of.  Of course, I can’t really tell who they are because that would perhaps put the kibosh on the whole deal.  Hopefully, if all goes well, I’ll have something to announce by the end of the trip.

Well, I gotta go digest all this dairy.  Blog at you tomorrow bros.

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Mar08

The D has landed!

by tonyd on March 8, 2008 at 3:37 pm

This is Tony D, reporting live from Los Angeles.  Touch down was smooth, the pastrimi I had on the plane, delicious.  My rental car, upgraded to midsize.  Everything’s coming up Tony. Almost 20 years ago, I moved to the City of Angeles.  It bit me up and chewed me out.  My car broke down three times on the drive out, I got into two car accidents, got three parking tickets and caught the stomach flu on the one day I was supposed to meet a movie exec.  When I left I vowed to come back.  I shook my fist and vowed that I would return the king of comics and take that city and punch it in the nutsack.  Also, I’d be married to Christina Applegate by then.  Much has changed in 20 years.  From LAX I went to my host’s place in Toluca Lake.  (Thanks Karen and James!)  I made contact with Brother Hollywood (AKA: Publisher Christian Beranek) and his bro, Brother Homewrecker (AKA: Adam Beranek).  We met on Riverside Drive for some top quality Mexican food and I finally got to meet Ahmet Zappa, the newest member of our world-cconquering team.  Ahmet is awesome and not just because he paid.  Yes, I can tell.  The vibe is completely different than 20 years ago.  The city feels different.  It’s quaking beneath my feet.  Shaking.  Worried.   We make plans for more meetings.  More script meetings.  The city tries to get me lost on the way home.  Then there’s a fire on Riverside.  The city is weak and I am strong.  Yes, this will be a good trip.   Second Assistant Pledgemaster Tony D has arrived city, for revenge!

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