MTV Movie Awards

Caro and Dani went to the MTV Movie Awards last night at Gibson Amphitheater at Universal City. All I got was this camera phone picture. It was a blast for Dani, who said "Johnny Depp was there." That about summed it up in terms of hugeness for her. The girls got all dolled up and then went to Katsuya afterwards. Caro said you couldn't even tell that there was, or had been, a fire on the Universal lot.

Zach Selwyn & Ron Jeremy Short Films

Porno Fireplace - Parts I, II, III

My buddy Zach (and his wife, and yes, Ron Jeremy) stars in this hilarious series of shorts by Zach's brother Jesse. They used their own home for the location. Note from the set: Zach told me at one point, Ron was on his sofa, wearing nothing but a towel and scratching at himself. Now that's entertainment.

R.E.M. at Hollywood Bowl

R.E.M. put on a great show at the Hollywood Bowl. They opened with "Pretty Persuasion" which they rarely play live. I shot this image of Stipe on the video screen on the side of the stage. We bought tickets through the R.E.M. Fan Club so we had great seats. We also hooked up with David, who works in Athens for the band, and went to the after-party. Caro got to introduce me to one of her mentors, Burtis Downs, the band's manager. There was also a funny cast of characters from Athens, and Caro also ran into a former UGA radio colleague. It was really a great music night.

Ron Jeremy at the Beldings.

Beldings Award winners get some loving from [aging] porn star Ron Jeremy. He hung around (hung, get it?) for the after-party that Yahoo! sponsored (which one of the partners of David & Goliath referred to as "Yoo-hoo"). He's as foul looking as the last time I saw him in the flesh (in the flesh, get it?) at the Houston's at Century City.

We Won the First Belding of the Night!

Wow and we deserved it! The first Belding award went to the Activision team (Marcus & Miguel pictured here) for the videos for World Leader Reviews. The Belding theme this year was to award not only the silver bowl, but also to provide "bonus" awards. In this case, Marcus and Miguel are serenaded by YouTube star Tay Zonday who sings "Chocolate Rain" (of "I move away from the mic to breathe in" fame). The next winner received a foot long hot dog from a cougar, and so on and so on. At the end of the night, World Leaders for the Activision game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare won the Belding Sweepstakes prize for DDB Los Angeles.

Relaxing Before the Show

Hanging out before the show with Spud. Caro just ran into Fall Out Boy in the lobby - she did their Nintendo sponsorship. We're watching the feeds of the Live Earth shows from around the world while we watch Giants Stadium start to fill up - heading out from the city soon.

David Sedaris, No Photography Allowed.

Caro surprised me with a trip down to Irvine to see David Sedaris read. Front and center! Photography wasn't allowed, so I got this dumb shot of the podium before he came out. He was introduced by a local teen he found at the pre-reading book signing (she was running for Secretary of her school's student council, and pronounced herself a supporter of the Newport Beach Public Library) before launching into an hour of reading. Most of it I've heard on NPR or read before in the New Yorker, but he ended the reading with recent entries from his diary, made while on a fact-finding trip to Japan. Funniest one being about a barber with crap (literally, feces) on his hand, and Sedaris's attempt to get him to reveal his poop-smeared palm.

He read his New Yorker piece about buying weed while home in Raleigh for Christmas. I think at one point, Caro and I were laughing so hard, we started yelling "oh my god! oh my god!" at him, like he was doing some sort of personal reading for us. A consequence of sitting in the front row, just facing the reader and seeing no one in the audience behind us.

Sedaris is special to me and Caro; not because he's from Raleigh, which is cool, but that we were both reading his book, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, when we met.

And the Oscar Goes To

The entries at our Oscars party on Sunday; everyone had to bring a dish that they named for an entry or nominee. I will note that the entrants with bean dip, "The De-Farted," were unable to attend, but are recognized nonetheless.

And the nominees are:

Black Forest Whitaker Cake
The Good German Chocolate Cake
Oats on a Scandal (oatmeal cookies)
Dreamgrills (White Castle sliders)
Noodles on a Scandal (casserole)
An Inconvenient Tabouleh
Pitas of the Caribbean (pita chips & dip)
Dreamgirls Jennifer Hummus
Tower of "Babel" Bagels (bagels on a Fisher-Price tower toy)
Afudgalytpo (brownies)
The Queen-ois Salad (quinois grain salad)


Caroline was not able to complete her entry: the Devil Wears Prada snack tray, which was to consist of chewing gum and cigarettes.

Ozzy & Sharon

Yep. That's Ozzy and Sharon at the Ozzfest tour press conference in Century City. Ozzfest will be free this year. I'm so proud of the work that my wife does on Ozzfest, and we like to laugh that when our son grows up to be a teenager, telling him that his Mom worked with rockers like Ozzy will be the future equivalent of the Alan Parsons Project. Sharon herself said it on a recent episode of Gordon Ramsay's F-Word on BBC America: it doesn't matter what you do, you're going to be an embarrassment to your kids. She's a smart lady and a lot of fun to watch doing some business.

And clearly they're not vampires - look at the size of that crucifix Ozzy is sporting.

The Great Smashing Pumpkin Sighting

Hardly recognizable in this photo - sort of like a shot of Sasquatch in the woods - but it's Billy Corgan sitting in the adjacent box seat at The Who at the Hollywood Bowl.

According to wikipedia, Corgan's 40th birthday is this year, on Saint Patrick's Day, which is also a Saturday. Which would mean this could be the number one coolest birthday party of the year.