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2001.07.24 1.32
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Woke up early and dropped off Dawn at the airport. This will make sense when I recurse through the week. Running through what happened tonight so it will be fresh. Went to Montgomeryville Mall to make a last ditch effort to get my contact lenses. They arrived at 1 PM, but the LensCrafter people told me they wanted to 'hydrate' my lenses for 24 hours. Begged for a reprieve. Got one. Bought fancy shmancy clothes from Macy's after many visits to the dressing room. My ensemble would include my Customatix.com patent leather black shoes with the yellow soles, black Tommy Hilfiger carpenter jean pants, glossy silver black DKNY dress shirt and a black grid on yellow tie by Ralph Lauren. Left Philadelphia at 2:30 PM. Arrive in New York around 4:00 PM. Checked into hotel room at the Hilton, directly across the street from the Ziegfeld. I could see the red carpet from outside the window, albeit on the 23rd floor. Room 2306. I remembered it by thinking it was one less that 24/7. Walked down to premiere in plain clothes and snapped some setting up photos. Ran back to the room and took a quick shower and dressed. Went back downstairs feeling like a bad ass. Took lots of pictures. The Wahlberg staff arrived around 7:30 PM (an hour late probably due to the traffic). Eric (aka E-Factor) waived me in to the red carpet, but it turned out I should have gone to the Will Call booth instead. Eventually I did and got my transparent blue envelope with Planet of the Apes premiere passes as well as Club Ape after-party tickets. Went inside and got a good seat on the aisle. Took pictures of the seats with the reservation names on them (including Mark Wahlberg, Charleton Heston, Tim Roth, Tim Burton, etc). Took a phone call from my friend Dawn who inquired what was going on. Told her Pierce Brosnan was 15 feet away. Some friends of Lucy Liu (of Charlie's Angels fame) were seated to my right, although Liu wasn't there. Saw the movie. The plot could have been stronger, but all in all I can't wait to see it again. Wahlberg was a kick ass action hero in the role, so that wasn't any factor in the plot. After the premiere I went into the lobby and stood next to P. Diddy (AKA Puffy Daddy, AKA Shawn Combs). We bumped elbows. He got over it. I also saw Kris Kristopherson quite a bit, as well as the lead actor for The Sapranos. You know, what's his name. Lilith something or other from Mystic Pizza fame was there and I marveled at her beauty. Always had a crush on her and never expected her to be here. The after-party was one block over near the David Letterman theater on 53rd (the premiere was on 54th). Walked. Club Ape featured a dancer in Ape regalia dancing while two 'human' females danced in little cages. Very kinky. I liked it, of course. I told Mark Wahlberg ''congratulations'' on a job well done. I doubt he recognizes me as it has been over a year since ''Perfect Storm' and I am now in disguise as Evil Mark. His manager didn't even recognize me. Regardless, Wahlberg was working the VIP section with ease (which Eric was kind enough to allow me into). Mark gave his full attention to everyone who asked for a picture or a handshake or an autograph. Felt proud to be running his site. I also met Tim Burton and congratulated him and shook hands. He is exactly as you might imagine -- dark sunglasses and very much the artist. I told Burton I couldn't wait to get the DVD. Lots of pressure on him since the cost of the movie was upwards of 100 million and there is tons of cross promotion going on all over the place. Jules Asner of E! Entertainment was also at Club Ape. She looked like The Bomb. At one point she had to squeeze past where I'd been standing to get to the other side. We were THISCLOSE. It was great. Then her boyfriend squeezed by and we were THISCLOSE. That part wasn't so great. Got to pitch my company to three different folks, all of which apparently were Fox contractors. Took around 75 photos of the entire night. Got around 30 or so of Wahlberg to entertain the fans on MarkWahlberg.com (hi guys!). I walked back to the Hilton and startled typing this blog in for your enjoyment. Going to crop one or two photos in PhotoShop and post this update on my web site. Then I'm going to CONK OUT and try to wake up early in the morning for the trip back to Philly. Have to go to work tomorrow so I'm not totally thrilled about the drive back. Getting here was insanely easy, however, so I will definitely be making a return visit. Yee haw!
