I’m sure I’m going to get some angry psychotic response because of my previous entry from those involved. Just for their information, I will delete your email or voicemail unread. My phone is also being turned off, so don’t even bother.
And now the conclusion of Tales from Hollywood.
That evening we made a half-assed attempt to watch ”The Matrix Reloaded” but due to a combination of too much sleep and leftover jet lag we were only able to make it to The Burly Brawl. I walked out, but this was the first time I’d ever done that due to being overly sleepy. I fell asleep during the movie ”Congo” several years ago. I woke up and there was some kind of battle going on. The apes looked so fake, I didn’t care that I’d missed anything. Kind of like missing an episode of The Wonder Years near the end when it started to get boring and you realized there was no way the narrator’s voice was ever going to match up with the main character. This was supposed to be the guy later in life looking back upon his childhood. Unless he had a vocal chord transplant, I didn’t see that happening. Suspension of disbelief notwithstanding.
On the day of the premiere we had plenty of time to kill. We started off initially thinking we were going to the NBC Studio Tour. We saw Warner Bros. VIP Tour on the NeverLost options and decided we’d check that out instead. At first wary of the words VIP (I thought we may not be able to go on the tour since we were just guys off the street), we did enter the studio lot successfully. All it took was a little patience and $35+ each. We got to walk on the lot untethered (!) and checked out the residential facades where Gilmour Girls and a variety of other shows use whenever they need to simulate suburbia. We also got to see the set for ”Friends” which was still set up the as in the cliffhanger end of season episode where Joey and Rachel make out. Very cool! Central Perk is a lot small than I thought it was. I think I could actually simulate Central Perk almost completely if I put my mind to it. Maybe later. The Drew Carey show set was also visited, as well as this enormous football field sized warehouse filled with costumes from the beginning of time through several hundred years in the future. Freaky! I have some pictures from there that I will post (eventually). We left pleased that we’d seen cool things that we hadn’t expected to see.
The time for the premiere came and we were suited up in our Hey We Look Like Celebrities gear. The trick is wearing sunglasses whenever possible. Pretending that you’re trying to find P. Diddy also helps. ”Excuse me, have you seen Puff?” Riiight. The Mann’s Chinese Theater is beautiful inside. A nice combition of black and red woodwork adorns every wall and ceiling. Just my style. The after party was behind the El Capitan movie theater and was lots of fun. Wahlberg was great and gave my dad an autograph. He was mobbed just about the entire time he was there, but Eric (Mark’s bodyguard) knows me from MW.com and adjusted the mob in our favor briefly.
Next morning we were back on our respective planes returning to Houston and Philly. The film, by the way, was hilarious. Seth Green has a great role as The Napster. I’m not going to give anything away because there are lots of twists and turns in the plot to easily keep up the interest level. If you haven’t seen ”The Italian Job” yet, go now. Right now. Go!
