3 am in fort collins

so i've left los angeles.

friday was my last day at work, so i took off that night and drove the five hours or so to las vegas to spend the night.

las vegas is interesting because of its location. i'm driving through 3 hours of pitch black desert on either side(it was at night), and suddenly this obnoxiously bright magical city appears out of nowhere.

the next day i drove close to thirteen hours from las vegas to fort collins, colorado, where i'm currently sitting on my cousin's couch.

more later. i'm crazy tired.

for all you nerds out there

So on the drive from Weinstein Co. back to my cousin's place downtown I pass a very familiar looking highschool on the left. It just seemed so out of place in the middle of the dirty ghetto where I'm staying for there to be a legit, acclaimed private high school.

Yesterday it finally registered that it was where they shot a bunch of Donnie Darko.

Also, as I couldn't resist looking it up, I found that they shot an episode of The West Wing there to double as Georgetown University.

That still doesn't answer the question of why it's located in a less than ideal section of the downtown area.

"joy in the journey LOL!"

As the summer's progessed, I've become gradually more and more obsessed with the elusive artist formerly known as Pedro the Lion. I turn it up loud on my headphones so I can hear it over the obnoxious Starbucks urban/hiphop playlist.

It's amazing what guitar, bass, drums, and vocals can still accomplish in this world of samples, drum loops, and layers upon layers of instruments. Not that any of that is bad, of course, but such amazing music coming from a stripped down three-piece band is something to behold.

And the lyrics speak from the heart of a follower of Christ who isn't afraid to admit that he still struggles with doubts, insecurities, and(GASP) sin.

One of his albums "Winners Never Quit," basically addresses the concept that Paul brings up in Hebrews, comparing this life for believers to a race. Running a race with a goal in mind allows for suffering, because we're focused on the end and not pleasures along the way. I know personally for me, as I'm struggling to train for a 5k, that running a race is literally full of suffering. I run the first two miles and am fine. Then during the third mile my mind starts to make excuses for my straining body, telling me that I've run enough for the day and can walk the rest of the way. Pedro the Lion puts this into words so much more eloquently than I could ever, but the point is that while this life is a race with an end in mind(glorification, for you theology enthusiasts), much of the duration can suck.

Like this morning when I thought I was gonna die from heat exhaustion at 9 IN THE MORNING. This heat wave is out of control.

So, moral of the story, go buy every Pedro the Lion album and listen to them over and over.

colossus

so they finally have an intact specimen of a giant squid. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_squid

follow all the links to photos and prepare to be amazed. the giant squid is the scariest creature in the world. no contest. if you think there's a creature scarier then you're wrong.

also, apparently there are even bigger specimens reported called Colossal Squid.

here's a picture of a 30 foot giant squid - considered small, as adults are usually 45 to 50 feet long. it's the only time one has been photographed alive.

can you imagine coming face to face with that? i get chills just looking at the picture.

you think you're such a free radical

i worked on a film this weekend involving lesbians in prison.

it's a pilot for a new "edgy" drama called "eden." apparently both HBO and F/X are interested in picking it up. we shot in an abandoned jail just north of downtown. kind of creepy. if any of you have seen "session 9", and i know some of you have, that's where we shot. at least it felt like it. any minute i expected crew members to start disappearing strangely and then reappearing dead or in zombie form. the pilot itself was pretty intense. try to wrack your brain for what could possibly be included in a TV show about lesbians in prison gangs...

don't let your kids see this show.

in other news, went to a screening for a rare 1969 french film about government conspiracies and coverups. oliver stone and leonard maltin were there as moderators, so it was pretty interesting. stone introduced the movie because it apparently heavily influenced his work in JFK, another film about government conspiracies. as i knew it would, the q&a soon turned into a bush-bashing contest. stone remarked of richard nixon, that "he made mistakes, but atleast he had a conscience!" to which the valley crowd of film enthusiasts exploded into an almost giddy frenzy of claps and "OMG BUSH SUCKS! LOL!" now, i have my problems with him as well, but it seemed a bit over the top.

ah well. Platoon was still amazing, oliver. even if you are an insane conspiracy theorist.

in other other news, jon and i have found the perfect solution to L.A.'s "Waffle House-less" problem: Norm's. Norm's is a 24 hour diner in the WH tradition. excellent coffee and breakfast all day, of course. and wait, a five dollar meal??? WHAT??? THIS IS LA!! i pay on average eight bucks a meal usually when i eat out. this means i'll eat at Norm's for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. every day.

too much organ

and when i say too much organ, i mean too much ham and swiss sandwiches. i'm full.

so i got in a wreck while attempting to celebrate our little day of independence. i wasn't driving, and no one was hurt, praise God, but i'm making a list of possible doctors to call tomorrow to see if they can fit me in and take a look at my neck. just as a precaution.

oh, and the kid that hit us doesn't have insurance. you don't say? who'd have thought?
welcome to los angeles.

i mainly feel bad for my buddy whose car it was and whose first wreck it was. it was amazing that no one was hurt, but wrecks are still a huge hassle. especially when you get hit by a stupid kid with no insurance.

i recently introduced one of the editors to some amazing licorice herbal tea, courtesy of a lovely young lady up in kentucky. bridget, if you happen to read this, thanks again for the awesome tea. i'm spreading the good news over here and pretty soon hollywood will come knocking on your door, asking for some awesome herbal tea to help them calm down and not take themselves so seriously.

you just wait.

the water is cool

I visited a church today called Ecclesia, in Hollywood. The church I'd visited a couple of weeks ago as well as a conversation with a buddy of mine who attended there left me a bit discouraged as to the state of the body out in los angeles. Culturally, los angeles is disconnected. Ask anyone who lives here and they'll tell you. I was told about it before I got out here, I felt it when I got here, and I've had it confirmed by believers and non-believers I've gotten to know out here. It's beautiful, diverse, and laid back, but it also breeds loneliness, bitterness, and despair. Most people living out here have left their homes, families, and friends to come out here to the most competitive industry in the world to try to be one of the few to "make it." Loneliness is a natural byproduct of that kind of a life. There can't be much unity if everyone is competing ruthlessly for too few jobs. People aren't people; they're contacts. They're rungs in the ladder. And sadly, this attitude has leaked into the church, from what I've seen and heard.

We were created for fellowship, with God and with others, and weren't constructed to survive without it. I was greatly encouraged by Ecclesia because I saw genuine love, humility, and a passion to reform Hollywood from the inside. Not that everyone there was somehow involved in the arts, but they were all part of the Hollywood culture just by living here. I didn't see wishy washy BS that normally follows the artistic crowd, the rejection of scripture in an effort to be "open minded," or "super star worship" at Ecclesia. The music was done with excellence AND humility, which is HARD. If you're involved in excellent worship, it's easy to get caught up in the excellence and not the Master Artist who, in His grace, has given you the gifts and the capacity for excellence. It's the whole "praise God, we ROCK!" mentality. It's so easy for me to justify pride in the name of excellence, and it was so humbling to see real humility played out in an excellent worship service. How wonderful it is to have a God who cares intimately enough to shatter your personal illusions of excellence and pride and to knock you off your feet to your knees again and again.

Another thing I'm having to adjust to is the lack of hymns and traditional style out here in worship. I've grown so comfortable with the Redeemer style that it's been a huge adjustment. In that case, it's only a matter of me getting out of my comfort zone and learning to appreciate different styles of worship that are no less excellent than the Redeemer/RUF style.

Starbucks is like a breath of cool air. Literally. My cousin's AC-less apartment is like the fiery furnace this afternoon in hazy LA. It's like I work during the week and then spend all weekend at Starbucks, just to get out of the heat.

So everyone who reads this blog(both of you) needs to email me and let me know what's going on in Athens, or wherever you are this summer. Or get a blog and email me the URL.

I mean it.