Here's what's new(s)

I'm finally settled into our mini-manse in the hills of LA. Uh, no, we didn't win the lotto. I just found a really cool, cheap house to rent on Craigslist. Max loves it. He has his own entrance and everything. One of our favorite LA places is Ruynon Canyon. He can barely make it up the hill sometimes, but I think we both know it's good for us. Dave and I have also been exploring as well. He's the best. For my birthday we went up to wine country near Santa Barbara. He doesn't drink, so we detoured to an apple orchard also. There's also a town there, Solvang, that is a gianormous tourist spot. I can always tell because the ratio for Asian tourist jumps to about 60%. I being Asian only contributes to this problem. None of the wines I tasted were any good, so I got a bottle of Balsamic Vinagrette instead. It was spicy and sweet and oh sooo tasty. And Dave could have some too. The following day Dave's friend Rob agreed to take us mountain biking. It was apprantly the best idea on the worst day. What would have been a 40 minute trip took 3 hours because of the Labor Day weekend traffic. I did get to see what Zuma Beach looked like crowded. But we finally made it to the trails. They were just north of Malibu in Ventura County. Dave and I both just about died. Dave from exhaustion and me from a major fall. My bike and l decided to take a fall helmet over spoke down a ravine-type thing. The only thing I remember was opening up my eyes and thinking, "My leg looks weird in that position." Thankfully nothing was broken, just a few scrapes and bruises. Dave ended up hurting his toe. He says it was broken. I think the pink flesh a week later is a clear indication that it was just a beneath-the-flesh wound. I know I haven't been kept in contact with tons of people, but I've been uber busy looking for work. ... and then actually working. I'm freelancing at the ABC station here at night- writing and soon doing some producing. During the days I've kept myself busy with extra work. Yeah, I do me working as an Extra. It's the freakin' movie and tv capitol of the world, so I figured why not.

Here's a group shot of some folks I met on the set of Eastwick.

It's been quite a learning experience fo' sho. Here are just a few things I found out in my first two days of Extra-ing: 1. Don't eat or drink the props- that means the food or drinks they have on set. 2. Bring a comfy chair, book, iPod, and neck pillow 3. The stars aren't all that shiny 4. Bring a granola bar and water. Kraft services may or may not be available at all times 5. When hunting for my next Extra parts, I will not want to be anyone who needs to wear high heels. Business suits and evening wear are out. Mental facility chic is in. Thanks Antonio for giving me the heads up on the long hours in heels. I made sure to have my flip flops handy close to the set. Today I Extra'd on Park and Recreation. Our location shoot took us to the Pulp Fiction diner. It's on Olive off of Victory. I wasn't in the shots much, but I did have a good view of Megan Mullally freaking out then making out with her real life husband who apparently is her fake-life ex. Good times. Stay tuned for my next off the set update. Or don't. Whatever.

Green Day Concert

Crazy concert last night. I just shot my final show in Tampa and I am pooped. Green Day put on a very satisfying show. I'm not a huge fan and needed to get back to packing, so I didn't stay. But the friends of mine on FB and Twitter went home tired and happy. Billy was nice enough to pull up a kid on stage though. He came all the way in from Costa Rica and barely spoke English, but he knew enough of it to sing 'Do you know your Enemy?' Another example of music bringing the world together... Check out the rest of my pics on Metromix here: http://tampabay.metromix.com/music/photogallery/green-day-concert-photos/1371930/content

Video on Metromix

We finally figured out the video player on Metromix, to show off our recent efforts, here's our latest posting. It's the weekend events roundup on Metromix.com. Check it!

POSTPONED: Aerosmith/ ZZ Top concert

Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry confirmed Friday, July 10 on 102.5 The Bone that Saturday's show at the Ford Amp is postponed at least until October. Apparently Steve Tyler has sprained his leg and it has yet to heal. This follows the cancellation of the Charlotte and Raleigh shows. Perry did reveal that he'll be making an appearance on the beach helping out Mote Marine Aquarium's Beach Cleanup Day Saturday.

Here's the offical release from Live Nation:

AEROSMITH POSTONE CONCERT AT FORD AMPHITHEATRE ON JULY 11
(July 10, 2009) Aerosmith has postponed their scheduled show for July 11th at the Ford Amphitheatre in Tampa, FL due to an artist injury. A rescheduled date will be announced soon. Tickets purchased for the Ford Amphitheatre concert will be honored at the rescheduled date. For additional tour and ticket information, please visit www.livenation.com or www.aeroforceone.com.

Rusted Root in Concert

At rusted root concert. Something's off with the sound. Oh well... I'll have pics on Metromix in the morning. Nathalie Voirin Metromix.com Managing Producer Sent from my blackberry. Please forgive typos!

Tonight: Rays and Rusted Root

I've already seen them live, but Rusted Root always gets me jumpin' I can't wait to shoot the show. Before then, I think we'll check out what's happening at Ferg's before tonight's game.

New Rss feed link

Let's not all get excited everybody... just me. I'm making it my half-year resolution to minimize my updating to all of my social networking. I just set up an RSS feed for my blog. Subscribe to it here: 

http://feeds2.feedburner.com/Nathalienation

I just put up tons of pics from my LA vacay... enjoy it. I did. 

My L.A. Story

I got to visit Dave, the best guy in the world and did not have to work for a whole week. Yeah, I'm jealous of vacation me too. Dave showed me all of the mucho important sights including: The Hollywood sign, Hollywood and Vine, The Sunset Strip, Amoeba Music, Vazquez Rocks (where they made Star Trek movies I guess), Venice Beach, Malibu Beach, The La Brea tar pits, Paramount Studios, and the Getty Museum. 

Whew!!! I also got to meet my oldest, funniest friend from grade school, TJ. Yay! Good freakin' times. Oh and not having to sweat everytime I stepped outside was a big plus. However, having to have a jacket on me at all times, was not. People should be warned of the waaacky weenie shrinking weather.

L.A. Story did not prepare me for this. I did get to see a lot of houses with really big doors. Dave lives off of Venture Blvd., so of course Tom Petty was sung for most of my first day. After that it was replaced by Shaun Mullins and finally Weezer.  

Highlight reel  

Beverly Hills

Our first stop in the Grand tour of LA. We had breakfast at The Farms. I could not help but order the eggs benedict.

Vazquez Rocks

Dave got to live out his Star Trek fantasies. 

And I pretended to be rugged.  

Venice Beach

The graffiti walls were really fun as our photo backdrop.  

 

Hollywood

Dave found a great place to get a shot of the Hollywood sign. The GPS coordinates are on his Flickr site if you want to get your own picture perfect shot. 

We also stopped by Amoeba Music, an institution. It was featured in 'A Lot Like Love,' one of my favorite sappy movies. 

That night we got to see Dave's friend's sketch comedy Top Story Weekly! at a theatre on Sunset and Vine. 

It was hilarious. I'm always afraid of seeing friends or friends of friends and gift client shows in case they suck. But I was very much amused.  Here's the link to that night's sketch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzk3LBKBAkw

Oh, and we also stopped by Grauman's Chinese theatre.

 Dave was again, excited about the Star Trek related stuffs. I, on the other hand, put my hands on Myrna Loy and Roz Russel. I loved that Myrna actually signed it to Sid Gaumann...Love those ladies! 

Dave showed me this place where we ordered from a computer screen.

It was futuristic, yet retro. I'm still not sure we should have tipped the dude that walked us through the ordering system. I mean, did he really 'wait' on us?This of course was followed up by more coffee, this time at Beard Popa's where we munched on a cream puff. hmmm.....

 

The Stinky Rose

Yum. I loved the roasted garlic appetizer. Yum. I wonder what a garlic bath would be like. Yum.  

Paramount studios

I was really excited about seeing where a bunch of my favorite movies were made with stars like Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Dave memorized the sound stages where Star Trek shows were filmed. yeah. Griffith Observatory- It was built shortly after the big quake and is one of the sturdiest structures in LA.... just in case you need to find some shelter when the next big one hits. We also shot some really cool night shots of the city. Soooo LA.  

Historic Filipino Town

It's sort of Ghetto-y, but what else is anyone to expect of "filipino town." I saw my first Jollibee outside of the Philippines. Dave had his first taste of halo halo. I was deeply disappointed that they didn't have pancit. 

Also, I saw another sign... one that spells chocolate starting with a 'T'.  

Malibu

I had the best roast beef sandwhich at the Malibu kitchen. Then I saw Gerard Butler.

How awesome is that? Oh, I also had the misfortune of overhearing some really spoiled teenagers talk about what car they should make their parents buy them. Then I saw said asshole drive off in a POS Ford pickup.  

CBS lot- Studio City

We visited the NY street of the lot where Dave works in Studio City. It's also where Cheers, Friends, and Seinfeld filmed. I've known this for a long time, but I still can't believe he has his own spot on the lot.

The Brady Bunch house is also down the street from Dave's. He felt bad for going over there because the lady in the house gets a lot of hassel. I did not have any qualms posing. As you can see.

The La Brea Tar pits

It was neat to smell tar in nature. There were also a bunch of little grade school catholic kids visiting that day. The girls had the exact same plaid dresses on I wore when I was a kid. Soooo cute.  

Yoghurt- I had a lot of frozen yogurt on this trip. I liked that it was actually yogurt and tart. Green tea from Pinky's with Mango is my fave. Yum.  

The Laugh Factory

 

We went on Thursday, Tom Arnold night. It helps to be famous and have friends who are famous. Not us, Tom and his friends. 

We got to see Kevin Nealon and Bob Saget. And hear Sally Kellerman speak from the shadows. That night the Prop 8 Protestors decided it would be a good time to block traffic for two hours. A 20 minute drive back turned into two and a half hours.... awesome! Dave did discover a new way home though. Glass half full... Also, it inspired me to do some Youtube soul searching and found this hilarious clip.

Getty Museum

We stopped by here on my last full day in the city.

The museum and grounds are beautiful. While we didn't hear any music there, I can imagine that the acoustics would be great in the plaza. Also, I could not stop myself from saying, "The Gettys, the Rothchilds, and Colonel Sanders before he went tits up."  Dave used this opportunity as a chance to wear his new flip flops. 

Which helped him to almost flip completely over himself on the slippery marble. It reminded both of us of the houseboy in "The Birdcage." I loved the Renaissance art with all of the Catholic imagery. Dave did not seem to dig it as much... 

jewish.... ;)

Can't wait to get back.... ;)