Turns out, he was busy reconsidering Tyra Banks
You know how you can go months without seeing someone, then suddenly, they’re everywhere? This morning as I was getting into my little Prius, screenwriter/neighbor/inconstant blogger Josh Friedman rolled up in the Death Star Escalade to discuss our respective children’s nap schedules in anticipation of a playdate.
Yeah, I said playdate. This is how we roll in the Southside.
Of Hancock Park.
I suspect Josh was taking his family to BLD (”Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner”), the new restaurant that took over where Red used to be, and is pretty much exactly like Red but white instead, and without those Mexican Cokes.
In typing that, I realize that I’ve now lived in L.A. long enough that I expect everyone to share my specific geo-cultural references. Or, more bluntly, I’ve now lived here long enough to stop caring when they don’t. It only takes a New Yorker six months to become this jaded. Los Angeles takes a decade.
Later today, I followed a link to the trailer for Josh’s upcoming movie, The Black Dahlia. I don’t know how he got his name in red in the credit block, but from now on I’m putting that in my contract. I want red and a little box around it.
Upon checking the feeds this evening, I see Josh has finally posted something new on the blog. And while I’d like to take credit for this rare occurrence, the more pressing matter is addressing some corrections/clarifications:
My assistant does not bring me breakfast, though he often brings lunch. (However, I do not blog about it.)
In daily life, my house is light-filled like a Richard Curtis movie. However, to achieve the look of this on film for The Movie required giant lights and hard gels velcro-ed to all the doors and windows.
As Tyra knows, beauty takes work.
That’s all.
Articles
July 28th, 2006 at 11:54 pm
John, thanks for pointing out that Josh Friedman had posted on his blog. He’s one of my favorite bloggers, but goddamit, he doesn’t blog very often–must be too busy actually having a life and making money.
Thanks again.
p.s. Thanks also for your post re: his.
July 29th, 2006 at 2:23 am
I like Richard Curtis. I´d also like Johns assistant to bring me breakfast, Iceland is closer than you´d think. Seriously we have direct flights from San Fran. Eggs and bacon, please.
July 29th, 2006 at 6:40 am
That movie looks very interesting. Maybe you ought to have your screen credit produce a strobe effect so people remember it subliminally. Also, I couldn’t help noticing that “The Black Dahlia” had nine executive producers(!), one of which is “James B. Harris”. Is that the same James B. Harris that collaborated with Stanley Kubrick on his early productions?
July 29th, 2006 at 8:28 am
i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again - there needs to be a joshwatch of some sort, so that the word can spread when he actually updates his blog. save millions of hours of people checking.
devin: yeah - if only there was some kind of, like, database or something about movies where you could find out if, indeed, it’s the same guy. then they could put it on the internet or something and you could find the answer in, oh, i dunno, approximately ten seconds or so.
that would be AWESOME!
July 29th, 2006 at 12:56 pm
Well, you guys can kinda subscribe to the RSS feed in Josh’s blog (as in adding it under ‘live bookmarks’ if you’re using Firefox… stay away from Internet Explorer) so that you’ll know when he has updated.
July 29th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
i have actually considered submitting to a friedman feed. it’ll be my first.
i fear it will be a slippery slope . . .
if i knew the slippery slope was made of warm chocolate and i’d fall into a marshmallow lake at the end, i’d be happier to do it . . .
July 29th, 2006 at 5:31 pm
It completely makes sense to me that Josh Friedman would drive an Escalade. Just the personality type.
July 30th, 2006 at 12:52 am
I have no idea what an Escalade is, it sounds like some kind of super deluxe kids’ slide. That’s quite a picture I have in my mind now.
July 30th, 2006 at 2:07 am
A Death St… eh, Escalade is an SUV that has roughly the same milage as a Prius, roughly.
July 30th, 2006 at 3:43 am
Actually, The Escalade is a slippery slope in Iceland where the first Kubrick-Harris collaboration, titled Dessert Fondue, was filmed. At least, that’s what the IMDB feed is saying.
So I’m guessing he drives a black one?
July 30th, 2006 at 11:11 am
BALD HEADED & GAY: THE MOVIE
Coming Soon
July 30th, 2006 at 1:27 pm
Actually, it’s my wife’s car. But it’s got the baby seat. And it is black. And it is possible to shame us into selling it. But I won’t buy any car that isn’t on mtv cribs.
July 31st, 2006 at 5:53 am
You might rethink the “ego box.” As I recall, on one of Roger Ebert’s list of movie rules, it stated that any film where people in the credits had boxes around their names was pretty much guaranteed to suck.
Don’t know if this still holds up today, but I know it’s what I think every time I see one of those boxes.
July 31st, 2006 at 12:08 pm
John,
Do not follow Friedman’s crimson precedent. You can do much better than a silly box and crayola rouge.
You’re much better suited for a rich mustard tone. Trust me, it’s slimming.
For me, it’s block-letters and polka dots, all the way.
July 31st, 2006 at 1:08 pm
Dude, Josh, no, it’s a great car. It’s just that it’s the biggest goddamn car available to man. You’d be better off buying a Yacht and just towing it down the street with the Escalade, and consider that your vehicle. Although, I mean, that may be impractical. But so is like 140 dollars to fill up the gas tank. Yipes.
July 31st, 2006 at 3:37 pm
I’ve been traveling around away from LA, seeing the sights… and now I’m a little crushed to hear that Red is no more. I loved passing it on Beverly and for some reason it made me smile. It could be that my favorite color is red, or the fact that it was somewhat consistent as an establishment. But no more. Looking forward to trying BLD when I’m back home. Scribe And John, I think you should take the credit in getting Josh to post
July 31st, 2006 at 4:20 pm
I was as surprised as anyone my name was in red. i figured they’d just do black text on black background like all the War of the Worlds trailers.
August 3rd, 2006 at 2:24 pm
You’re all a bunch of members of John’s gay mafia !!
August 9th, 2006 at 2:34 pm
I’d like to see more blogging about lunches.
August 10th, 2006 at 6:02 am
surely the names in red are supposed to be in sync with the other images for the film, involving a smile-ish shaped red streak among the black?